I cut right through the shit. “He isn’t your brother now.”
“I know.” Mud hung his head a little before taking a swig of his beer. “He’s out bad, but we should leave it at that. It’s not like he betrayed us. He’s not a snitch.”
“You know where he is?”
Mud gave me a look that couldn’t lie.
“You know the rules. Unless Mad Dog or the General let him leave, we have to prove a point. At least he hadn’t earned a back pack.” Mud didn’t have our colors tattooed on his back either. He hadn’t been in the club long enough.
“Bounty’s on him. Anyone without a patch or a backpack are already after him. Polecat’s looking too.”
That was bad news for Mud. Shit it was worse news for Goose, but I was thinking first of my brother. Goose wasn’t one of us any longer. Prospects and newly patched members could go overboard, thinking a bounty was a short cut, which it usually was. If they returned with Goose’s cut, motorcycle and physical evidence that they showed him what for, they’d earn something fast. But Polecat was another Nomad who got off on inflecting excruciatingly slow, painful deaths. Answering only to the General, like me, he’d kill Goose for sure and make sure Mud would feel it in his bones.
Emery had been taking all this in, a little too curious, so I scanned the bar for a mama. Jewel was setting up for our party tonight, dusting off the stuffed gator that sat under a huge rebel flag the club had hanging on the wall since they were the Highway Rebels, before they were patched over, before my time. When Jewel’s green eyes met mine, I motioned her over. “Jewel sugar, this here’s Anne Marie, show her round.”
Pale with unnatural jet-black, straight as a stick hair, Jewel was one of the Alabama Gods’ mamas, meaning she did anything and everything for the club, washing their scooters, cleaning guns, cleaning the clubhouse and the officer’s houses. I didn’t know what she in particular did to support the club financially, but she wasn’t a whore for outsiders, only us. The Gods didn’t turn out their women. They liked their women to keep the whoring in house, just safer for all involved. Jewel’s pussy belonged to all of us; even me since I was a Nomad and I could attend church at any chapter’s house.
She inspected Emery, her head bobbing up and down with her hands on her hips. “She your sweetie?”
“Sure is.” I kissed Jewel’s cheek to greet her. She’d given me a good time or fifteen. Right now she was dressed in a low cut black t-shirt, showing off her tattooed milky breasts. “I’ll be back before the party. Keep Anne with you, no matter what.” I gave her a look to let her know I meant business.
Jewel gave me a nod.
Emery looked put out. I took her aside. “I’ll be back. You’ll be fine as long as you remind people who you belong to.”
Emery huffed but went along with Jewel who said, “Let’s go get you gussied up for tonight. I’m planning something special.”
I turned to Mud. “No one’s looking for Goose except Polecat. Mad Dog’s called everyone to church, but they won’t start until I get back. You ready to go get Goose’s originals?”
Mud took a breath and nodded.
“Meet me out front.”
I waited on my bike, hoping no trouble went down while we were gone. I’d had a hunch Mud knew where his brother was. Halley in the back of my mind, I wanted to help Mud punish Goose without killing him, something that wasn’t guaranteed otherwise. If we could get to him before Polecat, I’d beat the shit out of him myself to save his fucking life.
Mud showed up, but he wasn’t alone. On the other chopper was Rosa. She took off her brain bucket and shades to greet me, but her dark curly hair was pulled back in a braid. After all, she was a patched member, the treasurer and a damned good one, not a club whore or hang around. Rosa was smoking hot and off limits to everyone because she was Mad Dog’s daughter. Dressed in tight jeans with holes in all the right places, a studded belt, matching boots and black Harley t-shirt under her cut, Rosa would have to beat the men off with a stick if it weren’t for Mad Dog’s rule.
“How’re you Rosa?”
“Finer than a frog hair split three ways. I hear you finally offed that Banshee Bitch.”
“Had to be done.”
“Rosa thinks the more witnesses the better.” Mud strapped on his helmet, his loose bun hanging out the back.
“Yeah, I don’t know if your Daddy will forgive ya this time,” she joked, still keeping her signature unimpressed expression on her face before putting her helmet and shades on again.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
The lower half of her face looked apologetic for a millisecond. “Watch your back is all. We going or what?”
