Tangled in a Web of Lies (10 page)

It’s not the truth, but it’s not all lies either. He holds my hands, and the storm behind his eyes finally calms a little.

“Did you fuck someone else?”

I stare into his eyes, thinking about what happened before I left, Jaime on top of me, fucking me. I didn’t even fight back.

“No,” I whisper, feeling trapped in this evil web of lies. “We just need to move a little slower. I need space to breathe sometimes.”

Odin’s lips seal over mine. I have no idea what I will tell him when he wants to play rough. Maybe I’ll be able to handle it. I didn’t think I was ready for sex until it happened last night.

“I can’t lose you again, Lila.”

“I know.”

Odin’s hand moves to the side of my face, cupping my cheek his lips press into mine. His fingers move through my hair, but then my stomach growling for food ruins the moment.

“Let’s eat,” says Odin, smiling and placing his hand on my belly. I nod, pulling myself away from him so that I can get dressed. I assume we’re going out on the bike, so I pull on my favorite riding pants from yesterday, and a new floral print halter top.

Odin stops at a little hole in the wall called Charlie’s Steak and Hoagie. It’s so nice to be here with him, eating pulled chicken sandwiches like nothing ever happened. It’s almost easy to pretend the last month was just a dream. Almost.

“Wanna take a ride over to my place tonight? I got some things I gotta take care of,” Odin says, wiping the BBQ sauce off his face.

“Sure.”

“All of your stuff is still there. I didn’t move any of it.”

I know he’s telling me this because he wants me to stay the night with him. I try not to get ahead of myself, but I already feel anxiety brewing in my stomach. When we’re finished we ride to Odin’s house.

We go in through the garage, passing by the band room. Everything has been moved around. It looks like he’s been spending quite a bit of time in here. I walk inside to check it out.

“Hang out. I gotta make some phone calls, I’ll be back in a bit,” he says, kissing me on the forehead. I leave him to his business, picking up a guitar to mess with. There’s a note pad sitting on top of an amp, its dark ink catches my attention. I glance over the scribbled lyrics.

Here I am alone, trying to get by

I find, the reason is deep inside,

I showed you all I had to hide

It is no surprise

You are gone

My demons chased you away

Now they come to lay claim

On my sanity

Without you I’m empty

Without you I’m nothing

Lila, won’t you come back to me

Odin steps inside the band room, and I try to pretend I wasn’t snooping though his notebook.

“Everything okay?” I ask, knowing that whatever phone calls he was making were club related.

He shrugs, which means something is going on, but he can’t talk about it. I nod in understanding.

“I mastered a new song,” he says, grabbing up a black electric guitar and plugging it in. I settle into the chair across the room to watch him play. He strums the first few chords of a familiar ballad. When his voice begins to sing the words, he sounds just like Zakk Wylde, raspy, beautiful and captivating all at the same time.

“
Without you woman by my side, I’m contemplating suicide, torn from all my pride.”

I don’t know what comes over me, listening to him play. The pain of losing him is still fresh, even though I’m here now. There’s just something about his voice, and these words touch my heart and bring tears to my eyes.

“
Woman everything for you, your loves all I know and ever knew, therefore I have sold my soul for you
.”

I can hear the hurt in his voice and see the pain in his eyes when he stares at me, singing soulfully and filling the room with the most beautiful music my heart has ever known. I close my eyes, taking it all in.

He finishes the solo perfectly, one of many things his hands are good at. I look across the room through my watery eyes and meet his gaze perfectly. He sets the guitar down, and comes to comfort me. Odin holds my head against his chest, moving his fingers though my hair, he kisses the top of my head.

I lose myself in his arms. It’s like all the pain of the last 5 weeks comes crashing down at once. I can still see his tortured face in the back of my mind. I can still feel Rick and Jaime lingering under my skin. I cry uncontrollably on Odin’s shoulder, and he holds me still while I let it all out. I cling to him, trying not to lose my grip as all the memories I’ve been trying to shut out come haunting back. I scream silently into his shoulder, trying to breathe through every horrid detail that flashes through my head.

“I’m sorry,” I whimper, but no words can take back what I’ve done.

