Strays (Red Kings #1) (22 page)

28

July 10
 

“So… what are we doing here?”

Tyler’s question was followed by the exasperated groans of his companions as they parked their bikes.

“Jesus, prospect…”  Lincoln rolled his eyes and sighed. “Stop asking questions, some fresh air will do you good. As your friend put it, you need to get out and have some fun.”

“Yeah, come on Tyler.” Finn clapped the younger man on the back as he walked behind him. “This fine establishment serves the best beer and pussy in town, second only to our very own clubhouse of course.” Finn made his way to the door followed by the rest of the boys. “We need variety.”

Tyler looked at the building in front of him and sighed. Two weeks ago, Jackie had once again found them all passed out in the clubhouse. She had taken one look at them and asked if that’s all they ever did “
down here
” and how boring and unadventurous it all was. The woman suggested they do something to bond and help the community, sort of like a team building exercise. Even though her idea had been laughed off, Tyler was sure this was the boys’ attempt to show him how exciting life in their charter was.

Earlier that day, he’d promised Jackie he would be home in time for dinner, just the two of them. However, Benz had caught up to him when he was on his way out of the garage at closing time and told him to be back there by nine for some important club business. So, cutting his night with his best friend short, he’d shown up at the clubhouse at 8:30 sharp, ready for whatever grunt work he was going to get slapped with.

Instead, to his surprise, the boys all got on their motorcycles and told him to quickly get with the program or he’d be left behind. A confusing fifteen minutes later, he found himself in the middle of Main Street, parking in front of an old beat-up building. A green sign hung over the door proclaiming the place as “Jimmy’s” and loud music could be heard coming from inside. He shook his head and followed everyone through the door.

Immediately to his left was the restroom, a big red door with both the symbol for a man and a woman.
Classy
, he thought. There was a long wooden bar right after that, and the bikers had immediately taken up the free bar stools in the middle. On the right side of the room were eight tables, all strewn about without any thought put into it. Four of them were occupied, mostly by quiet, older men nursing beers. Women were few and far between and Tyler really wasn’t surprised. In between the bar and the tables, there was a stage with a microphone and some old instruments, presumably for karaoke night.

All in all, in his opinion, the place was a dump.

“Tyler!” Jagger’s voice floated over the music. “Don’t just stand there, come on. You’re buying the first round.”

Picking a bar stool off to the side, the young, blonde man sat down and nodded to the bartender. “Just a beer please.”

“And shots for everyone, B!” Vic proclaimed from beside him. “Tyler, this is Barry, we go way back.”

He gestured to the older man that was currently serving their drinks. “He owns the joint.”

“Barry?” The prospect looked confused. “I thought the owner’s name was…” He trailed off under the scrutinizing gazes of the men around him. “Well, you know… Jimmy.”

“Nah.” Barry put a beer and a shot of whiskey in front of him and shook his head. “What kind of name would
Barry’s
be for a bar? I’d never get any customers.”

Two hours in and Tyler had to admit, it wasn’t as bad as he first thought. He had just bought their fourth round of shots when a group of girls in their early twenties had wandered in and taken up two tables directly in front of the stage. Most of the older patrons had left, probably to go to bed, and had been replaced by kids from the local college, which wasn’t necessarily good, but it was definitely not boring. The drinks were flowing, the music was blaring, and the girls were dancing and well on their way to getting completely hammered. Overall, it was not a bad night for the group of bikers.

“Oh boy…” Lincoln’s voice came from his right and Tyler looked at where the man’s attention was focused. “Get ready, prospect. You are getting the full experience tonight.”

“Ready for what?” Tyler looked on in confusion.

“For what?” Lincoln looked at him with one eyebrow raised, smirking as he pointed to a table towards the back. “Hurricane Finn is about to blow through.”

The young, brunette playboy was seated smack-dab in the middle of a table full of college girls, flirting for all he was worth. He had been on them since the moment they stepped foot in the bar, taking special attention to a busty blonde. At the moment, he had a lock of her hair wrapped around the index finger of his left hand while his right one inched slowly up her thigh. He was completely oblivious to the angry, drunk man headed his direction. Definitely the boyfriend. His shoulders were squared, his face was red, and he had a few roid-raging goons to back him up.

“Ready boys?” Benz stood up and downed another shot of whiskey as several of the other bikers did the same. “Shit’s about to go down.”

Just as the words left the older man’s mouth, the kid reached the flirtatious biker and shoved his shoulder roughly. When Finn turned at the disturbance, he was met with a swift fist to the face. He wasn’t expecting it and the force knocked him back, sending the drinks on the table crashing and his ditzy audience shrieking as they fled the scene. Johnny was already half-way to the table, and with two more long strides, he laid into the cocky son of a bitch, giving Finn enough time to collect himself.

Vic handed Barry a wad of cash and shook his head, getting another beer. By that point, it was a full out brawl and Tyler couldn’t make out bikers from college guys.

“You ain’t gonna go help, prospect?” Tyler looked at the charter president, mouth gaping open like a fish as he tried to process the rapidly escalating scene. “Don’t just stand there and stare.” Vic pushed him off the bar stool and toward the melee. “Go get ‘em, tiger! Show us what you got.”

“You sure that’s a good idea, Vic?” Barry raised an eyebrow and poured two shots, one for himself and one for his drinking buddy, as they watched Tyler throw himself into the fray. “Poor kid’s gonna get eaten alive.”

“Let’s drink to that.” The men clinked glasses, laughing. “Gotta make sure he has the stones to run with us.”

After five minutes, three broken tables, a busted speaker, and a smashed guitar later, the fight was over. Everyone was bruised and bleeding, save Vic and Barry, who had watched the whole thing from the bar. There were no serious injuries on the bikers’ end except for Benz, who had a nasty gash on his left arm. One of the shitheads had pulled a knife on him, but thankfully hadn't been very skilled with it. All the rest had split lips, bruised knuckles, and swollen faces. They would surely sport matching black eyes in the morning.

