With Tongue and Teeth (6 page)

“Take
him,
” I yelled and before Justice could protest, I ran out from the
car to draw any fire aimed in our direction. No, I was not suicidal. Justice
was hurt. He couldn’t fight like I could and being angry helped. I ran to
another car, took out two men with two shots. I heard the bike start to drive
away. I took a quick glimpse to make sure Justice was on the back of it. He
was. Then I made a leap to the next car. I landed hard on my knees but didn’t
feel pain. Adrenaline is a beautiful fucking thing.

I caught sight of Mayhem having a
fistfight with two guys. And he was winning. I ran to the next car. Smoke was
still in the air. Between the Outlaws and the Underground
MC,
we had enough people to cause a real fight.
Laser shots were going off all over the damn place. Mayhem knocked the last man
standing out. He pulled his bike from the front of the peacekeeper’s car,
hopped on, and headed my way. The sounds were getting thinner. Our guys were
starting to retreat. Mayhem maneuvered the bike close. I jumped on and held
tight as we sped away. There were some shots too high to hit us and then we
were driving fast. Mayhem still had his cigar as we drove from the smoking
building. That’s when I heard the loud bang that made my bones damn near
rattle.

Mayhem glanced back and smiled.

It was fucking creepy. He only
smiled when he was about to come or when he blew something up. I was thankful
he was on our side. I held on to him as we traversed the city streets. The
gunfire was dying
down,
but more waves of
black smoke filled the air along with an acrid smell. “Thanks for the
rescue,
” I yelled loud enough for him to hear.

“Anytime,
brother.”

We drove off as the night
continued to conceal us.

Chapter Nine

“Here comes the idiot.” Outlaw’s
voice was low but deep.

Mayhem drove us to the end of the
city and deeper into the darkness than they would normally go. We met Outlaw
and my MC here. It was damn good to see their faces.

“I can’t believe you didn’t
radio us
.” He glanced at me with both brows
lifted. He still looked tired.

“Thanks for saving my ass.”

“Always,
brother.”
Outlaw winked. “We have to get back to the bar for our cover story.”

I nodded.

“Next time you blow shit up, invite
me,” Mayhem grumped.

I chuckled. They drove back
toward the city lights
sparkling
in the
night. Big plumes of smoke still filled the air. We had accomplished our
mission.
Taken down both peacekeeper buildings.
It was
a little
unconventional,
but we still got
the job done.

“You ready?”

I glanced back. I hadn’t even
known Nico was there in the darkness watching. “Where’s Justice?”

“Back at the
Underground clubhouse.
He was pretty beat up. We had to sedate him because
he wanted to wait for you.”

That made me smile.

“Get on. I’m not making my
pres
wait anymore.”

I nodded and joined him on the
bike. It wasn’t a long ride just a tricky one. The constructions zones were lit
up now. From here, I could see the immense amount of brightness thrown off by
large lights. Apparently, the government was taking extra precautions. The city
looked like it was sitting on a star the way the edges were glowing. The bike was
quiet as we made our way through red-sanded hills and large boulders. I wasn’t
paying attention to our surroundings. My mind was solely on Justice. How bad
was he hurt?

The door took forever to open and
then we glided down the ramp. The sight took my breath away. There were people
on the floor.
Our people.
It didn’t matter if they
were black or white, men or women. Blood was all the same color. Some were
unconscious.
Others screaming out in pain.
For me,
this moment defined the war.
Blood and pain.
We had to
move past that and the only way to do it was inciting more blood. It was like
an endless fucking cycle. I scanned the bodies as I walked, searching for
Justice,
but I heard him first.

“Let me the fuck up.”

“You have to let me check your
ribs.” Nero was trying not to yell, but I could hear the
frustration
in his voice.

“They’re not broken. Get the fuck
off. I need to find them.” Justice was louder now.

Them?
Who was he
looking for? I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Justice was on the
floor, the blanket too small for his large frame so that I only saw a patch of
it. He was pushing Nero and another man away.
“Justice?”