“Shh.” Odin cradles my head in his arms, and rubs his hand up and down my back. We sit like this for what feels like forever, until there are no more tears, and all that’s left, is a burning hatred for Rick and Jaime Mosley.

Devil’s Cut

Odin knows there are things she’s not telling him. Her secret is tearing her apart right in front of him. All he wants to do is pry her for information, and find a way to make it better. But he knows pushing her will only push her further away from him.  All he can do now to hold her, and give her the time she needs to let it all out. He just wants to comfort her, but without knowing what’s going on, his hands are tied.

He hasn’t felt this out of control since his old man was alive. It’s fucking tormenting.

He’s never seen her break down like this, and he’s watched her go through a lot of shit. Somehow this is different. Even though she’s here with him now, it feels like there is an ocean between them. It scares the shit out of him.

He knew in Wyoming that she was hiding something. She looked different, like something had aged her. Not in bad way, she was still beautiful.

Her tears finally ran out, but she’s still shaking. Odin scoops her up into his arms, and she wraps her arms and legs around him. She’s heavy for one so short, but he’s easily able to carry her up all the stairs and lay her down on his bed. For the first time in their relationship, he doesn’t know what to do for her. He has no idea what she was thinking, or what she needs. He’s lost.

When she’s done crying, she’s hungry for love and attention. She makes the first move, reaching her hand into his pants and stroking him. Physical attention is the only way he knows how to show love. Love in itself is a foreign emotion to Odin, one that he is just starting to realize he has.

He lays her back on his pillows, and pulls her pants off. Slowly, he kisses his way down her body. Like a good girl, she spreads her legs, and let him press his lips between them. He starts gently, letting his tongue softly roll over her clit until it is swollen. He can feel her shallow breathing, and the tiny moans that escape her make him hard. Very hard.

He sucks on her, pulling her clit into his mouth and holding it between his lips. She moans and her legs wrap around his back, pulling him in, begging him for more. He holds the small knot of nerves in place with his lips, flicking his tongue in short fast motions over and over.

She’s close. In the mental state she’s in, he knows it won’t take long. He opens his mouth, and presses the top of his tongue against her, licking up and down over her swollen clitoris until her legs start shaking. Her whole body clenches, anchoring down for the storm of an orgasm that roars through her. He makes sure it will take her mind off everything, making it last until she’s fucking screaming and her body wildly jerks beneath him.

Finally she caves with one last defining moan. Her hand braces on the top of his head, and he stops his ravenous tongue strokes. He plants one last kiss on the top of her entrance, and then rests his face on her thigh, gazing up her. She’s everything, the woman he won for himself, the woman he’s always wanted. He rests his hand on her belly, wondering what it is she thinks she has to hide.

She takes his hand, and pulls so that he comes up from his place between her legs. He’s hard, but he has no intention of having sex unless she wants it. This night is for her, about making her feel better about whatever it is that made her cry so much.

He slowly moves up her body kissing her torso. Her arms are stretched out across the pillows, and his hands move to them, resting his weight just below her shoulders.

“Get off!” she screams, startling the hell out of him when she pulls her knees up between them and heaves him off of her.

Shocked, he throws his hands up in the air in surrender, gaping at her.
What the fuck?

She recoils against the head board of the bed, as if she is afraid of him. Her knees press into her chest, and she holds the spot on her arms where he tried to rest his hands.

Her eyes are wide for a moment, like her reaction is a shock even to her.

“What the fuck Lila?” he asks, staring wide eyed on his knees at the foot of the bed.

“I’m sorry,” she says, quickly regaining her composure. “I pulled a muscle at work the other day,” she explains, rubbing the muscle in her arm where he had laid his hand. “It still hurts really bad. I’m sorry, the pain just startled me that’s all.”

He stares at her unbelieving. It’s the first time she’s mentioned a pulled muscle. A sick feeling takes root in his stomach. Something happened, something she’s not telling him.

