Cade
I didn’t like it when Vanessa started pestering me with so many goddamn questions. Then again, I knew she didn’t exactly know what she was dealing with. Not only was I her first boyfriend, I was also her first non-parent-sanctioned experience. She didn’t have any kind of history dealing with the shit that I dealt with on a daily basis. Hell, she’d barely been drunk. I knew that she’d never done drugs. There were so many things that Vanessa and I couldn’t share.
And yet, I was more attracted to her than ever. I started renting a room on the regular at the Four Courts Motel. The owner was an old guy, who barely even looked up at me for the first few times I’d visited. He didn’t give a shit who was there, be it Bleeding Prophet or Demon Catcher. I was used to being scrutinized for my actions, no matter where I was, so the low-key motel was kind of a relief.
What wasn’t a relief was Vanessa’s attitude. I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation until hours later. The Bleeding Prophets were throwing another party tonight and I had to be there to push drugs. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but I needed Rudy to get the fuck off my back and stay there. And worrying about Vanessa wasn’t exactly a solid way to get that done.
“Cade,” Rudy said as soon as I got back to the clubhouse. “Where the fuck have you been? I’ve been callin’ you for hours!”
“Riding,” I said shortly. “I’m in for the party tonight.” I dipped my hand into my back pocket and pulled out a plastic bag full of molly pills. “And everyone’s gonna be rolling, courtesy of the Prophets.”
Rudy nodded. He looked relieved. “Good kid,” he said shortly. “Boulder and Tyler are clearing out one of the back rooms—go help.”
I bristled with anger as he strode out of the room. He wasn’t even in control of me anymore, and he still thought he could talk to me like that? Not on my fuckin’ watch. At least that was what I wanted to say. But I knew that I’d seriously have to rein in my attitude and my lip until my name was cleared with the club.
Boulder and Tyler weren’t surprised to see me; I wondered if Rudy had been talking shit behind my back, telling all the others about how I fucked up selling pills in Demon Catchers territory. But neither Boulder nor Tyler said shit as I got to work helping them clean. By the time we were done, the room looked good. Our clubhouse had definitely seen better days. I knew that Colton’s dying wish was for his club to become more legit, to move downtown, to move to a nicer house, but as long as we were still feuding with the Demon Catchers, that wasn’t going to happen.
“Colton hasn’t been here in days,” Tyler said to me on the sly. We’d stepped out for cigarettes and I felt my muscles aching from scrubbing the floor. “He can’t even go places, not even with his oxygen tank.”
I swallowed hard. “He’s a good dude, but he’s gotta get out of the way,” I said darkly. “Rudy’s dying to lead this club. I don’t think he’ll put up with a leader who’s out of commission for much longer.”
Tyler shrugged. “I ain’t stepping in the middle of it,” he said sharply. “Colton’s been a good president. But he’s an old man, and we need a real leader.” He eyed me. “It true you were pushing pills in Catcher territory?”
Inwardly, I groaned. “Fuck, yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “It was a fuckin’ stupid move, I know that.”
Tyler clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Look, Rudy said you fucked up because you were sniffin’ some pussy. That’s fine. Just don’t fuckin’ let the broad steer your head around too much.”
I sighed. “I know,” I said. “It ain’t gonna happen again.” I spat on the floor and crushed the butt of my cigarette out under the heel of my boot. “Rudy said his piece already. I know how y’all feel about this.”
Tyler stared at me. “Man, if you ever need to talk…”
I held my hand up. “I don’t,” I replied tartly. “Now we gotta fuckin’ finish cleaning up.”
Tyler didn’t bring up Colton, or Rudy, or my fucking up, for the rest of the day. We swept out the other rooms and stocked all of the fridges and the bar with tons of beer and booze. There were cigarettes tucked everywhere and I counted every single pill that I had in the baggie. There were over two hundred doses of molly there. I wasn’t a genius, but that amounted to over five thousand dollars if I could sell all of the pills in one night.
By the time people started showing up, I was ready to get this shit on the road. It was the usual crowd—friends of the club, college kids, girls looking to score with one or more of the Bleeding Prophets. The usual. Thankfully, the scene was exactly the same as always: men trying to look tougher than they really felt, and women trying to look like absolute sluts. I was relieved not to see Vanessa. Even though I felt like I’d done a decent job of warning her away from the clubhouse, she was a fucking headstrong little girl and part of me was afraid that she’d show up.
