by Marla Monroe
“How about nine thirty?” Butch asked, looking at Delta.
At her nod, Vernon smiled and said he’d see them then. As he walked away, Delta looked up at Butch and Walker with an annoyed expression.
“What?” Walker asked with a scowl. “What are you upset about now?”
“Can’t you at least act like you don’t mind taking me to the bar? I know you don’t want to be stuck with me, but I didn’t force you. I need to see the place before anyone knows I’m going to be their new boss, or is that even possible?” she asked.
Walker sighed. “No one will know until it’s announced. We aren’t stuck with you, Delta, but we don’t like taking you anywhere until we’re certain about the danger. We’re still waiting on intelligence to let us know where that asshole you were seeing is and what he’s been up to.”
Delta drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. I promise we won’t stay long. I just want to see how people act without knowing who I am so I can decide if they’re worth keeping or not. Once they know I’m the boss, they’ll change their mannerisms when I’m around.”
Walker nodded. “I understand. That makes a lot of sense, but I still don’t have to like it, sweetness. Now come on and let’s get changed.”
Butch took her other side but let Walker guide her. He smiled over the top of her head at his friend. Somehow they would make this work. He knew Butch wasn’t as certain about her as he was, but then he tended to always make a bigger effort than the other man did with their women. He hoped his brother would relax some with Delta and not be as stiff as he tended to be with the sweet butts they’d been with in the past.
“Why do you two need to change? I need to put on a fresh pair of jeans and a new top, but you guys are fine in your jeans and T-shirts,” she pointed out.
“No. This isn’t what we’d wear out, darling.” Butch smiled down at her. “We wear black shirts and jeans when we’re at the bar.”
“Oh. Don’t you wear your cuts?” she asked them.
Walker nodded. “We always wear them when outside these walls. We might take them off in here like now, but otherwise, they’re always on us.”
She nodded and picked out what she wanted to wear and disappeared into the bathroom.
Walker turned to Butch. “With Vernon with us, everything should be fine. He can help us keep watch, and we can be a little more relaxed with her so she doesn’t feel like we don’t want to be there with her.”
“She’s still pissed, you know,” Butch pointed out as he changed into black jeans.
“I know, but she’ll get past it if we open up around her more. She’ll realize that we do like her and don’t feel trapped.”
“That’s the thing, Walker. I do feel trapped. I didn’t have a say in taking her as my old lady. I might have eventually decided on it, but now we’ll never really know.”
Walker stared at his friend. It had never crossed his mind in all the years they’d been together that Butch might not like being a part of a threesome or even tied to Walker as his partner. The worry that created deep in his gut had him opening his mouth to ask why, but the bathroom door opened, and Delta stepped out.
“Oh, God. I’m sorry. I thought you would be dressed.” She turned to go back into the bathroom, but Butch caught her hand and pulled her back.
“I have my jeans on and Walker will have his on in about five seconds. No reason to run like a vestal virgin, darling.” Butch smiled.
“Um, I guess the reason there aren’t any underwear drawers is because you don’t wear them,” she said, looking over Butch’s shoulder.
Walker chuckled. Delta was looking anywhere but at Butch’s bare chest. What was worse is that the poor thing had caught him pulling on his jeans sans shirt as well. He couldn’t help but wonder just how much of his naked ass she’d seen. Had she liked what she’d seen?
“I’m decent now, Delta. You can turn around.” Walker grabbed his black tee and started pulling it on over his head.
Butch’s laughter made Walker nearly choke himself to see what the other man found so funny. When he finally emerged with the right appendages through the correct holes, he understood why Butch was full-out laughing.
Delta glared at the man with her hands on her hips. He’d unbuttoned his jeans to tuck his shirt in and evidently his dick had peeked out. Now he was almost falling down laughing while he tried to tuck everything back where it belonged. Unfortunately for Delta, Butch had a hard-on that was resisting the attempt of being caged once more.
“Look. I’ve seen cocks and asses more times than I’d like to remember, but it doesn’t mean I want to see yours. Shove that thing back in your jeans and let’s go. Vernon is probably getting tired of waiting for us.” Delta turned a sharp about-face and stomped over to the dresser where she pulled a brush through her perfect, thick hair.
Damn I want to sink my fingers in all that silky sassiness. I want to tug on it when I’m fucking her tight ass with Butch filling her sweet pussy.
He must have made some sort of sound because Delta had turned and stared at him with a look of unease. That pissed him off. She should never be afraid of him or Butch. It told him they had a long way to go with the little Southern belle.
“Let’s go,” he snapped. When he jerked open the door, Butch gave him an odd look but didn’t comment.
He followed them down the hall, fighting to get his anger and disappointment under control before they made it out front. Vernon would pick up on it in a snap and that was all he needed.
“Ready to ride?” Vernon asked once they’d all stepped outside of the clubhouse.
“Let’s do it,” Butch said.
“Delta, you ride on back with Butch. We’ll switch up on the way back. Remember to stick to us, and let us handle any trouble,” Walker told her.
“I know the drill. Don’t flirt or give anyone the idea I’d like to play. Let you do all the talking and ordering. I’m to keep my mouth shut at all times.” She smiled sweetly up at Walker but with a resentful look in her eyes.
