“All I told them was that I wanted to go to culinary school, and that I’d like them to honor matching what I’d saved, as this was truly my passion and what I felt called to do with my life. My father then told me that he and my mother would never settle for me going into any field less than the ministry, especially one like the restaurant business, as it was so rampant with gays.”
“He didn’t!”
“He did,” Jimmy chimed in.
“My mother then told me she was going to increase my weekly sessions with Pastor Ron to twice a week, as I clearly needed guidance. I told her that sounded like a great idea.”
“You did?” I asked.
“You bet I did. I loved giving head and Pastor Ron was hung like a mule.”
Clutch laughed. “See? They don’t call this the confessional for nothing, Doc.”
Robert continued, “So, that was the day my parents found out their son was gay, and the day I found out they’d already given all me and my sister’s college funds to the church; to help fund Pastor Ron’s new TV ministry.”
“So, you created this place,” I said.
“That’s right. I created this place as a fuck you to anyone who me told I couldn’t, and a reminder to myself that I could. It’s both sacred and profane to me, as are the people in it.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you, sweetie, it was a pleasure meeting you. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.”
“I’m sure we will. Thanks again, Bob,” Clutch said with a wink.
“Now, onto dessert!” Chef Robert placed his hand on the handle of the silver dome and I held my breath in anticipation for a repeat of the main course. I’d been traumatized by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as a little girl, and for all I knew, there were chilled monkey brains under there. He lifted the lid to reveal a decadent chocolate masterpiece. It was truly a work of art and appeared to be made primarily from a familiar treat.
“Are those—”
“This is one of my signature creations, made by request for you this evening. This is my loving tribute to the greatest snack cake ever made, Mr. Winston’s Chocolate Yum Yums,” he said smiling.
Before us was a mountain of stacked Yum Yums, drizzled with layers of caramel, chocolate sauce, surrounded in a whipped marshmallow mote. Throughout the mountain were caves which were each inhabited with scoops of various flavors of ice cream. It was as playful as it was elegant, and next to Clutch’s naked body the most delicious looking thing I’d ever seen. In fact, at that moment, I didn’t know which one I wanted to take in my mouth more.
“I can’t believe you did this,” I said to Clutch.
“Bob here made it, I didn’t do anything,” he replied.
“Thank you, chef, it looks amazing,” I said to Robert before turning back to Clutch. “I mean, I’m just touched that you did something so thoughtful in arranging all of this. Even in spite of my little spell earlier, this has been wonderful, especially you Jimmy.”
“Jimmy is in the service of the Queen,” he said with a slight bow, and with that the two men made their exit.
We returned to small talk while we ate dessert, and as we got up to leave, Clutch pulled me close for a deep, slow kiss. “I know we never finished our conversation and we will, but for now, I’d like to take you home and not talk for a while if that would be okay,” he said.
“I’d like nothing more,” I replied, and we got up to go, hand in hand. I’d slipped back into my cruel shoes but felt like I was walking on air. I’m sure it was a mixture of the sugar buzz and sexual high that was starting to come on, but I hadn’t felt this great in a long time.
We made our way towards the exit, Clutch making me laugh with a running commentary on the restaurant’s décor as we passed each piece. The cool night air was a soothing welcome to my warm skin. I was still a bit overheated from getting ill but had almost returned to feeling normal. Since we’d driven here separately, Clutch was going to follow me home on Charlene. I was jealous that he got to ride her before me, but as long as he didn’t make me wait much longer I thought I’d survive. We kissed and turned to walk in separate directions when I heard Clutch shout, “Shit! No!” and turned to see him running across the street. At first, I didn’t see who or what he was running toward, but my heart sank when I realized what was happening.
“Mother fuckers! I’m going to rip your fucking heads off! Whoever did this is dead!” he yelled at the top of his lungs with unbridled rage.
I ran to Clutch, although I barely recognized him. It was as if he’d transformed into a different person. There was a disconnected look in his eyes, and his face was twisted into a sick half-smile. It was as if he was completely consumed by his anger.
