Riding the Line (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation)

by Winter Travers

  “You mean how you were so responsible when you rode the pink barbie Jeep power wheel to the gas station for booze?” Zig snickered.

  “That was three fucking years ago. You think you two can get over that?” Jesus Christ. I couldn’t go a week without someone bringing up that shit. “Fucking hell.”

  “Op, here she comes,” Zag whispered. “Wipe the drool from your lip, Frost.”

  When I was little, I sometimes wished I were an only child. That thought was back with a vengeance whenever these two decided to be smartasses, and I was their target.

  Indiana slipped through the sliding door, and she looked directly at me.

  Zag elbowed me in the side. “Oh, she’s looking at you, little brother.”

  “You want me to pass her a note in homeroom? Check yes or no if she likes you?” Zig laughed.

  “Swear to God. You two assholes were dropped on your fucking heads,” I growled. “How the hell you two are older than me is fucking amazing.”

  Zag smiled wide. “I don’t wanna grow up.”

  “I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us kid,” Zig finished. They bumped fists and chuckled like they were fucking David Spade and Chris Farley.

  My focus stayed with Indiana as she walked back over to the group of girls sitting on the couch. She plopped down in the middle of them and reached for her beer on the table.

  Zag turned back to the bar. “You ever going to make a move on her or just keep watching her from a distance like a creep?”

  “I’m keeping an eye on her. You two assholes forget there is a serial killer out there who is targeting chicks connected to the club?” I reminded them.

  “Come on,” Zag complained. “Hero just saved Reva from some psycho. For all we know, that guy is behind the other girls dying.”

  “I bet it is that guy. What are the odds that we got two wacked-in-the-head psychos in town? We barely got a population over four thousand,” Zig pointed out.

  “Is there, like, some guide of how many psychos you can have in a certain area?” I asked.

  Zig shrugged. “I’m just saying I don’t think we need to worry anymore. Reva’s neighbor was the psycho killing chicks. Maybe she was next, but Hero saved her?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not the same guy. This guy had a hard-on for Reva, who, before a couple of weeks ago, did not have a connection to the club. Your theory isn’t right.”

  Indiana sat silently on the couch, just listening to the women talking. She never really was one to jump in and lead a conversation, but something seemed off about her. Her pitch-black hair laid tousled on her shoulders, and her cheeks were flushed pink.

  I had fought back the urge to follow her outside before, but something in my gut told me I should have. I always had a feeling in my gut when it came to Indiana. The first time I saw her at the club, my heart had dropped to my feet, and I couldn’t rip my eyes away from her.

  Sure, she was fucking beautiful, but there was something more that called to me. Something that made me want to wrap her in my arms and never let her go. I had never felt something like that before and had tried to write it off as me just being really attracted to her.

  Except, the feeling hasn’t gone away.

  Two years and counting.

  Still wanted to wrap her in my arms and never let go.

  “Bro, you gotta break contact for a bit.” Zag smacked my shoulder. “You’re even creeping me out.”

  I sighed, turned my back to Indiana, and grabbed the beer Zig had set in front of me. “I’m just making sure she’s okay.”

  Zig grabbed a tall glass and filled it with two fingers of Southern Comfort. “Well, I may not be seeing what you’re seeing, but I think she’s okay.”

  “Well, shit,” Zag grumbled. “King is headed this way.”

  Zig dropped some ice into the glass and grabbed some bitters. “Probably because he told me to bring him a drink ten minutes ago.”

  “Fucking hell,” I mumbled under my breath. Only Zig would make the prez of the Knights wait for his fucking drink.

  King moved next to me and leaned against the bar. “That mine?”

  Zig finished the drink with some old-fashioned mix and a squirt of 7-up. Only Zig would make an old fashioned so ass-backward. He dropped two cherries into it and slid the glass toward King. “Made special just for you.”

  King eyed the glass warily. “Why does it feel like I need a taste tester before I try this?” he muttered.

