Raging Barons MC – Book Nine – Knuckles

-:- KNUCKLES -:-

The door opens and five men walk into the room. I place Jo behind me and take a stand. I’m ready if these fuckers think about coming into the cage, but I notice they are carrying cage bars. My eyes flick over what each one is carrying, and at a guess, I think they are going to build another cage. If they think they are separating me from Jo, they’ve got a fucking fight on their hands.

Jo is holding onto my Henley tightly, but she says nothing and stays against the bars at the back which are pushed up against the wall. The muscles don’t speak at all; they build a second cage further across the room, so the occupants won’t be able to reach out to each other.

It only takes them around forty minutes to get the cage built and to say they’ve done it all in semi-darkness is quite impressive, if I was going to give them bonus points. I keep giving them my best scowl and at times growl if they look Jo’s way.

Once they’ve left, closing the door behind them, I turn to Jo. “Whatever happens, if they try to separate us, stay behind me. I’ll fight to stop that from happening because if they get you away from me, I can’t stop whatever they have planned. But remember, we do whatever we have to, to stay alive and get the fuck outta here.”

Jo nods, giving me a grimace along with it. “I’ll stay behind you, and I’ll do whatever I have to. I promised Linc and I promise you I’ll do whatever I can.”

I kiss her forehead and settle back down against the bars, drawing Jo back down between my raised knees, and she leans back against me, holding my wrists as my arms are wrapped around her to keep her warm.

“The only reason they would split us is if Tommaso is going to try to use one of us as leverage against the other. If he got me away, he could torture you to get me to do what he wants. I’d do it to save you, Knuckles.”

“You don’t need to save me. I’ll do whatever I need to make sure we get the fuck outta here. We can’t afford to get split. Somehow we have to get a drink of water, at least, or we’re going to get weak and that’ll put us at a huge disadvantage.”

Hearing footsteps and talking, both Jo and I stand. She steps behind me and I make sure I have plenty of room in front of me, but not enough that more than one can come through the door of the cage at once. I can use that to my advantage and take down each one that tries to enter.

The door flies open and I stand in shock when I see Wings dragged through the door. WHAT. THE. FUCK. But what makes it even more shocking is Meat is walking calmly behind him, whistling, fuckin’ whistling!

“Hi, Knuckles, how’s it hanging?” Wings smirks.

“To the left brother, to the left…” I calmly respond as I’m still in shock as to what the fuck is going on here.

Wings and Meat are pushed into the second cage, and I watch them both turn, grinning at each other like fools. Flicking my eyes to the muscle that’s slammed the cage door behind them both, I can see he’s nervous of them. Now that’s a good thing. It’ll make him at least an easier takedown because fear is a good thing when it comes to fighting. It has your opponent taking risks.

The muscle leaves, slamming the door and locking it behind them. Turning to look at the two of them, I smirk when Wings is standing, rubbing his hands together. “I love it when things work out the way we want,” Wings chuckles, then puts on a more serious face. “You two okay?”

“Yeah, we’ve just been in here since we were grabbed. No food or water coming your way, brothers. We’re being punished ‘cause Jo doesn’t want to be the asshole’s mistress. Fucker’s gonna die, and I don’t care which one of us does it either,” I growl, turning a little and pulling Jo under my arm so she can wrap her arms around my waist.

“Brothers know you’ve gone missing. They’ll know who has you, and they’ll not be long before they make a plan to get us outta here. But in the meantime, we thought we’d come visit so if you needed a hand, you have two more on your side.” Grinning broadly Wings turns to Meat and slaps him hard on the shoulder. “Meat here wanted to get some action, been a bit fed up of late, so he needs to kick some butt and have some fun.”

We hear footsteps again and I push Jo behind; she knows the routine now when anyone comes to the room. Meat and Wings stand relaxed, but I can see they are taking in the room the same as I had when I first woke in this shithole.

When the door opens, Tommaso and his three henchmen walk into the room. I’ve upgraded them in my mind from muscle as the others that have been in here don’t wear suits, but these three look like a version of Tommaso…mafia assholes, if I’m truthful.

“Well, gentlemen, it seems we have three of you that we can now play with. We are having a fight night, and you three will be fighting, and if you don’t earn your keep by winning, you’ll be given one bullet. It’s cheap and effective.

“Jolene, are you ready to come with me now?”

I smile when Jo doesn’t respond. She remains quiet behind me, but I can feel the tension in her body, which is plastered to my back.

Sighing, Tommaso continues. “Okay, not ready yet, then.” Turning to his henchmen, he murmurs. “Give them water. We need them to earn us money, after all.”

As he turns to leave the room, Meat grunts, gaining the asshole’s attention. When Tommaso looks at him Meat lifts a leg, bent at the knee, and strains, letting rip a fart so loud it nearly rocks the room. But when you notice Meat is looking directly into Tommaso’s eyes, you can see death written in them. Tommaso must see it too as he quickly walks out of the room, and they slam and lock the door behind them.

Feeling shaking behind me, I turn to comfort Jo, but as I step back to look at her, she places one hand on her left thigh and the other hand over her mouth. A laugh bursts through and she’s shaking with it. Turning to Meat, she points at him but can’t manage to say anything for the laughter, which now has tears running down her cheeks.

Wings has folded his arms over his chest, gives Meat a disgusted look, then states loudly. “If you shit your pants, you’ll have to sit in it, and if it stinks, I’ll beat the crap outta yah.”

“Bbbeeatt the crrrappp outttaaa yaahhh…” Jo stutters through her laughter, and when Wings realizes what he just said, he chuckles too.

