by Blood,Joy
"What?" I'm not going anywhere.
"Just go girl, pack some of your shit, keep it light can't get too much on the bike." Bike? What the hell? I go to protest again be he just heads out the front door. Then seems to remember something and turns around. "I'm here because of a favor I owe a friend, said to take care of you if we didn't hear back from him." He pauses for a moment. Seemingly caught up in a memory. "We didn't hear back, been watching you for days now waiting for you to recover. Now go pack your shit, me and the boys will be waiting out front." He then turns again and this time walks out the door.
Deciding that being with them is my best bet I go grab a few of my things, mainly clothes stuffing them into a backpack I had in my closet. I come across a picture of me and Dawn taken the day of our high school graduation. I take it, folding it in half and putting it in my back pocket. Then I throw on some jeans, decide on wearing a pair of boots stuffing my chucks in the backpack too and put on my favorite hoodie. Then I start to the door making sure to turn all of the lights off, making the house dark once again. I lock the front door and put the spare key back under the mat as if Dawn is just gone on vacation and will be back any day, but I know otherwise. In that moment I send out a silent goodbye to my best friend that was taken at such a young age. She didn't get a chance to live, get married, be happy... have children. Taken from this life to soon. "Goodbye Dawn," I whisper into the dark.
I step down the cement steps and walk along the walkway to the row of bikers lined up so methodically. Gin is just finishing a cigarette, taking his last drag he flicks it onto the ground and blows out the smoke. He is sitting on a large bike, the tank has an array of colors on it but in the dark, I can't quite make out what the image is. "You can ride with me, girl." He says holding out a helmet for me to wear. I have never been on a bike before, never really thought about it either. "Hop on and wrap those arms around me. You ever been on a bike before?" I just shake my head putting the helmet on then click the strap together under my chin. "Alright just hang on and don't fall off. And for the love of god don't lean with me or you will tip us the fuck over." He jerks his head to the side as to tell me to get on. Swinging my leg over to the other side I settle myself behind him and put my feet up on the pegs wrapping my arms around him. He is a strong wall of muscle and I can't completely get my arms all the way around him so I settle with grabbing onto his belt loops. "Damn girl." He chuckles to me. "Gonna be a long hard ride." This gets a laugh from the rest of the bikers whom I notice from the moonlight are all wearing similar leather vests. I can't make out the logo on the back because of the dark but I do see that they are all looking at me and it makes me uncomfortable to be getting their attention. Right then I'm thankful for the helmet on my head giving me something to hide under. They all at once start up their bikes and the roar is defining sending a rumble through my body and straight out through my fingertips. I squeeze my hands tighter and we are off. Driving away from a once happy place I called home.
What seems to be just minutes later we are driving through a large gate that reminds me of one I once saw in a zombie apocalypse show on TV that Dawn always loved to watch. We ride further in and I see a large building that has a sign that says Hell's Riders with a flaming motorcycle and rider under it. Must be what is on all of their vests. Across from the big building, that looks like an old hotel, is a large garage with three bay doors and a whole line of bikes in front. We pull up right along those bikes, making the row of them even longer.
I have heard stories of the local motorcycle club, well not so local, they are probably an hour from the city taking up residence in an abandoned town. Which would seem to be about right. I always heard how they would come into the city and cause a ruckus. Bar fights and burned buildings. One time even a shootout.
"We got a spot for you in the clubhouse. Chick and his gal got hitched and are on their honeymoon so you can have his space for now. Doubt the fuck will be back anytime soon. Pussy whipped asshole." They all laugh at that.
After they all park we start walking toward the hotel looking building, the one with the large sign on it. The double doors are glass doors but have been painted over with black paint so you can't see inside. They only open one as we walk through. It's quiet inside, but I get the feeling this is rare. I look around, guessing this was once a lobby. They have built a large square bar where the front desk probably was and I find one pool table off to one side of the large room. Couches and chairs are placed around in areas. To my surprise, I see on one wall there is a fish tank with actual fish in it. That is a weird thing to find amongst a group of bikers.
