Chapter 1
Trudi Campbell moved her car off of the interstate, onto a side road her GPS swore would get her to Atlanta, Georgia faster than the interstate would and wondered if the change was a good idea. She looked doubtfully over at the device as the dulcet tones of an English accented male voice told her to go 300 feet and turn right. She hated that voice after 350 miles of hearing it demand she make U-turns and take the next exit ten times before she was even close to the exit. She reminded herself to change the voice the next time she stopped for gas.
The sun was going down now and Trudi kept an eye out for a place to stop and have something to eat. Five hours of driving had left her with a sore bottom and a hungry tummy. Unfortunately this must have been the loneliest stretch of road the area had to offer. She hadn’t even passed a house much less a convenience store in the last five miles. She hadn’t seen any other cars either, come to think of it.
Her hunger pangs turned to a dramatic drop in her stomach as the car suddenly jolted and the engine started to make a high pitched screeching noise. Slamming her foot down on the brake as instinct took over, Trudi looked through her windscreen as smoke started to rise from under the front of the car.
“Oh, this can’t be good. What do you suggest now Mr. Hoity-Toity?” Trudi asked the now silent GPS unit. “No answer for that one, huh? Well then.” She looked around as the sun finally settled below the horizon, taking the little bit of daylight she had left with it.
Seeing no other cars that might come to her aid and knowing the car wasn’t going to stay going much longer Trudi drove to the side of the road only for the GPS unit to chirp at her once more in its condescending tone, “Satellite signal has been lost, searching for satellite signal.”
Trudi gave the unit a glare and made a rude gesture at it before turning off her car and picking up her phone only to see an “x” where signal meter should have been.
“I knew that was going to be the case. Looks like I’ll be walking then.” Looking down at the pristine white pantsuit she was wearing and the low heels on her feet she regretted the decision she’d made that morning to enter her new home in the city looking professional.
Yesterday she’d had on trainers, jeans, and a sweatshirt, much more appropriate attire for the walk she was about to take, but she was playing the part of a professional now. At 22, she had a bachelor’s degree in political science and a job with a senator waiting for her in the city; far from the poverty she’d grown up with in her small West Virginia town. When she was preparing to leave this morning she’d decided that looking the part she truly hoped for was important. Blake Shippington III was single, handsome, and the man of Trudi’s dreams. Landing a job with him got her foot in the door, now she just had to convince him she was wife material.
Looking outside of the car she realized this was going to be a very long dark walk. No lights in either direction meant there were no houses or shops ahead. There were also no lights on the side of the road, no cars passing by, and her phone was almost dead. Clicking on the flashlight app on her phone Trudi hoped she would find something before the phone’s battery died and before she ruined her shoes walking on the gravel-lined side of the road. It was cold now so hopefully there’d be no wandering snakes or other creatures out looking for a midnight meal.
“That’s it Trudi, freak yourself out before you even get out of sight of the car. That’s a good idea.” She put on her coat, held the phone out in front of her, and started putting one foot in front of the other. She wasn’t going to get anywhere sitting around here, time to get to marching. She went in the direction she’d been heading in hoping that this would bring her to some sort of civilization. And if she disappeared off of the face of the Earth maybe her GPS would point any observers in the direction she’d headed in.
“There you go Trudi, doing it again. Stop thinking negatively!” She chided herself. “And stop talking to yourself; you look like a crazy woman doing that.”
As she walked, occasionally hiding the light from her phone to look for signs of lights Trudi thought about the people at home. None of them would likely miss her for a while, nobody would bother to look. Her mother was too busy going to church and praying and her father had died when she was 12, the rest of the family had all moved away looking for jobs and a better life long ago. Her mother was the lone holdout on their mountain now. Trudi really didn’t have many friends at home either, she’d been far too shy and most of the other kids thought her Momma was crazy and wouldn’t play with her. Trudi only had the teacher that had encouraged her to finish school and helped to secure a scholarship for her university education, and Mrs. Andrews had gone off to Europe this year now that she’d retired. No, there was really nobody at home that would miss her for a long time.
Growing up she’d barely known what electricity was her family had been so poor. When she’d gone off to the university her world had begun to open and she’d started to map out her life, what she wanted, who she wanted, and the kind of life she wanted to have. She wanted to be like one of those senators’ wives she’d seen in magazines and on television, always clean looking, healthy, with a smile on her face. They must have wonderful lives. She wasn’t stupid, she knew there were up and downs in relationships but she still hadn’t had a proper boyfriend yet. You couldn’t really call those two quick couplings at the only two college parties she’d attended relationships after all. Trudi knew she may be a bit naïve but she also knew what she wanted and it wasn’t the hardscrabble dirt-filled life her mother had led.
