A Year in the Life: Stand By Your Man

“Wake the fuck up!”

Macon was awakened by a punch to the stomach, he groaned doubling over in the chair. Two pairs of hands pulled him up, slamming him against the back of the chair.

“…the fuck…” he coughed.

“All you had to do was stop selling on our turf. Thought we’d come to an understanding”

“Me too…it was Dog territory first…before you even grew hair on your balls” Macon spat. One of them punched him in the stomach and he doubled over with a groan.

“Y’know, I’ve scouted out your ‘club’ and it makes me curious about what they’ll do to get you back” he grinned.

“Well…I hope you like bein’ disappointed…” Macon smirked.

Marie took a calming breath as Luke’s cellphone went to voicemail for the tenth time that day.

“Luke, I swear to God you better pick up this damn phone, I expect this shit from Matt not you. You know damn well why I callin’, I haven’t heard from your father in a full week and if someone doesn’t tell me something soon, I’m gonna come down to that club house and make it everyone’s problem!”

She slammed her phone down on the counter with a huff.

“Still can’t get ‘em?” Siobhan asked.

“No…and I’m starting to worry… I mean…when we last talked, he said he’d see me that night…” Marie sighed. She’d been running late for class and Macon had driven her to school. He’d kissed her long and hard, taking her breath away.

“..you know you can’t be kissin’ me like that this early in the morning…” She breathed. “I’ll be horny in class”

“…got time for a quickie?”

“You know I don’t” she rolled her eyes, slipping out of the car.

“You need me to pick you up, babe?”

“I gotta study, Dan will drive me home”

Macon growled, “…I hate that guy”

“You hate all the guys I hang out with”

“There’s more then one?!”

“Goodbye, Macon…!”

Marie bit her lip, “Somethings wrong, I know it. Macon wouldn’t just disappear like this and not tell me he was going somewhere first”

“I’ll call Matt, there’s no way he doesn’t know something”

“I’m sick of waiting and I’m sick of playing phone tag…!” Marie announced, grabbing her jacket.

Matthew rolled his eyes when he saw Marie come through the door of the clubhouse.

“Who the hell let her in here?!”

“Fuck you, Matt, you know damn well why I’m here” she glared, planting her hands on her hips. “Where’s Macon?”

Matt looked away, “How the hell should I know?”

“If you’re gonna lie to me you shoulda practiced” she glared.

Matt grumbled, walking away from her and she followed, “You know me, Matthew. I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me”

“Listen, bitch, you may be my dad’s whore but that don’t mean I own you damn thing…!” He hissed at her.

“Then maybe you’d prefer if I got your aunt down here” Marie hissed back.

“Why the hell are you getting her involved?!”

“She’s just as worried about Macon as I am. I promised her I’d find out something just so she wouldn’t come down here herself” Marie said, crossing her arms and cocking her hip.

Matthew sighed deeply, “Fine…dad was…we think he was taken by a rival gang…”

Marie felt the air freeze in her lungs. “…what…? Who? Who has him?!”

Matt looked reluctant to tell her.

“Matthew…I swear to God you better tell me what you know…”

“We…think it’s the DX 12s…but we’re not sure…”

“Well what the hell are you doing about it?! How do we get Macon back?”

“We don’t” he sighed again. “Dad has a policy, no negotiations, one of us gets caught that’s the end of ‘em. No matter who he is, no matter what position”

“So what you’re just gonna leave him to rot?!”

“Yeah, I am. Hounds stick to the code, no matter what”

“He’s your father…!”

Matt looked her dead in the eye, “No matter what”

And for the first time, Marie was intimidated.

Matt rubbed his eyes, “Look, even if they do have him…he’s probably dead by now. If I were you, I’d move on, you got a family somewhere, right? Just…go home to ‘em. Forget you ever had anything with my dad”

Marie left in a daze, what the hell had Matt meant?

Forget about Macon?

There was no way she could possibly do that. She loved Macon, there was no way she would abandon him like this. That’s when she had the idea, the terrible, worst idea she could ever think of, but the only one she could come up with.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket, “Siobhan? I got a plan to find Macon…but you’re not gonna like it…”

“Man, I’m sicka all dese hood rat hoes…” Lemar scoffed, glancing around the crowded dance floor from the VIP section.

