Starla (The Ladies of Karnage Novella Series)

by Culbreth, Jennifer

  Ana, Joni, and I then proceeded to get as shit faced as we possibly could. It was around Midnight, we were already three sheets to the wind, when we heard the familiar rumble outside. I jumped up in excitement and the three of us ran stumbling to the window like little school girls. “Where are they? I can’t see them?” I slurred as I peeked out the corner of the window, desperately trying to hide my face behind the lace curtain and failing.

  “I don’t know. I can’t see through your head,” Joni said mushing her face in next to mine.

  “There they are, across the street,” Ana exclaimed excitedly from above us. “Shit, duck! I think they saw us.”

  It was amazingly hard to find a pack of motorcycles, while trying to stay hidden, when you were drunk. I pushed Joni back, knocking her onto her ass, “Hurry, go back over there. Act normal,” I explained excitedly, trying my hardest not to laugh as the three of us ran back to our chairs and the small card table we’d set up for our drinking.

  Ana rushed over to her chair, a rolling desk chair, a little too fast. She landed, rolled, and then went crashing to the ground with a thud. I couldn’t contain my laughter as all three of us erupted in giggles. I couldn’t even see if she was ok, I was laughing too hard to be able to open my eyes, watching her rolling around on the ground as she attempted to get up, but laughing so hard she just kept falling back down.

  “What the fuck are you loons doin’?” McGee asked from the doorway, Mulligan and Butcher just behind him.

  “Help me up you slag!” Ana laughed from the floor.

  “Bloody women, you’re all plastered aren’t you?” McGee grinned as he helped Ana up off the floor and then righted her chair.

  “What gave it away?” I quipped.

  “Well it sure as hell wasn’t the fact that you were all actin’ the maggot, starin’ out the window gigglin’ like little school girls,” he said, picking up the half empty bottle of Scotch sitting between the three of us and grinning before placing it back down.

  “We were bored,” I explained, “It’s all your fault anyway. We’ve been waiting for you to get back all damn week.”

  “You have aye?” He chuckled as he leaned back against the wall. “Looks like we got some admirers,” McGee said as he slapped Mulligan across the chest.

  “Don’t go gettin’ cocky about it,” Joni said as a hiccup escaped from her mouth.

  “Why the hell were you waitin’ for us?” he asked, taking the bottle of Scotch and pouring himself a shot.

  “We want you to take us out!” I answered.

  “Take you out where? You’re all too pissed to go anywhere tonight,” he said, shooting back the shot and then passing the bottle to Butcher.

  “Just out. Somewhere that we can have a good time and shake our asses,” Joni said, eyeing over to Butcher like he was a piece of meat and I giggled.

  “Might be in luck. Couple of the boys came up with us from Cork, havin’ a party out at the club tomorrow. You think that’ll be a good enough time for you lassies?” McGee asked.

  “I think it would be perfect. What do you say girls?” I asked, looking at Joni who was beaming and Ana who looked like she was about to piss her pants in fright. “What, Ana? You know you’re coming with us!”

  “Oh no, no,” she said, shaking her hands in front of her, “I need to stay here in case someone needs a room or something,” she explained, trying her hardest to get out of it.

  “Come on, Ana. Come out and have a good time with us.” Joni looked over at her with a pouting face.

  “When was the last time you had a guest besides these two troublemakers?” Mulligan asked.

  “Uh…” Ana stalled, “St. Patrick’s Day last year.”

  “Ok then. You’re gonna get your ass dolled up and you’re gonna come with us tomorrow night,” McGee said, leaving no room for her to say no.

  “Ok fine. You thick headed lot. Can’t take no for an answer,” Ana mumbled, eyeing McGee with sharp eyes.

  The group of us finished off the bottle of Scotch as we sat around the small card table in the common area of the hotel. By the time the last shot had been taken I was seeing double of everything. The banter between Ana and McGee kept us laughing the entire time, and Butcher and Joni’s constant eye fucking made it an interesting night. The sun was just beginning to come up when the guys left and all of us girls slinked off to our beds, I was out before my head even hit the pillow.

