Authors: Cheri Lewis
“Can you tell me why?”
She shrugs. “We used to live in Arizona and my brother was Jagger’s best friend. I was a naive kid who thought she wanted to be in the biker club because it looked so cool from the outside in. So I used to follow my brother around and he didn’t mind it much. Well some boys from out west came through and wanted to buy me.”
“Buy you?” Jessie and I both ask in disbelief.
She nods. “Well of course they wouldn’t sell me and my brother had a bad temper and felt insulted and disrespected that they’d even ask…” she pauses a few minutes, then gives a sad smile and continues, “Sorry, most everybody I’m around knows my story so I don’t have to tell it often.”
I have my own story I don’t want to talk about, why should I ask her about hers
. “You know what don’t worry about it, I’ll go. We were just a little freaked out about going out there with no way to get home and then finding out we were looked into. It’s just not normal for us.”
“I get that. It’s probably best you know anyway. My brother shot the guy who wanted to buy me and they retaliated. He ended up being murdered and I was kidnapped. Since my biker name was Flame they thought I should wear the Flame,” she finishes quietly.
She doesn’t hesitate to raise her shirt up a little and show us the burn marks that scar her belly and left side. I’m not fully sure how far they go up but it looks like the scars are on her neck too and I don’t want to stare so I look up at her eyes. “Shitty part of my life,” is all she says as she shrugs.
“Are you telling me you were kidnapped and burned because your name was Flame?” Jessie asks and I know he can’t wrap his head around it, neither can I but I want more than anything right now to kick him to shut him up.
“Yeah.” She says softly.
I reach out and touch her arm. “You know what? Tonight we are going to have fun. Screw mad boyfriends. Screw things that make us feel bad about ourselves. Screw the things in our past that are terrible. Let’s just go have fun.” I pick up the leather lace up pants and ask, “Jessie picked these out, what do you think?”
“I think it’s a good thing you’re going to be with me. The boys will love those.”
Oh boy.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Weasels
We climb into a SUV that reminds me a lot of Tank's. It is blacked out with dark tint. I am beginning to see a pattern with all the vehicles but I don’t know what it means. Flame introduces us to Rocco. She doesn’t outright say he is her bodyguard but the large gun hanging at his side explains a lot. Rocco doesn’t say ‘hi or how are you back’ he just grunts. This doesn’t help calm my nerves any either. I can see Rocco is wearing a leather vest like the guys wore in that show Hunter made me watch. I look over at Jessie and he raises his eyebrows. Flame starts talking to us about what all we can do tonight. “We can dance, play pool, shoot darts, there’s even a karaoke machine but nobody really does that since Madonna left. Umm… let me think.”
“Any of that sounds like fun,” Jessie assures her.
We travel a while. When we turn on Highway 105 I start really paying attention because I’ve been out this way several times but I’ve never seen any place like Hunter described with the directions he gave me. And now I know why Rocco turns left onto a dirt road and the road makes several hard curves to the left then the right which I find really odd. Then he takes one more hard left while we were going around a sharp right curve that you will miss if you are driving by at any rate of speed. He drives another minute then pulls up to a gate and punches in a code. I look out my window and spot two cameras pointed in our direction.
McKinsey, what are you doing? You’re with strangers going out to a place way back in the woods. You’re smarter than this, well I guess you’re not cause you’ve gotten yourself into this situation. At least Tank knows where you are, right? He’ll come save us even though he told me not to come. Why, why, why didn’t I listen to him?
“We’re here,” Flame giggles.
This is not what I had pictured at all. There is a newer large metal building on the left and an old block building on the right. Rocco pulls around the metal building and there are at least 25 motorcycles parked out front. Jessie and I climb out of the SUV and follow Flame to the front door. I look back when I hear the tires crunch on the gravel and watch the SUV drive away.
Well there went my only hope of escape ‘cause I sure can’t drive a motorcycle.
