MY STEPBROTHERS, MY MATES

NOT MY PROBLEM BUT WHY CAN'T I STOP THINKING ABOUT HER?

CHAPTER 16

JASON

The motorcycle roared under me as I pushed it harder through the freezing night.

Wind cut across my face and bit at my skin, but it didn’t clear my head like it usually did.

Tonight it didn’t do s**t. Because annoyingly, I kept thinking about Violetta crying in the kitchen.

The way her eyes were red. The way her shoulders stayed tense even when she tried to hide it. The way she’d looked at me when I told her humans ruin everything. It irritated me further.

*Not my problem,* I told myself again. She’s just some human girl who showed up and messed up the house.

She’s not my responsibility. I don’t care if she’s hurting.

But her face kept replaying anyway... those red eyes, the way her voice got quiet when she said she hated how easy it was for them to make her feel small.

I grunted and leaned lower over the bike, speeding up like I could outrun the memory.

The warehouse that housed my biker club, Ironbound, sat outside town near abandoned industrial land.

I rode down the last road and saw the warehouse lights cutting through the dark.

I parked in front of the club and the men outside immediately acknowledged me as I arrived.

One of them nodded. “Jason.”

Another stepped back from the door. “Good to see you, man.”

I walked in without acknowledging their greeting and went straight to the table where the older bikers were gathered.

I pulled out a chair and sat down.

Here, they didn’t rank based on social status but how much you’ve wielded. Nobody saw me as Rafael’s son or the Alpha heir.

They saw me as dangerous. A man not to mess with.

I’d dealt with and handled several issues even grown men couldn’t do. I've worked hard for this respect.

It felt cleaner than anything at school or at home.

Rylan looked up. “Jason. You’re late.”

“Had s**t to handle,” I grumbled.

They were discussing politics.

They’d been in a clash with the YOUR NEMESIS biker club.

Sometimes I wondered how the bikers in that club were so comfortable with a name like that. Who the hell goes about making a biker club YOUR NEMESIS?

Rylan leaned forward. “I need more info on our weapons storage. How stocked are they really?”

Steve looked around before replying and leaned forward. “We’ve got enough for a raid but it would be fine if we could get more in case of the future.”

Tension sat heavy over the territory disputes.

Kade shook his head. “It’s not best to take this dispute into a war. We could lose lives and that’s the last thing we want.”

Rylan slammed his hand on the table lightly. “I see no better option on how to test this matter. Mario is hell-bent on making life miserable for us.”

It was quite understandable for Rylan to suggest war because just last week Mario and his men had raided a few of our bikers racing on the street, brutally beat them up and seized their bikes.

It took calling Thompson—the head of the bikers association—to get the bikes back but Mario refused to apologize.

And now Mario has struck again. Yesterday, he seized some of the younger bikers' bikes. And has been refusing to return. It's the matter that had escalated that made Rylan suggest war.

I usually slipped naturally into this world. Like I belonged here more than school. The rules were simple. You earned your place with blood and loyalty. No pretending. No masks. But tonight I was distracted.

On a normal day I’d have chipped in some ideas, thrown in my thoughts on how to hit them back without starting a full war.

Instead I stayed silent, staring at the table while Violetta crying replayed in my mind over and over again.

*Why the f**k am I still thinking about her?* She’s human. Weak.

She’ll break eventually and leave like they all do.

But the way she’d stood there in the kitchen, trying so hard not to fall apart… it stuck with me. I hated it.

Linda, one of the senior members, noticed. She leaned towards me and passed me a drink in a cup. “You look pissed off.”

“I am,” I agreed.

Linda clicked her tongue. “Well, whatever that’s getting you angry, suck it up because we’re going to meet some rivals on the field.”

I took the drink and downed half of it. The burn felt good. It gave me something else to focus on.

Later that night we met the Nemesis crew on neutral ground near the old tracks. The air was cold and thick with a diesel smell.

Mario stood at the front with four of his guys. We faced them with equal numbers. The tension was immediate, thick enough to taste.

Mario spoke first, voice low and mocking. “You’ve been pushing into our routes again, Rylan. Though we warned you last time.”

Rylan stepped forward. “Those routes were ours before you decided to steal them. Return the bikes you took yesterday.”

Mario laughed, slow and ugly. “Those bikes are payment. Your boys were racing on our stretch. You owe us.”

Kade tried to keep it calm. “We can split the routes. No need for blood over this.”

One of Mario’s guys spat on the ground. “Split? You think we’re here to negotiate with pups? Your Alpha daddy isn’t here to save you now.”

The words hung in the cold air. I felt my jaw tighten hard. The anger I’d been carrying since the kitchen had nowhere to go until now.

Mario’s eyes shifted to me. He smiled like he smelled blood. “And you? The quiet one. Heard you’ve got a new human toy at home. Is that true?”

He tilted his head. “Sharing her with your brother or what? She must be something special right? Mind if I taste how sweet her p***y is, since the Calloway twins are not man enough to do that?”

Everything went red.

I stepped forward fast. “Say that again.”

Mario grinned wider, stepping closer until we were almost chest to chest. “I said if you don't mind passing the human so I can taste how sweet her p***y is since you and your brother are not man enough to do it? Or have you both been taking turns with the human slut? How does she taste, Jason? Sweet like a little—”

I swung first. My fist connected hard with his jaw, the c***k loud in the night.

Mario staggered but came back swinging.

The fight broke out fast. Shouts exploded around us. Punches landed. Someone grabbed me from behind.

I drove my elbow back into ribs and heard a grunt of pain. A knife flashed under the headlights. I felt the blade slice across my left arm, deep and burning.

Blood poured hot down my skin instantly, soaking my sleeve.

The pain was sharp but it felt good. It gave the anger somewhere to go.

I didn’t stop. I tackled the guy who cut me, drove my knee into his ribs twice, then once more in his face.

Another fist came at me.

I ducked and hit back harder, knuckles splitting against bone.

The metallic smell of blood mixed with diesel and sweat. My arm throbbed but the pain felt distant.

All I could see was Violetta’s red eyes in the kitchen. All I could hear was Mario’s words repeating. *Human slut.*

The rage burned hotter because part of me wondered if they were right.

And that made me hit harder.

The fight didn’t last long.

Both sides pulled back when Thompson’s guys showed up in the distance, headlights coming fast. We separated, breathing hard, blood on the ground.

Afterward one biker tried helping bandage my arm. “Hold still, Jason. It’s bleeding bad.”

I shoved him off impatiently. “I’ve got it.”

My head was elsewhere. My head was back at the kitchen and to Violetta’s face which made absolutely no sense.

Why did her tears stick with me? I didn’t care about her. I couldn’t.

One club member joked, “You look like someone's got you distracted. Is Mario really right? Is it the human girl?”

I turned on him fast, grabbing his collar and slamming him against the side of a truck. “What the f**k did you mean by that?”

The guy raised his hands quickly. “It was a joke, man. Relax. I didn’t mean anything.”

I didn’t care. My grip tightened. “Shut up and stay the f**k away from me.”

He backed off fast when I let go.

I rode home near dawn. Blood soaked through my sleeve and dripped onto the bike.

The cut burned every time I shifted gears but I ignored it.

I expected the house to be asleep but instead, Violetta was sitting on the hallway floor outside the kitchen wrapped in a blanket reading.

She stood immediately when she saw the blood.

Horror flashed across her face. “Jason—”