Page 10 of Brandishing Balance (Devil’s Psychos MC #3)
Axel Jones
I surveyed the bustling warehouse, my gaze sweeping from the scantily clad women to the shirtless fighters weaving through the crowd near the fighting ring. Men and women offering the promise of something a little more , for the right price.
Bookies hung out in the corners making deals and taking bets, while dealers weaved in between the throng of people, offering party favors of the harder variety. Along one wall there was a make-shift bar area, selling overpriced drinks to uncaring patrons.
Over all it was a cluster fuck of epic proportions and my boys and I were right in the middle of it.
Blaze Thomas and Phoenix Kendrick had been by my side since we were kids growing up in a lower middle-class neighborhood in Creekton.
In the kind of neighborhood where our parents worked their asses off to provide a roof over our heads and look picture perfect to the public.
But things behind closed doors weren’t what they seemed—at least in my case.
I had a picture-perfect home life until I hit high school and my younger brother, Andrew, had been killed by Dax Hillcrest and Las Serpientes.
My brother, who had been the light of our family, had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We had stopped by the convenience store after school, something we probably did almost every day, only to walk into an armed robbery.
Hillcrest had just been an upstart back then, but he had been spooked when the door of the store opened. He shot off two rounds right into Andrew’s chest. My brother had been dead before the ambulance even showed up.
And fucking Hillcrest had ran away.
There had been no camera’s, no proof, and it was mine and my friend’s word against ghosts.
Literal ghosts. The police had never found the men that been in the store.
It wasn’t until Blaze, Phoenix, and I had joined up with the Devil’s Psychos did I learn the truth.
Using the club’s connections and another fight night—similar to this one—did I discover who had killed my brother.
Now we were here to find out anything we could on Hillcrest’s whereabouts.
The underground fighting scene had been around for years, but no one knew who ran it.
With how organized everything was, I could only assume they were mafia run, but Nico had never said anything.
The fights changed location every month, with the location only being texted out an hour or two before they started.
It was very much a who you knew situation.
“Spread out.” I kept my voice low, and despite the loud music pumping through the speakers, my brothers heard me. Like a unit, the three of us went our separate ways.
I slid through the crowd toward the bar.
Slipping my hands in my pockets, I waited for someone to notice me.
I felt naked without my cut, but it was the rules: no colors.
No one was allowed to wear anything that showed which gang or MC or crew they were affiliated with.
Not that it mattered when half the men in the room had tatted their colors on their bodies.
Listening to the surrounding conversations while I waited, I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to appear nonchalant. My plan was apparently working when I picked up a conversation to my right.
“Yo, have you guys seen the live streams?” a man asked.
Another man laughed heartily. “You mean the whore he kidnapped?”
Douche number one laughed. “Hell yeah. She’s a hot little thing too. Curves for days, tattoos, tits pierced, like damn. It’s a shame a chick like that got picked up by the snakes.”
I had to clench my jaw to keep from saying something. I needed to hear more. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and shot off a quick text.
“Probably taken from some unsuspecting sucker. Shoulda had her on a leash.” Douche number two said.
Douche one laughed. “Or she’s right where she’s meant to be.”
“Oh man,” I forced a hearty laugh. “You guys talkin’ ‘bout the new videos?” I inserted myself into the conversation with the men to my right, turning to face them. I scanned their faces, taking in every detail and committing it to memory.
Two men that were too skinny and lanky with stringy hair. One had dark hair while the other was a dirty shade of blond and oily. Both were probably barely old enough to drink. I wondered how the hell the two of them even got invited to the fight, let alone knew about the website.
The two twerpy derps smiled as they looked over at him. “Yeah, bro. It was insane. He had her up on this rack, with weights hanging from her tits. Fuck dude.”
“Did they change the link again? I tried to get in and was moved.” I played it cool, for the two idiots that had no idea what they were in for.
Only one of them seemed to hesitate, but the other immediately laughed and nodded. “Always do, don’t they? Here, I can send it to you. What’s your number?”