Fuck, Rosa knew something I didn’t, and I hadn’t talked to the General yet. He wasn’t my daddy, but he was sort of my adopted daddy. I’d gone behind his back and made a deal with the Sons of Satan, yes, but it was my deal, not the clubs. It had nothing to do with him. Besides, the General hadn’t ever planned to tell me about Halley being alive, not until he could hold it over my head. Shirley, the Banshee, tired of how the men had been treating her in Arizona, came to me before she left the Asphalt Gods to start the Heelz ten years ago. She wanted to know if I wanted to leave too. We were fucking at the time, but I was still a kid, seventeen and dumb as a bucket of squirrels. Even though the General had said anyone could leave, I still wasn’t dumb enough to think I could leave too. I’d asked him anyway, asked the General what would happen if I left. That’s when he told me about Halley being alive with the Sons of Satan. I’d known they’d taken her when they killed my parents, but I hadn’t known she was still alive. He promised me right then he’d get her back. He promised me he’d only recently heard she was, in fact, alive—five fucking years after they took her. I was beside myself but at seventeen, the Gods were my only hope.
Even then, something in me knew the General was using Halley to keep me in place. Serpentine, the President of the Sons of Satan was his sworn enemy, but one he’d never engage head on. We fought with the members, trying to sneak in and find Halley about once a year to no avail. I’d lost brothers trying to steal Halley back because the General wouldn’t take the fight straight to Serpentine. I found myself on the road as a Nomad before too long, everyone tired of my fight for my sister. “Wars not worth one girl,” were the words spoken by the General before I’d asked to go Nomad. The General seemed happy to see me leave, with one condition; I stay out of California, out of Serpentine’s territory.
When Shirley called and told me about Halley’s upcoming fate, on her twentieth birthday she’d become Serpentine’s old lady, I called the old bastard myself. Serpentine said I could buy her back for one hundred grand, thinking without the Gods, I couldn’t get the cash. He knew that the General wouldn’t negotiate with him, and maybe he thought I’d be too proud for the deal too. I took the deal rather than think of my sister the old lady of the man who killed her parents. Maybe it’s a trap. Maybe the SOS will use it to start a war. Hopefully, I’ll be long gone with Halley by then. Don’t get me wrong, the Gods saved me. But unlike my brothers and sister of the cut, I didn’t choose it and I wasn’t born into it like Rosa. Halley and I belonged living a normal life like our parents had. We’d disappear and be watching the meteor shower together before too long.
Chapter 4
Mud knew exactly where his brother was, at a shitty trailer park about twenty miles away holed up with Luscious, the hardbelly he’d run off with. I never understood a man leaving his brothers for a club whore. Luscious might as well been a mama, every brother had his dick in her at some point. When I leave the Gods with Halley, it’ll be so she doesn’t have to live like that.
“There’s only three of us. I can do some crazy shit with two cocks, but I can’t ride two bikes, can ya’ll?” Rosa answered our question before I kicked Goose’s Harley over.
“Could’ve brought the crash truck,” Mud stated the obvious.
“There’s no time for that.” I was already having r
egrets, thinking that the club might be ambushed while I was gone with Emery there.
It was easy to find a crow bar and a metal baseball bat laying around the trailer park. Mud and I went to town, trashing Goose’s pride and joy. After all, it’d been maintained with club money. Rosa brought out her long chain. We all kept one on us if we could. She attached it to her bike and drug his bashed Harley about a mile down the road. When she returned, Mud and I were in the trailer. Goose said Luscious had locked herself in the bathroom. I decided that was okay. Mud took the first punch as Rosa collected Goose’s originals, his leathers, his boots, anything bought with club money. To my surprise, Goose fought back, making it all the easier to get involved until he no longer fought back.
“That’s enough,” I finally said out of breath. It hadn’t taken long. But my fists were already fucked up from beating Luci to death and were bleeding again. Mud had been getting too soft in his blows anyway, knowing Goose’s limits. Beating the shit out of the kid was too easy. Polecat would have finished him. I walked Mud outside, telling him to go on back and take Goose’s cut to Mad Dog. “Tell him we’ll be along.”