“Come on baby, come to bed.” She’s all smiles as she reaches her hand out for him. Cautiously, he crawls back into bed, still dressed. His hard on is gone, even as she presses her bare ass to his jeans. He’s too ridden with worry to think about sex now. He holds her close while she drifts to sleep. Then he lies awake for hours, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. There are a few possibilities, none of which he likes. In the end, he’s no closer to finding the answer. As the dawn stretches up over the mountains outside his window, he finally catches some sleep.

But it doesn’t last long. By 8:00am, Micah is calling his phone. He doesn’t want to wake Lila, so he steps out of his bedroom door and into the loft to take the call.

Odin wakes me early in the morning with a kiss.

“Hey babe, I gotta go,” he says softly. I can tell he doesn’t want to leave me, so it must be club business that has him running off this early on a Sunday.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Micah called, seems urgent. I’m gonna go meet him now. I think we’ll be taking a ride out to handle some shit with the Kings.”

I stare at him amazed. This is more information than I’m used to getting. I feel proud knowing he trusts me enough to tell me. But if there’s one thing I do know, it’s that dealing with the Kings usually turns to a bloody mess.

“Be safe,” I tell him, placing my hand on his cheek. Two captivating blue eyes stare down at me, and a devilish smile seizes his boyish face.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he jokes, leaning down to kiss me again. “You can stay if you want. I have no idea when I’ll make it back. Keys to the Camaro are in the kitchen.” Telling me where he’s going, and giving me the keys to the car? I feel ten kinds of special today.

Odin lays one last kiss on my forehead and I wrap my arms around him, wishing he didn’t have to take off. I always worry when he takes off.  What if he doesn’t make it back? I watch as the man I love walks out the door and I say a silent prayer that he’ll return in one piece, and not end up in jail.

I lie awake in his bed, taking in the wonderful scent of him all over the sheets. But I can’t fall back asleep. The anxiety of being a biker’s old lady has already set in. I get up, and wrap myself in a robe before heading downstairs. I pour myself a glass of orange juice from the fridge. Then I help myself to Odin’s stash that he keeps tucked under the coffee table. I got pretty comfortable in this house after spending a lot of my summer here. It’s good to be back. His house feels more like home than my apartment. I roll a joint and take it out back for a naked dip in the Jacuzzi.

It’s still early, and all the birds are chirping in the woods around Odin’s house. I wonder what happened with the Kings. Will it get resolved, or end up in some massive bloody war? It wouldn’t be the first time the Bandits went to war with a rival gang. We step on a lot of toes distributing cocaine, weed and guns. We put a lot of smaller dealers out of business. What’s good for our pockets, isn’t always good for our health. In the almost four years that I’ve been around this club, I’ve known three members who died, one of them gunned down with his wife on the back of his bike all over rivalry.

We think we are above the law, and in some ways we are. I know there are cops and lawyers and politicians in this town who are on the club’s payroll. We own Santa Monica, and sometimes think we own the world. But even the strongest of men, fall short sometimes. Every time our boys have to step out into that line of fire, every one of us back home is scared that they might come home burned, or not come home at all.

It’s hard to live in between the lines. Cops want us all behind bars, rival gangs want us out of business. It’s a never ending battle, but it pays to stay at the top.

“Yo ho yo ho, a bikers life for me,” I sing to myself, taking another hit off the joint and blowing smoke into the cool morning air.

I hear the doorbell ring, and it startles me. I get up out of the hot tub, and wrap myself up in the robe, stamping my joint out on the side of the tub and tossing it in the bushes. Cautiously, I make my way through the house. Unfortunately, Odin has no peep hole on his solid oak door. Hesitantly, I unlock the bolt and open it.

Daniella is standing on the porch, wearing a short black dress and matching stilettos. She looks like sex, like she just walked out of a high class dance club or something. What the hell is she doing here all dressed up at 9:00 in the morning?

Her face falls immediately when she sees me. Clearly I wasn’t what she was expecting.

“Can I help you?” I ask, trying to be polite, but it’s extremely fake. I really wish I was wearing something other than this bulky cotton robe.

“I’m looking for Odin.” The way she says his name makes me jealous. It’s strange, but I suddenly feel very catty.

“He’s not here,” I tell her, shrugging and making no notion of inviting her in.

