by Rose, Baylee
Turns out Max’s friend is actually, friends and these friends are notorious in Florida. The Steel Vipers Motorcycle Club are a bunch of hardened criminals disguised as bikers.
“Max, I don’t want to be here. I’ve heard all about the Vipers. They’re deadly and criminals.”
“What do you think I am, Kitten? I told you, never forget who I am.”
That’s the only reply I got. It shut me up, like it was supposed to. That was thirty minutes ago, and we haven’t talked since. I was ushered into Dawg’s—which is apparently Max’s adopted name, given by Marcum, the leader—honorary room and locked in. I didn’t have to test the lock. There isn’t one. I’m locked in by the guard on the outside. A huge, boulder disguised as a man and given the appropriate name of Mammoth. They called him Moth for short. I called him nothing because he was a good seven foot, and so broad he made ten of me easily. He was marked in ink from head to toe and had these large, gage-like things in his ears that looked painful as hell.
I look around the, pretty much empty, room. The walls are paneling that belongs in the seventies. There’s an old dresser with a mirror that again belongs in the seventies and a matching bed with a blue velvet and a definitely, seventies bedspread thrown over it. Still it’s soft, and there’s a connected bathroom, so I don’t really care. I head straight for the shower, planning on using all of the hot water and not leaving Max one drop.
I make good on my promise, and it feels divine. The water works magic on the aches and pains that living in the wilds the past few days had given me. There is a scratch on my breast; I can only assume, left there by Hernandez, and I want to hurl all over again. I suck it up and instead wash myself raw again. I’m wrapping a towel around myself and walking out into the room but stop when I see there’s a redhead sitting on the bed popping bubble gum.
“Hello?”
“Was wondering when you were going to get out of there. Of course, I guess if I’d been sleeping in the Florida swamplands like you have; I’d stay in the shower for hours too.”
“Umm…yeah,” I say holding the towel a little closer. It feels like I’ve been months without talking to anyone other than Max.
“I’m Cherry, sugar. I belong to Marcum. He asked me to bring you some clean clothes and take you to the kitchen to find you some food.”
“I appreciate it a lot, Cherry, but well…I don’t think anything you have will fit me,” I answer, and I’m not lying. Cherry is everything I always wanted to be and never could be. She’s taller than my 5’6 frame by a good four or five inches. She’s all tits and ass, I mean it should be illegal for a woman to be stacked that well. My sad b-cup and hardly there ass, weep at their failures.
Cherry laughs, and it’s a nice laugh. She looks to be mid-to-late thirties, and she’s got a beautiful face to match the rest of her. She seems like someone I would be friends with, which surprises me. I didn’t expect that here at the Vipers—especially from a woman claiming to be the President’s property. I’m not even sure what that means. Are they married? Is she like, one of many he claims? I don’t ask her because I don’t want to offend her, especially when she’s being so nice to me.
“Marcum mentioned you were kind of tiny. He said he didn’t know how Dawg bent you over without breaking you in two. No worries, I borrowed some of Callie’s clothes for you.”
“Umm…Max and I well…we haven’t really…” I start to explain, and then stop because I don’t know what to say to that. “Who’s Callie?”
“You haven’t fucked Dawg? Woman what is wrong with you. They say that man is legendary in the sack, and he sure is fucking easy on the eyes.”
My face heats and I wish I had kept my mouth shut.
“I well, he took me hostage…” I defend.
“He could take any woman hostage, and they’d willingly go. You must be crazy or something.”
“Who’s Callie?” I ask again because I really need to change the subject here.
“She’s Marcum’s.”
“I thought you belonged to Marcum?” I ask, deciding since she left the door opened, I’d walk on in.
“Callie is his daughter; she stays here sometimes. She’s away at school now. She’s small, like you, though she does have a little more in the chest area. They should still fit.”
“You’ll have to thank her for me,” I tell her, reaching down and finding a pair of slim fit jeans and a green hoodie. I could almost giggle in delight. “I don’t suppose you have some makeup I could borrow?” I ask, sounding almost hopeful. Cherry reaches behind her and holds out a cosmetic bag. “Cherry, I could kiss you!”
