LOW JOB: A Filthy Dogs MC Romance Novel

by Ora Wilde

  “Maybe. But I wouldn’t want to leave anything to chance. That’s why I stripped you of your charter patch. You need to take Sammy far away from here, before the Godlesses regroup to plot their revenge.”

  “Any idea where I should take her?”

  “I told the boys that L.A. will be your first stop.”

  “I’m down with that. The city will help her get over the shit she’s been through. L.A.’s a good choice.”

  “Yes it is... but that’s not where you’re going.”

  My head twitched a bit as his response was totally unexpected.

  “Everyone will think that you’re going to L.A.,” Prez continued, “including the traitor.”

  “I see. So where are we really headed?”

  “Farther south. Near the border. A place called Rogue Town.”

  “I’ve heard of it.”

  “Stay there for a while. My brother... he runs a crew at RoTo... the Bastards of Bedlam. He’ll keep you safe until I manage to clean up our own house.”

  I nodded in agreement, assuring him that I completely understood what I had to do. He placed his hand over my shoulder and gave it a squeeze, his way of telling me that he trusted me, that he knew I’d be able to pull it off.

  He went straight to his daughter who was waiting for him at the other end of the tavern. He hugged her again and gave her a long, tender kiss on the forehead. Tears dropped from her eyes once more. She knew what it meant. It was time to leave. It was goodbye.

  Outside, the patches - who were now my brothers, a thought that has yet to completely sink in - were gathered around the bike I stole from the Godlesses.

  “Yours?” Screwdriver asked when he saw me approaching them.

  “I guess it’s mine now,” I said. “Spoils of war and shit.”

  “Nice. ’72 Rider. Quite rare these days.”

  “And it fucking reads Flesh Eater!” Rotten remarked. “You sure you don’t want us to change it to something more... appropriate?”

  “Like what?” I queried.

  “I dunno,” he answered. “Cum Swallower, h’bout that?”

  Everyone laughed. I laughed with them. For the first time since I joined the club, a joke didn’t feel like it was meant to ridicule me. It felt more like a gesture of affection, their way of showing their love, their way of making me know that I belonged.

  Finally, I belonged.

  Prez came to me once more and secretly handed over what seemed like a plastic card that was small enough to fit in my palm.

  “What’s this, Prez?” I asked.

  “Debit card,” he said. “I loaded it up with ten grand. That should be enough to cover your expenses for a while, but if things don’t cool down soon, you’d have to find ways to support yourselves.”

  “Okay.”

  He smiled. “That’s what outlaws do for their Ol’ Ladies, after all,” he added.

  I smiled back.

  He was about to walk away, but he turned around to face me at the last second. “Just... don’t let my daughter get a hold it, alright?” he reminded me with genuine concern.

  I chuckled and nodded.

  The brothers began singing and cheering as me and Samantha mounted the chopper. The engine roared and thick smoke began to spread over the ground like fog claiming the first minutes of dawn. We said our farewells. They said their well wishes.

  And we rode off.

  I expected her to stare at the place and the people we left behind. I thought she wasn’t ready to let go of the life she has come to know. Instead, I saw her looking forward, her eyes fixed on the road we were traversing, a smile shimmering on her beautiful face.

  “We’re not going to L.A.,” I said, loudly so she could hear my voice through the wind. I knew she’d complain.

  But she didn’t.

  “Okay,” was her simple reply. Her beam didn’t vanish.

  “We’re going to a Rogue Town.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “Down south, near Mexico.”

  “Okay.”

  “You’re not gonna complain about that?”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because it’s another backwater town in the middle of nowhere.”

  I heard her snicker before she replied. “It’s not exactly in the middle of nowhere,” she said.

  “Heh. It’s not?”

  “Nope. You’ll be there. Wherever you are, that place won’t ever be nowhere.”

  This girl. She is special.

  I drove the bike even faster as we reached the sign which reminded us that we were about to leave Stanislaus. Her arms tightened their grip around my waist as she drew her head closer to my back. My eyes were focused on the road. I couldn’t see her. But I could feel her warmth burning through the breeze and the cold air of the coming night. I could feel her lips, still curled into a smile, as she snuck a kiss or two. And I swear I could feel the beating of her heart, rapid but steady, and it was enough to tell me one thing.

  That she was happy.

  And that made me happy too.

  I didn’t know what the coming days would bring. I savored that moment with her. And I promised myself that I wouldn’t allow anything or anyone to ruin us, not now, not tomorrow, but forever.

  FIN

  As Lenny and Samantha ends their tale, a new story of the Filthy Dogs MC begins.

  Turn the page for a preview of the next exciting entry in the Filthy Dogs saga.