“Will it be enough?”
“Mercy, brother. Like you said, he didn’t snitch.”
Rosa was cleaning Goose’s face when I returned. “What about the bitch in the bathroom?”
“We’ll wait for her to come out, bust down the door if we have too. Tell them both to go far away or expect more.” I sank into the dirty couch. The last few days had been exhausting.
Rosa dropped her rag since Goose was passed out. She came over to straddle my lap, pushing her breasts at me. “We’re sort of alone,” she said in her sex kitten voice, her plump red lips pouting.
I took a hold of her backside, pulling her harder against my cock, just in the right place. “If your father knew I’d fucked you. He’d kill me.”
“Yeah, but now you’ve brought some whore to my back yard. I don’t like it, Scar.”
Fuck, I’d left Emery back at the clubhouse, alone, all but a mama. “Leave Anne Marie alone, Rosa. You and I aren’t anything special. Not anything like you and Goose over there.”
She hoped off my lap right quick. “What do you know?”
“I know enough that you better leave Anne and me alone tonight. You better get your daddy under control too. Whatever bullshit you threatened earlier is over. Mad Dog promised his help. He owes it. Ya’ll fuck me over, it’ll be the end of you.”
“Goose left me for that whore quivering in the bathroom like the piece of shit she is. Why the fuck would I want him when I could fuck you?” Rosa took off her cut then her shirt, reminding me of all she had to offer. Rebel flags were tattooed on both of her sides. That’s not where my eyes were as she took off her bra, showing me her two pierced nipples. Rosa returned to my lap, and I grabbed them and tugged. She licked the ring in my ear. My dick responded, but all I could think about was Emery being all alone. For once, my heart won over my cock. I stood, knocking her off me. “Maybe next time, Rosa. I’m needed at church.”
As I was leaving, she shouted from Goose’s door, “I’m not about to tell Mad Dog about us, so you better keep me and Goose quiet too.”
“Sure thing, Rosa.” All was right with us again.
The sun was beginning to set when I saw the clubhouse up ahead. Emery was outside, alone, sitting on top of the picnic table. Glad she was okay, I parked my bike and joined her. It was fucking pitiful I had to worry about my own brothers, but Rosa telling me to watch my back sat on the front of my mind. “Jewel leave you alone?”
“Oh, she’s working. You know she has to fuck anyone who wants some. All the men are here waiting for you, wanting a turn with someone while they wait.”
“Hope you told them you were mine.”
She smirked, “I did.”
“What did they say?”
“They wanted to see my property patch. I said I didn’t know what they hell that was—to get the fuck off me. They said I wasn’t trainable anyhow. They backed off.”
I chuckled a bit to myself. Of course, Emery wouldn’t know what the hell any of that meant. “What are you doing out here, waiting for Manul to come find you?”
She gave me the stink eye. “No, I’m watching the sunset.”
I tried my best never to look at the sky when it wasn’t the only thing in my view. I had to see the damn thing all the time, used to be my favorite thing in the whole world, but now it reminded me of my parents, a life lost. The reds and oranges dominated the skies tonight. There weren’t enough clouds to make it interesting. “Not enough purple,” I remarked.
“Purple your favorite color or something?”
“No, I like black on more black. I am a man.”
Emery said nothing but kept looking.
“So, what’s your favorite color?”
“Sunset,” she said trying not to smile.
“Really?”
“Yeah, with rainbow coming in a close second.”
“You like the sky, huh?”
She nodded, sniffed and shut down all of the sudden.
“Come on. You need to stay out of view while I go to church.”
“To what?”
“It’s what we call our meeting.”
I got out the key to the suite and showed Emery through the clubhouse, up the stairs.
“So, we leave tomorrow morning and head west?” She asked even though she knew that part of the plan.
“Yeah, you’ve ever been?” The key stuck in the lock.
“Used to go to Nevada. My uncle had horses.”
I pushed open the door “Can you ride?”
“I used to. Can you?”
“Yeah. In Arizona we have horses,” I said, imagining Emery on a horse, bouncing. I was fighting off another woody.
