by Rae B. Lake
I walked up to where he was sitting, two skinny chicks on either side of him feeding him grapes and cheese, not looking all that happy to be doing it.
“Clean, what’s the word?” I asked ready to get straight to business.
“The word is I am about to get my dick wet with one or maybe both of these little bunnies.” He stuck a finger into the neck of one of the bunnies outfits pulling it out so that he could look down her shirt. Such a dickhead move, but typical of him. It was clear that the girls weren’t feeling it, but if they wanted to continue being invited to the Wings of Diablo parties they were going to have to put up with every bit of humiliation, as long as it didn’t leave any permanent marks or was illegal.
“What is the word on the Cobra’s?” I asked again pushing him for answers. I was all for him having a good time but I didn’t think I would last another night not knowing what was going on.
He must have seen the determination on my face because he got serious real fast, “Girls take a hike.” They jumped up faster than I think he expected. “I did find out some shit but I was going to wait until tomorrow to let Prez know. Let everyone have a good time first, you know.”
Damn it, then it wasn’t good news. “Just fucking tell me, I’m going crazy here.”
“Come on, let’s go outside, there are too many ears in here.”
I followed him outside to the back of the compound where all of our bikes were parked. No one was dumb enough to be back here that wasn’t a full member of the club. I took a quick glance at my baby, a hunter green softail Harley Davidson. I spent more time taking care of that bike than I had effort into any past relationship. It was my pride and joy, an integral part of who I am and a key to momentary freedom when I was able to let loose on the open road.
“Ok, so I have some good news and some bad news.” Clean stood with his back against the door.
“Stop fucking around, just talk.” I didn’t have the energy for the games, not after the week that I had.
“Alright, chill. Firstly, Cleve is dead.”
I let out a breath, most of me knew that I had done the job but with everything else that went wrong I’d let a bit of doubt creep in and thought that maybe I’d missed the target.
“Secondly, the woman wasn’t a member of the Rolling Cobras, she was just a party goer. Lastly, I think we might have fucked up the mark.”
That caused me to do a double take, “What the fuck do you mean we messed up the mark. You just said that he was dead.”
“Yeah, he is but I don’t think he was the one that was behind everything. I think someone inside his crew was dealing behind his back.” The Rolling Cobra’s had a traitor.
“Fuck, when can you know for sure?”
“It will take some serious digging, I wanted to get Prez’s okay before I start doing all that. Maybe he wants to just leave it alone.” He shrugged and looked away toward the acres of open field behind where we parked our bikes.
“I can’t see him wanting to do that. I also can’t see Larry just leaving it alone either. We still need to find out if we can get any information on what happened to his sister.” I shook my head at the thought. Larry’s sister was always in with the wrong fucking crowd, drug dealers and shit. No matter how many times we tried to get her on the right path she would fall back to the gutter. Last time Larry had any contact with her she robbed him to pay for some meth, her drug of choice. Somehow she wound up in the care of some traffickers. Traffickers we were sure were the Cobras.
This was something that we couldn’t let slide, not only was she a family member of one of our brothers but if the cops caught wind that we had traffickers in town there was no way that they would just ignore it. That would mean more heat in town, and more heat for us. We did the occasional illegal deal from time to time but for the most part, the law enforcement personnel around here left us alone. They would be all over something like human trafficking. Not the headache we wanted to deal with.
“I know, he is going to be fucking pissed that we haven’t found any other info on his sister.” He looked at me tentatively, “Honestly, not to be a dick or nothing but did you think he would care this much about her. I mean she has done nothing but bring him problem after problem.”
“You don’t get to choose your family and no matter what she’s done she is always going to be his little sister. I just hope that we make it to her in time.”
“Yeah me too.” Clean went to go back into the club but I still had a few other questions for him. I just didn’t know how to ask without raising suspicion.
“Clean, one more thing, just out of curiosity.”
He turned giving me his undivided attention.
“What happened to the woman, the party goer who was in the line of fire?”
I could see the gears turning in his head. There were always casualties in war but I had very limited experience with missing my shot. It had only happened once or twice before. A ghost of an image flashed in my mind. A little girl with barney slippers. I shook my head trying to stay present and not let my self-doubt break free.
“I didn’t get any information on her.”
“What? Why not?”
“What the fuck you questioning my judgment for? She wasn’t important to our mission. Last I heard someone convinced her not to finger anyone so the cops are calling this a cold case. There weren’t even any reports of any shootings in any of the biker clubs. I think you’re in the clear on this one.” He patted my back. He thought that I was worried about getting in trouble. I will admit the thought had crossed my mind but that wasn’t the issue. I could’ve been responsible for the death of an innocent. Her face would forever burn itself into my soul until I figured out if she was really ok.
“There was no one there with her? I mean, no one is asking any questions at all?”
“Nah man, I guess we just got lucky.”
“Lucky! Are you crazy?” I closed my eyes trying to keep my temper in check. I had to keep reminding myself that he was only doing his job, “Clean I need more information about this woman. A name, who she was there with, why she isn’t trying to press charges. I need fucking more.”