Clutch stood in front of Lucille, or at least what remained of her. There didn’t appear to be a single spot on the body that had not been dented, scratched, or punctured. The hood had been removed and the engine was covered in what looked like tar. Every window was completely shattered and on the roof the words “DEAD SAINT WALKING” were spray painted in bright orange. All four tires had been slashed and every light broken. As bad as all of this was, it paled in comparison to the interior, which was covered in what looked and smelled like blood.
“Clutch, I’m sorry—”
“Go home, Gina. Don’t stop for gas or groceries. Go straight home, lock your doors and text me as soon as you get there,” he said.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“To look for who did this.”
The tone in Clutch’s voice and the expression on his face answered my earlier question about whether or not he’d ever killed someone.
Clutch
I left Eldie at her Jeep and ran toward the rear lot where I’d parked Charlene. When I found whoever did this to Lucille I was going to rip his fucking throat out. No fucking mercy no matter what the new rules were. He fucked with Lucille, my number one lady. I’d poured my heart and soul into her and he violated her. I was going to kill this bastard with my bare hands and I was going to take my time.
As I rounded the corner, I could see a dually flatbed truck in the parking lot and two men attempting to load Charlene onto it. These must have been the same guys that trashed Lucille, and the flatbed was how they got her here in her condition.
I slowed my pace, pulled my gun, and moved in quietly for a better look. The parking lot, like much of Portland itself, was poorly lit, but as I got closer, I could clearly see that one of them was wearing a black hoodie with a white dragon.
The same motherfucker that was creeping around Gina’s place.
Before I knew it, I was running full speed, straight at him. His partner saw me coming and took off, but I stayed on the Dragon, who’d turned to run, but was too late.
I leapt in the air and tackled him to the ground, pinning him to the asphalt with my full weight. I’d knocked the wind out of him and he gasped for breath. I sat up and stuck my gun in his face while I grabbed his hood.
“Let me see your ugly fucking face before I put a hole in it,” I said pulling back his hood. Instead of a hardened thug, looking back at me was a petrified kid, struggling for air. He was Hispanic, was certainly too young to vote, and barely looked old enough to shave. I holstered my piece and pulled the kid to his feet.
“You trying to steal my bike, you little fucker?” I growled at him as he continued to fight to breathe. I hit the skinny little shit with everything I had, my shoulder hitting him squarely in the solar plexus. “Did you trash Lucille, too? Did you trash my fucking car?” I screamed, shaking the kid like a rag doll.
He was just about turning blue, when he finally gulped in enough air to squeak out, “They... made... me... do it.”
I yanked him to his feet. The kid couldn’t have weighed more than a buck thirty-five.
“Who made you do it? Who the fuck are you? Who told you to trash my car and steal my bike?”
“It was... my... initia... init... ”
“Your initiation?” I a
sked, to which he nodded. “You did this to get into Los Psychos? You violated my Lucille, so you could run with those pieces of human shit?”
He nodded again, this time avoiding eye contact.
“Look at me, you stupid little punk,” I barked. “I’m gonna give you one chance, and one fuckin’ chance only to tell me every single thing you know about Los Psychos. What the fuck they want with us, and exactly how you and your bitch partner are involved. ’Cause he’s next on my list.”
“He’s was just trying to... get in like me. I swear to God.”
“You don’t swear to God,” I said, pulling my 9mm out and pressing it against his forehead. “You swear to me. You’re gonna tell me everything I want to know, or I promise I will kill you, and I will make your death slow.”
I was still holding the kid by the scruff of his hoody and I felt his legs give out from underneath him. He didn’t pass out, per se, but if I hadn’t been holding him up, he would have dropped like a stone. The kid looked like he was gonna piss himself, so I holstered my gun and sat him down on the flat bed. He looked more like a childhood trauma victim than a hardened thug. Shit, he didn’t even look like a softened thug.
At that moment, every ounce of fight I had drained out of me, as if someone pulled a plug to a reservoir in my body that had been holding it in all along.
