by Zoey Parker
When I was toweling off, the woman sat on the edge of the bed and watched me with her catlike eyes. She made a big show of looking me over, and I had to turn around to ignore her. I couldn’t even remember picking her up. I hoped desperately that I’d used a rubber.
“You sure I can’t change your mind about breakfast?” she asked while she was applying lip gloss and pouting into a small mirror. “I know a great diner!”
I shook my head. “I can’t be late for work, sorry,” I said, toneless. She grumbled but followed me out to my bike anyway. When I handed her my extra helmet, she balked. “Really? This is gonna mess up my hair,” she whined. “I don’t wanna wear it.”
“Well I don’t wanna get a two hundred dollar ticket because I’m carrying a bitch who isn’t wearing one,” I spat. Grabbing the helmet out of her hands, I plunked it down on her head and buckled the strap under her chin. She glared at me venomously; I didn’t think that I had to worry about her asking me for breakfast again.
I drove her to the bus stop and idled as she got off the bike. When she leaned in to kiss me, I took the helmet off of her head and nodded at her. “Later,” I said, speeding away. Her reply was drowned in the muffle of my bike roaring up.
By the time I pulled into Tinder’s parking lot, my headache was thankfully starting to fade. I’d only been up for an hour or so but the worst of my hangover was fading. Still, the idea of a long shift didn’t exactly sound appealing. Working at the jewelry store was only fun when the customers didn’t treat me like shit. I was fed up with stuck-up, skinny bitches who waltzed in and then acted like I was making them feel unsafe. I have no interest in women who need to feel important all the time; it was one of the reasons I rarely asked anyone to stay over. With last night, I couldn’t even remember asking that bitch if she wanted to come home with me, Lily or whatever her name was.
When I hung up my leather jacket in the back room of Tinder’s, I looked at my patches with pride. I’d been with the MC for almost ten years now, and I’d earned every single scratch, bruise, and accolade. Those guys were my family. Of course random women wanted to fuck us all the time, especially those of us who didn’t have an old lady. Girls like Lily were a dime a dozen.
“Hey, Carson, you’re late,” the manager told me as I slipped into place by the front door. “Two minutes. If it happens again, I’m gonna have to write you up,” he said with a guilty grin. “I don’t wanna do it, but you know how corporate is. That’s my ass on the line if you can’t show up.”
“It won’t happen again,” I said curtly as I stared straight ahead. “Bike trouble this morning.”
The manager rolled his eyes and walked past. I felt a flash of anger towards him—and Lily—but it passed. Soon it just looked like every other Monday morning at the jewelry store: lots of men rushing in before heading to their offices. I started to wonder what everyone was fighting about this weekend.
“Hey, buddy,” one of the guys said to me. He held up a box with a heart-shaped pendant made of diamonds and a box of diamond cluster earrings with pearls. “Which of these would your girl like?”
“I don’t have a girl,” I said drily. Just as I said that, I saw her. The girl from the bar the other night, that redheaded bartender. She sauntered in wearing leather leggings that hugged her curves and a flowing turquoise silk top. All in all, she looked like she was going to work at the bar, rather than take a little shopping detour.
When she saw me, she froze in place. Just as I was about to greet her, she tossed her head and started browsing the store. I carefully watched as she walked up and down the aisles. Her lovely figure swung from side to side as she strolled. I frowned. She was a bartender, and most of the stuff in this store had four-digit price tags. Interestingly enough, she just seemed to be browsing the whole store as opposed to one single type of item. She went through the whole store, staring from case to case: rings, watches, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, pins, the list went on. She had a careful eye; it was almost hawkish, especially for such a pretty girl. I recognized the same spitfire in her green eyes that I’d seen the other night. All in all, I had to admit that she was really intriguing.
It was really tempting to approach her, but just when I was going to say something, I noticed there was a scuffle between two customers. A couple seemed to be arguing about something. Their voices got louder and louder, and as I approached, I saw a tray of engagement rings on the display case. The woman was screaming about how he was a cheap bastard. When I put my hand on both of their shoulders, they both jumped. She turned to me with an angelic grin.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, flashing a cute smile. “Were we being too loud?”
I nodded. “We try to keep things pretty laid back at Tinder’s, ma’am,” I told her. “I’m going to escort you both outside now, and we ask that you leave quietly. If you return to the property within twenty-four hours, we’ll have to call the police.”
She blushed and her boyfriend started cussing under his breath, but neither one of them objected. I guided them outside without any other incident. But when I went to look for Caroline, she was already gone.
Shit, I thought. My second chance in less than a week and I’d missed it. Still, her actions had been strange. I should have asked her a couple of questions; it was exceedingly rare for women to come in and browse alone. I wondered what she’d been up to; the way that her eyes had flickered over all the merchandise was indicative of shoplifting. Or at least, it had been in the past. I couldn’t imagine that a cute girl like her actually suffered any trouble. She probably had lots of boyfriends. I thought about how her breasts bounced under the silk top. I imagined ripping it off her and taking one of her nipples in my mouth, licking and biting until she screamed. The image was enough for my cock to stiffen, and I had to stare at all the men browsing the store until it went soft.