“Well, I don’t normally swing that way, but it might be worth it just to say I got in where Dawg couldn’t.” I stop and look at her, and then we both start laughing. I hurry and get dressed and throw some makeup on to hide the circles under my eyes and we head towards the kitchen. Food. I don’t think I’ve ever been so hungry in my life. I still haven’t seen Max, and I guess he figures that as long as someone is watching over me, he doesn’t need to bother with me. It doesn’t sit well with me, but there’s not much I can do about it. A part of me wishes we were still in the woods, and I had Max to myself.
Cherry feeds me a BLT, and I will never take the taste of bacon for granted again. Once I polish off the glass of milk she gives me; she asks me if I’d like to walk out back with her where the rest of the women are. Since there is still no word from Max, I shrug and figure, why not.
I don’t know what I expected when I found out we were going to the Vipers compound. Maybe cement walls covered in blood, orgies, dead bodies and skulls thrown around for good measure. Instead, it’s like a giant community. When Cherry takes me out back, it’s to a fenced-in yard, full of swing sets and children playing and surrounded by a large privacy fence. It’s probably the last thing I would expect to find in a motorcycle club’s stronghold.
We sit down at a picnic table where two other women are talking. They’re dressed much like Cherry and me, jeans, and a t-shirt or sweater. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought every woman at a biker’s club wouldn’t be allowed to wear clothes unless it was like a G-string bikini.
“Tessa this is Babs and Jinxy; they’re the other old ladies. Babs belongs to Topper, and Jinxy just got claimed by Blaze. Ladies, this here is Tessa, she showed up last night with Dawg.” I smile at them nervously, feeling very much out of my depth.
“You Dawg’s old lady? That’s gonna piss off Jenna for sure,” Jinxy pipes up.
“I…no, I don’t guess I am…”
“Too bad, it would have been fun to watch Jenna lose her shit,” Jinxy replies.
“Amen,” Babs adds in agreement.
Apparently Jenna is not well liked among these ladies.
“Who is Jenna?” I ask because it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that her and Max have some kind of relationship. She’s probably the reason I haven’t seen Max yet.
“Club whore, and I mean the word whore. Some of the muffler bunnies are good women, yanno? Jenna? Not even a little bit. She’s rotten clear to the bone,” Cherry says.
Babs adds in another amen. She obviously is a woman of few words.
“Why do you let her stay around then?” I ask confused.
Cherry laughs, and Babs proves me wrong by speaking up, her voice sounds like a woman who smokes ten packs of cigarettes a day.
“The men demand it because she can suck dick like a Hoover. Same reason Dawg even messes with her skanky ass.”
Something cold and bitter twists in my chest. I may not have met Jenna, but I’d like to scratch her eyes out right now.
“Who do all of the kids belong to?” I ask to change the subject, wishing Max would show up so I’d know he’s nowhere near Jenna.
“Members of the Vipers. Those two little blonde hellions over there are Marcum’s twins. Moth’s daughter is over there pulling Blaze’s kid’s hair. Charity Lynn! You stop that this instant or I’m going to have your daddy tan your hide!” Cherr
y says. I watch as the little girl looks at Cherry, and you can see rebellion in everything she does. She’s an adorable child with pale blonde hair curled over her head.
“So, spill it, woman, what’s going on with you and Dawg?” Bab’s asks and suddenly I wish she really didn’t talk.
“I, well…”
“Stop being a nosy bitch, Babs,” Max says coming up behind me. He puts his hands on my shoulders, and I relax a little.
“Dawg. You’re looking good for a jailbird.”
“Yeah, you’re looking good too, for a chick who’s stuck with Topper.”
“Fuck you, Dawg,” that comes from a tall, skinny man who has to be close to seven foot and barely has more meat on him than I do.
“Sorry, man, not my type,” Max says. “Now if you ladies will excuse me, I’m going to take my woman back to our room.”
I watch the banter back and forth. I don’t know if Max is serious, but I do know I like being called his woman.
