by A P Foote
He snags another one handing it to me and I accept them. Before he changes his mind, I rock forward, standing on the tips of my toes to kiss his cheek.
Now to find some water.
“Hey Ratty, got any water?”
This guy always has his head in the fridge or the cabinet. I don’t get it. He’s so fucking skinny and he eats more than a sumo wrestler. If I ate that fucking much I’d be as big as a house.
Ratty drags his head out of the stainless fridge with a bottle of water in his hand. “You good to catch it?”
“Yeah, toss it here.”
The clear bottle rockets through the air, falling perfectly into my hands. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem.”
The seal cracks with a twist of the cap. Holding out my hand I eye the two pain killers I shouldn’t be taking.
Fuck it.
I pop them in my mouth taking a swig of water, swallowing them both together. The cold liquid goes down smooth. Until it doesn’t. My throat starts burning and my stomach turns and cramps.
Fucking shit! I just downed a shit ton of Shine with two Vicodin!
The shine spews from my mouth in a shower of spray while I gag repeatedly. The back doors to my left and I make a break for it. It doesn’t matter if I puke all over the floor, everyone else does but that’s fucking disgusting.
Thank fuck the door gives way without sticking, letting me into the cold darkness. The back opens up to a huge pasture filled with cows and horses just mingling about.
Turning left I let loose, clear liquid spews from my stomach over and over. My core muscles burning from the repeated and force constriction. I choke on the pills that haven’t had any time to disintegrate making it easier for them to come back up.
With shaking hands and unsteady fingers, I shove two digits down my throat to dislodge the jammed pills. I’m able to swoop one out but the other’s shoved back down. My eyes are glued shut, unwilling to open and see my stomach’s destruction.
“Oh man this fucking sucks.” I strain clenching my stomach.
Who the hell puts shine in a plastic bottle? It was sealed up. Even when I was a regular customer, I wasn’t stupid enough to drink shine when I was doped up. Hopefully, there’s not enough left in my system to do any damage. A door clicks behind me, but my eyes still won’t open.
Fucking mom had to ‘drop the cleaner.’
“Kat!” Dalton’s found me. He drops to the ground beside me, fisting my hair into a ponytail. “What happened.”
“I didn’t know it was shine.”
“What? What was shine?” he calmly asks.
“I needed water with the pills, he gave me moonshine.”
D’s unnaturally quiet and my heart skips a beat. “Who did?”
“Ratty, but I don’t think he knew. He threw me a bottled water. The seal wasn’t broken or anything.” I moan, pushing away the twisting pains in my stomach. Moonshine isn’t for me even if I was drinking it without the pills. It’s never not made me violently ill.
“Let’s get you inside.”
“No! No just… let me catch my breath.” He sighs switching from his knees to his ass, patiently waiting for me to be okay.
He makes small talk, “They took a vote on Cass and me to prospect.”
“And?” I groan.
“Yeses all around.”
“Good. What did you guys do to earn it?” I wipe my mouth with the sleeve of my pull over.
“Cass helped Clyde burn down The Power’s supply, and me? Well, I guess they wanted more eye candy walking around.” Sensing the smile in his words I peek at him through squinted eyes.
I fucking love that twinkle in those baby blues when he’s excited about something. Wait, Cass and Clyde burned what down?!
Realization hits me, and Dalton bursts out in laughter when it does. My eyes practically bulge from their sockets with a hanging mouth that would be the perfect fly catcher. He uses two fingers to push my jaw up. “The only thing that should be hanging for is me… aaaaand the other two who aren’t as sexy as me.”
He winks and I chuckle at his enthusiasm. This is going to be fun.
“Okay, pity party over. Get up.” He loops his arm around mine helping me to my feet.
Ooh head rush. I guess I didn’t get it all out.
Finally, able to open my eyes all the way, the darkness has me disoriented. I squint into the distance to see a cow running across the field. Little shits love to frolic, but I haven’t seen these particular cows this active at night.
Dalton helps brush the dirt and grass from my knees. “I can help you shower later if you want.”
I bet he would love that, and you know what? I just might let him.
D helps me to the door when a loud animalistic cry sounds in the distance. “What the hell?” We turn at the same time but instead of being met with a cow being slaughtered by a predator we realize we’re the ones being hunting. The Powers’ prey.
“Shit, get inside,” Dalton frantically urges me, pushing me toward the door. I reject the offer though. He’s fucking crazy if he thinks I’m gonna leave him alone out here to take on, what? A dozen or so seasoned bikers. He’s out of his goddamned mind.
My muscles naturally tense, prepared to defend my club and its members at all costs. But fuck I don’t have a gun, and I know for a fact these sister fucking ass holes do.
