Wild Nights (Hell's Highway MC) (13 page)

“We’re not that close,” he said. “I hardly know him, but we just reconnected not too long ago, and I feel like I need to let him down easy. There’s no telling what he’ll do if you don’t reciprocate his feelings.”

“God, don’t I know it,” I lamented.

Suddenly there was a pounding at the door. It seemed rather aggressive and made me wonder if it was the police.

R.J. popped up and calmly strutted over to the door.

“It’s Blaze,” he mouthed to me. “I just need you to play along.”

I nodded, letting him know that I understood, as my heart raced. I mussed up my hair to give it that bedhead look and hid my body under the rumpled covers.

R.J. unlocked the door and let Blaze in.

“Twenty minutes are up,” Blaze said as he forced his way past R.J. His eyes landed right on me before surveying the room.

R.J. pretended to adjust his belt and pants.

“She pretty good or what?” Blaze asked, sticking his hand out for a high-five.

R.J. returned the juvenile gesture before straddling his hands on his hips and taking a wide stance. R.J. towered over Blaze, and I could tell Blaze sort of looked up to him. R.J. was like some sort of hero to Blaze, and it would make sense that he wanted nothing more to join his big brother’s gang.

“I’m going to need more time with her,” R.J. said.

“What do you mean?” Blaze asked. I could hear his breathing grow labored. He really didn’t want to let me out of his hands.

“I need to break her in some more,” R.J. replied. “I want to take her back to the house with me tonight.”

“No,” Blaze said. “Absolutely not.”

R.J. looked at me, and I looked back at him in shock. I thought for sure Blaze would do anything in the entire world to get into the club.

“It’s not a question,” R.J. said. “It’s an order.”

Blaze stood silent as he thought about it. He glanced over at me and I could just feel the jealousy oozing out of his pours. That or he was afraid he was going to get caught for kidnapping me. I truly believe he thought he could make me fall in love with him and that the kidnapping would be justified.

Blaze took a deep breath as his nostrils flared.

“Fine, whatever,” he said. “Bring her back by eight tomorrow morning. I don’t want a single scratch or bruise or cut anywhere on her.”

“Of course,” R.J. said.

I hesitated before slipping out from under the covers. It felt so weird to be walking around freely in front of Blaze. I went to the bathroom and changed into some clothes from my suitcase. I zipped it up and wheeled it out to where the guys were standing.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Blaze asked me.

I shrugged. I had no idea what he was talking about.

“The suitcase stays here,” he said as he pointed to it. “Where do you think you’re going? On some little vacation?”

Oh, shit, I thought. I hoped I didn’t tip him off or make him suspicious.

I glanced up at R.J. who had sort of a cringed look on his face.

“Sorry,” I said. “I just wanted to be able to wear clean clothes in the morning.”

I hoped my lie sufficed, but I wasn’t sure.

“Don’t worry about all that,” Blaze said. He seemed annoyed, but I was pretty sure he bought it.

“Let’s go,” R.J. said to me. I could tell he didn’t want to waste another precious moment in Blaze’s company.

I slipped past Blaze, who grabbed me by my arm and whipped me around, jerking me hard. He pressed his mouth up to my ear.

“Don’t do anything stupid now,” he threatened me. “I mean it.”

He pulled his face towards mine and locked eyes with me, trying to show me that he meant business.

“I know,” I said back to him with shrugged shoulders. I was trying to make him think he still had power over me, but the truth was, I was now the one with the power. If only he knew.

I followed R.J. out to the parking lot where his shiny, black and chrome Harley-Davidson motorcycle waited for us. It was probably one of the nicest motorcycle’s I’d ever seen, and I wasn’t really even into those sorts of things.

He climbed on and started it up. The engine roared loudly then came to a loud, constant growl. I climbed on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

We both glanced up at the hotel room and could clearly see Blaze watching from behind the pulled curtains. I hoped to God that was the last time I was ever going to see his face ever again.

As the cool night air blew through my long, blonde hair, I knew I was riding to freedom. Every stop light, every stop sign, and every car we passed was just one step closer. I was sure that that time the next night I’d be sleeping in my own bed.

