Under Wicked Crown 2

The sound of gunfire echoed through the darkened streets of Santa Jago. The gunfire was mixed with the loud rumbling of several motorcycles. In a flash, a car zoomed down the darkened street. The motorcycles were in pursuit of it.

More gunshots rang out followed by the clanking sound of bullets hitting the metal body of the car. When one of those bullets pierced the car’s tire, it began to swerve. Seconds later, it crashed into a chain-link fence that surrounded the front yard of a house.

The motorcycles approached the wrecked vehicle. Each one came to an abrupt stop. The biggest of the three men dismounted the bike and yanked a helmet off his head.

With a gun in his hand, Dash approached the driver of the car. It was a young, Native American man. Blood was trickling down his face. He had a large cut on his forehead. No doubt an injury from the wreck.

“Get out,” Dash said.

“I’m sorry, man! I… I’m just-I…” The young man was struggling to find his words.

“I said get out!” Dash said more firmly.

“Okay, okay…” said the boy. With Dash’s gun trained on him, he slowly opened the door of the vehicle and stepped out of the car. He raised his shaking hands in the air.

“Where is it?” asked Dash.

“In-in the trunk… But listen, man, I’m just doin’ what I was told. I didn’t know I was in King territory. I don’t want no trouble from the Kings!”

Dash gave a nod of his head to the trunk. The other two men with him were Sloan and Bo. Sloan approached the trunk and shot the lock off with his gun. This caused the young man to flinch. His hands were still shaking as he watched Sloan push open the trunk and find a duffle bag.

“All there?” asked Dash.

“Yeah, it’s here.”

Dash turned his attention back to the man. “You said you were doing what you were told? Who the fuck told you it was okay to rob Kamal’s Corner Deli?”

“Uhh… “ The young man looked away nervously.

“Spit it out!” Dash exclaimed. He was growing impatient.

“Alright, alright!” the guy said, his tone panicked. “The SWM.”

Dash’s brow furrowed slightly, then he glanced at Bo and Sloan. Unlike him, they seemed to know what that meant.

“What the fuck’s the Spirit Warrior’s doin’ back in Santa Jago?” said Bo.

“I-I I dunno, man! I just do what they fuckin’ tell me. I don’t talk to the higher ups,” said the guy.

Sloan pulled the bag out of the trunk and hung it over his shoulder. “Hunter’s gonna want to know about this shit.”

Dash looked from Bo to Sloan then back to the kid. “What do we do with him?”

“Hey, hey! You got back what I took, man! Just let me go, okay? I swear, I won’t set foot in your territory again!”

Bo lifted his gun and pressed it to the boy’s head. “I think we should kill him. That’d send a message to the SWM. Make ’em think twice about moving in on our territory!”

“Wait, no! Com’on, man! I swear I didn’t know! Please don’t fucking kill me! Please!” exclaimed the boy.

Dash’s lips formed a frown. Just how old was this kid? 16? 18? 21? He couldn’t be much older than that. Should they really blow him away just for falling in with the wrong fucking gang?

“Let him go,” Dash said.

“What?” Bo scoffed. “You’re new. You don’t know this fucking gang. This kid here, he’s just the fucking beginning. We don’t nip this in the bud now, we’re going to have a fucking bloodbath on our hands.”

“He’s not wrong, man. The SWM are fucking ruthless,” Sloan said.

“Please, PLEASE, I swear… I won’t come back. I won’t,” said the kid.

“You think killing him is going to stop whatever the fuck this is? Maybe he didn’t know this is our territory but his fucking president did. Killing him isn’t going to do shit. Let him go,” Dash said.

Bo gave Dash a hard look. He reluctantly pulled the gun back only to swiftly pistol whip the kid upside the head. The action was hard enough to knock the kid out cold. His body fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

“You don’t fuckin’ tell me what to do, cop,” Bo said with malice in his eyes. He glanced at Sloan, nodded his head, then the two of them walked towards their bikes. They drove off, leaving Dash alone with the wreckage.

His chest heaved with a heavy sigh as he looked down at the unconscious kid. It had been about a month since he went on that gun run and decided to leave his life as a cop behind him. Unfortunately, something like that wasn’t easily forgotten.

He glanced at the cut he was wearing over his jacket. It said he was a King but somehow, he still felt like a fucking outsider.

Would he ever fully be accepted as a King? Only time would tell.

He left the unconscious kid and got on his bike. After securing his helmet, he sped off into the darkness. Some time later, he arrived at the Saintly Sinners bar. The bar owned and run by the Kings.

He left his helmet on his bike and pushed through the entrance. Classic rock was playing over the jukebox. A few guys were seated at one of the tables. The table was cluttered with beer bottles. He was only a few steps in when he was attacked.

Well, not exactly ‘attacked’.

A stout feminine form practically leapt into his arms. Her lips were attacking his and he had no choice but to submit to her. He kissed her back, roughly and passionately as his hands roamed her backside.

When she finally came up for air, her blue eyes met his. “How’d it go?”

“It was just some fuckin’ kid,” Dash said as he lowered Bambi back to her feet. “Didn’t know what the fuck he was doing.”

“So you got Kamal’s money back?” asked Bambi. Her fingernails lightly scraped against the side of his neck.

“Yeah, Sloan’s got it. They back yet?” He glanced around the bar but didn’t see Sloan or Bo.

