Jules bounded down the half dozen steps leading into the police station. He had paid an informal visit to Assistant-Chief Medina to have a quick background check run on Will. It was an arrangement the club and the police had worked out so that Chief Council could maintain plausible deniability that Forsaken 99 was using police powers to aid them in their endeavors. He didn’t expect any problems, and none were found. No one that had wanted to join the club had ever been anything other than what they seemed, but considering what they do, checking to make sure a potential prospect wasn’t a plant never hurt.

 

He was reaching for the handle of his truck when his phone buzzed in his pocket while emanating its jaunty ditty. He pulled the phone out but didn’t recognize the number. “Jules Rivera.”

 

“Jules. Charles Washington. I was just paid a visit by Todd Webber. I don’t know who the hell you people think you are, but I don’t take kindly to being threatened.”

 

“Threatened? Todd threatened you?”

 

“You bet your sweet ass. Told me I needed to rethink pulling our support from the Forsaken or bad things might start happening.”

 

Jules first went cold, then hot. Goddamn Todd! “I’m sorry about his Mr. Washington. I’m sure there has to be some misunderstanding. He must have meant that the mules might start slipping through again.”

 

“That’s not what he meant, Jules, and you damn well know it,” Washington sneered.

 

“Let me talk to him, Mr. Washington, and get this straightened out. Forsaken 99 appreciates all the support you have given us over the years and we would never do anything to jeopardize our working relationship. I’m sure Todd didn’t mean it to come across as a threat.”

 

“You do that, Jules. But that asshole is no longer welcome on my place.”

 

“Yes sir, Mr. Washington. Understood. I would appreciate a chance to straighten this out. I’ll talk to Todd and let you know what I find out, okay?”

 

Washington was quiet but Jules waited him out. “Alright, Jules. I hope your right and this is all just a big misunderstanding.”

 

“Thank you Mr. Washington,” Jules said with a sigh of relief. “I will talk to Todd right now and let you know something as soon as I can.”

 

“Okay. Thanks, Jules. I knew I could depend on you to get this straightened out.”

 

“Thank you for giving me the chance, sir.” Jules said before he hung up. The moment the call was terminated, he tossed the phone into the truck, crawled in and slammed the door hard. He started the truck, backed quickly out of his space and then trod hard the throttle, the truck’s rear tires howling in protest as he raced away.

 

“Where’s Todd?” Jules snarled as he bailed out of truck at Webber Diesel Engine Repair.

 

“He’s not here. I think he went out to the Washington Ranch. Why?” asked Lloyd, another member of the club, who worked for Todd.

 

“I need to talk to him. When he gets back…” Jules began but trailed off when he heard the roar of an approaching Harley. He turned and waited until Todd pulled into the parking lot and dismounted.

 

“Jules,” he said in greeting.

 

“I got a call from Charles Washington. You threatened him? What’s the matter with you Todd? Why would you do that… after all he has done for us?” Jules asked, working hard to keep his voice level and calm.

 

“I didn’t threaten him.”

 

“Horse shit! Did you tell him if he pulled funding from Forsaken 99 that bad things would start happening? That sounds like a threat to me!”

 

“He can take it however he likes,” Todd said as he moved to step past Jules.

 

Jules grabbed Todd’s arm and spun him around. “Are you fucking stupid? If you turn Washington against the club, he will turn the entire town against us!”

 

Todd yanked his arm from Jules’s grasp. “You forget your place. This is my fucking club. I don’t give a shit what Washington thinks. If he pulls the funding, then what? How will the club survive? We need that money, Jules.”

 

“It’s going to hurt, I agree. But threatening him is the wrong way to go about this.”

 

“Well, maybe it’s time the town started paying for what we do for them.”

 

Jules stared at Todd like he had grown another head. “I can’t believe you just said that. Is that what we are, Todd? A bunch of thugs that run a protection racket?”

 

“Think what you want, Jules,” Todd sneered. “The fact is, times are changing, and you had better get with the program. Maybe the town needs to understand what we do for them. If that protection were to suddenly stop… ”

 

“This is bull shit, Todd!”

 

“You listen to me, Jules. This is my fucking club, and what I say, goes! Got it? And if I say the town is going to start having to pay their way, then that is what is going to fucking happen! In fact, I think I will pay a visit to that sweet little honey at HNH. Let her know she is going to have to start paying for our protection. But I’m sure I can work out something if she can’t come up with the cash—”

 

Todd never saw the blow coming. As he went to the ground on his ass, Jules was driving in, fully intending to beat Todd to a pulp. He got in another solid punch before Lloyd hauled him off. “That’s enough!” Lloyd bellowed.

