by Zoey Parker
I was on my way out the door, ready to go over to Lily’s house to get ready together before the party. Just before I left, he said my name. “Corinne,” he called from the living room. I was two steps away from the front door. I cursed inwardly. “Come here for one sec, if you don’t mind.” He had that tone of voice that I couldn’t say no to. It wasn’t rough or mean, but it was coolly powerful. I turned and trudged into the living room.
“Come sit, doll,” he said, patting the couch beside him. He had a beer in one hand.
“Daddy, I really have to go. Lily is waiting for me.”
“This won’t take long, I promise. Just a quick chat.”
“Fine.” I plopped down next to him and crossed my arms in a huff.
He gave me a fatherly raised eyebrow. “Can’t even have a conversation with your pops?”
“Lily’s waiting, Dad!”
He chuckled. “Well, I can’t talk to you if you’re gonna be all grumpy.” He took a long sip of his beer. “That ain’t a fun conversation at all.”
I sighed. I knew he was serious, that he wouldn’t tell me what he wanted to say until I relaxed and took him seriously. I’d gotten all my stubbornness from him. Uncrossing my arms, I let my head fall against his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around my frame and hugged tight.
“Now, I know you’re gonna hate hearing this, but I just want you to be safe tonight.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he interrupted me. “And I know you think that’s silly, because of course you’re gonna be safe, and of course you can take care of yourself. You’re my daughter. I know damn well you can do that.”
I stifled a laugh as he continued. “I may not always act according to the law that most people follow,” he said, “but as long as I’m president of my club, there are rules that I make sure everyone under my roof sticks to. That includes you, princess,” he said while tweaking my nose and coaxing out a giggle. “One of the biggest rules I have is no hard drugs. I want you to promise me, Corinne, that if you come across something like that — tonight or any other night ever — you’ll call me. I don’t care where you are or who you’re with. Just call me and I’ll come get you, no questions asked. Do you promise?”
“I promise, Daddy.”
“I can’t hear you.”
“I said, I promise.”
“One more time.”
“Daddy, I told you already, I promise!”
“Good. That’s three times you promised. Don’t make me come after you, kiddo.” He kissed me on the forehead and unwrapped his arm from my shoulders.
“Can I go now?”
“Depends,” he said after another sip. “First you gotta tell me if you have plans to mess around with any boys tonight.”
I rolled my eyes and turned beet red as his serious expression broke up into a huge smile. He flat out guffawed, big snorting laughs coming through his nostrils. I left him hooting to himself on the couch as I turned and ran through the front door on my way to Lily’s.
He was a scary man when he wanted to be, but he loved me. I knew that. And I knew that, whatever it came to, I’d honor that promise. “A person has to have a code,” he always said. “Rules to live by.” I admired that about him, and I’d do everything I could to live up to what I was: my father’s daughter.
James offered a short straw to Kendall. “Would you like to do the honors?” he asked. Without hesitation, she took it, bent over the glass table, and snorted up the first fat slug of a line. She coughed as she straightened back up and wiped the traces of white dust from her nose and upper lip.
I looked on, frozen in place, as Lily, James, and Santiago all followed suit. Two lines remained on the table after they were done. James handed the straw to Chris, who looked at me with twinkling, mischievous eyes. “You first,” he said, holding it out to me.
I didn’t know what to say. “I, um, uh…” I looked over at Kendall. She gave me a sideways jerk of the head directed at Chris, as if to say, Follow his lead. Go home with him. Santiago’s hand had disappeared below the hem of her dress now. Lily and James were a mirror image of them, limbs crossed and flesh touching.
I felt sticky and gross all of the sudden. I didn’t want to be here, not for one second longer. The calm I’d rediscovered in the bathroom vanished, and the hazy drunk that had made all of this seem fun disappeared just as quickly. I felt stone cold sober. I wanted out. “I need to go,” I blurted, rising to my feet. I accidentally clipped a bottle of cranberry juice as I rose. It fell on the table. A big crack spiderwebbed across the glass surface, followed quickly by a flood of crimson liquid. The juice poured over the remaining columns of cocaine. James cursed and tried to rescue what little he could, but it was too late. The clumps of powder were floating in the maroon sea. “Goddamit!” he snarled. His mouth became a hideous slash of twisted anger.
I stammered, but no words would come. Instead, I turned and took the stairs two at a time. “Corinne, wait!” I heard Lily and Kendall calling my name behind me. I didn’t stop for them. Pushing my way through the crowd at the foot of the stairs, I swept towards the exit. It felt like my throat was closing in on itself. All I needed was one breath of fresh air. As soon as I was outside, away from the drugs and the strangers we’d been drinking with, I would feel better. The same memory kept playing like a broken record in my head.
Promise?
I promise, Daddy.
I wound around a series of low couches and finally — finally! — I found the exit. Bursting out into the night, I took in a huge breath of air. It filled my lungs and took the edge off the sudden panic that had overtaken me.
