Riding For Her

by Adair Rymer

  I walked out of the war room to join Miles and Skids for a beer, neither were anywhere in sight. There was already a mama whipping her top around. The party was gearing up to be a loud, sloppy night. Just the way I liked it.

  Today, so far, was shit but I'd be damned if I couldn't make it a good night. I picked out the cutest girl around and saddled up next to her at the bar. The blond smiled as I playfully bumped into her and introduced myself.

  “I'd heard stories about you. How you got picked up on the way to county. Girls on your dick, swimming in money. Who'd a thought a little jail time woulda turned you into such a bitch?” Loopy, the road captain, was behind me.

  I let my head drop, there was only one way this exchange was going to end and I wanted no part of that. It was exhausting and it'd already been such a long day. I stole a long breath, then lifted my head to face him. Then I lifted it more. He was a tall bastard.

  The sides of his head were shaved and his long hair pulled back into a pony tail. His arms were crossed over a new vest with fresh patches. He was prospect fresh into the club, within the last year or so. I missed every part of this guy coming up. Looked like the kind of guy I would've voted down.

  “Funny, I haven't heard anything about you. Guess you must be nobody at all,” I replied, opening my first glorious beer in half a decade. “Fuck off, new-blood.”

  The wafting scent of the newly opened beer nearly lifted me out of the chair. It was the stark opposite of Pruno. Prison wine that was brewed in a toilet with smuggled shit from the caf. It tasted like gasoline had sex with hot vomit. I tried it once and nearly went blind. That was the end of that shit. I knew one day I would have actual beer again.

  Today was that day. This was that beer. And I pity the human that comes between us.

  “Don't fucking ignore me.” He slapped the beer out of my hand. I longingly watched it rocket across the room and spin out on the carpet like someone kicked my puppy. “We're on the same level. New or not, I'm as much of a C.E. as you are!”

  At first I was furious, I wanted to mangle this big dumb bastard. Then I realized that in the free world, beer grew on trees. I leaned against the bar, dropped my head back and laughed at the absurdity of it. This was just Tex. He put Loopy up to this. He was pissed that I voted against him and wanted to show me that the old way was over. That he was in charge now and that I'd better get in line if I knew what was good for me.

  “Prospect! I seemed to have spilled my beer. Clean that up,” I calmly told the portly kid who looked to be fresh out of high school.

  I whistled to the hangaround working the bar, had him toss me another beer then I eyed my discontent, new-blood brother.

  “Go ahead, whip it out. You put yours on the bar, I'll put mine on the bar, and this pretty little thing can judge who has the biggest.” I squeezed the blond next to me. “What do you say, darlin? You up for a cock-off?”

  “Fuck you.” Loopy pushed a finger into my chest.

  “You don't have to be embarrassed, I can go first.” I removed his finger.

  He stood there awkwardly, not understanding how to fight on this level.

  “How bout this instead? Walk away or be carried away.” I popped the beer open, tipped my head to him and added, “your call.”

  “Fuckin' tough guy. You did a stretch? So what?” He pulled down his collar to reveal some faded prison tats. “You're just a punk. We all know you sabotaged the deal with the Russians. You don't give a fuck about the C.E.! You helped start this club and now you're gonna turn your back on us like a pussy!”

  The room's conversations started to lull as people began noticing us. This wasn't about me at all. It was for everyone else who probably didn't like the direction Tex was taking the club. Tex was using me as a reminder at how it was before with Miles. I was being set up as a warning. This was supposed to go down regardless of what I said.

  I shrugged it off dismissively. “Don't meet your heroes, asshole.”

  If I couldn't get out of it, I could at least play it my way. I turned back to the blonde and smiled. Loopy's face turned beet red, either at the insult or the blow off. Probably both. He was looking for that fight that I wouldn't give him.

  Loopy slapped the second beer out of my hand. It sailed over the head of the prospect as he'd just finished cleaning up first. The poor kid sighed and trudged over to the next mess. The rest of the conversations stopped as they tuned to see what happened, and more importantly, what was about to happen.

