Man Of Steel Read online

  I guess when you tell a woman’s family that she wasn’t going anywhere so they’d better figure out how the fuck they were going to deal with the loss of their family member it kinda put things in perspective for them. Our relationship has been going gangbusters ever since then.

  She played a big part in what I did with the crew these days, which makes life easier. With the hours I sometimes keep it would’ve been hard if she weren’t onboard, something else I had no experience with. I’d learned my lesson from my first go round and fair or not Lily bore the brunt of that shit. There were just some things that I wasn’t willing to put up with in our relationship and she had to figure out how the fuck to deal with my demands.

  So far she’d been keeping up so I guess it was all good. Though sometimes she gave me shit for putting another female’s shit on her shoulders. She knew that I took a hard line when it came to her because of the shit my ex had pulled and that I was not willing to walk that path again. Not that I expected her ass to cheat, but I was of the mindset that prevention was better than cure.

  I’d let her know what was and wasn’t acceptable behavior, she had a list because I was looking for any missteps. It might’ve seemed like overkill but like I’d warned her when I gave her that list. It beat me strangling the fuck out of her at some point in the future if she fucked up. Not for nothing but being cheated on left a bad fucking taste in my mouth. Not that I thought the lack was in me, I knew it was all on my ex, she chose to spread for someone else. Still as a man it fucked with m head for a minute. Had I cared one fuck about her at that point I probably would’ve done more than just walked away.

  With Lily I know shit would be different. When I first told her I’d kill her ass and bury her in a field somewhere if she fucked me over she laughed it off. When I didn’t join in she’d caught on real quick. “You wouldn’t really do that right? You can’t be serious.”

  “Babe, I told you a little bit about my past with my ex, what makes you think that I’d put myself through that shit a second time? You have no reason to fear unless you plan on fucking around on me at which point you’ve already been warned of the consequences.”

  That had been one of many conversations that I was sure made her want to run for the hills but she stayed and eventually she got used to me, and my ways. She knew she was safe with me, that I would protect her with my last breath. But she also knew that there would be dire consequences if she fucked up.

  The only other issue we had was over money. She made good money at her practice and had an independent streak a mile wide. That didn’t really fit into my ideal so we butted heads there for a hot minute until she figured out she could have more fun playing the market with her money than arguing with me about it.

  I liked knowing that when my woman put on something new that it was my money that had bought it. Or when she went out with her girls it was her man footing the bill. She got around that shit by spoiling my kid but that was okay. As long as I got my way we were cool.

  I had to put her out of my mind and focus on the shit I had to do tonight. It had been a few weeks since we’d started on this particular job and things were coming to a head soon. Shit had gone down that I wasn’t too pleased about and I knew from experience that coming into the stretch usually put assholes in a panic and made them do stupid shit.

  Chapter 7

  The boys were already mounted up and waiting when I rode up to our designated meeting place. With just a slight nod of acknowledgment, I went to the head of the crew and waited until they formed in line behind me and we headed out of town under cover of night.

  In the next town over was a little nine year old girl who’d barely survived the barbaric attentions of a two hundred and fifty pound pedophilic piece a shit who’d raped, battered, slit her throat and left her for dead. As an ex-cop I understood that the powers that be frowned on vigilante justice, as a father, if I’d caught the motherfucker before the law did he would be dead already.

  Stephanie was now one of us; anyone who could survive that shit had to have steel running under their skin with a healthy rod of it in their spine. Her mother had sounded the alarm a few weeks ago when it was coming on time for the trial. Our little warrior was having nightmares about her personal boogieman coming to get her in the dark. Can’t have that shit, can’t let him take not so much as another second away from that precious child, so every night for the past two weeks we’ve been standing guard outside her home.

  One crew took up night duty and another relieves us in the morning to escort her to school. Until the trial is over, she won’t be alone, and if she still needs us after that, well that’s what the fuck we do, we don’t leave until the job’s done.

  We pulled up outside the ranch style house in the little cul de sac. Every light in the house was on and I could see someone peeping through the curtains at the window. My heart hitched in my chest that one so young could know such fear. There was no justice in that, nothing good at all about this fucked up situation. No matter what anyone does or says from now on, this will be a part of her. It’s my job and my crew’s job to see it doesn’t become what defines her.

  As a cop my job would’ve already been done, unless the D.A. chose to call me to give evidence or something, I wouldn’t be involved in this side of things. I wouldn’t know of her fears in the night, or see her mom’s worry. I liked this way better, this way I get to see the job through from beginning to end.

  There were twelve of us who alighted from our bikes and removed helmets before heading towards the front door. We had a routine worked out by now. Each case is different; each woman or child has his or her own unique needs. Whatever it takes to make them feel secure is what we offer.

  Stephanie’s mother Donna opened the door just as we reached it and ushered us in. “How is she tonight?” We stood around the living room, which is where we usually started our nightly ritual. After getting a rundown of the day’s events from Donna I headed back to the room where Stephanie slept with her mom these days, too afraid to be in her own bed alone.

