Free Blood of Cupids by Sophia Kenzie

don’t
have to tell me what you do in your free time, I certainly don’t have to tell
you.”
    “I’m sorry.” I looked up at him with my most contrived, sad
puppy dog eyes. “You’re absolutely right.”
    I stayed there in the moment, unfairly using my feminine
charms to get what I wanted.
    Of course, I won.
    “I have a match.” He gave in.
    “A boxing match?”
    “Yes.”
    “That’s exciting. Maybe I could come watch.”
    “Absolutely not.” His answer was too quick.
    “Why not?”
    “You said yourself, you can’t come to Southwest Philly.”
    “I could make an exception.”
    He strode back to me, grabbing my face in his hands. “Grace,
please, don’t ask me to explain, but just, please don’t come to the match. I’ll
be here Saturday morning; we’ll spend all day together. But, please, whatever
you do, stay here Friday night.”
    While I felt a tinge of guilt, I still wanted to play the
game. “Okay, I guess I’ll just have to find another man to keep me company.”
    I felt his body tense, and his lips pressed together. Club
guys got jealous so easily. It was kind of funny. He sucked in the air around
him and brought me closer. “Believe me, you don’t want to do that. Don’t even
play with me, Grace.” He looked around the room, regaining his composure. His
voice fell quiet. “Please, just don’t leave here Friday night. Stay in your
apartment. Please.”
    His concern was real. He knew what was happening, and he
didn’t want me to get caught in the crossfire. He pulled my lips to his and was
gone. I heard the front door shut behind him.
    After a few minutes, a motorcycle roared to life and
disappeared into the distance.
    What was I going to do?

Ryan
     
     
    I slept really well the past few nights. I’d organized our
club into groups, each tasked with riding into a different ally territory,
explaining our upcoming situation, and asking for aid. Now, all the allies
would be coming into town this evening to go over the game plan for our staged
match tomorrow. Each member had checked in with me, and we were all set to go.
I was actually pretty good at this whole leadership thing. Who knew?
    A few of the ol’ ladies were making a feast for the forty or
so club members that would be joining us for dinner. I peeked in the clubhouse
kitchen to check on their status, and they assured me that everything was going
according to plan. They were laughing and telling stories about their kids, and
I smiled as I imagined Grace in there with them, exchanging stories of her own.
Would she be having as much fun? Would she smile back at me, proud of the
initiative I took?
    Or did I even want her to be any part of this life? Would I
rather her be in our kitchen that we shared, just the two of us, far away from
it all?
    I hated that it had been five days since I’d last heard from
her. I wanted to surprise her and show up at her place, but I was attempting to
respect her wishes. Damn, it was hard.
    The cry of motorcycles knocked me out of my daydream. It was
time.
    I couldn’t believe the amount of support our allies were
showing us. While we were a dangerous organization, the majority of us would
rather stay under the radar and not put our clubs in harm’s way. Still, we’re a
family, and when one of us needs help, we’ll all be there in any way we can.
    Pops lifted his beer to quiet down the rally. “I want to
thank you all for coming here in our moment of need. I’m sure you all know
we’ve had some issues with The Walking Shadows in the past, but now
we’re just not sure what to expect. Most of you know my son, Ryan, who is the
newest Vice President of our club. Ryan?”
    Everyone started clapping. It was my turn to speak. I
dreaded this more than the possibility of getting shot tomorrow.
    “Hi. Hi. It’s great to see everyone, and as my Pops said, it
means the world to us to have you all here. Now, with all our clubs combined,
it comes out to fifty-three bodies. That’s about a third of what