"This is the bar area. Sage line up some shots we have shit to discuss with our guest here." Gin takes a seat at the bar while Sage does as he is told. I set my backpack down on the floor next to me pulling out the stool next to him I sit down. Sage sets two glasses and a bottle in front of us. I waste no time pouring myself a glass of the amber liquid and drink it feeling the burn going down. I grimace a little then set the glass back down, repeating my last actions, taking it and knocking it back. This one goes down much like the other one. I go to pour another but Gin stops me.
"Slow down there girl." He says sliding the bottle from my reach.
"Why am I here?" I ask, tired of the question swimming around in my mind answered.
"Finn saved my ass over in Afghanistan, countless times." He stops for a moment, taking a pull from the bottle he took from me. "Told him that when we got back if he ever needed help or backup of any kind I was his guy." I nod in understanding.
"You guys were in the army together?"
"Rangers. All of us here were at some point in fact. Our own little group of misfits here we are. Couldn't find our place in the word. Got any more questions for me?" I decide that is enough for now and shake my head. "Alright, now first things first. You ain't no club whore so if anyone treats you as one, you come to me or my VP there, Fuzz." Gin tells me pointing over my head to someone behind me. I turn to see a pair of honey-colored eyes and a sweet smile noticing he has not much for facial hair. Must be why they call him fuzz. His brown hair is short and shaggy. He is built much like Gin maybe a little taller, just a solid wall of muscle. That is when I take a look around a notice there are more of them. A pot-bellied man with a long beard and bald head catches my eye. I know I have seen him before. Gin must notice the recognition. "We had eyes on you in the hospital. Jims over there was our eyes. You might know him as the janitor." Shit, I did. If he was there I wonder if Avil had anyone there. "He had guys there too babe but he is too damned chicken shit to go against us, which is why he has been out of sight ever since he found out we had someone on you." He informs me. I can feel the alcohol start to kick in and my body starts to feel lax. I want sleep. More sleep.
"It's been a long night can I go to bed?" I ask just trying to get away from the crowd of eyes on me.
"Sure, sure. Just a couple more things. You got free rein of the place, you ain't no prisoner. Just, you might want to not come down here at night. Gets a little crazy down here. Don't be going to chapel, women aren't allowed in there. Ah, I think that's it for now." He looks around for a moment. "Pot!" Gin shouts and a young looking guy maybe the same age as me comes walking up to him. "Take her up to her room." He instructs him then looks at me. "You can come down to the common room whenever you wake tomorrow." Turning back to Pot, " Show her that on the way up will ya." Pot nods and I follow him toward a door that opens up into a hallway. He is wearing a similar vest but his doesn't have as many patches, only one that says prospect.
"To the left here is the common room, club whores will have food made, you can make your own if you want." I see a couple more doors before we get to a set of steps. The whole place is wood paneling with nothing hanging on the walls except for cobwebs. He leads me up the stairs revealing a long hallway lined with doors some have names but others just have the original hotel numbers on them. Mine says 307
"This one here is Chick's, all yours. Need anything find Perez or
Fuzz." He says opening the door then promptly leaving. Walking inside I don't even look around I just flip off the light and head for the bed flopping down face first onto the mattress, ready for this night to be over.
Three
Waking up in a pitch dark strange room it takes me a moment to remember where I am. Rolling over I see a faint light coming from the bottom of the door, giving me just enough illumination to find my way to the light switch. Flicking it on my eyes take a moment to adjust. Bed, side table with lamp, and attached bathroom. There is a dresser next to the door and a large blanket with a motorcycle on it hanging on the wall. The room is empty of anything personal. I'm not sure if this Chick guy took his things with him or just didn't have any at all.
Getting up I go to inspect the bathroom, no tub. Damn it. I flick on the shower and do my business. I wish I knew what time it was, going to need to find myself an alarm clock. Without a window in the place no wonder I feel like I have slept for days, no sun to coax me from my slumber. I needed the sleep anyway.