“We go to da same club e’ery Friday, fuck you expect?” Marquis shrugged. “Sides, there’re a few baddies up in here we ain’t smashed yet”

“Hold up…hold up, who dat?” Lemar gestured to a girl sitting by herself at the bar. She was thin with long legs peeking out of a too short black dress. Her thick black hair was playfully tousled, draping her back.

She disinterestedly stirred her drink.

“…never seen her before…” he licked his lips.

“…yeah me neither” Marquis  glared suspiciously.

“Yo…bring ‘er over here, man”

“I’m not so sure, man, new is dangerous”

“What the she gone do? She’s what? 100, 110 pounds?” Lemar laughed, “Now bring her over”

Marquis sighed, doing as he was told. Lemar smirked as the girl sashayed her way over to him.

“Hey shortie, whacho name is?”

“We both know you don’t care what my name is” she smirked back, cocking her hip.

“You right, you right…that mean you don’t wanna sit with me? Let me buy you some drinks?”

“Never said that…” she purred, slipping into the couch beside him. “Sex on the Beach”

“Mmmm…damn bae you teasin’ me now…” he said, reaching out to stroked her exposed thigh.

“I haven’t even started, daddy” she smiled.

Lemar’s head spun and his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton.

“…is he awake yet?”

“…I think he’s coming to…”

He opened his eyes and standing over him was that girl, the new one at the club. What the hell happened?

She’d sat next to him and he’d bought her a drink. He’d started kissing on her and she suggested they go somewhere private. She’d tugged him into the bathroom and that was the last thing he remembered. Now there she was, smiling at him with a poison sweet smile.

“Good morning, daddy”

“…the hell…?” he moved to rub his pounding temples only to find his hands tied to the back of the chair he was sitting in. “…the fuck did you do to me?!”

“Just a little sedation…thought you wanted to party”

“Stupid bitch...You ain’t got…no idea who you fuckin’ with…”

“Lemar Jackson, enforcer for the XD 12s” she said, leaning back in her own chair, crossing those long legs.

“…then you know how bad you fucked up…”

“I’m sure…”she smiled. “Look, I just have one question. Just one, and we can all get out of here, you can put a hit out on me or whatever you do. But first, where is Macon O’Leary?”

“…don’t know who that is…”

Something beeped in the darkness behind her, she tilted her head toward the noise.

“You hear that? That sound means you’re lying to me” she got up out of her chair flicking in a light above his head. It illuminated a table beside him covered in

“You lying to me means I’m going to hurt you until you tell me the truth” she grinned slipping on the plastic gloves. She then picked up an apple peeler.

“I’ve always wanted to peel a man’s dick like a banana…or maybe it peels more like a hot dog…either way, we’re gonna find out” she grinned.

Macon was kicked awake, jerking in his chair.

“Wake the fuck up”

Macon coughed and spat the blood from his mouth, “…gotta take a piss…”

“Uh uh, first you gone tell me what the fuck this is”

Macon squinted at the phone screen shoved in his face. It was a photograph of a mutilated body tied to a chair the wall behind it spray painted with the words WHERE IS MACON O’LEARY?

“You’re boys do dis? Thought you said no one was comin’ for ya, lying muthafucka...!”

Macon was punched in the face and he chuckled darkly, “…sorry…but I’m pretty sure none a my boys wear red lipstick”

“What?!”

Macon spat out more blood, “…zoom in on that picture…whoever did that to ‘im…kissed him goodbye…”

Glancing back at the picture, he saw it. Even covered in blood, there was a bright red kiss mark standing out on Lemar’s cheek.

Marie and Erica strode into Siobhan bar after hours.

“How’d it go?” Siobhan asked, pouring them drinks.

“Another pass up…” Erica sighed sitting down at the bar. “This one admitted the XD 12s took Macon but he didn’t know exactly who had him or where”

“We’re getting close, moving up the ranks. The XD 12s must be getting nervous” Marie sighed, shooting back her tequila. “…thank you Erica. You didn’t have to help me, you didn’t have to do any of this…”

Erica shrugged, “We’re friends and you needed my help. Besides it’s like we’re spies or something”

Marie rolled her eyes.

“I’m just worried about them finding you” Siobhan sighed, refilling her glass.

