“To Sierra Mora! The badass-est bitch in the DVMC!” Colt said softly as he held his drink aloft in tribute.
Sierra smiled and sipped her drink. They had arrived in Las Vegas an hour ago and checked into a small mom and pop motel off the strip. As they checked in, she wondered how Colt was going to get all the cash into their room without it being noticed. While she waited, she came up with all kinds of wild ideas, such as using pillow cases or perhaps wrapping the cash in towels. When they rolled to a stop in front of their room, Colt had simple unhooked the bags, threw them over his shoulder, and carried them into the room. The moment he lifted the bags off the bike she flushed in embarrassment and was thankful she hadn’t mentioned any of her ideas.
“I need you to do something,” he’d said as he threw the bags in the floor. “I need you to call Gallup and tell them you are Vegas and that I let you go. We want to call off the heat of a kidnapping. Don’t tell them where you are, or any details. You’re complicit now. Just tell them you are fine and will be staying in Vegas.”
She’d nodded and done as he asked after he’d looked the Gallup Police phone number up using his cell. There was no answer so she left a voicemail, which had the benefit of avoiding questions.
She was so jacked up with what she’d done that she wanted to strip and fuck him the moment she hung up the phone, but he was indifferent to her. This time the indifference hurt because she felt like she’d proven something, not only to him, but to herself, as well. She didn’t know what she’d done to push him away, but she swallowed her hurt and followed him back out and down the street to a bar.
“Since I’m here, in Vegas, is this where you’re going to leave me?” she asked as he poured another shot into his glass to go with his beer.
“Only if you want to. You said you wanted to go to Reno, and I said I would take you there.” He shook his head. “But not today. I think we have done enough for today, don’t you?”
She smiled. He was loosening up, but every time there was a moment of closeness, he pulled back, and she didn’t understand why. It wasn’t like she was asking him for anything other than a ride to Reno. Well, and maybe ride her, too. But he was the one that got her involved in the club. She’d been trying like hell to get away until yesterday. Her smile grew larger. Now, with her cut, she could be out of his life forever, but she wasn’t leaving until he gave her a ride she could remember…and she didn’t mean on his hog either.
“What about tonight?”
“What about tonight?” he repeated, his tone confused.
“There is one thing that we haven’t done that I want to.”
He smirked. Gone was that deer in the headlights look she had when she arrived at the clubhouse. “Are you offering to prepay for your ride to Reno?”
“Maybe. You might get a bonus when we get there, too.”
He chuckled then tipped the amber liquid back, baring his teeth as it burned so good, pouring another. “You aren’t the shy thing I picked up a couple days ago, that’s for sure.”
She leaned across the small table, making sure her breasts bulged up for him to see. “That’s because you haven’t collected on your promise.”
“What’s that?”
“That I was going to have to go all the way.”
He grinned. “Here’s to going all the way,” he said softly before he downed his drink.
“What are you going to do with your share?” she asked. She’d wanted to count the money, but Colt had wanted to get something to eat and drink first.
Before he could answer, their burgers appeared. He waited until the waitress left before he answered. “Tuck it back, I guess,” he said as he squirted a huge glob on ketchup onto his plate.
“You said you had plans. What plans?”
“I have this idea. But the club…they’re so wrapped up in the drugs, sex and booze, they’re worthless.”
“Not all of them. What about Gunner, Nic, Harrison and Fletcher? And their old ladies?”
“Yeah, and there’re others. But there’re just as many that like the life, where the only thing they have to worry about is where their next line is coming from, or who they are going to fuck that night.”
“So do something about it.”
He snorted and took a bite out of the burger, chewing slowly. “It’s not that easy. I’ve tried, but Paul, he gets off watching the fucking and fighting. That’s how he holds onto his position, by making sure the sex, drugs and booze are always available.”
“So leave. Take those who agree with you and start your own club.”
Colt shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. DVMC runs that section of Nevada. Granted, it isn’t much, but it’s ours. If another club, even one I started, were to try to come in, there would be bloody war. Nobody wants that. I would lose some friends even if I win.”
