by Rae B. Lake
“Yup, he is waiting for you.” Maven turned to make her way back down the stairs, “I’ll make sure everything is alright in the club and get Ripper to get rid of Michael.”
“Ok, thanks again girl, I owe you.” I gave her a wink and opened up the door to the office. Wire was sitting at the desk, his elbows on his knees and his head hanging down. The President tag on his kutte laying heavy on his chest.
“Everything good down there?” He asked without even looking up at me.
“Yeah, it’s handled. What can I do for you Wire?” I walked up to the desk and sat on the edge. There was a time when I would have laid back on the desk, opened my legs and told him to have his way with me but Wire was a married man, to a mob princess at that. I would never disrespect him or Keeley.
“We’re losing him. We scraped the man off the road and made sure he had all the surgeries he needed but he’s dying on the inside.” He leaned back in the chair and let out a long sigh.
“Ryder,” I said more a confirmation than a question.
“Yeah, Mikki and Doc have been trying to work with him but he is attacking anyone that goes near him. He barely eats, won’t take his medication, and refuses to fucking go back to the hospital. I even brought Medi in to help with the physical therapy shit and Ryder nearly killed him for trying to touch his legs.”
“What the hell do you expect Wire?”
“I don’t know, I don’t fucking know but it wasn’t this shit. Prez hasn’t even been able to get through to him. Ryder has been a Wing longer than any of us, we can’t lose him.”
“What do you want me to do?” I asked a bit confused about why he was coming to me with this. It was a problem but it wasn’t one that I could fix. I wasn’t a doctor. I was just a dancer.
“This is going to sound fucked up, but just hear me out.”
“Always.”
“Ryder needs a punching bag.”
What the fuck?
“Um?” I started but he stopped me before I could continue.
“Not literally, he needs someone he can curse at and threaten. Disrespect. He’s in a dark place right now and his rage is eating him up. I would ask the men but most of the patched members are down in NOLA. Mikki broke down in tears after five minutes in the same room as him. You have always had a way with him, a way to thaw him out even when he tried to act big and bad. He needs someone to comfort him even when he is pushing everyone away.”
I let my head fall to my chest, it always came down to that. I was always just around to comfort the men. I loved to fuck; I loved driving men and women wild. I loved the attention, but every once in a while, I wanted to be worth more than a quick nut. “So you think fucking him will put him in a better mood? You’re right this is fucked up.”
He stood up, a wave of pity crossing his face. “Cherry, he’s paralyzed from the waist down. I didn’t read his whole fucking file, but I don’t think his dick works. That shit has to be driving him crazy on its own.” He shook his head and started to walk towards the door. “I don’t want you to be his whore, I want you to be his comfort. Just do what you can.”
I walked over to the two-way mirror that overlooked the club below. The dancers were doing their thing and the bass of the music was vibrating through the floor. Everything was moving fluidly, Maven was taking care of the bar, people were laughing and having a good time, but I felt empty on the inside.
So much had happened in the last year, I had moved on from being just a club bunny for the club to now being the co-owner of four different strip clubs with Maven. I groomed and trained all the new club bunnies that wanted to be a part of the Wings of Diablo and probably the most important, I gave birth to my little boy, Larry Jr. His father was killed in the war against the Bolivian cartel. I blamed Larry for nothing except for showing me a different way to live. Larry loved me and I loved him but we never could be more than just a couple hiding in the shadows. Patched members never made the bunnies ol’ ladies. Until Larry, I was completely content with stripping and fucking until my time was done. I didn’t know what it was like to be everything for someone and that was exactly how Larry made me feel; like I was his everything.
Now when I tried to go back to my old life of stripping and fucking, it was like I was a zombie just going through the motions. None of it was as fun as it once was. None of it excited me like it once did. I was just so fucking bored with the whole lot of it.
I suddenly couldn’t get out of this strip club fast enough, I was tired of watching titties sway and dicks getting hard. I needed a break from all of it and helping Ryder was a good a break as any. I knew he would be an asshole but I had dealt with that before.
Chapter 7
Ryder’s POV
“Mother fuck you!” I picked up one of the only remaining hard items in my vicinity and hurled it with all my might at Medi’s head. He didn’t move fast enough this time. It cracked him hard, right above his eye and split his brow open. A small stream of blood dripped down his face. He grunted and put his hand over his eye, but that wasn’t enough for me. I wasn’t satisfied with just a grunt. I wanted to hear him scream out in pain. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. Medi was the doctor for the Spawns of Chaos, our brother club. He was a genius, but he had a big mouth. He spoke about something that he shouldn’t and they cut his tongue out, he would never scream out in pain no matter what I did to him. He bandaged himself up quickly and tried to turn back and tend to me. Medi was a doormat, he would do anything the club asked him to do even if it meant that he would be beaten to a bloody pulp in the process. It just pissed me off more that there was nothing I could do to stop him from completing his task. If I knocked him out he would just wake back up and try again. “Medi! Fuck, just leave! I don’t want to be fucking touched!” I yelled out and hoped that it would be enough for him to leave even for a little while. Apparently, it was, he nodded once and walked out of the door.