He paused, his head twisting to
stare in my direction. Then his gaze fell on me. He gave Nero a hard shove and
fumbled to his feet. Justice traversed our fallen brothers and made his way to
me with a slight limp. Then he was there.
Standing in front
of me with his face a blank mask.
“You’re both okay?” Justice pulled me
into a hug.

“I ain’t leaving you that
easily.” Wait, both?

Then I felt someone next to me.
He hadn’t just pulled me
in,
but he also
grabbed Nico. We stood in the middle of the aftermath and hugged like a bunch
of pussies. Despite that, I smiled and pulled him closer. It disturbed me
slightly that he was grouping me with Nico. Were we a threesome now? Is that
how he wanted it? I’d rather have just him but if I had to share...I don’t
know. Eh, right now it didn’t matter. Justice was alive.

Nico pulled away first.
“How you doing,
Pres
?”

“Sore.” He leaned on me.
“
Headcount
?”

“Well we have two injured, two
dead, and one
women
went into labor.”

Justice slid more weight onto me
and I stumbled. He wasn’t a small guy. “Let’s get you back down.” Nico took his
other side and we helped him back to his blanket. His face was bruised and apparently
his
ribs,
but there wasn’t any bad damage
that I could see.

“We need more gauze.” Nero was
suddenly beside me.

“I’ll
help,
” I spoke
quietly,
but
Justice wouldn’t let go of my hand. I wasn’t sure when he grabbed
it,
but he held on to me tightly. “Be back
soon.” Yeah, I went ahead and kissed him. It was really just a quick peck on
his
lips,
but it sent a few people
looking our way. Then I moved from my lover and into the midst of the chaos.

I held someone’s leg while it was
reset. I felt bad for the guy. He was yelling and fighting hard enough for me
to lose my grip before he passed out. I bandaged another man’s head. He had a
gash on it that looked like a laser shot had just missed blowing his brains
out. He sat there quietly like he was in shock. The third guy had bleeding ears.
Apparently, he was too close to the explosion. I managed to get his shirt off
and pull all the glass out of his back. I had to use a tweezer looking
thing,
but the guy didn’t even flinch. He just
kept tugging on his ears. Then I was thrust toward the pregnant woman. Yeah, I
was totally fucking lost on this one. I just sat next to her and gave her my
hand to squeeze while she popped a baby out. Took a while but I didn’t mind.
Then the infant was screaming and the mother was crying. I took that as my cue
to leave. I made my way back to Justice. I stepped over a pile of torn clothes.
The president of the Underground MC was just where I left him. But he had
company.
Nico.
It bothered me. Petty but it was how I
was feeling. Did Justice love his VP or me or was it both of us? I had no right
to ask. I was his
lover,
not his
boyfriend or anything. I was the guy that was easy to get along with, flirty,
fun but suddenly I was all possessive about Justice.

“Hey.” Justice stared up at me.
He was
scowling,
but it faded.

I sat next to him, the opposite
of Nico.

“I’ll get the guys in
place,
” Nico said, standing and leaving us.

“What are you planning now?” I
was rather
tired for
another assault on
the city.

“Just keeping our tunnels
secured.” Justice struggled to sit up. “Give me your hand. I’m not going to
lay
on this floor anymore.” He didn’t really need my hand.
Justice got to his feet
swiftly,
but he
held on. “Everyone’s bandaged and we have guards up in case they find us.”

“So where we
going?”

Justice
let
go of my hand and place his arm around my waist.
“My bedroom.”

“No offense, big guy, but I don’t
think you’re up for some vigorous sex.”

 
Justice scoffed but didn’t say anything else.

We moved from the main chamber
down the tunnel. The noise was fading off the farther we walked. I guess when
you’re the president you get the good digs. This place was a big area, the
walls rock, but with a real door that looked like it was secured with bolts.
There was a real bed, big enough for two with patched sheets and a blanket that
was old enough to retire. It wasn’t the fanciest place I’d
stayed at,
but it also wasn’t the worst. I led
him to the bed, catching sight of a table with a few old-fashioned books on it.
There were two laser guns and a knife beside the stack. Then there were chunks
of wood. It took me two glances to see they were carvings. I helped Justice
down to the bed. He was leaning against the dark wood headboard as I stared at
his desk. “You made these?”