  She was sitting up in the middle of the bed, wide-eyed and alert. There were still some faded bruises around her face and the sight of the dark ugly puckered flesh around her neck where the monster had cut into her made me see red. The only draw back to having a conscience is that it keeps me from exacting vengeance the way I see fit.

  I have no qualms about bashing a motherfucker’s head in, but I won’t cross the line into murder. That’s a stand that I’ve been battling with for the longest time. Sometimes it seems that might be the only answer. But I know if I ever went down that road that I would be fucking up a lot of people’s lives. So I won’t be that selfish, no matter the satisfaction I might derive from ending one of these fuckers.

  “Good evening Ms. Stephanie how’re we doing this evening?” I kept my distance so as not to scare her. She was still a little skittish around men though she’d come a long way with the guys and I in the last few weeks. Still I knew to wait for a sign from her that it was okay to move closer. She must always feel like she’s in control, that she was the one calling the shots. That was part of rebuilding her confidence and her general sense of safety, something that was going to take years to achieve.

  “Evening Blade.” She gave me one of her shy smiles as she plucked at the comforter that covered her tiny frame. Nothing chokes me up faster than seeing a female in distress, especially one so young. I can’t help but to see my little Holly, my lil bit, in her place. What would that do to me as a man? To see my little girl so hurt and broken and damn near destroyed?

  The sad part about this particular situation is that Stephanie’s dad had passed not long before she’d been attacked, adding insult to injury. She’d been struggling with the loss of a man who by all accounts had done everything in his power to shield and protect his little girl.

  No sooner than he’d been put in the ground than this asshole had struck. It was almost as if the sick bastard had been waiting for just such an opportunity.
From what I’d learned Kevin, the father, had been a hands on dad. He took his kid to and from school everyday and kept an eagle eye on her and her mom.

  He was another one that had understood what the world was really like and knew the need to go that extra mile to protect the ones he loved. A drunk going the wrong way had put an end to a decent man who’d been out getting balloons for his kid’s birthday party. Two weeks later she was taken on her way home from school.

  The mother was wracked with guilt because she couldn’t pick up the slack from where her husband had left off. But with the man of the house gone she’d had to go back out to work and her hours didn’t allow her to be home until at least an hour after Stephanie came home in the evenings.

  It should’ve been safe enough to walk the few blocks home from the schoolyard, but somewhere between there and here the monster had struck, and their lives were changed forever. Her little eyes scanned the room like a cornered rat and I could feel the fear coming off her in waves. It was approaching full dark now, the time when her fear became paramount. It would take a few minutes for her to quell the fear the way we’d taught her to.

  Soon she’d climb down off the bed and take my hand and I’ll lead her out to the living room where the others were waiting. After the hellos were exchanged we’d walk her around the house to show her where everything was secure, then I’d point out to her where each team was going to be. I’ll check her walkie talkie to make sure it was working as well as the panic button we’d gotten her.

  When she was assured that all was in order we’d take our places around the perimeter of the house and settle in for the night. Tonight was no different than the ones that came before and we went through our paces, each man patient and attentive to the little girl that we’d sworn to protect.

  When she was breathing easy and laughing shyly at our silly attempts to make her smile we knew it was time for her to call it a night. Donna said her goodnights and walked her daughter into the bedroom they now shared and we turned to leave the confines of the house as the little nightlight came on.

  “Stryder, any word on the brother yet?”

  “Nope, fucker’s in the wind.”

  “That’s cool he won’t get close anyhow.” The perp’s brother was rumored to be picking up where his brother left off, since the law had decided it was easier to keep the fuck safe behind bars than it was out here in the open. After we’d gotten involved, life for Dwayne hadn’t exactly been going too good.

  “What about that other thing I told you to do, where are we on that?”

  “It’s being taken care of as we speak; chill Blade everything’s being handled.” There was a slight pause as he looked back at the house.

  “You think she’ll be able to sleep tonight?”

  Sometimes I forget how young some of my guys were. They tended to be such hard asses that it was easy, and it wasn’t often that you got to see the soft side of any one of them. But to a man, each and every one of these cases we’ve worked so far, they’ve given a hundred and ten percent. I’ve seen more heart in these ex cons and delinquents than in all the do gooder politicians who’re always running around spouting air out their ass.

  “She’ll be fine Stryde, our girl is tough.” I could hear the soft timbre of the others as they patrolled the perimeters of the house. Not that we expected anyone to actually show up here. Dwayne was in the pen for his own protection and we had our guys in the surrounding counties on the lookout for his brother Sid.

  Chapter 8

  My phone rang and I grabbed it on the second ring. “It’s me.”

  “Yeah Blade, just wanted to let you know I’ve partially barbecued old Sid.”

