Chapter 1

 

 

There had to be something more that she could do. There were so many women and so much pain. It was becoming an epidemic that had to be stopped.

She looked around as she walked towards the massive farmhouse that had been in her family for four generations. There were five women on the wraparound porch sitting on various pieces of wicker furniture. She wondered who the fifth woman was. Since she’d left the house at noon to take care of the Lodge’s day to day needs, she knew that the other four women that lived here were at work.

As she got closer to the steps, the women stopped talking, and all of them turned toward her to gauge her reaction to the new guest. The slender girl turned her head, and the massive amount of bruising was astonishing to Hilda.

It didn’t matter who or what she would need to do to insure the young woman’s safety. Her mind clamped down on the same resolve that it did with each new woman that came here to seek asylum. No one would physically hurt her here. Hilda could not stop the women from communicating in other ways with their abusers, but they would not step foot on the property.

There was no question that she would be given a safe place to stay unless someone had a valid reason to keep her out. She had just held out her hand when they heard loud vehicles that could not be far from the driveway, and Hilda watched the bruised woman cringe. She waved her hand towards the front door.

“You girls explain to her how things work around here, and let me deal with this little problem.”

Friendly and Trixie flanked the girl, and Hilda climbed the steps. She wasn’t about to let some abusive bastard come onto her property and give her girls any shit. Beating their old lady’s ass might be a favored past time for some men, but she’d be damned if she allowed that shit to happen on her turf.

“Take her to the guest room and keep her company until Peanut or Gypsy comes to get you, or I call your cell.”

Friendly pulled the girl’s arm, and Trixie gave Hilda a look that clearly showed her disagreement, but she complied with her order. No one argued with Hilda unless they wanted her to hand them their teeth in a bloody glass.

Hilda sat down in a rocking chair and pulled the rolling cooler towards herself. She reached her hand down and opened the lid, pulled out a soda, and shut the lid without taking her eyes from the motorcycles riding up her driveway. Shit. These fuckers wore Thor’s Legion colors, and she didn’t want to see the President of the club today. If he was going to protect one of his boys, there’d better be a damn good excuse for the way the girl had been beaten. Their women were normally treated decently, and Hilda got along with most of them when they ran into one another at a party or grocery shopping.

Hilda had employed a third of the women that now belonged to the club members, at one time or the other. Sadly, a few of them had decided that becoming a biker’s old lady made them better than the rest of the world, and they acted all hoity-toity when they met. She settled their asses down when they’d tried to act out around her, in memorable ways.

Kelly Link had learned the hard way, and thankfully she was the poster girl for watching how big your head got when you lucked into snagging a man that spoils you rotten. After Hilda had broken the woman’s nose for smarting off to her, Hilda had taken her blade and sliced off one side of the girl’s long sable hair that had hung down to her waist. She’d tied the hair into a braid and hung it on the belt loop of her jeans, all the while lecturing Kelly on the virtues of being grateful for the people that helped her get into her exalted position.

The men and women that had crowded around the short fight listened to every word, and then went about their business. Kelly was left sitting on the floor of the Legion’s clubhouse, crying over the loss of her hair. The bloody nose that had begun to swell must not have bothered her until it started to hurt, but Hilda was gone before anyone got close enough to her example to help her.

She had hated to deal so harshly with Kelly, but it had to be done. No one was allowed to talk to her the way that girl had done, and if drawing a little blood made the rest of them think twice before opening their pie holes, her effort was worth it.

Now, three black bikes with three bikers pulled right up over her lawn and stopped at the foot of the porch steps. She reached behind the cooler and opened the top of the armrest on the chair. She wouldn’t touch the Glock or the Colt unless they offered to force their agenda, but she wasn’t taking any shit either.

Trencher wasn’t one of the men, and for that she was thankful. That man was as cold as they came, and she was under no illusions when it came to his loyalties. Thor’s Legion was his family and no one fucked with them, regardless of who was in the wrong. He was just like her when it came to protecting the people that he considered his.

He was also as sexy as a woman could ask for. He never seemed to fuck the same female twice in a week, and Hilda figured that he was still stuck on his dead wife’s memory. The woman had been five years older than Trencher but had lied about her age to everyone. Hilda often wondered if Trencher had ever found out what a drugged out whore the woman had been before she died. She knew about the woman’s affair with Pappy D, the Swamp King’s founder and President. She could not believe that Trencher would let that kind of shit go on and still mourn the woman.

Today, however, Krom was standing off to the side, and Tred and Diva started up the steps in an aggressive pace.

Hilda sighed, she had hoped that they wouldn’t make the mistake of trying to bully her and the ladies that lived in her house. That shit wasn’t happening. She reached down and took the Colt from the armrest and leveled it at Diva’s chest.

