Sketch: The Devil's Highwaymen Nomads #2

by Claire C. Riley

  “There’s no side to take, Tyler,” she bit out, sounding like the little firecracker I’d seen in the bar the other night. “You really think you can take that on?” She pointed to me, gesturing up and down my body. “I’m trying to stop you from getting yourself killed!”

  Tyler scowled even more, his mouth puckering as he tried to contain his words. Made his mouth look like an asshole when he did, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. He snapped his head toward me and I laughed even louder. He really was a little pissant, and he was going to get himself shot in the fuckin’ face if he kept on looking at me like that.

  “What the fuck are you laughing at?” he bit out, his puckered mouth going even tighter.

  I clutched my sides and laughed again. “You. Your mouth looks like an asshole when you’re angry.” I let my laughter die off as Tyler’s cheeks flushed red and he dropped the butthole look. “And she’s right, I’ll kill you if you look at me like that again. Now get the fuck out of here while you can.”

  I’d stopped laughing now, every bit of deadly intention written across my face. He pushed away from the table and then leaned over Nancy in a way that neither I nor her girlfriend liked. At least we agreed on one thing: this loser was going to meet a very sticky end if he didn’t back the fuck off.

  “I’ll see you later, Nancy,” he said, and kissed her on the cheek, an action which made both me and Nancy’s girlfriend scowl. And then he left, throwing me a bitter look as he walked out of the coffee shop.

  One down, one more to go.

  “That guy needs to get laid more,” I said as awkward silence fell over the table.

  “Agreed,” her girlfriend said, and Nancy looked over at her. “Well, he does. I hate the way he hangs around us all the time. And he’s creepy as hell the way he stares at you.”

  “Tammy, don’t do that. You know how it is with Tyler.” Nancy rolled her eyes and shook her head. “We’re old school friends, that’s all. He knows that.”

  “Not sure he does,” I said, drawing her attention back to me, “but whatever. So that tattoo, you gonna let me do it?” I asked, interrupting them.

  Nancy jerked her head to me. “What?”

  “The lotus and the skull. I wanna ink your skin. I’m good. Better than Skull. You won’t regret it. And once I’ve branded you, you won’t want anyone else to touch you ever again.” I smirked, and Nancy let out an almost imperceptible needy breath, and fuck me, I loved that sound coming from her. Wanted to hear more of it. My cock twitched to life in agreement.

  “She’s fine,” Tammy said, speaking for Nancy. “Any tattoo she wants, Skull can do for her. Or she can do it herself.”

  I moved my gaze slowly from Nancy to Tammy. “I know she’s fine, bitch. I’m looking right at her.” Didn’t like this cunt one bit. There was no smooth talking my way into those panties, and there was no way to really scare her without scaring Nancy either.

  “Don’t speak to me like that!” Tammy gritted out.

  I ignored Tammy and focused on Nancy. “You tattoo?” I asked, though I already knew she did.

  She gave me a confident smile and nodded. “I do. What?” She rolled her eyes. “You never met a female tattoo artist before?” And there she was again, sassing and back-talking like I wasn’t someone to be feared. Loved that feistiness in her. Made me want to try and fuck it out of her.

  “Sure, I’ve met some female tattooists before. None as talented as you.”

  She narrowed her gaze at me, ignoring the glare from her girlfriend. “Talented? You literally just asked if I could tattoo and you’ve never even seen my work.”

  “If you tattoo half as good as you draw, I think it’s a safe bet that you’re talented,” I drolled, and she blushed and snorted out a “whatever.”

  Flattery will get a man motherfucking anywhere.

  “I’m serious. That drawing was really good. How about I do you and you do me sometime then?” I winked at her, hoping she’d get my double meaning.

  Tammy looked between me and Nancy, looking more and more pissed off by the minute. She couldn’t compete with me when it came to tattoos, and she knew it.

  “Can we go?” Tammy asked, turning to Nancy. “We don’t want to keep your friend from whatever criminal thing he was up to before interrupting us.” She emphasized the word criminal and I chuckled. “Come on, let’s go. You still have thirty minutes left of your lunch. Let’s go back to your place.” Tammy looked back at me and smiled.

