I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Take it easy, girly, it ain’t a contest. You can work your way around the whole club for all I care.”
She gave me a pitying look. “Everything’s a contest. My dad taught me that.”
“Well, I don’t know what you’re competing for. I don’t have a thing for Gunner. You’re welcome to fuck him all you like.”
Dawn shrugged. “Just wanted to let you know. That’s all.”
I shook my head. “Whatever. I’ll pick you up before I head to the bar tonight if you want. Just text me.”
“Thanks.”
I knew exactly what she was doing. I silently fumed as I walked back to my truck, leaving her behind for the day. She wanted to command the guys’ attention, to have first pick, to “run the room,” as it were. She wanted to be the baddest bitch. I’d only held the unofficial position for as long as I had because there’d been no competition in a long time. I knew the day would come that some chick would stroll it and usurp the spot from me. I simply didn’t have a big enough presence.
But she didn’t need to be such a… a bitch about it. My better sense gave way to the jealousy roiling in my stomach. Fuck her. I’m not giving it up that easily. Not to her.
◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙
The bar was quiet that night. Dawn pretended our earlier conversation never happened when I picked her up. I just flipped through the radio stations while she talked about nothing in particular. When we pulled into the parking lot, she asked, “Do you think Gunner will be there tonight?”
Eager to take my place? “Eager to give him another try?”
“You know it.”
I parked the truck in my usual spot behind the building. “No clue. Nothing’s going on as far as I know.” We strolled inside, both of us just a touch unsteady on our too-high heels.
“Ladies!” Irish was in his usual position behind the bar. It was one of Nella’s nights off, though, and she was probably home.
Time passed slowly when there was no one to flirt with. Anchor came by with his wife, and Bill stopped in but left almost immediately. Some townsfolk showed up, so the place wasn’t deserted, but they weren’t who I was there for.
Dawn looked as bored as I felt. Some customers beat me to the jukebox, so I didn’t even have that to keep me entertained. Finally I put my pride aside and took a seat next to her at the end of the bar. With a heavy sigh, I asked, “Want to play a round of pool?”
She gave the room a disinterested glance. “Yeah. Get the Prospect to give us a few beers and I’m in.”
“His name’s Irish,” I said as I flagged him down. Giving me orders, are you?
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Dawn will flash you her tits for two beers.”
Both of their eyebrows went up. “One flash for two beers?” Irish asked.
Dawn’s face finally broke in a grin. “Two titties, two beers.”
He nodded. Dawn pulled her tiny t-shirt up. Wearing no bra again, her huge breasts spilled right out with a perky bounce. Irish licked his lips. “Goddamn. All right, honey. Coming right up.” He stood frozen, though, until she finally pulled her shirt back down and covered her chest. “Goddamn,” he said again.
Beers happily in hand, we started a game that quickly became far more competitive than it should have been, especially at our skill level.
I broke, and got nothing. It took three turns before one of us managed to score a point at all. And it was only downhill after that.
“You didn’t call which pocket,” Dawn said, an octave louder than necessary. “Accidental scores are illegal.”
“House rules,” I said, “Ask Irish.”
And then, after another two turns, I jumped up and down and shouted at her, “No bouncing the ball. Illegal. No good.”
She sighed heavily. “Damn, can’t we just keep playing?”
We continued snapping at each other until Theo seemed to just materialize at the bar. Then our whole game changed. The arguing ceased as we treated the space around the table like a catwalk. Dawn arched her back and took a shot from the wrong side of the table in an attempt to give him a good view of her ass in her scandalously short shorts.
“Seriously?” I hissed at her as I passed. I leaned over the table, though, and gave the room a view down my loose blouse as I took a poorly angled shot of my own.
Theo was oblivious. He sat and stared down at his short glass of amber alcohol and never gave us a glance. “Think there’s something wrong with him?” Dawn asked. She sat up on the table and stretched out to take a shot that made no sense whatsoever, aside from showing off her long, thin legs. Our show was making an impression on everyone else in the room. We were starting to get glares from the women patrons. Irish himself was practically drooling. But Theo remained disinterested, even as I twisted to take a shot so that my midriff was bare.
