by Brook Wilder
“I don’t think you’re gonna need to worry about that, Piper honey,” he smiled weakly. Dark blood oozed from a half dozen holes down his left side, and his jeans were soaked with it. He was a total mess and I couldn’t believe he was still breathing, let alone able to crawl fifty yards and lift us out of a canyon.
“Stay still, brother,” said Theo. He tried to keep his voice strong but I heard it falter. He fumbled with his cell phone. “We’ll get you an ambulance, you’ll be fine.” I took hold of Frost’s bloody hand and put my other arm around Theo. I could see the tears forming in his eyes and felt them in mine.
“Sure, kid, sure,” Frost replied, coughing up a little more blood, “have them bring me a beer when they come, will you?”
“Anything you want.” A tear rolled down Theo’s cheek.
“Do me a favor, Piper honey,” Frost turned to me. “Look after this kid, will you? He’s too stupid to be left alone.”
I nodded to him and put Theo’s hand his, holding mine over them both, as we saw the life leave Frost’s eyes and heard his last breath fade away.
***
I held Theo, Theo held Frost’s hand, for the longest time. Theo didn’t sob, didn’t weep. He just sat, silently staring out into the ravine, whereas the tears flowed freely down my face while I held him. Here was another person, an individual, that had suffered because of me and my situation. He’d suffered and died.
“It’s not your fault,” whispered Theo, reading my mind again. “It’s not your fault. It’s Vinnie’s. And who the fuck knows how many more lives have been ruined or ended by that asshole. He needs to be stopped. He needs to die.”
I didn’t say anything because I couldn’t. I should have argued, should have told him there’s no point wasting any more life on Vinnie, but I couldn’t. Because I agreed with him. Vinnie was a plague, a disease of this world and he needed to be wiped out.
“Should we bury him?” I changed the subject with a small sniff. Theo thought some more.
“Frost always spoke about going out in style, riding his hog into a big rig or off some mountain. He’d be pissed to be thrown in the ground and covered up with dirt. He never hunted worms, he’d want to be food for bears, cougars, and coyotes, not insects.” Theo looked out into the ravine again.
“Are you sure? It seems disrespectful,” I said.
“To who?” he turned on me, a determined tone in his voice. “Let him be buried at the bottom of this canyon, with what’s left of my bike. It’s what he would want. At least he’ll have a ride in the afterlife.” Theo smiled up into the sky. “But he’ll need a piece, too.”
I found the big revolver on the ground and passed it to Theo. He slipped it into its holster as I helped him haul Frost’s body right to the edge, where there was no outcrop to catch him, as it had done us.
“I’ll never forget you,” I whispered as we held him.
“Take it easy, brother,” muttered Theo, before letting his old buddy go. He fell gracefully through the green treetops, out of sight. We didn’t hear or see anything further.
Leaving the edge of the road, we went over to Frost’s bike. I wrapped my arm around Theo’s waist, trying to support him any way I could. When we reached it, we saw the back tire was flat. Theo tried the motor, but it wouldn’t start. It looked like we were stuck for a while.
Taking out his cell phone, Theo made a call. I only heard half of the conversation and it didn’t sound like good news. Whatever was bothering Link on the other end of the line, it was serious.
“Okay, brother,” Theo shouted at his phone, “have everyone report in, I’ll try and get there as soon as I can.”
“You didn’t tell him about Frost,” I said after he’d hung up.
“He doesn’t need more bad news right now,” replied Theo through clenched teeth, “and that sort of news needs to be delivered in person.” He turned back to the bike and began examining the engine.
“So, what now?”
“Well, it’s war,” he let out a long breath. “So the mob’s all over us. At least two clubs that we provide security for have been hit. Vinnie’s boys are offering their own protection and taking out our guys to show they need it. And there’s been three just random attacks. They’re targeting anyone in one of our vests, in broad daylight. They’re serious.”
I looked down at Frost’s vest that I was still wearing. If I took it off I’d be left in only my bra but, if I kept it on, I could get shot in the back. Theo saw my indecision and smiled a little.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Keep it, we need to present it to Tina. No mobster will be coming along this road, anyway. We’re dead remember?” I smiled back at him. “Bad news is, if those assholes are tailing vests, Link can’t risk coming out to get us and leading them here. We’re on our own.”
He got out a pocket knife and started poking at the chrome cylinders of the motor. I could see the tension moving up through his shoulders, the frustration beginning to show.
“Anything I can do to help?” I offered.
“Not unless you got a spare rear tire in your purse.”
“Dammit, I do, but I left my purse at home!”
He gave me a strained smile, then turned back to the bike. “Fuck!” he spat, stabbing the knife into the tarmac, hard enough to snap the blade. “Even if I get it started, we can’t go anywhere on a goddamn flat tire!”
“It’s okay,” I soothed him, pulling him away from the bike. I made him sit down on the other edge of the road, where the hill continued upwards again. We both pulled the uncomfortable weapons from our waistbands and set them on the ground. He leaned his back against the dirt while I straddled his legs, brushing the hair out of his face.