 

Jules struggled a moment then stopped, but still seethed. “You are not doing this without a vote! I want a board meeting, tonight!”

 

Todd slowly got to his feet, wiping at his bleeding mouth and spitting blood. “You’ll get your fucking vote,” Todd said with deadly calm. “But this isn’t over between us. One day, Rivera, you’ll get yours.”

 

“Anytime you want to go, old man,” Jules sneered. “Fucking let go of me!” he growled as he shook Lloyd off. The moment Lloyd let him go the stormed to his truck and started it, slammed it into gear, and threw rocks everywhere as he slung the truck around and headed for the street.

 

***

 

“Okay, here’s the deal,” Todd began after calling the board to order. They were standing in front of the charred remains of their clubhouse. “Old man Washington has pulled his funding for the club, and the other ranchers have followed suit. I talked to him today and I couldn’t convince him to restore the funding.”

 

“Let’s be clear,” Jules said, interrupting. “You threatened him. You told him that if he didn’t restore the funding, ‘bad things would start happening.’ Isn’t that what you said?”

 

“Because we need funding to operate, I think we are going to have to have the businesses of Vallecito de Grande pick up the slack,” Todd continued as if Jules hadn’t spoken.

 

“And if they won’t?” Jules asked again. He would be damned if he would let Todd sugar coat what he was suggesting. “Then what?”

 

“What are you suggesting, Todd?” Spence asked, picking up on what Jules was driving at.

 

“All I’m suggesting is that if they want our continued protection, they are going to have to pay for it,” Todd said reasonably, but he stared coldly at Jules as he spoke.

 

“And if they don’t pay?” Marsh asked.

 

“Then we fucking make them pay!” Todd roared. “You guys seem to think this is some kind of fucking game! Well it’s not! We have to have that money! There is no other option!”

 

“Protection money,” Jules said, his voice dead and flat. “That’s what we are now? A bunch of two-bit thugs shaking down businesses?”

 

“That’s not what I’m suggesting!” Todd objected.

 

“Sounds like it to me,” Jules said.

 

“Goddamnit! You’re twisting my words!”

 

“Then tell us, Todd. How are you going to get the businesses to pay if they don’t want to? Explain it so we can understand.”

 

“I’ll make them understand that our protection has costs! They’ll see it my way!”

 

“And if they don’t?” Jules pressed. “If they say no, then you will back off and not pressure them?”

 

“We have to have the money, goddamnit!”

 

“I think we have heard enough,” Jules said. “Let’s vote it.”

 

“What are we voting on,” Marsh asked reasonably, trying to defuse the situation.

 

“On whether we want Todd to talk to the businesses of Vallecito about funding our operation.”

 

“Yeah,” Todd said, his face red and his breathing hard.

 

“Nay,” Jules said almost instantly.

 

“Nay,” Marsh added just as quickly.

 

“I’m sorry, Todd. But I didn’t sign on with you to run a protection scheme. Nay,” Spence said.

 

“Todd’s right. If we don’t have the funding, we can’t protect the town. I trust him, and I believe the businesses will step up. Yeah,” Gigolo said.

 

“Gigolo is right. Yeah,” Dwayne added.

 

“Nay. We cleaned up the town before with shaking anyone down. We can do it again if we have to,” Duck said looking at Todd.

 

Jules knew that was how the vote was going to go to this point. Now the two newest members were going to have their say, and they were the wildcards.

 

“Nay,” Hugh said. “I’m not comfortable demanding that businesses pay for protection. That smacks of the mob… or the cartel.”

 

“Nay,” TC added without further comment.

 

“Motion is defeated,” Jules said as Todd turned and stalked back toward his bike. “Todd! I know you don’t like it, but the board has voted!”

 

“Fuck you, Rivera!” Todd snarled as he straddled his bike. “I’m still the President of this fucking club… and this isn’t over.”

 

“Shit…” Jules muttered as Todd started his bike and rode away. Dwayne and Gigolo moved toward their bikes as soon as Todd started his, and followed him.

 

“This is some bad shit, brothers,” Spence said to no one and everyone.

 

“What the fuck is Todd thinking? Did he really threaten Washington?” Marsh asked Jules.

 

“How would you take what he said?” Jules asked.

 

“Shit. What are we going to do?” Marsh asked. “If he goes through with this, the whole town will turn against us.”

 

“I know,” Jules said. “I don’t know why he can’t see that.”

 

“What if he doesn’t care?” Hugh asked.

 

“Then we’re fucked,” Spence said.

 

***

 

“Want another Hefeweizen?” Will asked as Jules dropped into a stool at the bar.

