NOMADS The Box Set

by Erin Trejo

  “Fuck it. I’m in,” I say as I swallow another long pull. Why the hell not?

  “Yeah? Pick two guys to roll with you. I’ll set up the payment to your account and you can shell that shit out.”

  I nod my head as Riley stands from his seat. He heads toward the offices while I scan the room. No one here sparks my interest so I slide my phone out and call Brick up. Brick is with an MC here in Georgia that I’m in good with.

  “The fuck you want?” he answers with a chuckle.

  “Not your dick princess so calm the fuck down. I got a job. You want in?”

  I listen to him rustling around as he’s no doubt shoving some whore out of him room before there’s only silence on his end.

  “What kind of job?” he asks when he comes back on the line.

  “The kind we don’t know shit about. Guardin’ some bitch, but we don’t know who we’re guardin’ her from.”

  Brick chuckles on the other end.

  “Let me check with Prez, but I don’t see any issues.”

  “Bring Davis too. It’s a three-man deal. None of these fucks around here are worth a damn and all of my boys are out in Cali right now,” I inform him.

  “Heard that. I’ll get back with you in a bit.”

  “Make it happen brother.”

  I hand up the phone and slide it back into my pocket before I grab the pack of cigarettes off of the table and light one up.

  “Are you sticking around this time Keaton?” I hear Beverly purr from behind me.

  I glance over my shoulder at her and she grins at me.

  “Nope. I’ve got a job. I thought you were headin’ out to Texas?”

  I motion for her to come around and sit with me. She does so without hesitation. Beverly is a club whore just like the rest that hang out around here. She’s been here a long time. I think since she was around fifteen. I’ve always treated her like a sister even though I know that she’s always wanted more. She drops down onto the couch next to me with a tiny shirt on that shows way too much skin for me.

  “I was, but Brandon took off. That fucker was my ride,” she huffs as she crosses her arms over her chest.

  “You never told me what you were headin’ out there for,” I press her just a little bit.

  She shrugs her shoulder and leans over to lay her head on my chest.

  “I heard that my real dad lived out there somewhere. I was thinking about looking for him.”

  I know that is something that has been hard on her. Not having a clue who her real dad is. It’s probably why she hangs out here looking for love from all the wrong people.

  “You know that I would take you, but I’ve got a job babe. If you’re still around when it’s over I’ve got you, but if you head out before then I want phone calls. At least fucking text me so that I know you’re not dead,” I tell her.

  Beverly laughs and tilts her head to look up at me. I do the same and look down at her.

  “You’re always so nice to me Keaton.”

  “You’re my sister. I have to be.”

  She rolls her eyes like I knew she would, but that’s just how I feel about her. She’s grown on me that’s for sure.

  My cell rings and I slide it out to answer as Beverly tries to climb off of the couch. I grab her wrist and yank her back down into my side before I answer.

  “You in?”

  “Yeah. Davis and I are on our way over to you.”

  The line goes dead as I sigh and wrap my arms around Beverly’s shoulder.

  “You gotta go?” she asks softly.

  “Yeah. Duty calls sweetheart. You’ve got my number though. Don’t fuckin’ hesitate like you did last time,” I warn her.

  Last time she got into some shit with one of the guys and she almost lost her life. Had she called me when shit went down, I would have had it handled, but she didn’t.

  “I know dad. I will,” she mouths off.

  I turn my head and press a kiss to the top of her head. This girl will be the death of me one of these days.

  52

  Skye

  “You know what Denver? If I’d wanted her hand anywhere near my ass, I would have put it there myself. Since I didn’t this is the nicest I’m going to ask you,” I roar through the diner with his hand bent uncomfortably behind his back.

  You don’t grow up in hell and hot learn how to fight. Denver howls in pain as the rest of the customers laugh in his face.

  “You’re gonna break his arm if you keep it like that Skye,” Bill hollers through the window behind me.