“So you are going to just sit back and take it?”
“For now.”
“Is it because you enjoy the life, too? After all, you did kidnap me for sex.” She made sure to smile as she said it to make sure he knew she was kidding. While it may be technically not true since she had a choice, in hindsight, it appears deciding to go with him had been one of her smarter decisions.
“Seems to me I didn’t have to do a lot of persuading by the time we got down to business.”
“No, I don’t suppose you did. But that doesn’t change the fact that you still haven’t taken me all the way.”
“You want me to?”
“Yes. At least once, but preferably three or four times before you leave me in Reno.”
He sipped at his beer. He was going to take her all the way. She’d pulled off one slick little heist and he’d been aching for her since it became clear that they had gotten away with it. When she came on so strong in the motel room, it was all he could do not to fuck her stupid right then. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but Sierra was speaking to him in a way no other woman ever had. She had fire, determination and strength, and she had them in spades. She’d gone hard at him the first night, as if to prove to him she was tough enough to take anything he thought he could serve up. Then she’d come up with the idea of robbing the armored car. That was a bit too big of a bite, but it had led to a fairly substantial haul. When he’d told her what she had to do, she’d gone all in and done it well. Most surprising of all was her willingness to fight for it. There was far more to Sierra Mora than met the eye, and he liked what he was seeing.
“I want to take the club straight,” he said to avoid having to answer her. “Fletch, Gunner, Harrison, Nic and I, and the old ladies, have a business plan. We can take DVMC legit and stop having to look over our shoulders all the time. But fucking Paul Beaker won’t listen. He would rather play his little power games, pitting one member against another and get his rocks off watching the members fight. It’s no coincidence that President is the only position that has be voted in. It takes a two-thirds vote to call an election and a two-thirds vote to elect a new one. Anything that falls short and the old President keeps his position. It was set up like that before I joined, and that’s how he stays in power.”
“You can’t rally enough support to vote him out?” she asked after swallowing the bite of burger she was chewing.
“No, not even close. Monica, Dom, Skye, Blaze, Minx…a bunch of others, they all get off on the power struggles, the fighting and fucking. Skye and Monica, they are constantly at each other’s throats. Paul doles out favors and scraps to keep them that way. But deep down inside, I think they like the fighting.”
“And you don’t?”
“After a while you get tired of it. The club is always on the verge of coming apart. If we would work with each other instead of against each other, we could get so much more done. As it is now we can’t do shit. Except for Fletch and the rest of the guys, it’s every man for himself.”
“What about your crew? Do they get caught up in that stuff, too?”
“Some. But Perri, Bobbi and McKenzie are tough bitches. They can kick serious ass. Bobbi is like a fucking ninja. She can probably kick any man’s ass in the club. And the guys have kicked enough ass that nobody challenges them much anymore.”
“Even yours?” Sierra teased.
“Maybe. I wouldn’t want to test her. Nobody messes with her. McKenzie and Perri have each other’s backs and Fletch has broken more than one bone. My guys are tough and for the most part nobody messes with us anymore.”
“What’s the deal with this challenge shit? How did that all get started?”
“Damned if I know. It has always been that way, but it has gotten worse. Dom told me once it was a way for the club to sort out problems. If someone had a beef with someone else they could challenge, then the members would sort it out. Somewhere along the way, it evolved into what it is now. Everyone is always scrapping for top dog, and these little alliances form and break up all the time. I used to read about Rome when I was a kid, the Roman legion and all that shit. The fucking Romans could learn a thing or two about underhanded backstabbing from the DVMC.”
“How long have you been with them?”
“About six years.”
“How did you get to be vice president so fast? I mean, I assume you got there fast. You’re younger than most and Paul has to be, what, sixty? Most of men and women appear to be in their late thirties to early fifties.”
“Yeah. I got there by using my fists and cock.”
“Your cock?”
“Yeah. Monica, she used me to drag her up the ladder. She brought me into the club then hitched her star to mine.”
“She was one of the women fighting when we came in, right?”
