“Thought you might want to know, plates on the van came back as stolen off a truck from Vegas. We knew Slyzec had been in the area before, so that doesn’t come as a surprise. Considering the piece of shit who drove it, the van is in fine condition. I have Prospect changing the oil and putting new tires on, all that stuff.” Bones told the girl he’d take care of her van, and he always followed through. A man was only as good as his word, and Bones was always true to his.
I checked the time on my phone, surprised to see it was already after eight o’clock in the evening.
“It’s late, man,toma un descanso. There’s a burger at the bar with your name on it.” Bones slapped me on the back as he headed to the door, knowing I’d follow. I couldn’t pass up a burger, and he knew it. Honestly, I couldn’t remember eating anything since dinner the previous day, and I had been working on discovering the identity of our unwanted guest all day. My mom used to tell Ellis and me that fresh eyes shed newlight; maybe if I took a break, I’d notice something different. Some connection betweenherand this whole mess. I didn’t believe in coincidences.
Walking down the hallway from my office, Bones and I entered the clubhouse common room to hear “Raise Hell” by Dorothy playing on the Bluetooth speakers placed throughout the room and connected to our digital jukebox. This song was one of Ellis’s favorites, and the melody brought back fond memories. My mind flashed to the time she and Lennon went to prom, and all the brothers showed up with boutonnieres in their cuts to take pictures with them in this very room. I’d never seen all the guys here so clean; I remember laughing with Bard when Ace, one of the old-timers who came back from Vietnam with a chip on his shoulder the size of Nevada, showed up after having his hair cut and his grizzly mountain man beard shaved. I think it was the first time I had ever seen the man’s whole face. The memory of a smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, but then I remembered that I’d never see Ellis all dolled up like that at her wedding…or looking exhausted but proud when she had her first baby…or any of the other landmark occasions that lit up a person’s life like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Not to mention all the little moments…
The smile faded before it even really got a chance to live on my lips. Cut off prematurely, just like Ellis’s life.
I stomped over to the bar and sat. Lennon set a plate with my favorite bacon double cheeseburger in front of me. One look at my face had her pouring two fingers of my favorite scotch whiskey, Glenmorangie. She patted my hand before turning to serve the next brother down the bar. I started eating my burger way too quickly, suddenly feeling famished.
Between bites, I scanned the room. Bear was back from visiting our Arizona chapter and dealing with a hiccup in the books at one of the casinos we had a stake in. He was seated with Bard at the other end of the bar, probably going over whatever he found. Pyro and Tank were busy sticking their tongues down the throats of two club girls over on the couches. Ratched was throwing darts, and Thor, Bones, Erica, and the new club girl…W something…Wendy maybe…were at the pool table on the left. At the table on the right, my eyes came to a screeching halt in their perusal. Prospect, Mindy, Cricket, andherwere playing a game ofpool. Not only was she laughing and having a fun time inmyclub, but she was doing it wearing one of Ellis’s goddamn shirts. I saw red.
The Girl
I didn’t know hitting little balls with sticks could be so much fun! I mean, I liked kicking balls, but I’d never been handed a stickspecificallyfor hitting little billiard balls. I had a ball-whacking stick when I shared a dumpster with Creepy Steve, but I wasn’t a choosy Carla. I’d whack anything with it that tickled my fancy. Cricket explained the rules to me in a blah-blah voice, so I ignored what he said in favor of doing whatever I wanted, which was just so typical of me. I snickered to myself as I called par four and swatted the shiny yellow ball into a pocket.
“TOUCHDOWN!” After my victory lap and a very confused-looking high five from Prospect (I’d be in awe of a noob player like me absolutely dominating the game like this if I were him too), I set up my next shot but missed the black ball I was aiming for. I handed my ball stick to Mindy, who sneered at me as she took it as snootily as possible.
Mindy was short. Despite her sky-high plastic heels, they could only get her to my height. She wore a black halter top with some kind of bunny on it and a red miniskirt. Walking around the table and snapping her gum, Mindy bent over right in front of Cricket to line up her shot. She squinted one eye to aim and hit the white ball, making it knock the blue stripe ball into the left corner pocket. She gave me a smug smile while she took her sweet time walking back around the table to my side to hit her next ball.
“Why don’t you let me show you how a real woman does it, Girl.” Mindy took her next shot, sinking the ball with the yellow stripe into another pocket. I frowned at Mindy, wondering what her problem was,when an enraged Priest came stomping over to our table and snarled, “Who the fuck do you think you are?”in his growly voice. I looked at him in shock.
“What the hell, Priest? Don’t act like you don’t know who Mindy is! She’s been a club girl for a very long time, judging by those crow’s feet.”
Mindy gasped, but I don’t know how she could pretend to be surprised. It was dim in here, but it wasn’t dark. You could see those crow’s feet from outer space.
“He’s talking to you, dumb bitch,” she hissed.
Oh, well, now I was really confused.“Priest, I’m Girl. We met the other day. Do you not remember? Oh my Bob, Cricket call 911. I think Priest is having a stroke. Priest! Do you know how old you are? Can you tell me who the president is? Not Duke, the other one. Can you smell purple, Priest?” I looked around to make sure he wasn’t bleeding from his ears or nose or whatever else happened when someone had a stroke or heart attack.
Priest snarled at me and grabbed my arm in a punishing grip. “What the hell gives you the right to touch her things? Wear her clothes? You’re nothing but fucking trash!”I tried to wrench my arm away from Priest, and I was about two seconds from acquainting his balls with my stick when Bones appeared at Priest’s side.
