The Rampage MC #4: Max and Briony

Chapter 14 (Max): A Break

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

***Trigger warning for violence/death***

It's never ideal to start a fight already bleeding, but Butcher could have ripped my arm off instead of punching me twice and it still wouldn't have mattered to me. My rage at Corner meant my adrenaline was pumping, and the only thing I felt was murderous. Corner was about to lose his life and pay for what both of us had done to Briony.

I'd never liked fighting but I would if it couldn't be avoided. Even though the brothers knew I was willing to fight, most of them had never seen me in action, so that had led to some speculation that I wasn't good at it. Corner was one of the brothers who frequently wondered out loud if I had any skills, which is why his fucking face had turned so hopeful when Beard had said this would be a fight to the death -- and the winner would walk free. 

That day Beard found me by the dumpster and had asked me if I liked to fight, I hadn't answered him directly. I'd just told him if I needed to, I would. I rarely instigated a fight, and most of the time, I'd try to de-escalate the situation. Had plenty of practice with that on a number of runs with Atlas because that fucker's go-to was throwing fists.

The truth was, I didn't recognize myself when I fought, and it scared the hell out of me because it reminded me of my father's rages. It was like something deep within me surged up and out, like a starving tiger released from his cage, and it was uncontrollable. I went balls to the wall, inflicting maximum damage, and I never lost.

Corner didn't know that.

But he'd find out. 

"So, you're using me to finally get rid of Shotgun?" Corner asked Beard. "Made him prospect again for a year only to kill him off after all? And you'll seriously let me walk out of here when I kill him?"

"I'll let you walk out of here if you kill him. I give you my word," Beard promised. Everyone knew Beard's word was solid. But Corner was so fucking stupid, he never noticed the slight emphasis on I'll. Beard wasn't making promises on behalf of  the other brothers or for Butcher and Orion. It wasn't going to matter, though. The only way Corner was leaving here was dead, by my hands, in a tarp on his way to the pig farm.

"Ready?" Beard asked.

"Can you give me a minute?" Corner asked, a little attitude shading his tone. Confidence that he was getting out of here alive  permeated each word. "I need to get the feeling back in my arms after being strung up like that."

"Take your time," I said before anyone else could say a word. I never wanted the brothers saying it hadn't been a fair fight. I stripped off my shirt and flexed my hands. The room was quiet as everyone watched Corner roll his shoulders and massage his hands. After ten minutes, he rolled his neck and said he was ready.

Beard looked at me steadily, and I was reminded of the time he found me cleaning the bathroom at three in the morning when I'd been working hard to make myself indispensable to him, to the brothers. He'd had the same look then that he did now, a look that said he wanted to say more. 

"You ready, Max?" he asked gruffly. Calling me by my real name hadn't been a slip, I realized. The name was meant to convey everything he wouldn't say. Just in case...

"Yeah."

"Corner? You ready?"

"More than," he said, throwing me a look. 

A little early to be triumphant, asshole.

"This is mutual combat," Beard said, standing between us. "There are no rules here, and any kind of hit is fair. No time outs, no pause in the fighting. The winner at the end will be the one who isn't dead."