Extraction (8 page)

G
oliath
:

W
hen I woke up
, I knew where I was as I’d woken up at Phoebe’s many times. Only this time something was different.

Fuck.

The night before came rushing in like a broken damn.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

My mini-panic must have jolted Phoebe as well, because she opened her eyes, looked at my face and smiled, then her eyes moved down to my chest and she screamed.

“Oh my God,” she gasped and nearly jumped out of the bed.

“Shit, I’m fucking sorry,” I tried to console her.

Phoebe’s large eyes closed tight as her face frowned, then she said, “Is this going to be awkward?”

“Hmm,” I grunted.

She sighed and I asked, “Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, I'm perfect. Just not sure what to do about the morning after you have awesome sex with your friend.”

“Yeah, uh, I didn’t mean for this to happen. I mean…” I hopped out of bed, grabbed my clothes and said, “I'm going to head out.”

“Okay,” Phoebe sounded relieved, “and I'll see you later, right?”

“Hmm,” I mumbled.

Fuck me.

I did not mean to go there with her. She was the craziest person I knew but she was my peace, my light.

Fuck!

I took a ride out of town to clear my head. Well, mostly to get her out of my head. She was everywhere and I was lost without her. Aimlessly moping around as she put it one time. She had told me I needed to do something with my life, join a bowling league or some shit. The fucking woman was hilarious.

The further I rode the more I realized I was closer to Harrisburg than I wanted to be. I drove through a small town and saw a bunch of bikes outside a bar. The music was playing, the crowd was alive and it reminded me of how we partied when we were on leave. We used to throw them back and sleep it off the next day only to do it all over again until our leave was over. The fucked up part is that I probably hadn't been to a bar since then, but this place called to me; I pulled over.

It was called
Peppers
and it was homely enough. There was a blond chick on the microphone doing a call and response with the crowd, then she sang a few verses of a song.

She was really good and the crowd only reaffirmed that fact. There were two women in the front who were screaming for the singer and cheering her on.

When the song finally ended, the singer said, “Okay, I'm going to take a ten-minute break and then I'll be back. Duty calls.”

Everyone started laughing at the comment. I asked the female bartender for beer on tap. She nodded and started to pour the amber drink into a glass.

“Here ya go,” she said as she slid the glass toward me.

I nodded.

A few minutes later a lady saddled up next to me and said, “You're not from around here. I know everyone.”

My headed nodded again.

“Care for another drink?” she asked me.

“No, I'm good,” I said as my eyes remained on my beer.

“Now,
that
, you are,” she crooned. “Well, you just let me know if you change your mind.” She rubbed my arm and my skin all but crawled.

It wasn't that she was a bad looking woman. The lady was older than me and she looked good but she wasn't her. No woman had touched me like that except her and it was never sexual.

Now, we were fucking doomed. Sex and friendships never worked. Why the fuck I took us there was just the goddamn biggest fuck up in the past five years. She was everything and now we’d be reduced to awkward acquaintances.

That, I couldn't have.

The woman left the stage and was soon replaced by a man.

“4
^th
Infantry, stationed in Iraq. Camp Taji,” a voice said.

My head swiveled around so fast I had to hold onto the counter.

There stood a man with a clean face, long dark hair that brushed past his shoulders and looked to be of a Native American heritage.

“Names, Apollo. Where were you?” He pointed towards my army tattoo.

Well, goddamn.

“52
^nd
Infantry, stationed in Camp Bonzai. Baghdad. Name’s Goliath.” I extended my hand toward him.

We shook and he pulled back enough for me to see his white tee and the cut that read Legion of Guardians.

I almost laughed because Phoebe had just told me to join a club.

“How long you been out?” he asked me as he sat down on the stool beside mine.

“Three years. You?”

“Going on ten.” He shook his head. “I miss it sometimes.”

“Yeah?” I looked at him. “How long were you in?”

“Ten years,” he nodded. “You do something that long, you'll miss it too.”

“Yeah? I've thought about going back, but it wasn’t in me?” I said. “Life ain't the same no more.”

“Fucking right.” He nodded. “But you make that shit work. Stay in touch with your platoon, get a core group. Some even settle down and tie the knot and shit.”

I laughed.

“Funny, right?” He nodded.

“Right.”

“You got a woman?” he asked.

“No,” I answered. “Well, I don't fucking know.”

He burst out laughing and said, “Shit, man. You sound like me. Just plain fucked up.”

“You can say that,” I agreed. “I take it you have or had a woman?”

“Now, what I had was a fucking horrible lapse in judgement and fucked up any chance I had with said woman. Her ass is engaged to be married to some stick.”

“Damn,” I whistled.

“Well, whatever's going on with your shit, do me a favor and fix your wrongs man. Make that shit right before you lose the privilege to even be in the same room with her alone.”

“Yeah, man. I hear you, loud and clear.” I drank the last of my beer. “However, a friend of mine once told me, it's never too late to fix your wrongs. Maybe you don't need to be alone with her but she just needs to hear you above everyone else.”

Apollo nodded and said, “Goliath, shit, you just might be on to something.”

“Noted,” I said.

Apollo looked at me and said, “You just driving by or you live near here?”

“Driving by but I'm only two hours out.”

“Okay, come to our table. I want you to meet somebody.” He waved towards a table full of bikers.

I nodded and said, “Right behind you.”

I paid for the drink and followed him to a table in the back.

There were a few people seated in the back along with women sitting on guy’s laps. One of the women was the singer.

“Razor, got somebody I want you to meet,” Apollo called to the man looking into the singer’s eyes.