“He left you here, alone?” She seems astonished. I guess she knows about Odin’s privacy peeve.

“Yep,” I say it like it’s no big deal. Odin never seemed to have any issues with me being here without him. I can see she was never given that privilege, and I’m practically teasing her with it.

“I need to talk him. It’s about the other day,” she says, clearly trying to make me jealous about whatever it was she was doing here last week. She covers her mouth, like she just let out some huge secret. My eyes narrow at her. Skinny bitch has no idea who she’s dealing with.

“Can you tell him I stopped by?” She flicks her hair, looking me up and down with a scowl on her face, like she thinks I’m gross or something.

“Do I look like your fucking messenger, Bitch?”

Her jaw drops, and now I have her attention. I’m squashing this before it even gets started.

“If you want to talk to Odin, call him yourself! And the next time you show up on my man’s porch, put some real fucking clothes on!”

Her eyes bulge and her mouth opens, but I close the door on her before she has a chance to say anything else. She may be the girl of his past, but I’m the woman of his future. She can go fuck herself, this is my turf.

I smile inwardly, and head back upstairs to get dressed. All my clothes are still neatly folded in the drawers Odin gave me in his dresser. I feel young again having drawers at my boyfriend’s house.

Devil’s Cut

A few hours ago…

Odin met up with Micah, Felix, Rick, Cole, Damien, Jr., Nikko, and Styx at the club house. Styx was finally starting to let the fight between him and Odin go, and he made sure to come shake hands when Odin pulled in on his bike. Micah had told Odin over the phone that one of the King’s heroin houses had been raided and burned to the ground. Two of the Kings had been taken from the house, and somehow their heads made it to the house of Gabriel Gutierrez. Gabriel was the head of the Kings here in Santa Monica. Most of the decisions he executed came from a higher source but he was in charge of running the King’s heroin houses.

It was still unclear to Odin what exactly had happened to the heroin house that wound up in flames, or the two dead Mexicans whose heads were intentionally sent to Gabriel. The Kings were blaming the Devil’s Bandits. In an act of retaliation, the Kings had shot up the Ink Spot tattoo parlor, and Billy O’s bar, both club-owned businesses.

Whether the Bandits were responsible for the heroin house burning down was still up for dispute. That was information only Rick, Micah and Felix had as Senior members. Either way, they couldn’t have Kings running around town shooting up their legitimate businesses. They had caused a lot of damage, and sent a tattoo artist to the hospital.

Odin and eight other Bandits went over the plan of action. Micah said their intention was to show up with a group, and try to negotiate nicely with Gabriel Gutierrez in hopes of finding a solution. Although, showing up with nine men, would surely send a different message, give up or go to hell. Numbers, and a gun monopoly had kept the Bandits at the top of the food chain for the last 20 years. No one wanted to go to war with a gang that had the number of members and resources the Bandits had.

Gabriel would be an idiot not to hear them out, in fact he had little choice. But as Odin and his brothers straddled their bikes and headed for the King’s side of town, each of them knew this could get bloody. Some members enjoyed a good fight, like Odin. Today he had a lot on his mind, and a one place that he’d much rather be.

When they rolled up to Gabriel’s house, it was a rundown dump behind the train tracks.  There were five men outside, all tattooed, most of them with crowns on their necks. The majority of them wore striped button up shirts, only buttoned at the top button, revealing white t-shirts underneath. They looked tense, guarded like they expected possible gun fire. The Bandits parked their bikes outside, and Gabriel came out to greet them.

“Hola Mano,” Gabriel greeted Rick friendly. He was obviously expecting them and invited them all inside.

Damien and Nikko stayed outside with some of the Kings. Odin, Jr., Cole and Styx waited in the living room with the small crowd of Mexicans who were smoking pot, and shooting heroin on the couches. Odin rolled his eyes, seeing a girl so doped out, her limp body hung over the side of the couch and her eyes were rolled back in her head. No one seemed to notice or care, they just carried on around her, laughing and speaking Spanish. Gabriel took Rick, Micah and Felix into a private room to discuss a solution to last night’s shootings.

