Arsen

by Kathryn Thomas

  Greg looked around and most of the people were nodding in agreement, men and women alike.

  “Anyone have any questions?” Quinn asked with a grin. She had them eating out of the palm of her hand.

  There were none. Arsen stood up. “Do we even need to vote this?” he asked. “Does anyone not think we should do this? Don’t forget, we need to increase sales to cover our increased demand for our other product.” Nobody said anything, so he turned to Quinn. “This is your project. Make it happen. Work with Berk to get what we need for the packager.”

  She thought the club would go for it, but it was an easier sales job than she expected. She didn’t even have to use her chart that showed that with the ten percent increase in price, they could absorb a five percent drop in sales and still make more money than they earned now. She grinned then pulled him in for a quick kiss.

  It had been two weeks since they hit the Chrome Horsemen. The Horsemen had ceased to function as a club. The police hadn’t been back, apparently unable to break their alibi, and she had gradually relaxed.

  She’d gotten over her initial shock that the Blades had so ruthlessly killed the Horsemen, and after a few days, had realized that having them wiped out had removed a little of the blackness she still carried inside. Each day she spent happy and productive with the Blades, and each night she spent in Arsen’s arms, chipped away at the dark lump inside of her. She would be a long time forgetting, but each day, the darkness became just a little bit less bleak.

  She’d received her first share payment, and even though it was only half the full amount, it was still more money than she’d ever made in a single month in her life, and she enjoyed the work far more than working in a motel.

  The first thing she did with the money was pay Arsen back for her clothes, despite his protests. As a small thank you for his kindness, she bought him a leather jacket with the Indian Motorcycle logo for times when he didn’t want to wear his colors.

  She continued to live with him, sharing his bed, and by silent agreement, they hadn’t even talked about her moving into her own place. It seemed rather pointless considering she would in his bed, or he would be in hers, every night anyway.

  Now that the threat of the Horsemen was eliminated, she’d returned to Flagstaff and collected a few personal items, her car, and what clothes she wanted, donating the rest of her stuff to the Salvation Army. After the men had removed her old and slightly tatty furniture, she’d turned in the key for her apartment and contacted the police. She’d spun a tale of narrowly escaping the hit by the Horsemen and how she’d been hiding with a friend because she’d been too terrified to come forward until she’d heard someone had eliminated them. She’d spent several hours being grilled by the Flagstaff police, but in the end, they had to release her. She’d broken no laws and claimed ignorance on all matters relating to the drug dealing of the Desert Riders.

  When she returned to Tucson, Arsen made her sell her fifteen-year-old Chevy, claiming he didn’t like the car dripping oil in his driveway, and had given her the keys to his car. She’d priced the car low, and it had sold in three days to a kid for his first car. She’d tried to give Arsen the money, but he refused to take it, and they were still arguing over how she was going to contribute to his living expenses. She was buying their food, but that wasn’t enough in her opinion, and she was still casting about for ways to help with expenses.

  With her old life behind her, and her new one looking so bright she had to wear sunglasses, she could barely contain her enthusiasm for life again, and she shared that excitement with Arsen every night. Not that he seemed to mind. He was all the lover she could ask for, and she enjoyed the erotic games they engaged in nearly every night. She was often the one left gasping for breath and begging, but she out fucked him frequently enough to keep their games interesting, and she looked forward to upping her game to match his. He was a dynamic and imaginative lover, and she was looking forward to exploring her sexuality with him.

  Finished putting away her sample boxes and containers, she joined the rest of the Blades behind the clubhouse where they were cooking steaks over an open fire. She couldn’t believe it, but she was finally adjusting to the stifling Tucson heat. The sun was down and the temperature had dropped into the low nineties, but with the mister fogging the area to cool it, she was surprisingly comfortable.

  “Beer?” Arsen asked as he approach, a pair of sweaty bottles in his hand.

  “Kiss?” she responded, accepting his quick kiss before taking the bottle. “Thanks.”

  He grinned at her. “If you can sell our bath stuff half as well as you can sell your ideas, we may have to expand.”

  “So, let me ask you something. Theoretically, if B3 grows large enough, would you get out of the drug business?”

  He chuckled. “I suppose. Why take the risk? But it has a long way to go before that happens. We make four-thousand percent markup on the drugs. Even with your ten percent increase, we only make something like thirty percent on the bath stuff.”

  “Obviously the bath stuff will never be as profitable as the drugs, but if I can grow B3 so you’re making the same money from the bath stuff as you are making now from the drugs and bath stuff combined, would you give up the molly? The club has plenty of money, now, right?”

  He chuckled again. “I’ll make you this promise. When we hit $750,000 a month in profit from the bath stuff, you come see me and we’ll talk about it, okay?”