She wasn't just a groupie; the man was gone for her. I looked to their fingers and saw they had on wedding bands and hers was huge.

“Alright, honey. It's time for act two.” She kissed him.

He rubbed her belly and that's when I noticed that she had a little bump. “I'll be here,” he said with a gravelly voice.

His eyes turned towards Apollo and he said, “Who’s your guest?” Just like that, it was back to business. Here sat a man who could gaze in his lady’s eyes in one minute and put a man down in the next.

I could dig that.

“He's just passing through but he's army like me. Don't know him per se, but got a feeling you might want to chat,” Apollo told the man with the salt and pepper goatee.

“Well, that's my cue to go. You guys start talking all of that club shit and I don't need to be around,” said a mocha-colored woman with long flowing hair.

She was sitting on the lap of a very muscular man, who was also clearly smitten with the woman on his lap. Despite his slap on her ass, the two communicated with their eyes and gestures. Also, there were rings on their fingers too.

Damn, what kind of club was this?

They all had on cuts that had the same emblem, their names and titles.

“I'm Razor, President of the Guardians. This, here, is Bronx, he's the VP and you met, Apollo, my Sergeant of Arms.” He held out his hand, gesturing for me to be seated.

“I'm Goliath, I live over in Lily,” I said.

“Good.” He nodded.

“You're not from around the area, are you?” Bronx asked.

“No, I'm from Onley. I moved here after I was discharged.”

“Well, you picked a good area. The Guardians are a bike club that does a whole lot more. We have people from all over who are Guardians and they are in different professions and contribute in various ways. Some are doctors, lawyers, etc. A lot are ex-military or police and that's because of the type of work we do. It's not just all about our club but also what’s right and wrong. You know? As you can see, we’re family men; we don't hit or abuse women or children but we stop people who do. We can be hired and Guardians get paid for the work they do. We also train our members in various forms of combat because of the type of work we do, it may be necessary. We don't go looking for shit but we’ll end it.” All heads nodded around the table. “Just so you know what I'm telling you now is what it is. There's no secrets among us, these are my right hand men and I trust them. What you also need to know is that when we’re on a job, we’ll do whatever it takes to make sure no harm is done. However, if we need to settle a threat then that will be done by any means necessary. Some call us vigilantes but we’ll argue self-defense. In the history of my tenure, we’ve only had one instance of that and it was a life or death situation.”

He banged on the table and said, “That's us! Now who are you?”

“Fuck, right now I'm just a patron at a bar trying to clear my head from some shit I fucked up.”

All the men laughed.

What was so goddamn funny? That shit reminded me of Phoebe. Everything was fucking funny.

“Well, you've come to the right place. This is The Guardians bar and you're welcome any time. If you want to talk about membership, you can always find a Guardian here.”

“Is everything legit?” I asked.

Razor looked at me in the eye and said, “Abso-fucking-lutely. I don't deal in illegal shit. We can't afford it. My old lady’s about to have my second child and they are trying to make one. My members have businesses, professional careers, real estate, stocks and shit that need to be maintained. We’re about building capital the right way. We have no need to fuck with illegal shit and frankly, that's not us. We’re protectors and we do it well.”

I nodded my head and asked, “It's sounds good. Recruits? Are they hazed?”

“To a certain degree. We’re not dealing with kid recruits, so no hazing of that sort, but there's a process,” he answered.

“You don't have to kill someone to get in but a recruit would probably take over my mailbox runs, if that gives you any idea,” Bronx told me.

“Yeah, that helps,” I nodded towards the man.

“Well, what shit did you fuck up?” Razor asked.

Apollo laughed and said, “Yeah, these men know all about fucking up.”

Bronx turned towards Apollo and said, “Yeah, you would know too if you'd own that shit?”

“Fuck you, man. I'm working on it.” Apollo snapped back.

“Since when?” Bronx challenged him.

“Since talking to my man, Goliath, here.”

All eyes turned to me and I shrugged my shoulders. “I feel like I missed a story.”

“Oh, that story is on its way. Believe me!” Razor smiled.

“Fucking, right!” Bronx joined him.

Apollo simply looked hopeful which seemed to please his brothers.

All of whom seemed to be pretty cool guys.

We talked for another two hours and then Bronx’s lady came over, whispered in his ear and he wished us farewell. The woman was pretty and her curves were in all the right areas, that was for sure.

Next the singer came back over, sat in Razor’s lap and his hands started roaming around her belly and once they got higher than that, she dragged him out of there. Apollo and I exchanged numbers and I left as well. Watching those guys and their women reminded me that there was a life outside the one I was living and Phoebe taught me it was attainable.

* * *

F
or once in a long time
, I woke up alone.

I didn't like that.

Instead of going to Phoebes, I knocked on my neighbor’s door for the first time since I moved in. He was an older man, lived below Phoebe and she loved him. She saw him every day and sometimes would stay there for hours.

The woman was really doing the work of a public servant and this notion that she'd been an CEO was almost absurd. I found it so hard imagining her as that person.

“Hello Mr. Neighbor who I've never met. Nice of you to stop by after a year.”

The side of my lip turned up in a smirk as I nodded at the old man’s candor.

“Nice to finally meet you, too.”

“I would ask what brings ya here, but I know it's my girl Phoebe.” He tried to laugh but it turned into a cough. “She done turned ya inside out didn't she?”

Now, it was my turn to laugh.

“Yeah, how'd ya know?” I finally said.

“Ha! Well, now you can come in.” He moved slowly to let me enter his identically shaped apartment except everything was on the opposite side.

“Ya need anything?” he asked. “Phoebe always says I need to be a good host to all guests, not just the ones I like.”