Page 23 of Brandishing Balance (Devil’s Psychos MC #3)

Axel

I looked at the three men standing in front of me and frowned.

Marcos, Jason, and Nico, aka Killer, Stone, and Dagger were at the gym where I trained with Phoenix and Blaze, and not at the hospital taking care of their woman.

“What’s up?” I asked, sitting up from the shoulder press and looked up at the three men surrounding me.

“Hey man, we just wanted to thank you for your help getting that video,” Dagger said.

“Yeah, it’s what finally found her. Without it, our tech guy couldn’t pinpoint their exact location,” Killer added.

“Yeah, no problem. Glad I could help.” I nodded.

“Seriously, though. Thank you,” Stone said as well.

I only nodded, because now it was getting weird. I didn’t do big shows of gratitude. I was a quiet guy that stuck to the shadows, unless I was fighting. “Look, I know you guys have more claim to killing Hillcrest at this poi—”

“We all have a claim,” Killer—Marcos, interrupted me.

“He killed your family, your brother, that means something. You have a claim. He kidnapped my sister. He kidnapped my woman. He was stalking Maya for months—years. We all have a claim. I know you want to kill Hillcrest, but the best I can offer at this point is being there. The Ravager Knights—Johnny and his boys especially—want dibs on killing Hillcrest too. At this point we need to wipe out their entire crew.”

“Fuck yes,” I growled and stood up. I clapped palms with Marcos before we shook on it.

“Dagger’s going to meet with his cousin and set up a sit down with the Knights. We’ll get the coke trade figured out, then we’ll talk about Hillcrest.” Killer explained.

I nodded, because what else could I say? They had everything all figured out. “Yeah.”

Marcos walked away and Dagger followed him. Both men glanced back over their shoulder when Stone stayed behind, but he waved them off.

I waited patiently until Stone said what he needed to say. “I need a fight.”

Shifting on my feet, I turned to meet the stone-cold killer, not surprised to see the stoney expression on the man’s face.

Emotions locked down, no flicker of anything across his gray eyes, the man was a fortress.

I eyed him warily, for as stone-faced as the club enforcer was, he was also known for being a hair-trigger away from erupting into violence.

“Not sure I’m the one you should be talking to. Ask Johnny Taylor,” I said, offhandedly. This was not the direction I thought this conversation was going to.

“No.” Stone grumble. “I want in at fight night.”

“Taylor’s fights are legit; there’s big money there. Go fight there.” I tried my best to push by Jason, but true to his road name, he was a solid as stone.

“I don’t want to fight over at the Knights’s compound. I want in at Roadies,” Jason snapped.

“Man, you don’t know the bullshit that goes on at Roadies fight nights. They’re dangerous—they’re one step away from prison fights. You don’t know if you’re going to walk away from them—a lot of people don’t.”

Jason narrowed his eyes at me, a spark of anger igniting in those stormy gray eyes. “You and your boys fight there.”

I barked a sardonic laugh. “Me and my boys don’t have anything to lose. We don’t have much to live for, if you catch my drift. Fighting and the club is all we have. And each other.”

Giving me a once over, his stony expression shifted into something else, something too close to pity that I didn’t fucking like. “You wanna fight? Come on, let’s hit the ring right now.”

Stone glared, but nodded his head.

I was going to enjoy this. It was about time someone knocked Stone fucking Langford on his ass.

Ten minutes later, both of us were shirtless and in gym shorts as we stepped into the practice ring, while we both pulled gloves on to our hands. “This a smart idea?” Blaze mumbled from behind me.

“He asked for it,” I murmured back.

“Still, is it smart? Shouldn’t you have pushed him toward Taylor or something? Shit, even Dagger would be better than this,” Blaze grumbled.

“He keeps asking about Roadie’s.” I pulled my gloves on tight, eyeing Jason from across the octagon as he spoke softly with Marcos and Nico.

“Not good,” Phoenix muttered.

“Yeah, I know. Figured this would be better than anything. He’s hurting, needs an outlet.”

“And you think it’s smart that you’re the one to do that? He’s a brother, Ax,” Phoenix said.

“I know, dude, I fucking know. But you go change his mind.” I shook my head exasperatedly at my brothers.

Jason finally turned away from Marcos and Nico, and I had to remind myself that they were his president and vice president respectively… and Jason was the club enforcer. He was no weak fighter. He could hold his own, though no one had seen him get dirty in a while.

“Go easy,” Blaze suggested softly.

I nodded.

“Give him hell,” Phoenix chuckled.

I smirked slightly and stepped toward the center of the ring. Jason met me in the middle and we pounded our knuckles together by touching gloves. “Typical rules apply, knock out or tap out. Everything else goes,” I said.

“Got it,” Jason agreed with a nod.

I glanced to the right and saw Marcos’s son standing ringside. “You sure you want him here?”

Jason glanced at the kid and nodded. “Marcos will take him away if it’s too rough, but he could use the demonstration. We’re teaching him to defend himself.”

Shrugging, I smirked and made the first jab, tossing a sucker punch right to Jason’s jaw.

Jason’s head snapped to the right, and he swore, before he laughed, and then we were fighting. Jason came at me with a solid one two punch that I blocked and ducked easily.

I swung my leg out and aimed a roundhouse kick right into Jason’s ribs. The thud of my foot connecting with flesh echoed through the gym. Jason grunted with pain and came at me with vengeance.

We danced around the ring, both of us hitting and dodging, striking and kicking. I was slowly wearing him down. Jason was starting to lag on his feet. Both of us had sweat pouring down our muscular bodies.

I went in for the kill. A one-two punch to distract Jason while I swiped my foot out and took out Jason’s legs, sending him sprawling to the mat.

I didn’t let up though, I dropped my elbow and my body weight on top of Jason in one of those TV professional wrestling moves that had Jason bouncing up in pain.

I didn’t let up though; I wrapped my thighs around his torso and locked my elbow around Jason’s neck in a chokehold.

The men around the octagon ring started yelling and shouting, but I held tight. Jason knew the rules, he could tap out at any time. “Tap out!” Nico called.

“Jason!” Luke shouted.

Finally, after hearing the kid’s voice, Jason tapped the mat twice.

I immediately let go and Jason rolled to his side, gasping for breath. “You good, man?”

“Yeah, thanks for the fight.”

Laughing, I slapped Jason on the shoulder before I stood up and walked away. I walked over to where Blaze and Phoenix were waiting with a bottle of water ready. Taking the bottle, I sucked back half of it in one large sip.