Down & Dirty

by Madison, Reese

  I led him to the high-stakes tables and sat. He sat a couple seats away because there were already people there. I kept beating him too easily, and I knew he was trying, so I finally went all-in to end my game.

  He looked at me, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m bored. There’s a band playing down the street I’d rather see.”

  He shoved his chips in. “Then let’s do this.”

  I laughed, “You should have just handed those to me. Save yourself the humiliation.”

  He turned over his cards and I smiled from ear to ear. “Nice try.” I turned my cards over and got chased from the table. Fortunately I know the dealer so I know he’ll save our chips for us.

  I ran to the nearest bar before he caught me and trapped me with those large arms on either side of me resting on the bar.

  His eyes seemed playful, happy for a change, “You little vixen.”

  I laughed fingering his beard. I missed this thing. “Where’s your Navy whites?”

  “I’ll call and have them shipped.”

  “How long?”

  “Two days at the most.”

  “Who has them?”

  “Right now? I think they’re in the White House, not sure.”

  “Why would they be there?”

  “You really don’t want to know.”

  “Yes I do!! Come on, you have to tell me now.”

  The bartender walked over with his eyes steadily on my breasts. “Can I get you folks a couple drinks?”

  I laughed, “The husband could use a whiskey, he’s not drunk yet.”

  “You got it.” He never took his eyes off me as he poured.

  Joe reached behind me, untucked my shirt and slowly slid his hand up to unsnap my bra.

  I looked at him, “What are you doing?”

  “Take it off. Do that thing girls do under your shirt to take it off.”

  I knew what he meant and pulled the straps off under my sleeves and handed him the bra. “Here.”

  “Throw it at him.” He gestured to the bartender.

  “You really are a nut.” I tossed it and landed it perfectly on his shoulder.

  He smiled, “Best tip I’ve had in months.” He smiled and went back to his other customers leaving the bra on his shoulder the rest of the time we were there.

  I looked at Joe. “You’re pretty funny for a guy who never smiles.”

  He moved the fabric of my shirt aside exposing a nipple to play with. “I could play with these all day, and night.”

  I looked around, “People are looking.”

  He covered me up but swatted my hand away when I tried to button my shirt. “Don’t. We’re in Vegas. Besides, once we get settled in back home I might be stealing your shirts more often. Best get used to it now.”

  I rolled my eyes, “Goofball.”

  We paid for our drinks and walked around a while. I swear he was showing off.

  We finally made it back to our room and I felt the exhaustion of the last six months kick in.

  I shed clothes on my way to the bed craving the comfort of a pillow and clean sheets. “I’m going to sleep for a week.”

  He held me close, “Sleep as long as you want babe.”

  We got married two days later in a tacky chapel off the strip. We spent the next week honeymooning in our room and surviving on room service. It was nice, really nice. I needed this time alone with him before going back to the club and the drama that will accompany it.

  I miss everybody there, but I needed Joe to myself for as long as he’ll let me. We probably could have stayed there for two weeks, but Joe gets antsy. I knew he was never any good at sitting still before, but he’s gotten worse. Either that or he was anxious to get back to the club. I get the feeling Vegas isn’t his scene.

  His bike is back at the club so we took the Mercedes south to the Valley of the Sun. I drove, of course. He was a little better behaved now, but not by much. Like I said, he gets bored easy.

  I handed him my phone to call the club when we got close, but he said it didn’t matter. Towards the last half of the drive his mood seemed darker. I guess he’s getting worried about what Slider will do or say about my unannounced departure. I don’t really care. Short of killing me, which I know he won’t do because it would devastate Joe, it doesn’t matter.

  The guys opened the gate for us, I found my old parking space and looked at Joe. “Relax, he’s not going to kill me.”

  “He’s not a nice man when crossed Carly, don’t underestimate him.” He got out slamming the door.

  “Here we go.” I complained getting out and looking around.

  It took about two seconds for Salina to come out of her office and head towards me with what I know is her angry walk. Brace yourself.

  She was pissed alright, she walked right up and cold-cocked me in the jaw. Ow, that’s gonna leave a mark, but I know I deserve it. Then she grabbed me and hugged me so hard I couldn’t breathe.

  “You horrible, mean, little bitch!!” She grabbed my arms and looked me over, “You’re okay?”

  “I’m fine. I’m really sorry Salina.”

  She punched me in the gut. “Fuck you and your apologies! Do you know what you did to me?!! Do you know how worried I’ve been?!” She yelled again.

  Joe stepped up, “Okay Sal, that’s enough.”

  I put my other hand up that wasn’t clutching my stomach, “It’s okay Joe. I can take it.”

  Slider walked up and hugged his brother, “Welcome home brother.”

  “Thanks man.”

  Then he turned his attention to me, “You on the other hand are in deep shit.”

  “I’m realizing that. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I needed to leave. I wasn’t in my right mind. It was too hard being here and seeing Joe everywhere and nowhere. I lost it pretty bad. I’m sorry.” I babbled.

  “Disrespecting me and the club like that is not acceptable. My brother’s old lady or not, you have to pay.” He informed me.

