In the Time of the Caveman

by Samantha Leal

  A line of trucks were parked outside, and there were some unfamiliar cars, too, suggesting they were tourists or travelers passing through.

  “Morning,” Jamie grinned as Tammy opened the front door and smiled as wide as she could.

  “Good morning!” she replied.

  “Well, someone is certainly in a much better mood,” Jamie joked.

  Tammy rolled her eyes with a smile as she went behind the counter and reached for her apron. She was starving and knew the chefs would rustle something up for her fast, but she didn’t want to look like she was taking liberties. She got straight to serving as many customers as she could.

  Today is a day for engaging and keeping busy, she thought as she approached her first table with her pencil and notepad ready. And I am not going to feel sorry for myself anymore!

  The next few hours passed quickly in a haze of cooked breakfasts, large pots of coffee, and the sweet smell of maple syrup. When the lunchtime rush had calmed slightly, she finally took a break and let one of the chefs make her a grilled cheese sandwich before she started clearing tables again.

  She kept thinking about how happy Lexi sounded on the phone the night before, and she really was pleased for her. She knew how hard it was to find someone to love. But she also had an unsettled feeling, like something bad was about to happen.

  She made her way over to one of the corner booths and started to stack up the dishes as high as she could. She gathered them into her arms and walked around the back of the counter and into the kitchen. She ditched them on the side and went back out into the main body of the diner, when suddenly the door burst open and the bell rang. For the second time in twenty-four hours, Tammy felt as if their friendly psychic connection had pulled them together. Lexi came rushing into the diner with tears rimming her eyes.

  Lexi sat down at a booth in the corner, shaking and wiping her eyes on the corner of her sleeve. Tammy felt her jaw drop as she quickly ran over to her.

  “Oh my god!” Tammy hissed. “What happened? Did that biker hurt you?”

  “No,” Lexi breathed. “My mother… She’s really done it this time.”

  ***

  The girls had been friends their entire lives, and although Tammy knew that Lexi had problems with her mom, she never could have been prepared for what she was about to tell her… Lexi shook with both anger and disbelief as she told Tammy about how her mother had lied to her for her whole life, convincing her to stay away from the bikers, then admitting that morning that it was because her father was one of the Forsaken Riders who was still alive and possibly in Slate Springs.

  “No way!” Tammy gasped.

  Lexi’s mother had always let everyone think that Lexi’s father had died, and now here she was, telling her that he could be very much alive and could have been living down the road the entire time.

  “She’s kept me away from the bikers out of spite,” Lexi sniffed. “It had nothing to do with her being afraid for me or my safety… She was being selfish and cruel because he broke her heart…”

  Tammy nodded and then sighed.

  “I can’t believe she never told you… God, he could have been here this whole time.”

  Lexi started to cry, and Tammy wrapped her arms around her.

  As Tammy tried to reassure her, she knew that her friend would soon be on a one-woman mission to find out the truth, and she was going to have to help her. Tammy had always tried herself to stay on the right side of the law, and she had never ventured to the other side of town where the bikers lived, played, and hung out at their elusive clubhouse, but now she didn’t see how she could possibly avoid it.

  “Go back to my place and sort yourself out,” Tammy said as she handed her a key to her apartment. “I’ll be done here in the next couple of hours, and I’ll come over to the bar with you for your shift tonight. Let’s talk to King and see if he knows anything.”

  “Thank you so much,” Lexi smiled as she hugged her friend. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  As Lexi left the diner, Tammy let out a huge sigh of relief. The past week had been a crazy one thanks to her friend, and she rubbed her temples.

  “What was that about?” Jamie asked. “Trouble with Marv?”

  Tammy thought back to what Candy had said the night before about one of the bikers going into Red X and threatening the owner… if King had done that for Lexi, God knows what he would do about her mother. Tammy swallowed hard and knew she wasn’t going to be able to work any longer.

