In My Stepbrother's Hands (2 page)

They said ‘damsel,’ but they looked at me like I was wildlife.

The first guy sauntered forward. He had on something between lust and hunger and the sheer sight of that look coming towards me spurred me to action.

"Just stay back," I said. "Just leave me alone."

The look turned to a sneer. "Why, what you got in there?"

The other was circling further around us like a shark. "Damn, Earl, car's filled with shit. "

"Oh, yeah? You moving, honey ? Or did you lift that from somewhere?" He walked up and I could smell the stench of beer and smoke behind his yellowed teeth.

"That's my stuff," I said, trying to sound menacing. "Just leave me and go. I don't need any help."

"Help?' The ugly mouth spread into an even uglier grin. "You hear that Jimmy. She thinks we're good Samaritans."

The blond barked out laughter and slapped my trunk. I couldn't watch both of them. I didn't want to see either. I wanted to see anyone, just anyone coming up that road. Couldn't be worse than this, but the only other thing in this god forsaken swampland was the third biker, who perched back straddling his chopper. He was younger and taller than these two, long and packed with lean muscle. He resembled a lot of young, dumb muscle in Tarmont.

His face was covered in the most of that dark oil, and he watched us through lean eyes like some sort of tall hawk. All of a sudden, they popped open. For a flash, I wondered if there was something behind me, but then I realized what he had just seen.

He knew me and I knew him. That was Lucas.

“Hey, open this up. Show me what you got back in here." The blonde one was yanking on my trunk.

I barely heard him as we just sat frozen and staring at each other, but he started to smack the metal.

"That's my stuff," I snapped back at him, then did my best to glower at the ugly man in my face.  "I didn't steal anything."

"Honey," the guy called Earl growled. “That don’t much matter at this point.”

"The fuck, Earl?" Lucas’s voice boomed out and it shocked Earl as much as me. “Do you not recognize who  the hell you’re talking to?”

Earl scowled at him and turned back to me. “Is this some girl you fucked or something?”

Despite all the stuff I had to worry about, I found time to blush profusely.

“That’s my goddamn sister,” Lucas said.

That froze Earl’s scowl. “Sister?”

He looked from me to him. I was a brunette, short and curvy. He was a tall chiseled and rippling blond. We had nothing in in common. Then again, that was about what you’d expect.

“Step-sister,” Lucas said. “Marshall married her mom a couple years back.”

“No shit,” the blond said, coming up by my side. He stank, though it was a relief to get him away from my stuff.

“Why is all that stuff packed in your car?” Earl asked. “She moving?”

He was asking Lucas the question. My step-brother just shrugged and looked at me.

“Yeah,” I said. “I just want to try a change of scenery.”

“You didn’t know about this?” Earl asked Lucas again.

“I don’t know much about her. We keep to ourselves.”

Lucas’s gaze was fixed firmly on me now. I don’t know whether it was a kind one or accusing. We didn’t have any relationship except the one on paper, and I had no knowledge of what he was like other than how he looked at any given moment. Right now, he looked like a tall mystery.

“Honey,” Jimmy said to me. “Does your father know you’re out here on your own?”

“My father died a long time ago,” I muttered.

“Your step daddy, then. You know, your chapter’s president?”

“It’s not my chapter either. I’m not in your little gang.”

“Be that as it may, but you’re still part of our family. You can’t just go running off without telling anyone.”

I didn’t like where this was headed at all.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” Earl said, eying my car. “We’ll take you, take the valuable stuff and bring you on home. Our local chapter will get your car fixed up and they’ll drive it on back. Sound good?”

I’d thought crime was the worst thing that could happen to me, but the idea of being sucked back into my shitty life was unbearable. They’d never let me leave once they took me back.

“I’m leaving,” I said, looking past him to Lucas. “Tell your dad that I’m gone alright.”

Lucas thought a good while, then nodded. “Fine, go on.”

