“I’ve got to get out of here!” Colt raged, picking up an empty beer can from the bar and heaving it into the wall as hard as he could.
“What’s wrong?” Sierra asked, pausing in her wiping of the tables.
“Come on. I’ll tell you on the way.”
“Give me a moment,” she said, finishing her task and returning the towel to the kitchen.
There had been many changes made in the week since the coup, and not all of them had been popular. Everyone had to pull their own weight now, and that hadn’t gone over well with some members. Monica, Skye, Mayla, Eva, and other women in agreement with them, had agreed to help with meal preparation only after a collective ass-kicking was promised if they didn’t, but even then they bitched, complained, and worked as slowly and poorly as they could get away with.
The men opposing the new leadership were just as bad, refusing to help with club duties until after a few come to Jesus meetings were held behind the clubhouse.
“It’s that fucking Dom and Monica!” he groused as he led her away from the compound. “Running against me is one thing, but they are actively sabotaging any chance of a fair election.”
Sierra shook her head in frustration. Fletch had refused to be nominated, and had nominated Colt as their candidate for President instead. All the members who wanted to take the club straight had immediately rallied around the idea and drafted him over his protests. The opposing group had put Dom up and the election was day-after-tomorrow.
“You knew it was going to be an ugly, bruising fight. They’re not going to go down easy.”
“I know! But damnit, we were all brothers and sisters once.”
“What happened, exactly?”
“I don’t know, exactly, but Vicki came to me and said Dom was making some veiled threats against the women.”
“What kinds of threats?” she asked, wiping sweat from her face as they slogged across the baked landscape. “And where are we going?”
“My thinking place. Vicki said that he said if he won, old ladies or not, anyone who didn’t come out in support of him is going to have to service the men on demand. That included their men, as well.”
“That should win him the women’s vote,” she said sarcastically. Dom had no chance winning, and he knew it, and was becoming desperate. “It’s a secret ballot. How will he know who voted for who? Where is your thinking place, and how much farther?”
“Not far. No, I mean any woman, and her man if she had one, who didn’t come out in public support for him now, will be forced to be little more than prostitutes if he wins.”
“Oh, I see. What a shit. I can’t believe anyone would vote for him. Things are already so much better than they were.”
“For most, but not all. Harrison and I had to beat the shit out of Marcus today. Harrison caught him just before he drained all the oil out of the generator.”
“Why would he do that?” Sierra asked in outrage. Without the generator there would be no lights, no water, no nothing.
“Because they are stupid fucks without a brain among them. They can’t think beyond the next step. He said Dom put him up to it, saying if enough shit went wrong, people would start to turn against us. They have gotten by on their fists for so long, they don’t realize that people are wise to them.”
She snickered. “The smart kids versus the bullies. I remember this from high school. Except this time, the smart kids kick ass, too.”
“Yeah, well, never underestimate the power to stupidity,” Colt said in disgust. “Up there.”
“What’s that? Is that a mine?”
“Yeah. The club owns all this land, including the mine. It’s an old silver mine that played out.”
“Is it safe?”
“Hasn’t fallen in on me yet,” he said as he began to pick his way up the steep slope, Sierra scrambling along in his wake.
“You come here often?” she asked as they stepped into the gloom.
He pulled a small LED flashlight from his pocket that he’d picked up before deciding to find Sierra. “I haven’t been here in a while. I used to come here a lot, especially when I was with Monica and I was fucking and fighting my way to the top. It’s where I came to get away from it all and clear my head.” He flipped the light on, the beam slicing into the darkness beyond the entrance. “Since I put the crew together, I talk my ideas over with them and I don’t need this place as much anymore.”
“When were you here last?” she asked, staying close and glancing around as she followed him into the darkness.
“I guess it’s been about a year, but I had to get away. That thing with Marcus pissed me off so badly that I wanted to kill Dom for putting him up to it. That’s a $300,000 piece of equipment he almost ruined. I put Nic on assigning a guard twenty-four seven to prevent something like that from happening again. I told him if they catch anyone tampering with the generator again to kill them. That should send the proper message.”
As they moved deeper into the mine, the air cooled rapidly. They were walking steadily downward, Colt taking a turn here and there, until she was hopelessly lost.
“When was the last time you have been in total darkness?” Colt asked, pulling to a stop.
“Uh, last night?”
Colt chuckled. “Hardly. Watch this,” he said as the light blinked out.
They were immediately surrounded in a blackness so profound that she grabbed his arm to prevent herself from falling. Even though he was standing only inches directly in front of her, she couldn’t see him. She couldn’t see anything and she began to feel disoriented.