If that meant she had to use the fake flat accent she’d cultivated while at university and use manners she’d learned in old etiquette books to give the air of being a well-bred, boarding school educated young lady then so be it. From now on she was Trudi Campbell, professional not Trudi Campbell, holler-dweller from Split Creek Holler. Trudi straightened her spine from the slump she’d taken on as she walked and reminded herself of whom she was now, and who she was going to be. Her final secret was safe and nobody would ever know it. Not a single soul outside of Split Creek Holler.
An hour later Trudi started to see lights ahead. Her feet were aching, her legs growing tired, and the hunger pangs she’d felt earlier were now full-on audible growls. She could smell the tell-tale scent of fried food and hear loud music as she stepped closer to the place and her stomach growled louder. Putting a hand to her stomach Trudy smiled. Normally she wouldn’t touch fried food, it was so fattening, but she knew she deserved whatever she was about to eat after that long walk. She quickened her pace, the lights beckoning to her, assuring her of safety and rescue.
Trudi smiled as she saw the sign for the business; no words just a constellation lit up in bright white lights against a dark background. Maybe their burgers were out of this world? Looking at the constellation Trudi wasn’t sure but she thought it was Ursa Major. Her grandmother taught her all of the constellations when she was a young girl but her grandmother passed away when she was nine years old and Trudi had all but stopped looking up to the stars for answers. Strange that they’d chosen a bear sign as their logo, Trudi thought just before she looked down and her steps faltered.
The parking area was filled with motorcycles; there must have been at least 60 of them lined up in neat rows. Not a single car was in sight. All Trudi could do was stare as her mother’s words about bars and places like this played through her head, “full of vice and sin, no decent woman would ever set foot in a place like that.”
Trudi looked down at her shoes, no longer pristine but covered in dust and scuffs. The cuffs of her bright white silk trousers were now covered in an orange dust from the clay dirt but the rest wasn’t too bad. Still, this was the kind of place her mother warned her to stay out of, the kind of place where bad things happened to good girls. Trudi realized her long legs were starting to tremble and tensed them at once to control the sensation while she looked for any other lights. She couldn’t see anything else around.
Steeling herself against unknown threats and hoping her mother was wrong, Trudi forced one foot in front of the other until she was at the door, the loud rock music from inside vibrating through the hard panel of oak. Looking down at the handle Trudi’s growling stomach made the final decision for her and she pulled the door open. Cigarette smoke, the smell of spilled beer and fried food, screaming voices, and the extremely loud music hit Trudi as if she’d run straight into a wall.
With wide eyes Trudi stared into the gathered crowd, noting both men and women were present. She knew this because every man and woman in the place stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Even the people playing on the pool tables in the bar decorated with roughhewn wood and cheap posters stopped to stare at her. The only person that didn’t stop to star at Trudi was the very beautiful woman dancing on a table, apparently lost in her own world. The woman was slim, busty, with dark hair and an olive complexion. Her eyes were a startling shade of blue and Trudi, for all she was being stared at, stared at the barely clothed woman. A bikini didn’t count as clothing to Trudi and she was certain that the way the woman was swinging her breasts was going to cause the woman’s nipples to break free of the scraps of cloth in just moments.
As Trudi watched, her breath held in anticipation, somebody dropped a glass. The shattering of the glass brought Trudi back to reality and she looked around at the people assembled in the bar with a good dose of fear in her dark brown eyes. She gulped once, fluffed her chin length blonde hair into place, straightened her spine, and walked over to the bar. As she walked through the crowd she looked straight ahead, ignoring the admiring glances of both men and women at her own ample chest, or the comments about the shapeliness of her legs. Other remarks weren’t so kind and asked why those in the front hadn’t thrown her right back out, apparently Trudi’s type wasn’t wanted here. For her part, she tried to hide her sneer from the barely clothed women, the pot-bellied long-bearded men, and the rest of the people in the bar.
Hunger and a burning desire to get out of this place drove her to the bar where a rather handsome man was eyeing her over while pulling a beer from the tap. She was thinking of how surprisingly handsome the man was when her left food skidded through something wet and she almost landed on the floor. Those that had started to go back to their conversations stopped again as Trudi tried to regain her balance, succeeded, then carried on to the bar. No laughter, no catcalls, they all just made an approving sound at once, and then went back to their conversations.
Pulling down on the suit top Trudi refocused on the barman and sat down on the least filthy looking stool of the bunch.
“What can I get for you, ma’am?” The green-eyed dark haired devil asked her. Trudi felt a strange urge to run her fingers through the shiny dark curls covering the man’s head but she squelched that notion and asked for a telephone.
“My car broke down a couple of miles back and I had to walk here. My phone isn’t working either so I was hoping I could use yours to call for service?” Trudi asked with her well-practiced but fake smile. The smile made her look vacuously happy but somehow managed to be rebuffing as well. It usually did the trick for putting people off.