All the fear in my heart flamed out with a sudden affection for my step-brother. He might not understand me, but he got what I wanted. I had that flash again of wonder about what would happen if we got closer, but it was a bit late for that.

“It ain’t that simple,” Earl said to him.

“She wants to go, she goes,” Lucas said.

“You’re the VP, boy, but your daddy’s still the president. We do what he’d want.”

The glow left me as if a cloud had passed over it. They weren’t going to let me leave. It wasn’t my family holding me back, it was the town itself.

“We’ve got a ton of stolen shit here,” Lucas said. “We gotta move it."

“This won’t take long to get her stuff,” Earl said, placing an arm around me.  “Tell Jimmy what have in there that might be stolen and he’ll go fetch it, honey.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I shook his hand off. “Just leave me the hell alone.”

I’d meant for the words to sound more intimidating, but they barely squeaked out. These criminals were just going to take me? Like I was another thing to steal. Was it the 1600s with these biker clubs?

“Don’t worry, we’ll sort it out then,” Earl said. He ticked his head at Jimmy who popped open my passenger door.

"Hey, get back here." I looked past at my stepbrother,  whose frowning face was aimed at his biking brothers. "We gotta go," Lucas said. “We're running hot here. The Coyotes are gonna be looking for us."

"They don't know it's us." Earl leaned back on my busted hood.

I met Lucas's cold blue eyes and saw them widen. His mouth moved, and he looked from side to side. He was looking for something to say, anything. My step-brother was still out was trying to help me get out. Maybe it was the animal instincts flaring in me, but I couldn't help but think he looked beautiful in his anger, his face long and all sharp edges - just cheekbones and jawlines.

"We're out in the fucking open," he said.

Earl looked around, realized the road, and nodded. "Good point. Come with me a moment, honey. Just till Jimmy’s done.”

He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me around the car. I dug my claws into his skin, but it was like leather. He slapped me across the cheek and pulled me past Jimmy, who gave me another sneer.

This could not be happening. I was supposed to be free of all this controlling shit. The fury gave me another burst of anger and I slapped out at Earl.

“Stop fighting us, little girl,” he spat.

Earl threw me hard onto the asphalt. I scrabbled back, feeling the world slowing around me and becoming high detail. I wanted to look anywhere but at those two. The empty wash of land just made me feel more desolate, though. I looked back in time to see Earl fish out my purse. The buttons shone like the light of an oncoming train.

My eyes saw motion beyond Jimmy. Lucas was coming up behind him, in a slow deliberate pace, even for my already slowed vision. He laid an arm around Jimmy. Jimmy turned, but then suddenly, Lucas was pincering his neck, reaching across to meet his breath. Jimmy's eyes popped open and he struggled, but he seemed to have no breath already. His eyes lolled.

Earl unzipped my purse and started poking through, just as Jimmy went down behind. Lucas started creeping forward. A branch crunched. Earl turned around and his eyebrows furrowed at the sight of Lucas, but then they popped right back up, as he noticed Jimmy's sleeping form on the side of the road. Lucas jumped at him, but Earl had turned and they wound up locked.

They swayed back and forth like dancing partners, grunting and swearing. I watched like I was at a ballet, then some part of my brain told me that this might be a good chance for me to get away. I started edging around the back of my car, when I heard what sounded like the first grunt of a vomit. I peeked back and saw Lucas drive another vicious knee into Earl and drop on him.

Earl's eyes flitted with pain, but Lucas laid on him even harder. It looked like he’d be out soon, but then Earl whipped to his pocket and came back out with a gun.

“The fuck, Earl?” Lucas asked, backing up.

“Fuck your VP badge," Earl said, rising to a seat. “Think you can just kick me around like that, you little shit?”

“I’m fucking trying to save you, man. Save you from the cops. This is a public goddamn highway and we got hot meds right out here.”

