by Zoey Parker
Christina managed a grateful smile. “Thanks. I won't, um, charge you for it or anything.”
Damn right you won't, Missy thought, settling into a seat and tilting her head backward into the sink behind it.
Christina tucked a bib under Missy's chin and turned on the faucet, wetting Missy's hair and kneading shampoo into it. “So, uh, my mom...Pauline...like I said, she runs the Teepee, y'know? And a couple weeks ago, Gaspar and his guys went to see her, and they told her they were gonna be using a couple of the rooms to store all their guns and, um, drugs and stuff. When she tried to say no, they held her down while Gaspar broke one of her legs with a baseball bat, and they said they'd rape and kill both of us and burn the whole motel down. Mom's almost sixty, y'know? She's scared to death.”
“Christina, we've known each other almost since we were kids,” Missy said. “You knew my brother was the president of the Eagles. You could have come to me at the beginning of all this.”
“I wanted to, but I couldn't!” Christina said, her voice breaking. “Mom wouldn't let me. She said it was too big a risk, and she didn't want her motel caught up in the middle of some gang war. I mean, she doesn't even know I'm talking to you now, y'know? Maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut, but...then I heard about what happened with you at the Shop-N-Stop, and I didn't want anything bad to happen to you. I couldn't live with myself if that happened, after how long we've known each other. Mom thinks if she just keeps quiet and does what Gaspar tells her this will all blow over somehow, but it won't, Missy, I know it won't! They'll just take more and more from us until we're all used up, and then they'll...they'll...”
Christina broke down, sobbing. Missy sat up, reaching for a nearby towel and wrapping it around her damp hair. Then she took Christina's hand and looked deep into her eyes. “Okay. I understand. But Christina, we've lost one of our guys to these monsters already, and before this is over we could lose a whole lot more. I want to help you, but first I need you to try to help me. I'm going to ask you just a few questions, and I really need you to think hard before you give me the answers. Can you do that?”
Christina nodded, sniffling.
“Okay, good. Thank you. Now, my first question—you said they took over two rooms at the Teepee. Do you know which rooms?”
Christina nodded again. “Rooms 12 and 13. There are two or three men in each room at any given time, but no more than that. Gaspar himself's mostly stayed away since that first night.”
“All right. Second question. You said they had all of their guns and drugs stashed there. Are you sure? You haven't heard them talk about any other places where they might be keeping them?”
Christina shook her head vigorously. “No, they've got all their stuff there. Seriously, they've got dozens of crates of guns in one room, even some grenade launchers, all piled up to the ceiling. And in the other room, it's just stacks and stacks of packaged coke and grass and heroin. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.”
“Uh-huh. Third question. How many civilians are staying at the Teepee right now?”
Christina thought hard. “Not many. There was a father and daughter, but they checked out this morning. The only other person's an old guy who's staying in room 20, at the far end of the motel.”
“Very good. We're almost done, Christina. Just one last question, and this is the big one, okay? I need you to really think this over and make sure before you answer. Is Gaspar doing all this on his own, or does he have the backing of the Barros Cartel?”
Christina wiped her eyes, shaking her head again. “No. That first night, my mom said she overheard Gaspar talking to one of his other guys about how they were doing this on their own, and the cartel would thank them for it later.”
“You're positive?”
“Absolutely,” Christina insisted.
Missy thought this over. “Okay. Thank you. You've helped out a lot, maybe even more than you know. Now listen—I've got a plan, all right? I'm pretty positive I can make all this shit go away for you, but for that to happen, I need you to take your mom and get the fuck out of town for a couple of weeks.”
Christina's eyes widened. “Where?”
“Go anywhere you've never been before. Nowhere you've got any family or obvious connections. You have to disappear. Don't tell anyone, don't shut down the motel, just vanish completely until I call you. Go right away. Tonight. Do you understand?”
“Sure,” Christina said. “Do you really think you can make everything better?”
Yeah, Missy thought, drying off her hair. As a matter of fact, I think I've got a pretty good idea of how to do just that.
Chapter 33
Missy
As she drove, Missy dialed Hunter, putting the phone on speaker so she wouldn't have to drive while holding it.
He picked up immediately. “You okay?”
“Yep, we're all fine,” Missy assured him. “I'm heading back now. How about coming over in about an hour, so we can talk about what's next? You can collect Burger while you're at it. Come to think of it, you should probably bring Matches back with you too...I think he's getting a little fed up with being over there.”
“Well, we're all a little 'fed up' right now, so he can goddamn deal with it,” Hunter growled. “But yeah, I'll come by in an hour.”
“Cool. And by the way, Hunter?”
“Yeah?” Missy heard the tense, expectant tone in his voice, assuming she was about to use the code.
Missy smiled. “Eat shit.”
She heard Hunter laugh in spite of himself. “I fuckin' hate you, sis,” he said warmly.
