Marv looked at them both and although she could tell he wanted to say something, he kept quiet and passed them both drinks. The biker nodded his head at Marv as if to say “Good boy” and then turned his attention back to Candy.
He looked down at her and studied her without saying a word. As she stared into his eyes, her pulse quickened and she opened her mouth to speak, but he lifted his finger and pressed it against her lips. He smiled and shook his head.
Candy felt a rush inside of her. He was doing things to her that no one had ever done. They still hadn’t spoken a word to each other, and yet she felt as if he was her soul mate. There was something in his eyes that was so familiar and comforting that she just couldn’t look away.
“You,” he said slowly, “are the sexiest woman I have ever seen in my whole goddamn life.”
Candy’s breath caught in her throat, and she could do nothing but smile.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“I had to come back and see you, buy you a drink… Get to know you.” He took a swig of his whiskey and cocked his head to one side. “And now that I have, I know it was the right thing to do.”
Candy smiled shyly and looked down at her toes.
“I’m Steel,” he said.
“Candy,” she blushed.
“I like the way this is going,” he smirked.
Candy was grinning from ear to ear, and even though she was a mess of nerves on the inside, she wanted him to desire her and believe in her confidence. She wanted to be the woman she had been up on the stage.
“It’s good to have someone like you around here, Steel,” she continued, “to take care of the riffraff.”
He laughed and bit his bottom lip. “Yeah, I don’t like seeing things like that,” he snarled. “No respect.”
Candy nodded in agreement.
“Hey,” Marv interjected, “I hate to get in the middle of whatever this is, but if you guys want your money, you’re going to have to stop taking my girl’s time.”
Steel looked at him and slammed the glass down on the counter. He got to his feet and leaned over the bar, grabbing hold of Marv’s collar and pulling his face close to his.
“Back the fuck off, Marv,” he spat. “You’re already about to lose it all.”
Marv held up his hands, and Steel let go of him. He turned back to Candy and apologized.
“Why don’t we get out of here?” he said as he took hold of her hand.
She nodded and got to her feet. Marv could fire her, but she had the feeling he wasn’t going to. Now he had seen her with a man like Steel, there was no way he was going to threaten her again. Steel wrapped his fingers up in hers and pulled her through the crowd. When she looked back over her shoulder at the bar, Marv was watching her with hate in his eyes, and she knew that if she didn’t follow through on her newfound friendship with Steel, she was going to be in big trouble one way or another.
Steel pulled her forward, through the main doors of the club and out into the night. She was standing there in front of him, wearing only her lacy teddy and her stripper shoes, and he looked down at her and smirked.
“I guess I should have thought this through,” he joked as he glanced over to the huge, shining bike that was parked out front.
Candy couldn’t help but laugh as she held out her arms and looked down at her outfit.
“I don’t think this is bike friendly,” she quipped. “But I do have a car?”
“Perfect,” he smiled.
They walked around the back of the building and to the lot where the girls and Marv parked their cars. Candy’s was right in the corner by the door to the back of the club where they usually entered before their shifts.
“So,” Steel said, “I’ve always wondered what goes on behind the scenes in this kind of place…”
“Nothing exciting, believe me,” she shrugged.
She noticed Destiny through a gap in the door. She was on her way out back to smoke a cigarette, and Candy had a flash of wisdom.
“Listen,” she said, “My clothes are in there… Why don’t I go and get them and then we can get the hell out of here?”
Steel smiled and nodded.
“I’ll be right back,” she smiled as she passed him the keys to her car.
She jogged lightly to the back door, careful not to slip or trip in her monster heels. Destiny opened the door for her and looked past her to catch sight of Steel leaning against the wall, lighting a cigarette of his own.
“Oh my god,” Destiny gasped. “Is that the guy from last night?”
Candy giggled and shushed her as she pulled her back inside the building.
“Marv is going to be angry,” she said. “His name is Steel and from what I can see, he’s about to be in charge of things around here.”
Destiny chewed her bottom lip and looked concerned. “What about Marv?”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to him,” Candy admitted, “but I can just sense that something is off…”
“Be careful,” Destiny said, “I have a bad feeling about this, too.”
Candy nodded and gave her friend a hug before she went back into the dressing room and scooped up her clothes. She unclipped the suspenders and belt and slipped on her jeans before she threw on a tight white tank top and some sandals. As she shook her hair out and looked at herself in the mirror, she had the overwhelming urge for the first time in a long time to wipe off all the pink gloss and blush and just go au natural.
“Why not?” she said aloud as she reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of make-up wipes. As she smoothed the cloth over her face and removed any last trace of pink, she instantly felt better. She smiled at her reflection, shoved the rest of her belongings back into her purse and got out of there before Marv came looking for her.
Out the back, Destiny and Steel were smoking together and Steel’s eyes lit up when Candy stepped out with her bag slung over her shoulder.
“Much better,” he said, exhaling a plume of smoke up into the dark. “Shall we?”
Candy nodded, slipped her hand into his and then they turned and walked back to the front of the building. His bike was still standing proudly in the parking lot, and as he helped her onto it, she realized that she had never been on a bike before, and she had no idea what to expect.
