***
“Listen up, people! Last call for alcohol!” Roger’s voice barks over the loudspeaker. “The bars will be closing in ten minutes. No extensions per county law.”
“Are you ready to head on back to the hotel?” I ask Sam. “We should probably check on the crew and make sure everybody is still breathing.”
Sam drains his glass and places it on the table. “Yeah sure, I’m more than ready. I’ve been waiting on you. Say the word and we’re out of here.”
He stands and grabs the elbow of the girl sitting next to him to help her up. She leans against him unsteadily.
“I’ll be just a minute,” I say. “I need to ask Trish if she wants a lift anywhere.”
“In that case, we’ll meet you outside in the parking lot,” Sam says. “This pretty lady is coming home with me.” He hugs the girl tighter against his chest so she can keep her balance.
I start to say something to Sam then decide to keep my mouth shut. Pretty wouldn’t be the exact word I would use to describe his date at the moment. Her once-smooth hair is now sticking up in all kinds of directions and streaks of mascara are smeared under her eyes. She doesn’t look nearly as attractive as she did two hours ago when she walked up to Sam and plopped her big tits on his arm. I hate to think what she’ll look like in the morning, hung over and without makeup.
Not for me to judge.
I’ve fucked worse plenty of times. Beauty is only a light switch away. In the dark, it doesn’t always matter what a girl’s face looks like as long as her pussy is tight.
“What about her?” I ask, pointing to the chick I dumped earlier. She is sitting with her head on the table, either half-asleep or passed out, I can’t tell for sure.
“Leave her,” Sam says. “We didn’t bring her, so not our problem.”
“Fine by me. I’ll meet you outside. Don’t ride without me.”
I head toward Trish’s beer tub. The customers have kept her busy for the past hour. Since I didn’t want to give Roger another reason to fire her, I kept my distance.
Now I don’t see her at all. The steady line of customers has disappeared as well. Where did she get off to so fast?
Due to the ruckus earlier, I had completely forgotten to ask her if she had found a place to stay. Hopefully she isn’t planning on wandering around the streets all night again. Especially when there is a warm, comfy bed with an empty spot just waiting for her. When I find her, I’ll offer to take her back with me again. And this time I might get lucky.
I stop a waitress as she walks by. “Do you know where the beer tub girl has gone to?” I ask, pointing to the empty cooler.
“She closed down a few minutes ago,” she answers. “It’s been a long night. She may have already left.”
“Thanks.”
I search the room hoping to spot Trish’s cowboy hat. Just when I am about to give up hope of finding her, I see her slip out of the building. By the time I reach the door, half the bar is spilling outside with me. Nobody hangs around for long after last call. No alcohol, no party.
It is pitch dark outside and the floodlights do little to light the parking lot. Throngs of bikers are wandering across the asphalt in search of their bikes. There’s no way I can find her in this moving sea of drunk people.
I’m about to turn around and go meet up with Sam when I see her walking along the far edge of the lot. Trish is heading straight toward a man leaning against a motorcycle.
Fuck! What is she doing?
I speed up to narrow the distance between us. When I get closer, I recognize the man as her brother. Is she crazy? Why on earth would she agree to meet him out here in the dark after what happened tonight? He obviously has some kind of mental hold on her that I don’t understand. I hang back just out of sight to watch what happens.
Trish opens her purse. After taking out some money, she offers it to him. Her brother laughs and then grabs her wrist. When she tries to pull free, he deftly twists it behind her back. A move he’s obviously done many times before in her life.
She struggles with him only for a second before I make my move. I don’t care if he is her brother. She shouldn’t have to put up with his bullshit.
I barrel into his side going full speed, knocking both him and his bike over onto the pavement. Trish screams as I start throwing punches at his face. A bone crunches when my fist connects with his nose.
I don’t give a fuck what their back story is or why she feels compelled to put up with a deadbeat brother. I’m not a psychiatrist, but I can recognize an abusive relationship. She can’t see clearly enough to make the right decisions where her brother is concerned.