  Bitch was playing dirty.

  Good thing dirty was the only way I liked to play.

  Tammy placed her hand on Nancy’s thigh, moving it up higher and higher as she leaned in and whispered into her ear. “Let me make your day a little better and forget about this jerk.” Her hand flexed, squeezing Nancy’s thigh, and my chest rumbled, half turned on by watching this show and the other half pissed off that someone else was laying a hand on my woman.

  Fuck. There I went again talking like I wanted anything from Nancy but a quick fuck.

  Nancy, though, she actually looked annoyed and not turned on. In fact, she looked fuckin’ furious as her gaze shot between me and Tammy. Liked that look as much as any other, though. She suddenly pushed back from the table, picked up her purse that was dangling on the back of her chair, and glowered between us both. I dropped my act, genuinely surprised at her taking such offense. Most women would love two people fighting over her, but not Nancy. This woman was intriguing me more and more every time I met her.

  “I don’t know what you two are playing at, but you can go compare dick sizes when I’m not here,” she snapped. And then she turned and walked away from us, sashaying those little hips of hers and mesmerizing both me and Tammy with every swing of that tight little ass.

  Well damn…

  She slammed the door after her and the barista threw a nervous glance over to our table before busying herself with another customer. Clearly I was bad for business.

  I looked back at Tammy and found her staring daggers at me.

  “Seems we have a problem,” I said, addressing the obvious dick swinging in the room.

  “Oh, there’s no problem,” Tammy replied, standing up. She placed both hands on the table and leaned toward me. Bitch had balls of steel. She’d be perfect for Nancy if she weren’t in my way. “Nancy and I are leaving this shithole town at the end of the week and heading back to our life in the city. You and all of this bullshit…” She waved a hand toward me and I leaned back in my chair like I was bored out of my mind and didn’t give a shit what she had to say, but I did. She had my full attention at the talk of Nancy leaving. “…you’re nothing but a blip on her radar. You think you’re the only man that’s tried to catch her attention? Well you’re not. It’s like men like you can’t get it through your thick skulls that the thing dangling between your legs isn’t what every woman wants.”

  I stood up, slamming my hands on the table loud enough to draw attention, but Tammy didn’t back off.

  “You don’t scare me,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me.

  “I should,” I growled. “I’m very fucking dangerous.”

  “Well you don’t. Nancy is with me, so go swing your little peanut dick somewhere else. There’s plenty of women in this town that would spread their legs for you—there’s no reason for you to chase someone so unattainable. Get it through your dumb biker brain that she’s not interested!” Tammy turned and started to walk away, but I stood up and followed her.

  She stepped outside and put on a pair of sunglasses, but as she turned to walk away I grabbed her and pushed her up against the wall, and she sucked in a sharp breath. I saw my own reflection staring back at me and I didn’t like it one bit. I let her go but she stayed put, her chin raised in defiance of me.

  “I told you, I’m not scared of you.”

  “And I told you, you should be. Let’s get a couple of things clear, Tammy. Firstly, my cock ain’t no peanut, but if you want to tell yourself that so you don’t lust after it, that’s f
ine by me. Secondly, Nancy isn’t unattainable, she’s just eating pussy for a while. Can’t say I blame her—I like eating pussy too. But unlike you, for her it’s a choice. You and your pussy are just a distraction while she decides what she wants. And you know it too, otherwise you wouldn’t be so worried about me taking her from you.”

  She scoffed. “That’s what all men say. You’re so full of arrogant bullshit. Just accept it: you’re not what she wants. You don’t have the right equipment for this job.”

  I laughed and shook my head. This bitch just wasn’t getting it at all. “Thirdly…” I leaned in and loved that I made her body shiver with fear as I got too close. Made me an even bigger asshole than I was because my cock tingled at the sight of her fear. “Nancy’s not going anywhere with you. In fact, she’s not going anywhere but into my bed, so I’d stop thinking about leaving if I were you.”

  I stepped back and gave her a smile that made most men run for their fucking lives.