  The blonde got up and excused herself. It was getting too hot around here for her. I grabbed her thigh before she could escape and whispered for her to join me after. She smiled and nodded then disappeared into the crowd.

  I spotted Tex who was watching casually. He tipped his beer to me as a feigned cheers. His smug smile had eaten half his goddamn face. I debated relocating it to his ass then decided on more of a theatrical route.

  “You know why they call me Junkyard?” I turned to face Loopy. He was a good half a foot taller than me, which didn't bother me. The opposite in fact. I loved dealing with tall guys because they were always overconfident. Big guys relied on their size for intimidation and wound up actually fighting a lot less then the rest of us.

  “Yeah, you used a junkyard car shredder to dispose of the club's bodies. Ain't no shredder here, man.” Loopy looked around, garnering support from his friends.

  “Nah, we didn't have a shredder.” I had the hangaround behind the bar toss me a third beer. “You know how expensive those are...”

  My train of thought blurred when she walked in. It was the girl that Skids was arguing with outside. She wore determination across her features like a mask. It only barely covered her fright and unease at being in a room full of degenerate bikers. She was a woman who was here only because she needed to be.

  I didn't know who she was, but I knew what she was. She was a woman from another world. A better one. One that didn't kill you as hard, or try to trap you in a box and peel years off your life. A world where my soul wasn't ground into a fine paste. A lifestyle I'd been so far removed from that I wasn't completely convinced it was still real. I wanted to be a part of that. Her world.

  She was also gorgeous in a way that didn't exist here. Obviously of Asian descent. Slender build, long soft face under a chin-length, dark bob style haircut. She wore a purple blouse with one of those ornamental stomach belts and grey khakis.

  In a throng of black leather, jeans, long hair and metal, she wasn't at all what I was expecting to see tonight. She was the first spring breeze through the pried open window of a forgotten dusty room, long stagnant. The only thing was that that window didn't like to be opened. This girl didn't belong here. I needed to meet her before she realized that and left. Or was removed.

  I abandoned the argument with Loopy. I was looking to get laid not get into another fight. Tex could keep his posturing. I didn't feel like playing his game before and now it was even less appealing.

  Her almond eyes flitted across the room, probably searching for Skids. There was still no sign of him. She saw that I was the crowd's current focal point and took me in as I walked over to her.

  The light skipped off her reddish brown eyes like sunbeams over black water, making them shine darkly with each closer step I took. She was cautious but curious. It was my favorite combination on a beautiful girl.

  She was mostly closed, but I could squeeze a little wiggle room out of her lack of a frown. It made her approachable but only to a man with the right mix of courage and crazy. I let the hands in my mind trace down her every supple, golden curve. I smiled. I was that man.

  I needed to meet Robbie's ghost.

  Her subtly narrowing eyes suddenly shot open in surprise as her gaze slipped past me. I immediately knew what that meant. It wasn't good.

  “Hey, I'm not done—” The moment I felt fingertips come down on my shoulder, I was on. A switch in my head was flipped. I was back in prison. Loopy would need to turn me around to hit me or else he'd look like a c
oward in front of everyone.

  I pivoted toward him, flipping the beer bottle around in my hand so that I was holding it by the neck like a club, and ducked a predictable left cross. Continuing the quick motion, I whipped the bottle hard against his knee. There was a loud crack, nothing broken that I saw, just dislocated. It was followed by a grunt as the big man hobbled and was brought down hard on the other knee. It was like chopping down a tree.

  Trapped in a cage with nowhere to run for five years, fight or flight turned into fight or lose. My brain was on autopilot. I moved instinctively. If there was an advantage available, I took it. That's all there was to it. My backhand with the bottle pinged off that sweet spot on his jaw. Loopy was unconscious before he hit that nice checkered tile work. He didn't look so tall now.

  “Tex, you remember, right?” I sardonically called out to the man. His confident expression withered at being dragged into this now failed display of authority. “We sure as hell wanted one. What they could do to a car... beautiful machines.” I lamented. I held everyone's attention.

