Banished Souls MC (2 page)

Chapter 2

Caine

"Now that you're no longer a useless Prospect we can tell you how business is going," said Uncle. He leaned forward on the table with huge tattooed arms. The words Banished Souls MC was blazoned across one bicep. "Well, business sucks, and it sucks bad."

Caine shifted in his chair and tried to make more of an effort to focus on the Club President's words. Three days ago Caine received his bottom rocker on his Club's patch, making him a full patch member of the Banished Souls Motorcycle Club. And for three days, and three nights straight he had done nothing but drink, party, and fight. His ears were still ringing from all the loud music, boisterous laughter, and knocks on the head.

It made paying attention at his first ever full patch Club meeting a little challenging.

Caine managed a gruff chuckle and said, "I already figured that out from the cheap beer you were feeding me last night."

This brought laughter from the other members sitting at the table, albeit subdued. Usually, being in Booty Bumps was a little more festive. But Uncle was known to get real surly when talking about business.

Uncle offered a grin, which came as some minor relief to the others. It was like watching a grizzly smile just before it bit you in half. "Yeah," Uncle said. "But we thought you were too drunk to notice."

More laughter.

Uncle sat up a little, which meant he was about to get serious, and and any more laughing could result in a potential beating. "But the situation is real. Business is down since our distributors got their asses reamed by the Feds. Now anyone of worth is locked up for the duration, or keeping a low profile."

Others grumbled, but Caine only nodded. There was nothing he could say at this point, although something would be expected of him now, from a business stand point. He was new blood. The first new full patch member in almost eight years. And he had the disturbing notion that his patching in was sped up because Odin, another full patch member, recently got himself locked up.

This chapter of the Banished Souls was getting thin on members. Or 'quality' members, as T-Bone would say.

As if reading his thoughts T-bone, who sat next to Caine, said, "Caine's got Odin's back. Not going to be a problem."

T-Bone was Caine's best friend, and had spoke up for him when Caine was ready to be moved up from Hang Around status to being a Prospect. Prospect was the final level before being patched in as a Full Club Member. He had guided Caine through the ranks, and helped secure his full Patch status.

Not wanting it to look like he needed T-Bone to speak for him at his first Club meeting Caine said, "Odin's filled me in. Things are good." He kept it vague. Everything was vague when talking business in the open, even in their own strip club. It annoyed Caine that they were even there, and not in a more secure location, like the Clubhouse, but he kept his trap shut. Both T-Bone and Odin had warned him not to question Uncle without serious backup.

Uncle arched a brow. "Is that so?" He turned and looked at the large member sitting next to him. "All good with you?"

Grunt, a massive gorilla of a man, visibly blanched at having the attention turned on to him. "Yeah," the big man managed. "All good."

"Okay, then," Uncle said, and then turned the conversation to other more mundane Club matters.

Caine noticed Grunt glowering in his direction and chose to ignore him. Grunt hated Caine. He almost spoke out against Caine during the membership vote, which had to be unanimous for a Prospect to get their Full Patch. But, in the end, he didn't. Probably because he didn't have enough juice with the other members.

Now Caine suspected Grunt was just biding his time before he did something to screw with Caine.

It really sucked that Odin had partnered with Grunt on a crucial venture, just before he got thrown in jail. With Caine now covering Odin's business, it meant he had to work with Grunt, whether either man liked it or not.

Suddenly, a muscle-head named Basher, walked up to their table carrying a large tray full of clinking bottles. He had a comical grin on his face.

"You guys up for some more beers?" he said, interrupting Uncle who was talking to someone.

Uncle exploded out of his chair, a terrifyingly quick movement from someone so large. "Get that outta here while members are talking, you idiot!" Uncle spat with rage.

Basher's eyes widened in fear, beer bottles tumbling about the tray. He turned and fled as fast as could, clinking glass with every step and quickly disappeared into the back kitchen.

Uncle sat back down, and shook his head. He looked toward Grunt  and said, "I don't care if he is your cousin. What makes you want to patch that moron into the Club?" Uncle's incredulous expression caused some of the other members to chuckle.

Grunt could only avoid the Club President's gaze. He shrugged and looked down at the table.

Once it became clear that business talk was more or less over, members started talking amongst themselves. T-Bone leaned over to Caine and said in a low voice, "And you thought your new boyfriend had in in for you before." He indicated Grunt who silently fumed alone. No one was going to talk to him now, not without risking getting some of his stink on them.