“Guys like that don’t see women. We’re just objects to them, no matter what I do or who sees me, they’ll never put 2 and 2 together”

“They might if you keep leaving kisses…” Siobhan glared.

“It’s the only way to take blame away from the Hell Hounds. Otherwise they’d just think it was retaliation and it would lead to a gang war. Then we’d never get Macon back” Marie replied.

Siobhan shook her head, “…we don’t even know if he’s alive…”

Marie shrugged, “If he’s not, we at least got our payback”

 “The leader of the XD 12s wants a meeting?” Matt glared.

“Did I stutter?” the sullen teenager glared.

“What the hell for?” Luke crossed his arms.

“Fuck if I know, this the meetin’ place. Boss say you can bring whoeva you want” He said, handing Matt a crumpled piece of paper before stalking down the street.

“The fuck could this mean?” Matthew began. Luke shrugged, “Maybe they wanna bargain for dad…”

“You think he’s still alive?” Matt scoffed.

“What else could they want?”

“To gloat”

“They’d a sent us his body if they wanted to do that”

“I don’t like this”

Luke hesitated, “If dad is alive and they’re lookin’ to deal for him, you really wanna give up that chance?”

Matthew glared as Darius Jones, leader of the XD 12s stepped into the abandoned warehouse. He was flanked by three of his lieutenants. Matt never liked the man, something bothered him about a thug that dressed as a businessman. He held himself above those who worked for him. Macon O’Leary never did that. The others in the club were his brothers, he never acted like he was better then anyone.

Darius gave the brothers an easy smile, “Gentleman…I don’t think we’ve ever had the pleasure of formally meeting…”

“We know who you are” Luke spat.

“Knock off the phony pleasantries,  you called this meeting, now what the hell do you want?” Matt glared.

“I merely want to put all the animosity of the past behind us” Darius threw up his hands, “We have something that you want and we want to give it to you”

Luke glanced at his brother, Matthew didn’t take his eyes off Darius.

“And what do you want in exchange?”

“Just for you to call off your attack dog…or should I say, bitch” Darius grinned, showing off his gold teeth.

Matt didn’t flinch, “You give us what we want and we’ll consider it”

Darius’ smile cracked but he snapped his fingers and two of his bodyguards disappeared into a back room.

They came back with a battered Macon O’Leary. There was blood caked on his nose, soaked into his month old beard. His face was bruised, lip busted and his left eye was swollen shut.

He smiled at them cordially, “Hey boys, been awhile”

“Gotta admit…I never woulda thought to do what you boys did. That’s what makes it so damn ingenious” Darius laughed. “Usin’ a bitch to get info outta my men then killin’ ‘em when you were done…you gotta tell me how you pulled it off”

Matt glanced back at Darius. “Ain’t got no idea what you’re talking about”

Darius’ smile cracked again, “What?”

“The policy of our club is no negotiatin’, no persuin’. You get in trouble, it’s up to you to get yourself out. You say some bitch’s been targeting your men trying to find Mack here? We ain’t got nothin’ to do with it. Though…Macks always been popular with the ladies, maybe one a them fell in love with his dick” Matt smirked. Luke snorted.

Macon shrugged, “Always a possibility”

Darius looked shaken, his men confused, but they still let Macon go. Matt and Luke helped their father into his pick-up.

“You ok, dad?” Luke asked.

“…been worse…” Macon scoffed, popping his nose back into place, he hocked blood out the window. “Think my ribs are bruised insteada broken…”

“We’ll get ya patched up…”Matt began.

“…how’s Marie?”

“Back to wherever she came from if she’s smart” Matt scoffed.

“Haven’t seen ‘ er. Siobhan said she’s been hangin’ around” Luke replied. Macon nodded as the trio sped away.

Marie stared into her coffee mug as she sat at the kitchen table. They were running out of suspects and Macon was running out of time if they weren’t too late already. Tears rolled down her cheeks, there was a knock at the door and she brushed it away.

“Who is it?” she called, getting up from the table.

“Stripper gram”

“What?” she scoffed opening the door. There was Macon, his face was bruised, eye slightly swollen and lip busted.

Macon gave her a crooked smile. “I lost my key so…thought I’d knock”

She threw her arms around his neck, “Oh My God Macon! I was so worried…! I thought…I thought you were…”

“…I missed you, babe…God you smell so good…” he sighed, burying his nose in her neck.