After work, I drove out to the clubhouse. The MC always had meetings on Monday evenings, and I didn’t intend to miss this one. After the trouble with the Aztecs, we needed all the solidarity we could get.
Just as I was pulling up, I saw the Aztecs waiting outside the entrance on their choppers. I rolled my eyes. Of course these assholes would ride choppers. They couldn’t even pick classic American bikes, they had to go back in time to 2006.
“Yo, asshole,” one of them called to me. “You got a problem with us?”
I laughed. “You’re on my fuckin’ property,” I said. “You want us to come out and cleanse y’all off?”
The Aztec got off his bike and walked up to me, eyeing me sharply. “Not quite, little guy,” he said in a gruff tone. “More like we wanted to let you know that if another incident occurs, like what happened with Rex. He’s in the hospital, man. You watch your back.”
His words echoed in my ears as he walked back towards his gang. Watch your back. For some reason, I felt more chilled than I should have. Warnings were always ominous. But showing up on our property just to remind us?
Something bad was about to go down.
Chapter Four
Caroline
I spent the whole weekend trying to think of a plan. Anything. Something. Even though I knew it was a long shot, I figured that some good old-fashioned brainstorming could help me evade Lucas and whatever sleazy proposition he had for me. But that was about as far as it got. I didn’t have the guts to call Elizabeth, not even to ask if she had a job for me. Elizabeth was a real estate agent. She hadn’t gone to college either, but unlike me, she actually had something to show for her years of hard work. The best thing she could have done was told me about some temp gig in her office, and I didn’t want that charity. I couldn’t stand to hear the pity in her voice.
By Monday morning, I knew that Lucas was my last chance. I hadn’t been able to scrape together any other support. Even combing through the back pages of the paper hadn’t done anything. A few years ago, I saw gigs for amateur strippers. Now there was nothing. Even though the whole thing was sordid, it still had to be better than dealing with Lu
cas.
I took my time getting ready and wore looser, straight-leg jeans with a baggy sweater. I put makeup on—I didn’t want to look sloppy, but I didn’t want to look appealing either. The park where he’d wanted me to meet him was on the other side of town. When I got into my car and started it up, I had a panicky moment where the engine wouldn’t turn over. Just as I started feeling like I was going to cry, it finally jumped to life. Thank god, I thought. The last thing I needed was for my car to go, too.
Lucas’s white pickup truck was parked on the edge of the parking lot. I looked around nervously; it was a nice fall morning, but meeting him here seemed so seedy. The air smelled fresh, but when I got closer to his car, the reek of cigarettes was pervasive.
Lucas grinned when he saw me. “Hey, baby,” he said in a teasing voice, and I fought the urge to shudder. “You wanna hop in and go for a ride?”
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s talk over there,” I said, pointing to a gazebo. It was in plain view of the street, and I didn’t want to be in his car. Even though he’d promised it wouldn’t be anything weird, I still didn’t trust him.
Lucas frowned. “You’re a tough sell, baby,” he commented.
I started walking through the grass when I caught sight of him fussing with a cigar and a lighter in the wind. Men. Were they all so goddamn self-absorbed?
“So what’s the job?” I asked warily.
Lucas leaned in so close that I could smell his nasty cologne. “Helping me out,” he said, grinning and pointing at his chest. “You’re gonna be real good at it baby, I just know it.”
I grimaced. “Lucas, can you stop calling me that? Please. It’s gross.”
Lucas threw his head back and laughed. My feeling of uneasiness doubled, and I felt my stomach twist into a tighter knot than before. “Whatever, baby,” he said finally, tossing his hand in the air. “Shit, you women go through women’s lib and think y’all own us,” he said teasingly. “You wouldn’t wanna act like that, now would you?”
“Just get to the point,” I hissed.
Lucas let out a loud guffaw. “Why, baby? You got somewhere to be?”
We both knew that I didn’t. A blush rose over my cheeks and neck as he leaned in and gave me a more thorough looking-over. “What?”
Lucas folded his hands over his chest. “You’re gonna be helping me,” he repeated. “Don’t you wanna help me, baby?”
I sighed. “Yes, Lucas. I want to help you.”
He smiled. “Good. That’s the first agreeable thing you’ve said, Caroline.”
The way he said my name made me want to shudder. “This is a little research project,” Lucas continued. “You think you can handle that?”
I frowned. Research didn’t sound so bad, but I had a feeling there was a catch. “What?” I looked up at him. “What do I have to do?”
“I’m gonna give you a little list of things, and you’re gonna scout for me.” He handed me a sheaf of paper; the cover page had a large coffee stain on it. “You’re gonna go through this little guide here and then tell me where all of the items are in the store.” He grinned at me. “It’ll be like a little scavenger hunt,” he added. “You think you can handle that?”