  “I’m sorry, Jamie,” she said in a daze as she grabbed her purse and made for the door. “I’ll cover you another day, I’ve just got to get out of here.”

  Jamie looked at her dumbfounded as she crossed the parking lot and jumped into her car.

  “I wished my life had a bit of excitement,” she said to herself as she started the engine.

  She flew down the highway and headed for home. She was going to have a long day ahead of her, calming Lexi down and getting ready to go and help her with the inevitable round of questions. If Lexi’s mother was telling the truth and her father was part of the Forsaken Riders, then he could be there at the bar… she may have even met him without knowing. Lexi and Tammy had been such good friends for as long as she could remember, and she knew that Lexi wouldn’t want any other person with her. Even though she was partly nervous and partly excited at the prospect of setting foot in a biker bar…she also knew she was obligated to do it for her friend.

  She thought back to the previous evening and of how a group of them had thundered past her on the highway. Their mean demeanor and wild ways were so different to anything Tammy had ever known or experienced. She didn’t have a clue how she was going to remain calm being around them. But if Lexi had found something with one of them… then surely they couldn’t be all bad? Lexi had a wild side and had always been the more outgoing of the two girls, but she had a heart of gold and wouldn’t settle for anything or anyone that wasn’t worth it.

  Tammy pulled up on the driveway of her apartment building and raced to the door. As she pushed it open and went inside, she could hear Lexi’s sobs coming from her front room.

  “How could she do it to me?” she cried. “If you can’t trust your own mother, who can you trust?”

  Tammy wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

  “You can trust me,” she said seriously. “And we’ll sort this out, okay?”

  “I need to see King.”

  “And I’m going to come with you,” she said with a flicker of excitement. “Let’s relax now and get ready. We’ll head out when you’re due to start your shift.”

  “Are you sure?” Lexi looked up at her with hope in her eyes.

  “Of course,” she stroked her head with her fingertips. “Even if the idea of going to that side of town does scare me half to death.”

  “We’ll be fine,” Lexi sniffed with a smile.

  Tammy left her for a moment to collect her thoughts and went to her bedroom. She quickly yanked open her closet and rooted through it to uncover the most badass outfit she could find. After having such a sheltered upbringing, she was going to have a hard time finding something even remotely risqué, but she had to give it her best shot.

  Her hands closed around a low-cut black tank top and a tight pair of jeans.

  “These will have to do,” she said to herself as a little smile flickered across her lips. Even though she was worried about Lexi, she knew everything would work out in the end, and her curiosity was reaching a boiling point just thinking about stepping inside The Bleeding Bullet.

  3.

  The more Tammy thought about Lexi’s situation, the more she wanted to remove herself from it, but that was going to be practically impossible now that they were in her car and driving to the other side of town. As the turned down each street and the familiar sights of Slate Springs gave way to ones that Tammy had never seen before, her pulse quickened and her skin prickled with nervous heat.

  She was so curious and
yet so afraid. What if she walked in there and felt like a complete fool? She didn’t want to stand out in a crowd of tattoos and nose piercings with her clean skin and silky blonde hair. She twirled a strand of it around her index finger as she looked out at the road and wondered what would happen if she walked in there and wanted to leave… The last thing she could do was abandon Lexi in her hour of need. She bit her lip with frustration and turned to Lexi and smiled.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Lexi sniffed. “I’ll be even better once I’ve got some answers.”

  They rounded another corner and a wall of flashing blue lights seemed to puncture the darkness ahead of them. Cop cars swarmed the streets and as the women crawled slowly through, the officers shone flashlights in at them.

  “Is it always like this?” Tammy asked with concern.

  “I’ve only been here twice,” Lexi admitted. “Seems pretty normal to me from what I’ve seen…”

  “Great,” Tammy said sarcastically, her nerves reaching new heights.