“Hombre,let the girl go. It’s not her fault. Lorna said she was getting some clothes together to give to her, and I didn’t think to mention it. I didn’t know she’d give her anything of…hers. Por favor, no hagas algo de lo que te arrepientas.” Bones put a hand on Priest’s shoulder, but my eyes were locked on Priest’s. He was obviously upset, but his countdown timer to destruction in my mind was t-minus ten seconds from sounding off and triggering the armageddon I’d unleash if he didn’t get his hand off me.
With great effort, Priest peeled his fingers from my forearm like they were magnetic, and my arm was steel. Bones gently nudged him backward, away from me. The entire clubhouse was silent; even the music had been stopped while we had our standoff. I refused to break eye contact with Priest. He didn’t know it, but I was about to be super magnanimous with him. Usually, anyone who grabbed me like that,especially someone radiating rage and resentment, would be lying in a puddle of their own blood and excrement. I’d eviscerate anyone who tried to hurt me ever again. I swore when I ran from the Callahans that my new life wouldn’t resemble my old life in any way, shape, or form. No one was allowed to hurt me or use me anymore.
Breathing out slowly to unclench my murder urges, I spoke to Priest. Bones was still slowly backing him away from me, and Priest’s eyes were locked with mine.
“Growly, I know you’re hurting. Bad. I’ve had hurt like that in me. I’ve had hurt and angry and sad wrap their fingers around my throat and squeeze. I don’t know why you’re so mad at me, but I’ll let it go. This. One. Time. The next time you touch me in anger is the last time you touch anything.” I heard Mindy’s sharp inhale of breath next to me, and Cricket backed away from me. Cowardly Cricket. We’d have to address that. Prospect shifted from foot to foot nervously, and the rest of the club seemed to hold their breath as they waited to see how Priest would react to my statement.
“That will be the one and only time you ever threaten me in my own club, bitch.”
I held his eyes with mine for a moment more before I reached down to the bottom hem of the faded Los Cuervos T-shirt and pulled it over my head. Next, I shimmied the cutoff shorts down over my hips and stepped out of them. If he wanted the clothes I was wearing so badly, he could have them.
Bones hissed and stepped away from Priest and toward me, looking concerned and pissed off all at once. Priest still looked like he was barely hanging on by a thread, but I was out of fucks to give.
Wearing only a bra and panties, I stepped into Priest's personal space on my tippy-toes and whispered, “Yes, it will be. I won’t have to tell you twice.” My lips skimmed his jawline below his ear. “You’ll be dead.”
All eyes were on me as I held my head up high and walked toward the stairs. I knew as soon as I got to my room, my adrenaline would wear off, and the shakes would start, but until then, I had to be a boss chick. I heard muttering and gasps as the club girls and brothers took in my damage, whispering to themselves and wondering out loud how it waspossible for someone to be so fucked up. They didn’t know the half of it, and hopefully, they never would.
Priest
Everyone, including me, stared at her as she walked away. It’d be impossible not to notice her round ass and perfect tits, seeing as they were on display for everyone, thanks to my meltdown. The blinding-white rage I felt when I saw her wearing Ellis’s things began to recede, and shame rushed to fill the charred remains in my chest where my heart used to reside. The girl was covered in scars. I had seen some on her arms and upper chest when I saw her in her tank top yesterday, but it barely scratched the surface of the damage she’d taken. Some of the cuts were smooth and surgical in their precision. Some were ragged, like they had been made by a serrated blade and never stitched up to heal properly. Initials were carved into the back of her right thigh, but they were almost illegible due to the lashing scars covering the backs of both thighs and presumably her ass, though her panties covered some of that. She had been whipped, more than once. Her whole body was a canvas painted in hues of suffering and pain, but by far the worst scars were on her back.
Burns dotted her entire back, from the dimples right above her ass to the base of her neck. Some were small, some were larger in diameter, and they made no discernible pattern that I could see in the low lighting of the common room. I felt slightly nauseous as I came to the realization that they were cigarette and cigar burns. Who the hell was this girl, and who did this to her? Why? Were her tormentors still out there, or did she kill them like she did Slyzec? I hated the questions that swirled in my mind over this girl and the memories she brought to the surface every time I looked at her. She represented my failure. My failure to protectEllis, my failure to avenge her death and the deaths of all Slyzec’s other victims, my failure to do anything to ease the crushing guilt I felt when I thought of the last time I saw my sister alive. If I ever wanted peace, this girl had to fucking go, and until she did, I needed to keep my distance from her. Nothing good would come of her presence here. I knew that without a shadow of a doubt.
I pushed my way past Bones and beat a hasty retreat from the bar, my food long forgotten. Lennon shot me a look of pure disgust as she walked over to gather Ellis’s clothes from the floor and quickly strode to the stairs, presumably to check onher. I went back to my office and slammed the door, pacing the small room restlessly. Bones burst through the door moments after I had slammed it, the knob denting the wall a bit as it bounced off the drywall. His dark eyes were almost black in anger, but he didn’t slam the door like I had. The door was closed with a very controlledsnick, and I was faced with a furious Bones. Where I burned hot like napalm when angry, Bones was stone fucking cold. My rage tasted like ashes in my mouth, but Bones’s fury was quiet and frigid. Both burned, but in very different ways.