  She grinned and took a pull on her beer. She may never be able to get B3 there, but she was going to try like hell. “Deal.”

  “If you like your steak rare, it’s ready!” Zane called from the big open fire pit, forking big pieces of meat and flipping them over.

  “Come on,” Arsen said with a grin, nodding at the group with his head. “All this business talk has worked up an appetite.”

  Chapter 37

  Quinn was snuggled into Arsen’s back as they rumbled through town. They’d spent three hours enjoying steaks, baked potatoes, beer, and good company. She’d felt welcome, and useful, in the club for a while, but having Zane and Michelle pull her aside and thank her for all her efforts had put the cherry on top of one of the best days of her life. Nobody had ever thanked her for anything before, and she’d barely managed to hold her tears of gratitude until they had finished and returned to the group.

  She was home. More than with her family, more than with the Desert Riders, this was where she felt she belonged. She would bust her ass for this club and do whatever it took to help them however she could. Mr. Arsen Childers Kyle, and the Blacktop Blades, were simply the best thing to ever happen to her. Michelle said she believed everything happened for a reason. She’d gone through hell at the hands of those fucking Horsemen, but if she hadn’t she wouldn’t have ended up here, pressed into the back of the man she was coming to love more than life itself, and working at a job she loved for people who actually appreciated what she was doing.

  She smiled. The more arduous the journey, the sweeter the reward, and her rewards had been sweet indeed.

  They slowed to a stop at a light, the big Indian throbbing between her legs. She was disappointed the light had caught them. After the club so readily bought into her ideas, and the heartfelt compliment by Zane and Michelle, she was primed and ready. The only place in their house they hadn’t fucked yet was in the garage, and while Arsen didn’t know it yet, she was going to remedy that tonight. She’d never been fucked on a motorcycle before, but after tonight, she wouldn’t be able to say that anymore, and she was determined to wear his ass out.

  She was still smiling, thinking off all the wonderful things she was going to do to him when the Indian roared, and they rocketed away from the light, the bike accelerating so hard she was caught off guard and nearly fell from the saddle. She’d just regained her balance, about to bitch at him about almost throwing her off when he braked violently, the rear tire chirping as the antilock brakes struggled with the max effort braking. She slammed into his back, scr
abbling to hang on as the bike dipped hard left then roared away again.

  This was more than him showing off, and she looked behind her just as a van swerved around the corner on the edge of control. The bike was much faster, but the van was coming hard. She grabbed him hard around the waist and held on as the bike again decelerated, dumping speed at a furious rate. He revved the bike as it jerked to a stop, then jumped into a hole in traffic with a blare of a car horn, the bike leaning so far over to the right she was certain it would slide out from under them.

  As the bike straighten, the van charged around the corner, sideswiping the car, but they were on a major road now and Arsen cut a weaving path through the cars. The van tried to keep up, but was soon boxed in. She looked behind her and watched as it tried to muscle a car out of its way, only to spin the car and cause an accident that blocked both lanes.

  “They’re stuck!” she cried, then looked behind her again. The van was forcing its away around by crossing into oncoming traffic, but it was so far back it would never be able to catch them now.

  Arsen braked hard, but not as violently as before, and swung the bike to the right. They roared to the next street then made another right, then a left, then another right before they pulled into a CVS Pharmacy. He stopped behind the building and out of sight of the road, the idling below them.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, twisting around as much as possible to look into her face.

  “Yeah. What was that all about?”

  “I don’t know. I saw them coming, and could tell they weren’t going to stop. I thought it was just a grope, but when they changed lanes to stay on me, I knew something was up. Fuck!”

  “Do you think we got away?”

  “Probably. We’re going to wait here a minute, though, and see if they come by.”

  “Who were they?”

  “I have no fucking idea.”

  She sat still and quiet, wondering how many more enemies of the Blades were out there she didn’t know about. “Is there something I need to know?”

  He turned to look at her again. “Like what?”

  “Like who else is out to get you, or the Blades, or whatever.”

  He turned away from her. “Nobody that I know of. I thought we’d dealt with our problem with the Horsemen.”

  “Could it be them?”

  “How the fuck should I know?” he snarled, looking back at her. “You saw the same thing I saw!”

  His snarling hurt her feelings and she didn’t know why he was taking it out on her. “Sorry.”

  He was quiet a moment then slumped slightly. “Sorry for biting your head off. I’m just pissed off, that’s all.”

  “At me?”

  “No. At this fucked up situation. I don’t know what the hell is going on. Some asshole in a van shows up out of the blue and tries to run us down. I thought this shit was behind us when we dealt with the Horsemen.” He sat silent. “Maybe it’s the Horsemen. They were the only people who had it in for us, as far as I know.”

  They sat for several minute before he kicked the bike in gear and pulled back out onto the road.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “Home.”

  “You don’t think they’ll be waiting there?”