“Don’t think so. You guys split up?” Bambi pulled her hand away from him and sauntered over to the bar from which she had come.

Dash couldn’t help but check out her ass that was practically spilling out of those cutoff jean shorts. He snapped out of his brief trance and followed over, leaning his elbows onto the bar.

“The kid said he was a part of the SWM. What is that? Some kind of gang?” asked Dash.

Bambi met him on the other side of the bar, and at the mention of the SWM, her eyes grew wide. “What? Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Bo wanted to blow the kid away over it. What the fuck’s going on?” he asked, still very much confused.

“The SWM used to run Santa Jago. Back before Hunter was president. The Kings ran them out. But it was bloody. You think the Lobos were bad, these guys are ten times worse. Trafficking, drugs, kidnapping, murder. You name it, they’ve fuckin’ done it. If they’re trying to force their way back in, it’s going to be an all out war,” Bambi said.

Bambit placed a bottle of beer on the counter before him. He popped it open as he thought about what she was saying. How had he not heard about this gang before? He guessed all that must have happened after his mom moved him away.

“You should tell Hunter,” Bambi said.

“Hunter will barely fuckin’ look at me, Bam. I’m lucky he hasn’t kicked my ass outta here,” Dash said before taking a swig of his beer. The bitterness of it rippled over his tongue before he licked his lips.

“He knows he needs you. He’s just taking a while to come around. You know how stubborn he is,” she said.

“Yeah, kinda like someone else I know.” A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Bambi narrowed her eyes then reached across the bar and punched him square in the shoulder. “If I wasn’t so fucking stubborn, you’d be sleeping alone, not to mention fucking dead, so I’d watch my mouth, if I were you.”

“Fuck, alright, you got me…” Dash said, yet he was still grinning.

Bambi grinned back at him then she turned her attention to the door as Bo and Sloan came inside.

Bo gave Dash a glare then his expression softened when he met eyes with Bambi. “Hunter in the back?”

“He was, last I saw him,” Bambi said.

Bo didn’t say anything more. He and Sloan disappeared into the back.

“Go with them,” Bambi said.

Dash looked at her and shook his head. “That’s not a good idea.”

“Hunter chose you to get that money back and you did. Whether you were a fucking cop or not, you’re an asset to this club. You can’t wait for him to fucking realize it on his own. You own that fucking shit. You make him see it,” she said.

Dash looked at her for a long, hard moment. He knew she was right. How was she always fucking right?

He didn’t say anything back to her. There was nothing to be said. He left his beer on the counter and headed to the back. Bo and Sloan were in Hunter’s office. He stepped in behind them.

“You’re sure?” Hunter asked Bo.

“A hundred fuckin’ percent sure. The SWM is back. And if I had my fucking way, I would have blew that kid away right then and there, but the fucking cop thought it was a bad idea.”

All eyes moved to Dash. He frowned. “He was just a fucking kid. Wrong place wrong fucking time. Killing him wouldn’t change anything.”

“It would have sent a fucking message! It would have let the SWM know we’re not going to roll over and let them move in without a fight!” said Bo.

“Sloan, what’s your take on this shit?” asked Hunter.

Sloan shrugged his shoulders. “Probably shoulda wasted the kid. The cop’s too fucking soft.”

A tick went off in Dash’s jaw. He wasn’t fucking soft. He just didn’t see the point in killing without reason. It was just a fucking kid, not some hardened criminal.

Hunter nodded his head. “Thanks for giving me a heads up. You guys can head out. I’ll fucking talk to him.”

Bo and Sloan turned to leave, and on the way out, Bo made sure to shoulder bump Dash. Dash stumbled slightly and shot a glare at the back of Bo’s head.

“You got some fucking balls,” Hunter said, bringing Dash’s attention back to him. “I sent you to take back what was stolen from us. Kamal pays us to keep his business protected. And I fuckin’ honor that shit. But you, you’re on the bottom of the fucking totem pole. You don’t call the shots. Bo wants to off the kid, you fucking off him. You wanna take the moral highroad? Go back to the fucking police station.”

Dash narrowed his eyes and averted his gaze away from Hunter. Was it his former job holding him back? Maybe. Or maybe he just had enough fucking sense to not kill without reason. Killing Frank Jennings, pulling that trigger, it fucking changed everything for him. He lost his job, he was being investigated for murder. If Hunter had kicked him out of the Kings, he’d have nothing.

In his heart, he didn’t regret avenging his dad. But logically, he knew it was the wrong call. He didn’t want to make that mistake again.

“So you just gonna stand there and not say anything like some fucking bitch?” Hunter said.

“What do you want me to say, Hunter?” Dash said, anger bubbling inside of him. “You want me to say I made a mistake? Fine, I fucking made a mistake. But I got the fucking job done, didn’t I? You got Kamal’s money back and that was ’cause of me. You can hold this fucking cop shit against me all you fucking want, but you need me. Bo and Sloan wouldn’t got that shit done without me, and you know that.”

It was Hunter’s turn to narrow his eyes. For a long moment, the two of them stood there with nothing but silent animosity in the air, then Hunter breathed out a sigh.

“Get the fuck outta my office,” he said.

Dash stood there a moment. He considered saying something more but decided against it. He left, roughly pulling the door closed behind him.