I strip off my clothes open the door to the shower stall and get into the steamy spray. The glass door is clouded with soap scum and there are rust stains leading to the drain. Someone must not be much of a cleaner. There is an almost empty bottle of some men's shampoo so I use that on my hair and scrub down the rest of myself with the soap. I will have to see about getting myself some toiletries since I didn't even think about grabbing things like that when I packed at Dawn's place to come here.
Getting out I see there is no towel, great now I have to drip dry. Squeezing out as much water as I can from my long hair I look in the mirror. I look ragged. My brown eyes are now as dull and lifeless as I feel. I stand there and stare at my face that once smiled, laughed, but now has nothing to be happy about. Deciding I'm dry enough I pull on some underwear and jeans wiggling into them as best as I can with my damp skin. I grab a tee shirt and bra and put them on as well. Tossing my hair up into a wet bun I debate whether or not I'm ready to go downstairs and face more bikers. My growling stomach has the final word and I grab a hoodie, throw it over my tee shirt, and head downstairs. It's quiet in the hall and all of the doors are closed much like last night.
Getting down to the common room Pot showed me, was it last night? I find a group of five women making food and chatting like they are in a salon. They don't notice me at first so I just listen to their conversation, talking about some girl named Sunny and Chick. Wondering if they are having a good honeymoon. They are all blonds except one, she is a red head. I'm sure not a natural red since it is probably the most brightest shade red I have ever seen. She is the first to notice me.
"Oh hey, you must be Ellie. Gin said were going to have a new girl around here." She says. The rest of them turn from what they are doing, and wow they all look like models dressed as hookers. Lots of leather and mini skirts. One is wearing cut-offs and a tube top. She is the one who is covered the most.
"Um... yeah. I'm Ellie." I try to say in the most confident voice I can muster but I don't think it comes out that way.
"Name's Britney. You can call me Brit." Red tells me. "This is Lisa, Mandy, Alex, and Lisha." She tells me pointing out the blond bombshells to me. They all seem nice enough except for Lisha that seems to give me the stink eye.
"Nice to meet you," I tell all of them.
"We were just getting started on dinner. The guys are in Church right now, they will be out before too long. They always seem hungry after." I hear one of the girls snicker, Lisa, I think.
"That's not all they are hungry for." She says.
"Whats Church?" I remember Gin saying something about a chapel, they didn't strike me as the religious bunch. This gets me a snort out of Lisha, earning her a glare from Britney.
"It's what they call their meetings," Britney says. "So you want to help? We are making lasagna. Could use some help slicing bread for the garlic bread. Getting that ready for the oven."
"Yeah I can do that."
"Great." She pulls five loaves of French bread from some of those reusable cloth grocery bags and sets them down on a table. Then goes and grabs some butter and garlic salt. "There, should be set."
"Thanks," I tell her then go about my task minding my own business.
"Gin brought you here huh?" I hear a voice snip at me. Looking up I see Lisha glaring at me. Why am I not surprised?
"Yeah." Is all I give her. I really don't want trouble with this chick and I don't even know what I did to offend her already. I mean I just met her.
"He only allowed to fuck me so don't be getting any ideas." Wow, possessive much?
"Lish leave her the hell alone. Gin fucks whoever he wants, he's the Pres. There ain't no 'allowed' with that man and you fucking know it. Just cause you and his old lady have a thing going on doesn't mean shit. Far as I'm concerned he's free game." Britney scolds her. "Do you not remember where he was last night?" this causes Lisha to turn red with anger. Just when I think there will be a catfight breaking out right before my eyes men's voices flood the room. Booming laughter and curses overtake my ears.
"You causing trouble again Lish?" I hear Gin ask from the door. He is dressed similarly to how he was last night. Walking over to Britney he slaps her on the ass causing her to yelp.
"Quit egging her on babe you know how she gets." He says to her, leaning in and taking her lips with his then squeezing her ass for good measure. I hear Lisha huff then look over in her direction only to see her storm off through the door all of the men came through. And there are plenty of them, maybe ten. The ones I met last night and a couple more. All big and burly I don't think there is one without a beard. They are all wearing the same black vest and have an array of tattoos covering their exposed arms. Another round of laughter erupts when Lisha storms out of the door.
