by Paula Cox
I gulp as I turn to Liam and ask seriously, “What do I have do? Do I need to say a secret passcode or something? I don’t know how this works.”
He doesn’t take his eyes off of the road as he licks the top of his lip for a second before responding, “You do nothing. You say nothing. Guys like this don’t exactly appreciate girls coming in and running some part of the show. If you were your dad, this wouldn’t be a problem. But they’re going to take issue with you.”
I can’t hold it back. I blurt out, “So basically, you’re saying that I’m basically screwed. This is how I am going to end up dead tonight?”
Liam turns his head and stares me down. He’s trying to feel out if I’m serious or not. Unfortunately, I am. Being with him is terrifying. Walking into his clubhouse or whatever was an utter nightmare come true. If I am being driven to my execution, I at least want a heads up.
The tone of his voice completely changes from that satisfied, self-pleased Liam to something I haven’t heard before. Maybe concern? “Listen, Alana. You already know too much and have seen too much. But I swear to you that I am not going to let anything hurt you while you’re working for me. As long as you shut your mouth and just let me do the talking for you, there’s no reason why you’re not getting home for at least a few hours of sleep before your paper tomorrow.”
I sit back in the seat, my eyes closed as we pull back onto the freeway. “It’s a test,” I remind him. “I have a test tomorrow.”
“Good. Even more reason for you to just shut up and let me take over. We’re going to be there in a few so I’d appreciate the silence.” He then turns on the radio as I try not to laugh. Some old rock song off an oldies station blasts rhythmic guitar the rest of the ride over. We pass through factories and run-down hotels. It’s the old part of Vegas tourists never see. My dad picks up a lot of his supplies in this district. He never wants me to come with, and looking around at the bums picking at the trash and the few men walking up and down the streets without purpose, I can tell why. It wasn’t safe for anyone to be in these parts, let alone a girl like me.
As Liam slows down, I start to see more and more people gathered around one of the oldest buildings, a sandblasted white, three-story building. There are a few lights on in the windows with an outline of men standing or posing with their shadows. They hold bottles and boxes. Some smoke out of the open glass. None seem to pay any attention until Liam pulls in the truck towards the parking lot tucked behind a large black fence. A few rows of motorcycles appear huddled in the back, and he puts the car in park directly in the center.
The few men lingering outside instantly walk towards us with unseen objects in their hands -- maybe baseball bats or switchblades. In the dark, it’s hard to see anything but their scrunched up, curious faces and their heaving shoulders hunched over as they lurk towards us. I sink down in my seat, trying to keep my face out of view, praying that this would be over faster than a bullet. Liam nudges me out of my place and tilts his head before opening the door and shouting loudly towards the small crowd, “Yo! It’s me. I’ve got a guest here. Let her pass.”
“Boss?” One of the guys asks as he places a hand on his forehead to see over the few spotlights of parking lights. “Is that you? What the fuck are you doing driving around an ice cream truck with some bitch? We would have killed you!”
“Not if you wanted some ice cream.” Liam ducks his head back into the truck and smiles at me before screaming out again, “Come get some!” The men look back and forth at one another before shrugging their shoulders and running excitedly towards the back of the truck. Liam is already there opening the shop. I hear the fridge open as he tosses down some of the pre-made snacks I’ve got wrapped up.
The men grumble to themselves in their excited ways, some trade with the others for the better treats. The rest just laugh and shake their heads. This was really not what I was expecting, but my dad did always say that ice cream makes the biggest man the littlest child. I could certainly prove that theory tonight.
More men come walking curiously out of the building with their half-drunk beer bottles and their weapons in hands. One by one, they line up for their snack, each taking a turn to shake hands with Liam while I am frozen in the front seat too afraid to move or say anything. What really could be said at a time like this? If they were happy, it meant fewer chances for me getting killed.
The last guy is a burly man. He looks to be twice the age of Liam, but I can tell by the way he tips his head towards him that there’s some mutual admiration going on. He lowers his voice as he says to Liam, “Hey, boss. The room’s ready for you. Top guys there only. I don’t think anyone saw them coming in together. The ice cream is one damn good distraction.” He then looks up towards me peeking back at him through the rearview mirror. “Who the fuck is she?”
Liam comes round front towards the driver’s side and slips out the door, opening mine along the way. I have no choice but to unbuckle my seatbelt and join him outside. “Jason, this is Alana. She owns this truck, and she’s going to be doing some business for us.” There’s a long, deafening pause where I can feel some sort of horrible tension build between the two. The older man’s brown eyes fire up like coal shooting flames. They dart between Liam and me as if he was missing something more important.
Finally, he breaks, “Get her in fast before the rest of these assholes start asking questions.” Already, I can feel at least twenty eyes on me as Liam quickly locks the door and then presses his large palm to the small of my back. He urges me forward, leading from behind. I try not to look at anything but the black tar gravel underneath me, and the occasional boot I almost run into. Liam and Jason talk in hushed whispers so low that I can’t even make it out. All I know is that I am definitely not wanted here.
