Death of a King

Chapter 41

My time in the Tribe has opened my eyes and I now realize that the world isn't only black and white, there are shades of grey everywhere. Criminals like Dustin and Chris fall into those shades, fiends who would rather fight to protect rather than fight for the sake of violence. There are a few people, like the friends I made in the Tribe, who were reliable. However most people, like Rosen and Oliver ... and my dad ... had no more sense of integrity than a log.

Chris lay somewhere on that spectrum but I wasn't yet sure which side of the line he resided on.

With this uncertainty in mind, I gave one swift nod of my head before rotating away from him to once again face a group of men nearly unconscious from alcohol consumption. Parties at the compound always seemed lighthearted, erotic at times, but mostly harmless. With the exclusion of the incident between Heather and Andy. The parties here didn't hold that same jovial atmosphere. Everyone here was wasted, no one held any concern for their neighbor, and I saw some poor girl being dragged towards the warehouse by a group of men who seemed a little too excited about her involuntary nature.

This place, these people, weren't good.

"We don't look like much, but I assure you we do what we can." Chris said again, now using a single hand to motion towards several people stationed around the lot, "My brothers and I monitor the parties, to make sure nothing gets too ... out of hand." He had to search for the words even as he watched the group of men yanking at the girl who must have told them several times that she didn't want their company.

I saw the brothers Chris spoke of; five other men similar to Chris in physical appearance who were stalking the edges of the party with alert eyes not yet plagued by alcohol. I don't know why it surprised me to find that Rosen's sons didn't partake in the festivities, but it did. I would have thought Chris and his brothers would be the first to join the celebration.

Chris rose a hand into the air, gaining the attention of one of his brothers, then pointed towards the girl in distress. At Chris' order, his brother started off to diffuse the situation.

The chain of command here was strict and all who called themselves Reapers were compliant to the hierarchy without question. It was unsettling to know that Rosen controlled these beastly people, and that he didn't even need to be present for his orders to be followed.

To show that I wasn't ignoring him entirely, I gave Chris another sharp nod of my head and nothing more. In response, he cleared his throat and stepped into my line of vision, compelling our eyes to make contact, "I'm not sure we were ever properly introduced that night on the road. My name is Chris Rosen, I'm the Vice for the Reapers."

It was odd to hear Rosen as a last name while interchangeably being used as a first name. It was stranger still to associate anyone who took that name as their own to be vile, detestable mutts, even if that weren't true.

Again, a curt vertical motion of my head but no further conversation on my part. This was my way of being polite, it's all I could afford at the moment. Chris shifted his gaze towards my stiff posture and he sighed, leaning against the fence beside me, "I apologize for my father's relatively barbaric decisions and I know you're not happy about any of this, but tonight could have ended much worse, especially after the way you spoke to him-"

"Is this your idea of being comforting?" I spoke for the first time only because I couldn't bare to hear him finish that sentence, holding no regard for the acidic bite to my tone which carried sour contempt from my heart to my voice, "Making small talk is not going to change my mind about marrying you so if that's you're plan, you might as well give up. I'm only doing this to keep Dustin safe."