I knew exactly how she’d react when I told her about the party, which was why I hadn’t really wanted to say anything. I got it, she knew about my reputation, but her jealousy wasn’t something I had room to deal with at the time. After all, I was practically obsessed with her. There was no way I’d risk fucking up what we had just so I could get another notch on my bedpost. I had too many of those damn things already; it was a wonder I’d made it a few years in the Prophets without getting VD or some shit.
“Hey,” Rudy said darkly. He sidled up to me with a beer in his hand. The room was full of smoke and thick with the laughter of drunk men and women. “You push any pills?”
I nodded. “Some,” I said. I’d actually done well so far in the night, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. “This is good shit. I sold a few so far, but I’m confident about the rest of the night.”
Rudy put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed hard. “Don’t fuck this up,” he said. He squeezed hard and for a moment I wanted nothing more than to get away from him. “Cade, go out there and finish,” Rudy said. The front door had opened and a group full of fresh-faced college girls was standing there. My heart lurched—one of them looked almost like Vanessa.
As soon as they saw me staring at them, they all blushed and tittered. I walked over with a grin on my face and extended my hand.
“Evening, ladies,” I said, trying to sound as smooth as possible. “You ladies looking to have some special fun tonight?”
One of them, the leader, fought to the front of the pack and swallowed hard. “I am,” she said softly. She put her hand in mine and caressed my palm with her fingertips. “And you’re gonna help me with that?”
I grinned and reached into my pocket, grabbing a few pills and pressing one against her palm. “For the low, low price of twenty-five dollars, I can help you do anything you want,” I said smoothly.
The girl blushed deeply. She was pretty—not as pretty as Vanessa—with brown hair and brown eyes. Tan skin, medium height, sorority-prep clothes. For a moment, I found myself wondering what kind of a lay she’d be. Then my mind immediately flashed back to Vanessa and I pulled my hand away.
“We want some, too.” Another one of the girls pushed forward. This one reminded me more of Kimmy—blonde, worldly, looked like she could be a real bitch at times. “Is that okay?”
I chuckled. “There’s plenty to go around, ladies.”
By the time I’d parted from the gaggle of younger women, my pockets were filled with crisp bills and the baggie was ten pills lighter.
I could tell that Rudy was watching me all night. It was the one Bleeding Prophets party where I barely drank. I didn’t even feel like I’d be able to have a really good time without drinking, but at this point I didn’t care. All I could think about was Vanessa, how it would feel to slide inside her wet pussy again, to make her scream my name. She was the most incredible woman that I’d ever met, and I couldn’t wait until I could legitimately bring her around the Prophets as my girl.
There was only one snag in the plan. Dating as a Prophet was really hard. It made girlfriends a target of our enemies, like the Demon Catchers. I didn’t want Vanessa ever getting into trouble because of me, or because she was too stubborn to give me up. But if we were married, things would be different. A wife of a gang member was more easily respected by the other side, and more easily defended by the other Prophets. In order to bring Vanessa around safely, I’d have to get Rudy and the others on board with her presence in the first place.
Sadly, I didn’t see that happening any time soon.
Towards the end of the night, I sold the rest of my pills to a college kid from out of state. I knew that I should have felt relieved, but it was hard to care. I still resented Rudy for treating me like shit after I’d fucked up. Him telling the other guys was a low move that he shouldn’t have had to do.
All I wanted to do was leave the clubhouse and go for a real big drink at The Last Haul.
When everyone had finally left the clubhouse, or gone in the back, or upstairs, out back to fuck, Rudy pulled me aside and gently shoved me down into a chair.
“You did a real bang-up job helping us tonight,” Rudy said. He shot me a grin. “I’m real proud of you, boy.”
I handed him the wad of cash that I’d painstakingly collected from so many college kids. “Here you are,” I said. “Five thousand and one hundred dollars.”
Rudy raised his eyebrows at me. “I thought you only had two hundred pills?”
I laughed. “I charged some kids extra,” I said with a grin. “They wouldn’t know the fucking difference if it bit them in the face.”
Rudy grinned again and let out a loud chuckle. “That’s my boy,” he said. He grinned at me and shook his head. “I’m real proud of you, kid,” Rudy said with a wink. “You really turned things around, you know that?”
I nodded. “I’m trying,” I said.
“Well, it worked. Ever since you dropped that girl, you’ve been doin’ real well around here.” Rudy put his hand on my shoulder again. “You keep it up, you’ll be a lieutenant someday.”
I couldn’t help but stare. I was surprised. Sure, I was twenty-two and I’d worked my ass off for the Bleeding Prophets, but I hadn’t ever counted on rising through the ranks so damn quickly.