Irish finally elbowed the big guy. "You realize they're putting on this little show for you, right?" Finally he looked up with weary eyes. Dawn smirked and struck another pose as she prepared to take her next turn. I, however, lost my composure again. A big, idiot grin spread across my face and my cheeks burned. I was sure I was visibly blushing bright red. I had to turn away or risk looking like a fool once more. Probably too late already. Irish watched us both with his mouth agape. "I don't know if this is the best or the worst game of pool I've ever witnessed."
I flipped Irish a middle finger. Dawn took her shot, bouncing the cue ball and hitting absolutely nothing.
I leaned over the table, arching my back and hoping Theo was still watching. I wanted to make up for looking so dumb and actually score a point, so I took an extra moment studying the table. One of my striped balls was in a good position, but it was far from the cue ball, and I wasn't a hard hitter. Hell, sometimes I missed entirely and just stabbed my stick at air.
This was one of those times. I whiffed right past the ball. Cursing, I straightened up. "Goddamn. How long have you two been at this?" I jumped and turned. Theo stood at the table looking down at the shameful display.
I tried to think of something flirty to say but all that came out was, "Let's see you do better." Idiot.
"Be on my team?" Dawn asked, smiling and jutting her chest out. See? Idiot! He took the stick from her and circled the table.
He hit one of Dawn's balls - the solids - into a pocket right away. Dawn cheered with delight and grabbed his arm. He gently shrugged her off. "Still my turn."
We followed him as he circled the table. Fuck, I need to stop embarrassing myself in front of him. He hit one ball after another into the pockets, his face deep in concentration, his strong arms working with a practiced ease. The longer I watched, the more my heart raced.
Dawn hovered around him like a vulture, deliberately placing herself between him and me, bodily blocking me out of her ceaseless chatter. I placed myself across the table from him instead where I could watch his face as he considered his moves. But he ignored us both as he became lost in the game. I felt like a fly, like an annoyance buzzing around him. Like a tiny moon circling a massive planet. I tried to make conversation, asking questions about the game - "why don't you hit this one here? How can you avoid hitting this striped ball, too?" but his responses were barely grunts. At least he was thoroughly ignoring Dawn as well.
I perked up when one of my favorite songs came on. Frustrated as I was becoming, it never took much to put me back in a good, high-energy mood, and music was one of the easiest buttons for me. So as David Bowie began piping through the speakers, I thought whatever, screw this game, and swayed and sang along.
"Eight ball, corner pocket," Theo said, pointing. With a resounding crack, he hit it right where he'd indicated, winning the game for Dawn. She shrieked and jumped up and down. "You did it, we won!" She grabbed his arm and leaned into him. "That was amazing," she purred, then shot a triumphant grin my way.
Jealousy flared through me, but I tamped it down. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of seeing me upset, or
give him the impression that I was crazy. So I just said, "Good game," with my best bright smile and tore myself away from the table to spend a little quality time with the jukebox.
Irish saw me coming and gave me a few free credits. The neon lights warmed my face as I tapped through the options. While the television above the bar was old, Bill had sprung for the fancy new touchscreen device, and I loved it more than anything. Almost any song I could dream up was on there. I browsed through more options than I could possibly listen to, figuring that the night was a bust - Dawn would entertain Theo, and it was looking like no one else would be coming by that evening.
I was happily bobbing along to a Buckcherry track and browsing the L.A. Guns options when I felt someone looming over my back.
"This one," Theo said, tapping Crazy Bitch.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. I blushed - Stop it! - and turned to face him. He was standing close, and I had to tilt my head back to see his face. "I thought you guys would play another round."