When I think he’s had enough of a beating and some of my anger is gone, I pin him down by the throat. “If you ever touch Trish again, I’ll kill you,” I threaten. “Nod if you understand what I’m saying.”
He spits out a mouthful of blood and a broken tooth. “You don’t fucking scare me, Jesse,” he says with a sneer. “The Liberators are back, asshole. You’re a dead man. You hear me? A dead man. You and all of your pussy ass brothers too.”
The Liberators?
No wonder he looks familiar.
The night is full of surprises. And in this case, an odd bit of good news. If the Liberators are back, it means they’re out in the open again.
Where the Steel Infidels can find and kill them.
I grab him by the collar and hit him hard one more time. The punch knocks him out cold. Satisfied with the job, I stand and wipe off my bloody hands on my jeans.
Trish doesn’t say one word. She stands there with her arms crossed, shaking and trying not to cry.
“You’re with the fucking Liberators?” I hiss through clenched teeth. “And you said nothing to me about it? What was your angle? Surely you must know of the feud between the Liberators and the Steel Infidels?”
“No,” she vehemently denies. “It wasn’t like that. I would never be with the Liberators. I didn’t have anywhere to go and my brother let me stay with him in exchange for helping them out with stuff. I would never choose to be part of their group. I hate them.”
I’m not fully convinced. Her excuse sounds pretty lame. Nobody could hang around the Liberators for long without realizing exactly what they were all about.
I take her arm. “Either way, you’re coming with me,” I say. “This is only the beginning. You’re not safe now that they know you’re involved with me.”
She slings off my hand. “We’re not involved,” she argues. “We only just met. I can’t go running off with you again. I’ve found some new roommates so I have a place to stay. At least for a few nights until I can find something more permanent.”
“Listen, sweetheart, we’re involved whether you like it or not,” I say firmly. “Where’s your stuff? Go back in and get it. I need to find my brother Sam to tell him what is going on. I’ll wait for you at the door. Don’t take too long in there either. We need to go now.”
Trish starts to argue and thinks better of it. “There’s something else you may need to know,” she says after a long minute. “The reason I split is because Big Roy told me he was going to make me his old lady. He wanted me to move my things into his hotel room this morning.”
“He did what?”
The thought of Big Roy’s hands on Trish fills me with a murderous rage. I swear to God I’m going to kill that son-of-a-bitch.
“Were you going to do it?”
“No! Of course not!”
“I’ll see that red-headed motherfucker in hell first before I ever let him touch you. I promise you that. Go get your things.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
TRISH
I’m too upset and exhausted to put up an argument about going back to Jesse’s hotel with him. Of the different alternatives, it seems like the best option at the time.
I dash back inside the bar and grab my bag from the break room. On my way out, I tell one of the girls that I unfortunately won’t be making it to the condo tonight. I was really hoping things would work out with them. For a brief few hours, things almost felt normal.
My mind is whirling as I hurry back outside to meet Jesse. Things keep happening so quickly and I don’t have time to adjust. Just when I think I have things figured out, at least for the next twenty-four hours, something else happens to flip my plans upside down.
Agreeing to meet Ty in the parking lot was a mistake. I know that now. God only knows what I was thinking. I shouldn’t have looked at his text messages after he was thrown out of the club, much less replied to them.
Old habits die hard.
He said he only needed a couple of hundred bucks. I stupidly thought that giving him the money would be a cheap way to get rid of him and get him off my back.
What a bad decision that turned out to be.
My plan was to give him the money and tell him to never bother me again as long as he was riding with the Liberators.
My brother wasn’t always an asshole. There was a time not so long ago when we were almost friends. I refuse to believe the brother I used to know is gone forever. Big Roy and the Liberators changed him. I hate them for what they’ve done to Ty.
When Jesse attacked him, I felt ripped right down the middle. For the first time in my life, someone was actually protecting me for a change. It felt good and was definitely something I could get used to.
At the same time, it hurt to see my brother getting beaten to a bloody pulp, even if Ty didn’t have any qualms about hurting me when it suited him.
“Did you get all of your things?” Jesse asks when I walk out. He is leaning against the building, waiting for me, just like he said he would be.