“It’s not okay,” he sighed. “Frost is gone, we’ve got brothers dying out there and I’m stuck… we’re stuck here in the middle of nowhere.”
“Hey,” I shook his head to look at me, “we’ll make it. You haven’t let me down yet and I’m sure it’s the same for your crew. I know you’re not about to start now. Take a breath.”
I smiled mischievously to myself and unzipped the vest I was wearing. My boobs popped out, barely contained by their black bra, and gave him something else to think about.
“What are you doing?” he smiled as I took his hand and held his open palm against my full breast. I pushed the strap down my shoulder a little so I could lift it out of its cup and feel his rough hand against my hardening nipple.
“Helping you relax a little,” I closed my eyes and let out a soft moan as he squeezed me. “Is it working?”
“Kinda,” he replied. I reached down to his crotch and found a certain part of him very tense indeed. I opened his fly and set his cock free. It stuck straight up, pointing right at my sex. “Right here? Really?” he raised an eyebrow.
I seductively bit my lip and nodded at him, standing so I could pull one leg out of my jeans and panties. His eyes lit up as my naked pussy appeared before him. I licked my fingers.
“This,” I told him, indicating my pussy and sliding my wet fingers over it, “in my expert opinion as a former practicing professional sex therapist, is exactly what’s requires to help you both grieve properly and find us a way out of here.”
He scrambled to pull his pants down too, getting them just past his knees, then growled softly and grabbed my buttocks, pulling me against his mouth. His soft lips and tongue slipped all over me, rubbing and flicking my clit, licking up inside my hole, sending shivers right up my body, heat to my already hard nipples, and quiet moans from my mouth. My breathing very quickly grew ragged and I knew I needed to have him inside me.
I gripped his hair and pulled his mouth 0ff my, holding him just over a tongue's length from me, teasing us both with him so close, but pulling my moist pussy away from him every time he made a little lunge at me, until I lowered myself straight down onto his hard cock. He slipped straight up me, his powerful rod sliding its way right to my very core. We groaned in loud unison as I pushed him as far inside him as I could
.
I held him there, enclosing him, flexing my soft pussy walls around him, enjoying the feel of him, firm and hot, inside me. I still had my feet flat on the ground. I looked down and could clearly see him disappearing into my sexy wet slit. Hypnotized by that enticing sight, I worked my knees and started bobbing myself up and down on him, fucking my pussy harder and harder onto his big dick, my gentle cries growing louder and louder with every penetration.
His hands mashed my tits. He smacked his head on the hillside behind him. He grabbed my butt and held it still while he jackhammered me from below. I pushed his hands back to the rocks and ground down on him. It was wild, pure, primal fucking, totally abandoned, like it could be the last time we were together.
I held still and let him thrust up into me again, while I touched myself. I frigged my clit in time with this pounding until, finally, I felt my pussy exploded in a ball of white hot ecstasy and I screamed as he shot his wad deep inside me.
Our breathing slowed, in time with the cries of rapture we were polluting our surroundings with, as felt the pulsing of his cock inside me die away. I swear it was so easy to cum with him; like his cock was made just for me. Then again, it could just have been five years of unwelcome sex with no payoff. Maybe I’d just built up a healthy supply of orgasms I had to get through? Whichever it was, I just wanted to fuck him all the time, and I was happy about it.
“So,” I gasped, trying to pull up my bra strap and cover up my exposed breast, “did you think of a way to get us out of here?”
“Maybe,” he looked out into the distance for a second, and I realized he was listening. “Hide your ass, quick!” he snapped with a smile, throwing me off him.
“What the fuck…?” I yelled as he stood up, pulling his pants back up. Then I heard it too. An engine. I heard it just in time to see an old pickup come around the bend a few hundred yards back. “Oh, shit!” I giggled, hopping away to try and hide behind Theo so I could get my jeans back on. “I told you I would help you find a way out of this.”
“So, the reason this truck has appeared right now is because of you and your vagina?” he smirked and put his arms up to flag it down.
“Of course,” I told him, doing up Frost’s vest at last. “Why? Was there ever any doubt?”
CHAPTER 26: Theo
His name was Cecil, and he came up this road nearly every day to get home to his small farmstead a few miles further up the hill. He was old, gaunt, and unshaven, but stopped beside Frost’s Harley to inspect the flat tire saying we were lucky he came by, as so few people used this road.
He started talking to me about riding Panheads and Shovelheads in his youth, and was delighted to hear that Frost’s scoot was based on a pre-Evo Harley. After that, he couldn’t have been happier to help me load it onto his flatbed and take us to Handle’s Bar. We talked at length on the twenty-mile drive up the mountain. Or, rather, he talked and I listened. I wasn’t in a mood to reminisce about the good old days of motorcycles knowing I that, with each passing yard, I was getting closer to having to tell Tina that Frost was dead.
