Snake

 

It was just a little local bar, the kind of place that served everyone from insurance agents to farmers to teachers. There were no bouncers or cover charges. The mismatched tables and the sealed concrete floor let us know that this wasn’t anything fancy, but that was all right with us. It wasn’t the sort of place that was prepared to host an entire motorcycle club, and the look on the bartender’s face said it all when we walked in. He took one look at us and disappeared through a door behind the bar, coming back with his manager a minute later.

 

The older man leaned on the bar, his face drawn but trying to look tough. “What can we do for you boys?” The few other patrons gaped at us. Clearly, they didn’t get guys like us in this town very often.

 

Bruiser, the leader of our little clan, smiled. He was a scrawny man, but he knew how to intimidate someone if he wanted to. This time though, he just smiled and spread his hands. “Just stopping in for a drink.” His leathers creaked in the silence that had fallen over the place.

 

“I don’t want any trouble, now,” the manager warned. “If you’re here as paying customers, well then, that’s fine. But I have the sheriff on speed dial.” He pointed to an old phone on the wall that looked like it could have been a prop.

 

We had about the same experience no matter where we went. The Warriors rode where they wished, whether the locals appreciated it or not. We’d been on the road for far too long, and it was time to stop for a while. This little town of Myrtle Creek was going to be our temporary home for the next few days while we rested and tuned up our bikes. Our gang filled up the bar quickly, making the locals take off for other watering holes.

 

I found a spot at a table near the back with several other members who had become close friends in the few years since I’d joined the Warriors. “What do you make of this place?” I asked, studying the barnwood that lined the walls and the framed pictures of small-town celebrities. “Think there’s anything interesting going on around here?”

 

“You’re joking, right, Snake?” asked Axle, a slim young man who had just joined our club last year. He pushed his long curly hair back with one hand. “We’re probably the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to this town. All the little church ladies will be talking about us for the next five years.”

 

“We could always make something happen.” Rusty, big and burly with a head of flaming hair that matched his name, plunked down in a chair and raised his finger in the air to summon a waitress. “I’m a little bored after just riding for so long.”

 

“You heard Bruiser,” I reminded him. “He said we’re just here as paying customers. No fights tonight.” It had been a while since I’d had a good brawl, but I wasn’t really in the mood. Like Rusty, I was tired.

 

A young woman with a dark ponytail and wide eyes walked up to us. “What can I get you?” Her voice shook, and she constantly looked over us at the bar, no doubt keeping eye contact with her manager.

 

“Just a round of beers,” I said.

 

“Unless you’re on the menu.” Rubble was built like a boulder, short and round. He had a habit of being a little creepy, and the girls in any town we stopped in usually ran from him like the plague. “I’d gladly take a serving.”

 

She practically ran back behind the bar to get the drinks, tears in her eyes.

 

The big blond man across from him shook his head, his beard brushing against his vest. “You’re never gonna get a woman,” Moose advised. “You should know by now that a delicate creature like that needs a little time to get used to seeing your ugly mug before you subject her to your nasal voice.”

 

The rest of us laughed, but Rubble balled his fists. “You want to go at it again? I’m gonna kick your ass this time.”

 

“Sure you will.” We all knew that Moose wasn’t the kind of guy you’d want to fight. Formerly in the military, he had studied martial arts for several years and was a weapon in and of himself. A little guy like Rubble couldn’t take him, and the rest of us were smart enough not to try.

 

“Dude, don’t listen to him. You can get a girl any time you want.” Axle leaned forward on the table. “You’re just going to have to pay her. A lot.”

 

We exploded in laughter once again as the waitress came back. She nearly threw the beers on the table before retreating once more, and Rubble didn’t say anything else to her. After all, we were all ready for a long night of drinking.

 

It was cheap beer, but it hit the spot. I sucked it down like it was the stuff of life and ordered another round. Before I knew it, I was feeling a little buzzed. “So, what are we going to do while we’re here? We should see what they have for entertainment in this little one-horse town.” We hadn’t spotted any casinos or nightclubs on our way through town, just a lot of churches. Still, there had to be something to do.

 

Rusty pounded his empty glass down on the table and sat up straight, looking like a lumberjack with his red hair and goatee. “Call it what it is, Snake. It’s a shithole. Just like every other little place we ride through. I don’t know why Bruiser doesn’t go for bigger cities. There would be so much more to do. But no, we’re stuck in the shithole.”