I nodded again. “Yeah,” I said after a beat. “That’s not so bad. What else?” A bad feeling was forming in the pit of my stomach. I knew that what I’d be doing would be counted as abetting a crime. But I didn’t have any other choice; I had to do it.
“Tell me some other things, you know, tell me anything that a little birdy might like to hear. Find out where the back room is. Tell me what the employees look like. Tell me how many of them there are.”
I nodded. Each task sounded worse than the previous ones, but I went along numbly. “What are you going to give me?” I asked finally. I winced as I said it and Lucas grinned; by finally acknowledging it out loud, I knew that he had me. Hook, line, and sinker.
“I’ll give you five thousand,” Lucas said quietly. “Seven if you do a really good job, you got that?”
I blinked. “Wow,” I said uneasily. “Are you sure? That’s a lot of money.” In my head, I tried to calculate how long I could go to jail for something like this. Years, probably. I shuddered. It seemed pointless to do it if I’d get caught. But if I didn’t do it, and I lost my apartment…
“I’m sure, baby,” Lucas said, his lascivious grin back in place. “Besides, maybe you can use some of that money to buy back some pictures from me.”
My mouth went dry. “What?”
Lucas pulled a second envelope out of his pocket. He opened it and pulled out some snapshots, keeping the pictures facing him. I could only see the Kodak paper on the back. He looked at me coyly. “Wanna see?”
My heart was thudding but I nodded. “Not really,” I said quietly. “But show me anyway.”
Lucas did a little twirl and presented me with the photos. I gasped and covered my eyes with my hands. They were all of me, of course, stark naked. I knew them immediately. I’d posed for an amateur photographer when I was first getting desperate about acting. The post had lied; I thought I was going to the set of a B-movie, but really it was just some creep’s house. He’d paid me five hundred dollars to sprawl around on his furniture naked. There hadn’t been enough showers in the world that could have cleansed me of the feeling of knowing I’d lain naked where unimaginable things happened. The worst of the photos showed me masturbating. With Lucas holding them in front of me, I felt myself start to shake and cry. The humiliation of confrontation was even worse than the memory of having them taken.
“Don’t cry, baby,” Lucas said. He patted me on the shoulder and I pushed his hand away quickly. “I’d say these are only worth a grand or two. Use some of that money you get from me to take charge of them, eh?”
I groaned and stared at him. “You’re a sick fuck,” I said finally. “You’re making me help you, and then blackmailing me for money?”
Lucas grinned. “All in a day’s work, baby,” he said cheerfully as he stuffed the pictures back in the envelope.
My heart thudded in my chest and I stared at him. For a moment, he just seemed like a guy trying to make a buck. He didn’t seem creepy, or even that weird. But he seemed dastardly, and I hated him, and I knew that I owed him a lot in return.
“I’ll do it,” I said finally. “But I want the pictures back. Now.”
Lucas shook his head. “No good, baby,” he said. “They’re gonna be posted online unless you deliver. That’s part of the incentive.”
Every remotely nice thing that I’d thought about him the moment before suddenly left my brain. I glared. “I hate you,” I spat. “You knew I’d have to say yes, even if I had another choice.” The despair radiating through my body was a new personal low. I had to realize that even if I had come up with another option over the weekend, the naked pictures would have forced me right where Lucas wanted me. Angrily, I blinked back tears.
“Don’t take it personally, baby. Trust me, this ain’t nothin’ new. I just need some help here.”
“I said I’d do it and I will.But this is the last time that you’ll bother me. After you give me those pictures back, they’re mine. And you’re on your own.”
Lucas rolled his eyes. “You need me, baby,” he said in a low voice. “Remember that. You need me.”
His words haunted me as I walked back to my car. I hated to admit it, but he was more right than he knew.
Chapter Five
Carson
Music was blaring from the bar as I walked up, shoving my hands in my pockets and looking around. Even after a careful search, I didn’t see her anywhere.
“Yo, you lookin’ for someone?” Tommy had to practically shout in my ear to be heard over the music.
I thought about telling him for a moment, then shook my head. For some reason, I thought it was a better idea to stay quiet.
“Diane!” I called. “I haven’t seen her and I want a fuckin’ drink!”
Tommy laughed and clapped me on the back. “A
ll in good time, brother,” he told me. “We have a pitcher. Come over.” He pointed towards the corner of the back where I saw Steel sitting at a table. I nodded
“Be there in a sec,” I told him. “I’m getting a shot first.”
Tommy let out a burst of laughter, then sauntered back to the table and slid down. I could tell that he was pleasantly drunk; no surprise, but I would have liked to have caught up. After the day I’d had, it only seemed fair.
When I told the other guys about the Aztecs, no one took it seriously. Even Josh, our president, gave me a sidelong glance. “They just wanna scare you,” he told me, cuffing me lightly on the shoulder. “They just wanna think they’re in charge.”
I hadn’t fought back; going against the prez wasn’t something that most of us did lightly. But I wondered if Tommy had any answers. After all, Josh was his father.