by Brook Wilder
“It was…It was my mom’s,” she said quietly, gathering up the last of the pieces and placing them gently in the basket by the bath tub. She would fix it later. A few hours and some super glue and it would be back to normal.
“I am sorry,” the other woman said again, with real remorse in her voice this time, “I didn’t know.”
“I know you didn’t,” Elle said softly before rising to her feet with a sigh. It wasn’t until Hot Wheels’s gasp that she remembered her change of clothes.
“Well, damn, sugar. Who would have guessed that this sexy woman was hiding underneath all those proper, boring dresses?”
“My dresses aren’t boring,” Elle started primly but Hot Wheels just gave her a look, one eyebrow arched as if to call out her lie.
“Uh huh. And I’m the queen of Sheba. Now sit. I’ve got work to do and we don’t have a lot of time.”
Reluctantly, Elle took a seat on top of the closed toilet seat lid. Hot Wheels didn’t really give her a chance.
“Hair first, I think.”
Elle was pretty sure Hot Wheels was talking more to herself than to her and she just shrugged, concentrating on the surprising fact that her anxiety was receding instead of growing at the thought of going to the party. It was more than surprising. It shocked the hell out of her. Up until ten minutes ago she had barely been able to breathe, but as Hot Wheels went to work doing…something to her hair with the curling iron she’d had plugged in and preheated, that feeling all but disappeared.
She sat in silence for a long while, mulling it over, but the only conclusion she could draw was that keeping her word was more important than her own anxiety. It snapped something inside her, something small, but something brave, and she found herself sitting up a little straighter as Hot Wheels stood back with a smile.
“There. Done.”
“Okay, great. Let’s go.”
“Oh no. Oh no no no. We’re not ready yet,” Hot Wheels stopped her as she dug back into the bottomless bag and drew out a makeup case that looked like it weighted at least ten pounds.
“Oh, I don’t really wear makeup.”
“I know,” Hot Wheels said with another pointed look, “Just let me do my thing, sugar. I used to be a professional makeup artist in a past life.”
“Really?” Elle wondered aloud, curious now. She’d never thought about what she’d done before the Dirty Cruisers. What lives any of them had led and she suddenly found herself wanting to ask Honey. To find out what secrets he had hidden.
“Uh oh. I know that look.” Hot Wheels muttered quietly as she got to work, spreading some cool feeling cream over her skin.
“What look?” Elle asked but the other woman tsked at her.
“No talking. Don’t move,” Hot Wheels said, chastising her before going on, “That look was the look of someone who was curious. Curious about things she shouldn’t be curious about, people she shouldn’t be curious about.”
“I’m not–”
“Hush. Didn’t I say no talking?” Hot Wheels was moving on to eyeshadow, layering on various shades that Elle couldn’t see. But she was more interest in what she was saying than what she was doing.
“Anyway, I know what’s going on with you and Honey. Some of it at least. A blind person would see it. I know I warned you about him before, but…I saw him that day at the office. The way he acts around you,” Hot Wheels paused, focusing on Elle’s eyebrows as she practically vibrated with impatience for her to go on. Finally, she did.
“He’s different around you. I can’t put my finger on it, but… Listen, sugar, I’ve never said this to any of his flings before–”
“I’m not his fl–”
“Don’t talk. You’ll smudge it! Just listen, I said. I don’t care what you call it, but there’s something between you. How serious it is or how long it will last I don’t really know but, here’s the thing, and I’ve never said this before. Be careful with him.”
Elle almost rolled her eyes but she didn’t want to get poked with the eye liner that Hot Wheels was meticulously applying.
“I saw that,” Hot Wheels said, giving her another arch look, “I don’t mean you be careful of him. I mean be careful with him. I think you could really hurt him, Elle Watson. You could break his heart.”
Elle almost snorted but stopped herself as Hot Wheels continued, “I know what it is to hurt a man, especially one that you care about. One that you love–”
“I don’t lo–”
“Are you incapable of being quiet, girl?” Hot Wheels shot back, still working, “Anyway, this isn’t easy for me to say, so just let me finish. I know what it’s like to hurt the man you care about, sometimes it’s not intentional, sometimes it’s just because you’re so scared he might not love you back that you can’t take a risk. Well, listen to me Elle. Honey is one of the best, bravest, most honorable men I know besides Joel. So, treat him right, okay? Even if you’re scared. Even if you’re afraid. Don’t hurt him just because you’ve been hurt before. Then you’ll both just end up heartbroken and alone.”
Elle looked up at her as she finished speaking, the words so sincere that she knew that Hot Wheels was talking from experience. Elle searched for something to say, anything to offer a bit of comfort, but in the next moment, she was gone, putting away her supplies.
Hot Wheels stepped back, examining her handiwork with a critical eye before nodding in satisfaction, “I think I’ve actually out done myself this time.”
Elle turned around to look in the mirror, but Hot Wheels stopped her.