  I woke the next afternoon, the room was too warm and the air too still. I jumped from the bed and ran to the bathroom, emptying my stomach of the remaining Scotch that hadn’t been metabolized while I slept. But as soon as I purged it from my system, I felt instantly better. I flushed the toilet, brushed my teeth, and then made my way into the room and opened the window to let in the cool clean air from outside. I felt my stomach rumble and went in search of something to eat, leaving Joni passed out on her bed.

  When I made it halfway down the hallway, I heard Ana from the desk. She sounded nervous, scared almost, I made it closer to the end of the hall and then I realized she wasn’t alone, there was a man in the room but I was still too far down the hall to see who it was.

  “The next time I come back here, Ana, I’m not gonna be so nice about it. I expect my money,” the man’s voice was harsh, just short of a yell, as he slammed his fist down on the counter and then turned to head out the door. I caught the glimpse of his back as he made it out the door. He was dressed nicely, dress slacks and a collared shirt, and had short cut gray hair. He wasn’t very big, a little more than five foot, but carried himself in such a way that made up for his lack of intimidating muscle.

  I took a few more steps, debating on whether to go back to my room when I heard Ana’s soft whimpers. I made my way out into the common room and saw Ana behind the small desk, bent over in her chair softly crying into her hands. I made my way to her and knelt in front of her on the floor. “Ana, it’s ok. Don’t cry.” I placed my hand on her back and rubbed small circles in an attempt to calm her down.

  “I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Starla. He wants his money and I don’t have any to give him,” she quietly sobbed.

  “We’ll figure something out. I promise you he won’t hurt you,” I assured her. I didn’t even know why she owed him money, and I didn’t really care. But I knew that I’d do whatever I could to help her.

  “He wouldn’t hurt me.” She looked around the quaint little hotel lobby, the walls covered with outdated wall paper, and old pictures of who I assumed were her family hanging around the walls. “He’d burn this place down. He knows that would hurt worse than any physical pain. My mum and dad owned this place, they both passed away a few years ago and I’ve been running it ever since,” she sniffled, wiping the tears from her face. “I don’t have anything left of theirs, sold everything to try and keep this place goin’. And last year shit got really hard. Everything that could go wrong did, the water heater burst, the wiring needed to be replaced, and the flooring, and I didn’t have the money to do it.”

  “So does he work for the bank or something?” I asked, leaning back against the wall behind me as I sat in front of her on the floor.

  “No, McCreevey is much worse.” I saw a shudder tear through her body, whoever he was this man was bad news. “He knew me dad, heard the place was going under and reached out to help. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I took his offer to help.” She let out a deep breath, “He’s a part of the IRA, Irish Republican Army. He seemed like he really wanted to help because he got along with me dad. But when it started getting harder and harder to make the payments, he started visiting more often.”

  “How much do you owe him?”

  “Close to thirty thousand euros. I was able to pay quite a bit after St. Patrick’s Day last year, but since then I’ve been scraping by, selling my paintings when the money runs out. I gave him what I had today, most of that the money from your stay, but it’s not enough, it’s never enough.”

  “We’ll figure this out. I’m
not gonna let you lose the hotel,” I promised her. There had to be a way that we could find the money.

  “I hope that’s true,” Ana said, patting my hand before standing to make her way toward her bedroom.

  I stood and made my way over, grabbing a package of powdered donuts and two bottles of water from the pantry and leaving more than enough on her desk to cover the cost. I made my way back into the room, plopping down onto the bed and contemplating what we could do to help Ana. I didn’t know who the IRA was, but from the man’s display of aggression earlier, I assumed they weren’t the kind of people you wanted to end up in bed with. I ripped open the package and shoved a donut in my mouth as Joni woke and stretched lazily on the bed.

  “I’m never drinking Scotch again,” she said, her voice scratchy.

  “Me either,” I agreed, holding out the package of donuts to her. She made her way over to my bed, taking a donut and settling in next to me. “We gotta problem.”

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, mumbling through the half eaten donut.