“I suggest that you back down and start over. Maybe take a look at Krom over there and follow his example.”

She enjoyed the confused look that replaced the determined look on Diva’s face. Her words had stopped their advance up the steps. That had bought her the time to take the other gun from its pouch on the side of the cooler. The guns were normally kept for shooting snakes and varmints that wandered up to bother them once in a while. These men were just a different type of varmint.

Tred began to laugh, and the back of his hand landed a slap on Diva’s exposed stomach where his vest was open. “You owe me a beer; I told you she was an evil bitch.” He looked towards Hilda, noted the raised eyebrow and shrugged.

“No offense, ma’am, I was there the night you shot that swamp rat for grabbing Friendly without her permission.” He smiled. “I’ve got nothing but respect for you, and Diva will too once he gets his head out of his ass and calms down.”

She nodded her head and stood up; the guns were still in her hands, and the Colt was still aimed at the one they called Diva. “So who wants to tell me what is so devil damned important that you felt the need to ride over my lawn and tear up my grass when I have a perfectly good driveway not twenty feet from where you’re standing?

“While you’re at it, you can tell me what makes you think that stomping up my stairs would make me feel easy about you being here?”

Diva scowled and raised his booted foot to continue up the steps. Hilda made her decision and fired the .45 round into the step that he was ready to walk on.

“What about basic manners do you not understand? Take one more step up without my permission, and you will have to be carried off of my porch.”

If Tred hadn’t been behind him, he would have fallen back into the grass. He scowled at her and folded his arms over his chest while he pictured her neck being squeezed between his hands.

“I want my girl, Talia, back. I know you have her up here; my sister told me she saw one of your tramps pick her up in front of the Dollar Spot. She ain’t a whore, even if my family thinks she is. She don’t need to be working at whoring like you all do.”

His demand caused her to laugh without humor. When she began to talk, she looked him directly in the eyes.

“I’m gonna assume that Talia is the girl I saw a few minutes ago. The one with the fat lips, and two black eyes. The one with the bruises on her arms and neck. The one with blood dried on her chest. That’s the girl I saw, and if you think for a minute that I’m going to hand her over to an abusive fuck like you, you’d better think again. Now get your asses on those fucking bikes and don’t come back.”

He wasn’t going to comply, she knew it, the abusers always tried to blame the victim.

“Bitch, I don’t know what you think has been done to Talia, but no one would dare lay a hand on her, or I’d make damn sure that they would live to regret it. Now, you can go get her, and I’ll be polite and wait here, or I can have my brothers hold you back while I go find her. Your choice, but I ain’t waiting all fuckin’ day.”

Hilda looked at Krom, and he was looking at her. He raised his hands, shook his head and walked to his bike. She nodded and turned to Tred.

“So you’re gonna hold me back while your little butt buddy here tries to kidnap a girl that is seeking shelter in my home?” She raised her eyebrow and shrugged her shoulder before leveling her gun at Diva’s chest.

“Peanut, ask the women to bring the girl down here. Tell her that I won’t let him touch her, but I think his friends need to see how much he cherishes her. Then they can tell Trencher all about how I turned his little virgin into the town whore.”

She kept her eyes on Diva, even as he stepped back off of the steps and stood with his hands on his hips in an identical pose as Tred was standing. Krom had a cell phone out and was walking back towards the porch.

There was noise at her back, but she didn’t bother to turn around to see the women that were standing close. She felt Friendly pull the Glock from her lowered hand, and let her fingers relax from the tight hold she had had on the lethal weapon.

“You make sure that you get a nice close-up of the girl’s face, Krom. I don’t want your club coming down here all pissed off at me for killing your boy. I can legally shoot him if I feel threatened for my life or the life of the people in my home. Right now, I’m feeling threatened, and if the fucker steps on my porch, I will shoot him; believe it. You know I will.”

The girl was behind her, and Friendly stepped up to stand next to her with the Glock aimed towards the three men. Hilda smiled and turned her head towards where the now crying girl stood. She touched Talia’s bruised face and told her that it was okay. “I won’t let him take you anywhere, and once he leaves, if he comes back, I will shoot him. You are safe here.” She tossed a question over her shoulder at Krom.

“Isn’t that right, Krom? She’s safe here.”

The quick, “Yes, ma’am,” came back and was heard by everyone present.

She took hold of the girl’s arms below the bruising and gave her a light squeeze of encouragement. “Trust me, honey; no one’s going to hurt you again.” Talia’s eyes were almost swollen shut, but she must have heard the truth in Hilda’s voice. She gave a slight nod.

Hilda stood to the side of the abused woman and let Krom and Tred see what the girl looked like in all of her glorious dark purple and dried blood glory.

Diva was standing with his mouth dropped open, and his facial expression told the truth. He was surprised. He walked forward and asked Talia for the name of the person that did that to her.

