Rumbling Thunder

by B. F. Harrolle

  Decker shook Rainy awake. “Get up, Sassy, get dressed. Then go get something to eat. We’re going to Jacksonville for a club meeting.”

  “Why am I going?” she said in a sleepy voice.

  “Because of your little stunt yesterday, Tinman says where ever I go, you go also.”

  “Fine, but you don’t have to worry about me getting dressed since this is all I have to wear,” she said as she pushed herself up onto her elbows.

  “Alright, let’s get something to eat then. Did you make out the list?”

  “Yes, it’s on the dresser.” Only one piece of paper was on the dresser. She hid the notebook and pencil under the mattress. She’s decided to keep a record of everything.

  Decker went over to the dresser and picked up the paper, folded it up, and shoved it into the pocket of his jeans. Then he waited for her to get her sneakers on and followed her out of the room.

  After they had eaten, they were on their way to Jacksonville. Rainy wondered why Liz didn’t come with them. The only two women were her and Barb. And Barb wasn’t one of her favorite people. But the way she saw it, if the bitch hits her again, she’ll just rip her face off. After all, aside from killing her, what else can the bikers do?

  By the time they pulled into the clubhouse at the Jacksonville Chapter, Rainy was about sick of this motorcycle. They had been riding for more than five hours. As the nine of them walked into the clubhouse, Rainy realized it was much larger than their home clubhouse. And there were at least twenty people inside as they came in. It was awkward for her because if anyone didn’t belong in this clubhouse, it was her. She was feeling displaced and wanted to run back out of the door. All of them were gawking at her, and it was like they knew she didn’t belong.

  Their president came out of a backroom to welcome them. After all the bikers greeted each other, they went into the room for their meeting. That left her and Barb in the bar with a bunch of other women. Rainy wondered if they were their old ladies or if they were sweet, candy girls for the bikers’ enjoyment. An older woman walked up to the two of them. “Would you ladies care to join me?” Not sure what to do, Rainy followed Barb and went to the table the woman led them to. The woman snapped her fingers, and a younger woman brought over three beers. “Would you two like something to eat?”

  “No, we’re fine!” answered Barb, but Rainy started to chow down on the chips that were in the bowl in front of her. She couldn’t help it, she was starving.

  “Tina, tell Bill we need two burgers out here.”

  “Sure thing,” the young, pretty blonde woman replied.

  “So tell me, Barb, how’s it going in Atlanta?”

  “Oh, same old, same old.”

  The woman tilted her head. “Funny, that’s not what I heard.”

  Barb frowned. “What have you heard?”

  “I heard Decker has a new old lady. And I’m here to tell you, Bree is about to blow a gasket.”

  “Well, Della, you heard right. And as for Bree, she’s the one who walked away. Too damn late to cry now.”

  Della made a face and then she grinned. “You’re right. When you get a good man, you should hold on to them. So who’s the lucky lady?”

  “You’re looking at her.”

  Della started to laugh. “Her? She’s so… I guess I was expecting a big busted blonde. Sorry, honey, no offense.”

  “Yes, we’re all a little taken aback by his choice. I didn’t believe anyone would ever land Decker. Didn’t think he was the type. He likes to play too much.”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen him in action. But Bree did have a pretty good hold on him there for awhile,” Dalla said. Rainy didn’t care how many women Decker had. So if they thought they were getting to her, they were wrong. After all, he really wasn’t her old man. It wasn’t real, and they both knew that. He was only trying to save her. But why?

  Tina came up with the two burgers and fries and place the two plates on the table. “Here, this is for you. Stop eating the chips before you make yourself sick,” said Della. Rainy wasted no time. She dug in and took a bite of the burger. God, it was heaven on earth. “Good?” Della wanted to know.

  “Yes, it’s wonderful!” she mumbled with a full mouth.

  “Well, she does know how to talk. We’ve been here talking about her man, and she never said a word.”