Like a damn idiot, douche one pulled out his phone and sent a link to me. I checked that I received it before I forced a grin to my face and nodded like a fool. “Hell yeah, man. Thanks for this. His live streams are the best.”
“They really are! Hey man, I’m Jimmy and this is Pete.”
“Steve,” I replied, shaking Jimmy’s hand.
Jimmy and Pete were so distracted by me; they didn’t even see Blaze and Phoenix come up behind them. Both men tagged a small, barely there tracking device into the back pockets of thing one’s and thing two’s jeans.
“Steve, bro! Where you been?” Phoenix grinned broadly, pushing between the two twerps to shake my hand and slap me on the shoulder. “Fights are about to start! We should head up front!”
“I was gonna get a drink, but service sucks up here.” I shrugged and laughed. “Come on!” I patted Phoenix on the shoulder and turned away, only to glance back at his new friends. “Hey guys, you wanna check things out from up front? We’ve got VIP!”
“Hell yeah, we do!” Jimmy cheered.
It took everything in me not to punch the dude in the face. I turned my back on the twerps and stalked off toward the ring in the center of the room. Fights were about to start and while I hadn’t lied about VIP, I also didn’t want the twerps to know why we had ringside seats.
Walking up to the rope, I sped up to meet the guard first. I slapped hands with Nick, the guard, and pulled him in close. “Name’s Steve tonight. Working some recon.”
Nick didn’t even bat an eye. He laughed and slapped me on the back. “My man, Steve!” he greeted, his voice booming.
“Hey, man.” I forced a grin. “I brought a couple friends with us, that cool?”
“Oh yeah, yeah! No problem. You got it!” Nick said.
“Dude, this is so cool!” Jimmy yelled over the crowd.
“Totally!” Pete cheered.
“Yeah man. Anything for a couple of like-minded guys, like yourselves. It’s rare to find people that also enjoy the darker aspects of life.”
Jimmy and Pete took the compliments and ran with it. “Yeah dude! Like I love it when a bitch is put in her place! You should watch the latest video from last night. It was so sick. He had her up in this rack, while he fucked her raw.”
I clenched my jaw to keep from responding.
Phoenix saw me struggling and slapped Jimmy hard on the back pretending to be playful. “That’s fricken awesome, dude! I can’t believe I missed it.”
Jimmy stumbled forward from the force of Phoenix’s smack, his eyes watering. He tried to play it off though.
I didn’t want them to think they were being bullied, so I waved over a ring girl, “Let me get a bottle of Don Julio 1942 and four shot glasses.” I saw Jimmy’s eyes widen out of the corner of my eye—that was exactly what I was looking for here.
“Shiiiit,” Pete smirked.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I like what I like. Now tell me more about the latest video.”
“Oh man,” Jimmy said, grinning. “It was epic!”
I didn’t know how I managed to sit through Jimmy and Pete’s idiotic rambling most of the night, while also watching the fights from the sidelines. It wasn’t something I usually did; most of the time I watched from backstage while my boys were ringside, or at our merch table.
Didn’t matter though, because we were here on a mission and I had a job to do.
Slowly Blaze, Phoenix, and I fed Jimmy and Pete shots.
The two idiots didn’t even realize the three of us weren’t drinking and they kept running their mouths, describing in vivid detail what the girl in the video was going through.
Pete had described Maya down to the tattoos. It may have been a while since I had seen Maya—the Spring party at Johnny Taylor’s place—but the girl Pete had described was Maya. There was no doubt in my mind.
With the drunken idiots tagged for location, my boys and I finally said our goodbyes and headed out of the warehouse. It was late, but I texted Marcos when we were back by our bikes.
Axel:
I suggest you NOT watch this. Give it to your tech guy. I’m serious.
I waited a minute, expecting a text back right away, but it was late and I was sure Marcos was probably burning the candle at both ends. Hopefully he was sleeping.
Marcos:
Thx
I knew the chances of Marcos listening to me were slim to none. I wouldn’t have listened if anyone sent me a link and told me not to look.