"You are such a ass Pres. You know that bitch wants your dick. Won't give it up to anyone of us anymore cept you." One of the guys booms out.
"Yeah well I don't need that shit. She ain't that good anyway. You want her, take her." Gin says then slaps Britney on the ass one more time then looks my way. He must have just remembered I was here because the look on his face is one of surprise. "Well look who's here." He saunters over to me. Getting so close to me I can smell the liquor on his breath. "You get your beauty sleep babe?" he asks.
"Yeah. I was tired I guess." I barely even hear myself but he must have because he nods his head.
"That you did baby girl, that you did." I freeze at the name.
"Don't call me that." I snap at him glaring up at his face. Then quickly apologize for speaking to him like that.
"All good. Won't happen again." He says. Then walks away. The bustle of the crowd gets louder and when I am done with my task I sneak out of the room taking a couple pieces of bread with me to stay off my hunger.
I head outside the building to get some fresh air. Gosh, that isn't something I have had at my own free will in a long while. It's dry as a desert out here and the compound looks like an old abandoned town. Could actually be what it is, with the main building being the hotel. Would make sense. I heard that there were a couple of ghost towns miles out of Cental.
"Don't like crowds do ya?" a voice startles me. Gosh, I didn't even hear the door open. I turn to see Fuzz carrying two plates of food. He is dressed like all the other bikers, jeans, tee shirt and leather vest. His has a Vice President patch where Gin's President patch is. His vest isn't buttoned up, it hangs open and I can see his shirt is tight to his chest and stomach. "Here. Been sleeping for two days, almost went in and checked on you, make sure you were alive. Gin stopped me, said you probably needed to recharge." He offers me a plate and I take it. Quickly diving into the plate of lasagna. Damn club women are good cooks.
"Thank you," I say through bites. "Two days? Wow. No wonder I'm so hungry."
"No problem. Saw you sneak out with two pieces of bread and knew there wouldn't be any leftovers." I look over at him. He really is handsome. He doesn't look as scary as the rest of the men and I feel co
mfortable sitting here talking to him.
"Heard what happened to you. That fucking sucks, but you stay with us here and you'll get back on your feet. We are family here. We help each other."
"Never had one before." Well, except for Dawn. "You guys going to go after Avil?"
"Nope, just going to have to let it be for now." My anger shoots through me.
"Well, I suppose I will have to figure it out on my own then won't I?" I snip out.
"Whoa, slow down girl. Didn't say we were never going to. Just not now. You can't go traipsing off to kill the man. You ever pulled a trigger before? Landed a decent punch?" I shake my head. "Didn't think so." He says.
"Doesn't mean I can't learn. I'm sick of being stepped on by that man and having everyone I love and care about be snuffed out by him. He needs to die and I want to be the one to do it."
"Determined little girlie aren't you?" he takes a breath and throws his empty plate onto the ground. His fork clangs and bounces off landing in the dirt. "Give me your best shot, right now." He holds open his arms. What does he want me to do?
"You want me to hit you?" I ask dumbfounded at how this conversation has turned.
"Yeah, sugar hit me. Pretend I'm that mother fucker that killed your friends." He says causing me to stand throwing my plate next to his. "Pretend I'm that fucker who killed your baby." That did it. I bring back my fist and crash it into his face. He barely even flinches. "You have to hit harder girl." He says and I take it out on his chest and stomach. It almost feels like hitting a wall but I keep going until I have tears streaming from my eyes and I'm out of breath. He wraps his arms around me and I let loose with the tears. When I feel I'm spent I pull away from him. Looking up at his handsome face I wipe my face of the moisture falling from my eyes.
"No more tears." He tells me. "That bastard doesn't deserve any more. Meet me in the garage tomorrow morning. It's right over there." He points to the direction of a large building with the three garage door bays. All opened with bikes and vehicles inside. "Wear something comfortable. Be there at five no later." He smirks. "Unless you want an ass spanken." For a second I think he is joking but I catch a gleam in his eye that tells me he isn't.