“What’s your name, kid,” I asked.
“Alejandro.”
“Alejandro, my name is Clutch, and I mean it when I say that I’ll be the last person you ever meet if you try to run, draw attention to us, or otherwise escape. Do you understand?”
He nodded.
“Good, because you’re coming with me right now and we’re taking this Flatbed.”
* * *
My prisoner and I arrived at the compound around one a.m., and I marched him to the bunkroom where the Peckers’ were currently housed. I’d blindfolded Alejandro for the trip, as I still had no idea what I was gonna do with this fucking gangbanger wannabe.
“Get the fuck up, you’ve got company to entertain,” I said barging in to the room and turning on the overhead lights.
“What the fuck?” Big pecker growled like a bear coming out of hibernation.
Little pecker shot up in his bunk and cried out, “Mommy?” before collapsing and falling straight back to sleep.
“Oh, we’re gonna talk about that shit later on,” I said to no one in particular.
“Get the fuck up!” I bellowed even louder, this time bringing both men to their feet. “Good,” I said. “Listen carefully. This is Alexandro, the Fuckface Kid. He’s a dead man walking, and you two are gonna guard him until I get back.”
“When will that be, exactly?” Little pecker asked, to which I replied, “Not exactly sure.”
“Approximately?” he asked.
“How ’bout this, Peckerhead. You and your very large friend just be sure to guard him until I come to get him. Maybe that’s in fifteen minutes, and maybe I’ll be gone for two weeks. Either way, the mission is the same. Keep the fuckin’ prisoner in this room and guard him until I get back.”
The Peckers nodded, and I turned to leave, but paused to add, “Oh yeah, if he tries to escape, beat the shit out of him. Don’t kill him, because if anyone gets to do that, it’s gonna be me, but if he tries to run, feel free to make sure he never walks again.”
I tasked two of the soldiers, who also lived on the compound, to carefully get Charlene down off the flatbed. I’d had Alejandro help me load her on the back at the restaurant, under penalty of castration if so much as breathed on her too hard in the process.
Once I was ready to roll I texted Eldie but got no response. I called her, but after several rings it went to voicemail. I rode home, and figured I’d try her again in the morning.
* * *
The sunlight that poured into the room stung my eyes as I scrambled for my phone. It was 11:15 a.m., and Eldie still hadn’t returned my call or text. I figured she was likely off and running early this morning and simply didn’t check or respond to her messages. No worries, as I planned on swinging by the clinic on my way to the Sanctuary anyway.
I threw on the cleanest pair of jeans and black T shirt I could find. As I pulled the shirt over my head I could smell Eldie’s cent lingering on my clothes.
God, I miss her.
This was a feeling I was not at all accustomed to. I guess I missed Minus when he was sent to Savannah, but I was mostly able to block that shit out, as it was just as much business as it was personal. This was different. When Eldie wasn’t by my side, I felt like a chunk of myself was walking around out there in the world without me.
I went to the kitchen to make some coffee. I’d managed to keep as clean as Eldie had left it, which wasn’t hard considering I lived on smoothies, grilled chicken breasts, and buffalo meat protein bars. I started a pot and texted Eldie while I waited for the machine’s brew light to change from “Almost ready... ” to “Enjoy!” Still no reply from the Doc, so once I’d finished slugging down my cup of jet fuel, I hit the road.
I pulled up to Eldie’s clinic twenty minutes later to find the parking lot completely empty and the doors locked. I peeked inside and couldn’t see any people or lights. I immediately dialed her number.
Straight to voicemail.
Shit. What the fuck was going on? Was she avoiding me after last night? Did the shit with Lucille scare her off for good?
She wouldn’t shut her clinic down for the day if she was ghosting me. Something else was going on here and whatever it was wasn’t good. If Los Psychos could snatch Lucille out from underneath me, maybe they did the same with the Doc. I got back on Charlene and sped off for the compound. If Los Psychos had anything to do with this, I was gonna get some answers from a certain punk car thief, regardless of whatever weird soft spot I had for him.