R.J. seemed to drive carefully with me on his bike. Blaze was always a bit of crazy driver, at least in his truck. I barely remembered the time I rode with him on his bike.

We pulled into a bit of a rundown little neighborhood and pulled up to a big, gentrified Victorian house. It looked like a typical party house you’d see in a college town or one of those massive old houses that people turned into 8-plexes.

“What’s this place?” I asked.

“This is the local chapter house,” he said as he parked his bike in the garage.

I noticed several more bikes parked out in the street in front of the house, each of them black and chrome and various sizes.

I followed R.J. out of the garage and onto a back deck. We entered through a back door into a kitchen that was lacking any sort of updates. The floors felt sticky under my shoes and the counters were covered in beer cans. It definitely looked and felt like a frat house.

“Gina, Candy, Tiffany,” R.J. called out as we walked through the kitchen, past the dining room, and into a gigantic living room filled with various, mismatched sofas and chairs.

The room was filled with a handful of rough-looking women who all glanced up at me with their eye lined eyes and teased hair. Most of them wore low cut shirts and way too much makeup. They didn’t look friendly at all.

I began to panic when I wondered if R.J. was really a pimp and had taken me from Blaze so that I could belong to him and be pimped out. It did seem too good to be true that he’d all of a sudden want to rescue some girl he didn’t even know.

I thought for sure I was going to have a panic attack right then and there. The walls were closing in and my breathing grew harder and harder.

“Why are you out of breath, honey?” one of the women asked. “You okay?”

“This is the girl I was telling you about,” R.J. said.

I knew it. I knew it. He was going to add me to his collection of prostitutes. Suddenly being tied up and ordered around by Blaze didn’t seem half as bad.

I suddenly began to cry. I fell to my knees in the process, not caring what they thought. I had lost all hope right then and there.

“Oh, honey,” one of the older women said as she came to my side and rubbed my back. “It’s going to be okay.”

“No, it’s not,” I cried. I looked up at her, and a confused look spread across her face as she exchanged looks with R.J.

R.J. looked doubly confused and let out a bit of a laugh.

“What do you mean, honey?” she asked. “We’re going to get you home.”

I immediately stopped crying and looked up at her.

“You are?” I asked.

I looked over at R.J. who had raised eyebrows as if to say, “See?”

“What did you think…?” the woman started to ask before she stopped.

I wasn’t going to tell them they all looked like a bunch of common prostitutes. Not when they were offering to help me. That would’ve been the worst thing I could’ve said.

I instantly felt bad for assuming they were anything but nice people as the woman helped me back to a standing position. The other women stared at me as awkward silence filled the air.

We could hear the drunken laughter and clinking bottles and beer cans outside on the front porch from some of the bikers.

“I’m Candy,” the woman said as she rubbed my back. She had to have been in her mid-forties. She had wrinkles all over her face, but her blue eyes were kind and gentle. She was very motherly.

“These women are going to see to it that you’re well taken care of tonight,” R.J. said. “In the morning, we’re going to run you over to the bus stop and put you on the first bus back home, wherever that is.”

“Thank you,” I said as I looked up into R.J.’s dark, mysterious yet kind eyes.

He nodded and walked off, leaving me there with the women in the living room.

“So you got mixed up with old Blaze, eh?” a redheaded woman asked. “I’m Gina.”

I rolled my eyes at the mention of his name. “I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe I fell for him.”

“He’s crazy I hear,” she said with a laugh. “Don’t worry, he’s been trying to find a nice girl to date for a while. They all end up seeing through him and it never works out.”

“You seem like a smart girl,” Candy said. “What made you fall for him?”

“I didn’t fall for him,” I clarified. “I fell for his act. He preyed on my loneliness and said all the right things. But when I wouldn’t agree to come back here with him, he kidnapped me.”

Candy covered her mouth and shook her head.

“What a fucking psychopath,” Gina said.

Tiffany, the younger blonde I presumed, stayed quiet. She just sort of stared at me from her chair in the corner, not saying a word.

“She’s shy. Don’t mind her,” Gina said as she noticed me looking Tiffany’s way. “If you were sticking around longer, I’m sure she’d warm up to you.”