“Turn the light back on, please,” she said, forcing her voice into a quiet calmness that she didn’t feel.
She felt him move, and she gripped his arm tighter, afraid that if he slipped from her grasp she would be forever lost. “Colt, turn the light back on please.”
“In a moment,” he whispered, his face so close to hers she felt his breath. He’d made note of their positions before killing the light so he could find her lips in the dark.
“No! Now,” she began, her panic beginning to rise, but then his lips touched her nose, quickly sliding down to her lips. She was still nervous, but being kissed in the darkness, unable to see, had an eroticism all its own. She felt powerless, but his slow luxurious kiss made promises that she was safe and nothing could hurt her. Breathing deep, she slid her arms around his strong neck and pulled him into the kiss, pressing herself tight into his body as his muscular arms surrounded her.
Born and raised in Phoenix, when he’d first found the mine he’d been mesmerized by the total darkness inside. He would enter the mine and sometimes sit for hours in the total darkness and dead silence to allow his thoughts to roam. As they hiked, it occurred to him that he’d never taken another person to the mine. He didn’t know if anyone came here as he did, but he liked to think that this was his secret spot, known only to him, and he realized how much he wanted to kiss her in the darkness, to feel her warm and soft skin, to smell her scent, to hear her breathing, while not being able to see her. He pulled back from the kiss with a soft sigh, the utter silence allowing him to hear her soft breathing as her breath tickled his lips.
“That was nice,” she whispered, searching for his lips again but unable to them.
“Next time I’ll bring some blankets and we can take this a little farther,” he suggested quietly as the light clicked on.
“Yes, let’s.”
“Come on,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her along. “I have something even better to show you.”
He continued to lead her deeper into the mine until she realized there was more light than the small flashlight could provide. He continued forward, rounding another sharp bend. Farther on, and round another bend, the tunnel suddenly opened into a cavern. A beam, as bright as a search light, streamed in from the ceiling a hundred yards farther down the tunnel. Spread below it was a pool, the water so still it formed a perfect mirror.
“Welcome to my thinking place,” he said as he switched off the light.
“Oh my God!” she breathed softly.
“Yeah, not bad. You swim?”
“Swim? Is it safe?”
“So long as you stay on this side of the beam of light, the water doesn’t get more than six or seven feet deep. Beyond that…” he shrugged. “There is a steep drop off that goes who knows how deep. I couldn’t find the bottom.”
“No, I mean is the water safe to swim in. It’s not poisonous or anything, is it?”
Colt chuckled as he began to strip. “I certainly hope not. I suspect it’s the same water we are drinking at the clubhouse.” He crouched down and dipped some into his hand. The water was crystal clear and he sipped the liquid from his hand. “Ahhh…” he said in exaggerated gusto. “Delicious!” He rose and began removing his pants and boots as well.
“I can’t swim,” she admitted meekly, not removing her clothes.
“So stay out of the light. You can wade can’t you?”
“What if I drown?”
“Then stand up! Seriously, the floor is a gentle slope. You will be halfway to the light before the water gets over your waist.” He waited but she made no move to undress. “Suit yourself,” he said with a shrug as he pulled his boxers down and waded into the water.
Sierra watched him wade out until the water was up to his chest before he began to swim away toward the light. Pursing her lips in annoyance, she undressed and waded slowly into the water.
The water was shockingly cold at first, but after a moment she adjusted and luxuriated in it, slowly wading farther out. The bottom was smooth and slippery and, as she became more buoyant, she treaded carefully to avoid falling. She swished the water with her hands, before scooping a handful to her mouth. The water was cool and refreshing with a slight mineral taste, just like the water at the compound.
She looked around for Colt. She’d seen him pass through the light, but he was nowhere to be seen at the moment. “Colt?” she called, looking around. “Colt?” she called again, louder this time, her imagination beginning to work overtime.
He burst from the surface directly in front of her in a huge splash, making her shriek in surprise, her voice bouncing and echoing in the distance. He began to laugh hard and deep, gasped for breath, and then laughed even harder.
“You asshole!” she cried as she splash water into his face. “You scared the shit out of me!”
It took him a couple of tries to stop laughing, but when he did, he grabbed her and pulled her to him, kissing her thoroughly.
“Stop it!” she said pushing him away. “I’m mad at you for scaring me like that.”
He held her, looking into her eyes until she stopped pushing against his chest. “Let me see if I can make you un-mad,” he said softly before pulling her lips back to his. And he did.