  Tammy swallowed and shook her head. “She’s with me.”

  “Not for long.”

  She looked uncertain now, and I bet that behind those glasses her eyes were brimming with tears. I leaned in again, invading her body space and placing one arm on the wall as I ran my nose along her jawline.

  “I tell you what I’ll do for you.” I grinned again, a plan coming together on how I could get rid of this bitch once and for all. Wouldn’t be the right thing to do, not at all. But I never said I was a good man who did the right thing. “I’ll share her with you.”

  Tammy sucked in a breath. “Are you insane? We’re lesbians! We don’t even like men! Especially not sexist, arrogant men like you!”

  I shook my head and laughed. “Now, we both know that ain’t true. Nancy ain’t bought into the whole lifestyle yet, has she? She’s still on the fence, swinging both ways and dipping her toe into both pools. All I’m suggesting is that if you want to keep her, you share her with me. Let her have the best of both worlds.”

  For once Tammy was shocked into silence, and I smiled and took a step away before looking back.

  “It’s either that or I take her from you. And I think we both know by now that I could.”

  I wasn’t completely sure on that, but by the way Tammy gritted her teeth and looked away from me, I was guessing that I’d definitely touched on some truth. Good, I thought darkly.

  “I love her,” she said, tears in her eyes.

  I should have felt bad about doing this—breaking up their happy little life—but I didn’t. Not even a little bit. I’d never known greed like the greed I felt for Nancy. I wanted her, all of her, and be damned the consequences. If I hurt someone, so fucking what? As long as I got exactly what I wanted, which was my cock buried deep in Nancy’s sweet pussy, that was all that mattered.

  “And I’ll share her,” I replied coldly. “Share her or lose her, I’ll let you choose.”

  I took Tammy’s shocked silence as my cue to leave. I gave her a wink before turning and sauntering off toward my bike.

  Tammy was dumb as a box of rocks if she thought I was actually serious about sharing Nancy with her or anybody.

  She was going to be mine.

  All mine.

  At least until I’d fucked her out of my system.

  And I sure as shit wasn’t sharing her with anyone. Man or woman.

  ~ 10 ~

  “You believe him?” Vin asked, his tone implying that Skull would be stupid enough to lie to me or the club.

  “No reason for him to lie to me.” I shrugged, leaning back in my chair. “Besides, it’s Skull.” I shrugged again, because that was a good enough explanation as any. Skull was a good friend of the club, and as far as I could tell, he had no reason to turn against us.

  I was sitting in church, JP and Buddy had finally gotten back from Georgia, and Vin had called a meeting to bring everyone up to speed. Apparently shit down in Georgia was worse than expected, but that was on the back burner for now as we tried to figure out our own club problems.

  I’d followed a couple of leads through the day, but they’d all turned up as dead ends. The only thing we had to go on was what Skull had told us. And that wasn’t much.

  “Should I put the word out for him?” Semi asked.

  “Definitely. I don’t like this silence from him. He’s the fuckin’ VP and it don’t look good if we can’t even keep track of our own men, but ain’t got no choice anymore.” Vin had gone from being worried to pissed off and back to worried with a side order of pissed off. It was a hearty meal. “At least we’re radio silent now.”

  Crank nodded. “Yeah, took ATF all of an hour to realize something weren’t right and shut it down. Still need to find how they tapped into us though, and to find the actual bug.” Crank drummed his fingers on the table, clearly pissed off. “I’m fucking working on it though,” he added, before Vin could tell him to keep fucking working on it.

  “Hardy have anything to say for himself?” I asked, looking to JP and Buddy.

  Buddy leaned forward on the table, his tattooed arms flexing as he did. He looked across at Vin, who nodded. “Something’s not sitting right with me about him. Can’t put my finger on it, but I’m not buying what he’s selling.”

  “And what’s he selling?” Crank asked with a scowl.