"Yeah," Caine said, keeping his voice down, too. "Sucks that I gotta work with him. At least it's just this one thing. After that is done, he best steer clear of me."

T-Bone nodded, "He had high hopes his retarded cousin Basher would now be prancing about with a full patch on his back. A full member that he could manipulate and control. Too bad Basher keeps screwing himself over time and again."

Caine knew Grunt was both jealous of Caine's quick rise in the Club, and pissed that Caine's patching in had effectively negated any hope for Basher to do the same for a good long while.

Caine sighed. This kind of drama just made the Banished Souls existence all the more difficult.

Just then Caine caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Addie across the far side of the bar. Addie waved, but Caine didn't bother to wave back. He was over her. What they had was history, and it would stay that way.

But what really snagged his attention was the stunning blonde woman standing next to Addie.

"Whoa," Caine managed. To say she was beautiful was an understatement.

"Now that there is some fine piece of tail," T-Bone said. Caine could only nod in agreement.

Caine and the blonde's eyes met, and Caine was struck with a sensation he had never experienced before in his life. Like a ray of sunshine boring through his eyes and chasing away the shadows dirtying his soul.

Then Addie pulled the blond away, ruining the moment. Both women moved in the direction of Lloyd's office.

T-Bone gave Caine a shove, nudging him out of his trance. "You can breath now," T-Bone said, laughing.

Caine was still trying to come to his senses. "Who the hell was that?"

T-Bone shrugged. "Dunno, probably a peeler. Here for Lloyd's job audition. Hope she brought a penicillin shot."

Caine blinked at this. Lloyd was the manager of the strip club, but was nothing less than a proxy for the Banished Souls. Everything was in Lloyd's name, so if something went down with the bar, the MC was protected. To anyone sniffing around, it looked like the bar was owned by Lloyd. But Lloyd was owned by the Banished Souls.

Of course, that didn't stop Lloyd from being a brash loudmouth with an abusive perverted side that was almost legendary. Of course, that description could be applied to practically every member of the Club, too. But just as long as Lloyd didn't get out of hand and bring unnecessary attention to the bar, the bar manager could do as he pleased.

Now that beautiful blond was heading toward Lloyd's office. And, to Caine's complete surprise, that bothered him.

Just then a cute Asian woman bolted out of Lloyd's office and hurried toward the front door, crying.

"Guess she forget her penicillin shot," said T-Bone.

Caine then noticed the beautiful blond head into Lloyd's office and shut the door behind her.

Dammit, Caine thought, shaking his head. He couldn't get involved. Let another member deal with Lloyd's antics. He had other more important business to deal with. And none of it meant getting involved with a peeler.

Then he remembered that feeling he got from the blond. All from just from making eye contact with her.

Maybe...

T-Bone hissed in his ear, "Incoming."

Caine looked up and saw Grunt's massive figure striding toward him. As casually as he could Caine stood. He didn't think Grunt would try anything here. Why would he? Still, you couldn't be to careful with a blatant enemy in your midst.

Grunt said to him, "We got that thing later."

"Yup, Odin gave me the details," Caine said. Odin had told him all right. And none of it put Grunt in a good light.

Grunt is a disease, Odin had said. Don't let him infect you.

Grunt appeared to be getting some of his composure back after being embarrassed over Basher. He sneered at Caine, "Well, that was sweet of him. You know, I think you need to handle this on your own. Show me what you got. It's a simple run. You can take care of it." As Grunt turned away he shot over his shoulder, "Just don't screw it up."

Caine seethed, but felt T-Bone's hand on his shoulder to restrain him. "Not worth it," T-Bone said. "He's gonna dig his own grave some day. Just don't get any dirt on you when he does."

Caine cooled off a little. He could handle the task given to him by Odin. And, actually, it would go better without Grunt messing about. He could handle business as was expected of him.

Despite himself, Caine looked over at the closed door of the manager's office. He was thinking of that incredible blond and what she would be forced to be doing right now.

He suddenly found himself walking.

"Whatcha doin?" T-Bone called after him.

"I'm gonna take care of some business," Caine said, and headed right for the manager's door.

Chapter 3

Cherish

Cherish felt numb as she shut the office door and turned to take in the new surroundings.

After being in the wide open space of the bar, the office felt incredibly small and constrained. A simple desk with a couple of chairs in front of it were the only furniture present. The walls were lined with garish posters declaring Booty Bumps stripping assets along with photos of women in different states of undress. The only window faced out toward the bar, no doubt so the dancing on the stage could be observed, but was covered with blinds which were now closed.