Locking her away since she was my money, I went down stairs to the back room. There was standing room only in Mad Dog’s office. He sat along with all the officers. I leaned against the doorframe.
“Scar, I had a little sit down with one of the boys from the Mutherfukers while you and Mud roughed up Goose.”
I stopped leaning.
“Don’t worry, he’s long gone. Had no beef with us no how. Was asking for an Emery, though. I’m sure he meant Anne Marie but told him you two were long gone up to Chi town. General said you’re doing something for him though, that right?”
“Yeah,” I lied. Oh shit, the General was lying for me too, probably saved my ass tonight. If he’d said I’d betrayed him, I’d be dead.
“He says you’re to meet up with Bones and Cowboy in Shreveport. They’ll help you get home.”
Home, fuck! I needed to get to California.
Mad Dog went on. “Any other matters?”
Mud spoke up, “What about Goose and the bounty.”
“What’d ya think Scar? You think you all taught him a lesson.”
“We destroyed his bike and beat him to within an inch of his life. Rosa told them to skip town,” I jutted my chin toward Rosa, but she didn’t speak.
“What about stealing? Luscious wasn’t his to take,” Fat Willi added. He was fatter than the table we sat around. I didn’t know how he still rode.
“Luscious wasn’t any man’s property. She wasn’t even a mama. Whores are replaceable,” Rosa answered.
“Vote to call off the bounty.” Mad Dog started counting. It was almost unanimous. They didn’t want to kill Goose.
“Is that all?” Mad Dog asked.
Rosa spoke, “The bounty was still going when Mud took care of Goose. I think he deserves a back pack.”
“I do too,” Mad Dog told us, but we voted on it. I threw my vote in for Mud with a smile. He’d be tatted tonight, at least the outline. Rosa said she’d get ahold of the ink slinger they used to see if he’d stay open late. Patch Miller only had one eye, but he was the best in town.
Mud hugged me long and hard. “You ought to be there. Patch’s got a couple extra hands now. You need some ink? That sweetie of yours nee
d some ink?”
“I’ll see if I can get away. You go on.”
Emery was out in the clubhouse with Jewel when we piled out of the office.
“What are you doing here?” I pulled her aside roughly since I’d locked her in the suite.
“Jewel let me out.” She shrugged. Emery was dressed much like Jewel, in daisy dukes with a plaid shirt tied up to her belly. Her hair was teased big, southern girl style. But she was different than the hardbellies here—prettier. I didn’t like that or her being out and about without me, not with folk looking for us.
The music was getting louder. Henley was head of a five piece live band, and they were jamming. They loved classic rock. Soon they’d be playing sweet home Alabama. The alcohol was flowing, and I had a couple whiskeys slung my way without having to ask. I could smell the weed in the air. Some of the Gods here ran protection for the local drug lords, peddling much harder drugs. But nothing but weed was technically allowed in the Gods’ clubhouse. The General was a recovering heroin addict himself, but it wasn’t that he wanted us clean. Fuck, most of us used. Dirty deeds were just done elsewhere, an abandoned field or warehouse. You’d be damned stupid to shit where you eat.
Emery helped B.B. carry out our big country dinner, complete with fried green tomatoes, or toematers as B.B. called them. She sat down and ate beside me, drinking a beer. After I finished, I left Emery who was still picking at greasy green beans to Mad Dog’s table to share a toke or two. We talked for a long time about the future of the club, him worried about the General’s health. “Last I knew he was healthier than a horse.”
While we drank a few more whiskeys, chasing them with a few more beers, more girls showed up all dressed like Jewel and Emery. I was feeling drunk and high—it felt damn good as Jewel took to the stage, grabbing the mic from Henley before he could belt out another Skynyrd song. “Ladies, we have the prince of the Gods here tonight and a special show for all of ya’ll.”
Henley started playing something more upbeat as the girls started dancing and stripping to hoots and hollers. Mad Dog stood up, pulling my chair around so they could give me a lap dance. “These are Jewel’s girls from The Lair.” He was talking about the strip club right off the highway. Jewel running a strip club made sense, and my brothers probably provided their protection too.
Seven Sunsets (Asphalt Gods MC Book 2) Page 3