Twisted Pieces (Back Down Devil MC #5)(20)

Jace whistled and everyone looked at him. The leader had the balls to raise a fist at Jace. So Jace did the only logical thing - he opened his leather cut to reveal his gun.

That changed the situation, fast. They all scattered back into the trees.

“Let me do this alone,” Jace said to Blaine. “I need to talk to the kid. It's better if you just wait. For legal reasons.”

“Just don’t kill him…”

“Again, Blaine, don’t f*cking tell me what to do.”

Jace climbed off his motorcycle. He took his helmet off and then he slowly walked over to the kid and stood there, looking down at him. Jacob’s nose and lip were bloody. His shirt stretched from being pulled at. His perfect hair was messy too.

“Where’s your father?” Jace asked.

“I don’t know. Working. He always works.”

“Your name is Jacob, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Your father is a judge, right?”

“Yeah. Why do you think that just happened?”

“That was because your father’s a judge?”

Jacob nodded. He sat up and wiped blood off his lip. “That bigger guy is Dan. He was arrested for underage DUI last summer. My dad was the judge on his case. He had bad history with Dan's dad, so my dad took it out on Dan.”

“And now Dan takes it out on you.”

“Yeah.”

Jace laughed. Funny how justice worked for some.

Jace put a hand out and Jacob took it. He pulled the kid to his feet. “Do you know who I am?”

“No. Why?”

“Are you afraid of me?”

“Yeah. I’m afraid of everything.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t have a gavel and power. My father does. Nobody can touch him. And I get to suffer for it.”

“I came here to kill you,” Jace said.

Jacob's eyes widened and he tensed up. He tried to step back, but Jace was right there with him.

“What did I do to you?” Jacob asked.

“Nothing. That’s just part of the problem here.”

“My father…?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

Jace laughed. “That’s a powerful word for a young kid.”

“I don’t give a f*ck,” Jacob said. “How’s that?”

Jace gritted his teeth. “You going to keep getting your ass kicked? Or are you going to eventually man up and fight back?”

“There were five of them.”

“I don’t care if there were ten. You fight the f*ck back, kid. Goddammit. You ran from that school like a baby. And you ran right into their trap.”

“You were following me?”

Jace reached out and put his hand to Jacob’s shoulder. His original plan was to twist his neck, but nothing was going according to plan lately.

“I know everything, kid. Don’t f*cking say stupid things. Tell me, do you want to be a bitch your entire life?”

“No.”

“Then fight back. That kid… Dan? He’s a *. You hit him once in the nose, he’d go down crying. Then watch the rest of his buddies help him.”

“And if I hit him and it does nothing?”

“Then you get your ass kicked. But you fight while it happens. You make damn sure to leave your mark on them. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because the next time they want to f*ck with you, they’ll stop and think about it. They’ll move on. I promise you.”

“And what if they kill me?”

Jace smiled. “Then you died fighting. And nothing matters more than that. It's always better to die with pride than to live like a *."

“Like my father?” Jacob asked and grinned.

“You don’t like him?”

“I hate him. I wish he was dead.”

Jace nodded. “Good answer, kid. That may have just saved your life.”

Jace pushed away from Jacob and backed up.

“Wait a second,” Jacob said. “Who are you? Why did you just let me go?”

“I don’t know,” Jace said. “I don’t know who I am right now or why I let you go. But I’m going to come back and check on you, kid. You better start fighting. Right now.”

“Are you going to kill my father?”

“I’ve thought about it.”

“If you do it, make sure you tell him I’m happy he’s dead. I’ve never hated someone as much as I hate him.”

“Sounds like a tough life, kid,” Jace said.

“Yeah, maybe. Guess it could be worse elsewhere.”

“I'll tell you something else, kid,” Jace said, “Don’t be an *. There are a lot of kids starving out there. But they have heart. They appreciate life beyond the bullshit life you have. Remember that. And start fighting. Because next time, I may not be in such a good mood.”

Jace turned and walked away. When he approached Blaine, Blaine put his hands up. “Everything okay?”

“No,” Jace said.

He put on his helmet and started his motorcycle.

There were two choices right now.

He could go back to the clubhouse and f*ck a reliever or he could track Jordyn down and f*ck her. Either way, he needed to get the f*ck out of the rich suburban bullshit before he snapped.