  She parked the car amongst the cop vans and they both got out and onto the sidewalk. The Bleeding Bullet was standing tall and proud in the night ahead of them, drenched in red strobe lights and lasers, with motorcycles and big burly men covering the front steps. Tammy noted how they seemed to be the only people in a car, and she looked at the other women who were outside, wearing ripped fishnets and leather miniskirts.

  “They look rough,” she whispered to Lexi, but she didn’t seem to hear her.

  Tammy carried on moving, but she was tense. Even though she was desperate to see what was inside the bar, she could feel her nerves overwhelming her.

  Lexi pushed the door open and went inside, and Tammy took hold of her hand as they made their way through the crowd together. The bar was dark and dingy and completely crammed. People swung from the ceilings and danced on tables. Rock music blared from the speakers so hard it vibrated through the floor beneath them and seemed to work its way into Tammy’s throat. The girls who worked there danced on the bar and poured liquor into men’s mouths straight from the bottle.

  “Is this what you do?” Tammy asked Lexi with amazement.

  “One shift down, hopefully many more to go,” she said.

  Tammy’s eyes were wandering everywhere. Men and women were in tangles of lust in every corner of the room and the atmosphere in there was electric. It was like she had stepped into another dimension that oozed sex and sin, and she was right in the center of it all. She didn’t know where to look. She knew she was blushing and her heart was racing. She turned to find Lexi in the crowd and saw her speaking to a girl working behind the bar. The girl pointed over her shoulder, and then Lexi reached for Tammy’s hand and pulled her around the side of the counter and down towards a hallway at the back.

  As they wandered down the dark hallway, Tammy’s nerves were escalating. For a girl like Lexi, being in situations like this might be the norm, but for an innocent girl like her, it was terrifying. She had no idea what any of the people in The Bleeding Bullet were capable of, and she feared she would get caught up in some kind of fight or worse. She stuck to Lexi’s heels as she marched down to the end of the hallway and stopped outside of a large black door. Lexi raised her hand and knocked. They seemed to be standing there forever, until finally the door creaked open and a man came into view and instantly took Tammy’s breath away.

  She wasn’t aware of what he was saying; all she knew was that he was incredible. His shoulders were broad and his eyes were piercing blue. His big, rough hands gripped a cigarette, and as he sucked on it, Tammy suddenly found herself thinking how smoking had never looked sexier. She shook her head quickly and snapped herself back to reality.

  “You after King?” he asked Lexi in a deep, gruff voice before his head turned and his eyes fell on Tammy.

  Tammy felt the heat rise in her cheeks again, and she exhaled to calm herself down. Lexi nodded and the man disappeared back behind the door. Tammy’s palms were sweating as she whispered quickly to Lexi, “Who is he?” but there was barely a second before he appeared at the door again with King by his side.

  Lexi launched herself at King, and he soothed her before taking her off down the hallway. Their voices were hushed and hurried, and Tammy turned back to stare at the man in front of her as he eyed her closely with a smirk on his face.

  “You look so lost,” he said finally, and Tammy didn’t know how to respond. He laughed a little and moved closer to her, making the hairs on her arms stand on end.

  “Maybe I am…” she finally managed to whisper.

  She had no idea what she was doing or what she even wanted from this situation; all she knew was that she suddenly didn’t mind waiting around in the darkened hallway at the back of The Bleeding Bullet anymore.

  “I’m Lynx,” he said confidently as he held his cigarette up to his lips and sucked on it.

  Tammy watched the way the smoke danced up around his nostrils in delicate waves.

  “I’m Tammy,” she said, shyly glancing at the floor.

  “You work in the diner on the highway?” Lynx asked her.

  She looked up, surprised that he would even know anything like that. She nodded.

  “How did you know?” she asked.

  “I’ve seen you around,” he grinned.

  The tension between them was instant and she barely knew where to look or even how to hold her hands. Suddenly her whole body felt like it had been awakened and was out of control. She felt awkward and gawky, like she needed to be doing something with her limbs or she would look uncomfortable.

