For the Love of His Life (9 page)

Raul took a sip of his new drink and shrugged. He moaned. “Fuck! Even shrugging hurts from all the damn push-ups I’ve been doing!”

Tom leaned over. “I feel your pain. This one’s on the house. Hell, if you keep on drinking in here I’ll have to start paying
you
. You’re the best advertising I’ve ever had! People have been calling to be sure this is
the
Crossroads…
your
Crossroads since they saw that on-line picture of you shooting pool in here.”

Raul smiled weakly. “Good. I’m glad to be helping your business. But running with that blonde Amazon every day is going to kill me! Do me a favor and say nice things about me at my funeral, okay?”

Tom snorted with laughter. “You’re running with Veronica? Jesus, no wonder you’re hurting! She started running cross-country when she was in grade school and she’s been at it ever since. She parlayed those long legs of hers into a partial scholarship to U. of M. so she could join their track team.”

Raul stared at him morosely. “We’ve been running in the morning after she’s done with the pies, then we swim a few laps around the lake.”

Tom shook his head. “You couldn’t have found a better trainer but she’s not going to cut you any slack for being out of shape to begin with. When she started doing my books years ago, I asked her if I could run with her just to be friendly.” He leaned over conspiratorially. “And the fact that she wears only those tiny shorts and a bra while she runs made it an even better idea…or so I thought. After a week I had to stop because I sprained one ankle and tore a ligament in my knee on the other side. I could hardly stand and I need to be on my feet to work. It was nice watching her juicy ass while she runs, but not worth losing my business over it! Now, I just leer at her like the dirty old man that I am when she comes over to do my accounting. She always reminds me I’m old enough to be her dad. That hurts, but it’s true.”

Raul smiled at him as they both remembered her ass…suddenly the door slammed open, hitting the wall behind it and a tidal wave of bikers made their way inside. Some of the men strode quickly over to the bar and Tom hustled to pour them multiple pitchers of beer. Some of them scouted out the few empty tables and picked them up or pushed them around until they had made themselves a long table with almost enough chairs for all of them. The women with them made their way over to the table slowly, taking the measure of the people around them. One of the women—a tall, stunning redhead, covered with tattoos, wearing a black leather bra, skin-tight jeans shorts and high-heeled sandals—strode over to a table to talk to the young couple sitting there.

“Whatchu lookin’ at, honey?” she drawled. “Ain’t you never seen a woman with big tits before?” She laughed as she leaned over, making sure if he hadn’t seen her cleavage before, he sure was seeing it now.

The man blushed and the woman looked angry as she got up, leaving her wine glass half-full on the table.

“I think it’s time we get on home, Billy. The babysitter can’t be out that late or her Mom won’t let her sit for us again.”

The biker woman looked her up and down then laughed rudely.

“That’s right, Billy. You just go along now and have some vanilla fun with the little woman when you get home. Don’t go making any noise though. It’ll wake the baby and then you’ll have to wait until next week for another chance!”

Some of the other bikers joined her in laughing at her words. Billy got up and took his wife’s elbow to lead her out of the bar. As they walked past a particularly big, burly and bearded man in a black leather vest with chains on it, he leaned over and growled then barked at the woman. She jumped and squeaked. Billy glared at him as they hurried past to get out quickly.

The woman who’d started the trouble waved to some men who moved over to grab the two chairs and bring them over to the long table they had made. She walked over to sit and grabbed one of the beer glasses, filled it from a pitcher and chugged it down before she refilled it. Then she began to look around for someone else to cause trouble with.

Raul kept his back to them, thinking it wise not to be recognized by people who obviously liked to cause trouble while he was stuck in town without bodyguards or even any of his loyal
crew
. He looked up to see Tom standing in front of him and their eyes met. Tom nodded as if to reassure Raul he had his back. Then he headed back to the end of the bar to refill some pitchers.

A couple of the other biker women had walked over to the pool table and sat on it, swinging their legs and laughing at the guys still trying to play. One of them had obviously had enough alcohol to have artificial courage. He first asked the women to move, then he brandished his pool cue as if he was going to use it to remove them.

One of the men detached himself from the group carrying pitchers back to their table and he strode over to grab the cue out of the hands of the guy being brave, then he broke it over his knee and handed the pieces back to the guy.

“Now let’s see you play with that,” he growled to general grunts of laughter. “Anyone else want to move our women? Or are you smart enough to go sit somewhere else and let us have the table?” He looked around expectantly.

The rest of the pool players sensed danger and hustled their friend over to the bar to get him another drink. The darts boards had also been commandeered by the bikers. Slowly the locals began to head out the door, trying not to attract any attention, determined to leave before they became part of the entertainment for the newcomers who were used to getting their own way wherever they went.

Tom had just put another double in front of Raul when they both heard the redhead address the patrons left in the bar.

“So rumor has it that Raul Roderick—that sexy beast—has been hanging out here lately. We rode all the way over from Ely because I love his movies. And I got a message for him that I gotta deliver real personal-like. So where is he? He’s here, right? ‘Cause if he’s not, I’m gonna be really pissed and you wouldn’t like me when I get pissed.”

She began to visit all the tables, checking out the men seated at them, flirting with many of them, insulting the women. No one dared to insult her back, choosing instead to leave. She and her friends laughed each time someone else left because of them. Once most of the tables of locals had left, she wandered over to sit on the pool table. She crossed one leg over the other and began to swing her high-heeled foot back and forth.

“Okay, if I was rich and famous I would be sitting in some kind of backroom somewhere, so I didn’t have to be with the ordinary people. But if I was trying to blend in, to soak up the local flavor so I could play someone local in a movie, I would probably be at the bar, right? So let’s see…which of the guys with his face in his glass looks like Raul Roderick?” She began to work her way towards Raul. “Nah, too old. Nah, another old one. Nah, too blond. Whoa, another ginger? Baby, you and me gotta have a child. I want a brat with red hair to inherit my gang. Nah, you look like a man from the back but you’re just an ugly woman. Nah, too light-skinned.”