“You’re outside, you’re okay,” I muttered to myself. “It’s okay.”
I leaned against a brick wall outside. My chest was rising and falling rapidly as I caught my breath.
I wanted to be mad at Kendall and Lily, but I couldn’t find the energy. If they wanted to have fun like that, by all means, they should be allowed to. It wasn’t my place to stop them. They were my friends and I loved them, but that didn’t mean I had to do every single thing they did. None of this was for me. The club, the drugs — it wasn’t my cup of tea. I’d tried to pretend for a night that it was, but now that I was outside and away from it all, the pure wrongness of it came catching up to me. Who was I kidding? I wasn’t a partier, not a club girl, and definitely not the type to go home with a random man just because he bought me drinks and fed me drugs and smiled at me prettily in a place where the music was too loud for me to think straight. I never wanted to be tricked into having sex. If I was going to go to bed with someone, it would be because I chose to. I wanted the man to make me feel alive, not the drinks or the drugs. Besides, I’d made my dad a promise a long time ago. I wasn’t about to break that oath for Chris and James and Santiago.
I felt drained, exhausted. It was a struggle just to keep my eyes open. All I could think about was getting to bed and sleeping forever. I just wanted to hail a cab and get the hell out of here.
When I reached the road, I saw that it was eerily empty and dark. None of the streetlights overhead were working. I didn’t see a single car coming in either direction. Everything was still. The dull thump of the club behind me was the only noise in the night.
I paced back and forth for a while. My breath caught in my throat when I saw headlights glimmer in the distance. With any luck, it would be a taxi that could take me home. I hoped against hope that it would be.
It took another minute before the car got close enough for me to see the black and yellow decals on the side doors. Thank God. I’d gotten lucky and the only car on the road had turned out to be a way for me to get home. I held my hand out. The cab saw, flashed his lights, and slowed down in front of me. He rolled down the passenger’s side window.
I bent over and looked at him. He was a middle-aged man with a whiskery mustache. “Where ya headed?” he asked roughly. I gave him my address and he nodded. “Flat rate tonight. Twenty bucks, up front.” He held out a grubby hand.
I shrugged. S
ure, whatever, I didn’t mind paying him now as long as he got me home. I opened up my small clutch and reached inside for a twenty-dollar bill. But when my fingers closed over thin air, my heart froze in place.
I had completely forgotten that I’d used the last of my cash to pay for the ride here. Lily was supposed to be the one to buy the cab home. Shit.
The cabbie saw my face and instantly understood the situation. “You ain’t got any cash, do ya?” he scowled.
“Wait!” I begged. Panic set in. “I’ll just, um…” I’d have to go back inside and ask her for a few dollars so I could get a ride out of here. I didn’t want to face either them or the boys again right now, but I didn’t see any other choice.
“No money, no ride,” the driver snarled. He yanked the steering wheel and sped away from the curb, tires squealing, leaving me standing there with my hands empty and my face fallen.
I spun and kicked the curb, hard, but I only succeeded in stubbing the ever-living crap out of my toe. I jumped up and down as tears sprang to my eyes and a string of my father’s best curses came fluttering out of my mouth.
I felt like a fool. Here I was, jumping around outside of a nightclub with a bleeding toe and no way to get home. I was dressed like a fool, and my friends had abandoned me in favor of drugs and handsome boys. I must have seriously pissed off the man upstairs to deserve karma like this.
But that was just the beginning.
Chapter 5
Croak
I pulled up my jeans and fastened the belt again. Carla was still on the ground collecting herself, although she’d tugged her own pants back up around herself.
“Gotta go, unfortunately,” I said. “The boys will be worried sick about me.” I gave her a wink.
“Yeah, uh, okay…” she whispered. She was still too dazed from the crazy sex to be able to form complete sentences. Who could blame her? I was a whole ‘nother beast from all of the other men she’d had in her life.
“I’m sure I’ll see you around again, babe,” I said. I turned to leave.
“Wait…” she muttered. Her hand dangled uselessly in the air between us. I sighed, then reached down and helped her to her feet. She gathered her wits about her as she stood, smoothing her hair back into place and settling her clothes on her frame properly. I looked her up and down as she did. Damn, what a body. I had half a mind to smash again, just for fun’s sake. But then again, I was pretty damn tired and getting some shuteye sounded just as nice. I decided on the latter.
We walked out to the front. It was past closing, so most of the place had cleared out. I saw Steezy putting away glasses and cleaning the bar. Good apple, that one. He glanced up as we entered and gave me a solemn nod. He pointed outside, indicating that he’d wait out there for me. I didn’t see any of the other Angels here. They must’ve gone home. I gave Steez a thumbs up. He slipped around the far end of the bar and through the door without a word.
Feeling Carla’s eyes on me, I turned to face her. “Well, thanks for a good time, barkeep,” I said.