  “He’s just a fucking jerk!” Rainy said between mouth fulls. The two women laughed.

  “I bet you don’t say that to him.” Rainy only shrugged, and Della laughed again.

  For the next two hours, Rainy sat and listened to the two women talk about their clubs.

  The Meeting

  “It’s going down on Christmas day,” said Todd, the president of the Jacksonville chapter.

  “That’s four months from now,” argued Tinman.

  “I know, brother, but they want at least fifty. We only have fifteen, and you only have seventeen. They won’t even talk to us unless there are fifty of them.”

  “This is costing us way more than I thought it would,” said Tinman.

  “That’s alright, they are going to cover the overhead.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Jodi has them in Gordon in a warehouse there.”

  “Gordon?” Tinman looked as if he’s never heard of such a place.

  “It’s a small town just outside of Macon,” Todd told him.

  “How are they transporting them?” Decker piped in.

  “By semi. They will move them to the port in Mobile, Alabama,” said Todd.

  “Why Christmas?” someone asked.

  “Slowest day of the year. Even the cops want to be home with their families. We deliver them to Gordon that morning, and by nightfall, they will be heading for their new homes.”

  “That makes sense, I guess.” Decker sighed, feeling sick at the thought of kidnapping eighteen more girls. Why wasn’t he with a club that just did guns or drugs or both? Not like they don’t, but why this shit?

  “Okay, that’s it. We’ll pull in nine more and your men do the same. You know where to take them now. And I wouldn’t wait until the last minute. The sooner the better,” said Todd. Slamming down his gavel, he said, “This meeting is over!”

  Rainy watched as the bikers came out of their meeting. Decker looked ashen like he might be ill. He didn’t even get to the bar when a young woman went up to him and was all over him. Rainy came to her feet and walked over to them, pushing the young woman away from Decker. “Get your hand’s off of my man!” Rainy demanded. The young woman backed away and went about her business.

  Looking surprised, Decker said, “I never knew you were the jealous type, sassy mouth.”

  “I’m not, but I do sleep in the same bed as you do. I don’t know where her pussy has been, and I would hate to have to burn the bed.”

  “If you burn the bed, where would we sleep?”

  “You wouldn’t have that to worry about that because you would be in the bed.”

  “Oh!” Then he grinned at her. “I guess I had better be good,” he said, fully amused.

  After they ate, Tinman announced they were heading home. Decker wasn’t crazy about the idea. They needed to rest before they returned to Atlanta. However, there was nothing he could do. But after about an hour on the highway, Tinman pulled into a campground. Decker saw Keys and the box truck. In a way, he was glad. They did need to rest. But he also knew something was about to go down, or why else would they stop? And if Tinman called him to go with him, what would he do with Sassy?

  “Stay here,” Decker said as he dismounted his bike. He went over to the box truck to get his tent. Keys give him a roguish grin and said, “Here, dude, take this one. It sleeps two.” Decker grinned back at Keys and gave him a friendly slap on the back. The tent was a popup, so it took no time setting up.

  “Sassy, go to the truck and ask Keys for two sleeping bags.”

  Rainy shook her head. “No!”

  “Why not?”

  “You told me not to talk to the bi
kers.”

  Bringing his hands up and resting them on his hips, he said, “And since when do you listen to me?”

  “Whenever it’s convenient for me,” she shot back. He chuckled. After all, what could he say to that?

  It wasn’t even nighttime, but Rainy crawled into the tent and went to sleep, only waking up once when Decker came into the tent and got into his own sleeping bag. She went right back to sleep, feeling safer then she had in a long time, just because he was beside her.

  The next thing she knew, it was morning. When she came out of the tent, Decker and Handlebars were next to his bike talking. Someone had made coffee. She could smell it, but didn’t see any. She wouldn’t mind having a cup, though. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned.

  “Good morning, Sassy,” said Decker as he walked back towards her.

  “I need to take a walk.”

