by B. B. Blaque
He didn’t flinch and I could tell he was bein’ straight with me about not bein’ in on the auction of the nuns. I was only interested in one—Gingersnap. The others might happen in the fallout, but she was all I cared about.
“I don’t wanna tell too many of the guys in the club. This is personal and it’s gonna stay that way. FOCUS is gonna know from both our ends . . . I only wanna involve Casket and Hazard. There might be one of the guys in the Malevolent too. Since you’re one of them and Redhook is set on us workin’ together in the near future, it might be good to see what he’s made of.”
Bish sat forward and reached for a glass of the wine we’d been given at dinner. I could see in his eyes— he knew shit.
“You’re referring to Blitz. He’s one of my guys from Recon. He’s no FOCUS, but he has a good head on his shoulders and won’t let you down. He’s also great in combat. I’ll vouch for him.”
The guy seemed to have his finger on the pulse of every fuckin’ thing goin’. Between the five of us, we could get it done. Me alone with The Bishop could do it because I wouldn’t stop until it was done and she was safe.
“I haven’t seen your place . . . and I have no idea how one of these auction things would work. Do we have enough manpower between the five of us? Casket and Hazard are my two best guys, next to FOCUS. I’d bring Froot Loops along, but I think he’s usin’ again and that makes him unpredictable.”
Who else could I trust?
Not Rattler, for fuck sure.
“Good choice not to bring the speed freak around, and yes, I think five is plenty. The property is expansive, which will make hiding bodies easier. We don’t know the count on that, but I know we’ll have them. The party is set for the day after tomorrow and Rosethorne will be crawling with caterers and other staff. Getting you in unnoticed will be simple enough; don’t fly colors though. Blitz already knows the place and will get you the layout tomorrow . Memorize it.”
Bish paid the check and we walked down the street to a bar for drinks. I still had questions and he was the only one with the answers. Besides the destination, I needed to know what the fuck the whole thing was about.
“Okay, so we got the where, but can you explain the what the fucks about the whole thing? It’s not an everyday occurrence . . . like ya said, once a year.” I lit a smoke and we ducked into a booth. “How do you get all these Virgin Cherries? What’s the deal?”
I ordered a shot of Jack and a beer and he got a scotch. It looked like the early dinner was turnin’ into happy hour.
“Basically, it’s like any other auction. The only difference is what they’re bidding on and what is offered. There are girls who want to be slaves or temporary subs to wealthy men in the lifestyle. They will auction themselves off. A large portion consists of those girls. Some masters will also auction the virginity of their slaves or subs to the highest bidder. Wherever the auction takes place, such as Rosethorne, will earn a percentage. It’s a very big money-making night for all the sellers and the house.”
The idea was mind-blowing. I guess everyone has their thing, and a dominant guy with a nun fetish really couldn’t point fingers. I couldn’t see payin’ to pop some bitch’s cherry, but then again, I’d already done my fair share of that.
“What kinda money are we talkin’ about here? Like these nuns, what the fuck price can some cocksucker put on a nun’s pussy?” What are they losin’ by a nun who turns out not to be a virgin? “I’m guessin’ they’d be worth a lot just for the taboo factor alone.”
He nodded and swirled the liquor around in the glass. “You would be right, sir. The prices are in the thousands at the very least. Minimum bid starts at $5,000, but I’ve seen them go as high as $50, 000, depending on how badly one is wanted or how competitive a buyer is. A nun . . . I can’t even fathom and we’ll never know.”
Fi would be makin’ them lose a boatload of money. I’ve seen people kill for much less than $5,000.
“Is it true . . . what the sister told me . . . she said there’s a doctor checkin’ to make sure they’re still . . . intact?” I slammed the shot, crushed out my smoke, and lit another. “They think we’re dirtbags, but these priests . . . fuck, they’re evil.”
I got tossed out into the cold and these motherfuckers are dealin’ pussy right under everyone’s noses. Good riddance to bad garbage, but fuck me.
“That part is very true. The authenticity of the merchandise has to be tested. It’s done on a table in front of everyone. The highest bidder is permitted to check her if he chooses. The concept isn’t such a bad one when the girls are consenting. You’d be surprised how some get off on the idea of that alone. This situation is making me rethink everyone on my list or in my employ. I can’t have this kind of thing happening. I can only be thankful that you were paid the visit by the nun.”