“What did they do to you...?”

“Don’t worry about that, babe. I’m just glad to be back with you…” he sighed leaning to kiss her. Marie went up on her toes, fingers in his hair as she parted her lips under his. The kiss suddenly turned bloody and Macon pulled back, hissing as he grabbed his bleeding lip.

“Fuck…guess I shoulda taken it easy…”

“It’s ok, baby. Come in and let me take care of that…” Marie smiled tugging him into her apartment.

Buck barked, prancing around him like a puppy.

“Hey Bucky…” Macon smiled, scratching him behind the ears.

“Sit down and I’ll take care of that” Marie said going into the freezer for a bag of frozen broccoli.

Macon groaned a little bit as she set it against his swollen eye.

“Hold that there, I’ll get the witch hazel”

Macon winced as she dabbed at his lip with a cotton ball soaked in witch hazel.

“I dunno babe…you might need stitches…” Marie began.

“Doctor said it’s be fine without, long as I put something on it…” Macon mumbled. Marie pulled back to look at him, “You went to the hospital?”

“Yeah. To get tested, make sure my ribs weren’t broken, no eternal bleedin’” he shrugged. “I wanted you to nurse me back to health…”

“You should’ve let the doctors take care of everything”

“I’d rather you be my doctor” he smirked, tugging her closer. He rested his hands on her hips. Marie leaned in, kissing his forehead.

“…I’m just glad your okay…”

“I couldn’t die and leave you alone could I?” he kissed her gently.

“Don’t say that…! You’re not going anywhere, ever…” she sniffled.

“You got it babe” Macon smiled.

Siobhan started when she opened her door to her brother.

“You’re okay…” she sighed in relief.

“Need to talk to ya…” he grumbled, pushing his way into her apartment.

“Can I take a moment to be happy my big brother’s alive and back with me?”

“What did you do, Siobhan? To get me back” he glared.

“What’re you talkin’ about?”

Macon pulled his phone out, flashing her a picture of Lemar’s dead body, “You sayin’ you had nothing to do with this?”

Siobhan looked away, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”

“You never could lie to me very well. Look me in the eye and tell me the truth”

Siobhan sighed, “Ok…but it’s not what you think…and the truth…is gonna piss you off even more…”

Marie came home to Macon seated at the kitchen table with a beer.

“Hey baby, didn’t expect you home so soon. I haven’t started dinner yet” she said, lifting her grocery bags onto the counter.

“I needed to talk to ya” he said evenly.

“About what?”

“About this” Macon gestured to his phone on the table next to him. Marie glanced at the picture, before going back to the bags.

“What’s that about?”

“Siobhan told me everything…I thought she did it at first…”

Marie said nothing, unloading her bags.

“How could you do something…so fucking stupid?” he hissed.

“I don’t know what you mean”

Macon shot out of his seat, stomping over to her.

“Look at me, M”

She hesitated a moment before turning to stare into his furious blue eyes.

“I did what I had to do to get you back” she said evenly.

“So you killed that guy?”

“Among others” she said with a hint of pride.

Macon cursed, turning away from her. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed! Could’ve started a damn gang war…!”

“I was more careful then you think…”

“You left fucking kisses on ‘em!”

“And they still couldn’t figure out it was me” she smirked.

Macon sighed running his hand through his hair, “Of course they didn’t…but depending on how Darius feels about you killing his men, he might look back into it and…I don’t know if I can protect you from him”

“I never asked for your protection…”

“Marie…!”

“I knew the danger of what I was doing when I did it. All I wanted was you home safe and sound, I don’t care what happens to me”

“But I do…!” he turned to her. “Goddammit I love you! I would rather ’ ve died by those bastard hands then have you do what you did to save me…”

“I know. But it wasn’t your decision” Marie went back to putting groceries in the fridge.

“Marie…!”

“There’s nothing we can do about it now…! If you’re mad enough you can leave me if you want, still won’t make me regret what I did”

Macon sighed, “Yeah I’m pissed but…I’m not goin’ anywhere. I meant it when I said I was glad to be back with ya…”

“Good” she smiled, gently kissing his bruised lips. “Go sit down and relax and dinner will be ready on an hour”

“…I love you” he grumbled.

“Love you too” she smiled back.