  “I’ll take whatever punishment you want to dole out for her.” Joe intervened.

  Slider looked at him. “It doesn’t work that way, not for this.” He looked back at me. “Salina’s been busting her ass for six months to keep that bar going in your absence. For the next three months you’re doing it alone so she can take a vacation. I don’t want to see her serving one fucking beer, got it?”

  I nodded, “Got it.”

  “From eleven every morning until two the next morning I expect you to be in there spit shining and serving. If I don’t see you in there you’ll get the beating you should really be getting instead.” He threatened.

  “Slide, just give me the beating. I want my wife at home more than that.”

  “Too fucking bad. Maybe you should have schooled her better before you left. You might want to educate her so this shit doesn’t happen again.” He slapped Joe’s arm. “It’s only three months Bro, and I want my wife back.” He countered.

  Joe let out an aggravated breath.

  “It’s okay babe. I can do this. I need to do this. It wasn’t fair to leave Salina with the bar like that, and it wasn’t fair for Slider to lose time with her either. This is on me.”

  “Your damn right it’s on you.” Slider turned to Salina. “You get an hour to catch up, then I’m taking you home to start making up for the time she stole from us.”

  “Alright babe.” She said before turning back to me. “Come on, let’s go catch up. I made some changes you should know about.” She hooked my arm and led me inside.

  I heard Joe cuss before going to find the rest of the guys. He’ll get over it. This is just as much his fault as mine, we both deserve the punishment. At least this way I know he’s here, alive and well, and when I get home he’ll be in my bed. I’m not going to be able to cater to him like I’m sure he would like, but he’ll live. It’s only three months, and nothing compared to the last six months of pure hell I’ve suffered.

  Salina and I caught up. It took about five minutes before we wer
e right back to where we left off. She gave me an ice pack for my jaw and poured us wine.

  “The place looks great. You must have worked your ass off.”

  “Nah, Slider exaggerates. I had plenty of prospects helping me, you won’t be so lucky.”

  “He was pretty pissed huh?”

  “Not really. It’s more about respect. Between you and me he understood and didn’t blame you for needing to leave, but you really should have said something. To leave the club the way you did shows your lack of respect and trust in your family to help you through any crisis.” She explained.

  “I wasn’t looking at it like that.”

  “I know, he knows. Like I said, it’s more to show the other members that no matter who you are, you don’t walk out on family. Not without paying for it. If you were a member he would have put you in the ring and had the shit beat out of you. Woman or not. But since you’re just an old lady he doesn’t need to do that.”

  “Good thing. Although I would have taken it.”

  “That’s okay, I already beat your ass, so we’re good.” She laughed tapping her glass to mine.

  I laughed, “Ow. You got me good. It almost felt good though. I felt like I needed that, a physical punishment to go with hurt I feel inside. I didn’t mean to upset you so much by leaving.”

  “Yeah well, do that shit again and I’ll really beat your ass.” She scolded.

  “Poor Joe is going to go nuts with me working here all the time.” I laughed.

  “He’ll get over it. I hear you got married in Vegas?”

  “Yeah, it was nice. It was a tough reunion at first. He came back and found out his brother Bret had been living with me for a month.”

  She almost choked. “What?”

  “It wasn’t like that.” I went on to explain what happened. It felt good to talk to my best friend again.

  Salina left an hour later and I opened the bar. In order to show the guys that I was sorry for leaving the way I did the drinks were on the house that night. I kept track of the cost and wrote a check to the bar so there wouldn’t be a loss.

  Joe came in and out throughout the night before finally settling down with the guys at their usual tables. Slider had taken Salina home early.

  By two I was more than ready to go home. Then I realized the house had been deserted for six months. Great. I guess I’ll have to do some shopping in the morning before I come back here.

  Joe was back to wearing his cut, which made me kiss him solid before we got on his bike. Seeing him in his cut brought me back to the way things were supposed to be.

  “How come you didn’t have this when you found me in California?” I asked him when he pulled into the garage.

  “They sent it back to Slider for me after I left.”

  “Oh.”

  He opened the door for me and turned on lights. “I had some prospects come by and get this place cleaned up for you.”

  “I love you.” The covers were off the furniture and it looked like someone had vacuumed and dusted. I went to the fridge wondering what I’d left to rot in there and almost jumped for joy. “Now I really love you.”

  “I didn’t know what you wanted so I left it up to them. Did they do alright?”

  “Come see.”

  He looked over my shoulder. “Figures.” He reached in and grabbed a beer.

  There’s a bucket of fried chicken, two cases of beer, about eight bottles of wine, salsa for the chips on the counter, a bag of apples, eggs and bacon. “It’s perfect.” I stole the bucket and chowed down. My jaw hurt, but the hunger outweighed my pain.

  Joe waited until I was done and took a closer look at my face. “She nailed you.”

  I laughed, “Yup. I’m glad she did, I needed that.”

  “Really? You liked it?” He took my hand to lead me to the bedroom.

  “More like I needed that. I knew she’d be pissed and wanted her to take it out on me with more than just words. I can take the physical pain better than the ass chewing.” I started the shower and undressed.