We had a few more drinks and hashed out some details, along with shootin’ in a phone call to Blitz. It was just a case of waitin’ on things to fall into place and prayin’ that she was okay in the meantime. At least they did the inspection shit in front of the whole group of rich-ass whackjobs so she’d be good until then.
Who are you kiddin’? You’d be fuckin’ a nun right now and then beatin’ her for penance as dessert.
We said our goodbyes and my brain was already countin’ down until we could get her back. My dick was wantin’ to be inside a bitch dressed like a nun just to try to fuck away the hollow pit in my stomach.
What’s the point? None of them can fill it.
None of those bitches are Gingersnap.
11
I Feel a Sin Coming On
When I got back to the Mounds, I pulled Casket and Hazard into my office for a quick rundown on things. They both knew about the nun showin’ up, but nothin’ from nothin’ about the rest.
“I told you that one was a bad fuckin’ habit. You shoulda broke it a long time ago, brother.”
Casket was always so logical and didn’t get the depths of what I had with her. I couldn’t blame him, but he’d never had anything more than a turnstile of chicks goin’ in and outta his place. He shoulda been sellin’ tokens like on the subway for Chrissakes.
“Yeah, well, it’s a little too late for that, dontcha think?” I sat down on my chair with a thud and lit a smoke. “I know you can’t wrap your head around it, but even if I hadn’t been bangin’ her all these years, this . . . what’s goin’ on right now . . . would still be happenin’. The second I took that confession from her, the ball was set in motion. No matter what, I woulda been there for her to my last breath. You can be who I know you to be, or shock the fuck outta me and leave me holdin’ my dick. It’s up to you.”
He finally took a seat and Hazard was standin’ against the wall. It was a lot to take in, no doubt about it. I never expected anyone to do the right thing in my life until I was in the Bastards. FOCUS had done his share of provin’ himself to me since day one. Casket and Hazard had never let me down. I could handle shit without ‘em, but would rather them be in it with me. I’d never look at them the same if they bowed out.
“So who’s this guy from the Malevolent? Never heard you talk about him before. How do you know you can trust him?” Hazard rummaged around in my drawer for the bottle of Jack he knew was there. “And Mr. Moneybags, FOCUS’ friend Upstate . . . how can you trust a prick like that? He ain’t like us.”
I reached down and smacked the back of Hazard’s head hard.
“Are you kiddin’ me right now you moron? FOCUS trusts that motherfucker more than just about anyone on the planet and he don’t trust no one without reason.” I snatched the bottle outta his hand and filled the glass that’d been sittin’ on my desk since the night before. Was that really last night?
“That Blitz guy is one of his guys from the Marines. Bish trusts him, which means I do too, capiche? You better get all snuggly and play nice-nice with him because when we get Brooklyn . . . and we will . . . he’s gonna be a Bastard. Long story. Just accept it.”
There wasn’t
a lot of time to answer too many questions. They were in or they were out. Simple.
“Okay, bro’ . . . I got your back. Whatever ya need, I’m in.” Casket was the first to speak up and Hazard always followed him like a shadow. “I’ll never understand ya, but in this case, I really don’t gotta.”
That’s what I’m lookin’ for.
Hazard nodded. “Whatever ya want . . . just lemme know where to be and what you need.”
“What I want is to avoid Froot Loops and Rattler . . . that’s what I want. I also need to get outta here without Candy or any of the other chicks seein’ me. I wanna sleep and be ready for our meetin’ with Blitz tomorrow. What I need is for all this shit to be sewn up tight.”
“Brother, you’re fucked up, but I love ya. What time and where for tomorrow?” Casket stood up and smiled. “Oh, and no worries about them assholes. I got ya covered on Loopy and Rattler.”
“The clubhouse is definitely out . . . same with the Mounds. The others would wanna know where we’re goin’ and wanna tag along . . . not happenin’.” I swallowed what was left of my drink and thought for a couple seconds. “I know . . . meet me at the Seaport and we can head straight over to Brooklyn from there.”