  “Go right ahead.”

  She turned and started walking, heading towards the lake. But it didn’t take her long to realize Decker was right behind her. She stopped and turned around to face him. “I meant take a walk alone.”

  “No!” he replied, shaking his head.

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I know you’re not.”

  “What’s with you? I can’t even breathe without you knowing how many breaths I take.”

  “You can talk all you want, but you’re not going anywhere alone.”

  Sucking her teeth, she turned and kept walking towards the lake.

  Decker stopped and turned around when he heard two motorcycles crank up. It was Tinman, and Maddog was with him. He watched as the bikes roared away. Shit.

  Rainy came to a picnic table and climbed up to sit on the table, placing her feet on the seat. Decker joined her and mimicked her and sat on the table. They kept quiet for a few minutes, then Rainy asked, “Who’s Bree?”

  At first, Decker was surprised at her question. He thought about saying something smart back to her, but at this point in time, it didn’t matter. “Just an old flame, darling. Why do you ask?”

  “I heard she’s going to be upset with you for being with me.”

  “That’s just too bad now, isn’t it?”

  Even if he acted as if he didn’t care, she could see his pain. “Do you still love her?”

  He looked right at her now. “Are you jealous?”

  “Of some woman I don’t even know? I don’t think so.”

  “She’s not the only woman I’ve ever had, and she isn’t going to be the last.”

  “You say you don’t care, but your eyes tell a different story.”

  Laying back onto the table, he said, “I’ll tell you what. You want to know anything about me, you have to tell me about you.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like who were you running away from when you got on Maddog’s bike?”

  She wrinkled up her nose. “It’s a long story.”

  “In case you didn’t notice, we have time. We can’t go anywhere until Tinman comes back.”

  “I guess I was running from a bad situation.”

  “Which was?”

  “Well, unlike you, I’ve only had one lover. I met Pedro four years ago, and we have been together ever since then. Now we’re not.”

  “You’re not a good storyteller are you?” Decker said, still laying on the table with his arm over his eyes to block the sun.

  “I would have to go all the way back to the beginning for you to understand.”

  Lifting his head up, he asked her, “You have anything else to do today, sweetheart?”

  “Don’t do that,” she snapped.

  “Do what?”

  “Call me endearing names. I hate it when people do that. It’s one thing if it’s my Dad or someone in my family does it. I know they care about me. But you don’t even know me.”

  “If I didn’t care, you wouldn’t be here or anywhere else as far as that goes. So get off your high horse!” he tossed back.

  “Fine!” She got off the table, but didn’t get too far.

  Decker grabbed her and hauled her up into his lap. Rainy didn’t like this. It reminded her of her father when she was little and had done something wrong. He would put her in his lap to talk to her. But it was more than that. She didn’t want to be this close to him. But she wanted him. Needed him, was more like it. Her heart was racing now. She didn’t know what he might do to her. She was expecting the worst. So what came out of his mouth next shocked her. “I do mean it to be endearing, Sassy. But if it bothers you, I won’t say it again. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she mumbled.

  “Good. Now tell me your story.” He let her go and went back to lying down.

  “Like I said, it was four years ago. I ran away from home.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, it was, like, the year from hell. Anything that could go wrong did. My older sister got abducted by a man that was the brother of a man who had abducted her ten years earlier. And if that wasn’t enough to rip my parents apart, they get a letter in the mail from a social worker. It seemed that their youngest daughter, that would be me, was switched at birth. And this was just about the time my older brother was trying to set up his own medical practice, and my parents were trying to help him get started. Now that I’m older, I can only imagine what my parents went through. But I was only fourteen at the time. The one good thing that came out of this was I got to meet and got to know my paternal grandmother.”

  “What about your biological parents?”

  “That’s how we found out about my sister. They were killed in a car wreck. She was with them. Her dad needed blood, and her’s didn’t match. So he died. He had a rare blood type, and they couldn’t get it in time to save him.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I didn’t even know them, so it’s okay.”