“Everything I own is in here,” I answer, patting the green duffel bag.
“If you need anything else, we can pick it up at the store tomorrow,” he offers. “Let’s get out of here before your brother wakes up and calls the Liberators for backup.” He takes my arm and quickly ushers me away from the building.
I glance back over my shoulder toward my brother, who is still lying on the ground at the edge of the parking lot. The crowd has thinned out and the few remaining customers aren’t paying him any attention. Probably assuming he is passed out drunk or high on drugs.
“Shouldn’t I call an ambulance or something?” I say. “What if he is badly hurt?”
“Trust me, he’ll be fine,” Jesse says. “A busted nose, maybe. That’s all. It’s nothing that a couple of painkillers and Band-Aids can’t fix.”
I abruptly stop walking. Now I’m starting to feel bad about leaving my brother alone and bleeding on the ground. I always take care of people. Leaving someone behind who needs me is not easy.
“I should at least go back to check on him,” I say. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” I turn around and start walking toward Ty, who is already stirring.
Jesse grabs the strap of my bag and jerks me back. “Damn it, Trish! You really don’t get this, do you? Haven’t you been paying any attention? Don’t you realize what kind of men the Liberators are? Do you think they are just playing around or joking about the things they are involved with?”
His tone is grim. He’s furious with me.
“Less than six months ago, I attended the funeral of a young woman the Liberators murdered and dumped on the side of the road like a bag of trash. She was Big Roy’s old lady, by her choice. She was also an old friend of mine from high school. She warned us that the Liberators were on their way to ambush my brother, Flint. They killed her for that. And she’s been an integral part of their club for years.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, my voice faltering. “I didn’t realize.”
“What do you think they will do to you? A new girl who they don’t know or care about? Do you think for one second that they give a shit about you? That they wouldn’t hesitate to rape or even kill you if it suits them? When Big Roy said you were going to be his old lady, he meant one way or the other. In his eyes, he doesn’t need a woman’s permission to take what he wants. And right now he wants you.”
I’m shocked by everything Jesse is telling me, yet I don’t need any verification or proof. In my gut, I know every word is true.
“I feel like such a fool,” I stammer. “I didn’t know about any of these things. They didn’t talk much around me. And when they did, Big Roy always blamed everything on the Steel Infidels.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Ty pull himself up to a sitting position.
“Well, you know now and that ought to be enough,” Jesse says. “I don’t want to hear any more argument. Let’s get out of here. Your brother is coming around.”
He hustles me around the corner where his brother Sam is waiting by the two motorcycles.
“Where’s the girl?” Jesse asks.
“I gave her money for a cab and sent her home,” Sam answers. “If the Liberators are in town, we’ve got bigger problems to deal with than chasing pussy. She would just be a distraction for me tonight.”
“Good decision,” Jesse says as he slings my bag onto the back of the bike.
“I’ve already called Flint and told him to round up the rest of the crew for a sitdown when we get back to the hotel,” Sam says. “He’s rousing everybody and making coffee, so hopefully they’ll be halfway sober by the time we get there.”
Jesse motions to me. “Hop on.”
I throw my leg across the bike and wrap my arms around Jesse’s waist, at first hesitantly then in a death grip. I scoot up as close as I can get to his hard, muscular body.
I’m not about to let go of this man.
Not now.
Maybe not ever.
“You go first,” Sam says. “I’ll make sure we’re not being followed.”
Jesse revs the engine. The motorcycle roars when he pulls out onto the road with Sam right behind us.
The short distance to the hotel flies by in a blur. The rest of the Steel Infidels are waiting for us when we ride into the hotel parking lot a few minutes later. Some are a little wobbly and unsteady on their feet, but at least they all made the effort to be there.
Jesse slides off the bike, pulls out his keycard, and hands it to me. “Go ahead and get settled in,” he says. “Don’t wait up for me. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
As I walk by the group, one of the men who is a spitting image of Jesse, only younger, throws up a hand at me in greeting, and I nod as I hurry past. Must be his other brother.
Once inside the hotel room, I head straight for the shower.
What a night this is turning out to be.