Clean glared at me, he obviously was not thrilled about having to do more work.
“Please, help me out bro.”
He sighed deeply, “Fine, I’ll find out what I can about this mystery girl.”
“Thanks.” I clapped him on the back and turned to stare at the open area before me. It was almost peaceful out here except for the dull pounding bass of the music coming from the building behind me. We had so much land but only really had this building on it, I had wondered how Prez was able to get all the acreage but no one ever asked. No one cared.
“You know you did the right thing, and you did it better than any of us could,” Clean said from behind me. I had almost forgotten he was there.
“How can you say that it was a shit show, even if it was just a part fail, it was still a failure.”
“I swear Archer, no one judges you the way you do. Even the best of men wish they were better.”
I looked at him, trying to hide my gratitude, for some reason Clean was always there to support us. Even if it was just a kind word, he was there. Dependable. I pushed him away playfully, “Get the fuck out of here, don’t get all mushy on me.”
Clean laughed lightly and turned back towards the door. “You’re right, let me go back in here and find a nice warm honey hole to crawl into.”
I looked down at my watch, it had been longer than half an hour. Cherry better have gotten all of her shit together and gotten the hell out of my room. It had been more than enough time for her to get feeling back into her legs. Usually, I didn’t have a problem when it came to her and I was hoping that today was the same. I was ready for bed.
Chapter 8
Daria’s POV
“This is not what we talked about at all, I asked for an interactive site and this is shit. How on earth could you expect anyone to navigate this crap?” Mr. L
ovell screamed at me through the telephone. I stretched out my neck trying to get the stress that was building out of the muscles. I opened the website that I’d spent weeks building for this man. I called to verify exactly what he wanted about fifteen times just to make sure that we’re both looking at the same things; we were.
“Sir, this is exactly what you asked for, can you let me know what you’re not happy with and maybe we can fix that.” I could only hope to appease him, the jackoff that he was, still I didn’t want to have an unhappy client.
“What I’m not happy with?” His voice screeched through the earpiece, “I hate all of it and I’m not going to pay for it!”
“What? I completed this for you, you agreed and signed off on the contract what you wanted.”
“Don’t you dare talk about contracts with me little girl, if you were as talented as what you say you are you would have been able to complete a simple website. I mean how fucking hard is it?”
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose, I hated this. Most folks thought that because I sat behind a desk all day and didn’t do any real heavy lifting, what I did was a breeze, it was not. I had to deal with horrible clients and interfaces that wouldn’t do what I wanted them to. And once the client found out that I was a woman they always thought for some reason that I didn’t know what I was doing. I was so tired of it, if I was a man he would’ve never even dared suggest that he not pay for weeks of work.
“Ok, will you give me the opportunity to do it the way that you want it done?” I couldn’t believe I really had to beg. I’d completed that website to his specifications perfectly.
“An opportunity? You had one, ya ditz!”
I could feel the tears threatening to fall down my face, I wanted to reach through the phone and punch him straight in the throat but I knew I couldn’t do that. I sat there quiet for the rest of the conversation and just let him scream at me. I could already tell I wasn’t going to get paid for this. I had just wasted all that time and would still be late with the rent again.
“Look, if I wasn’t so pressed for time I would take this to a real professional but I’m the one who made the dumb choice to go with an amateur. Redo the whole site, and I’m not giving you a red cent until it is beyond perfect. Do you understand?”
“Ye-” Before I could even get the full word out of my mouth the bastard hung up the phone.
I looked down at the phone expecting it to grow heads. I exhaled trying harder to get my emotions under control. I knew this was part of the job. I knew it would be hard to get anyone to take me seriously, but this was too much, it was just too much.
I let my head fall down on the table ready for the tears to come.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Girl, tell me you’re almost ready.” Mallory burst into my room bringing in all her glittery splendor. She took one look at me and sucked her teeth. “Of course you aren’t ready, I should have known that you were going to flake on us… again.” She turned and slammed my door on the way out.
I sat up and listened to the conversation between Mallory and Nika, my roommates.
“She isn’t ready, she looks like a damn troll that was dragged from underneath a bridge. I don’t have time for this shit. Thad is going to be there and I don’t want to keep him waiting. You know I’m going to be super aggy if another slut gets their claws into him.”
“No, it's going to be fine, you know we can get her ready real fast.”
“Nika, just leave her.”
“No, she can’t spend her life in front of that damn computer.”
Knock, knock, knock.
“Yeah,” I called out, at least Nika waited for me to give her some semblance of permission before she came in.
“What’s going on girl? You said you were going to come with us to the party.”
“Oh yeah, I’m actually not feeling all that great right now. I don’t think I’m going to be great company tonight.” I sniffed just for effect. The redness in my eyes from the unshed tears was a great touch as well.
“That’s bullshit and we both know it. You’re going to this party, it’ll be good for you.”
