Wrong Side of Town (2 page)

He was in the Madden gang.

Chapter Two

Vincent

Estella was staring hard at my neck and I realized she’d seen the tell-tale tattoo on my neck. Her expression went from shock to fear to something I couldn’t put my finger on. Her reaction was nothing new—I got it all the time.

Sometimes though, like tonight, it really pissed me off how people only saw the tattoos and the piercings. They didn’t see me. They only saw what they wanted to. It was hard to lead a normal life when you were part of the Madden gang.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved the guys—they were like my brothers—but I hated moments like these ones where I couldn’t even approach a girl and talk to her without being judged for what I was instead of who I was.

Estella shot away from me, clutching her bag to her side. “Stay away from me. Don’t you come any closer or I’ll—”

“Or you’ll do what?” I challenged her.

She went silent as fear shot across her face. Her whiskey-colored eyes regarded me with apprehension, waiting to see what I would do next.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I stared off to the right. “Look, have I hurt you yet? I’m just another member of the public occupying a little bit of the pavement.”

Looking back at Estella, I saw that she’d straightened up and was eyeing me in disbelief. “You’re joking, right? You’re not just another member of the public—you’re a member of the Madden gang.”

“Thanks for stating the obvious, Stelle.” I wasn’t sure why I kept calling her Stelle, but it suited her. “Anything else you wanna add that I already know?”

Her nostrils flared and something in those eyes sparked like a lit fuse. “That you’re a delinquent and you go around doing drugs and killing people.”

Her comment got me all riled up, and I backed her up against the wall. Standing this close to her, I could smell the sweet scent that drifted around her mixed. That smell, and the burning look in her eyes were doing strange things to my head.

“You’re a damn firecracker, aren’t you?” I tilted my head to the side, just watching her watch me.

She held her tongue, but there was defiance in her eyes that excited me. The girls I hung out with weren’t like this. They’d never dare challenge me knowing who I was. They talked when I wanted them to, spread their legs for me when I wanted them to, and left me alone when I was sick of them throwing themselves at me. In this town when you had power, it attracted girls to you like you were some kind of fucking God.

Even though Estella was scared of me, she wasn’t afraid to face me with some bravado—as false as it was—and I liked that. Besides, the girl was fucking gorgeous. Her hair was long, honey-brown, with a messy effect that made me think she’d just gotten out of bed—and boy, was it a turn on to associate her with a bed. Her amber eyes made me feel like I’d just taken a shot of whiskey.

Even the way she dressed intrigued me. The baggy jeans and plain sweater hid her tall and willowy figure, but I imagined she had an amazing body beneath the loose clothing. It was completely different to the way the girls I hung around with dressed like. They let their tits and ass hang out in their skimpy and low-cut clothing. Estella’s easy going style was a nice change from what I was used to.

“Let me tell you something, darlin’.” I took a measured step away from her to escape her scent that was doing funny things to me. “Next time you run into a Madden, hold that feisty tongue of yours. The boys will do a lot worse to you than give you a jacket.”

Deep red splotches appeared on her cheeks, and she tossed her long, wavy hair behind her shoulder. “Don’t threaten me. I work at the community center; I’m around people from bad backgrounds all the time. You chose your life. You wanted to be this way. You’re an idiot and idiots don’t scare me.”

Despite my better judgment, I took a step towards her again and grinned. “Nice bluff, Stelle, but I can see the fear in your eyes.” I placed a hand on her chest, and she quickly pressed her back against the wall. “I can feel your heart racing. I can see how scared of me you are. Fear is a weakness and it’s your fear that gives me power over you, so let it go.”

For a moment I thought I’d freaked out her out into silence, but her lips tightened as she stared at me straight on. Her gaze was almost blank and instead of feeling like I’d made my point, I suddenly felt unsettled.

“Fear isn’t a weakness; it’s what makes us human.”

When I’d come out here tonight after finishing up a bike late at the garage, I’d never in a million years expected this. I’d never expected to run into a girl who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, despite being scared of me.

We didn’t break eye contact—I couldn’t. It was like this girl had reached into my mind and taken ahold of a part of me that I was still trying to figure out. No one had ever done that before.

The sound of an approaching car made us glance towards the street. A red Civic was slowly driving down the road, and from the way Estella stiffened, I could tell this was her brother.

“I guess your ride’s here.” The sound of my voice seemed to rouse her and she turned back to me with wide eyes. “I’ll see you around, Stelle.”

Her eyes never left me as I stepped back into the shadows. When the Civic pulled up, she hurried towards it but paused once she opened up the door. She briefly glanced back and sought me out in the darkness, but I knew she couldn’t really see me.

Still, it felt like a current had shot through my entire body, leaving me momentarily stunned, as I watched her search for me. Finally, she gave up and got into the car.

My eyes followed the beat-up car as it drove past and disappeared down the road. Letting out a long breath, I pulled another cigarette out and lit it up.

As I inhaled the smoke, it settled amongst my throat and lungs, calming me. My heart rate went back to normal as I leaned back against the wall, trying to forget about Estella’s whiskey eyes.

She was something else, that Estella. She was something I wasn’t used to; something I’d never experienced before.

It was like my life was on this set path already determined by my brothers, and all of a sudden Estella had run me off the road into a ditch. That’s how I felt right now. That’s what the effects of being close to her did to me. Now, I had to claw my way back into the real world and return to my life.

Feeling pissed at myself for letting a girl affect me like that, I started to head back to the garage that I ran with my brothers. My bike was back there and I had a fight to get to.

“Who was that?”

The voice came out of nowhere, but it was as familiar to me as my own. My brother, Tyson ambled towards me. He was twenty-two, only two years older than me, but sometimes I felt like he was the younger one. He was so reckless, so stupid, and took orders from our eldest brother, Ryder, without question.