“Hate you too, bro,” she replied cheerfully. “See you soon.” She ended the call.
Matches and Burger followed Missy back to Cain's place. As they pulled into the driveway, Missy saw that Cain was sitting in the garage with Keith and the other Eagles. Keith had a battered guitar in his lap, and he was playing an old Merle Haggard song as the rest of them sang along. When Cain looked up and saw that Missy had returned, the relief on his face was unmistakable.
Well I'll be damned, Missy thought. The big goon really does care about me after all.
The thought brought a smile to her face, and she waved. “Hey, you guys sound great!” she called out. “You should give up the outlaw life and form a band instead.”
“The way this shit's been going with Gaspar, we might not have much of a choice,” Keith grumbled.
Missy ignored this. She'd had a lot of experience deflecting sarcastic comments from sour-tempered bikers over the past couple of days. “Where'd you get the guitar?”
“It's mine,” Cain said. “I forgot I had it stashed in the back of my closet.”
“I didn't know you played,” said Missy.
“Yeah, I'll have to play you a song sometime,” Cain replied. “When this fucking cast comes off my arm, anyway.”
Missy suddenly realized that the other Eagles were watching this exchange with confused looks on their faces.
Shit, Missy thought. As far as they knew, Cain and I couldn't stand each other, and now we're standing around talking normally and he's offering to sing for me. Will that tip them off about what's happened between us? If they knew I'm sleeping with Cain, will that affect what they think of me?
In considering this, Missy found herself unable to genuinely care, one way or the other. Whatever was going on between her and Cain, she felt like she deserved a chance to explore it without worrying about what anyone else thought. All of them could be dead tomorrow depending on how things went with Gaspar, so what did it matter, anyway?
“So how'd it go?” Cain asked.
“Let's go inside and I'll tell you,” she answered, heading for the door in the garage. He followed. Before they stepped inside, Missy turned to the other Eagles. “You guys doing okay? Need any food or anything?”
“Nah, we ordered a pizza an' it's on the way,” Keith said. “We're good.”
Missy and Cain stepped into the kitchen, closing the door. For
the first time, Missy noticed that the door between the kitchen and the garage wasn't very thick. She mentally replayed the sex they'd had earlier, trying to remember if either of them had made enough noise for the Eagles to hear them. She couldn't remember, but she hoped not. The thought of Keith and the guys listening to her get off was a bit gross.
“Glad you made it back in one piece,” Cain said as they walked to the living room and sat on the couch together. He was trying to sound gruff and detached, but Missy could still hear the concern in his voice. “What did you find out?”
“Gaspar's guys have basically taken over the Teepee,” Missy began, “and they're using two of the rooms to stockpile all of their guns and drugs.”
“Holy shit,” Cain said, his eyebrows raising. “Why would they put all their eggs in one basket like that? As tactics go, that seems pretty boneheaded.”
“I've been thinking about that,” said Missy. “Since they're based one town over and the Teepee's close to the border, I'm pretty sure they did all this as the first step in an all-out invasion of Micanaw. When they're ready, they can come out in force, grab all their guns, and take down every Eagle in town with one sweep. Once that's done, they've already got their drugs on-hand so they can move right in and start selling immediately.”
Cain exhaled slowly, taking this in. “That's fucked up. When were they planning to launch this attack?”
“Christina didn't say, and I'm sure she wouldn't know. But with everything that's happened recently, I'm betting they were thinking of doing this very soon, maybe even in the next day or so. Think about it—first they set the club's VP up to take a beating, so one of our main decision-makers is stuck on the sidelines. Then they let us chase our tails for a few days, hitting us one at a time and psyching us out until we're splitting up and jumping at shadows. Then, once we're destabilized, they ride in to divide and conquer.”
“Shit,” Cain marveled, shaking his head. “And we've fallen for it, every step of the way.”
“Yeah. For all we know, they could be executing the final stage tonight.”
“So what do we do?” Cain asked. “It seems like these fuckers thought of everything.”
Missy shook her head. “Not everything. They thought they'd intimidated Pauline and Christina enough for them to keep their mouths shut about the motel, but they were wrong. Well, about Christina, anyway. Now that we know Gaspar and most of his thugs are still in Braintree while their drugs and weapons are here—and guarded by just a handful of guys, to keep people from getting suspicious—we can use that to work a little divide-and-conquer magic of our own.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told Christina that she and Pauline need to disappear today. She said all the guests have checked out except for one guy at the far end of the motel, which will leave most of it a free-fire zone. If we take all the Eagles down to the Teepee tonight and surprise the guys who are there, we can take them out, grab as much of the drugs and weapons as we can, and then blast whatever's left straight to hell. Without most of his guns, and with nothing left to sell, Gaspar won't have much choice but to back the fuck off.”