“No, don’t look. You have to trust me, but even more than that, you have to trust yourself. Trust that you are beautiful and strong and can handle anything. And I’ll give you a hint, sugar, it has nothing to do with what you look like. It’s all in how you carry yourself. Attitude.”
Hot Wheels tilted her head to one side as she dragged Elle to her feet.
“Shoulders back. Chin up. Eyes straight ahead like you don’t care about anything or anyone else, like you can’t see anything blocking your path. Come on. You can do better than that. Picture h– whoever or whatever you want, the thing that you really want, and walk towards it like there’s no one else there. That’s it, darlin’. Now you’re starting to get it.”
Hot Wheels clapped her hands in glee, “Perfect. Let’s go.”
Chapter 10
Elle stepped inside the clubhouse quickly. Mostly because of Hot Wheels’s forceful shove at her back, but still it was over. She was there. She hadn’t broken her promise after all.
Great, so now we can turn right back around and leave, her inner voice whispered, this time it was all her but she gave her head a mental shake. She hadn’t come this far just to turn around without doing what she came there to do. She was given a job. Make sure that all the bikers knew that the money for the party was coming from Carla’s farm.
With just a brief glance around, Carla could tell that Joel had spared no expense. She hoped that they really did have enough money to cover it and it wasn’t just another ploy, but that wasn’t her problem at the moment. No, her problem was the rowdy crowd of heavily drinking, black leather wearing bikers that had all just turned to stare at her.
“Hot Wheels, they’re looking at me like a piece of meat!” she squawked to the woman who was still standing impatiently behind her, waiting for her to move. Elle wasn’t the only one with a job to accomplish that night.
“Look, sugar, just remember what I told you. Shoulders back, chin up, eyes straight ahead. Just pretend they’re all beneath you, like none of em is worth your time. That’s it, eyes on the prize. Now, just walk,” Hot Wheels huffed out a sigh, “You gotta move sometime, sweetheart, preferably before we all age to death. No go!”
Elle lurched forward, helped again by Hot Wheel’s hand propelling her from behind and she repeated the other woman’s words like a mantra. Shoulders back. Chin up. Eyes straight ahead. Shoulders back. Chin up. Eyes straight–
“Oh no,” Elle whispered to herself.
Her feet were still moving, carrying her forward like no one else was even there. Her shoulders were back. Her chin was up. And her eyes were straight ahead, fixed on none other than Honey. It was too late, though. She knew if she stopped now she’d never start again, so she did the only thing she could. She kept walking.
Elle realized the exact moment that he noticed her. As if he’d sensed her presence, he’d turned slowly, his eyes locking right on her own and not letting go. So she saw every expression that flitted through them as they widened in breathless surprise. She saw the shock, she saw the warmth fan instantly into a wildfire burning out of control. She saw his need. And it shook her to the core.
With trembling hands, she smoothed down the shimmering dress that Hot Wheel’s had loaned her, for the first time realizing just how short, and how tight, it really was. She wished desperately then that she’d looked in the mirror. That she could see just exactly what Honey was seeing.
But then she remembered what Hot Wheels had said. It wasn’t about what she looked like, it was how she carried herself. Attitude.
But I haven’t got any attitude, that insipid voice whined. And Elle brushed it off, standing up even straighter. Oh, shut up.
Wearing Hot Wheels’s dress like a suit of armor, she continued on. Joel and Carla were already by the bar with Tucker not too far off. At first glance, he looked to be standing nonchalantly at one of the bar height tables but just beyond him was Viper, the man who had caused all of the problems in the first place. And he was glaring bloody murder at Joel, along with the group of four or five brutes in Dirty Cruiser leather.
She only recognized one of them. Buck, that jerk that had tried to grab her the other day. Elle made a mental note to stay far away from that table. She could see how Buck’s eyes tracked her, following her steps, and she forced herself to raise her chin and look straight ahead again. Elle wondered briefly where Hot Wheels had gone to and, after a brief scan of the rest of the large open bar, she spotted her.
She was standing next to a giant of a man, covered in tattoos with long, shaggy hair that lent him a wild look. Elle remembered him. Sparkplug. A member of the Nomads who had helped them when things with Maurice had gone south. There was something about the way they stood so close together, their heads bent close as they spoke. But still, there was a distance between them, a tension that Elle didn’t understand.
And then she didn’t have the chance to because a hand was at her elbow, a voice low and full of heat at her ear.
“You look like sin,” Honey said, his breath teasing over her, sending chills dancing down her spine. But there was something hard in his voice too, “Are you trying to start a riot? These men will tear each other apart to get their hands on you.”
“I truly doubt that, Honey,” Elle said with a caustic look over her shoulder. He was obviously overestimating her charms. “I’m just here to do a job.”
“What kind of job is that, Elle? To tempt them all? To distract them with your body while you spread…rumors.”