“Just give me the name, that’s all I need. The sonofabitch will pay for hurting you.” He raised his hands as if he would pull her into his embrace, but dropped them when she stepped behind Hilda. He looked back at Hilda and Talia, who was peeking around the big woman’s shoulder.

“I need a name. You can believe whatever the fuck you want to believe, but I never laid a hand on her in anger; I happen to love her, why else would I make her my old lady?”

Talia must have found her backbone, and Hilda was proud of the little woman’s moxie. “You want to know who? You’re going to hurt them for hurting me?” His nodding head stopped nodding the second she said, “Your mother and sister did this to me. I was tired of being called a slut and a whore every waking minute when you took off with your club business anyway.” She spat out the “club business” words like they were the filthiest things possible.

“Today I came out of the bathroom, and they were talking about how to kill me once we were married. I started packing, and they grabbed me. If the delivery man hadn’t come to the door, I wouldn’t have been able to crawl out of the sliders onto the deck. I ran and got into the back of his truck before they knew I was gone. If Friendly hadn’t seen me in town and stopped, I’d be dead or worse by now.

“I was packing to leave when they figured out that I was taking my money with me before the wedding. They planned to kill me off, did you know that?

“You took me there, I’ve cleaned and cooked and kissed those bitches asses for months. You come home all big fucking deal, Mr. Bad Ass Fucking Biker, demanding a cold beer and sex as soon as your mother left the room.”

Talia shook her head and raised her hand to hold the side of her head because it was obvious she was in pain from the movement. “Leave me alone, Dallas. Go home and let mommy and your big sister kiss your ass and suck your dick all better. You told all of these people that you loved me, that’s a lie. You don’t treat a woman that you say you love like you and your family treated me. Tell mommy that she will never get her hands on my parent’s money, and your sister needs to stop pretending that she likes men. I’m sure you’ve met her girlfriend, Winnie. They don’t need men.”

Hilda had heard worse stories in the twenty years that she’d been taking in strays and misfits. Talia stumbled, and Trixie went batshit crazy on the shocked biker. She flew off of the porch and began pounding on Diva’s head and clawing at his face.

“Motherfucker, you piece of shit. Having your cunt lickers do your dirty work for you must make you feel like a real man, doesn’t it? That’s all you fuckers do is sit on your asses and suck the life out of women that you’ve conned into loving you. That girl worked at her job and came home to everyone in the house abusing her. If I ever see your momma, she’d better be packing, and I don’t mean her clothes because I will mess her ass up. Same goes for your skank ass sister.”

Krom was laughing as he grabbed Trixie under the arms and pulled her off of Diva. She didn’t appreciate his interference and told him so with an elbow to his gut, but he stood her on the porch step and went back to his bike.

Tred was wagging his head from the women on the porch to the scene that Krom was attempting to sort out without hurting the crazy bitch that everyone knew he had a hard on for.

Once Diva was loose, Tred jerked his head towards the bikes, and they mounted up. This had been a fucked up afternoon, and he would bet his gold earring that Hilda would refuse to let the brother’s take any of the girls to private rooms above the Lodge tonight. She was pretty good at letting the bikers know that when she was pissed at one of them, she was pissed at all of them. No one would be spared her wrath.

It was a damned shame too; he had his eye on a hot little woman that was new to the place. She was a beauty but seemed kind of shy to be working in a bar where just about anything was allowed.

Only two rules were enforced at the Halo Lodge. Anyone caught bringing drugs into the place was thrown out and automatically banned from the property for their lifetime. The other hard and fast rule: no abuse. If you left a bruise on one of the girls, you’d better hope that Hilda never saw it. If a man with certain kinks was lucky, the woman spoke up, and Hilda let the bruises pass.

She had been known to fire women that catered to unusual sexual practices. Those girls walked their happy, kinky asses across town to a place called The Dive. It was everything that the name implied, and you had to be hardcore or banned from every other bar in the county to voluntarily walk inside the doors. A few of the brothers enjoyed some of the kinks that were offered in the basement of the Dive that catered to men and women with certain fetishes.

Hilda was also the kind of woman that asked a man what his given name was before she shot him. He had heard her ask a guy one time and then told him that she didn’t mind not knowing. “I just figured that your parents might like to be notified that they can rent out your room in their basement. You won’t be needing it after I shoot your ass.” He still didn’t know if any of the guys that she’d been said to have shot had died, but then, he didn’t really want to.

Anyone that knew much about her was keeping the information to themselves. He was twenty-four and couldn’t remember exactly when the beautiful blonde had moved into her family’s old homestead. He remembered when her friend Heaven had joined her at the old house. That was only because he worked for a moving company, and had moved in the lady’s furniture.