“What?” Vernon asked with a confused expression.
“This isn’t your old club, sweet thing,” he said. “You can order your own drinks and talk to anyone who talks to you as long as it’s not someone looking for trouble. We’d prefer if you didn’t flirt so that we have to straighten out some guys, but women flirt when they don’t always mean to.”
“Just relax, and do what you came to do, darling. We’ll take care of the rest.” Butch led her to where his bike stood waiting on them.
Once he’d swung his leg across the seat and had the bike started, he nodded at Delta to mount up as well. Walker watched to make sure she’d be okay, then started his own bike, and the three of them road down the gravel lane that took them out to another barely paved road. It was a twenty-minute ride to the bar that was situated on the other side of the little town of Reno, just outside the city limits. When they pulled into the gravel parking lot, Walker had the feeling that they were already stepping into trouble. The place was packed, and there were several couples already outside polishing the hoods of several trucks and cars.
Shaking his head, Vernon climbed off his bike first and stepped in front of where Butch had parked while Walker helped Delta off the back of Butch’s bike.
“We should have asked Turk or maybe Merrick to ride along,” Vernon observed.
“Why? Is something wrong?” Delta looked around but didn’t seem too worried about it. “Looks like they’re busy, so they should be making good money tonight.”
“The truck-to-car ratio is off,” Butch told her.
“The what?” Delta shook her head. “What does that mean?
“Out here, there should be well over half, closer to seventy-five percent trucks compared to cars. Cars mean trouble. Either city folks out screwing around somewhere that no one would know them or gang enforcers looking for territory,” Walker explained to her.
“Think we should save this for another night,” Butch said.
; “No. If this is a possible problem, we need to find out now. I’m not here as the manager. I’m a customer here to have a drink and maybe a turn around the dance floor, nothing more. You can scope out the possible issues, so when we head back you can talk to Dom and Reece about what to do about it.” She looked each of them in the eyes then turned and headed across the gravel toward the door.
“Fuck!” Butch snapped out.
“Ditto,” Walker agreed. They might just be walking into a huge black hole. He caught Vernon’s eye. The other man nodded, understanding him perfectly.
Once they’d gotten a table or a space to lean and they were settled, Vernon would contact the club and let them know what was going on for safety. Reece might send out a few more guys to position themselves around and watch their backs, or they might decide to come out and check the situation themselves. Either way, they wouldn’t be caught alone if anything broke out.
God, help me. I’m going to end up doing whatever she wants. She just has to look at me with those damn green eyes and I’m toast.
He just prayed it didn’t get any of them killed one day.
* * * *
Delta set her mind to business mode before they stepped inside the building with its pounding music and stale scent of old cigarette smoke, puke, and body odor. That delightful greeting would have to go.
“Bar to your right, the john’s in the back left. The office and storeroom behind the bar on the right with the kitchen on the left,” Butch all but yelled in her ear.
She nodded and after getting her bearings, started circling the building along the wall going clockwise to avoid moving against the natural flow of the crowd. It looked like all the tables and booths were taken. She wasn’t surprised, not with this many people packed in.
“Look over there.” Butch pointed out a table where people were getting up and the women taking their purses.
They got to it before anyone else noticed. A waitress stopped by and cleared off the table with a smile as they sat down.
“What can I get ‘ya?” she asked.
“Babe?” Walker asked.
“Corona, please. No glass,” Delta said.
“Lime?”
“Yes, please.”
The tall brunette turned to Walker next. “What can I get you?”
“Bud, on tap,” he said.
Butch and Vernon both ordered the same. She nodded and left with her loaded-down tray.
“I like her so far,” Delta told them. “She was polite, efficient, and didn’t try to figure out which one of you guys she could flirt with. No sign of drug use based on her arms looking clean, and her eyes were clear. Doesn’t mean she isn’t using, but not right now.”
“Good eye, there, baby doll,” Walker said with a grin. “What else do you see around us?”
Delta didn’t think he was testing her so much as seeing if she could pick out potential problems. That would be important in the bar business in a place like this. In night clubs and other establishments she’d worked, it would be left up entirely to security. Here, she’d have a bouncer or two and the bartender to scope out the potential hot spots.
Looking around without appearing to be, she noticed several things and a few she wasn’t sure about. This was going to be the hardest management gig she’d ever taken on before. The very clients she wanted to serve were also the ones she might have to kick out from time to time. It would require a lot of finesse to not offend them to the point that they took their business and that of their friends somewhere else.
“The waitress working the back is pocketing some of her takes. I think it’s just on tap beer. Considering the way she’s talking up the bartender on her end, I’d say it’s a mutual rip-off.” Delta made sure she would recognize them when she took over. “There’s someone over near the dance floor dealing crack or something. He’s made at least four deals since we’ve come in. I also see a table in the back corner almost behind me with four guys who are having words with the guys at the next table. That needs cooling off before they break out into a fight.”
“I’ve got the problem in the back,” Vernon told them.