Sitting on the opposite side of the desk was a thin, gawky man. His face was beat red, mostly from horrific acne, but also from what Cherish could only assume was some type of allergy. The thin moustache across his lip only accentuated his long, hooked nose. What little hair he had was bright blond, no doubt dyed, and was spiked at a near comical angle to one side. He probably thought he looked good. But he was the only one in the room who felt that way.

This was obviously Lloyd.

Lloyd was angrily clicking on a mouse while fixated on a computer monitor. From her angle, Cherish could see it was some type of online poker game, which he appeared to be losing.

Without even looking up Lloyd waved dismissively at one of the chairs. "Sit your ass down," he said.

Cherish sat, crossing her legs and keeping her purse in her lap. She really did not want to be there, right now. She just wanted to go back to her crappy motel room and cry. Yet, here she sat. Poverty makes you do stupid things.

Lloyd suddenly cursed and batted the mouse off the desk, making it clatter to the floor. A card game lost. No doubt, one of many. Angrily, Lloyd turned away from his monitor to finally look at Cherish for the first time. His angry expression froze for a moment, then transformed into a wide smile that could be best described as oily.

Cherish hid her revulsion. Lloyd was even less appealing when smiling then when he was angry.

"My, my, my," Lloyd said. "What do we have here?" His beady eyes moved slowly down Cherish's body, taking in every detail with a hungry purpose. He gazed at the exposed skin of her knees, then back up her body again to finally settle on her breasts. He licked his lips.

Cherish tolerated it. This wasn't the first time she was visually devoured by a man. And wouldn't be the last.

After a few moments, Lloyd's gaze snapped up to look Cherish in the eyes. "Addie really delivered, this time," he said. His lips peeled back to show incredibly white teeth. Probably as fake as his hair color.

Lloyd leaned back in his chair, which squeaked loudly. His eyebrows shot up, and he extended his hands out in what looked like expectation. "Well?" he asked.

"Well, what?" Cherish asked, tension building in her gut.

"Well, let's see your tits, honey," Lloyd said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Cherish's heart shot up into her throat. No, no, no, she thought. She couldn't do this. Not again. I can't.

When she didn't move, Lloyd looked confused. "You're a stripper, right? Strippers strip. It's your stock and trade. So, strip. Not all the way. We'll get to that later. I just want to get a chance at those incredible mammaries you have hidden under there."

"I don't..." she started to say.

"You don't strip? What kind of candy striper are you?" Lloyd's grin was turning into a frown. His voice was starting to tinge with anger. "Is the audience expected to use their imagination as you dance around on the stage in layers of winter clothing?"

She suddenly stood.

Surprised, Lloyd stood, too.

"This isn't what I expected," she managed to say. "I'm sorry." She headed for the door.

"Wait!" Lloyd said.

Cherish stopped, her hand on the door handle and looked back at him.

Lloyd smiled. "Look, I'm sorry. I was just kidding around." He looked apologetic. "I tease all the girls. I gotta know if they can handle the customers. You realize that customers will give it to you a lot worse than that, right?"

Cherish nodded. "I guess." In fact, they have, but she said nothing.

"See!" he said. "Now please, sit down. We'll just talk." He extended a hand toward the chair.

Cherish sighed, then returned to her seat.

"All, better," he said. "We're friends now, right? And friends look out for each other. I want to know you'll be okay if you're working for me. I mean, those guys out there can get really rowdy with a hot babe like yourself waving her fanny in their faces. Right?"

Cherish really didn't know what to say to that. Part of her wanted to leave, right then and there. Another part forced her to stay. This was a world she knew, and was used to. She was starting to doubt if she really could she make another go of it, doing something else.

Lloyd was grinning, happy that she wasn't running away. "Look, I understand your situation. You need money, am I correct?"

Cherish nodded. Who didn't?

"And being a peeler pays well, right?"

Cherish nodded, again. May as well play along.

"And Booty Bumps pays really well, too. Or, should I say, I pay really well." He was leering at her now.

Unsure of what was expected of her, Cherish offered a tight smile. She clutched her purse closer to herself.

Lloyd was enjoying himself. "See, I'm tight with the Banished Souls. Real tight. We're business partners on this little venture here. They even come to me for advice from time to time."

Cherish found the mention of the Club's name caused her stomach to flutter in excitement, despite herself.

"And those guys really pay well. Now if you want to get in good with those guys, you gotta get in good with me."

Oh, damn, she thought. Here it comes.