  “No. If they knew where we lived, they’d have been waiting there for us to arrive.”

  She nodded to herself, understanding his logic, but still hoping he was right.

  When they arrived home, he had five messages waiting, all calls from brothers, checking on him. He wasn’t the only Blade jumped. He called back those who called, then contacted Zane.

  “You heard?” he asked when Zane answered.

  “Yeah. I started calling. I haven’t been able to reach four. I know three brothers were attacked tonight.”

  “Four.”

  “You too?”

  “Yeah. Who can’t you reach?”

  “Chet, Alex, Greg and Berk.”

  “Who else was attacked?”

  “Besides you? Phil, Casey and Nelson.”

  “Fuck. Someone tried to run Quinn and me down. What about the others?”

  “Phil said a car tried to run him off the road. Casey and Nelson were shot at. Casey has a hole in his leg. Evie is taking him to Doc Holiday now.”

  “Goddamnit! Any idea who’s behind this?”

  “No. Think it’s the Horsemen?”

  “Who else would it be?” Arsen asked.

  “I thought we took care of them, but it looks like they’re slow learners.”

  “Yeah. Keep trying to reach those four. I’m going to make a few phone calls. Text or call me when you find out about the missing.”

  “Will do.”

  Arsen punched the button to end the call, then scrolled through his list of contacts and selected one. The phone rang. “Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?” a woman’s voice sneered.

  “Who is this?” Arsen asked.

  “Stacy Williams. You killed my husband. You killed all my friends. Now, I’m going to kill you and every fucking member of the motherfucking Blades.”

  “You don’t want to do this, Stacy. Roger went up against us and lost. You need to let it end.”

  “End?” she shouted. “It’s never going to end, not so long as I draw a breath. You may have thought you won, but this isn’t over. You didn’t get us all. You fucking missed. Now every member of the Horsemen has only one thing to live for, and that’s to see your club wiped the fuck out.”

  “You listen to me, you bitch,” Arsen growled. “I’ve had enough of the Chrome Horsemen. If you had two brain cells to rub together you’d know you can’t win this. You need to let it end and walk away before somebody else gets killed.”

  “You haven’t heard? They already have. We killed two of your men, and their old ladies, tonight, and we’re—”

  “You’re fucking dead!” Arsen snarled, cutting her off. “I’m going to hunt down and kill every last member of your club, and it’s on your fucking head!”

  “Bring it on. Roger didn’t know how to handle you, but I do. Just like I handled that bitch you’ve taken in. Her, I’m not going to kill. Her I’m going to fuck, then I’m going to let every man in the club fuck her, until she’s dead.”

  Arsen smiled. “Why don’t we meet, just the two of us, and settle it between us?”

  “That’s a good idea,” Stacy said. “You and that bitch, whatever her name is, and me and Todd. We’ll meet and have it out, winner takes all.”

  “Todd…” Arsen paused has he tried to remember the man’s last name. “Roger’s VP?”

  “Yeah. Heard of him? He likes to get down and dirty. The harder they fight, the more they scream, the better he likes it.”

  “Just Todd and I, then.”

  “Oh no, Lover,” Stacy purred. “She has to be there to give you something to watch while we fuck her.”

  “No deal,” Arsen said. “You want the thunder? You got it!” he punched the phone off.

  “That’s her,” Quinn said softly.

  “Who?”

  “That’s the woman who abused us. I recognize her voice.”

  Arsen shook his head as he prepared to call Zane back and try to find out if the woman was lying about two brothers being dead. “Don’t worry about her. I wanted to keep the women out of it, but we’re about to go scorched earth on their ass.”

  “Zane! It’s the Horsemen!” he said as soon as Zane answered.

  “Fuck. It had to be. I’ve heard from Berk. Nothing happened to him or Marla.”

  “Roger’s dead. That jackass Todd, their VP, is heading up what’s left of them. Roger’s wife is on a fucking vendetta. She said they got two brothers, and their old ladies, tonight.”

  “Todd Yuggers? Fuck! That asshole is crazier than a shithouse rat. Why couldn’t we have killed him? I bet she’s probably lying about the deaths just to piss you off.”

  “I hope you’re right. Round everyone up for first thing in the morning. We’re going to finish what we started
.”

  “How?” Zane cried. “They’re scattered all over hell’s half-acre!”

  “I don’t know, but there’s no problem that money can’t solve. We’re going to finish this, once and for all.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “I am. I’ll put Phil, Berk, and Gage on it. With Gage we’ve found a new asset. I’m going to use it. They won’t even know we’re picking them off until they have an arrow sticking out of their chest.”

  “I’m not worried about how to kill them. I’m worried about how to find them.”

  “Money, my friend. You spread enough of it around, somebody will roll over on them. We’ll take them one at a time.”