I arrived to find Clutch, Ropes and Kitty talking with kid in the great room.
“I told the Peckers to keep this little fucker on ice in their room until I got back, so which one of them do I get to beat the shit outta first?” I asked upon entering.
“Relax, I found out Alejandro was here, and brought him out to have a little chat,” Minus said, in his signature slow and easy tone.
“Oh, good. I’m so glad you’re all so relaxed because I have a question of my own,” I said, yanking the kid to his feet and slamming him against the nearest wall. “Where the fuck is she?”
“I... I... don’t know who you’re talking about?” he stammered.
“Clutch let him go. He’s okay,” Minus said, now on his feet.
“Bullshit he’s okay. This little fuck stick the one that took Charlene and now Los Psychos have kidnapped Eldie, and I’m gonna pull his fingernails out one by one until he tells me where they’re holding her,” I said, pressing my forearm against the little weasel’s scrawny neck.
“Listen, man,” Kitty said. “For what it’s worth. This kid started showing up right after I hooked up with Los Psychos. He ain’t even a prospect. It sounds like he and his buddy boosted your ride just to get a foot in the door.”
“Yeah, well I’m gonna take that foot and jam right up his ass unless he tells me every goddamned thing he knows about those psycho sonsofbitches.”
“What exactly do you think we were doing before you got here?” Minus asked in a tone meant to yank my chain just a bit. I took the cue and relaxed my grip on the kid.
“Sit the fuck down,” I barked, and he did as he was told. “Now speak.”
“We were told to steal your car, trash it, and then do the same with your bike,” he said.
“What about the Doc?” I asked.
“Who?”
“Gina, the woman I was with last night. Who took her and where do they have her?”
“I don’t know anything about a woman, I swear. We were only told to fuck up your rides, that’s it, I swear,” he said, his voice cracking.
“You’re gonna pray to God that he kills you if I found out that you’re lying to me,” I s
aid. “Cause I’m going to make this slow—"
“Jesus, Clutch. He’s just a kid, back off,” Minus said.
“Eldie is missing, and if I find out this little shit could have helped us, and he didn’t—”
“What exactly do you mean she’s missing?” Minus asked.
“She’s vanished. She hasn’t returned my calls or texts from last night for this morning, and her clinic is a ghost town.”
“That is strange. I’ve never known her clinic to be closed on a weekday. She’s even there most weekends, so that doesn’t make sense,” Minus said.
“That’s what I’m saying. I don’t like this man. I think Los Psychos fucked up Lucille to hurt me, and I’m afraid they’re doing the same thing with Eldie. I’ve gotta find the Doc Minus, I love her, and I won’t be able to live with myself if anything happens to her.”
* * *
Gina
Two days. I’d been hiding here for two days and I still hadn’t come up with a plan. At least no one knew where I was. The last thing I needed was an interruption to my private meltdown.
I turned on the electric kettle and grabbed a mug from the cabinet, opening the pantry and stepping inside for a teabag. I couldn’t believe my life had come to this. I’d greatly miscalculated my badassery and now I was paying for that mistake.
I was old enough to know better.
Shaking my head, I walked back into the kitchen and froze.
“What the fuck, Eldie?” Clutch growled.
The teabag fell out of my hand and I felt the light begin to fade.
“Doc? Fuck! Gina!”
Strong arms grabbed me as I lost consciousness and let the blissful nothingness take me.
“Baby,” Clutch rasped. “Fuck. Eldie, I’m here. Let me help you up.”
I found myself lifted from the floor and cradled against his chest. It took me a few seconds to fully comprehend my surroundings, but once I did, I shoved at his shoulders. “What are you doing here? Let me go.”
“I couldn’t find you.” He pulled me closer. “I thought they’d taken you.”
“Who?” I pushed at his shoulders again, but he wouldn’t budge. “Clutch let me go.”
Clutch (Burning Saints MC) Page 13