“But what about the Barros Cartel?” Cain asked. “Won't they just send more guns, drugs, and guys to retaliate?”
“I don't think so,” Missy replied. “According to Christina, Gaspar's on his own with this whole expansion idea. He thinks if it works, he can tell the cartel about it afterward and he'll be rewarded for his initiative. But if the whole thing blows up in his face, then what? If he told them, he'd look like an asshole for starting this shit in the first place. They'd probably even take him out themselves.”
“Yeah, but even without the Barros, Gaspar's a sick, crazy son of a bitch,” Cain pointed out. “What if we do this and he's still ready to go to war?”
“With what? Some pistols, and maybe a couple of machine guns? Christina says they've got stuff stashed at the motel that you wouldn't believe—they've even got grenade launchers. Once those things are in our hands instead, Gaspar would be a moron to think he could still win. And if he does, fuck it, we'll just ride into Braintree and burn down his whole operation.”
Missy could see that Cain was still hesitant, so she pressed on. “Cain, we have a window of opportunity here, but it's small and it'll get smaller the longer we wait. We need to strike now and strike hard, before it's too late. The only alternative is to run off and let Gaspar take the town, and even if Hunter were willing to do that—and you know he isn't—I'm pretty sure you couldn't. Not when you still need to pay those fuckers back for what they did to you.”
Cain smirked. “You thought of it all, huh?”
“Well, someone recently told me that I have an answer for everything, so...”
“Okay,” Cain continued, “so answer this one. Now that there's a plan to wipe these bastards out, do you really think I'm going to sit it out on this couch, popping pain pills and watching TV?”
Missy sighed. “No. I know you'll want to be part of it. But you know that's Hunter's decision, not yours.”
“Bullshit!” he exclaimed. “When this goes down, he's going to need every Eagle he's got...!”
Missy leaned forward, gently laying a fingertip against Cain's lips. “Shhh. I know how badly you need to do this. I know how tough you are, even with a broken arm and busted ribs. You don't need to prove anything to me.”
Cain took her hand in his, slowly pulling it away from his lips. Then he pulled her close to him and kissed her deeply, with the intensity of a man who'd found water in the desert after almost dying of thirst. She let herself sink into him, returning his kiss as she pressed her body against his. He inhaled sharply, and she remembered how much of him was still sore.
“Do you want your pills?” Missy asked, reaching for them.
Cain stopped her, shaking his head. “I want to feel every moment of this.”
Missy nodded, kissed him again, and went to the window to close the curtain in case any of the Eagles happened to peer in. Then she returned to the couch and pulled Cain's shirt off, brushing her fingertips over his muscular chest lightly. She relished the sight of goosebumps rising on his skin at her touch.
“Tease,” he smirked.
“Yup,” she replied playfully.
She leaned over and planted a kiss on the side of Cain's neck, followed by another, and another, her lips tracing a line down his torso until she reached the area just below his navel. As she did, she felt Cain's hand tenderly stroking her neck and ear. His fingers were rough and calloused, but the way he petted her was surprisingly delicate. A shiver of happiness traveled down her spine.
She undid Cain's jeans, pulling them off him to reveal his stiffening cock. Her entire body felt jittery with desire. It seemed like the first two times with Cain had just happened before either of them had realized what they were doing, but this time was different. This time, it seemed like something they'd both considered and decided on anyway, albeit separately.
This time, it meant so much more.
Missy removed a condom from her own pocket and pulled down her jeans and panties, kicking them aside. She looked at Cain's face, savoring the desire she saw there as she bent down and slowly rolled the sheath down the length of his penis. She could feel its warmth even through the latex, and she felt a blossom of joy in her belly at how he burned for her touch.
She positioned herself on top of him carefully, putting her hands on his broad shoulders. He tilted his head back and she kissed him again as she lowered herself onto him, feeling him push inside of her once more. Her labia tightened around him instinctively, hugging his shaft as their tongues traced patterns against each other.
Their moans mingled in their throats. She squeezed his deltoids, digging her nails into his flesh before she could stop herself.
He gasped again and she pulled away for a moment, looking at him apprehensively. She could see a sharp edge of pain gleaming in the corners of his eyes. “Are you okay? Do you need me to slow down, or...?”
Cain shook his head, pulling her close again. “Don't stop. It's worth it.”
As they thrusted against each other, Missy tilted her pelvis slightly so that his cock rubbed against her clit with each push. He filled her completely as he pressed himself into her, like a runaway train barreling through a tunnel, riding a forceful wave of momentum that was too powerful to slow down or stop until it came to a rest on its own.
Missy felt a surge inside her as Cain wrapped his good arm around her waist, pushing himself deeper into her until it felt like he would plunge all the way up into her heart. His pulsing cock slammed against her G-spot and she threw her head back, letting out a long, loud cry of delight as they came together again.