Sure, I listened to Ryder too, but lately I’d been starting to wonder if Ryder was really making the best choices for us. Just because he was my big brother didn’t mean he was always right.

I tried to look unconcerned as I took another puff of my cigarette and looked at Tyson squarely. He was a lot leaner than I was but, man, was he was fast. During fights he’d be running circles around the other guy.

“Just some hooker,” I lied. “Told her no, so she found some other guy.”

Tyson leaned forward eagerly, rubbing his hands together. “How much was she asking for?”

Fuck. Of all the stories I could’ve made up, I had to pick the only one my brother would actually care about.

“Two hundred bucks.”

“Fuck off! I could get the works for one-fifty.” Tyson looked outraged as I handed him my cigarette and he took a long puff from it. “Besides, she wasn’t even dressed decent. Amateur.”

“Yeah, I think she was.” I swallowed, a bitter feeling in my mouth.

There was a part of me that wanted to protect Estella. She was so innocent, so naïve, and I didn’t want her drawing unnecessary attention to herself. Don’t ask me why I cared so much. I had no fucking clue.

Tyson looked excited as he lightly punched me on the arm, bouncing from side to side. “You ready for the fight tonight, little bro? Gonna win us some big bucks?”

I shrugged, watching Tyson flick the cigarette onto the ground and pull out his phone. “Did they give a time and place?”

He nodded. “Yep, the field past the Wilkins’ house in an hour.”

Shit. One hour. That was all the time I had to mentally prepare myself to beat the crap out of some sad son of a bitch.

That’s what I did. Once a week without fail, I fought in amateur fights originally set up by my boys and the Allbrook Gang. Over the years, the fights had become bigger, any guy wanting to make some quick cash entered—even if he had no ties to either gang—and the stakes were higher. There was a lot more money to gain if you won and a lot more money to lose if you got your ass beat.

Ryder had been one of first guys to start fighting, but over the years he had resigned himself to a coaching position and I had taken over as his key player. There weren’t many fights I’d lost—in fact, only three in my entire amateur career. Lately, I was winning all of them. Guys would come from out of town just to fight me, but I handed them their ass on a platter and sent them packing.

For this reason, Ryder loved me. He loved me because, just like Tyson, I followed him without question. With the three of us as a unit, no one dared to try and stand up to us.

See, the thing was, we weren’t just in the Madden gang, we
were
Maddens. We were the three Madden brothers, and Ryder had been the one to start the gang. No one dared question him. He was the authority around these parts and I was his muscle. With me by his side, everyone gave Ryder the respect he demanded.

“C’mon, little bro, get your bike and let’s get the hell outta here. We don’t wanna be late.”

Tyson was already climbing onto his bike, and I nodded towards the garage that was a few feet away. “You go on. My bike’s in the shop. I’ll get it and follow you.”

Tyson folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. “Not happening, little bro. I’m under strict orders to guard you ‘til we get there.” He unfolded a hand and patted his back pocket as though to reassure me. That was where he kept his gun.

He’d started carrying it around with him everywhere ever since a bunch of the guys from the Allbrook gang had tried to knock me off before a fight. Since then, Ryder made sure that someone was always with me before every fight just in case anyone was stupid enough to try the same thing again.

See, the thing was, a lot of money was spent on bets. Since I was the key fighter and I rarely lost, the competition tried to play dirty and get rid of me before the fight even began. That way, I was a no-show and they won the money without even raising a fist. Amateur fights were a dirty business.

“Fine,” I said with a shrug, “wait here. I’ll be back.”

“Uh-huh,” Tyson said, inclining on the bike as he waited for me.

I walked past him and around the corner to where the garage stood next to some ugly ass warehouse building that was run-down. The garage was where me and my brothers worked during the day fixing up cars and bikes. We had to keep up some sort of façade that we worked respectable jobs. Like that was fooling anyone. Everyone knew who we were and what we really did. The Madden gang was synonymous with drug dealing, amateur fighting, and crime.

On the other side of the ugly ass warehouse building was the community center where I’d just met Estella.

Just the thought of her, sent this strange feeling shooting through me, like I’d just injected myself with adrenaline. I was a fucking moron. In my world, it was ‘bros before hos’. I had to stop thinking about some random girl and start focusing on the fight that was to come.

My bike was parked just outside the shop—a 1999 Suzuki Hayabusa. The Hayabusa was my baby. It was my life. All the money I made from fights had gone into buying it, then restoring it, and now maintaining it. The Hayabusa was my lifeline.

I climbed on and kick started the engine. The bike came to life beneath my hands and despite everything, I smiled. I smiled because this bike was just about the most important thing to me. Apart from Dylan.

There was a helmet hanging off the back of the bike, but I never wore it. Helmets were for pussies and I figured if I died then I died.

I drove around the corner and found Tyson exactly where I’d left him, except his bike was idling now and he was gearing up ready to go. He threw me a sly grin as I came up beside him and I knew what that look meant. He wanted to race.

Throttling the engine, I nodded my head at him and sped off. I could hear him coming up behind me but his bike didn’t sound as smooth as mine. I’d put a lot of love into my Haybusa and I knew she would never lose in a race.

There was a cold chill seeping through my body as the wind whipped past me, frigid and unyielding. I’d forgotten that I’d given my jacket to Estella, and now I was freezing my ass off.

Lesson learned: don’t ever get on a bike unless you have a jacket on, moron.

Tyson easily fell behind and once we were out of the town and heading down the lone, long road to the Wilkins’ farm, I shifted into fourth gear and sped up even more. The usual thirty minutes flew by and we reached the outer lying field within twenty minutes.