  “Ana owes some people money, some bad people.” I explained what I’d walked in on this morning, how much hurt I could see in her eyes at the thought of losing the hotel, and how she’d ended up in business with these assholes.

  “What can we do?” Joni asked. “I can call my parents and tell them we’ve been kidnapped and they need the ransom.” I saw the wheels spinning a hundred miles an hour in her head.

  “Yeah, and then they call the police and that’s something I don’t want to have to explain when they find out that we weren’t actually kidnapped.”

  “Well, I can call them and tell them we’re in trouble. No details, just tell them we’ve gotten ourselves in a bad situation and that we need help.”

  “You think they would just send that amount of money without wanting details?” I asked, God her family really was made of money.

  “Probably not all of it. But I know how to put on an act,” she said, smiling deviously at me.

  “Well, you do your thing then.” The twinge of guilt twisted in my stomach as I agreed with her. I really didn’t want to lie to her parents, but technically I wasn’t; she was.

  I escaped into the bathroom to shower while Joni went downstairs to the pub to get us all some food and call her parents. I let the water wash the guilt from me and focused on the reason why we were doing it; Ana. Even in the short time we’d been here in Ireland, Ana had become close to us. She was like a mother figure, but an amazing friend at the same time. I knew that no matter what it took we’d figure out how to help her.

  Chapter Four

  “Sit still, Ana,” I said, holding her head to keep her from moving, “If you keep fidgeting, I’m gonna end up burning you with the curling iron.”

  “I can’t help it!” she fussed, “I’m not used to the horse and pony show. Don’t know how you two even talked me into going tonight.”

  “We didn’t. McGee did. And you didn’t seem to against the idea last night,” I sang out, wrapping another section of her chocolate brown hair into the curling iron.

  “Well, it’s funny what one will say when they’re snockered on Scotch.” I could see Ana rolling her eyes from the mirror that sat in front of us.

  “Ok, turn. Time to start on your make-up,” Joni said, coming up beside us with a giant bag filled with every kind and shade of make-up you could ever need.

  By the time we were done with Ana she looked the young vibrant way she had when she helped me after I’d fallen down. Joni had chosen a pair of jeans that had a slight flare at the bottom, black boots, and a form fitting black v-neck shirt. You could tell Ana wasn’t used to showing her curves as she tugged and pulled at the hem of her shirt. She had curves and they were beautiful, she just had to realize that. We left her in her room while we changed, making her promise not to change her clothes.

  And when we came back out, we could hear that the lobby of the small hotel had filled with more voices. We made our way down to see the group of guys huddled around the small space. “Christ, bout time you women got finished,” McGee huffed sarcastically. “Will you please get Ana to come out of her room? She’s been shoutin’ through the door since we got here.”

  “I’ll be out when I’m ready, asshole!” I heard Ana shout from inside her room and I laughed.

  “Ok, how about you guys head on downstairs and I’ll see what I can do.” As the room began to empty, I made my way to Ana’s door, leaving Joni to go get cozy with Butcher. I knocked lightly on the door, “Ana, its Starla. Will you let me in?”

  The door creaked as it came open and she peered at me from the other side to make sure I was alone and then let me in. “Starla, I can’t do this. I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”

  “Hey, you look hot. Really hot. And I know McGee will think the same thing. Let’s just go out and have a good time.”

  “I doubt McGee will think I look hot,” she said, looking down at the clothes we’d picked out for her.

  “I guarantee you, he will,” I said, taking her by the shoulders and turning her to face me, “Ana, you are absolutely beautiful. You just feel outta place because you’re wearing clothes that actually fit.” I smiled. “We’re gonna go tonight and have fun, even if I have to tie you up and drag you out against your will.”

  “Well I wouldn’t want you to mess up all the work you did on me.” She peered over at me, her face still full of anxiety, but getting more confident by the second. “So I guess I’ll go willingly.”

  “Good. Because I didn’t know where to find rope,” I joked, taking her by the hand and leading her out toward the small lobby.