"Nope." He nodded at the screen behind me. "Pick a few more." I turned back, and he hovered even closer as he watched over my shoulder. I could smell the whiskey on his breath, the leather of his cut, hints of motor oil and aftershave. He leaned with a hand on the wall next to the jukebox screen, effectively trapping me there between him and the bar. Oh, boy. I'm in trouble. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears.
I was curious to see if our music taste similarities extended to other genres. "Do you like Type O Negative?"
"Mmhmm. I saw them live once." His other hand brushed my hip and just rested there - a feather-light touch that could be suggesting nothing, or could be hinting at everything.
I turned to him again. "No way! I'm totally jealous. Was it mind-blowing?"
He smiled that half-grin that had made me so stupid the night before. "It was. Aren't you too young to be into them?"
All my charm, my flirting skills, my girly wiles abandoned me. My voice even dropped am octave as my whole act melted away. I bounced on my toes as I spoke. "Good music knows no age," I said. "When did you see them? They don’t let me play them in here, they shout until Irish skips it. Jerks don’t know the good stuff when they hear it. It’s like they’re afraid a little goth music will make them want to go home and dye their hair and dress crazy and worship Satan." What the fuck stop rambling dummy! But his grin only broadened as the words poured from my mouth. It made me tingle between my legs. I really wanted to kiss him.
I thought maybe he felt the same. He leaned in even closer as he spoke. "Well, hail Satan. How did you get into them?"
I started to tell him it was my father, but my throat caught. Don’t want to think about that. He must have caught the moment on my face because he looked back at the screen as he said, "Sorry. Pick another?"
"Naw. We have enough lined up for now." I leaned back against the wall next to the screen, just touching his arm with my shoulder. "Who else do you listen to?"
He wasn't paying attention to my words, but he was looking at my lips. A little thrill ran through me, and I had to resist laughing at myself. The prospect of a kiss hadn't given me butterflies since middle school, but there I was, blushing again, nearly trembling with excitement. I stood on my toes as he leaned in -
The front door swung open with a bang. "Theo!" Bill had returned, with Jester at his heels. They scanned the room before spotting him with me. "Hands off the bitches. We've got news." They blew past us and through the door into the back rooms. Without so much as a shrug, Theo disappeared with them.
So much for that. I hoisted myself up onto a stool with a heavy sigh. "What was that about?" I asked.
Irish wagged a finger at me. "Not your business." Then his expression softened. "He ain't gonna be around long, so don't get too attached."
I grinned. "What's the matter, Irish? Jealous of his pretty face?" He flipped me the middle finger as he slid me a beer. I was grateful for the cold drink - I really needed to cool down.
◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙
The rest of the evening was dull. Jester eventually reappeared from the back room, though Bill and Theo didn't follow. Dawn was all over him as soon as he appeared and shot me a victorious look when, not long after, he led her towards the back rooms. As if I give half a damn about that humorless stick in the mud. "Can you give her a ride home later?" I called after them.
"Fuck no," Jester replied without slowing. Dammit. That girl's gonna need to find a cheap old car.
I ended up begging the kitchen to give me something to do to pass the time. The fry cook sent me back out to the bar to wash glasses for Irish. He ain't too busy to do it himself, I thought, but I tucked a rag into my shorts and got to work anyway. "Just so I'm sure you won't charge me for the beer," I assured him when he tried to thank me.
"Wanna fool around after my shift?" he asked with a mischievous grin. I liked the young Prospect well enough and normally would have been right on that offer. No way I’m gonna fuck the fucking Prospect while the new girl’s back there with the President’s son. It wasn’t only that, though. It was Theo - not only because I still thought I had a chance with him, either. I didn’t want him to know what I was doing. I didn’t want to fuck my way around the club right under his nose.
I shrugged. “Another time. Gotta drive Dawn home.”
“Suit yourself.”
The bar was nearly empty by the time Dawn reappeared looking smug and disheveled and very out of it. Only the most dedicated drunks were still glued to their seats. I kept my comments to myself and asked, “Ready to go?”