 

“No. I need something with a little more kick. Jack, neat. Make it a double.”

 

“Coming up.”

 

“What happened?” Rachel asked as she greeted Jules.

 

“Todd. He’s gone off his fucking rocker. Honest to god, he was talking about extorting protection money from the businesses in Vallecito.”

 

“What?” Rachel asked in surprise as Will sat the drink in front of him.

 

“Yeah. We slapped him down hard. 6-3 against. He didn’t take it well. I know where he is coming from, but he is going about it the wrong way. Thanks,” he said as he picked up the drink and took a sip.

 

“Well, you did the right thing,” Will said.

 

“Yeah. That would piss off the entire town,” Rachel added. “Do you think he will abide by the vote?”

 

“He has to. It’s binding,” Jules explained. He looked around the nearly empty bar. “Slow tonight.”

 

“Yeah. Wednesday’s are tough. Sometimes I wonder why I even open except for Friday and Saturday. That’s why I want to open a restaurant too. Smooth out my business.”

 

“You’re opening a restaurant?” Jules asked in surprise. “Where? And when?”

 

“Here. I’m going to build on. And when… whenever the damn bank gives me an answer on my loan.”

 

“No kidding? What’s it going to be called? He’s Over Here?”

 

Rachel burst into giggles. “No, but that’s a pretty good name. The working name is just Wallace.”

 

Jules looked at Will chatting up a girl that had come in. Counting himself, that made eight customers. “Do you think you can tear yourself away early tonight? If you’re not too busy that is.”

 

Rachel looked around and made thinking noises. “Mmmm… maybe. Will! You’re closing tonight,” she called to him. When he gave her wave, she turned back to Jules. “Yeah, I think I can make it.”

 

***

 

“Where are we going?” Rachel called from the back of Jules’s bike.

 

“My thinking place,” he shouted over his shoulder before he opened the taps on the Harley a little more. He just needed to get some space between him and Forsaken 99, but he also needed Rachel’s calming influence. They rode along highway 170, paralleling the United State and Mexican border through Big Bend Ranch State Park, passing close enough to the Rio Grande that they could see it occasionally. Finally, Jules rolled the bike to a stop in a natural widening in the road, again in sight of the river.

 

“Why are we stopping?” Rachel asked as she stepped off the bike and remove Jules’s helmet.

 

Jules took her by the hand and led her down the embankment to a flat and smooth rock that he sometime came to sit on. The night was cooling, which meant it was becoming almost tolerable for him, but he knew Rachel would be getting cold soon, and she would enjoy the rock giving off the warmth it had collected during the day.

 

They sat in silence as the darkness became complete, the moon still below the horizon. Jules lay back on the rock, hands under his head, as looked at the uncountable millions of stars.

 

“What’s bothering you?” she asked softly as she turned her body and lay back to form a “T” with him, her head lying against him. She was surprisingly comfortable.

 

“It’s the club. I was so sure we were the good guys. But now? I don’t know anymore. And Todd. I punched him out today.”

 

“For what? Threatening extortion?”

 

“Yes. But more specifically, extortion against you. I was so mad I wanted to kill him.”

 

“What did he say?”

 

“Nothing really.”

 

“Jules… I know you better than that. There was more to it than simply trying to get me to pay protection money. What was it?”

 

He paused, but she waited quietly. “He said that if you couldn’t pay in cash, there were other ways to pay.”

 

She felt her face flush in anger and embarrassment. “My knight in shining armor,” she teased to cover her discomfort.

 

“It’s no laughing matter.”

 

“No, but the club shot him down, so it’s done. Right?”

 

“I hope.”

 

She sighed and listened to the sound of distant flowing water. It was nice out here, alone in the quiet dark with Jules, among the trees and under the stars. The rock was too damned hard to do much, but his nearness and their isolation was beginning to affect her. She rolled over and tucked in tight, propping on him so she could bring her lips to his. He accepted her kiss then she pulled back and caressed his cheek. Almost instantly she felt the tension drain out of him, and she smiled in amazement and satisfaction that her simple touch affected him so profoundly.

 

“Make love to me, here, under the stars?” she whispered before touching his lips again. The rock was sufficiently smooth so that if they didn’t get too energetic she would be comfortable enough.

 

He pulled her into the kiss, his actions answering her question. The last time they had made love he had tried to drive her through the mattress, but now his kisses were soft, gentle, and loving. He always seemed to be able to read her mood and know just what she wanted. She heard a car pass on the road above, but she didn’t care.