With a gasp, she spun around to face him and knew immediately it was a mistake.
“Don’t you dare, Honey. Don’t you–You know exactly why I’m here so stop being such a…such a…jerk!” Elle looked around hastily, taking the moment to draw a deep breath. She couldn’t seem to when she was looking at him but when she did turn her gaze back she could see contrition in his face.
“I’m sorry, it’s just…you surprised me, that’s all,” he looked up at her then, a sweet lopsided smile drawing across his face, “You’re always doing that.”
“Still, you didn’t have to say that.”
“No, I didn’t have to,” Honey said, still smiling but it hardened, “It’s true though. Everyone here will fall at your feet with one look.”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Elle huffed, unsure how to take his mercurial moods, “I’ve got work to do.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you.”
“It’s important, Honey. Carla asked. I promised to help.”
“One day those promises of yours are going to get you in trouble.” Honey said after a long silence. Then he was pulling away, backing up as he headed back to man the bar and Elle was left with an odd sense of...loss. As if she missed his presence by her side. Now, that really was ridiculous.
But she hadn’t been lying, either. She had a job to do, and the sooner she got it done, the sooner she could leave. So, with that in mind she started circling the room. Talking to anyone who would listen, which surprisingly to her if not to Honey, ended up being more than she’d expected.
Elle didn’t say much. Just a few words here and there about how nice the party was. How great it was that the farm was so profitable and how smart Joel was to take advantage of it. The hours wore away slow and grinding for her but by the time she made it around the room she felt she’d done as much as she could.
There had been a few men, some of the one’s that had glared at Joel along with that scoundrel Viper, had laughed at her praise of Joel, saying that he would get what was coming to him. Those comments had made her worry, and she’d filed away each one, and the person who’d said it, to relay the information later. But at least half of them had stopped and listened to what she’d said. At least she hoped they’d listened. The alcohol had been flowing freely all night and many of them were more than a little drunk.
A hand once more grabbing her elbow made her huff out a sigh of irritation.
“What is it this time, Honey.? I thought you said–” Elle cut off abruptly as she turned, expecting to see Honey, but it wasn’t him. He wasn’t there. And in his place stood a man she was all too familiar with.
“Buck, isn’t it?” Elle sneered, trying desperately to hide the spike of fear that shot through her.
Shoulders back, chin up, eyes straight ahead.
“I think I liked it better when you called me ‘honey’.” He was large, and he used all of his height and weight to loom over her. She knew he was just trying to intimidate her. And she also knew it was working.
“Let go of me.”
“Aw, sweetheart, come on now. Don’t be like that. A girl like you, dressed like that–”
“You, sir, have no idea the type of girl I am,” Elle said sharply, jerking her arm to try and dislodge his grip but it was like a vice. “Let go. Now!”
“No need to shout. Just come quietly. I’ve got some questions about those rumors you’ve been spreading.”
“W–what rumors?”
“Why, the ones about our…esteemed president, of course.”
“Esteemed, huh? Did you read that on a word of the day toilet paper?” Elle bit back, fear fueling her sarcasm.
“No, I heard it from Viper–It doesn’t matter, bitch. I’ve got something else altogether that I’m going to teach you. Starting with the proper way to use that mouth of yours,” Buck snarled the words at her as he started to drag her toward the exit and Elle dug in her heals, pulling against him wildly now.
“I really don’t think you are,” Honey’s voice was sharp and hard and full of command and Elle gasped in relief when she looked up and saw him standing, arms crossed over his chest, directly in Buck’s path.
“And who’s going to make me, you?” Buck snorted.
“I did it once. I can do it again.”
“You know, I told Viper about you. He said you’re just a pussy. That you wouldn’t even throw a pun–” Buck’s words were halted by Honey’s fist as he let one fly to land with a meaty thud across the other man’s nose.
“I guess you shouldn’t listen to Viper then, huh?” Honey said, grabbing Elle’s hand as he pulled her in the opposite direction, not even bothering to look back as Buck shouted profanities after them. He didn’t stop as he stomped down the hallway that led to the apartments in the back, one that Elle knew belonged to Joel. He kept going, not saying a single word as he shoved open the back door, a big heavy steel thing.
There was a small coach house in the back that sat nestled in the tr
ee line and Honey made a bee line for it, still walking furiously and Elle had to nearly jog to keep up with him. Finally, they were there, going inside, and Honey flicked on one of the lights. Only then did he stop. Only then did he turn around and face her.
Chapter 11
Honey watched her. He couldn’t drag his eyes off her. He couldn’t stop his breath from billowing out of his lungs like a goddamned steam engine. He couldn’t stop the need and jealousy that had flooded through him when he’d first seen her walk into that bar in that dress. And he couldn’t stop the rage that had blinded him when that fucker had laid his unworthy hands on her.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he bit out he words, that anger still riding him hard as all the ways it could have gone wrong played out in his mind.