  Lynx smiled and leaned in closer.

  “Relax,” he hissed and exhaled a plume of smoke down the side of her neck.

  “Sorry,” she blushed. “I just, I…”

  “You’ve never been here before?” he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  Tammy shook her head and smiled sheepishly.

  “I’ve only met Lexi twice, but she seems pretty wild,” he said. “You don’t seem like that to me at all… You’ve got an innocent quality about you.”

  Tammy felt the blood rush into her cheeks, and she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She dug her toe into the ground and twisted it.

  “Maybe I should get going,” she said before she looked down the hallway to find King and Lexi, but they had disappeared.

  “No way,” Lynx said, taking another step towards her. “We don’t get pretty little things like you in here every day.” He winked, and Tammy suddenly didn’t feel so intimidated by him anymore.

  “Well, what’s in it for me if I stay?” Tammy challenged as she popped her hip and looked up at him with a grin. She had never been so brave before and didn’t know where her nerve had come from, but there was something about Lynx that appealed to her wild side, and she was eager to let him coax more out of her.

  “How about I get you something to drink?” he suggested as he pulled the door to the room behind him closed and reached into his pocket for a set of keys to lock it.

  Down the end of the corridor, Lexi and King appeared from a closet and called to them.

  “I’m taking Lex over to the clubhouse,” King said. “Let Sasha know she won’t be on the bar tonight.”

  Lynx nodded and Lexi called down to Tammy, “Will you be okay?”

  Even though she didn’t want her friend to leave her there, there was no way she was going to pass up on the opportunity to have a drink with a good-looking man.

  She smiled and giggled, “I’m sure Lynx will look after me.”

  Lynx looked down at her with a wide smile on his face and hooked an arm around her shoulder.

  “She’ll be safe with me,” he called down to King and Lexi.

  When Lexi and King left, Tammy felt her pulse quicken again. Now she really was alone there, and even though it was the last thing she’d been expecting, she was determined to enjoy it.

  “So,” she smiled shyly at Lynx, “how about that drink?”

>   He wrapped an arm around her waist and led her through the bustling crowd. The men and women who were in The Bleeding Bullet all seemed to have a dark edge, and she moved between them all cautiously, not wanting to make eye contact in case she angered any of them. Tammy had lived such a quiet life, and she had been so innocent and sheltered that stepping into this kind of world was completely alien and nerve-racking.

  Lynx pushed his way through the crowd and pulled Tammy in front of him so she was wedged up against the bar. He slammed his huge hands down on the counter top in front of her, and it was like she was in a cage. He had her pinned there, and although it felt strange to be so dominated by someone she had just met, it also made her feel unbelievably safe. She felt a rush of desire roll through her, and she bit her lip as Lynx leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Tammy… Tammy… Tammy…”

  She couldn’t help but smile. Just hearing him say her name was driving her wild, and she had to squeeze her legs together to stop herself from being overcome with lust.

  “Whiskey?” he whispered. “It’s pretty much the only thing we drink around here.”

  “I’ll trust your judgement,” she replied without turning her head.

  He was sniffing the side of her neck, and she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. She was desperate to turn to look at him properly, but she knew the second they locked eyes, something would change between them. It was such a strange feeling for her to feel so instantly connected to another person. Especially a man. Tammy had spent most of her life avoiding the opposite sex, but it seemed that the second she had opened her heart up to the possibility, she walked into the most unlikely place and met someone like Lynx.

  “So,” he said as he motioned to the girl behind the bar and ordered their drinks, “where have you been hiding? And what made you come down here tonight?”

  She felt herself blushing again and knew she couldn’t avoid his eyes for much longer.

  “I guess I’ve never really had a reason to come over here before,” she whispered.

  “Well, sweetheart,” Lynx said as he took hold of her chin lightly with the tips of his fingers and urged her face up gently to his, “you sure as hell do now.”