I follow them inside and I stop and take it all in. It reminds me of a sports bar. There are game machines, couches with TVs at each one, a jukebox, and a long bar centered on the back wall. Several bikers are smoking but it isn’t over run with smoke. I notice all the men nod at Flame but they don’t speak or look too long. Jessie and I, on the other hand, stand out like big zits on picture day. I speed up and catch up with Jessie and Flame, not wanting to be left behind. Flame walks to the side of the bar where there is a single black round booth in the corner of the building. She slides into it and we follow.
“I forgot to mention they don’t really make fruity drinks here but they do stock wine coolers for me.”
“Do you got any Jamaica Me Happy?” Jessie asks. I still haven’t found my words yet. I’m taking in all the electronics and men wearing their leather cuts.
“Oh my gosh. That’s one of my favorite drinks. Yes we do!” Flame says as she bounces up and down in her seat. She hollers then waves, “Hey Tootie, bring us three Happy’s to drink please.”
I look over at who she’s waving at and then I begin to take in the women here. They don’t look like the girls on that show. They’re all dressed in something I will compare to what the women wear at Hooters except they’re in what looks like a uniform. All black, even black tennis shoes and black socks. Tootie brings us our drinks and Flame hands her a card that the waitress swipes into a little machine that hangs around her hip.
“Oh let us pay, we owe you from today anyway,” I say quickly.
She waves. “You don’t have a card. That’s how we pay. Have you ever been on a cruise?” Jessie and I both nod. “It’s like that. You put it on a card and it’s all put on an account and then settled up later.”
“Well, let us give you some money for it at least. I don’t feel right you paying for our drinks.”
She smiles. “I don’t pay, Jagger does. And he said to pay for all your drinks because you’re my guests so if you really want to pay, take it up with him.”
I’ll have to give some thought to taking anything up with Jagger. It doesn’t take us long to relax I keep waiting for what the big deal is and why it is so dangerous for us to be out here by ourselves, but there is nothing. Actually outside of being with Tank, it’s the safest I’ve felt lately.
I can’t wait for Jessie and me to get back home so we can talk about all this. We haven’t had a moment to ourselves since we first arrived. We dance to mostly country songs that we don’t know but it doesn’t matter. We drink wine coolers and we play darts. I begin to notice the later it gets the louder it gets and then about 10:30 a door opens behind the bar and a whole lot of bikers pour into the building except these are straight up scary bikers long hair, some have beards, some have tattoos covering on their faces. And I instantly know these are the dudes that Tank doesn’t want me around. I cut my eyes toward Jessie who has stopped mid-throw with his dart watching them. They are like ants, busy and everywhere. The women are horrendous. They make cat calls and derogatory comments when they walk by me and Jessie. If you put them on a corner somewhere downtown they would’ve fit right in. I walk over and stand beside Jessie. The men stare us down and some of the stares linger way too long, but none of them speak. Flame comes and stands beside us. “Just ignore them. It’s really the only part about the club I hate. I wish they didn’t bring their skanky ass whores with them.”
One of the women apparently hears Flame and shoots us a bird and licks up the middle finger sucking on it like she’s giving it a blow job. The guy she’s with knocks her hand down and slaps her hard across the face. It doesn’t even seem to faze her as she smiles then sits on his lap and begins kissing his neck.
Oh my gosh that just happened
? I look at Jessie and I know he’s thinking the same thing.
Jagger and another man walk out the door behind the bar and close it behind them. Jagger walks over to Flame and pulls her to him. She smiles a genuine smile and he kisses her long and slow again. He whispers something in her ear and she nods her head yes.
Seeing them together makes me miss Tank. Flame turns to us and says, “You guys know Jagger and this is Dong.”
I don’t even want to know how Dong got his name.
He stares at me then sucks on his lip and making a slurping sound. I want to gag. Jessie gets right up against me and holds my hand. I’m sure we look ridiculous but I don’t care. I’m glad he’s holding my hand because we definitely don’t belong with this crowd. He’s big and built but not at all attractive like Jagger. He’s disgusting. He has a long beard and wears one of those shirts that don’t have the sides in it, just really big arm holes.