  He shed his clothes to join me. “That’s the last time anyone hits you. She’s lucky she’s Slider’s old lady.”

  I laughed, “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad to be home.”

  “It’s going to be a long three months.”

  “Nah. I’ll be at the clubhouse all the time at least. You can come see me whenever you want.”

  “You’re going to be working long days. How am I supposed to attack you all the time if you’re working?”

  I stepped under the water, “I suggest you make the most of the time we have.” I teased.

  He made me squeak when he picked me up and drove into me for a good up against the wall in the shower attack. I love his intensity, especially when he’s letting go of pent up stress and worry.

  When we finally found our way between the sheets to sleep he said, “In three months I want to start trying for a baby.”

  “I’m too exhausted to have this conversation.” I hugged him and fell asleep with thoughts of babies in my head.

  13

  The next day I woke up with his beard in my neck and smiled. I missed is annoying way of waking me up. I barely made it to the clubhouse in time to open the bar. I had to put my make-up on behind the bar. No big deal.

  I took my time getting back into the swing of things. Salina called around two in the afternoon to tell me she was glued to Slider’s hip and would come visit when he was done being possessive. We got a good laugh for a few minutes before I went back to work.

  Lots of people came in to say hi and welcome me back. It was nice to see everybody again.

  The next couple weeks took on a nice routine, even if I was stuck in the bar constantly. Joe had dinner with me every day. I couldn’t cook at the bar so he had to bring something in or have prospects go get us something. It was nice to be home again.

  Right now I’m trying to figure out whether to put the NASCAR race on or a Poker tournament. I chose the race because Poker still reminds me of Bret and his betrayal.

  Then I heard some kind of crazy commotion out front and went to check it out. I saw Slider and a few guys gathered around a woman and young boy about ten years old.

  Since it’s still early and there’s nobody in the bar I walked over to see what’s up. The woman is crying frantically holding the boy in her arms in front of her.

  “They killed him!!” She yelled at Slider. “Those bastards shot my husband. You’re supposed to protect us from this shit!”

  Slider turned to Goat. “Call a meeting. It’s time to get the other chapters involved and wipe this out.”

  He looked back at the crying woman. “I’m sorry Marie, this is the first time they’ve come after one of our own.”

  “You should be sorry! How am I supposed to raise this kid on my own?!”

  I took a closer look at the kid and got goose bumps. “Oh shit.”

  Slider looked at me. “What?”

  I looked at her, “He doesn’t know.”

  “Excuse me? Who the fuck are you?” She spat.

  “Shit.” I looked at Slider, “I need to talk to you. Privately.”

  “This better be good Carly.” He warned me.

  “It is.” I looked at Stacy, “Can you take them inside? Get them something to drink.”

  She nodded, “Sure.”

  Joe took my arm, “What’s going on?”

  “I need to talk to Slider.” I pulled free and walked over to where I knew we couldn’t be heard. I took a deep breath and let it out, “That’s my son she’s got. I recognize her and him. I was fourteen when he was born. I dropped him in her arms at the mall and ran. I panicked knowing I couldn’t take care of him.”

  He ran his hand over his face, “You’re proving to be a huge pain in my ass.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “You sure it’s your kid?”

  “Yeah. It’s a long story, but I see his father in the boy, and I remember her like it was yesterday. I look o
ver my shoulder all the time for her in hopes of seeing what he grew up to look like.”

  “Fuck. Does Joe know you have a kid?”

  “No. I was hoping to bury that dirty little secret.”

  “What happened?”

  “You don’t really want to know.” I felt sick suddenly realizing I was going to have to tell Joe. Figures, he’d just brought up kids last night.

  “You need to tell Joe, now.” He ordered.

  “I know. I want to help them, him. What happened anyway?”

  “Coyotes did a home invasion when she took the kid to school. They killed her old man, a member named Ben. The only reason she didn’t walk in on it was because she saw the blinds being closed when she got back and knew something was wrong. I guess she hung around long enough to see them take his body away in a truck or something. She’s been so hysterical I can’t get the whole story.”

  “Oh shit.” I covered my face.

  “This is my fault, not yours, but you’re going to tell Joe right now.”

  I nodded, “Okay.”

  “Any more surprises I should know about?” He’s mad.

  “No.”

  “Better not be. Put her and the kid up, it’s coming out of your wallet. I’m about to go to war.” He complained walking back.

  I watched Joe walk towards me. “What the hell is going on?”

  “You’re not going to like this. I need to do something first, then I’ll tell you everything.”

  He grabbed my arm, “No, you’re telling me right now.”

  “Remember when I said I had to do some bad shit to survive after I escaped that sick bastard when I was a kid?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, one of those things was to take the virginity of a kid about a year older than me, per his father’s request. He paid me to sleep with his son. We were each other’s firsts. I didn’t know anything about birth control at the time. I also couldn’t afford an abortion. I had the kid and dropped him in that woman’s arms at the mall when he was a week old.” I needed to sit so I took Joe’s arm and walked over to a stool just inside the garage.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” He’s too calm. That’s never good.