“You hit like a bitch, asshole!” Jagger spit blood on the floor and yelled as a guy that looked decidedly worse than him scampered away.

The guy that had started the fight was being dragged out by his friends, Finn having done a number on him. Even though the bikers were outnumbered, they were not beyond fighting dirty. These kids had nothing on them and it proved true when they tucked their tails behind their legs and booked it out of the bar.

“Did you knock that asshole out with a mop?” Lincoln looked at his brother and grinned. “I'm impressed.”

“What can I say?” Finn took a drag of his beer while the rest of his brothers sat back down at the bar. “I learned from the best.” He nodded his head in Vic’s direction before turning to Tyler. “You managed to hold your own too, kid.”

Just as Tyler was about to respond, the front door opened and the blonde the whole fight had been about waltzed through it. Her heels clicked on the floor and she threw a flirty smile at Tyler before leaning into Finn and whispering in his ear. She stuffed a piece of paper in his hand and made her way back out, swaying her hips while the guys watched.

Finn grinned at them when she left, dropping a napkin on the bar. Her name and phone number were smeared in red lipstick on the paper.

The group roared with laughter, Finn and Lincoln clinking their beer bottles as Tyler shook his head.

“Now that’s how it’s done!”

“Maybe we should make this a weekly thing?”

29

July 15

Jackie slowly trudged into her and Tyler's apartment late in the afternoon, wanting nothing more than a quiet night in front of the television. Bianca had given her some work to do at the garage to earn some extra cash while she was pregnant, refusing to let her look for a real job in her condition. But dealing with people and mechanics and paperwork wasn't nearly as easy as it sounded, and she was finding the work to be incredibly draining on her already-exhausted body. Not that she would say no to the money though; she needed all of the cash she could get if her plans to leave Lakeside were going to happen.

She tossed her purse and keys on the small table by the door and entered the small living room to the left, surprised to find her roommate already glued to the television. “Well hey, stranger.”

Tyler lazily lifted his head to look over the back of the couch he was laying on. He was usually coming and going at odd hours, much like during their time in Georgia, and the only time they spent together were the rare few moments they both happened to be at the garage. “Hey,” he said with a quiet smile. “Was hoping I'd get to see you tonight.”

She walked around the side of the couch and climbed over Tyler to settle herself between the back cushions and his body, resting her head tiredly on his chest and wrapping an arm around his ribcage. “I've missed you.”

“Missed you too,” he replied, his own arm coming to lay across her shoulders and the other grabbing the hand on his stomach. “How're you doing?”

“Fine. Tired. Bianca's got me doing grunt work. Just until I find something better.” She added the last part quickly at his confused expression, not wanting to explain to him that she wasn't actually looking for a job here because she planned to disappear soon. “How are you? Getting along with everyone?”

“Yeah, I like it here. Everything is really chill. Finn is sponsoring me as his first prospect.”

She stared up at him blankly. “Which means what exactly?”

“He's supposed to be my mentor, I guess. It's his responsibility if I fuck up.”

“Right, well, that's good. I'm glad you've got somebody watching out for you.” It would make it a little bit easier when the time came to leave.

They laid in silence for awhile, eyes watching the program on the television, but neither really paying attention to it. “You talked to Dean?” Tyler asked as casually as he could.

Jackie tensed at the question, not wanting to have this conversation yet again. She had told her best friend about the fight that had transpired between her and the Macon biker the day she'd decided to leave. Tyler therefore assumed that this
lovers'
quarrel
was just a phase that the two would get over sooner or later.

“I'll call Dean when he stops killing people for a living,” she replied testily, sticking as close to the truth as she could without revealing the child she was carrying inside of her.

Tyler rolled his eyes at the statement, thinking she was being a bit dramatic considering the kinds of people that Dean actually killed. He let it go regardless, knowing that his friend would be steadfast in her argument until proven otherwise, and he was not the guy for that job. Instead, he tried a different approach. “I can tell you miss him.” She stayed quiet, but started fiddling with a loose string on his shirt. “I haven't seen a real smile from you in weeks. You don't go out unless you have to. You don't socialize with anyone.”

“I'm still settling in, that's all. I don't know anyone yet, but I'm working on it,” she lied, keeping her eyes glued to the television.

“I can't remember the last time you picked up a paintbrush.”

That was true. She hadn't been able to find any inspiration since her arrival in Lakeside except for a few odd pieces that she finished up. Every time she tried to start a new painting, she ended up staring at the blank canvas for half an hour. “Fine, so I'm having a little trouble dealing with this shit. It's normal.”

“It's not normal to move to another state.”

She glared up at him, propping her elbow on his chest to balance her head in her hand. “You're supposed to be on my side, Ty.”

“I
am
on your side, babe.” He ran a hand affectionately through her long, dark tresses. “I'm always on your side. Doesn't mean I can't think that you're making a huge mistake by not at least giving him a call.”

“He's the one that ended things!”

“No, you're the one that left.”

“No, he's the one that got you transferred knowing I would go with you.”

“Did he specifically say '
I want to end things between us
'?”

Jackie narrowed her eyes as her friend refused to give up the fight. “No, but he specifically said '
I could snap your neck with my bare hands
' and I took it as a sign. How would you interpret that?”

“I'd say he was having a very bad day, and in the heat of the moment, he said some things that he probably regrets deeply now, but he can't call to tell you that because he has to protect his biker image.” Rolling her eyes, she dropped her head back to his chest and ignored the excuses he gave for the man's behavior. “I bet he misses you as much as you miss him.”

“Shut up, Tyler.”