Crotch Rocket: A Bad Boy Motorcycle Club Romance

by Natasha Tanner

  I closed my eyes and took a moment to think back on everything that had happened. I had told her to hide. Why didn’t she listen? Now the El Diablo Rojas have her and there’s no telling what they plan to do to her. I wished I’d fought harder. I wished I’d told Lauren that I had known who she was all these years. I’d always thought she was too good for me so I’d let her be. I’d left her alone and had instead gone after the easy catches, but now, now she had been within my grasp and instead she ends up kidnapped. I was angry at myself. If I’d brought a gun or some sort of weapon, anything, then things would be different now. There’d be three Diablos laying on the floor instead of me and Lauren would be here in my arms. As I sat on the floor I vowed that I would do anything to get her back. Those bastards were going to pay and Lauren was going to be mine. I would show her that I could be the kind of man that she needed.

  Ms. Richards returned with the aspirin and water. I chugged down five little beige pills and began the painful process of standing. It was uncomfortable but not as bad as I thought it would be. I winced a bit but the main problem was my head, as soon as the aspirin kicked in I would be ok.

  “Thank you,” I told her once I was standing on my own. “Did you see what they did with her?” I asked hoping she would give me some idea about how much they had hurt Lauren. I was hoping they hadn’t harmed her but it was better to get to the truth of the matter from the start. I knew I was going to have to get the club and that we were going to have to act quickly but if she was in already in serious pain then we would have to move even faster.

  “No…” she said her voice no longer trembling. “I heard all of the fighting and I snuck out of my hiding spot, but most of it was already over. You were on the ground with the two men and the other one, the bigger one, he seemed like the leader I think. Anyway, he was dragging Lauren outside. The best I could tell he held something over her face until she was no longer moving and then strapped her to his bike. My eyes aren’t so good anymore, you know, so I could be mistaken. All three left together and headed south. You were passed out on the ground so as soon as they were gone I came up here to try and help you. I had to push on you for quite a long while you know. Are you sure you’re ok to be standing?”

  I forced a smile and placed my hand on her shoulder. “I’m alright. Thank you for helping me. Are you ok to get home on your own?”

  “I’m ok. It’s not far, I just walk. Couple blocks at most. Should I call the police?” she asked as she waved her arm at the mess and the shattered door.

  “Nah. Don’t worry about it. I’ll get some guys from the club to come down and clean up the place. If you need I can get one of them to escort you home.”

  “No, I said I’m good. I might be old but I can still manage to walk on my own. I know you want to get out of here. Go get your girl. You two are meant to be together. Just be careful, you hear?” she said with a knowing smile that caused a few lines of wrinkles at the edges of her eyes.

  “How’d you know?”

  “I know a match when I see one,” she said with an added wink. “Now go get her before those men do something really nasty.”

  I started to nod my head in agreement but stopped when it sent a shock of pain down my neck. “You be careful too,” I said as I headed out the front door. It took another fifteen minutes for me to make it back to the club. Staying up on the bike had been rough until the pain reliever kicked in and then some of the pain started to dissipate. My determination probably helped dull some of the pain as well. It didn’t matter how badly my body was hurting, I needed to find Lauren. We had to get Lauren and if that meant sucking it up until we found those scumbags and had her safely returned, then that was what I was going to have to do.

  Hog came running up as soon as he saw the bike round the corner. I pulled to a stop and he took a step back. I guess my appearance left something to be desired.

  “What the fuck happened to you?” he asked. “I told you just to go to the store not go start a war.”

  “I did just go to the store, and it wasn’t me that started the war. Lauren, you know the young girl, the owner’s daughter? She told me they’d been getting threats from the El Diablo Rojas. I told her not to worry about it that I’d mention it to you guys and that it would be taken care of. Care to guess who sent a warning crew while I was heading out?”

  “Ah fuck. How many?” Hogarth asked as he stepped forward to help steady the bike as I lifted my leg over the seat.