“Well, would you look at that, the big bad wolf is huffing and puffing.” Cherry walked in as Medi walked out.
“What the fuck, can I get some god damn privacy or do I have to curse you out too?”
“You can do whatever you want to do Ryder but I am staying around for a little while.” She sauntered over towards the wall and leaned against it. A small smile playing on her lips. She was flirting with me. I had never wanted to wring a woman’s neck more in my life. Everything about Cherry revolved around sex, I used to love that about her but now she just disgusted me.
“Cherry, what the fuck do you think you are doing here? You ain’t good for shit, you have no use besides a quick fuck and in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t think I’ll be doing that any longer. So if you don’t mind flaunt that worn out pussy somewhere else.” I laid back in the bed and closed my eyes.
“Fuck you, Ryder, I know you’re going through a lot of shit at the moment but you don’t need to fucking talk to me that way.”
I let my hands fall down to the bed hard. “Until they announce otherwise, I’m still a patched member of this club and you are nothing but a biker slut. I can and will talk to you any way I fucking please, do everyone a fucking favor and get your raggedy-ass out of my motherfucking space.” I turned my head to glare at her.
She was crying, silently but still crying.
Of course, she was. Instead of making me feel bad it only pissed me off more. “Please step the fuck off with that shit Cherry. I don’t have time for your emotions.”
“Ryder, I have never in my life felt as low as you are making me feel right now. Part of me is pissed off that I even let you but the other part is just so disappointed in you. This isn’t you; you know it and so do I. You want me gone? Do you want to push everyone who cares about you away? You want to lie in this bed and waste away like a little bitch so be it, you don’t have to worry about this club slut giving two shits about you anymore. Congratulations prick.” She turned on her heel and walked out slamming the door.
I didn’t want the words she was saying to matte
r to me but deep down they did, there was nothing that I could do to change it though. I would never be the same, I would never be the man that she knew before.
*BOOM*
My eyes popped open and my heart began galloping in my chest like I was being chased by a million enemies. Another loud explosion sounded outside my door and I looked around my bed for my gun.
Villanuevas was back.
No, we killed him.
I shook my head, trying to let logic override the fear that we were once again being attacked. Once you have survived a war with a drug cartel anything can trigger bad memories. I heard more explosions and I could hear Wire yelling out commands.
“Get him the fuck out of the car and get the fire extinguisher.”
I heard footfalls but no gunshots or anything like that but I knew something was going on. I turned to get out of bed but I had forgotten one simple fucking fact.
I couldn’t fucking walk.
I landed on the floor hard and awkwardly. I looked down at my foot and could see that it was at an awkward angle, I waited for the pain to come but I felt nothing. I felt nothing but rage.
“Motherfucker!” I yelled out and swiped at the small night table breaking it to pieces. I felt useless. I was a grown man and I just fell out of bed and couldn’t get up.
I used my upper body to turn myself around but even that had me feeling like I had just run uphill. Cherry was right, I really was just wasting away. I reached up and tried to use the bed to pull myself back up but I couldn’t get enough of a grip to lift up. I fell back down again and tried to do a situp but it felt like everything from my belly button down was non-existent. I tried over and over again but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get up. The guys were outside yelling and I was stuck on the floor. I didn’t want to call for help but at this point, I had no choice.
“Charity!” I called out, her name like boiling acid on my tongue.
The door burst open and she came running through. I saw the panic on her face as she searched the bed for me and then an angry mask covered her features as she found me on the floor.
“Don’t just fucking stand there, get over here and help me.”
She walked over to me and bent down to where I was laying on the floor.
“You would think for someone who is stuck on the fucking floor you would be nicer to the person who is supposed to help you.” She put her arms underneath mine, getting ready to haul me up to the bed. There was no way that she was going to be able to. She was just a little thing, standing up she barely made it to my chin, now I was expecting her to lift my dead weight off the floor. After the second attempt, I shrugged her off. “Get the hell off of me! What fucking good are you?”
“You are such a fucking prick, do you want the help or not?”
“You can’t do it; it doesn’t matter what I want. Just leave me here on the floor.” I fell back down on the floor trying to figure out how I was going to get the fuck off the floor without having to call the boys.
I could sense Cherry walking around to the other side of the bed but I didn’t open my eyes to watch what she was doing. I just wanted her to go away.
“What the fuck?” I moved my hand away from the bed that was slowly moving down next to me.
When the fuck did I get an adjustable bed?
“Is this better for you?” Cherry asked trying to push the bed closer towards me.
I reached up and was finally able to pull myself up onto the bed and sit on the edge. I looked back up to the door when I heard a loud crash of what sounded like metal equipment. “What the fuck is going on out there? It sounded like some shit blew up.” I asked her.
“Storm crashed into the clubhouse. He’s hurt, I don’t know what happened though, club business.” She shrugged and stepped back towards the door.
“Well go find out for me.”
“You ever going to say please or thank you?” She asked pushing her chin out a bit, a small pout on her face.