“Wait . . . why are we goin’ to Brooklyn? Why can’t the snuggle-bug meet us in our territory? I don’t like the fuckin’ sound of that shit.”
Hazard was suspicious by nature so it wasn’t surprising. He didn’t go with Casket and me to the meetin’ with Redhook either.
“I know you’re kinda in the dark, but we’re goin’ to Brooklyn so we aren’t caught with our pants down here. Get your head outta your ass and trust me already. Besides, it won’t hurt to spend some time in Redhook’s house, especially since it’ll be ours soon.”
“Got it, man. We’ll be there.” Casket slapped my shoulder and shot Hazard a hard look. “What time?”
“Blitz said noon by them . . . meet at the Seaport at eleven and we’ll head out around 11:30.”
“Gotcha . . . lemme go first to run interference with those two Bozos. Hazard can watch the grinding gashes until you’re gone.”
When I walked out the side alley, I thought about the last night with Fi and headed to my bike with a heart filled with lead.
I’m comin’ to get your ass for the last time.
12
Come Back to Black
Casket and I got downtown early and grabbed a coffee from one of the vendors while we waited. I wasn’t gonna motherfuck Hazard for not bein’ there because we were early.
“Your boy needs to be kept on a tighter leash . . . I love him, you know that, but he can’t go shootin’ his mouth off at Blitz and definitely not The Bishop.” I sat against the bike, sippin’ the hot coffee and smokin’. Hazard sometimes needed to have his tongue snapped into place. “He’s too fuckin’ paranoid and he needs to learn who he can trust. If he can’t trust us, who the fuck can he trust?”
Everything with that guy is a conspiracy. Just ‘cause you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get ya. He was good at pickin’ out problems before a lot of the other brothers, but the problem was he looked for an issue with every fuckin’ thing.
“I’ll have a word with him, man. He’s highstrung. You know that.” Casket heard Hazard’s bike comin’ and slid over his seat. “This whole thing we got goin’ on here is a last minute shit show . . . why would you expect anything else outta him considerin’ how he is on any given day?”
“Point taken.”
Hazard pulled up and I tossed my coffee out and gave him a quick hug. We didn’t waste time before gettin’ on it. It wouldn’t take us thirty minutes to get there, but just in case we hit a snag somewhere, our asses would be covered. As we approached the Brooklyn Bridge, I smiled. Goin’ over the bridge with colors was a new thing and it felt fucked up and really fuckin’ good at the same time. The last borough was almost ours. Thanks, Redhook, we’ll pay ya a visit in Florida.
When we visit FOCUS.
We made it there in about twenty minutes and someone I’d never seen came out to let us in. I had ideas about how I wanted things to go down and none of them ended well for those collar-wearin’ motherfuckers. Holy water. Rosaries. Catholic neckties. A big cross branded into a forehead or two. Oh, I got ideas. I hoped Blitz was on my side, but when it came to Fi,I wasn’t tryin’ to make new friends.
The bar was empty when we got in. It didn’t surprise me. It was early in the day and we weren’t there on club territory business. The guy who let us in went behind the bar, got us some drinks, and then we were alone again.
Blitz, you better not start off on the wrong foot.
As we waited, I got more impatient until I heard a voice comin’ from behind.
“Well, lookie there, if it ain’t the yank on this side of the bridge. How do ya like them apples?”
I couldn’t believe my ears and I turned and started to crack the fuck up. “If it ain’t the inbred hillbilly motherfucker I thought I left in L.A. Ya miss me or what?”
FOCUS wasn’t supposed to be back. It let me know just how serious the situation was when I saw him standin’ there. It didn’t hurt that he was a good go-between with Blitz. He was tangled all up in shit like a rat’s nest.
“Of course I missed ya . . . but that ain’t why I’m here. Some bitch said she wanted her g-string back, so I came to get it.” He started laughin’ and kept right on yakkin’. “I heard ya needed someone you knew would have your six . . . I gotcha, brother.”
Casket shot him a sideways look that coulda dropped him to the floor and stood to give him a big hug. “Man, you aren’t the only motherfucker that can have his back . . . what am I? Chopped liver or somethin’? He didn’t need ya, but since you’re here, ya might as well stay.”