  “Only three, but I was completely unprepared. I sent the girl and an elderly shopper to go hide in the back but of course she didn’t listen. Look, we’ve got a big fuckin’ problem. They took Lauren. Those goddamn motherfuckers took her. We have to go get her.”

  “Listen man, I gotta tell you something first before you go rushing in to the rest of the guys. I know you’ve been knocked about pretty bad but you remember that we were having the meeting right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Your dad, James, he just isn’t budging. He insists that you stay out of the club. I’m not on his side, you know that, but maybe, maybe this thing with the Diablos. I’m thinking, what if you show your worth, that you can take it. They might be hard asses about allowing you to come, because this is clearly a club matter, but if you stress that you’re going no matter what and that they’ve got the girl, I think they’ll have to let you.”

  “Should have fuckin’ known he wouldn’t change his mind. Of course the club is fine for the old man but it’s never gonna be ok for me.” I tried to shake my head but the movement sent a wave of pain radiating through my frontal lobe. “I’m going. They agree to let me, or they don’t, but either way I’m going to be there. The rest of the shit will just have to work itself out later. If the club doesn’t value me, then fine, I’ve got bigger problems right now.”

  “I hear ya. Let’s get you inside and cleaned up cause you’re not going anywhere in the state you’re in right now. You look like someone ran you over and dragged you behind a truck down a bumpy back road. Chris is inside. He may be a few beers in but he’ll be able to fix you up.”

  Chris was the go to guy whenever someone ended up injured. Prior to joining the club, he had planned on going into nursing so that meant he was the best the club had when it came to a doctor. Something was better than nothing and he had enough knowledge to fix most injuries. A few beers in meant he wouldn’t be up to his best and any suturing was probably going to hurt.

  Hogarth helped me into the bar and sat me down at one of the makeshift tables. Most of the place was put together with items that people no longer needed from their homes and had donated to the club. A mismatch of anything and everything. The table I was at had once been a cable reel. It served its purpose so it was good enough. As I sat and considered all the places my body hurt, Hog went and found Chris and explained the situation. He came over to inspect my bruised and battered body and then called out to one of the other men to go and fetch the supply kit. Tammy the woman I’d been with earlier in the morning brought me a cold beer and attempted to keep me entertained as Chris began to suture my forehead.

  I waved Tammy away and told her I wasn’t interested. It was enough of a movement that Chris chastised me and told me that I was a poor patient.

  “Keep the fuck still unless you want to end up looking like fucking Frankenstein.”

  “You know Frankenstein wasn’t the creature right? Frankenstein was the guy that created the monster. Everyone always has it wrong.”

  “What’s your fucking point?” he said as he pulled another suture through my forehead.

  “My point is that I wouldn’t be Frankenstein.”

  “What the fuck ever. You know what I meant. I didn’t realize I was fixing up a world scholar over here.”

  “I just thought you should know what you were talking about is all. Besides, do you think you might be able to hurry this up a bit. Just stitch up what you have to, or whatever else you think you need to do. I don’t have time to sit here all day.”


  Just as I was starting to get restless Hogarth returned from having spoken with James.

  “Hold your horses Jacob. Your father says we can’t head out until tomorrow morning at the earliest.”

  “That’s not good enough,” I countered. My mind turned to Lauren. I couldn’t imagine her being stuck with the Diablos overnight. There was no telling what they may do to her, what they may have already done to her. “No. I can’t wait. We need to leave right away.”

  “That’s not going to happen. James says that they’ll at least send a ransom or some other form of communication before they would move to kill or otherwise harm her seriously. We have to prepare. We can’t just go in there all willy nilly or we could end up losing more than your little girlfriend.”

  “I don’t care if I die! I’m not ok with Lauren being hurt or raped, or worse, by those bastards,” I spat. I tried to rise to show Hogarth that I meant business but Chris put his hand firmly on my chest and pushed me back down. I winced at the pain to my abdomen and allowed the pressure to force me back into my seat.