The doors open to the building and I take a deep breath. All I can do now is pray that I see my dad’s ice cream truck again.
CHAPTER 10
My grandma used to tell me a story when I was younger. My granddad was this strong, hefty guy over six feet tall and 200 pounds. He was all muscle, like me, and that made him a sight to see whenever he walked into the room. My grandma used to call him a bull in a china shop. He never knew his own strength.
When he first opened The Emerald Pub, he wanted to make sure that the restaurant had the best beef in town. Irish restaurants weren’t exactly known for their food, but he wanted to change that. So he went down to Dallas with a group of his friends to pick the farmer who would raise and butcher his meat. My grandma says that during his first time down in Dallas, he thought he could use that big man in a small place to get him a good deal. He wasn’t an intimidating guy if you talked to him, but if he wanted to be scary, he knew just how to puff out his chest, pound his fists, and look taller than the nearest mountain.
However, when he got to Dallas, he instantly realized that he wasn’t in Vegas anymore or around his other Irish friends. All the guys looked like him -- rugged, rough, powerful. While he may be a bit taller than still the majority of them, they had something else about them. It was a feeling of danger or off-the-grid edginess that made my granddad hightail it back to Vegas without so much as negotiating on the beef or making sure he was picking the best cattle in town.
“You’re going to grow up like him, Liam,” my grandma used to say with a smile. “You’ll be big and bold. You’ll probably have his damn dirty mouth too. But that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be the greatest person out there.”
I knew then what she meant. My size and my muscles weren’t going to make me the leader that I was supposed to be or the fighter that I wanted to be. It was going to take something else to make sure others bowed down to me. I had to develop this character or personality. It was all about big egos and not giving a shit about what anyone thought about me. Then they certainly wouldn’t mess with my turf or question my strength.
Walking into Steel Saints clubhouse on most days, I wouldn’t even stop to notice the stares or the men who suddenly quit talking wh
en I came through the doors. I couldn’t afford to give a damn about them. They were small, weak, and powerless. I was the guy that everyone needed to kiss the ring of. The men that I made my seconds and VPs were picked because they could walk with me like this and not feel like they constantly had to prove something. They could be loyal just by knowing what their place was.
Alana is not that kind of person. For all that feistiness and wit in her, she certainly shrinks away when she sees the inside of the headquarters. It’s not much, nothing that I would run from. It’s an empty warehouse we converted a few years ago to hold our supplies and to conduct our meetings. There are a few rooms I reserve for offices, and there is a vault near the back that I have guarded 24/7 by my most worthy men.
Most of the time, this place is dead empty. During the day, my boys go off and work their normal jobs or rest up for night-time business when the money is really flowing. Like tonight, there are at least twenty boys standing around, taking their free beers and shots before cycling out for their shifts. They fill up their backpacks and seat storage with stuffed toys filled with the finest cocaine. We place packs of heroin in overstocked greeting card envelopes. We’ve got tabs of angel dust lining bike helmets.
When they’re not selling drugs, they’re running security. That’s where the bulk of our income comes in these days. The mafia and the other clubs got the girls and supplies down to a science. They longer they’ve been on the streets, the more territory they collect. It leaves us newer guys with slim pickings for routes. What they do need, however, is protection from guys like us.
We’ve got ex-cops and cons, men who just got back from the service, and others who don’t even have real first names. We don’t care what their backstory is. We just care if they get the damn job done right and are trustworthy enough to bring back their share of the cash to be split between the group. Those men, the giants and despicables sitting around the wall of the warehouse, are the ones who stare down Alana as she slowly scuffs her feet on the old tile floor, trying not to bring any more attention to herself.
“Keep going,” I whisper to her as my hand pushes harder into her back. She leans back slightly as if she physically needs me to continue dragging her along. “Ain’t no one going to hurt you as long as you’re with me.” I want to stop and grab her by her shoulders, shake her until she grows some balls, and acts like the Alana I’ve come to know. But instead, I whisper what my grandma always tells me before my fights to remember my granddad’s story, “They’re more afraid of who you are. Act like it.”
I watch as she pauses in her step and closes her eyes. Her chest picks up slightly before falling with a huge sigh. When she opens her eyes again, it’s with a look of complete determination. She takes a step to the side, away from my hand on her back, and walks confidently in front of me. Her shoulders go up and down, and her head lifts so that her nostrils show and her eyes peer down. The corners of her lip tighten as she says loudly, “Just tell me where the hell I am supposed to go, Liam.”
There we go. That’s the Alana I know. I step next to her as I lead the way towards one of the offices near an exit where the rest of the guys in my cabinet are supposed to be waiting. The rest of the guys go back to work or continue swigging their warm beers. A few do a line of coke on old wooden coffee tables without giving a rat about us. This is what we needed: Get in. Get out. Get on. No attention necessary.