Delta watched as he headed to the door instead of the table she’d pointed out. Vernon spoke to the bouncer, and then he and the other man headed to the back. She didn’t turn around to watch, just continued watching the staff as they worked their jobs.
“Here you go,” their waitress said setting an ice cold Corona with a lime in front of Delta, then delivered the three mugs of beer. “You guys plan to run a tab or pay as you go?”
“Tab, sweetheart,” Walker said and handed her a credit card.
“I’ll bring it back once I’ve written it down. Thank you.” She looked at Delta and smiled. “Want me to keep you in cold ones or just wait for you to ask?”
Delta smiled. She really did like her. “Keep me icy cold. What’s your name?”
“Kaila,” she said, then smiled and headed to her next table.
“I can tell she’s made an impression on you,” Butch said.
“Yeah. She’s nice without being over-the-top, and she seems to be good at her job so far. I’m going to need someone like her to help me keep things straight. Time will tell though.” She looked over at Walker and frowned at him before looking over to see the bouncer escorting several men out.
“What’s wrong?” Walker asked, snagging her attention before she caught sight of Vernon.
She looked at him and frowned. “Nothing. Why?”
“You gave me that look women use when they’re pissed off about something. What did I do? I’ve been sitting right here ever since we arrived.” Walker looked completely clueless.
Delta wasn’t sure what to do. If she enlightened him of the fact he’d just called someone else sweetheart it would imply that she cared and he had a claim on her. If she ignored it, he wouldn’t understand her ire.
“I think it’s that you called that waitress sweetheart, brother,” Butch told him with a grin. “She doesn’t know you well enough to know that you call everyone something like that.”
“Hell, I’m sorry, sweet thing,” Walker said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Sweet thing?” was all Delta said and took a drink of her beer.
Walker sighed and sat back in his chair, a look of annoyance on his face. She refused to tell him it was okay, because they were with her right now, so it wasn’t okay. If she ended up having no choice about spending all her time with them, she deserved to be treated better than that. No, she didn’t want to be their old lady. She didn’t want to be anyone’s old lady. She wanted a better life for herself away from the club life. But for as long as she was, she wanted more respect than he was giving her.
Vernon sat down and downed a good portion of his beer in one go. Then he sighed. “Made a call while I was up. Let Dom know that we’ve got a banger scoping out the place. He and his buddies just left. The guys they were trying to mix it up with are Spiders down from Colorado heading to Dallas for some kind of meet up with a charter club. They didn’t realize it was our place and offered to leave. I made the call to let them stay as long as they don’t stir anything up.”
“Spiders are normally a pretty laid-back club. They don’t mix it up much and pretty much keep their hands clean,” Butch agreed. “What did Dom say about the bangers?”
“We’d put out some feelers to see what’s on the wind and keep a closer eye around here and Reo,” Vernon told him.
“I don’t understand why gangs from the city would want to spread themselves thin outside like that? What are they trying to do?” she asked.
“Create their own drug train, flesh trade, who knows, but whatever they deal mostly in the city, they want to cut out some of their middleman losses by handling it themselves,” Walker told her. “They haven’t figured out yet that no club is going to let them use their territory for their business like that.”
The other two men nodded in agreement. Delta wasn’t so sure they were right. She knew how some
of the clubs she’d been around as a young teen had made deals with local gangs before. Who’s to say they wouldn’t do it now?
“Who else is around here? Are there any Banditos or Pitch Forks?” she asked.
“No, not really. We’ve had Banditos come through occasionally, but they prefer the Interstate more than our back road,” Butch told her.
“We have Satan’s Sons, but they are in pretty bad shape right now. Not much leadership to make them any kind of threat. There’s The Skulls, but they don’t really have a foothold here. They just ride through trying to cause trouble once in a while,” Walker told her.
“Some of the clubs I’ve been around were known to strike deals with the local gangs to let them cross their territory without hassle as long as they paid a toll or would back them in a war or something like that. Is it possible The Skulls, if not Satan’s Sons, would try to strike a deal promising to keep you off their backs?” she asked.
She watched as Vernon, Butch, and Walker all exchanged looks. No one said anything for a few seconds. Delta felt as if they were using telepathy or something with all of the silence and eye contact.
“I think you might have a good idea that Dom and Reece need to know about,” Butch said. “We’ll talk to them first thing in the morning.”
Delta smiled as she continued to watch everything around her. She could see where there was real potential for a fairly smooth-running bar that had rough clientele where the profits would outweigh the losses. There was going to be an occasional fight, but if they were careful, they wouldn’t really lose anything in them.
She joined in the men’s conversations from time to time, but had her job cut out for her with trying to see all of the problems and think up solutions. Firing the bartender at the left side along with his partner-in-crime waitress would be one of the first things she did. She was fairly sure they were stealing about two hundred dollars a night when they were this busy. Not a lot in the entire scheme of things, but letting it go on was asking for more trouble in the long run.
She was just about to tell the guys she was ready to go if they were when something near the hall to the bathroom caught her eye. She’d just seen an obviously drunk woman walk out of the bathroom area between two men. She hadn’t watched to see where they’d sat down, but now she watched as another woman was escorted out and one of the men doing it nodded at the man standing by the opening.