  I smirk at him over my shoulder as I walk Denver toward the door. I’m not a small, petite little girl like some. I’m five foot eight and quite capable of handling myself as I seem to prove weekly to Denver.

  “He’s like that too much Billy. Wouldn’t you Denver?”

  I shove him out the door as the others scream and cheer, but I just shake my head and go back to the counter.

  “He’s gonna have you arrested one of these days, sweet cheeks,” Billy says as he grins at me through the window through the kitchen.

  Billy owns Maggie’s Diner and he knows damn good and well that I am not going to jail over Denver. This is a small town in Georgia that I came across years ago. Running is hard. Finding somewhere that no one knows you or even bats an eye in your direction is even harder. This is it. Maggie’s Diner is my place. I came in here broke with not a dime to my name when Billy took pity on me. He offered me a job and an apartment close by. I’ve been here ever since. I love it.

  My past is just that. It’s my past. It’s behind me and I can only pray that it stays there. I’m not naïve enough to believe that my dad couldn’t find me if he really wanted to. He has both the power and the resources to do just that, but my brother make it damn clear that the day I left that he’d better just let me go.

  So far, so good.

  “Come on Billy. If he wanted me in jail he wouldn’t keep coming back here. You know that.”

  I grab the coffee and head around the counter filling everyone up with their last cup before we close up for the night. I go about my routine putting things away and wiping counters down as the evening wears on. People slowly filter out one by one until there’s only Ruby and myself left.

  “Ruby I can close up if you want to get ready and head out,” I tell her.

  Ruby is another waitress here and not much different than myself. She likes to keep her past behind her just as much as I do. We’re good friends now, but we both know our boundaries when it comes to the other. We have a don’t ask, don’t tell relationship and it works great for us.

  “You already know that since you offered I’m out of here Skye,” she giggles as she throws her rag at me. I shake my head and watch her as she bounds for the door. She stops and calls over her shoulder, “Don’t you dare be late to Duke’s. I plan on drinking until I throw the fuck up and fuck whoever the lucky bastard is that catches me.”

  I laugh as I watch her leave. I know she will do exactly what she just said she would. I turn around and start putting away the rest of the glasses when the bell chimes.

  “We’re closed,” I call out over my shoulder.

  I don’t turn around because typically the assholes just leave in a huff when they hear me yell at them. I stand up and spin around to face a man in a mask. My heart starts beating wildly in my chest.

  “Open the register,” he says in a deep voice.

  “There’s nothing in it,” I reply.

  “Do it.”

  I’m shaking my head slowly. I can hear someone pulling into the parking lot. The diner is off of the main road and back in the tree line so that you can hear when people come and go. My stomach cramps when the man in front of me lifts a gun towards my head.

  No, they can’t be here. They wouldn’t send someone would they?

  “I said open the register,” he growls out again.

  I shake my head again. Just as I’m about to tell him that it’s empty again the butt of his gun slams into the side
of my head. Pain burns through me as I fall to the floor in a dizzy heap. I can hear footsteps and I pray that the asshole left the way he came in. That fucking bastard.

  I lay in a heap on the floor with my head down. I’m trying to make the room stop spinning. I can’t believe this even happened. What kind of bastard does he think he is? I hear the bell on the door again, but I don’t dare move or the world might toss my ass back to the floor. I hear someone walking and then stop right behind me. I still.

  “Oh for fucks sake. They got me guardin’ a dead bitch,” the voice says not sounding happy at all.

  “I’m not dead you asshole. I’m just dizzy as fuck,” I moan and roll over.

  I start to shove myself up using the counter to steady myself. When I am finally able to stand the room starts spinning just like I knew it would. I feel barf dancing up the back of my throat.

  “You look like shit. You’re bleedin’ too,” the asshole states the obvious.

  “Well, when some dick hits you with a gun that tends to happen,” I smart off right back at him.