  “Not it!” Zag hollered.

  “I would question if you’re really from Wisconsin, Zig, but I was there when your mama had you, so I just gotta assume no one ever showed you the proper way to make an old fashioned.” King grabbed the glass and swirled the liquid around slowly. “I suppose it’s almost the right color,” he hummed. He took a sip and tipped his head to the side.

  “Bad?” Zig asked cautiously.

  King took another sip and set the glass down. “That has to be one of the best old fashioneds I’ve ever had in my life.”

  Zig slapped his thigh and gave a shout. “Hell yeah!”

  “I wouldn’t be too happy about that, though,” King laughed. “Now, you’re the one who’s always going to be behind the bar.”

  “And as soon as Meg and Cyn catch wind that you make a killer old fashioned, you might as well just pitch a cot back there.” King pointed at the glass. “How the fuck did you do that?”

  Zig shrugged. “I don’t know. Just poured the shit in and called it good.”

  “Well, make sure you know how to do it again,” King grunted. “Meg and the rest of the girls are making the trek back up here, and I know they’ll be wanting one or ten of these once they roll in.”

  “Really? I thought you guys were staying down there a lot longer,” I asked.

  “That was the plan, but now with all the bullshit going on around here, I need to be here, and having Meg five states away causing trouble isn’t something I can handle.” King took a long drink. “God knows that woman causes trouble, no matter where she is.”

  That was the damn truth. Though, that pretty much went for all of the ol’ ladies. Well, minus Reva, seeing as she was still new to the club, but I figured with who Hero’s mom was, it wouldn’t be long until she was getting into trouble, too. “And I bet Cyn is chomping at the bit to meet Reva.”

  “Bingo,” King laughed. “That was a very big deciding factor into cutting the trip short.”

  “I’m sure Gravel was okay with everyone leaving early. Swear that man is grumpier than a bear.” Zag shook his head. “Right before they moved, he had me clean out the attic of Ethel’s.”

  “And?” King drawled.

  “He made me clean everything up. Set it all up nice in the fucking yard,” Zag continued.

  “Mom and Gravel didn’t have a garage sale,” King interrupted.

  “I know!” Zag yelled. “As soon as I had all of the shit set out in the fucking yard, a goddamn dumpster was dropped off in the driveway.” Zag took a deep breath. “Everything I had cleaned up was tossed in the damn dumpster without a second glance at it.”

  King scoffed and shook his head. “Now the dumpster, I do remember. Meg snagged a couple things from the dumpster because they looked like they were brand new.”

  Zag jammed his finger into his chest. “Because I polished that stuff like it was fucking shit Jesus ate off of!”

  I chuckled and bowed my head. “Fucking classic.”

  Zag grunted. “Classic bullshit.”

  “Well, I thank you for shining the shit Meg took. God knows she would have taken it even if it wasn’t all cleaned up.” King smiled wide.

  “What the hell did she take?” I asked.

  King shook his head. “A miniature wheelbarrow, three solar lights shaped like cows, and a sign that says, ‘Nice Butt,’ that she hung over the toilet.”

  Zag jumped up and pointed at King. “Those fucking cows were a pain the ass to clean! I couldn’t even tell that they were cows when I started to scrub them.”

&n
bsp; “Well, now they are shoved into the ground by the hostas in the front yard.” King nodded. “Thank you.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Though I had to assume that after years of being married to Meg, any weird shit she did was now just normal for him.

  Solar cow lights? Yeah, that was something Meg would want and have.

  “So, we having church tomorrow?” Zig asked.

  King nodded. “Yup. Gotta figure out what the hell is going on. As soon as we leave, y’all somehow get a serial killer and a psycho right on the heels of each other. We went years without any newsworthy bullshit.”

  I scoffed. “Not like we asked for all of this excitement.”

  “And, Hero managed to land his ass in love.” King shook his head. “Reminds me of about twenty years ago when me, your dad, and all of the other guys fell in love like fucking dominos while we dealt with the Banachis along with a ton of other bullshit.”