“Don’t go too fast,” she blurted out defensively, hoping he would take her safety seriously. But Steel just smirked and started the engine.
She didn’t know where he was going to take her, or why she felt so comfortable going with him considering they had only just met, but there was something about him that made her feel safe. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and as he pulled out of the parking lot and hit the highway, she screamed with excitement. The wind whipped through her hair and the speed took her breath away.
The stars twinkled brightly above their heads, and as she breathed in his intoxicating cologne, she admitted to herself that she had missed being close to a man. It had been such a long time since she had felt really wanted, and even after working at Red X with all of those lustful eyes on her, she hadn’t ever felt the pull like she did in that moment.
Steel pulled off the highway and onto Main Street. They thundered through the deserted town and out of the other side. Candy knew that the bikers all lived and worked on the other side of town, a side that not many people ventured to, but she hadn’t bargained for him taking her there. Her nerves began to mount.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“For a drink,” he replied.
They rounded a corner, and in the distance the deep red lights of The Bleeding Bullet came into view. Candy leaned forward and took it all in. The swarms of cop cars, the heavy music, the half-naked women, and the rows of bikes all lined up with big, burly, dangerous men sitting astride them.
“If you think Red X is depraved…wait until you see this,” Steel said with a wicked grin.
A fight broke out in the street and the cops jumped in with batons. Candy gasped
and squeezed Steel tighter. She had no idea what she was doing. After everything she had been through, what was she playing at letting herself get into this kind of situation?
Steel parked the bike and lifted Candy off by the waist. She smiled at him as he looked down at her, and she swept a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Come on,” he said as he took her hand and led her towards the entrance. “There’s something I want you to see…”
7.
After working in a place like Red X, Candy didn’t think there was much that could shock her. But as she walked through the doors of The Bleeding Bullet that night, she knew instantly that was about to change.
Her mouth gaped open as she moved into the throng of people and went deeper into what she could only describe as a den of iniquity. Women were draped all over the bikers, straddling them and kissing them feverishly as if it were their last night on earth. She saw them dancing on tables, flashing their underwear and crawling beneath to pleasure the men they had in their sights. Candy gasped and looked away. Nothing like that ever happened in Red X. The girls may take their clothes off for cash…but that was as far as it went.
Steel squeezed her hand tightly and led her towards the bar. As the sea of faces parted, her eyes locked with someone familiar and Candy felt her heart flood with joy.
It was Lexi.
“Oh my God!” she beamed as she dropped Steel’s hand and ran towards her. The girls wrapped their arms around one and other and Lexi squeezed her tight.
“How are you, stranger?” Lexi asked.
King was sitting by her at the bar and Lexi was working. She had a new ring in her nose and her hair was spiked up black, but Candy had never seen her looking so happy.
“I’m good,” Candy smiled. “Well, I am now.”
She looked up at Steel and felt the warm rush flood her again.
“I heard what’s been happening,” Lexi said seriously as she took hold of Candy’s hand. “You’ve got to get out of there.”
Her eyes were serious and full of warning, and Candy shook her head with confusion. “What do you mean?” she asked warily.
King and Steel looked at one and other, and Lexi picked up a bottle of whiskey and four short, fat tumblers before she motioned towards the back of the room.
“We need to talk to you,” she said. “Come on.”
She followed them to the very back of The Bleeding Bullet to a private room, guarded by a rope and long velvet curtains. Steel sat Candy down and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder, and King took charge of the whiskey bottle, pouring each of them a couple of inches to knock back in one.
“The club…” King said, “is fucked.”
Candy felt herself tense and she looked from King to Lexi and then from Lexi to Steel.
“What? How?” she asked.
“The Iron Riders,” Steel said as he pulled out a packet of cigarettes and clamped a smoke between his teeth. “Marv’s in debt to them and they’re going to wipe the floor with him.”
“The who?” Candy asked, confused.
“The Iron Riders,” King knocked back his glass of whiskey. “The MC from Ironhill…”
Candy kept looking at them all, not understanding in the slightest what any of them were talking about.
“Our rival club,” Steel said as he squeezed her shoulder. “They’re making all kinds of threats.”
“Oh,” Candy caught on. “But why?”
“Our scores go back decades,” King said, pouring himself another glass. “But now tensions are higher than they’ve ever been…” he trailed off and looked at Lexi, who lowered her eyes.
“My dad,” she said. “He’s always managed to keep the peace, but now he’s sick…and…well, no one knows what’s going to happen…”
“Why does Red X have anything to do with this?” Candy asked.
“Because Marv has been in debt to us both for as long as I can remember,” King sneered. “And now we both want to take what’s ours.”
“But it can’t be both of yours…?” Candy was still playing dumb.
“Exactly,” Steel sucked in on his cigarette. “So now we’re at war… Fighting over who’s going to take control of the club…”
“Over Red X?” Candy laughed. “Have you seen that shithole? Why do either of you even want it?”
King and Steel both laughed, and Lexi’s eyes glinted with affection.