“Fine, here.” He lifts his hoodie exposing his Adonis belt beautifully adorned by two fifties. Fucking beautiful, the nickel-plated eagles contrast beautifully against his tatted skin, making me wish we never left his bed back at the cabin.
He slides the eagle into my hand as he bends over, his breath fanning my face and kisses me, hard. Puke breath and all.
“I love your kisses, but that’s nasty. I just threw up everywhere.” I laugh, a little repulsed that he would actually kiss me after puking my brains out.
“Might not get the chance again, Kitty Kat, YOLO.”
Really?
“One, pleeease don’t call me Kitty Kat and two, you fucking say YOLO again, I’ll kill you.”
“We live through this, I’ll do whatever the hell you want. I’ll even put a collar on and let you walk me around.”
“Deal.” His head spins around like that scene in the exorcist, staring extremely hard at me. He doesn’t know what to think and I don’t have time to explain. Two of those guys stalking us out in the field just reached the perimeter fence, squeezing their big bodies through the barbed wire.
Too bad it’s not electric, I was in the mood for bar-b-q.
Dalton ducks behind the concrete wall to my right as I do on the left. I don’t think they saw us yet so we should be good, but I can’t help picturing his aesthetically pleasing self, James Bonding across the concrete slab.
I feel like now is not the time to be texting when D pulls out his phone, hits a few buttons before shoving it back into his pants.
Twigs snap under boots sounding closer than I anticipated they would be by now, when the loud roar of a truck careens from around the building, sliding across the tall damp grass trying its damndest to gain traction. It finally does and whoever’s behind the wheel guns it, kicking the peddle to the floor where it makes towards the dirty dozen attempting to ambush us.
What the fuck do we look like? Idiots? I may only have a high school education but fuck, cut me some slack.
Gun fire erupts, the bullets ricocheting off the trucks metal body, ping after ping shooting dangerously into different directions. I retain my composure as glass from the truck’s windows explode in the chaos with men yelling, barking orders while they dodge and dive away from the monstrous of a truck trying to kill them. I make my move, the men scatter like roaches, but this time they’re the horrid ones not my club, running from the shoe ready to devour their corpses before they’ve even succumbed to their injuries.
“Go Kat!”
I use my body as Dalton’s shield. Even if he doesn’t appreciate the gesture, I’ll make damn sure I protect
my Prospect at all costs. Being the lowest man on the totem pole has its perks, on the contrary Prospects aren’t just people we use and abuse they play a vital role in the survival of a club.
Mostly.
My trigger finger’s heavy against the steel, discharging the firearm, one shot after the other. Hell, I even got creative with my pattern there’s no need for two in the chest one in the head like Clyde taught me, that’s just wasting bullets.
The Power members are doing a great job dodging the truck, but each one that escapes the massive tires is getting a bullet to the back of the head.
The old Kat is slowly creeping back in, with every life I extinguish the more familiar and less lost I become. The club has always been my purpose in life. Besides the bar they’re all I have. Understandably dad would want me to stay away, who wants their only daughter to have this life?
Pop! Pop! One douche after the other hits the ground, live by the patch, die by the patch. Just don’t be the sorry motherfucker who dies by it.
Dalton’s ass decides to side-step me, putting himself and my sanity into the line of fire. I know he’s a big boy and the truth is we still have a lot to learn about each other, but he has to be alive to do that and I don’t know how much he knows about… this.
He drops three more in only three shots. Not half bad, now only if the shit tard behind the wheel would learn how to steer that big bitch.
“Jesus, are they even trying?” I clamber.
Five of the remaining club members duck and dodge the truck like fucking ballerinas dancing a recital.
“Now this is just embarrassing.” Dalton sighs tucking the twin to the eagle I’m carrying in his pants.
Like he needs anything bigger in there.
“Who you telling? I think he needs to earn his man card back. What do you think?” I chuckle admiring my sexy Prospect. My head’s a little wonky still but I could swear I see his eyes flicker to their respective corner sneaking peeks at me.
Dalton’s panty-dropping smile shows itself revealing his perfectly white and straight teeth, just before a cigarette appears between his lips, that zippo clicks more than a reminder of the life I live.
Hoots and hollers bust through the door and it’s about fucking time. Where the fuck have these guys been? I assume D texted Cass when he pulled out his phone, but the delayed reaction is stupefying.
You’re gonna leave us out here to fend for ourselves? Whereas if their asses were on the line we’d be expected to show up. This club has really gone to hell in a hand basket.
They really got me fucked up if they think I’m going to jump into this fuckery and embarrassment while they just sit back and jack off. I may be the Enforcer but god damn that doesn’t mean I fend for myself.
A few of the members take care of the lost roaches scrambling about while I hunt down Clyde’s ass.