“A hobby.”

I walked over to them and took
the biggest in my hand. The wood was smooth to the touch.
The
curves delicate and intricate.
It was a carving of a woman with large
breasts and a smiling face.

“When I was alone out here for
all that time...it helped to keep busy. That’s my mother’s face. What I
remember, anyway.”

I caressed the cheek with my
thumb and gently placed it down. Then I picked up the next one. This was a star
shape,
but the middle of the star was
carved to mimic the city. It was fucking beautiful. “I like this one.” I slid
my thumb over the bumps that formed buildings.

“It helps calm me down.
Helps me think.
Helps me not to feel so
alone down here.”

I glanced at him. There was a
piece of wood by the bed. I picked it up and was shocked to see a pair of eyes
staring back.

“That’s not done yet.”
“Who is it?”

Justice smiled, “You, Romeo. In
case anything happened or you left. I wanted to remember you.”

Wow. What was a guy supposed to
say to that? I was speechless as I looked at him, my lips parting but no sound
coming out.

“Don’t look so shocked.” He
winced as he moved.

“Ribs?”

“Yeah.
Took a good kick to them.
Just sore.”
He shifted again and then stilled.
“Romeo.
The fight
you brought to them. It was enough to start this war for us.”

“I wasn’t thinking about a war,
Justice. I was thinking about saving you.” I placed the wood down and moved
onto the bed. I
toed
off my boots and sat
beside him. “As much as I want to see your big black dick, you’re sore and I’m
tired. What do you say we sleep tonight and fuck tomorrow?” I thought it was a
good
compromise.

“Deal.”
He took his shirt
off very carefully, pulling it over his head and throwing it to the foot of the
bed.

I saw the scars on the upper
portion of his back then. They were such a light contrast to his skin that I
reached out and touched one before thinking. My fingertip followed the jagged
line down his shoulder blade. “How did these happen?”

Justice shifted to his side.

I got the full view of his back. It
wasn’t just the scars I had seen. There were
marks
along
his skin from
neck
to lower back. A few disappeared under the
rim of his pants.
Motherfucker.
They all had such
jagged edges. I knew they weren’t closed properly. They healed wrong.

“There was this slave my owner
bought.
A fucking kid, Romeo.
He was maybe eleven and
he was being punished. The bastard was whipping this boy because he dropped a
cup and shattered it.
A goddamn cup.”
Justice flinched
like he was remembering. “I stood up for him and they beat me.
Chained me next to him.
I had to stand there and watch them
whip him until he was bloody and unconscious.”

I took a deep breath, my eyes
tearing up. That was...unthinkable.

“And for trying to save him, they
cut me up. Not with a whip but with a knife.” He lay on his stomach with his
face toward me. “Slash after
slash
. It
hurt so bad I started crying.
Me. Crying.
But that
blade parting my skin was just too much. It was the first time since I was
taken into slavery that I cried.” Justice closed his eyes. “The boy died. I
killed my owner and ran away.”

My throat was too thick with
emotion to talk.

“I had to heal out here. It’s why
the scars are so...” Justice glanced away.

I rubbed my hand up and down his
back, making sure to caress the scars gently. No wonder he wanted this change
so much. He didn’t want anyone else to suffer as he did. I couldn’t help but
think of all the boys out there right now being whipped just because of their
skin color.
And the girls being raped for breeding purposes.
The human race had lost its way so drastically. I
lay
next to Justice and let the silence wash over us. I kept rubbing his back. Up
and down. This wasn’t about sex. This was about comfort. I moved closer and
laid my body against his. His hand came up, palm on the pillow and I placed
mine on top of his. The color contrast made me stare for a while. Just touching
him made the tension in his muscles ease. His breathing softened and I kept
stroking his back. Over and over until the man beside me let
sleep
take
him. What his nightmares must hold...

Tonight, I’ll be his rock in the
wind.