  Crank had never really liked Hardy, though a few years back he’d helped him into the club and into his first club fight. He owed him a lot, but just like Buddy, something had never felt right about the man. Can’t say I blamed him. For me it had been one of my first run-ins with the national president that had left a bad taste in my mouth, a simple misunderstanding that had blown up and landed a man in the ground and Hardy gloating over the body while his young sons and old lady stood and watched. That wouldn’t have been as bad, but it was the lesson he told his sons and wife he was teaching them afterwards that really made me dislike the man. He killed a man and used it as a backhanded threat to his own family.

  I’d never felt right about the guy after that.

  Not that I’d never killed a man. Because I had, many times. But there was always justification. Hardy was more of a “shoot first, ask questions later” type. And that didn’t stick with me. When it was life and death on the line—especially your brothers’ lives—you made sure your facts were right before you started spilling blood.

  Plus, something never seemed right about the way he was with his family. How a man treated his wife and kids was his business, but since Hardy’s kids were my age and had grown up in the club, it was hard not to run into them from time to time.

  They were good men, definitely good for the club, but Hardy clearly didn’t see it that way and knocked them both down at every step he could. I’d done a couple of jobs over the past year with Jesse, the youngest son, and I liked the guy. He was a cocky daredevil motherfucker, and his loyalty to the club was as solid as they came. Hardy, though, fuck, it was obvious that he hated him and I had no idea why. It seemed neither did anyone else either.

  Buddy turned to me and Crank, looking uneasy. I didn’t like the feeling in my gut at what he was going to say next, because something told me things were about to get a whole lot trickier from there on out.

  “They lost a couple of shipments—no big deal though, right?” Buddy said with a shrug. “I mean, it fucking sucks, but in the grand scheme of things it’s a drop in the ocean of everything.”

  “Right,” I agreed.

  “Wrong,” he said, his eyes flaring. “Those lost shipments ended up in ATF hands and then they fuckin’ up and vanished all by themselves.” He scratched a hand across his stubbly chin and shook his head. “How does ATF lose shit like that? They fuckin’ don’t,” he gritted out, implying everything he needed to.

  I leaned back in my chair and looked over at Crank. His jaw was twitching over and over as he ground his back teeth together angrily.

  “Well fuck,” I finally said. “So what’s Hardy doing about it?”

  Buddy let out a bitter laugh. “That’
s the other thing. Our brothers got locked up for one of those missing shipments and are serving hard time for it. Cops came down hard on them to set an example, and what’s Hardy doing, you ask? He’s throwing a motherfuckin’ party and planning the next run.”

  I scowled and thought of everything Vin had done since our own run had gone so wrong. What would he have done if we’d gotten caught? Sure as shit wouldn’t have been partying and planning the next job. The bad feeling in my gut twisted itself round and round. This was worse than I thought.

  “So you see, something stinks,” JP said. “And I’m goin’ to tear that shit right the fuck down.” He looked tired, real damn tired. The kind of tired that had more to do with the mind than with lack of sleep, though there was that too. Dark circles hung heavy under his eyes and he dragged a hand down his face like he was trying to wipe away the tiredness.

  Vin noticed it too and sighed. “All right, you two go get some rest. We need to keep looking for Skate and find out how the tap got into my damn clubhouse. I’ll put out some delicate feelers about Hardy. Gonna have to be careful with that shit though. If he gets wind of it he’ll be the one tearing us down.” He picked up the gavel, ready to slam it down, and JP glared at him.

  “Prez, there’s too much shit going on for me to go sleep. I need to get out there looking for Skate. Figure out this shit with Hardy, clean this place of any wires—”

  “No, you need to sleep because you’ve been riding for almost twenty-four hours straight, and I can’t have you out on the road like that. This club can’t lose any more men right now or we’ll all end up having to patch over to a new club because there won’t be enough of us left. That what you want?” he shouted.

  “No, Prez, but—”

  “But nothin’, JP! I’m not your father, or your goddamned mama, so don’t make me act like a fuckin’ parent. If I wanted to be one I woulda got Lex knocked up a long time ago, but I didn’t. So stop answering me back and go get some goddamned sleep, and when you wake up you can help till your little heart’s content.” Vin slammed the gavel down and stood up. “Now get the fuck out of here because I’m sick of staring at your ugly faces.”