Raul set his face into a bland look, knowing he’d be the next person she’d pull away from the bar to get a better look at his face.

“Well, well, what have we here?” She turned his barstool around so he faced the dining area of the bar, now filled mostly with her gang members.

“He looks like he’s Hispanic, doesn’t he, José?”

“
Sí, senorita. El es un Hispanico
. He’s even darker than me.”

“That’s ‘cause his daddy was an injun, right, dude? Don’t you guys read anything? How the fuck do you think I found out he’d be here? I stay informed on the important things that inquiring minds want to know.”

She draped herself on Raul, rubbing her ample breasts on his chest, her already-hard nipples tracing a figure-eight pattern. Her hands began to massage his thighs.

“I gotta message for you from Tammy. Remember her? Nah, you probably don’t. She said you were drunk as a skunk, but once she got you coked up, you were rearin’ to go! From what I hear you drink as much as we do and fuck like a rabbit anytime there’s a rabbit-hole near you. But you usually don’t settle for just one, taking two or three at a time home with you, to fuck their brains out.”

She had straddled his thighs now and was rubbing herself on him, giving him a lap-dance without any music, since no one had been feeding the jukebox.

“Tammy says you call your cock Big Rod. She says it’s too big and hot for just one woman to handle. But her message to you is that you should give me a ride. I’m bettin’ I can be all the woman you need, honey. See, me and my boys also fuck like rabbits, so I’m used to big dick and plenty of it. So what’s say I open those jeans of yours and treat you to the blowjob of your life?”

Raul tried to gather his drunken thoughts together to make coherent words come out of his mouth.

“Um, I don’t know how to say this politely, so I’ll just say
no
. I’m in training for my next movie role and too fucking tired and sore to be able to get hard and stay there long enough to satisfy a woman like you. So why don’t I take a rain check and you can hook up with me up some other time?”

Raul was hoping that by flattering the woman he’d be able to get away from her. “In fact, I was just about to head on back to where I’m staying. I think I’m finally drunk enough to ignore the pain and fall asleep. So if you’ll excuse me…”

He tried to disentangle himself from her by pushing at her, to get her to move off his lap. Unfortunately she wasn’t inclined to move.

“I don’t think you understand, movie boy. I wanna fuck you and I always get what I want. I’ve got enough coke with me to keep an army hard all night. If you don’t want a blowjob here in the bar we can go into the bathroom. Or out in the parking lot. Or maybe in your limo…rich big-shots like you always have a limo around, right?”

She began to lick up his neck. “And after the blowjob it’ll be my turn. I want you to suck my cunt until I scream out your name, then you’re gonna ram Big Rod into every hole I got until I come over and over again. Do I make myself clear?”

Raul tried to stand up. “Lady, I already told you, I’m too tired. I came in here to get drunk enough to sleep and I’m there now. You caught me on a bad night. Any other night and I’d be glad to make you scream until you were hoarse. But not tonight, okay? I’m too drunk to perform up to my usual standards.”

The red-head backed off of him, sputtering in her anger.

“Did you all hear that? This motherfucker thinks he’s too good for me! He’s just insulted your queen by turning down the fuck of his life. Are you going to let him get away with that? Or are we gonna tie him down somewhere? If he can get hard, I get to fuck him. If he can’t you all get to beat the fuck out of him. Sound fair, boys?”

Suddenly there was an ominous sound as Tom clicked the safety latch off of the rifle he’d pulled out from under the bar.

“This has gone far enough, people. You came in here and chased all my regulars out. I was willing to let that go. But now you’re harassing my favorite movie star. That has got to stop! I’ve already called the cops so they will be here soon and you can plead your case to them.”

He kept staring at the redhead. “Raul, I suggest you get going now.”

Raul got up stiffly, in pain and more than slightly drunk. He staggered over to the door then turned to say, “Nice meeting all of you. Really, next time let me know you’re coming and I’ll be ready and willing to entertain you.”

He pushed open the door and fled out into the cool night air. He hurried over to Jake’s car and opened the door to jump into the back seat.

“Just go! Be quick! There’s a whole fucking biker gang in there who are gonna follow us! We need to lose them!”

Jake had already counted the Harleys and figured he’d better keep the engine running. When Raul hopped in, he threw the car into gear and sped out of the parking lot, heading for the Gunflint Trail at top speed. He even hoped he’d get stopped for a ticket so the cops would have to get involved.

He watched out of the rear-view mirror as bikers in black leather and chains spilled out of the bar and fired up their engines. He knew Harleys were fast and he prayed he could lose them on the highway, since he knew every twist and turn as well as the back of his hand.

On the edge of town he suddenly turned left and headed up the Gunflint Trail. Some of the bikers following him skidded off the road since he turned so quickly. Others kept following him and he continued to pray for police intervention.

Soon the road dwindled down to two lanes. At that point some of the bikers started to ride his ass, dangerously close to his trunk. He was starting to get really worried when he saw red lights coming up behind them. The sirens weren’t turned on, so he wasn’t sure the bikers knew the cops were there. He kept on driving and reached into his pocket to pull out his cell phone, jabbing at the buttons.

Raul was in the back seat trying to convince himself he was in a movie scene. He kept waiting for the director to yell
Cut
, so he could go to his trailer and pee before he passed out.

“Hello, Gram-Marie? It’s Jake. I’m on my way with a biker gang on my tail. They didn’t appear too friendly when they ran out the door after Raul. I can see some red lights behind them, but they’re still hot on my tail. I’ll try not to make too much noise as I turn into the parking lot…”