Clyde
They entered the lion’s den, what did they think was gonna happen? We’re supposed to bend over and take it?
I don’t regret burning their supply down, not in the least bit, but they have some balls showing up here where they are massively outnumbered.
“Clyde!”
The venom in Kat’s voice has my hair standing on end. It’s always done that to me, since the first time I pissed her off.
She’d just turned eighteen, excited to come to me. She wasn’t jailbait anymore. I have to admit I was pretty stoked about it too. I always protected her and, it might be sick to say because she was young, but I had a crush. She showed up to my house unannounced and just walked right in. She’s always been that way, never knocking, she’ll just barge right in to wherever she feels like.
I was in my room with a club whore banging her brains out when she walked in. Man, Kat was lit, screaming, yelling, even bum rushed me, knocking me off the chick and onto the floor and beat the holy hell out of the bitch, leaving her bruised and bloody on the bed. I don’t remember the whore’s name and I don’t care to, but Kat didn’t feel the same way. When she was done with her, she set her murderous sights in on me, pulling an eight-inch gutting knife out. She stalked me, a lioness defending what’s hers, ready to inflict punishment against the ones who dared to cross her. She stood over me in my all my naked glory, saying she was going to kill me, and hell yeah I believed her, she’d just beat the shit out of the bitch, and she was towering over me with knife.
She held it to my throat, dragging the tip across my skin leaving a drag mark in its wake. It was hot though, turned me on in more ways than one. That’s how I found out she had a thing for knives.
I legit thought she was going to slit my throat though, I have never seen so much rage in any one’s eyes before; even to this day the only person I fear is her.
“What the hell was that?” she snarls, slithering into my office looking like a pit viper.
“Which part?” I joke.
“Erg, the part where you left D and me to fend for ourselves against twelve people,” she spits, jutting that luscious hip out and crossing her arms. Even with that damn hoodie on her tits are visible.
“I sent Graham out with the truck to—”
“The truck? Graham couldn’t tell his wife had a dick! And you send him to help? What kind of show are you running here now, Clyde?” She moves closer to me.
She doesn’t think I noticed, but I notice everything she does. I only made the mistake of not paying attention once. This confrontation is exhausting with her, she makes a fine argument but still…
“Okay look, you’re right, I’m sorry. I should have handled it myself and I didn’t.”
Please drop it…
Studying her shows me she’s tense, and what’s better to cure that than a little rub down. Rounding the desk, I stop in front of her, those beautiful hazel eyes skimming the surface of my face. She’s searching for a reason to fight, to get me and herself worked up. It’s her defense mechanism but it won’t work this time.
“Don’t be mad, I was dealing with the buyer in Vancouver over the phone,” I say circling her hips, kneading the skin under her shirt.
“When’s the delivery?” Her glossy eyes watch my lips.
“Tomorrow, mandatory, so you need to blow the dust off.”
The necklace of bruises are turning yellow. That’s a good thing, it means she’s healing, but somethings still off.
“What is it?” I ask, my brows knitting together closer than Boon’s unibrow, if that’s even possible.
Shit.
Her pupils are pinpricks, there’s a sheen coating her skin, and… I breathe deeply through my nose. She smells like booze.
Not again.
Kat
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I use his body as leverage to lean back without busting my ass.
“Kat… don’t do this again, don’t put me and yourself through this again.” His eyes go dead, that warmth and love replaced by sorrow and grief quickly becoming consumed by nothingness.
How do I even defend myself? Do I lie? Say I don’t have a problem or tell him he’s crazy and delusional?
This isn’t my fault though, someone fucked with the water bottles. I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but this time it’s truly not my fault.
“Oh, the booze?” I smile but he’s still not amused, “Someone replaced some of the water bottles with shine. I noticed it with the first sip. I handled it.”
Swallowing the lump in my throat proves easier said than done. It doesn’t matter to him, what matters is I’m on meds and I smell like alcohol. He’s not gonna care it was an accident.
“Okay.” His breath fans my face.
That was unexpected, I was sure he would go fucking crazy like before but he’s relatively calm.
“You guys can stay here in my room. You’re not going home or back to Rainier tonight,” he says with finality. He pulls me close, kissing my cheek before letting me go. He loves to torture me. His hand swoops around swiftly slapping my ass with a pop. “I’ll show those boys how to really please you.�
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Those green eyes sparkle under the fluorescent lights, his left one promising me sweet, sweet naughtiness later.
Him being flirtatious is refreshing, he might have been this way a few years ago, but I haven’t seen it in a while so it’s nice.
“Where are you going?” I ask, wanting him to fulfill his promises now. I have always been an instant gratification kind of gal.
Just then Nix pops up. “The guys cleaned up the mess out back.”