“Oh! Max is going to have a little of the old in and out,” Topper jokes and I’m doing my damnedest not to blush. “Take old one-eye to the optometrist. Get a little slap and tickle,” he keeps going and Max gives him the finger and takes my hand leads me back through the compound, while everyone else is laughing.
“You have some strange friends,” I tell him when the door closes behind us, leaving the laughter and Topper’s comments behind.
“Yeah, but they’re good ones,” Max says and after having spending some time with them, I’m starting to think he’s right.
“So what’s the plan now?” I ask as Max leads us through the main room.
“Max! Blaze was just telling me you made it back.” Some skanky woman wearing a white t-shirt and nothing else, including a bra that she desperately needs, sing-songs. She’s blocking our way from the main entrance to the rooms and I have a bad feeling this is going to be Jenna.
“Hey, Dawg, ol’ man. How’s it hanging?” A man says coming out of the room zipping up his pants. He doesn’t have a shirt on, and his chest is covered in tattoos, gorgeous ones, but I have a bad feeling this is Blaze and having just met Jinxy, I think he’s a douchebag.
“Jenna,” Max acknowledges, but his voice is tight. Seems I was right. “Not bad, Blaze. If you don’t mind old buddy, it’s been a rough couple of days and I want to get my dick wet for the first time in way too fucking long,” Max says. I want to punch him in the junk, but since Jenna is shooting me evil looks and douche bag Blaze is eyeing me like I’m the Grade ‘A’ steak, freshly cut at his favorite butcher’s I mostly want to leave.
“I thought you and I could party, baby. Just like old times. I’ve missed you,” skanky queen pipes up.
“He can’t do that,” I interrupt before Max can say anything.
“Oh yeah, why’s that?”
“Because anything he puts in you isn’t coming near me, and I’m pretty sure that’s a deal breaker for him.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m…”
“Mine,” Max’s voice rings over the top of anything I can say. It’s cold and chills run down my back, but I don’t let on that I’m afraid it’s me Max is upset with. No, I stare down the cunt-cake in front of me.
“Hey, I don’t mind sharing. Blaze here can give her a go,” Jenna whines, and it is a whine. Suddenly I want to slam my fist in her face over and over until I’m satisfied her crooked ass nose is smashed in enough that it doesn’t annoy me.
“Yeah man, that’s good with me, I think I could show…”
“No one touches Tess but me, ever. Got it, Blaze?” Blaze holds his hands up in the universal no-harm-no-foul gesture, but I’m still disgusted.
“I wouldn’t want any other man, after having Max. They’d just pale in comparison, what’s the point?” I say and make sure my voice is thick with contempt. “Besides, I wouldn’t dream of hurting Jinxy like that. That’s something one girl shouldn’t do to another unless of course you’re just a skanky slut-whore…”
“Why, you bitch!” Jenna says jumping after me, but I was expecting it, so I punch her hard in the throat. She staggers back, and I get ready to scratch her damn eyes out when she comes after me, but Blaze holds her back. Max grabs me.
“That’s enough!” Max growls and his voice is deadly cold.
“Max, baby…” Jenna starts, and I jerk against his hold; ready to go after her again.
“Shut up Jenna and Tess, stop now,” he growls. “Jenna, I have an old lady now, and I’m no longer on the market. Respect my woman, or I’ll let Marcum know.”
“Whatever. Your ass will be locked back up soon anyway. I guess your time in the big house made you like skinny bitches. Hell, you probably been bending over for…”
Max has my hands, and he’s not letting go of me, but I know where the bitch is going, and there’s not a fucking way in hell she’ll finish that thought. I still have on Max’s uncle’s boots because Cherry couldn’t find shoes to fit me. Suddenly I’m very glad I’m still wearing the hard steel toes. I’m far enough away that I can get a good angle, and that’s the only thought I have in my head when I do my old cheer coach proud and kick out, catching Jenna between her legs. She cries, crumpling to the ground and Max jerks me further away from her. Jenna lies there whining, with tears running. Bitch.