“Yeah, the redhead with the big tits. She likes to fight, and she likes to fuck, but mostly she likes to do both at the same time. She gets off hard on it. She set me up with Dom. He busted in on us while we were fucking. I think the idea was for him to kick the shit out of me so she could watch it happen, but it didn’t turn out that way. I was young and stupid and looking for something. So she recruited me and then I became her pitbull. She kept setting us up in one fight after another. Fucking, fighting, sometimes both. She didn’t care. Finally, I had to face Dom again.”
“He was the Vice President?”
“Sergeant at Arms, and he was gunning for me. He wasn’t happy that Monica had thrown him overboard for me.”
“What happened? I assume you won.”
“Yeah. He was with Skye at the time. It was last one standing. Monica took Dom out first then it was me against Skye and Monica. But I—”
“Wait!” she interrupted. “How does that work? You beat Dom, so doesn’t that end it?”
“Yes and no. Skye was his proxy, so if Skye had taken me out, then it would have come down to Monica and Skye to determine the winner. That’s where all the animosity comes from between those two. But it didn’t come down to that.”
“And all four of you were fighting? Skye and Monica must be pretty tough to stand a chance with you.”
“Not fighting, Sierra, fucking. It was whoever was the last one still able to fuck.”
“Oh,” she said, still not sure she understood. “So you out fucked Skye?”
“And Monica, too.”
“That’s what I don’t get. Wasn’t Monica on your team, or something?”
“Yes, but if she could out fuck me, too, that raises her standing in the club. After all, she took on two men and out fucked them both.”
Sierra shook her head. “This is too complicated for me. How do you keep up with it?”
“It’s nothing formal. It’s about respect, and you just sort of know.”
“So now you were the Sergeant at Arms?”
“Yeah. But I was sick of being used by Monica. I kicked her ass out, then I challenged for the Vice-Presidency. That was Tucker. He didn’t want to fight and just let me have it.”
“Any one challenge you for it?”
“A few times. Especially when I started putting together the crew. But nothing in the last year or so.”
“Who’s the Sergeant at Arms now?” Sierra asked, fascinated by all the backstabbing and intrigue. This was a lot more interesting than any television show she’d ever seen.
“Nic.”
“Ah! Who else from the crew?”
Colt smiled. She was figuring it out. “Gunner is the Treasurer and Harrison is the Secretary.”
“Fletcher?”
“He watches our backs.”
“So you have your top people in positions of power, and one standing by? I bet that goes over well.”
“Not such a problem now. But as we were putting the team together there were a lot of challenges.”
“But your people stood them all off?”
“For the most part, yes. That’s why Gunner’s old lady left. Monica fucked her up good while we were putting the team together.”
“That’s what you meant when you said I would have a target on my back.”
“That’s right.”
“But you still want to turn the club around, and you have your people in place. Why haven’t you moved?”
“Because I’m still trying to do this without breaking the club. It takes time. I’m slowly showing brothers and sisters alike there may be a better way. What makes it tough are the Monicas and Doms working against me. If I could figure out how to get rid of them, and their close supporters, I think I could get what I want. But, once again, Paul likes to keep us at each other’s throats. So long as we are fighting each other, we can’t turn on him.”
Sierra looked into Colt’s eyes. She could see life in there as he talked about the club and where he wanted it to go. He seemed more alive and animated than at any other time she’d seen him. “What is it you want to do with DVMC?”
Colt shook his head. “That’s only for the officers of the club to know.”
“Who am I going to tell? I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Again Colt shook his head. “Just a little venture we have been working on.”
“Does Paul know?”
“He knows I want to take the club legit, but he doesn’t know the details. If he did, I’m sure he would do what he could to tear us down.”
Sierra sat and mulled over what Colt had said as she finished her burger and beer. She knew he was a planner, someone who was careful and methodical. If he believed something was a good idea, it probably was. She racked her brain trying to figure out what he could be working on out in the middle of Nowheresville, Nevada, but came up empty. “Want to go count some money?” she finally said to fill the growing silence.
He smiled and stood up, throwing four twenties on the table for their tab. “As a matter of fact, I do.”