  Chapter One

  ADDY

  “Adeline, he’s looking at you again,” Teresa warned me for the nth time.

  I stirred my glass of margarita with my fingers, forming a whirlpool that caused some of its content to spill on the surface of the counter by the bar where we were seated. I didn’t notice that I was whipping it up a little too violently.

  “He’ll eventually come over to say hi, you know,” she added as she continued to eye Daniel who was sitting with a bunch of his college buddies at the other end of Nigel’s. “You might as well make the first move.”

  “What?” I responded incredulously, my eyes still refused to gaze at the direction she was pointing at. “That’s the craziest thing you’ve ever said. Ever! Why would I do that?”

  “Hey. Draw first blood and you won’t have to be caught tongue-tied,” she chuckled.

  “I’d rather stay here and finish this damn margarita.”

  “That’s not even a margarita,” she corrected me. “That’s a mojito. See? You don’t even know what you’re having. You’re already shell-shocked as it is and he hasn’t even smiled at us yet. What more when he does come over - that’s right, it’s a matter of when and not if - and touches your hand and plants a kiss on your cheek... or somewhere else?”

  “I won’t let him!” I vehemently pronounced. “And I didn’t know that this... this... this concoction is a mojito, not because I’m affected that he’s here... it’s because I don’t even drink that much. Heck, when was the last time I was in a bar?”

  Teresa just shrugged.

  “Exactly!” I declared. “The only reason I’m here right now is because you said you were having a bad week and that you needed some company.”

  “And I’m grateful for that,” she was quick to retort. “It’s not everyday when my best bud can free herself from granny watch.”

  I paused for a bit as a sudden surge of guilt coursed through my body. I was supposed to be with my Agnes, my grandmother. At her age and suffering from a relatively early onset of Alzheimer’s, she needed my help with practically everything she was accustomed to doing every single day before her illness struck - from keeping the house tidy to cooking to even cleaning herself up.

  I was orphaned at an early age. She took me in and cared for me ever since. She has virtually become my mother as I was growing up.

  And now that she’s old and weak and very much forgetful, it was my turn to take care of her.

  “She gave me a free pass tonight,” I shared. “She told me that I was getting pale for being stuc
k in the house with her for so long. She said that I needed some excitement in my life.”

  “And this Daniel situation,” Teresa quickly returned to the subject, “my oh my, isn’t this an exciting turn of events?”

  “And how is this exciting?” I asked without trying to hide my growing annoyance.

  “Well... he, you, lovers entwined by fate...” she sang her words like they were lines of a serenade, all the while flashing a deviously wry smile.

  “We aren’t lovers,” I bluntly rectified.

  “You aren’t. But you were.”

  “So?”

  “You were together for more than a year.”

  “Barely more than a year,” I redressed once more. “Thirteen months doesn’t even round off to more than a year.”

  “That’s still a significant amount of time.”

  “No it’s not.”

  “It’s not?”

  “Even if we were together for two, five, ten, fifteen years... it doesn’t really matter if we’d eventually part ways, right? If you’ll discover that you’re not meant for each other, then all those years would’ve just been wasted time.”

  Teresa’s eyes widened in astonishment. She shouldn’t have been shocked, though. We’ve been best friends since we were in grade school. She knew how I was, my eccentricities included.

  “Someday, you’ll realize that your idealism’s holding you down,” she remarked as she took a sip from her own glass of mojito.

  “Idealism is supposed to be bad?”

  “If it’s bordering on fatalism, yes.”

  I let out a deep sigh. “Remind me not to argue with a Philosophy graduate.”

  “Oops!” she suddenly gasped. “Look who’s coming over... and don’t tell me that I didn’t tell you so.”

  Shit!

  I tried to steal a glance by pretending to grab something from my purse. Just like what Teresa said, Daniel was walking towards us, with regal strides and a wide smile that was consistent with the self-assured swagger he has always been known for. He looked just as preppy as I remembered him, with his collared polo shirt, his light brown hair snapped back to perfect neatness, and his khaki pants that nicely complemented his yellow top. He has a lean body - built for athletics, really - and that made him look good with anything he wore.

  “Look at me,” Teresa demanded with alarm.

  “What? Why?” I asked as I unwittingly turned to face her.

  She keenly studied my face before nodding. “Eyeliner’s not smeared. Lipstick’s not smudged. Foundation hasn’t faded. Okay, you’re good to go!”

  “Really?” I responded in disbelief, vexed that she actually thought that Daniel’s impending arrival was something I had to look good for. “I don’t really care if my -” I began to state my case, only to be interrupted by...

  “Hey,” he greeted us as he tapped Teresa’s shoulder before giving her a peck on the cheek.

  I knew what was coming next. He was going to give me the same treatment. No freaking way!