  “You got robbed?” he asks not bothering to help me stand up or anything.

  Where did this loser come from?

  “He tried to.”

  “Guess you need to tell your story to the Sheriff,” he says.

  “I can’t talk to the Sheriff. He doesn’t like me,” I tell him.

  I can hear the chuckle coming from him but when I look up at his face it’s just a haze as it spins past me.

  “I guess that wouldn’t be good then since he’s walkin’ this way,” he says nodding toward the door.

  I don’t need this shit today.

  I force myself to stand a little taller, move my long hair over to cover the blood that I can still feel trickling down my temple, and plaster a smile on my face. The door chimes and the Sheriff walks in looking like he wants to shoot me on the spot.

  “Oh it’s you. I thought Ruby might still be here,” he says while looking me over.

  “Nope. It’s just me. How unfortunate for you. You wasted all of that time that you could have been spending over at Donny’s Donuts to drive all the way over here,” I tell him with a smile.

  The man next to me chuckles under his breath. Sheriff Douglas cuts his eyes to him and then back to me.

  “I’m watching you girl.”

  “Aren’t you always? I think it’s a little out of your league to watch me shower, but I can still feel those beady, little eyes of yours through the window,” I can’t resist fucking with him just a little more.

  It’s not that I actually hate him, I just don’t like him very much. I don’t know what it is about him that pushes my buttons, but from the day I met him I just can’t seem to stop myself from harassing him.

  “You know damn good and well that I do not watch you shower Skye.”

  Oh lookie. That vein in his forehead just popped out a little more. I love it when he yells at me.

  “Ruby went home to get changed. We’re going to Duke’s which I’m sure you already know since you stalk the fuck out of people. Don’t you have parking tickets to write or something?” I ask as I grab my rag and pretend to be busy.

  Douglas huffs, turns, and stomps back to the door as I toss the rag back onto the counter. I grab my purse from under the counter, head to the door, and shove this man with me.

  “We’re closed. I shouldn’t have to say this again. You can go now.”

  He stops moving and stands in front of me. He isn’t a huge man. He’s maybe five ten, five eleven, but I can feel the hardness under his shirt, so he must work out a lot. I didn’t notice the cut he has on until just now. Bikers don’t bother me. A few come through here all the time and have lunch. They seem polite enough.

  “Skye,” he says my name as he shakes his head.

  “Keaton,” I reply as I read the patch on his cut and stare back at him.

  “You’re my goddamn job?”

  “I’m no one’s job. Whatever it is you’re offering I’m not buying. Now get the hell out of here before I have to call Sheriff Half-Wit back in here.”

  He smirks at me but doesn’t budge. Well then. Fuck him too. I start to move around him, but he takes one step with that smile still plastered to his pretty face while he just glares at me.

  “Looks like we’re goin’ to Duke’s,” he says with a raised eyebrow.

  “Who are you exactly?”

  “Keaton. I’m your new bodyguard and I must say that I think I’m gonna have fun guardin’ that.”

  I take a step back and wonder what the hell he’s talking about, but I don’t ask. Instead I just look him up and down. Dust covered boots, jeans hanging off of his hips, chain from one side, and up to his pretty face. He can do whatever he wants with my body.

  “You’re going to guard me?” I ask as I step into his space.

  “That’s what I was hired to do,” he replies casually.

  I lift my hand up and run it down his solid chest that I just knew was hiding under that shirt as he just watches me.

  “You can do whatever you want with my body.”

  “Is that right?” he asks as he captures my wrist in his hand.

  “Oh yeah. After I’m dead,” I snap and yank my hand way from him and walk past him.

  I hear him let out a chuckle and mumble, “We can arrange that.”

  53

  Keaton

  She stomps down the side of the road as I push my bike with my feet. I don’t know how long we’ve been doing this, but it’s really getting on my nerves now.

  “Just get the fuck on the bike,” I roar yet again.