 

“Okay, then we should see what they have for entertainment in this little shithole.” I shook my empty glass in the air, and the little waitress shot back over to refill it. She was working like crazy to keep all the bikers satisfied. “And I think he’s just a small-town kind of guy. Besides, there are more cops in the cities.”

 

Rubble watched the waitress’s ass as she walked away. “Let’s just do what Rusty said and entertain ourselves. I bet there are horny women all over this town that would just be dying to get on our bikes.”

 

“You’re living in a porno,” I said, punching him in the arm. “It’s not a fantasy world.” Still, I didn’t really mind the idea. It had been a while since I’d had a woman, and I had needs of my own.

 

“We could always make it a little more interesting than just finding women.” The rest of us turned to face Rusty. “Let’s make a bet. The first one of us to knock up one of the local chicks wins.” He pulled out his wallet and threw a hundred-dollar bill on the old wooden table. “We can each bet a thousand, with a hundred holding your place in the game. What do you say?” He looked at us expectantly.

 

We were getting drunk, but I think we all would have been game for it anyway. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a bet that involved getting some ass? My hand whipped to my pocket for my wallet without my even thinking about it. It was a ridiculous idea, but I wasn’t about to lose. “I’m in.”

 

The little pile of bills on the table was quickly finished, none of us turning down the dare. Rusty swept up the money, folded it, and tucked it behind his driver’s license. “We don’t have a lot of time here, so we’d better get started.”

 

“I’m going for her.” Rubble stared at the waitress, who had been carefully keeping as far away from him as possible since he had first tried to speak to her. Even when she came to our table, she passed the beers around from the side opposite him. “She wants me; she just doesn’t know it yet.”

 

“Oh yeah. She’ll have you. Right after she has some tragic accident in the kitchen and goes blind.” Moose scanned the room. “Looks like we’ve chased most of the women out of here, but there’s that chick that keeps hanging out near the jukebox. I call dibs on her.”

 

“Sure, get the easy one,” Axle chided. “You know she wants some biker dick if she’s staying in the bar while we’re all here.”

 

The blonde man shrugged. “She can’t be that easy if nobody’s gotten to her yet. And hey, if she wants some biker dick then I’m more than happy to give it to her.”

 

“Fair enough,” Rusty agreed. “What about you, Snake? See anything you like?”

 

If this had been a biker bar, I would have had a lot more to choose from. There would have been half-dressed women all over the place, eager to do favors for any one of us just to get a ride or a free meal. And I wasn’t all that picky. I knew I wasn’t looking for anything more than a casual fling. There could never be anything more than sex between a woman and me. My stepmother had made sure of that. I shook my head to fling the thoughts aside.

 

When I looked up again, I saw the most attractive woman I’d seen since we’d pulled in to Myrtle Creek. With her long blonde hair laying against her shoulders in waves and her big brown eyes, I knew exactly who I would be going after. “Her,” I said, pointing.

 

The guys turned around and laughed as soon as they saw. “A poster? You’re a lot drunker than I realized. You can’t fuck a poster, and you sure as hell can’t get it pregnant. Good thing, too, or a lot of teenage boys would be in trouble.” Axle smiled, laughing at his own joke as he took another pull of beer.

 

“No, you idiot. Read it. This little dump had some sort of festival this week, and the parade is Saturday. That girl is the county queen, and she’ll be in it.” I couldn’t stop staring at her. It was just a snapshot of her on a stage, but she was amazing. Her beaded dress hugged her slim curves, and her smile could have won the contest all on its own. If she had walked into the bar at that moment, it would have been almost impossible for me not to ravage her. But of course, county queens didn’t just go walking into bars. And I highly doubted a girl like that was looking for a guy like me.

 

“Good luck.” Axle shook his head and slammed the remainder of his beer. “I gotta piss. If I see any other posters in the bathroom, I’ll let you know.” He clapped me on the shoulder and left.

 

Rusty, Rubble, and Moose continued to make their plans, but I wasn’t paying attention. Most of the women I’d been with were just random warm bodies I had found in bars. They barely had faces, and plenty of them didn’t have names. I didn’t care. I just knew I wanted this woman, and I would find some way to have her.