  “Still, maybe you would have one day.”

  “Maybe. Anyway, after my grandmother passed away, my sister came to live with us. My dad really wanted this, but not my mom.”

  “You would think it would be the other way around,” Decker said, thinking out loud.

  “Yeah, but her reasoning was she didn’t even know this girl, but had raised me. She was afraid I would be hurt.”

  “And were you?”

  “Not at all. I loved having a sister that was the same age as me. But my mom left my dad. She said she couldn’t take anymore of his crap.”

  “So they divorced?”

  “No, but she was gone for a long time. And my dad acted as if everything was my fault. I couldn’t do anything right. Now I’m here to tell you, when I was growing up, I was hell on wheels. I was in trouble from the time I got up in the morning until I went to bed. In fact, I got tossed out of school so much, my dad homeschooled me. But that was the funny thing. After my sister came to live with us, I was trying as hard as I could to be good. And everything I did was wrong to my father. Even when my sister kicked me and broke my arm, it was my fault.”

  “Your older sister?”

  “No, the one that is my age.”

  “Maybe you should tell me their names so I don’t get mixed up.”

  “Ha, nice try.”

  “So your dad is the reason you left this time?”

  “No, if it wasn’t for Pedro, I would still be there. My dad is overbearing sometimes, but he is also a good person. Anyway, back to my story. I ran away and was playing cat and mouse with a highway patrolman. This had been going on for three days. I was walking on I-95, which is against the law. I came to a rest area and went in. It was late afternoon, so I crawled under a table and went to sleep. Not hard to do because I had been walking all day. I woke up to the sound of people’s voices. There was a family sitting at the same table I was under. The highway patrolman was there, and he was asking if they saw me. The father told him no. And of course, they knew I was under the table. So they hid me and lied to the patrolman. When the patrolman left, I came out from under the table and thanked them. Their truck was broken
down, and they were waiting for his brother to come and fix it. So I waited with them and when the brother came, they didn’t have the money to fix the truck. I tried to give them the money. But the father, being a proud man, said no. So I put all the money under the boy’s soda can and I walked off. The man was yelling at me. I didn’t know what he was saying, but he was angry. It was the next day, and I had been walking for an hour when their truck came up beside me. Neither the man or the woman spoke English, but both the boy and girl did. They asked me to come with them, so I did. They were migrant workers. We went to South Florida and worked the groves. After about three weeks, the older boy showed up. It was Pedro, and I fell hard for him. He was older than me. But he was so sweet and kind and giving. He even gave up his bedroll for me. The next four months had to be the best in my life. But all things must end, and one day two men in suits showed up. One was my uncle, and the other, my dad. They had the law with them. For the next few weeks, my dad wouldn’t speak to me. My mom wasn’t there, so I had no one to talk too. Then he started to lighten up, and things seemed to return to normal when Pedro showed up. And he was stalking me. My dad did everything he could think of to get rid of Pedro. He even got physical with him. “But it had turned really cold. I mean it was, like, ten below. My dad started to worry about Pedro. He found him, brought him home, and took care of him. Then he helped get him into an inner city program for kids to learn to dance. And he didn’t stop there. He brought Pedro’s family to New York and helped his parents get jobs, and his younger brother and sister in the same program Pedro was in. And today, all three of them are at the top of their careers as dancers.”

  “Okay, so why did you leave?”

  “I’m getting to that. I was with Pedro for four years. Until I walked into the locker room a few weeks ago and overheard him tell his new girlfriend that he had to pretend to be with me. That way he could stay on my dad’s good side. I went into my dad’s office and told him I needed a new partner. There was no way I was dancing with Pedro. My dad told me to grow up and stop acting like I was three. That did it, and I think my dad knew because when I turned around to leave, he came out of the office after me. I ran for the door and as soon as I went out, Maddog pulled up.”