  Skye turns to look at me over her shoulder and sticks her tongue out at me just as she’s done for the last two miles. I’m starting to debate taking this goddamn job if this is what I have to look forward to.

  “How much further is your place?” I ask hoping like hell she’ll actually answer me this time.

  “Not much further,” she huffs and keeps walking.

  I roll the bike along beside her not giving a shit if she likes it or not. I can tell that she’s aggravated just as much as I am. Guess that makes two of us then.

  We keep going until she turns toward an apartment building. I thank fuck too because this shit is getting out of hand quickly. I park my bike, climb off, and leave my helmet hanging on the handlebars where it’s been for the last hour. I stalk along behind her. She stops at number three and pulls out her keys.

  “Why are you following me around anyways? Do I really need to call the Sheriff?” she snaps at me as she turns to face me fully now.

  “I have orders to guard your ass. My boys will be here soon too. From our orders there will be three of us.”

  I cross my arms over my chest as she glares at me with her little brows furrowed in confusion. I can’t say that I don’t understand it because I do.

  “What exactly are you guarding me against? Alien attack? Zombie apocalypse?”

  I watch her crack the slightest smile with those perfect lips. Fuck me.

  “I honestly don’t know who or what I’m protecting you against. I wasn’t privy to that information. I thought you might know,” I tell her honestly.

  She watches me intently for a long minute before she shakes her head.

  “I have no idea and I don’t need a babysitter so you can just go back to wherever it is that you came from,” she smarts off before turning back to the door and opening it.

  I watch her step inside and start to close the door when I stick my boot inside. She huffs and kicks at my boot trying to unwedge it from her door before she finally gives up. She looks up at me and bats those pretty lashes of hers like that’s going to help her out at all.

  “I don’t know where you got those instructions, but I promise you that there is absolutely no one in this world that would want to harm me. You can leave now,” her sweet tone does nothing for me.

  I have my orders. I’m going with that.

  “Well, here’s the problem. I have orders and
my boys are already on their way here. You can either play nicely or we can get rough. Either way I’m okay with that. I’m getting’ paid to watch your little ass, and I plan on doing just that,” I tell her as she eyes me.

  “I don’t know you.”

  “I’m Keaton. We’ve already established that.”

  “Keaton who?”

  “Keaton the goddamn Nomad biker. This isn’t fifty fuckin’ questions darlin’. You’re fuckin’ stuck with us until we hear otherwise. Yeah?”

  She stands there not saying a word. It’s an intense struggle that’s happening between us, but I’m not on the losing end of it. When she finally speaks I almost choke.

  “You can fuck yourself.”

  I push the door open, step inside, and force her to take a step back. Her eyes widen as she watches me take in her apartment. Neither of us are ready to back down. Sadly, for her, I won’t be the first.

  “How do you even know I’m the person you’re supposed to be watching?” she asks still keeping her closed off stance.

  “Skye Cameron. Approximately five foot either, with dark hair and nearly back, deep brown eyes. Lives in Shitfuck, Georgia, and works at Maggie’s Diner. How many other Skye’s live in this shithole?” I ask her.

  Her mouth gapes open before her eyes narrow.

  “Don’t feel like you need to stay in shitfuck, asshole. No one asked you to be here. I know I sure as hell didn’t.”

  She flips her long, dark hair over her shoulder and stomps toward the back of the apartment as I check it out. I want to make a mental map of the layout of the place.

  I wander around and check things out as I hear Skye humming to herself. I wonder if she’s a loner like me. I don’t see any family photos or anything even remotely pointing to her having anyone living with her.

  There is one window in the living room. The living room leads to the kitchen. There’s a small nook for eating. There is only one hallway and as soon as I make it to the bedroom door I stop in my tracks. My eyes widen and my cock hardens in my jeans. Skye is standing with her back to the door in nothing but a thong and her bra. Her plump ass looks to be about a handful and I’d like to find that out for a fact.