“Because,” King said. “Money… Principle… Power… This is our town. It’s Slate Spring’s patch, not Ironhill’s.”
Candy nodded in agreement and picked up her glass. She sipped it down quickly to calm her nerves, and the warmth spread throughout her.
“But I haven’t seen anyone from this other gang hanging around,” Candy said genuinely. “Wouldn’t it be obvious?”
Steel shifted uneasily in his seat and turned her to face him.
“You’re being used, babe,” he said sadly. “The girl… She’s using you to gain information.”
For a moment she didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but when it hit her, the anger raged through her.
“Destiny?” she asked with disbelief. “Destiny is…what? A spy?”
King nodded his head, and Lexi leaned forward and took hold of Candy’s hands.
“I know it sounds crazy,” Lexi said. “But we’ve been watching her. She’s working for them.”
Candy nodded and rubbed her eyes.
“She even told me she was from Ironhill,” she laughed. “But I didn’t think anything of it…”
“Well, why would you?” Lexi sympathized.
“It’s nothing you could have prevented,” King assured her. “But that girl has been in Red X playing dumb for weeks now, and god knows how much information she’s learned about us and our practices from what Marv or anyone else may have said… She’s reporting it all back to the Iron Riders, and now we’re at a disadvantage. Plus, she’ll know more than she’s letting on about the workings of the place and exactly how to hit Marv where it hurts.”
Candy shook her head and bit her bottom lip. How had she been so blind? Even though she hadn’t known anything about this motorcycle club rivalry, she had always prided herself on being a good judge of character and being able to assess a situation. But Destiny had completely fooled her. She had tricked her into being her friend and used her in more ways than one. She got Candy to do work for her, to hold her hand when she was supposedly nervous… And all the time she was spying and no doubt using all of the information or anything Candy said about Marv to feed back to the Iron Riders. She felt sick and betrayed.
“Man, I feel so stupid,” Candy dropped her head into her hands.
“Candy, it’s not your fault,” Lexi reiterated. “You weren’t to know anything about this… Why would you have any reason to suspect she wasn’t genuine?”
Candy shrugged and rubbed her eyes.
“Plus, you’ve only been in Slate Springs a few months. It’s not like you know everyone and everything about the place.”
“None of us would have even known if King and I hadn’t come in there the other night and seen her… Did you not notice how she hid down out of sight?” Steel said as he wrapped his arm around her again.
Candy thought back to the confrontation and how King and Steel had burst through the doors with their shotguns. They had been face to face with Destiny and she had run behind the bar and hid down by Candy’s feet.
“Of course,” she said. “She didn’t want you to recognize her.”
“Exactly,” King said. “But it was too late… I’d seen her over in Ironhill a few months back, draping herself all over one of their top dogs.”
“Fucking bitch,” Steel dragged on the cigarette and exhaled loudly.
“So what do I do now?” Candy asked. “I mean, I can’t just avoid the place.” She looked up at Steel, and he took hold of her and stared at her dead in the eyes…
“That’s exactly what you do,” he said seriously. “Don’t go anywhere n
ear there.”
“But… I work…” Candy began.
“No,” Lexi said. “Something big is about to go down… And if you’re anywhere near Red X, you could get hurt.”
Candy swallowed and reached out for the whiskey bottle. Now she really needed it. She downed another shot and exhaled.
“Okay,” she said. “So I guess I am officially unemployed.”
“Not quite,” Steel said. “We’ll win the fight,” he brushed her hair behind her ears, “and then the club will be ours.”
“But what if you don’t?” she asked.
King shook his head and wrapped his arm protectively around Lexi.
“We always win,” he said sternly. “Just God help anyone who tries to get in our way.”
Candy sat back on the couch and let her head fall back. After the shots, she was feeling woozy and all of the information was swimming around in her mind, making her feel even worse.
“I think I need to get home,” she said.
Lexi helped her to her feet, and Steel wrapped a protective arm around her.
“Come on,” he said as the four of them made their way to the entrance of the bar.
“Steel will look after you,” Lexi said as she hugged Candy goodbye and held onto her gently by the shoulders. “I know they look a little scary, but deep down, they are good men.”
Candy nodded.
“He’ll take you home, and if Marv comes anywhere near you, he’ll be there to sort it out.”
“So what do I do? Do I just stay at home?” Candy asked exasperated.
“No,” Lexi laughed. “Enjoy your time off. And just stay away from that two-faced bitch Destiny. Who knows what else she may drag you into?”
The girls hugged goodbye again, and then Steel took hold of Candy’s hand. As he led her out of the bar and down the steps to the sidewalk, she looked back and shuddered.
Her life had been completely turned upside down, yet again.
Why could nothing ever just be simple?
They walked through the crowds, and when Steel got to his bike, he lifted her onto it and climbed on in front of her. As he revved the engine, some of the men around them cheered and raised their arms in the air. Candy gripped onto him tightly and nuzzled into him. All she wanted was to be back in the safety of her little home, cuddled up in bed without a care in the world.
[Runes of Argyl 01.0] The Runes of Argyl Trilogy Page 159