“Wow,” I said with a laugh. “Shy and biker gang. You don’t hear that kind of a combination every day.”

“Here, have a seat,” Gina said as she stood up. “Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich?”

My stomach began to rumble with the mention of food, and I’d realized I hadn’t eaten a whole lot that day.

“Oh, sure,” I said with wide eyes. “That’s so nice of you!”

Gina stood up and made her way to the kitchen. She returned several minutes later with a tuna salad sandwich with a side of plain potato chips.

“Slim pickings my dear,” she said. “Hope you like tuna.”

“Well if someone would go to the grocery store like they’re supposed to,” Candy teased. “We wouldn’t have such slim pickings.”

“Well if someone’s Old Man wouldn’t eat us out of house and home, we wouldn’t have to go to the grocery store twenty times a week,” Gina razzed her back.

The women had a playful, friendly relationship it seemed. I liked them a lot in the short few minutes I’d known them.

I hated tuna, but I was so hungry I was willing to eat it. I took a bite of the cool tuna and mayo on white concoction and let the flavors fill my mouth. It felt good not to eat something covered in oils and grease, and since I was so hungry it actually didn’t taste that bad.

“Oh, shoot,” Gina said as she slapped her knee. “I didn’t grab you anything to drink.”

“I got it,” Candy said as she stood up, he knees cracking in the process. She was an old mare but she could hold her own.

She returned with a can of grape soda.

“Sorry,” she said. “It was either this or expired milk.”

She glanced over at Gina.

“Put milk on your list for the store, please?” Candy instructed. She shook her head in frustration, but she didn’t seem that upset.

“Thank you,” I said with a smile as I took the cool, wet can from her hands.

I cracked the top and took a big swig, the sugary, purple liquid almost burning the back of my throat as it went down. It felt good in my belly though, and only helped make me feel fuller.

Before I knew it, my sandwich was completely gone. I worked on the chips, trying to chew and crunch as quietly as possible. Before long, those were gone too. I swigged down the last of my grape soda and stood up to take everything to the kitchen.

“Wow, the girl’s got manners!” Gina said as I came back. “I like that. Too bad you’re not sticking around. We need more women like you in the club.”

“Oh,” I said. I didn’t know what to say. How do you tell a group of women who are being entirely too hospitable to you that you’re not like them at all and could never make it in their world? I didn’t want to offend them.

“What do you do for a living?” Tiffany asked. It was the first thing she’d said all night.

“I do hair,” I said with a sheepish grin.

“Can you do anything to this hot mess?” Gina asked as she pulled tendrils of her frizzy red hair.

“If I had my tools, I could,” I replied. “I need the right tools and the right products.”

“Pfft,” Gina laughed. “Good luck with that.”

“If you’re ever in St. Louis, please, come to my shop,” I said. “I’ll do your hair for free. It’s the least I can do for you guys.”

“Aw, well isn’t that sweet?” Candy said. She was beaming from ear to ear, and I loved that about her. She was so genuine. She reminded me of someone’s mom, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she had any kids.

I let out a yawn. It was getting late, but I knew to them it wasn’t late at all. Ten or eleven on a Saturday night was nothing to those party animals.

“Are you tired, sweetie?” Candy asked.

“I’m getting there,” I said, trying to be polite.

“Do you have any clothes or anything?” she asked.

“Nope,” I said. “Just what’s on my back. I couldn’t bring anything or Blaze was going to get suspicious.”

“Of course,” she said as she rolled her eyes at Blaze. “Let me see if I can find you something.”

She got up and crept up the squeaky wooden stairs, returning a few minutes later with an armful of clothes.

“A t-shirt and pajama bottoms,” she said as she gave them to me. “They’re clean. I promise. Might be a bit big on you.”

“Thank you, Candy,” I said. I wanted to hug her, but it didn’t seem appropriate given the fact that we really were still strangers.

“You’re going to sleep in one of the extra bedrooms up there,” she said. “Bed’s all made up for you.”

“Oh, okay,” I said. “Where is it?”

“Go all the way up the stairs,” she said. “Turn right and it’s the very last door on the left.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I turned towards the other ladies in the room.