  Zag elbowed me. “Yeah, now that Hero has Reva, it seems like Frost is up next.”

  I growled and slugged him on the shoulder. “Shut the fuck up.”

  King shook his head and laughed. “I’m not surprised. Which one of these chicks managed to catch your eye?”

  I closed my eyes and wished to hell that Zag would go fucking mute. I didn’t need him splashing my business all over the place. I may be the youngest, but that didn’t mean he needed to go around wagging his jaw to anyone willing to listen.

  “She was sitting on the couch in the middle. Jet black hair and green eyes that can see right through your soul,” Zip blurted before I could.

  “She went outside for a bit?” King asked.

  “Yup,” Zag confirmed. “It took all of Frost’s willpower to not follow her out the door.”

  King nodded. “Been there before.”

  “Please,” Zig laughed. “You and Meg were into each other the first time you met. Indiana doesn’t seem to be reciprocating Frost’s creepy advances.”

  “Do you two assholes ever know when to shut up?” I growled.

  King clapped me on the shoulder. “Calm down, kid. They aren’t telling me anything I wouldn’t be able to pick up on now that I’m back.”

  “There isn’t anything going on,” I insisted. “I’m just keeping an eye on her and the rest of the girls until this shit gets cleared up.” That’s all I was doing.

  Zig shook his head. “The only time you keep an eye on the other girls is when they are with Indiana.”

  I didn’t have it in me to argue with Zig or Zag. They were exhausting. “There’s nothing going on between Indiana or me. Drop it.”

  Zag shrugged. “Well, I guess you might be right, seeing as you didn’t jump up and follow her out of the room when she walked out.”

  I whipped around on my stool, and my eyes fell on the empty spot where Indiana had been sitting five minutes ago. “What the hell?”

  King turned with me. “Yeah, there’s nothing going on between the two of you,” he chided. He drained his glass and held it up over his head. “Make me another, Zig.”

  I would have told him to make it two, but I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the drink until I knew where Indiana had taken off to. I could always ask Reva where she went, but then I was afraid that would just set more tongues wagging about Indiana and me.

  “Go find her, boy,” King said quietly. “Don’t let your brothers get to you too much.”

  Pfft. That was much easier said than done. “Later,” I grunted.

  Indiana had to have either run to the bathroom or headed to bed. It was already after midnight, and she tended to turn in around ten. Those first few nights she had started staying at the clubhouse had surprised the hell out of me when she hauled her cookies to bed before everyone else. She usually worked well past two in the morning, and now that the club was closed, she was turning in awfully early.

  I scanned the clubhouse as I made my way to hallway. We had gone from a pretty quiet clubhouse to now having close to twenty girls living with us. It was more than a slight adjustment.

  Once I made it to the hallway, my room was the first door on the right, but I walked right past it and headed straight for the room Indiana was sharing with two other girls.

  I knocked on the door impatiently.

  “One second,” she called from inside.

  I squelched the urge to twist the handle and fling the door open to see with my own eyes that she was safe. Instead, I folded my arms over my chest and counted.

  1… 2… 3… 4… 5… I was all the way to twenty-five before the door moved.

  “Frost.” She only cracked the door and wedged her face into the opening. “Everything okay?”

  “It is now.”

  “Oh, uh. Okay?” Her bright green eyes shone up at me, and I could tell she was confused about why I was tracking her down.

  “I didn’t know you were going to bed,” I explained, though it really didn’t explain a lot because, in reality, she didn’t have to tell me when she was turning in for the night.

  “Oh, well, I got tired, and Greta was telling a story about a cat with no eyes and two tails. I was afraid it was going to give me nightmares,” she explained.

  “Otis?” I asked.

  “It’s true?” she gasped.

  “It was. He died when she was twelve. Pretty sure that cat is the reason she decided to become a vet.” The cat was sort of creepy to look at, seeing as his eyes were all hazy, but he followed her around like she was the best thing next to cheese.