  As we made our way out I noticed McGee leaning in the door frame and when he saw Ana he jumped up, his mouth almost dropping open. He stood up a little straighter, adjusted his shirt, and brushed his hands through his non-existent hair. Oh yeah, he was definitely digging Ana. I looked over at her and smiled at the blush spreading across her face.

  “Damn, Ana,” McGee said, giving her a once over and deepening the red on her cheeks. “You look… You look beautiful.”

  “Thanks, McGee,” Ana said as the three of us made our way downstairs.

  Outside the front of the hotel were a group of guys, all in Kings of Karnage cuts, some I’d met and some I didn’t know. I waved to Mulligan and Sag, and then caught sight of a face that wasn’t familiar. His hair was long and wavy, streaked with blonde and red and the most beautiful green eyes I’d ever seen. His face was speckled with freckles, but they were covered by the scruffy beard that covered most of his face. I could tell he was younger than the others, probably around the same age as Butcher, mid to late twenties. He was in the same King’s cut as the other’s and stood next to a beautiful black motorcycle. As I stared over at him, taking in each of his mesmerizing features, he stared back at me.

  “Starla, this is Jameson,” McGee came over and introduced the stranger. “Jameson, this is Starla.”

  “Aye, nice to meet you, love,” Jameson’s thick Irish accent floated over to me and, as he stuck his hand out to shake mine, I just stood their dumbstruck. “You alright?”

  “Huh?” I looked around embarrassed, and then took his hand and shook it. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. Trying to get rid of a headache,” I lied.

  “Shouldn’t have drank so much last night,” McGee teased from where he stood, his arm wrapped comfortably around Ana’s waist, and I smiled at the smirk on her face.

  “Yeah, yeah. Last I remember, you weren’t my dad,” I smarted back to him.

  “If I was your pops, I’d have taken you over my knee and beaten the hell outta ya,” He said, letting off a laugh that was matched by the guys standing around us.

  “Ok, so are we going to a party or what?” Joni asked, saving me from further embarrassment.

  “Aye, let’s head out.” McGee grabbed Ana’s hand and pulled her toward his bike.

  “You need a ride?” Jameson joked to me, now sitting on his motorcycle.

  “Yeah, don’t think
I’m gonna walk,” I said, smiling when he handed me a helmet and then climbed on behind him.

  The pack took off into Dublin, McGee in front, behind him were Mulligan and Sag and then the rest of the guys filled in. We passed through the street, wet from the afternoon’s shower, and sped off into the night. We turned and weaved through streets that were small enough to be alleyways and with each curve I wrapped my arms tighter around Jameson’s waist. We made it to a bridge and I gasped at the beauty of the lights that reflected off the water. A few more lefts and another right and we were pulling up to what looked like an apartment building, surrounded on the outside by a tall wooden privacy fence.

  As we pulled up to the gate I could see the glow of a fire on the side of the apartment building, casting shadows of the various people in the yard up onto the wall. I heard a man shout something and then hoots and hollers erupted as the pack pulled into the large yard, the rumbling of their motorcycles roared out as we pulled through the gate. Jameson stopped and killed the engine and I reluctantly unwrapped my arms from around him. I stood and removed my helmet, handing it to him and then looked out into the yard at the various people. Around me were men in leather cuts, some from this club and some from another, and mixed in were women of every age, shape, and size. Large metal barrels were glowing with fires as members stood around them, laughing and drinking.

  “They don’t bite,” Jameson said as he came up and stood next to me, “Well, not all of ‘em.” He took off toward the yard, turning to give me a wink and I followed after him.

  I followed him to where McGee, Ana, Butcher, and Joni stood around a fire with other members, drinks already being passed around. I smiled as I watched Joni laughing and joking as she sipped on a beer. I was happy that she was finally starting to feel comfortable around them, and the fact that Butcher’s arm was snaked around her waist helped. I made it to the group and was introduced to a man named Sullivan and his ol’ lady Clare, another man they called Duffy, and a dark haired woman named Johanna. She looked to be a little older than myself and had a large collection of various tattoos. She welcomed me to the party and explained that if I needed anything to let her know. I felt more and more comfortable as each person I encountered welcomed me with warmness and a smile.