“Like hell-” Earl was saying, but then, Lucas kicked the gun out and stamped Earl’s arm down. I almost wanted to cheer, but then Earl’s other arm scooped Lucas by the knee and laid him down flat. He rolled over him and the situation switched.

“Fucking club traitor,” I heard Earl say over and over as he battered Lucas with punches that Lucas was blocking with only his arms. They were mighty arms, but Earl had gravity on his side, which made his fat work as good as muscle. Lucas looked at me, and I could see no hate, no plea either. He didn't need loathing or love from me. He knew what he had done. Which was mostly, from what I could tell, save my life.

Well, I wasn't ready to trade my life for anyone’s. I spotted a plastic tube rolling away from Earl's back jean pocket. I picked it up, and saw poison signs, right next to some medicine name. Why would a guy be carrying around a tube of poison? I noticed it also happened to have a picture of a horse.  Unless horses were considered pests round these parts, I was holding horse tranquilizer.

I heard something crunch as Earl landed another vicious blow on Lucas's defenses. His face flinched in defiant anger. Earl's big ass hung out in front of me, barely curtained by his boxers. Fuck Earl. I jabbed the syringe in and compressed it halfway. It was like shutting down a motor. Earl's punch slowed on its way down and landed as a tap. His head turned glacially and he drooled at me.

"Ngh?" he asked.

Lucas jumped to his feet and socked Earl in the face. The thick biker went starfish.  

"Quick," Lucas said, and he started rolling the snoring man into the dense countryside.

I stared at his straining form for a while and then hustled over to help him move Earl. Then, we did Jimmy. Lucas jabbed him with the remaining tranq.

"That'll keep them down for a couple hours," he said, before turning to me. "You gotta be outta here by then."

"I want to," I said, then remembered and added. "Thanks, by the way."

"Let's go.” He began jogging to the chopper.

I ran up as he hopped on, then remembered. "Where we going?"

“I know the chapter here pretty well. I got a buddy in a shop who will come fix up your car, but you can't be around.  This town really ain't a place for you."

I looked back at the little car with all my worldly gear. I remembered the Flyers slumbering nearby just hidden in the brush. Amazing how quickly shock lets you forget. Still, was the guy in front of me any better?

"You gotta trust me," he said. “I’m not going to hold you here. I’ve got plenty of trouble already."

It wasn't a great argument, but it was the only one on offer. I clambered up behind him, and wrapped my hands around his mid. His rippling, lean mid, I couldn't help but notice. The stress and shock and adrenaline was sloughing off me and without it, my body was becoming a jumble of tuning forks.

I had almost been trapped by people who thought of me as nothing but property. Trapped but for the work of these muscles under my grip. I wrapped into them tighter, feeling exhausted and wanting nothing more than to surrender my fate to the whims of my step-brother. He might be the only trustworthy man I had left.

The engine rumbled to life, a rattling thrum that swallowed up my jitters.

"Hold on," Lucas shouted back, though I felt more than heard him. He had a deep voice that rattled through his muscle bound chest.

We kicked off and scattered down the road. The wind began screaming at our speed and I turned away. My car and the two Harleys already looked miniature and soon we banked a curve and they were gone altogether. I shut my eyes, feeling exhaustion and the shake of the engine working on me like I was a fussy baby. I couldn't surrender completely. I couldn’t trust my stepbrother completely.

“I was born in this chapter,” Lucas said suddenly.

"You used to live here?" I asked.

All I got was the wind and rumble for a bit, but then he added. "Closeby."

"What were you guys doing out here?”

“A job."

I knew better than to ask but did anyway. ”What kind of job?”

His head wagged against mine. “That’s club business and you’re leaving the club.”

“I was never in the club.”

“All the more reason not to tell you. It’s not anything you want to know.”

Apparently it wasn’t just Tarmont that was crappy. No work, just jobs. No wonder this countryside was full of crime. No wonder bikers ruled the land. Bikers who apparently moonlighted as prescription drug traffickers. Or maybe it was the other way around.