“Oh, I can give you all of the servicing you’ll ever need, little lady, just you say the word.” The man replied with a sultry smile that was nowhere near as faked as Trudi’s. In fact, it revealed a joy in life that Trudi could never hope to attain. His smile made her want to squash him, his words brought out an immediate need to put him in his place.
She looked him up and down, gave him a practiced sneer, and said, “I highly doubt that. May I use the phone?”
Just as Mr. Happy was about to make another cynical comment another barman, this one just as dark but with the same blue eyes as the female dancer she’d been ogling earlier, smiled and placed an old-fashioned corded phone in front of her.
“Feel free, ma’am. Please excuse my friend Travis here; he’s had one too many drinks tonight I think. Travis, why don’t you go out back and get another keg of Polar Bear Lager? We’re running low.”
“Thank you…?” I let my words trail off, asking for his name.
He pushed his hand at her and said “Quinn, my name is Quinn. Glad to meet you.”
“Trudi, thank you Quinn, I won’t be long I hope.” I replied as he turned the volume down on the jukebox and people’s screaming levelled out to a low murmur.
The relaxed feeling Trudi had after speaking with Quinn quickly evaporated as the auto association she was a member of told her no towing services would be available until the following morning and that no taxi services were willing to come and pick her up; she was too far outside of their zones.
“But there’s no hotels around here that I’ve seen, nowhere for me to even get a ride to one! What am I supposed to do all night, sleep in my car?” Trudi asked loudly, her anger and fear rising. She lowered her voice when some of the bar’s patrons turned to look at her.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Campbell, there’s nothing more I can do, may I help you with anything else?” The woman on the end of the phone asked her.
“No, I don’t think so. But the next time I’m in need of rescuing and want a company I pay in case something such as this happens, but don’t actually want them to help me, I’ll know who to call. I’m not even sure why I pay for this service now, I’ll be thinking on that as I try to figure my way out of this situation. Goodbye.” Trudi said and placed the phone’s receiver gently back in its cradle.
Slumping on her stool Trudi glumly looked up at the menu on the wall behind the bar and ordered a cheeseburger and some fries from Quinn when he came back. The handsome blue-eyed man had managed to keep Travis busy for a while now and Trudi was grateful. As he brought her a plate of food Trudi thanked him and smiled wanly, a much more watery smile than her previous one but at least this one was real.
“Didn’t go well, huh?” Quinn asked her.
“No, not at all. Do you know any towing services, rental car agencies, or hotels around here?” She asked hopefully.
“I’m afraid I don’t, not local to here anyway and nobody comes out to these parts at night, usually. For some reason we’re very hard to locate and taxi services and tow trucks just end up going in circles. It’s not so bad in the daylight but at night we just seem to disappear out here.” Quinn informed her as he wiped down the counter.
“Right. I guess it is back to the car for me after I finish this burger then. This is great by the way; I love whatever this sauce is on it.” Trudi replied after she swallowed.
“That’s a smoked bacon and cheddar gravy, actually. It’s a favorite with the regulars. Um, I think Travis and I can help you out if you’re up for it?” Quinn said tentatively.
Perking at the term “up for it”, and unsure of what that meant, something in Quinn’s tone put her on edge; Trudi raised her left eyebrow as if to question him.
“Go on.” She finally said as he looked at her with an unsure smile.
“Well, we have kind of an apartment upstairs; we sometimes use it when one of us is too tired to go home after a shift. It has three bedrooms and is set up as a regular apartment, with locks on all of the bedroom doors. You’d be perfectly safe and Travis or I could drive down and pull your car down this far, if you wanted?” Quinn offered.
Trudi had to think about it for all of two seconds before accepting his offer. She’d been watching Travis while she ate and though the man was an incredible flirt he was harmless. Stunningly sexy and charming when he wanted to be but harmless. Ordering one more drink before Quinn got back with her car Trudi turned on her barstool and looked around.
Where she’d seen brutally scary looking people before with grimly unamused faces she now saw laughter, camaraderie, and even love amongst the crowd gathered in the bar. People milled around talking, telling stories and jokes, and having a good time. The women looked to be just as relaxed as the men did and there had been no fighting, although she did see the table dancer in a corner that wasn’t dark enough to conceal exactly where her hands were or to hide that she was passionately kissing a woman whose knees had gone weak. Quickly looking away she caught sight of Travis watching her, a look of deep interest on his face. Looking into his eyes she saw a challenge there but she wasn’t sure what the challenge was.
Later that night Trudi was finally tucked up in a bed, her car in the parking area outside, her door safely locked, and in her nightclothes. She was thinking over her day as she fell asleep. She’d seen things tonight she thought she’d never see, been brave enough to walk into a biker bar, and though she hadn’t actually left the place yet she was unscathed. Just before she fell asleep she wondered once more about all of the bear paraphernalia she’d seen in the bar. Some people even had bear tattoos. Maybe it was just part of the motorcycle club logo she’d seen on the black leather vests every single patron in the bar seemed to own tonight? Maybe.