“Tess, go to our room and wait for me!” Max orders, and yeah there’s no doubting he’s pissed at me big time now. I figure it was worth it.
He turns me loose, and I want to spit on her, but I resist. Barely.
“Fine! I guess I should be glad her skanky snatch didn’t swallow my foot,” I huff. That’s when I hear the laughter. I look over my shoulder, Marcum and Cherry are there laughing, same with Topper and Babs. The only one that isn’t laughing is Jinxy. She does give me a tight smile though, and I try to return it.
“Now, Tess.”
“Yes, Max,” I say, figuring I’ve caused enough trouble for one night and more than a little embarrassed that we’ve attracted so much attention.
“And Tess?”
“Yeah?”
“Make sure you clothes are off, and you’re bent over the bed waiting for me.”
I gasp and nearly swallow my tongue. When I look up at him, I can tell he’s not joking. A quiver of nervous excitement curls in my stomach. I don’t respond but walk on to the room.
I watch Tess walk away with a warring sense of pride and shock. I knew she had more fire than any woman I had ever known, but what I just saw here was something else entirely. The woman was jealous, fucking hilariously jealous. She was so panicked over staying in the Vipers compound, and she has no idea how well she fits in with them. Hell, she could rule over the old ladies easily after the stunt she just pulled. She even has Cherry’s respect now; I can see it in the other woman’s eyes.
“It seems your muffler bunnies have forgotten their place, Marcum.”
“Yeah, I see that. What do you want me to do with her?”
“I’d have her wash clothes and wait on Jinxy and the other women hand and foot,” Tess calls out from down in the hall.
“Tess!”
“I’m going, Mad Max, I’m going. I’m just saying…”
“Too damn much…” I grumble while the other women are agreeing with Tess and giving Marcum a headache. I think it’s time I said my goodnights. “I’ll talk with you boys tomorrow.”
“That sure is a saucy little piece you’ve got there, Dawg,” Topper says.
“I’ve noticed,” I answer, not turning around. I’m not sure I want them to see how big I’m smiling.
“Going to take a lot to tame that one,” Marcum agrees. “You’re a lucky man, Maxwell,” Marcum adds, and again I don’t argue. For once, at least in this minute, I feel lucky—maybe even the luckiest son of a bitch on the face of the Earth.
When I make it to the room, Tess is sitting on the bed, still fully clothed. That’s damn disappointing.
“Before you start bitching, she’s lucky I didn’t do worse,” sh
e grumbles.
“Why do you still have your clothes on?”
“I mean the nerve of her and what kind of woman would just sleep with...What did you say?”
“I said, why do you still have your clothes on?”
“I well…uh…”
“I gave you an order, Kitten. Now explain why you ignored it.”
“You weren’t serious though, that was just for show out there in front of everyone, right?”
“I never put on a show for anyone, Tess. I gave you a direct order.”
“But…Max.”
“Strip.”
“No.”
“Are you defying me?”
“I thought you were taking me back home?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“So you’re just going to sleep with me, and then get rid of me? That’s classy, Max. Real classy.”
“No, first I’m going to smack that ass, then I’m going to fuck you raw, and then when you’re able to walk again, we’ll talk about when you want to go home.”
“When I want?”
“Marcum is going to put us up in a safe house the club owns, for a few days. While I figure out my next moves. It’s entirely your decision, Kitten, but I’d like you to stay with me a little longer.”
“Max…”
“I don’t want to give you up yet, Tess. I don’t want you to go. Though, after what’s happened the last couple of days, if you feel it’s best for you to go home, Marcum and the boys will see to that too. I know I can’t offer you much, but for however long we can, I want more time with you.” That’s it. That’s as honest as I can be with her. I’ve laid it out, and the next move is entirely in her hands. I don’t think I’ve ever been nervous before in my life, but I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m feeling right now. She leaves the bed and comes to stand in front of me. There’s something in her eyes that I can’t read.
“What happened to my caveman?”
“He’s giving you one chance to leave.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I’m bending you over this bed and fucking you so hard that you taste me in the back of that pretty little throat of yours.”
