Chapter Seventeen
The restaurant was… quiet. That was probably the best that could be said for the venue and for the food. It was a little mom and pop place and so far the coffee was a little… dicey. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to the food, but figured it was awfully hard to screw up a hamburger, and he’d likely be all right. Besides, Hoodoo was clean, he wore clean clothes, and the hot water in the hotel room had held out just long enough for everyone to take a shower. Alone. Although Loki had offered to double up with Val just to play it safe. He was still rubbing the fresh bruise on his arm.
Val was unanimously ushered into the hotel room first, the guys making noise about how long it takes a woman to get ready, while they walked across the street to the laundromat. Val joined them in ten minutes, hair still wet, but handed the key to Mad-dog who took his turn next, with a look of joyous relief on his face. He hated re-wearing dirty socks and had been trying to rinse them out at the campsite for days, having forgotten to pack more than two pairs. These were the first things to be thrown in the washing machine.
By the time the clothes had washed and dried, they’d all had a chance to get clean and converged on Wilson’s Family Restaurant. It was less than two hours away from the constant chaos of Sturgis and there were no other patrons in the place. Hoodoo was hoping it was because no one had been clever enough to discover the place, although Yelp hadn’t offered a lot of good to say about the place, and in fact had given some pretty dire warnings regarding the pasta.
“Thanks, boss!” Val said, lifting her diet soda in a toast. “I haven’t felt this good in days.”
“Next time,” Loki said, “let’s rent the RV.”
“And miss the drive up here?” Hoodoo shot back. “You would give up all that ride time just for a shower?”
Loki looked at him for a moment. “No,” he admitted. “No. Maybe we can rent one and have it delivered here….”
Mad-dog threw a fry at him. “So what’s next, boss?” He looked at Hoodoo, ignoring Loki’s cry of dismay, when it turned out that fry had been loaded, and there was now a ketchup smear down the front of his t-shirt.
“Well, I’m feeling full and clean,” he said slowly. “I think that what needs to happen next is that I look up an old friend of mine.”
All eyes turned to Val, who held up one hand. “Easy,” she warned, “easy does it.”
Loki chuckled. “It’s only because we love ya’ Val.”
“Alright,” she said, hand raising higher. “Alright.”
The ride back was fantastic. The open road, the bright blue sky and the pockets of cool air that rose off the side of the road and mingled with the reflected heat of the asphalt put everyone into a very good mood.
Instead of returning to the campground, Hoodoo led them down a side road to where there was a large stage. Unlike the others, the audience here sat in a circle around the stage, completely surrounding it.
There was a large cage in the middle of the platform.
They parked and gathered at the gate. No one gave Val a hard time, although she was visibly nervous. The man behind the gate told them to leave.
“Show’s not until tonight,” he said, impatient to get back to his magazine. “That’s why there’s lights.”
“Rocky is an old friend of mine,” Hoodoo pressed.
“Sure…whatever. I’m trying to read here.”
“It’s hardly reading when all you’re doing is looking at the pictures,” Val observed, craning her neck to see. “They’re all Photoshopped, you know.”
The man whipped the magazine out from under her nose, his face turning scarlet.
Hoodoo pulled out his phone and dialed. “Rock! Hoodoo! Yeah, pretty damn good. I know. New Orleans, that was a lot of fun. No, Hitmon is fine so far as I know. You’re in Sturgis, right? Yeah! Of course, hell, we’re at the gate. No, the one to your playpen here. Yeah! OK! Bye.”
“New Orleans?” Val asked.
Hoodoo nodded. “Just before you joined us, we got a favor called in. Maybe that’s why Hitmon wasn’t so pissed about the money. There were some nasty people wanted to ruin his wedding, we helped it not go quite so bad.”
“The Gilas stepped in to save a wedding?”
“Well… us and Rocky’s people, yeah.”
“’Rocky’s people’?” Val asked.
“He runs a gang in LA.” Danny said.
“He does not!” Hoodoo objected, “he’s a cage fighter. He just knows a gang in LA.”
“Ex-gang,” Andy added.
“Not very ex,” Danny argued.
“Ex enough.” Andy stood his ground.
“Let’s just say that Rocky helps kids get out of the streets.” Mad-dog broke in, “and some of the ones he helps, bring the street with them.”
The man in the ticket booth picked up his phone, which had begun ringing with a certain insistence that had all of them turn to look at it rather expectantly. He looked at Hoodoo like Hoodoo was about to defecate on his lunch and said into the phone, “Yeah, real big. Really? Fine.” He hung up and reached for a button under his desk.
There was a CLICK on the turnstile and he pointed with his thumb for them to go inside. “Alright, you can go in, head behind the stage, there’s a trailer there, use the far door.”
“Very kind of you,” Hoodoo smiled.