It takes a few minutes for Jo to settle and every time she looks at Meat, she giggles. I notice Meat has a gleam in his eye and the tiniest of lift in the corner of his mouth. He’s done what he intended – eased the panic we could all see was happening while Tommaso was in the room.

Settling back down at the back of the cage, Jo settles against me, and I kiss the top of her head, wrapping her in my arms. Turning my head to look at Wings and Meat, they are getting settled down too.

“What’s the plan?” I ask, hoping they have something in mind.

“We don’t actually have a plan at the moment. We need to play along a little until we find out exactly what’s happening, then we can make a plan and get the fuck outta here,” Wings responds, but only loud enough for us to hear, giving me a small nod to his right. Following his nod, I notice for the first time a small green light in the shadows, which I know is the corner of the room. A fuckin’ camera!

My eyes flick back to Wings and give the slightest of chin lift, so he knows I’ve seen. But I’m sure it wasn’t there earlier. I lower my face into the curve of Jo’s neck, next to her ear, and whisper. “Jo, there’s a camera in the right top corner of the room. Did you notice that green light before?”

Jo shuffles between my legs and turns her head slowly before snuggling into my arms and whispering. “No, it wasn’t there before. It must have been there but not active until Wings and Meat was put in here.”

“We need to watch and learn. Fight if needed and if we get the chance to take out that asshole we do it.” Wings is keeping his voice as low as possible. Meat is nodding in agreement but doing his usual grunts and growls rather than speaking.

Once again, we hear footsteps, and it sounds like a few people this time. I quickly stand and place Jo behind me. Meat and Wings take to their feet and I can see them both fist their hands ready.

The lock clicks on the door, and Tommaso walks inside smirking. “I decided I’ve an itch that needs scratching.” But when he rubs his hand over his pants, it’s obvious what itch he has.

Jo takes a sharp intake of breath and I feel her tense behind me, but she keeps silent and stays behind where I’d told her to.

“Open the door and get her out,” Tommaso snarls at the four men he’d brought with him. Muscle not henchmen. I’m ready. I’ve not been fighting most of my life to not use it to my advantage when I need to.

The door is opened, and the first fucker tries to step inside, but I throw a punch, hitting him in the forearm as he lifts it to shield his face. Before he can do anything else I kick out and hit him in the crotch, making him squeal as he goes down onto his knees. Before anyone can do anything, I kick him in the temple and he’s out cold.

“Way to go, Knuckles, one down three to go,” Wings shouts, bouncing up and down on his toes and clapping with obvious glee. Meat is standing quietly and watching everything, I mean every little detail he can, while Wings draws attention.

Two of the muscle drag this one out by his ankles, and I grin as his head hits the metal frame of the door. They don’t give a shit about each other. Now that’s worth noting.

Number two tries another tactic and bellows before launching himself at me, running into the cage, head down, thinking it’s a battering ram that will take me off balance. But I spin to the side at the last minute and wrap my arm around the fucker’s neck. What happens next has me chuckling.

Jo steps forward with her shoe in her hand and she beats the holy hell out of the fucker’s head that I’ve got restrained until she knocks him out. Then she looks up at me and gives me the sweetest of smiles. Fuck, this is my woman, I think to myself.

“Way to go, Jo, that’s pretty damn awesome, girl,” Wings shouts out, laughing all the while.

“Why thank you,” Jo responds sweetly, and Meat chuckles as he’s enjoying this shit.

“You two get in there and get him down,” Tommaso roars, obviously losing his temper.

“Boss, we can’t get through together. That’s the problem,” Muscle on the left of Tommaso states, but steps forward nonetheless.

“I don’t give a shit. Get her out of there.” Tommaso’s face is red with anger, and I’m more than pleased to see it. Let him get near enough and he’s a dead man.

I step forward and make sure I get eye contact with Tommaso and I’m more than happy when I see him flinch at the look on my face. Yeah, fucker, you are a dead man walking.

“Forget it,” Tommaso snarls, whirling around and walking out. The two muscle look at each other in surprise, grab a man each and drag them out after they’ve relocked the cell door.

“That was fun,” Jo says and we all turn to look at her in surprise. She’s standing with a shoe in her hand and looks from one of us to the other. “What!” she exclaims and Meat chuckles before a full-blown laugh busts out of him.

Settling down, we look up when the door opens and a small woman walks in; she pushes two bottles of water through the gaps of the cages, then turns and leaves. But as she closes the door, she quietly speaks. “You.” Pointing at me. “Will be fighting in the ring against one of his men. He cheats, watch for the knife.”

Nodding and quietly thanking her, I look over at my brothers.

“Seems not all is well in the Tommaso camp, brother,” Wings states and we all grunt in acknowledgment before taking the water and drinking it quickly.

Jo falls asleep against my chest, and I know it’s exhaustion because no one can sleep on the concrete floor unless they are past the point of staying awake. I wrap my arms around her a little tighter, making sure her head is not at an angle that will cause her pain when she wakes.

“So, fighting, nothing new about that, hey brother,” Wings chuckles.

“No, nothing new. Seems this asshole thinks he can make money off us. I think we need to make sure his audience don’t get value for money.”

“What do you mean?” Wings asks, turning his head so he can look at me.

“Well, they want long drawn-out fights, value for money. The more you fight, the more they think it was worth spending their hard-earned dollars. But if we finish them fast, and I mean finish them, then it’ll be over too fast. Nothing to cheer about if the fight lasts three minutes.”

Meat looks over, nodding he understands and Wings chuckles, “Poor fuckers have no idea who they are dealing with. The training we do continually keeps us fit and fast. They’ll not stand a fuckin’ chance.”

Settling my head back against the cage bars, I close my eyes and rest the best I can, because I know things can either get better or much worse than they are already.