“We don’t deal in flesh.” Atlas glowered, giving the man a look of utter disgust. The sheer force of his words wiped the man’s stupid smirk off his face.
“She’s worth it.” He pleaded, his body trembling. “Blonde bombshell. She’ll do anything you tell her. She’ll earn her keep. Th..th-think of her as an investment that keeps on giving. I ran it by Johnny and he wanted her for himself, but I knew you were the ones with the actual power here.”
Fuck.We now had a dilemma on our hands. If we didn’t take what he offered, Johnny would run his stupid mouth, if he hadn’t already, and word would spread across town that The Reapers had gone soft. We didn’t want that kind of publicity. Not when The Diaz Cartel was hungry for ammo to use against us. Tired of slumming it in Caspian Valley, they were looking for any cracks in our foundation.
We could kill the bastard here and now. I could practically see Ez’s demon begging for the bloodshed, but then we’d have a bigger mess to clean up and frankly, the asshole wasn’t worth the hassle.
Taking the girl would send a message and help cement the fact that we always collected our debts. She’d stay with us until we grew bored with her and as long as she did nothing stupid to get herself killed, we’d let her go once the dust settled. We’d solidify our reputation and our men wouldn’t have another body to bury. No harm, no foul. Looking towards my brothers, I could see that they were all slowly drawing the same conclusion.
“Okay, asshole.” Atlas boomed, tossing a business card on to the coffee table. “Send the girl to this address at midnight tonight and disappear. If we see your face again, we will kill you. If you try to escape without fulfilling your end of the deal, we will kill you. Understand?”
The man nodded his head rapidly as he grabbed the card, stuffed it into his pocket, and scrambled for the exit.
“Not so fast.” Cyrus ordered, halting the man’s jerky movements.
“Ez, he’s all yours.” Atlas mumbled without sparing the man another glance.
“Wha- wait, I thought we had a deal?” The man cried, getting hysterical.
“Oh, we do and you better deliver.” Cyrus interjected, tilting his head slightly. “You didn’t honestly think you could come here uninvited and leave unharmed, did you? I know you’re a meth-head, but you can’t be that fucking stupid.”
The man’s eyes grew wide as terror raked through his entire body. Ez relished in his fear, flashing a wicked smile as he stalked towards the man. We all stood up and moved to get a closer look.
The unmistakable smell of piss filled the room as the trembling man backed himself up against a wall.I felt for whoever had to clean that shit up.
Blow after blow, Ezra pounded into the man’s clammy flesh until his own scarred knuckles bursted from the force. The man’s brow had split open and I could see the bruises already forming on his sickly pale skin. The man’s legs had given out on him and he crumpled to the floor in a heap of bones and bloodied flesh as he desperately tried to block Ez’s savage blows.
“Let this be a reminder, you piece of shit.” Ezra spat, wiping the sticky mixture of blood and sweat from his brow. “Never fuck with The Reapers.”
He gave him one last punishing kick to the gut before walking away with a little skip. Ezra looked elated as he made his way back towards us. It would’ve seemed shocking to those that didn’t know him, but there was nothing Ezra enjoyed more than pure, unfiltered violence.
“Hell,” Ezra quipped, looking at the blood splatter all over his black oxfords, “that’s my third ruined pair this month.”
“Maybe you need to switch up your finishing move?” Cyrus joked, nudging me with his elbow.
“Nah, you boys love a good splash show.” Ez said with a wink. “I can’t disappoint the fans.”
“You’re a s… sick fuck.” I mused, shaking my head.
Ez blew us a kiss as he headed back to the lounge, making me and Cyrus chuckle. The fucker was the craziest one out of all of us, and that was really saying something.
“Alright, dickheads.” Atlas spoke up, garnering all of our attention, “That’s enough action for the evening. Let’s get back to business, shall we?”
As security dragged the man’s unconscious body away, we all retook our seats in the back of our low lit VIP area as if nothing happened.
It was just after 5:00 PM and the club didn’t open for another few hours. That gave us plenty of time to get the floors cleaned and have the guards prepare our house for our newest asset.
Poor thing had no clue that her piece of shit pimp had just sold her freedom. No idea that her mind, body, and soul no longer belonged to her.
If we were better men, we’d let her go. Unfortunately for her, my brothers and I were never raised to be good men.
Chapter 3
Stevie
I could feel Alex’s eyes on me as I wiped down the tables for the fifth time in a row. I’d been avoiding her for most of my shift, but I could only dodge her attention for so long. It was getting close to closing time, and I’d already finished most of the pre-closing duties. Soon we’d be driving back home, and I’d have to face the questions brimming behind her eyes.
Even though Alex was six years younger than me, in a lot of ways, she and I were equals. We had gone through the same hardships together and were both thrown into adulthood sooner than we expected. The one major difference between me and her was I didn’t allow myself to feel anything while she, ironically, felt everything.