  I raised my hand to call the bartender’s attention just as he left Teresa and before he could reach me. He was left standing behind me when the barkeep came to take my order, resulting in a rather awkward moment. Daniel cleared his throat and went back to where my best friend was, an attempt to save face. The bartender asked what I wanted. I couldn’t give an answer as my glass was still full and I didn’t know anything in the menu. So I just asked for a bottle of water.

  “Well, uhm, surprise surprise!” Teresa gracelessly said to salvage the situation. “You’re here too, Danny, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess I am,” Daniel cockily answered as he looked at his body to display the obvious. But I knew him better than that. It wasn’t just a gesture to emphasize his point. He wanted to draw attention to his torso, especially his chest and shoulders and biceps, the parts of his anatomy which he was most proud of.

  “And, uhm, we’re here too,” Teresa continued to clumsily utter. She was giving me the eye, hoping that I’d say something to help her out.

  “Obviously,” was all I muttered without even bothering to turn my head to face them.

  What followed next was something that I should’ve expected. I’ve been with him for quite a while, after all... and I knew that he wasn’t the type to change his attitude, even if it was the cause for our breakup.

  “Still uncomfortable with my presence, Addy?” he forthrightly asked, even if it meant making the circumstances thornier for everyone. His arrogant smile was gone, replaced by a scowl that revealed his vexation as well as the depth of the issues that plagued our relationship.

  He has always been impatient. As well as a control freak. Often, overly so.

  “We... We just want a relaxing evening, Daniel,” I tried to reason out with him.

  “And I’m ruining that?” he asked with exasperation, pointing at himself with incredulous animation.

  “I just think that it’s too soon for us to... you know... talk...” I continued to explain.

  “We’re not even talking talking,” he argued. His voice was getting loud. Nigel’s wasn’t full tonight, but he managed to get the attention of some of the few patrons the place had. “I just came over to say say hello. Just a simple, fucking hello!”

  “Danny, there’s no reason to use that kind of language,” Teresa intervened. She placed her hand over his arm to appease him.

  He swiped it away.

  “Shut up,” he told her as he never yielded in giving me a menacing stare.

  “Don’t talk to her like that,” I tried to put up a brave stance. The truth was, I was starting to get scared. He always had the effect on me. Our relationship has never been a healthy one, and it left some really nasty scars in my life... scars that were quickly opening up at that moment.

  “Talk to her like how?” he angrily questioned. “Oh, don’t tell me, it’s my fucking fault again, huh? I’m being a... what’s that word you used before? A monster? I’m being a monster again, is that it?”

  I looked around the pub. Everyone was already staring at us like we were a live soap opera unfolding before their very eyes.

  “That’s how it has always been, right Addy?” he went on. “It’s always my fucking fault, right? You’re the goddamn martyr and I’m the fucking villain, right? Well, I’ve got news for you, girl. You know why I’m like this? Because you fucking made me like this!”

  I placed my hands over my face. I didn’t know what else to do. I wanted to bury myself with shame. I wanted to answer back, but words failed to escape my mouth out of fear. Fear of being embarrassed even further. Fear of being yelled on even more. Fear of realizing how impotent I was at that very instance.

  Thankfully, Teresa was quicker on her toes than I was.

  She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of my stool.

  “Let’s go, Addy,” she hurriedly said. She left two twenty dollar bills on the counter which I guessed was more than enough to cover our single round of drinks.

  “Where are you going?” Daniel asked, still furious. “We’re not done yet.”

  “Oh yes, we are!” Teresa shot back. “We came here for some quiet time. We didn’t know that we’ll be caught in the middle of freakin’ Bosnia. Let’s go, Addy. Don’t forget your purse.”

  We scurried out of Nigel’s amidst the probing eyes of other customers and the rain of invectives that spewed out of Daniel’s mouth. Fortunately, that was it, though. He didn’t attempt to follow us.

  “Y-You handled that well,” I muttered to my best friend as soon as we exited the watering hole.

  “You think?” she answered, huffing and puffing from all the scampering that we did. “I just saved your ass, girlie. You were like a mannequin there. Why did you allow him to treat you like that.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. I didn’t even know why I needed to apologize, but I strongly felt that I had to. I guessed it was because I panicked and lost control, something that I always did whenever I was pressed into a corner. I never liked confrontations.<
br />
  “Heh. At least now I know why you guys really broke up,” she replied with a chuckle.

  “You mean you didn’t believe me before?” I wanted to know.

  “Well, I did, but I thought you were exaggerating. I mean, come on, Addy. When you said he has some anger management issues, I didn’t think it was that bad. I mean... he just flipped out! No one was even antagonizing him and shit.”