  “You did what? Deke…”

  “Hey I was torching the woods behind their house like you said, not my fault his ass was hiding out back there. Besides I said partially, there’s still some of him left...hey shut the fuck up I’m on the phone here.”

  I could hear what sounded like a pig squealing in the background. “Is that him screaming in the background?” Fucker sounded like something out of Deliverance.

  “Yep.”

  “Deke get that boy to a hospital.”

  “The fuck would I wanna do that?”

  “Deke…”

  “Fine, fine, fucking cop.”

  I hung up the phone on that pithy remark. Deke and I had come a long way since his days as a street tough. We were cool like brothers as were the rest of us, but he never let me forget that I was once a ‘stinking cop’ as he puts it, and what he thinks of my past profession.

  “Stryder are you fucking insane, you sent Deke to torch the woods?”

  “Yeah and? What did he do, did he torch the farm?”

  “No he torched Sid. That shit’s not funny you know what the sheriff said. Next time he’s hauling all our asses in.” I wasn’t too worried about the empty threat because there was no way it was gonna happen, but the old man thought it was a good way to keep the boys in line. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it didn’t work; that these fuckers were a whole other breed from what he was accustomed to dealing with.

  Not long after that the nightlight in the room went off. That was our cue that Stephanie had finally gone to sleep. Good, at least she’ll have one more night of rest. The way things had been going we were starting to get worried about her health.

  When we took a case we didn’t just show up and hang around like henchmen, no we went the extra mile. That meant following her to and from the house, making sure she did all the normal things a kid her age should be doing.

  Her mom had reported that she’d been dropping back at school, lack of sleep and stress was weighing on her young mind so much that she couldn’t keep up her grades. Where before she’d been a better than average student, she was now barely keeping up. Part of our job was to give her back the confidence she needed to get back to where she was before all of this happened.

  Lily was a part of the crew now, she was the only doctor I trusted to look after our charges after I’d seen the way she handled herself with little Amy that first night we met. So even if we came to a situation and there was already a doc involved, which was about ninety eight percent of the time, I still had them checked over by Lily. In most cases the families ended up using her as their primary after the dust had settled. My girl was that good.

  Lily! Damn, the thought of her still makes my heart pound and my dick hard. Almost two years down the road I’m thinking it might be time to take that next step. I had no hang ups because of the demise of my first go around, one woman was about as different from the other as two people could get. Besides, I wasn’t one to hold onto to bullshit baggage.

  Deanna had been a hard lesson, I was young, horny and dumb when we first met but it hadn’t taken long for the shine to wear off. Still I’d made a commitment and I intended to see it through. Then she’d fallen pregnant eight years after we were married. I’d lost that loving feeling for the selfish, self centered woman who’d hidden her true self for the first few years of our marriage, but the knowledge that I had a kid coming had me on the moon.

  I started planning for my seed from the moment I heard those two words, ‘I’m pregnant’. I didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl I just knew I wanted it. I’d tried back then to relight that spark that had been there in the beginning but too much had passed by then and I couldn’t do it.

  For my kid though I decided to stay. I’d been raised in a loving family with both of my parents, aunts, uncles, grand parents and an abundance of cousins and extended family. I wanted my kid to have the same. Things hadn’t worked out that way so now we were all making the best of what we had.

  Deanna still tries every once in a while to get back into my bed but that was never gonna happen, and now with Lily in the picture there was no way in hell. Lily was just what I needed in my fucked up life. At the time we met I’d been in the middle of turning my life completely upside down. I had a new business and was part of something that filled the void left
after I’d quit the force.

  I was still a little raw and angry from the shit that had went down in my marriage, not to mention the shit that was going on in the force and life just seemed to be thirty shades of fucked up. She’d blazed into my life with her fiery attitude and her fuck me body and I haven’t been the same since.

  Lily has one of those pinup girl figures, heavy on the tits and ass and little on the waist with a yard of raven colored hair that brushes the top of her ass when she walks. And boy what a walk! She’s all of five two, olive skinned, big brown eyes and lips that made me think of sinning every time I look at them.

  Her voice makes me want to fuck her into the wall hard and furious, and her sweet smile makes me want to wrap her up in cotton balls and protect her always. Yeah, I think it’s time I put my ring on her finger. I know she wasn’t going anywhere but still, women needed that shit to make them feel secure and loved or some fuckery. Plus if I put a ring on Deanna’s trifling ass it would be a grave insult not to marry the woman who was truly the owner of my heart.

  I was brought back to the present by the beeping of my phone. “What’s up D’Angelo?”

  “You call Jake?”

  “No, why?”

  “He’s headed this way.”

  “No problem.” I closed my phone and waited.

  Jake was an old buddy of mine; in fact he was the only cop still on the force that I could say I was truly impressed with. He was honest to a fault and always went the extra mile. He didn’t suffer fools lightly and had a rep for facing down anyone who got in his way no matter who.