The office is dark, barely lit when we walk inside. In the shadows, I can make out the bodies of my second, Jason, who went in before us after meeting us outside in the parking lot, and Winston, my enforcer captain. Clemson, my secretary and money man is there too, but his tiny body is hidden by Adams, our recruiter, as he paces the small room back and forth.
None of them look up at me as I walk in. They’re all fixed on Alana. Adams and Winston lick their lips slowly. I don’t blame them. After fucking her myself, I could certainly go for another round. She had no idea what kind of impression she made on men like me. However, Clemson and Jason both paid no attention. Their face was fixed on distrust and disgust. We never brought chicks to this place, let alone a girl that was not part of the club’s revolving list of old maids and pass-arounds. They certainly didn’t get a place in this room unless we were into it.
I clear my throat as I pull out a chair for her to sit. She follows quickly; obviously eager to just get through the door and into what she thought was a safe space. Her shoulders relax, and her head bobs down towards her hands. She runs her fingers slowly through the blonde strands before fixing it up into a ponytail. She shakes almost violently as she does it.
I take my place near the front of the cramped room so that everyone can see me. Placing a hand on her shoulder, I say, “This is Alana. I want her to do some work for the club, but before I bring her on as an honorary member, I thought it best to run it by you all first.”
“What kind of work is a girl like her good for? No way you’re having her work the streets for us. Those chicken legs wouldn’t last a minute out there with the Johns… or with us here in the club.” Alana’s face turns that pastel pink again; the red marks dot her neck and chest. She knew exactly what it meant to be a working girl in this club.
I spit on the ground annoyed as I explain, “Do you think I’d fucking waste your time and mine if I found some Jane for the streets? Shit no. This is about the package from tonight. We need Alana and her truck to move the diamonds before the mafia get word of us.”
Jason peers at her through the distance. He then looks back up at me suspiciously. While he’s almost been my right-hand man, he got that title by seeing things I couldn’t. He was the best judge of someone’s character. He almost always knew when a recruit would try to pull something stupid or when a deal we were about to make was going to leave us high and dry. He was the reason why we had so many good connections with the local 99. He had that sense about him that made him more valuable than the rest of the thick heads in this room.
When Jason speaks, he does it without breaking his glare, “You want to use her ice cream truck to sell diamonds? How the hell are we supposed to know we can trust her to sell the goods? How do we know she isn’t just going to up and run for it or contact the mafia and clue them in?”
“I won’t!” Alana suddenly exclaims as she sits forward in her chair. “First of all, I have no idea what mafia you’re talking about. And secondly, I’m doing this for my dad who is in the hospital. I just want to make some money to pay for his bills and then I’m done and out. You’ll never see or hear from me again. I can swear that right now.” She looks up at me almost desperately. Just hours ago, she was unsure about my plans, but now that she’s had time to think about the money, she’s on board. It’s a game changer.
“She knows the terms,” I say stiffly, trying to ignore Alana’s outburst. That’s not going to win her any awards here. Enthusiasm was always looked on as more suspicious than anything. “We sell the product over the next few weeks, I live in her truck and supervise everything. Together, we report back at the Pub. Clemson here and can manage the financials of it.”
“How much are you giving her? Isn’t that going to come out of our paychecks?” Winston asks with his deep, bass voice that seems to rattle the cement walls.
Before Alana can speak again, I lift my hand up and lie straight to them, “She’s getting my boxing commission. I want to sell those fucking diamonds so badly that I’m willing to give that up for the club.”
“You can’t be serious?” Jason asks. The hairs on my neck prick up. The rest of the guys I can convince. Jason, on the other hand…
“I am serious. We need this money to build up the Arsonary. Without it, we’re fucking screwed if another club comes at us. Plus, with the rumors swirling around about internal takeover, we need a damn big win here if we’re going to hold some ground. I think we can all agree on that.”
That part was true. They knew it as much as I did. Steel Saints was geared up to tear itself apart from the inside out. And coups like this
don’t go over well for men like Jason or me. Those guys just don’t lose their position in the club and are sent on their merry ways to start new clubs or to just stop being members. They get taken down or are never heard from again. Our time was running short with each and every second we wasted on not getting back the trust of all those who doubt us.
Jason stands slowly, his hands tracing up his knees as he goes upright. He walks past Alana’s chair and then towards me. I can see his jaw move back and forth as he swallows hard. In a harsh whisper, he says, “Make it work, Liam. Because if we get caught because of a girl or those diamonds don’t move because you’re too busy up in some skank’s business, I will join the rest of those assholes in tearing you down.”
I am frozen in some sort of anger and disbelief. Never, ever has my second even so much as questioned me, let alone challenged and threatened me like this. I grab the hand he uses to go for the doorknob, forcing it upwards. He’s got about forty pounds on me, but I’m way stronger and more disciplined than him. With a huge thrust of force, I toss him towards the opposite wall. The bang of his body echoing loudly. He falls to his knees in a pile of leather and flesh.