  “It really had two tails?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Weird as fuck, but that cat was loyal as hell to her.”

  Indiana nodded slowly. “Well, I guess that isn’t as creepy as I had pictured in my head.”

  “Everything okay?” I asked.

  “Better now that I won’t be having nightmares about demon cats with two tails,” she chuckled.

  “Well, that’s good, but I meant with everything.”

  She swallowed, and her eyes darted to the side. “Oh, uh, you know. As good as it can be.” She shifted back from the door and pasted a fake smile on her lips. “I think I’m going to head to bed. I was hoping to be able to fall asleep before Pam and Julia stumble in for the night. Along with the story, Greta was pouring some hefty shots of apple pie.”

  Yeah, that seemed exactly liked Greta, but I still felt like something was up with Indiana. She was never much of a talker, but I could just feel a shift in her. Something was going on. Something more than a serial killer on the loose.

  “Well, let me know if you need anything.”

  She nodded and hastily shut the door. “Night, Frost,” she called through the closed door.

  “Night,” I mimicked back.

  I turned on my heel and headed to my room.

  Though I knew I wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight.

  I wasn’t going to get any sleep until I knew just what Indiana was hiding.

  *

  Chapter Three

  Indiana

  I rested my head against the hard door and sighed.

  That could have been my chance to ask Frost for help. I could have been on the way to Florida right now to save Royal. Or at least trying to figure out how to save her.

  But I wasn’t.

  I didn’t know what the hell to do.

  Grit was back in my face, and Royal was possibly in big trouble.

  But was she? I was going solely on what Grit told me, and his track record was not good at all. Sure, he said he basically turned over a new leaf, but again, that was just his word, not actual proof..

  Jesus.

  Damn Grit for being such a shit to me before that I now didn’t trust anything that came out of his mouth.

  I flipped around, leaned my back to the door, and scrubbed my hands down my face. How in the hell did I get here?

  Two years ago, I left Destin telling myself I was going to change my life. Out from the grip of Grit and all the wrong choices I had made before. Sure, becoming a strippe
r hadn’t been in my plan when I left, but working at Sultry Knights wasn’t a bad gig at all. Sure, I had the occasional creeps who wouldn’t take no for an answer, but that was cleared up pretty damn quickly with the club always being around.

  Now I was holed up in the clubhouse because there was some psycho on the loose, and to top it off, Grit was back bringing all the bullshit of Destin with him.

  I pulled out my phone and tried Royal again. If I could just talk to her and find out what exactly was going on, everything would be okay.

  The phone rang and rang until her recorded voice sounded. “Dammit, Royal,” I cried, “I need you to answer the phone, honey. I need to know you’re okay. I just don’t know what to do right now.” I swallowed down the sob crawling up my throat and closed my eyes. “Call me, Royal,” I whispered.

  I ended the call and tossed the phone on my bed. Well, my bed for now. I wasn’t sure whose room I was in or who the bed had once belonged to. Things had happened so suddenly, and we were all just thrown wherever we fit.

  The small apartment I loved was now empty, and I didn’t know when I would ever be able to step foot in it again.

  Ugh. My life was a mess.

  On top of everything going on with me here, I now needed to save Royal and her unborn baby.

  I flopped down on the bed and sighed.

  Sleep now, and tomorrow, I start figuring shit out. Somehow.

  *

  Chapter Four

  Frost

  “You know, the one thing I miss with all the moms being gone is someone making us breakfast.” Pie grabbed two boxes of cereal and set them on the table in front of me. “Also, someone needs to go grocery shopping. These are the last boxes in the pantry.”

  I grabbed the box of cinnamon toasties and filled my bowl. “I’m sure one of the girls must know how to cook.” Indiana did, but I wasn’t about to tell Pie that. I knew he would be on her hot and heavy if he found that out.

  Pie shook his head. “I asked. Not one of them said they can make more than a bowl of cereal or toast.”