“Yeah right, watch your head.”
They walked through the turnstile, one of the most ridiculous features of the area, the “fence” was barely three feet high and Hoodoo and Mad-dog could have easily stepped over it. To get a hundred or a thousand bikers to placidly go through a turnstile was going to be a joke later that evening. Hoodoo told himself it was just while they were setting up the stage, but wasn’t sure he bought it.
Once past the gate, they headed to the back of the stage and found a long trailer, what looked like four standard office trailers set end to end and side by side. There was a door on each end and the door closest to them said KROCKER. Hoodoo stopped and stared, looking at the name. It seemed too coincidental. He was about to say something to Mad-dog when a shout split the air from the other side of the trailer.
“HOODOO!” Rocky cried, his arms thrown open. He closed the gap on the group and embraced the giant.
Against anyone else, Rocky wouldn’t have looked small. He wasn’t very tall, at five-eleven, even Loki carried an inch on him and between Mad-dog and Hoodoo, he should have looked like a hobbit. But as short as Rocky might be, he was wide. Thick. The man looked like he lived in a gym, broad, thick chest, arms that were as thick as Danny’s thighs and a frame that looked like it was barely restraining the power of his muscles.
If he’d been taller, it might not have been as impressive, but at his current height, Rocky looked like a giant dwarf straight out of Tolkien’s imagination in Lord of the Rings.
“Rocky,” Hoodoo said, “Mad-dog, Loki, Danny, Andy, and Valkyrie.” He pointed to each person as he said their name, while the group murmured hellos in response, both sides assessing the other, trying to decide who was fit to be companion to Hoodoo.
The whole thing was absolutely ridiculous. Especially when Val seemed to have forgotten how to speak.
“Valkyrie?” Rocky’s mouth twitched up into a smile. Of course, he noticed the only girl there, but his interest was definitely piqued. Hoodoo wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “Chooser of the slain. I like that.” Of all the introductions, it was only Val’s hand that he shook and he held onto her fingers for an awfully long time. For her part, Val’s mouth opened but no sound came out.
None of the men would embarrass her in front of Rocky. That didn’t mean they weren’t all taking notes for later.
“I saw you on pay per view,” Val said a little breathlessly, staring at their joined hands. “In the Everfield fight. You were impressive.”
“Thank you.” Rocky smiled, maybe a little too friendly, a little too interested. “If you hang around with the little man here,” he nodded once to Hoodoo, “then that’s damn impressive, too.”
Hoodoo crossed his arms, feeling like a parent trying to decide if he should let the nice boy take his little girl to the prom. From the way Rocky was eyeing Val, his kneejerk response was made up of two words. “Hell” and “no.”
“So tell me,” Rocky said, reluctantly releasing her hand and turning toward the twins. “Why don’t you two have great nicknames for Viking gods?”
Danny shrugged. Andy said, “no idea. No one ever thought to use one.”
“On either of us,” Danny added.
“Even from childhood,” Andy said.
“Never had a nickname,” Danny said.
“Ok, I get it now.” Rocky held up his hands in surrender and laughed.
“Hoodoo! I don’t know where you find them. Man, it’s been a long time. I heard you and Hitmon were on the outs?”
“Nah. He’s cool. I felt like I did him wrong, you know? But, he says I didn’t so… I guess I can let it drop.” Hoodoo ignored the surprised look he got from Mad-dog, although he actually appreciated that little nod of approval.
“You all coming to the fight tonight?”
“Yes!” Val said abruptly and coughed. She colored a little. The shout might have been forgiven, but the little jump for joy was definitely a little over the top.
Rocky was watching Val with amusement. Hell, they all were at this point. “Well, you’ll all be my guests. Check at the ticket booth, you can get in the front row. I’ll have them reserved.”
One by one they thanked him and Hoodoo noticed that Val seemed to be unable to stop grinning. Definitely something worth teasing her about later. “Later, Rocky,” he said, grabbing Val’s wrist, to tow her away. At this point, he highly doubted she’d move of her own volition. “Catch you after?”
“Of course!” Rocky said, slapping the large man on the back. “And I hope you will all be there when I’m done tonight.” He said it to the group, but his eyes were locked onto Val.
Oh god, the feeling was definitely mutual.
Please tell me Tracy and I didn’t look half so idiotic as all that.
“We will,” she said, biting her lower lip and blushing so hard it was amazing her head didn’t explode or something. Hoodoo shook his head as he led her away. Good grief, was she going to get it later.
Hoodoo couldn’t wait. It was about time someone else got raked over the coals around here. Especially the way they’d given him so much grief about Tracy.
Although not today. They’d all been careful about saying anything about her today.
OK, maybe I won’t tease her too much then.
Nah. Who was he kiddin?