"So," Lloyd continued. "If you are really expecting do work here, then you're expected to do a little extra to earn that right."

And with that, he casually unbuttoned his pants, unzipped his fly and pulled out his member from its sweaty hiding place. He had done this so quick and easily it was no doubt he'd done this before with many other girls.

Cherish gasped. She wasn't as shocked as she should have been. After all, wasn't this sort of what she expected when she closed the door and sat down? A price to be paid by her?

She looked at Lloyd's member, which happened to be at eye level with her. Like Big Lloyd, Little Lloyd was small and pathetic. But his confidence was growing by the second.

"I know you want this," Lloyd said, shaking it at her. "Now, show me how badly you want this job."

Cherish was frozen in place, uncertain of what to do. Yes, Lloyd was right. She needed this job more than anything. It angered her that she was even in this situation, but for that she could blame that asshole Devlin for screwing up her life.

And here she was: sitting in the back room of a peeler bar with some scumbag waving is tiny dick in her face.

Something had to change. But she needed time first to kick that change into gear. And, more than anything, she needed money.

She looked at Little Lloyd, now standing at attention. Was she willing to do what it took to get her life together? Was this a part of that? She didn't really know, but her empty purse was certainly telling her that it was.

She found herself moving.

Suddenly the office door flew open. Both Cherish and Lloyd looked to see who it was. Someone who wanted to be an audience to her mistake?

A man stood in the doorway, a look of anger on his handsome face. He was large, muscular and had the presence of someone who was not to be messed with under any circumstance.

And he was magnificent.

Cherish felt her heart quicken. Not with fear, but with something else entirely. This was the Club member she made eye contact with when she first came in.

Oh, my, she thought.

The large man took in the scene, first glancing at Cherish, which caused her to catch her breath, then at the two Lloyds.

"The hell is going on here?" said the living Man-God. His voice was deep, and his tone was that of great annoyance.

Big Lloyd had stood up when the other man had entered, and was still holding Little Lloyd in his hand. Both Lloyds were wilting under the intense gaze of the man in the doorway.

"I... uh, was just..." Lloyd looked to Cherish, as if she would offer some sort of support.

"Don't look at me," Cherish managed to say. Damned if she would give this sleaze a way out of this.

The large man strode into the room, with the ease of a commanding general, and walked over to Lloyd.

Lloyd cringed, and spun away off the desk in a lame effort to hide somewhere. He was too terrified to even do up his pants.

The large man was on him, and with an open hand, slapped Lloyd across the face. Lloyd went ass over teakettle into the corner of the room, Little Lloyd flapping about.

Just then, another man entered the room. This one was considerably larger than the first, with thick jet black hair. He looked over at the first man and Lloyd, then over at Cherish. He offered her a slight nod of the head and a mischievous grin.

"You causing problems for us?" the first man said to Lloyd. "You think screwing around with these girls is good for the Club?"

Lloyd was beside himself with fear. No, more than that. Pure terror. Here was a man who fully expected to die in the next few moments.

And Cherish was shocked to learn she was actually enjoying seeing him like this.

"No... no, Caine, not at all. I was just having a little fun, was all. I didn't mean any harm."

Cherish's ears perked up. So, this incredible hunk's name was Caine? Caine. She couldn't think of anything that sounded sexier.

"Harm? You twit. What if one of these girls called the cops because of your dumb ass antics? You think we want that kind of attention here?"

Lloyd was beyond petrified. The mention of him bringing cops must of sounded like a death sentence to his ears.

"I'm sorry. I..." Lloyd started to say but then Caine slapped him again. And again.

"You think this is funny? You think this is a game?" Caine said, punctuating each sentence with a slap.

What followed could best described as a biker beat down. Both Cherish and the black haired man watched, one in shock, the other with mild boredom.

After a few moments, Caine stopped. He glared down at the quivering, weeping manager.

"Think he got the point?" the black haired man asked.

Caine shrugged, nonchalantly, stepping away from Lloyd and came around the desk again. "I think I made it pretty clear." You looked over at Cherish. Instantly, his look of anger was gone replaced by one of genuine concern. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

Cherish was a little dumb founded. Here was a man who stopped something awful from happening to her. He had come to her rescue. Yes, it came in the form of a little Club discipline, but she'll take it. "Yeah," she managed. Was that her talking? "I'm fine. Thank you."

"Did he touch you?" Caine asked.

With that Lloyd mewled in terror He knew if she said yes the beating would continue, and get much worse.