  The beer bottle was unbroken. The beaded condensation along the chilled glass was too slick for any of Loopy's spattered blood to stick to. It looked like a tooth shattered when I hit him and his jagged grin mangled his lip when he hit the floor. The black and white tile rapidly filled with pooling red.

  I twisted the cap off and finally had my first sip. Cool and crisp. It really did hit that old itch. Better than I remembered even. I loved a good IPA.

  “We had to make do with an old car crusher,” I resumed. Tex seethed, his eyes narrowed. He shook his head, hoping I'd stop, but he awoke something in me that couldn't be slowed...let alone stopped.

  I stomped down on Loopy's throttle hand. Through my heavy boots I could hear the bones in the big man's hand crunch like old candy canes under a tire. Hands were very sensitive. The pain was enough to wake Loopy up and have him double over.

  The room was crypt silent except for the rising swell of his screams.

  “You sonofabitch,” Tex mouthed the words at me. I'd have to watch my back but I'd have to do that anyways. 'This wasn't my club any longer,' his words sank in my head and heart like tossed stones in a lake. He was right, and I was angry, but with the seventh member down, it looked like this new club was an even split. Tex and his two guys and me with mine. I liked those odds a little better.

  “I think your boy might have trouble riding tomorrow. Might have to take a sick day.” I cocked half a smile to match Tex's scowl. It was staggeringly easy to let that brutal side of me take over.

  I was greeted with disgust and horror when I turned back to the girl who didn't belong. The outsider that I found so interesting. The violence came so natural that it took me a moment to even register what I’d done that had upset her.

  It was hard not to associate this out-of-place girl with a 'fresh start.' In two steps, that fresh start turned its back on me and was gone.

  It unnerved me at how easy it was to slip back into the MC mindset and tear someone apart. Yeah, it had the mamas and a few old ladies bathing me in lusty glances. I'd get my cock wet tonight, no doubt. Hell, I should've been thrilled. Satisfied on every level. I was still the fucking man.

  Past the bravado, the victory felt hollow. I'd divided the club, alienating myself further in the process. Worse still, I had this oppressive feeling that the civilian world had also rejected me. I wore the colors of a brotherhood that didn't believe in me and had the heart of a regular world that could never accept me. I was an outsider on every level.

  With all eyes on me, I had never felt more alone.

  Chapter 3

  Maya

  “Van's here! Who's driving miss Daisy?” They were talking about me.

  The men had their bikes lined up and were loading them when I walked over with my duffel bag. I'd have immediately gone to Robbie, but he'd told me last night to keep our connection a secret. I had to assume it was for my own good.

  “I'll take her in the van.” Robbie was quick to intervene. He tossed a worn canvas military sack at the driver's side door.

  After the fight, if you could call something as brutally one sided as that a fight, I found Robbie. He was smoking out by my car waiting for me. I had so many questions for him but I was also exhausted. He told me that I'd be riding with him in the van for the trip and that we'd be able to catch up on everything then.

  “No. She rides. Cargo is too valuable. Skids, you're taking the prospect. So, who wants her?” Tex offered me up like I was a raincoat on a sunny day.

  My heart fell a little, there were still so many questions I needed to ask him. I wasn't too worried though. Being that I was stuck with them for a few days, I should be able to spend some time with just Robbie.

  “I have a car. I can just follow—”

  “I'll take her when we get to the hotel.” The bikers laughed. It didn't sound like a joke.

  If I even made it that long. The thought arced in me like black lightning. The staggering realization of where I was and what I was trying to do filled my lungs with sand. This was all frighteningly real.

  “Where the hell is Junk? Skids, what's the girl's name? Maya, right?” Tex's expression darkened at the mention of Hendrix, then he asked Robbie about me like I wasn't almost directly in front of him. It was amazing how condescending this man was. I think I liked him the least so far.