  “I see you have a bit of trouble with some ribs too,” Chris said. “Did you just sit there and let them go at you or what?”

  “Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. I just stood against the wall and told them to do their worst. What the fuck do you think?” I said getting angrier. “You don’t understand. Lauren is a good girl, she’s not like the women we have here. She’s not used to these kind of men. She won’t know how to deal with them.”

  “It doesn’t matter what she’s used to. All she has to do is be smart enough to keep her mouth shut and behave until we can manage to get there and save her ass,” Hogarth said. “James is right; we have to prepare. We can’t go in half-cocked. You know it too.”

  I tried to rise again but he stepped behind me and pushed my shoulders back down. “Now stay in your seat and do as your told. We’ll get your girl but its gonna take a little bit of time.”

  “Someone needs to go talk with her family and watch over the store until they get the front doors fixed. They’ll be worried,” I said as I accepted that the guys wouldn’t be letting me up again any time soon.

  “We’ll send someone,” Hogarth promised as he kept his hands steady on my shoulders.

  “Make sure that they know we’re going to get her back.”

  Hogarth rolled his eyes. “Like we wouldn’t fuckin’ mention that. Jesus, just sit tight, shits under control.”

  Chris finished stitching the more serious cuts, and wrapped my torso to help my ribs. He said they seemed cracked and not broken and that I needed to take it easy or they could easily become broken. Yeah…taking it easy wasn’t going to be happening for at least a couple of days. He splinted two of my fingers together and then I was as good as new, at least for the most part.

  Chris slammed the first aid kit shut and began to laugh, “I think the cuts and bruises might actually be an improvement on your ugly mug.”

  “You think so huh? Are you saying you’d like a few of your own?” I countered.

  “Nah, I’m pretty enough already but thanks for the offer,” he said with a sly wink as he wandered off.

  “C’mon, let’s go talk to James about the situation so we can come up with a plan. But forewarning, he isn’t going to want you to come along,” Hogarth said as he helped me to stand.

  “He doesn’t have to want to let me, it’s just something that’s going to happen,” I said as I began to hobble towards the meeting room.

  “Can I have another beer for the wounded,” Hog called out to the guys at the bar. They handed him a chilled beer. He used the counter to pry the cap off and then handed it to me. “To help with the pain,” he said with a slightly unsympathetic laugh. “You really do look like shit.”

  Hogarth knocked on the door and waited for James to answer. What came was a little more than a grunt. “Uh…what?” Hog pushed the door the rest of the way open and helped me hobble inside.

  “You know what’s up?” Hog asked as he helped me settle into a chair.

  “I know that this dumb motherfucker looks like he let himself be beat with a god damned tire iron.”

  “Actually, it was a pair of brass knuckles if you really care to know,” I said answering with a tightlipped smile.

  “How’s that shit even happen?” my father asked already knowing what had gone down.

  “Do you really need me to repeat the story that the guys have already told you? The important thing is that we gotta go get Lauren back.”

  “Ah, right, the girl. You got somethin’ goin’ on with her? She’s a hot piece of ass. Maybe a little too much of a good girl,” he inquired as he flicked his lighter and lit the cigarette hanging out of his mouth. “You bangin’ her? That why you care so much?”

  “No…well yes, but it’s not like that. She is a good girl. I wanted to take her out…but then this shit happened.”

  “This shit. That’s an understatement,” he said before taking a long drag. He made us wait as he held it in and then breathed it out slowly. An indication that he was thinking. “You’re certain is was the El Diablo Rojas?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. The leader was Rodrigo and the one with the brass knuckles was Angel. I don’t know the name of the third but he was a big guy, broad shoulders, a scar under his left eye and a big tattoo across the side of his neck” I replied as I reached across the table and grabbed the smokes and lighter. I lit one for myself and slid the pack back across the table.