FOCUS wasn’t tryin’ to step on toes, but he was my sergeant at arms and my best friend. If I couldn’t count on him over everyone else, somethin’ woulda been seriously lackin’ in my judgment.
“You got a problem with it, go back to Long Island.” FOCUS busted Casket’s balls right back. “’Cause if ya think I’m goin’ back to Hollyweird and leavin’ my boy in the dust, think again, ya ol’ bastard.”
Hazard sat back and waited for FOCUS to settle down and come to him. Blitz still hadn’t made an appearance and I knew he was twistin’ about that. When FOCUS got over to the table, Hazard spoke. “So, I heard you’re friends with the new guy . . . ya know, the one who’s late.”
FOCUS sat down and smacked at Hazard’s leg. “Chill the fuck out. There ain’t nothin’ for you to be worryin’ your pretty bald head about. Blitz wanted to let me see the shock on y’all’s faces when you saw I was here. Simmer down, motherfucker, simmer down.”
A few minutes later, Blitz came in and bought a round of drinks. He looked stern and I liked that about him. I could break balls with the best of ‘em, but with the mission at hand, seriousness was in order. We had the whole night to fuck around, but it was time to get down to business.
“Crucifix, Bish filled me in on the situation and all y’all have to do is say when, and I’m with ya. FOCUS and I both know Rosethorne like the back of our hands, and it should be cake to get in and take care of business without any of them asshats knowin’ the deal.”
Blitz’s accent wasn’t as strong as FOCUS’, but you could tell they were made from the same plate of biscuits and gravy. It was gonna take time to figure him out and form my own opinion. Goin’ on blind faith and the word of two guys who were alive in some way because of him put my mind at ease.
“Thanks in advance for your help . . . seems like a pretty good bet we’re gonna be up each other’s ass soon. No time like the present to start.” I raised my glass in a toast to our new alliance and continued. “So what kinda cake are we talkin’ about here? How big is the place and shit?”
I knew it was big and on a lot of land. Considerin’ it was a school and all that shit, my imagination was runnin’ wild.
“It ain’t small, but lucky for us The Bishop is
a master at security. There is only one way out on either side. The exits are hidden and go into a back corridor in the walls. Everywhere can be gotten to in secret. He likes to keep the element of suspense with the slaves he has there and they never know where he’ll be.” Blitz opened up a couple pieces of gum and threw them in his mouth. “It’s a win-win, ya know what I mean? It’s top notch security there, but he has his fun with it too.”
“Okay . . . that’s good. What about the rest?” I leaned into the layout Blitz was startin’ to draw at the table. “Like this shit out here. . . who’s allowed to go in those places?”
The front looked wide open with a circular driveway and columns. It was like what I thought a fancy boardin’ school layout would be. I wondered where the bondage equipment was stored, because I knew he had a ton of it.
“That’s where the hoity-tois will be comin’ in. He said limos and town cars will be rollin’ for a while before shit kicks off.” Blitz chewed the gum hard and then took another sip of his drink before continuing. “All of this open mess up here is gonna be guarded to the max . . . he’s puttin’ on some extras. We get there early enough and there ain’t a soul who’s gonna see us. We can hang out in here.”
Blitz drew a room that was blocked off from the rest of the place. It looked like it was only accessible through that secret hall.
“What’s this here . . . I’m guessin’ it’s the place, no?” I smacked my hand down on a big area in the center that had to be where the auction would be. “This where those psycho-freaks are gonna be playin’ Sotheby’s?”
I felt all eyes on me and shrugged. “What? You think ‘cause I’m a biker that I’m a classless bastard? Nah, I know about those fancy auction places from when I bodyguarded for some Wall Street douchebag.”
They all laughed and Blitz smacked the pen on the map in an attempt to restore order. I had to admire the initiative in a room full of Royal Bastards. He was the newest kid on the block, but he wasn’t a pussy.
“Yeah, you’re right . . . that’s the place.” He drew quick little dots in the middle of the big circle with each tap of the pen. “The girls are always kept back here for special shit . . . your girl is gonna get separated from the rest. She’ll be in this room.”