  “Go wake him up. Tell him we leave in ten.” When Tex finally addressed me personally, it was to issue orders. I left immediately. The more distance I put between him and me, the better.

  Robbie told me that Hendrix was a good man, the brother he trusted most here. The man that, from what I saw, wore violence as comfortably as most people wore vintage T shirts. A nagging part of me wondered if I could even trust Robbie, let alone Hendrix?

  The human wreckage mixed with the party debris created a morning-after war zone in the clubhouse. I gingerly made my way across the minefield to the bikers' rooms. All the doors were open except for one. It had to be Hendrix's.

  I touched the door, but was hesitant at first about pushing it in.

  It felt like I had spent the whole night not thinking about him, which of course was ridiculous. Hendrix was quintessentially not my type. I liked the quiet nice boys with the small smiles that, for the most part, had their lives together. Netflix, wine and takeout on-the-couch kind of boys. This man was not that... in spades.

  I knocked. No answer. I knocked again. “Hendrix?” I called out. No answer.

  Dammit.

  I was an adult, I'd convinced myself, garnering the courage to push the door open.

  The bed was pushed completely off the box spring. A naked blonde woman was asleep face down on the carpeting surrounded by a few liquor bottles. The scent of sex had settled but was still thick enough to paint a pretty vivid picture of what kind of night it had been.

  “Hendrix?” I called out, half expecting him to crawl out of a pile of clothing or to flip over the bed and be covered in vomit.

  “Yeah yeah, I'm coming,” came a deep voice from the bathroom. The shower stopped, followed by a burst of steam as the door was flung open. He walked out of the bathroom rubbing a towel against his face and near shoulder length, dark brown hair, actively drying them... He wore nothing else.

  I gasped inaudibly. In the morning light, I could see him clearly. All of him. He looked like a dark-haired Chris Hemsworth.

  Hot water droplets cascaded down his steamy tattooed form. They collided and sped through the valleys of his chiseled ridges. My gaze was hijacked. I could only follow the droplets down the deep grooves of his chest, abs and hip bones. I watched as they trapped themselves in the dark, matted patch of hair that hung over his cock.

  Jesus, I thought. Unless they just had sex, he couldn't be that large at rest... could he?!?

  “You're pretty when your mouth hangs open like that,” he said, as the towel dropped to his wide, painted shoulders.

  “Ten minutes.” I stammered, screwing my eye
s shut and turning around. I was mortified that he caught me staring! My face flashed with heat that I wrote off as just embarrassment, not attraction. I felt like such a creep. I weakly reminded myself that I didn't like filthy, disgusting, bikers or tattoos or muscles...

  “Um, Tex said...” Goddamit! I was trying to spit out the message but, to do so, I had to be in the same room as Hendrix.. while he was naked. If he was ugly I think it would've been easier. Not that I thought he was attractive.

  “Go on. What'd Tex say?” I could hear him smiling. I'm sure he knew what I had to say but he was forcing me to stay and finish the message. He knew he was making me uncomfortable!

  I tried imagining him as being really ugly. Like with a potbelly and too much body hair. Though when I opened my eyes, I could see his reflection in a mirror behind the door, which had closed itself a bit since I came in.

  I felt the universe betray me. That silly image of him in my mind chipped away like bad nail polish. There was only this naked, handsome, scarred monster of a man who stared at me with a knowing smile. His eyes trapped mine while he dragged the towel over the rest of his body, making no attempt to cover himself in any way.

  I swallowed then blurted out, “Ten minutes. They're leaving for the thing.” My job officially done, I speedily left his room. “Probably less than that now actually,” I shouted from the hallway as I practically ran away from whatever mess I had just stumbled into.

  Yeah that went well, I thought sarcastically as I tried to push the palm of my hand through my forehead. Ugh, I figured I'd have to formally meet Hendrix at some point but that was not how I'd imagined it would go.

  “He's coming...” I told the group of bikers when I got outside, not knowing who in particular needed to know.

  One of the bikers saw how flushed I was and interrupted me. “I'm sure he was.” The rest of them laughed.