Cole stood right next to Odin in the living room, both on guard keeping an eye on each other’s backs. There was no telling whether the men in the other room would come out shaking hands or shooting.

“How are things with Lila?” Cole whispered to Odin, under the noise of the cholo music bumping in the house.

“Complicated.” Odin kept his eyes on the door Micah was behind. His face remained unchanged.

“Have you told her you loved her yet?”

Odin didn’t much care for Cole digging into his personal business, and he ignored the question.

“How do you think it’s going in there?” Cole gestured toward the door of the private room, changing the subject.

“Who the fuck knows. Just be ready.”

“Oh I’m ready,” Cole replied, his hand resting on the gun in his pants.

“Que paso, Daddy?” A girl with bleached out hair, fake nails and painted eyebrows stood in front of Odin, blocking his view of the door. She put her hand on his shoulder, trying to flirt with him. She was so high that her hazel eyes had mere pins for pupils.

Odin pulled his shoulder from her hand, ignoring her pass at him and casting her an irritated stare.

“What’s a matter Poppy? You no like pussy?” she asked with her thick Spanish accent. Some of the men on the couch laughed.

“Sure he does, just not the kind you can smell from across the room,” Cole shot rudely. Odin couldn’t hide his smile, and heard Styx and Jr. laughing behind him.

The bitch flipped them the finger, and turned to walk into the kitchen. Odin was getting irritated with the rude hospitality and the rap music that was shaking the whole house. He could feel the eyes of the Kings, dogging him as he stood composed in the living room. It was hot in here, especially with his cut on, not that he would ever take it off.

Suddenly a shot was fired in the private room, and all hell broke loose in the house. The men on the couch sprang up, and everyone reached for their guns. Odin threw an elbow, hitting the guy next to him in the nose, before the man had a chance to reach into his pocket for a piece. Odin jumped on top of him, and slammed his fist into the guys face. A few more guns went off, in a small battle of Bandits verse Kings.

The girl who had offered herself to Odin came at him with a knife, and went to stab him. He moved, but not fast enough, and she sliced his arm. He slapped her across the face with a pistol in his hand, before even thinking about it. She screamed and hit the ground with a thud. Out cold.

Odin turned behind him to see Cole, also pistol whipping a man that he had slung over the side of the couch. Behind Cole, a man covered in King’s ink raised a gun. Odin fired at the man’s chest three times, missing once and sending a bullet right through the man’s face.

“Ramiro!” screamed a voice from the doorway.

Odin turned, and quickly drew his gun again, but the man ducked back out the door before he could take his shot.

Micah emerged from the private room, gun drawn. Behind him, Felix had a knife to Gabriel’s throat. Gabriel yelled to his men to drop their guns, and after a bloody two minutes, the Kings surrendered their weapons.

“Everyone okay?” Micah asked, taking a glance around. The guys all nodded turning to make sure that no one was shot or missing. Cole began rounding up the Kings that were still alive inside the house.

Odin hurried outside to check on Damien and Nikko. Nikko had taken a shot to the ribs.

“Get him to the hospital!” Odin told Damien.

Damien nodded. “We lost a few wetbacks down the train tracks. You shot that one guys brother.”

“That’s what happens when you aim a gun at mine,” Odin said with no remorse. Killing was a way of life for him, as it was for most of these men. Damien hurried off with Nikko.

In the end there were two men outside dead, and another three that got away. Inside Gabriel was still alive, and tied to a chair in the kitchen along with two other Kings. One girl was dead on the couch, another unconscious on the floor, and the other still passed out in her heroin coma, that the gun shots hadn’t snapped her out of. There were two more dead Kings in the private room, plus the man that Odin had shot, along with another dead King on the living room floor.

“What will it be Gabriel? You wanna call a truce? Or should I kill you now?” Micah gave Gabriel one last chance.

“Fuck you Homes!” Gabriel spat in Micah’s face. “Kill me, and all hell will reign down on the Bandits!” he threatened. Micah took his knife out, and nodded to Odin and Cole to do the same. They each held their blade to a King’s throat, and just as Micah sliced through Gabriel’s neck, Odin and Cole did the same.