She smiled wanly. “Not one for pillow talk, are you?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m afraid not. Never have been.”
“I shoulda known.”
“Ain’t exactly the best kept secret around here.”
“So when can I see you again?” she asked. She bit her lip immediately, like she knew it was a bad idea to ask a question like that but she’d just been unable to stop herself.
“Aw, c’mon, darling, you know better than to ask me something like that. Besides, you seem like a smart chick. You can do better than a sack of shit like me.”
She punched me in the shoulder playfully. “Yeah, you’re probably right, you sack of shit.”
I chuckled. “Steezy’s waiting for me,” I warned. “Can’t keep the poor kid up too long. It’s already way past his bedtime.”
Carla laughed. “Well, guess I can’t keep you here too much longer, then.”
“You couldn’t if you tried.”
“I’ve got some ideas on how I might go about doing it.”
“Do tell.”
“It’d start like this…” she said, leaning forward and running her fingertips lightly along the bulge at the front of my jeans.
I grabbed her wrist gently and placed it on the bar top next to us. “Not now. I’m sorry. I’ve got rules for myself, though. A man’s gotta have a code. Have a good night, Carla.”
I left her standing there by the bar as I turned and walked outside. Part of me genuinely felt bad. It happened every now and then, that a girl who should’ve known better wanted more than I could offer. But I’d been clear about what type of man I was from the start. Everything I’d said to her had been honest. Nothing worse than a man who lies for pussy. That just wasn’t me. I was a scoundrel, but an honest one. She couldn’t ask for more than that.
Steezy stood leaning against his motorcycle in the dark. The sky overhead was bright and studded with stars. It was a damn fine night to be on the back of a bike. I felt warm and relaxed.
“Time to get on home,” I declared, walking over to my own bike and starting it up. The low growl of the engine rumbled through the warm air. “Think I’m gonna take the long way home,” I told Steezy over the din of our motorcycles. “It’s too nice not to go for a spin.”
He nodded and gave me a wave. “Take care, Croak,” he said.
“Stay outta trouble, kid.” I zoomed off in one direction as he rode in the other.
The wind was warm and pleasing on my face. I headed for the edge of town. I was going to loop all the way around the outer rim and then cut back through the downtown area on my way back to my place. The road along that route was smooth and newly paved, so my bike slid along it like glass, all smooth and pretty. I opened the throttle wide to enjoy the thrum of the machinery.
There was nothing quite like being on the back of a beast like this. My baby was top of the line and fine-tuned. She had the meaty growl of a seriously dangerous piece of equipment, which was just the way I liked it. I wanted to be heard a mile before I got there and a mile after I left, wherever “there” happened to be. No point in sneaking around and avoiding damage in this life of mine. Better to kick down doors and leave broken hearts in my wake.
Out here, though, I wasn’t doing a damn thing to a damn soul. I was in the no-man’s land between this town and the next, cruising happily along the edge of the night, with a warm tingle in my balls and a face full of desert wind. Nothing could beat that. I was fully intent on living this lifestyle forever.
Chapter 6
Corinne
When the pain of my stubbed toe eventually subsided, I turned and hobbled back to the front door. Velvet ropes snaked along either side of a red carpet that led up to the double bronze doors of the club. The roped line was bursting with people desperate to get inside.
Seated on a stool at the entrance was a massive man with a goatee and a shiny, bald head. He wore a black suit with a black shirt, making him look like a giant mound of coal.
“Excuse me,” I said timidly, tapping him on the arm to get his attention. “My friends are inside, and I had to step out for a second, and, um…”
“Back of the line,” he said gruffly without bothering to listen to what I had to say. He pointed towards the end. I looked that way in despair. There had to be at least a hundred people in line. It looked like they were moving at a glacier’s pace.
“But I was just inside,” I objected. “Please, I just need to get something from my friends. I’ll be right back out.”
“You can pay me a hundred dollars, or you can go wait in line. Either way, you can’t stand here. Now move.”
My shoulders fell. I looked up at him pleadingly, but he wasn’t looking at me anymore. So that was the end of it. It didn’t look like it would be of any use to argue with him. I didn’t have a hundred dollars to give him, and waiting in this line wouldn’t get me anywhere. As my father would have said, I was shit out of luck.
Then it hit me. M
y father! I couldn’t believe the thought of calling him hadn’t already occurred to me. I fumbled around in my clutch bag and withdrew my cell phone. But it was too loud right by here to hear anything on the phone.
I walked a couple blocks away from the club, until the silence of the night had once again muffled the music and voices. Settling to a seat on the curb, I dialed his number. But just as the dial tone caught and started to ring, a loud mechanical roar came ripping through the still night. I looked in annoyance to my left.
A motorcycle was trundling down the road, piloted by a man in a dark leather jacket. As he drew closer, I could see that he had short, dark hair and arms thick with muscle and veins. He looked completely at ease and brimming with confidence as he drove in my direction.