  “Alright. We know where to find them then. I’ll get together with the guys and we can come up with a plan.”

  “I’m coming with you,” I said as I took another drag.

  “To hell you are,” my father replied.

  “They beat me; they took the girl I want. I’m going.”

  “You’re not in the club, you don’t get to be involved with club business,” he said with a determined air.

  “Who’s fault is it that I’m not in the club I’ve grown up in? Who keeps letting everyone know I’m not good enough?” I stood and yelled as I gripped my sore ribs.

  “If you could get your shit together maybe I’d consider letting you in.” he said with a sick grin.

  “That’s not fucking it and you know it!” I said leaning forward to yell in his face. Hogarth sat in the back and stayed uninvolved. He knew this wasn’t his battle.

  “It sure as shit is. Every single man in this club knows his place. I have yet to see you ever show that you know yours,” he said standing to match my own anger. I reeled back slightly and starred him down.

  “You’re just some hopeless old man that is stuck on some fantasy dream where you get to be ruler of the world. Just because I don’t always see things your way does not mean that I haven’t always done everything for this club,” I answered with a sneer as I pointed down at the table. “I’m going to the Diablo’s to get back Lauren whether you allow me to go with the club or not. There are more important things than your ego,” I finished and turned to leave.

  James began to laugh. “We both know you won’t be going anywhere. You don’t even have your own bike.”

  I turned my head to glance at Hogarth wanting some sort of recognition that he would let me take his but he only shook his head “no”, he knew he couldn’t go against my father, the leader of the club he loved. If he had allowed me to take his bike he would have been punished and it wasn’t right for me to put him in that position.

  My father cut in again, “Rest assured, we’ll be going to the Diablo clubhouse and we will take care of the store, and of course we’ll get the girl.”

  “I’m sure you will whenever you see fit to get around to it,” I said as I left taking care to slam the door behind me. I could hear my father beginning to speak with Hogarth. Hog might do what he could to take my side but in the end he would have to side with my father and there was nothing he could do to go against him, but that didn’t mean that I had to sit here and wait. That didn’t mean I had to stay idle while the bastard El
Diablo Rojas did whatever they wanted to Lauren. Even if I had wanted to wait and rely on the club, there was no way that I was going to give those dirty assholes until tomorrow. A few hours maybe but tomorrow was far too late. Who knows what they’d have done to her by them. My mind ran through a dozen scenarios of rape and torture, none of them acceptable and each only fueled my fury and desperation.

  Chapter 6 – The Club

  “Ok guys, so, you’ve heard what’s up. The El Diablo Rojas got wind that we were doing some business in their territory and instead of hitting us head on they decided to hit the store. I’ve already sent a couple men over to clean up and watch over the place. The more serious issue is that they kidnapped the owner’s daughter. Hogarth has gone to go speak with her family so they know that we’re taking care of it. We think we can head off getting the cops involved if we act quickly. I know tonight isn’t feasible but I’m looking at first thing tomorrow. Anyone have any ideas for a plan of attack? It’s thought that they’re holed up in their regular place.”

  One of the men sat forward in his chair - Chris. “If we’re not heading over until tomorrow, I know a guy I can get some extra ammo from.”

  “What about guns?” James asked. “Our supply is looking a bit weak at the moment. If he’s got guns in addition to his ammo, then we could use some extra arms.”

  “Yeah, he’s got guns as well.”

  “Alright. Get what you can so long as it’s reasonable. If not, we can make do with what we’ve got. I don’t expect too much of an issue if we catch these assholes off guard.”

  Another man spoke up. “There’s no way we’re going to catch them off guard. They’ll know we’re coming. That’s the whole reason they took the girl. Get us on their turf where they have the upper hand. I think we should go tonight, in the dark. Sneak up to the place before they expect us. They’ll figure that we have to arm ourselves and will show up within a few days, they won’t expect us to hit them right away.”