She stood up and the short tight black dress that she had on shimmied even higher up her thighs. Her heels were at least six inches, I was sure her tall frame would topple over at any minute. Her triple D breasts didn’t help matters at all.
“I don’t have anything to wear, Nika.”
“I can give you one of my dresses.”
I looked at her dress, black, tiny, with studded straps hanging from her waist and seams that I was sure would pop if she sneezed. “Yeah right, I could never pull off one of your dresses and you know it.”
I was five foot five inches but I couldn’t stand let alone walk in anything higher than three inches, and even that was a miracle. My size B breasts would never fill out anything that she owned. Both and Nika and Mallory were more like hot Russian barbie dolls, all tall, blonde and busty while I was pretty much the exact opposite.
“Yeah, you’re right, if only you were taller.” Nika flipped a hand towards me, dismissing the train of thought. I know that it wasn’t to be cruel but my inner little girl cried a little. Why couldn’t I just be a bit prettier?
“So what about that pink sweater shirt, that looks so pretty on you?”
I nodded, she was right, it was my favorite shirt. It was a wrap shirt, soft pink and cashmere. It made me look angelic. I wore it, some would say too much.
“Put that on and I have a nice pair of red leather capris that would make you look so good.” She ran up to me and kissed me on the top of my head, like a child. “Hurry up, you have like three minutes.” I did a double take and ran to my mirror, there was no way I was going to be able to look presentable in that amount of time. No way.
I ran a brush through my hair not really taking the time to even attempt at a style, I just let it fall where it may. I ran to the closet and pulled out my shirt, I threw my bra off and put the shirt on. It really was the only shirt that made me feel sexy.
“I swear on my life if you heifers don’t move your ass I’m going to walk the hell out!” Mallory screamed from the front room.
“Come on, she’s serious.” Nika burst back into my room with the red pants. I was sure that it would clash with my top but it went together so beautifully. I couldn’t stop looking at myself. Even as I could hear Mallory power walking towards the door, I smiled at the reflection in the mirror. I wasn’t drop dead model sexy, but I could turn a head or two.
“Let’s go, let’s go.” Nika grabbed me and we made our way out of the house.
“I don’t know about this.” I looked out the window of the car. I watched as a biker had a woman against the wall, a hand palming her breast and his pants loose around his waist. She didn’t look like she was having a bad time.
“Oh don’t be such a prude. What, you’ve never seen someone having sex before?” Mallory snarled at me.
“Mal, leave her.”
“I have seen people having sex, just not up against a wall in a parking lot.” I looked down at my hands, I had to stop looking at that couple. I had to, even if secretly I wanted to be her.
“Like I said, prude.” Mallory parked the car and made a show of getting out, the glittery top pretty much plastered to her skin. I kind of wanted to pop the thread securing the napkin to her fake boobs, but I would never do anything like that.
“Let’s go.” Nika pushed me to get out of the car. I walked up to the doors, the abrasive rock music pouring from the building, drugs and alcohol running free. It was not something that I was used to, in fact, it was everything that I had made sure I stayed away from. My mother loved the high of methamphetamines way more than she would ever love me, no matter how hard I tried to be perfect for her. My father was never really in the picture for me to impress, so I was always the good little angel, even though everyone in my world was sent straight from hell.
The Rolling Cobra’s clubhouse was the place to be, everyone was he
re and having a good time while I was being basically dragged inside.
“Come, let’s get a drink.” Nika was already rolling her hips to the beat that was vibrating through the area. Mallory was already off looking for Thad, the biker who invited us.
I walked over to the bar, already feeling like I needed this night to be over. “Can I get a cranberry juice?”
“Just a cranberry juice, darlin’?” A large man asked from behind the bar.
“Yeah, you know designated driver.” I chuckled. He laughed a bit and turned to get the cranberry juice.
“He has been going behind your back for-” I turned my head to see that there was a bit of a crowd behind me. The one directly behind me was wearing a decorated leather vest, out of all the patches that I did see, the one I noticed more than any of them was the long strip across his shoulder blades that said president.
“You don’t know tha-”
“How the fuck could you say-”
I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying but this president didn’t seem to want to believe whatever was being said. I was the last person to eavesdrop but they seemed to be really panicked. The two men who were standing next to this president walked off in a huff.
“Hey baby, how about you come over here and let me see what’s in all that leather.”
I turned my attention back toward the man speaking to me. He was sitting obnoxiously close to me, in fact so close I had to jump back so that we didn’t touch noses.
“Ah, excuse me?”
“Don’t act like that.” He reached over and tried to touch my face, I moved back again just to get out of his reach.
I tried to stay polite but the gap between his teeth was really distracting me, I mean I never could understand how people could let their oral health get that bad. “I am sorry but-” Before I could get the whole sentence out something hot and painful hit me right in the chest. It didn’t hurt right away but it took my breath away. I tried to take in a big breath and that’s when the pain came. I didn’t even realize that there was a problem until everyone started screaming and running away. I tried to talk but only found myself falling to the ground into a black abyss.