I don’t understand why you would even bother wearing a shirt.
“Come on, let’s go back to the table,” Flame says.
Jagger nods his head at me and Jessie as we follow her, Dong then asks, “Who’s the sweet piece of ass?”
Please be talking about Jessie, please be talking about Jessie
, I repeat to myself several times, Jagger calls to us, “Hey, you got an old man?”
Jessie and I turn around together and I stumble over my words, “Who—who me?”
“I sure as fuck ain’t interested in him,” Dong replies pointing at Jessie.
I don’t sound very confident when I say, “Yes, I’m seeing somebody.”
“Well that’s just too bad, ‘cause I love me some fresh pussy.” He raises his arm and starts to flick his tongue toward his armpit.
“Yuuuuck!” Jessie cries out loud and squeezes my hand harder. I squeeze back even harder to get him to shut up.
It takes me a minute to even see the tattoo. I’m still stuck on him flicking his tongue at his arm pit hair.
I mean who does something like that?
He has a tattoo of a woman’s leg running up the inside of his arm with a red high heeled shoe on her foot and then another leg running down the side of his torso which makes his armpit hair the woman’s vagina. My jaw falls open, and I have no idea what to say. Flame goes over and pushes him. “Stop it Dong. These are my friends and I won’t have them treated that way. She says she got a man so leave her alone.”
He put his arm down then winks at me. “If you change your mind, I know what I’m doing and you won’t regret it.”
I freeze when I feel hands on my shoulders then a very confident voice say, “She won’t change her mind.”
“This your woman?” Dong asks Tank.
“It is, she’s mine,” Tank almost snarls through gritted teeth. I feel instant relief. I lean back into him. I’m still holding Jessie’s hand and I’m not letting it go. In the last fifteen minutes I have been through all sorts of emotions and Jessie is keeping me grounded. I turn around and hug Tank to me, burying my face in his chest.
I look up when Jagger says, “We need to talk.” And he says it staring Tank down.
Tank nods then whispers to me, “Go with Flame. I’ll be there in a minute.”
I look up and I see the look on his face. It’s serious and I know I need to do what he says and ask questions later. Jessie and I take the two steps over to Flame. She is smiling and pushes my arm. “Girl, why didn’t you tell me you were Tank's girl?”
“I didn’t realize it mattered.”
“Oh, it matters around here.”
“Good or bad?”
She shrugs. “I’d guess it would depend on who you are, now wouldn’t it?”
Her cryptic message bothers me a bit but I try to ignore any of those feelings and keep an eye on Tank. He follows Jagger into the room behind the bar. “What’s back there?” I ask Flame.
“It’s where they have their meetings and stuff. Don’t worry, he’ll be right back.”
I look back at Flame and I can tell she’s worried about Jessie and me running away the first chance we get. I smile at her. “I know, I was just wondering where everybody came from. Do you think we could get another drink?”
She looks relieved when I ask for another drink, “Yeah, sure.”
Tank and Jagger are gone about five minutes before they come out of the back room. They walk to our table and slide in the booth beside us. I feel bad for Jessie as he is the odd guy out and sandwiched between all of us. Tank wraps his arm around my shoulder and leans in to kiss my cheek then whispers in my ear, “You have a lot of explaining to do and I can see why it would take more than five minutes.”
I turn toward him and stare into his hazel eyes. They are tender and searching mine so I know all is alright. I lean forward and kiss his lips gently, then turn back to Flame and Jessie and strike up a conversation.
We stay a while longer. Tank and Jagger leave us so we can continue our girls’ night, which we do and it isn’t until we’re climbing into Tank's SUV that I realize that other than the rude girl and the disgusting man named Dong, nobody messed with us. It’s like we were in a bubble.
When we start to pull out I open my mouth to start explaining but Tank flicks the dome light on and quickly put his finger over his lips shaking his head, then he asks, “Did you have a good time?”