Cecil took to Piper, unsurprisingly, and regaled her with tales of his past heroics and good times. She listened, asked all the right questions, and seemed fascinated by everything he said. She really had a talent for making men feel important which I figured, was as much a part of her job at Madam X’s as the sex. I’d seen her do it with other guys too, just giving them the slightest impression that they may, one day, have a chance at sleeping with her and they would do nearly anything for her.
***
We pulled up to the bar and, even though there were more bikes than ever parked out front, there was no music, just a solemn feel about the place, and there were no slow-moving cycles with half naked girls on the back riding up and down in front of the building. A crowd came out to greet us, though, and Cecil was hailed as a hero for the good turn he did us. He was smiling from ear to ear as he was handed a beer and taken away to talk about Harleys.
Although everyone must have noticed we were bringing in Frost’s bike with no Frost, no one said anything and no one would until I’d had a chance to talk to his woman. Surely, some of them must have noticed that Piper wore Frost’s vest?
Link shook my hand and hugged me in silence. He knew what the news was, even though I hadn’t told him on the phone, and I could see the tears glistening in his eyes. Piper kissed him hello too and he led us into the inner lounge. Tina was waiting for us, sat in Frost’s usual place on the couch. She didn’t look up when we came in.
“Give us a moment, Link?” she said it as a question but it was an order. He lowered his head and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Tina didn’t look as if she’d been crying, didn’t look as if she was going to cry, she just stared off into the middle distance until, eventually, she said one word, “How?”
I swallowed, grateful that I didn’t have to break the news to her but, at the same time, devastated at the loss she, and we all, were having to endure. “We didn’t see,” I started. “He rescued us both. Then Vinnie hit us on the way here. They both got shot, but Frost didn’t make it.” I got the impression she didn’t need the details.
“Where is he?” she demanded.
“Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike,” I quoted the line from Bat Outta Hell as it was exactly true. “We left him at the bottom of the canyon, right where my scoot wrecked.”
“Food for the bears, cougars, and coyotes,” she smiled. She looked at us for the first time. “He’d have liked that.”
Piper, quiet up to this point, suddenly remembered something. She unzipped the vest and took it off, folding it carefully. Ignoring the fact that she was down to her bra, she reverently presented the vest to Tina.
“I’m so sorry,” Piper whispered, “he was good to me. Far better than I had any right to expect.”
“Thanks, honey,” Tina took the vest from her. “Go get another shirt, same place as last time.” The two women hugged and Piper headed back to the bedroom. She turned to me as she went, her face sad, her eyes shining. Tina faced me as Piper left the room. “Theo…” she said. “This Vinnie is still alive? Walking around?”
I nodded.
“I need him not to be,” she stated, her voice simply matter of fact.
“We’re at war, Tina…” I began.
“And now you’re in charge.”
I wasn’t sure I heard her right. “Me? Why am I in charge?” I asked.
“Because Frost always wanted you to be,” she smiled. “He’s been grooming you for years. Sending you to these jobs, making sure your values were right. You're smarter than the average Steel Angel, Theo. Maybe it’s a little earlier than he intended, but it’s what he wanted. You’re our leader now, Theo. No one’s going to argue, no one’s going to disagree with Frost’s judgment. It’s up to you to win this war for us.”
I stood there, dumbstruck. All I wanted to do was take Piper and get the fuck out of Dodge. Now this? Piper came out of the bedroom with a dark gray Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt on. It hugged her figure and showed off her slim waist even better than the Motley Crew one.
“What did I miss?” she asked, sensing the tension in the room.
“Your boyfriend just got a promotion, honey,” said Tina.
***
I thought Link might be disappointed, or Marco even, as they’d been Frost’s lieutenants at least as long as I could remember, but he just shook my hand while Marco got us a round of tequila shooters to toast my ascension.
“It makes sense,” said Link. “Always knew it was you that was going to take over, dog.”
“He made us promise to support you and help you out,” joined Marco, “and take your instructions as though they were his.”
This was it. This was why we were better than outfits like the Mob, the Cartels, the Bloods and Crips, and even the Hell’s Angels. We didn’t traffic drugs and we were a family. We supported each other, one hundred per cent, and stayed united against everything the world
could throw at us.
Link led Piper and I out to the covered band tent. Pretty much every Steel Angel was gathered as we took the stage. Tina was there, still holding Frost’s vest. She led the crowd in a drink to Frost, as well as to the other brothers that had fallen this past afternoon. All I could think of was how fast the Mob had moved.
I had guessed wrong when I thought Vinnie would wait for backup from the other families before striking. We couldn’t match them for numbers and now, it seemed, we couldn’t rival the speed they could organize things. It was like Vinnie had been organizing the three or four operations that had gone off already via his cell phone as he drove away from forcing us off the road. It was that fast.
I figured he could already have had men in place, just waiting for us to give him an excuse to make a move but that would be crazy. So then, considering Vinnie, it was entirely probable.