 

Jules rolled Rachel softly to her back and removed his colors, folding and tucking them under her head to protect her. Lying on his thinking rock was one thing, but making love on it was something else again. He had never done that, but he was sure that the rock would become unbearably uncomfortable, and quickly. He began opening her shirt, pushing it open to expose her breasts before he began to kiss down her torso, working his way down her body as she began to twist and move gently.

 

As Jules kissed down her stomach she couldn’t help but move, the warmth of the rock adding to her increasing heat. As he reached the waistband of her pants, he stripped her below her waist, kissing the inside of her thigh as he followed the waistband down her leg. Pants removed, he returned to her lips and she went to work on his shirt, unbuttoning and pushing it off his shoulders to fall into a cotton puddle on the rock. As she pulled back from the kiss she saw the sky illuminate with heat lightning, the far-off strobes adding to the experience.

 

He pulled back from the kiss and rolled to his ass then quickly removed his boots and pants and cast them aside. She reached for him while opening her legs in invitation, but he had no intention of taking her where she was. He moved back to her, taking her lips, but then broke the kiss and pulled her up from the rock into the sitting position, then to her feet as he rose with her.

 

She was unsure of what Jules is doing, but she allowed him to lead her. As soon as she gained her feet she moved back in for another kiss, but before she could capture his lips, he slowly began to settle, kissing down the opening in her shirt, before pushing her shirt off as he moved lower still, then down her leg until he was sitting, his legs in front of him and slightly bent. She smiled. Now she knew. She had never been taken in this position before and she stepped over him, removing her bra as she did, and lowered herself to her knees, legs either side of his thighs, then lower still, guiding him into her as she settled onto his legs. He went deep, pleasure from his passage coursing through her, but she wanted more.

 

“Fuck…” she gasped as she settled on him, but then rose slightly again, working to get her legs out from under her so she could take him deeper still. She clung to him as she cupped her legs behind him, his hands behind her, supporting her back.

 

His head tipped back as he grunted in pleasure. He had never had a woman in this position before, and the feel of her weight pressing him into her was incredible. He pulled her to his lips, straining to taste her neck as she drew him in with arms around his neck and clung tightly to him, her head on his shoulder as they enjoyed the touch of the other.

 

Jules was so incredibly deep she just wanted to enjoy him inside of her a moment as he kissed and licked her neck and upper breasts. As she released her hold on him, he began to lean back, his hands releasing her to support himself by placing his hands on the rock behind him, holding himself erect as she placed a hand on each of his legs. She began to thrust, his cock touching her like she had never been touched before and with a shuddering grunt, her head fell back as she was overwhelmed with pleasure.

 

He tried to counter her thrusts, but her weight had him pinned to the warm rock. His pleasure was in her hands as she worked her hips. But then she pulled her legs back, planting feet and began to increase the speed and length of her stroke.

 

“Oh… fuck, Rachel… Fuck!” he snarled as pleasure roared through him from her long moments battering him with her hips.

 

“Shit… I’m going to come… shit… fuck this feels good… fuck…” Rachel muttered as she began to thrust harder, then harder still, drawing her climax to her.

 

“I’m going to come… I’m going to come,” he began to chant, warning her of his approaching orgasm, fighting the pleasure but knowing he was lost.

 

“Not yet,” she panted, “not yet….”

 

With a loud groan he began to come, spilling his seed into her, but still she thrust, slamming her hips hard into his. “Fuck!” he roared as he was shredded by pleasure, needing Rachel to stop but knowing she was close… if he could just hold on.

 

Hearing Jules roar his pleasure to the world sat her on edge, her orgasm hovering just beyond her reach. “Oh… fuck…” she gasped, trying to draw her orgasm to her.

 

His inarticulate cry of pain, of pleasure, and the look of his face as it twisted in a combination of the two, pushed her over the edge. With a long drawn out groan of her own, she fell into the raging torrent of her orgasm. She ground her hips down as hard as she could, straining to take him as deep as possible, before she relaxed with a quiver.

 

“Holy… shit…” she gasped as she panted.

 

“Fuck…” he murmured as the seething pleasure, the seemingly never ending orgasm finally washed out of him. “Jesus Christ. I thought you were going to kill me,” he gasped then shook when a muscle twisting wave of pleasure rolled over him again.

 

Rachel blew out a long cleansing breath of air. “Yeah… I know how you feel.” She blew out another puff of air and then smiled. She sat up, moaning softly as his still hard penis moved within her, then rotated farther forward, onto her knees so she could lie against him, taking his lips with her own. She could feel him strain to hold his weight and her own, but until he could support her no longer, she was going to kiss him and enjoy the feeling of him inside of her.