“What the fuck do I have to say thank you for? You’re here to serve me are you not? So fucking serve!”
Her mouth gaped open a few times. That was exactly what she was there to do, what I asked, if she wasn’t down with it she didn’t need to be in the clubhouse.
“Ryder, you know god damn well that I can’t ask about club business if you want to know what’s going on so bad get the hell off your ass and go ask yourself.” She snapped at me. She wasn’t lying though, Cherry was respected in the clubhouse but she was still just a club bunny, she wasn’t supposed to know what was going on with the brothers.
“I swear you are so lucky that you look good because you must be as dumb as bricks, how the fuck am I supposed to go ask anyone anything, I can’t fucking walk!” I yelled in frustration. I was getting sick and tired of having to explain that to her.
She stormed passed me and back to the other side of the bed. She pulled a wheelchair from the corner and pushed it forcefully in front of me, knocking my legs in the process.
“You don’t have to walk to get the fuck out of bed. You have a damn wheelchair. Use it!” She backed up and crossed her arms over her chest. She was angry, in fact, she was angrier than I had ever seen her but she didn’t leave.
“Fine.” I reached down to the offensive chair and positioned it closer to the bed so that I would be able to slide down onto it. The smooth leather of the chair felt horrible against my skin. My back was still sore from all the surgeries and grafts but the pain medication usually kept me from feeling too much. This chair though, I could feel it through every pore on my skin. I hated it. I felt weak. I felt less of a man.
“You want me to push you or can you do-”
I cut her off before she could even finish her sentence. “I don’t need you to do shit for me Cherry.” I rolled to the door and used all the remaining strength that I had to push the door open, rolling myself out before she even had a chance to catch up with me. I rolled out into the main area and everyone stopped to look at me. The freak in the rolling chair. I wanted to turn around and go back into the room.
“Ahh!” Storm screamed out as Mikki hovered over his midsection and was busy at work. That was enough to draw everyone’s attention back to the other side of the room. I rolled over to where Wire was standing and texting furiously on his phone. He was pissed.
“Wire, what’s going down brother?” I asked tentatively, he didn’t have to tell me. I was no longer at the table.
“Some fucks jacked our cash drops both here and down in New Orleans. Prez managed to chase them down but had to stop. The bastards tore right through the town. Archer has a good set up down there but the police aren’t in our pockets yet. They would have arrested him.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I had been taking care of the cash drops and pick up since I had become treasurer and I had never lost one solitary penny. Now I was laid up in the fucking bed and two drops were taken? It would’ve never happened on my watch.
“Who is the treasurer? Was it targeted or just lucky?” Again I was going against the grain and asking questions that I shouldn’t be asking. It was no longer my place.
“Ryder, don’t be an asshole, you’re the treasurer. Storm is just helping out. He doesn’t want your job.”
“Fuck that, take this shit back!” Storm groaned out and cursed.
“I am happy to hear that you feel that way but you and I both know that I can’t sit at the table.” I looked up at Wire. The last thing I was going to let him do was to go against the law.
He nodded his head and focused back on Storm just as Mikki stood up from what she was doing.
“He will live, but he is going to have a hell of a scar.” She looked down at Storm who was already trying to get up off the table. “You’re going to have to take it easy a bit, those stitches will tear.”
“Yes, mother,” Storm said sarcastically and laid back down on the table. Mikki smacked him on the back of his head and walked past me. She patted me softly on the shoulder possibly to tell me tha
t there were no hard feelings for making her cry but it felt like pity and I couldn't stand that shit.
I turned to go back to my room, I’d just about enough of people looking at me like I needed to be helped.
“Ry, wait a minute.” Wire called out behind me. “We need to talk.”
I rolled behind him but when he opened the door to church I stopped. I wasn’t allowed in there anymore.
“Come on.” He held the door open for me.
“Wire, you know I am not allowed in there anymore. Don’t insult my fucking intelligence, I can’t ride, I can’t be at the table. You know this just the same as me.”
“I also know that I am the fucking president of this club and my word is law, now get your ornery ass inside fucking church.” He held the door open wider and I just glared at him as I made my way in the sacred space.
“What do you know about the Boys of Djinn?”
I almost laughed out loud. I hadn’t heard of the Boys of Djinn in over a decade. “They were a small group, they never even got their club started. They were wannabe’s, most of the members didn’t even know how to ride a bike.” I shrugged, trying to figure out what that had to do with anything happening here today.
“Well, I guess they got their shit together because they’re the ones who came after Storm. According to him, it was completely unprovoked, the same crew went for Prez too.”
I couldn’t believe it, these bastards were nobodies when we first encountered them years ago and now they were fucking with our money. I guess it was time to go back and finish what we started all those years ago. There’d been a truce but no one really knew much about it. There was only one man who did, Prime.
“You gotta speak with Prime before we go to battle with these bastards. There was a truce between the two clubs but I was never told all of the details, he would be the only one to know.
“Yeah, I thought I would. I want to make sure that our people are safe first, then I think we will pay Prime a visit. It’s long past due.” Wire looked at me pointedly, like he was expecting me to say something else.