She wobbled and grabbed the bar for support. Fucking Jester. “Yeah,” she giggled. Rolling my eyes, I led her outside by the hand. We stopped on the building’s little porch for a moment and enjoyed the fresh air after breathing beer and cigarettes all night.
“Jester’s nice.” She phrased it more like a question than a statement.
“Not really. You shouldn’t be taking anything while you’re working, you know. Honestly you shouldn’t be taking anything Jester gives you, period.”
“’gainst the rules?”
“No. Just bad form. Try not to fall down.” The gravel was rough enough to walk in on heels as it was, and we took our time picking our way around the back. Dawn wobbled and stumbled, but with my support managed to remain upright.
“Evening, ladies.” I got a little chill at the sound of the unfamiliar voice.
“Evening!” I said brightly. I expected to see a drunk shuffle out from between the cars - someone accidentally left behind by his friends, or too drunk to drive home just yet and waiting it off. But the man that stepped out was definitely a biker, in a black cut and black boots. He was somewhere on the older side of forty, not drunk, and not a Dust Bowl Devil.
“Can I help you?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips. “You lost?” He shook his head and stepped closer. I placed myself between him and Dawn. “You’d better get out of here, buddy. We ain’t alone, and those guys don’t take kindly to strange bikers around here.”
“I’ll bet.” He lunged for me. Why oh why don’t I carry a weapon like a smart girl should? I dodged instinctively, jostling Dawn and accidentally knocking her to the ground. His hand wrapped around my upper arm in a bruising grip, and nearly yanking my shoulder from its socket, he dragged me back between a car and a van. Don’t get inside, don’t get inside. I screamed. Dawn screamed. He clamped a hand over my mouth, but her high-pitched wail carried on piercing the night air.
Using the hand clamped across my mouth, he slammed my head back against the side of the van at my side and said, “Hold still or you’ll lose an eye.” I froze. He released my arm and pulled out a pocketknife. My knees went weak and I nearly fell down, but he held me where I was. “Cut it out.”
“We’re here!” Dawn screamed. Someone must have appeared. The man’s eyes flickered briefly towards the bar. Then, quick as a flash, he flicked the knife just below my eye. I gasped at the sting. Hot liquid dripped down my cheek. Blood. He fucking cut
me!
Then he hurled me to the ground and took off.
Another big pair of hands were on me a minute later. I screamed and tried to slap them away. No more! “Hey, calm down, you’re okay.” Theo. I scrambled to my feet, straightening my shirt as I stood. Tears rolled down my cheeks - stupid, stupid! - and I wiped them and some of the blood away before finally looking up at him. He cursed under his breath and held my face, inspecting the cut beneath my eye. “Can you see?”
“I’m fine.”
“It looks shallow.” His grip tightened and his eyes became fierce. I tried to shrink away. “What the fuck were you doing out here?” The gravel behind him shifted and he shouted over his shoulder, “Don’t you get up yet, you stay where you are.”
My eyes narrowed. “Don’t yell at her, she didn’t do anything.” Dawn got up anyway and beat on Theo’s shoulder uselessly with her tiny fists.
“Let her go!”
He held her back easily with one hand, keeping his deep brown eyes locked on mine. “Do you have any idea what could have happened?”
I was captivated by his eyes. He still held my chin in one hand and his fingers were warm against my skin. Despite the sting below my eye, my racing heart, Dawn’s shrieks, I longed to turn in to his touch, to kiss his hand. My pulse’s rhythm changed, from one of fear to one of desire. I settled for laying a hand on his wrist. “I’m sorry,” I said, not quite sure what I was apologizing for.
His grip softened. “Apologize to your friend for leading her into danger.”
“I’m sorry, Dawn.” The girl finally stopped struggling against his grip. His thumb gently traced my jaw before he released me - a touch so gentle I might have just imagined it. But my breath caught and my heart stuttered. It couldn’t have just been in my head. Then he released Dawn’s arm and took her by one hand. He held mine with the other.
Devil's Girl: Dust Bowl Devils MC Page 3