Chapter Fourteen
Silverado was atown about an hour away from Alina. The brothers liked going there to hang out with the guys in the Fallen Slayers MC. The two clubs had been friendly with each other for several years, and they met up every two months or so to play pool, party, shoot the breeze, and ride together. They usually took turns between coming to Alina and Silverado. The last time the Night Rebels saw the Fallen Slayers was when the Silverado club came to Alina for one of their no-holds-barred parties. Since then, the Fallen Slayers had been bugging the brothers to come to their neck of the woods to shoot some pool at a new place, the Trick Shot, that one of their buddies had opened a few months back.
Since it was Monday night and Balls and Holes was closed, Crow and Muerto thought it would be a nice gesture if they asked Brandy and Jaime to go to Silverado and check out the new place. The women had worked their asses off over the weekend, and a night spent in another town with a new group of men provided them with a much-needed distraction. They’d readily agreed, and since neither Crow nor Muerto wanted to have the women on the back of their bikes, Crow volunteered to take the four of them in his SUV.
Several Night Rebels rode up on their Harleys to meet up with their Silverado buddies. Fallen Slayers MC was a smaller club with only ten members. Roughneck, the president, had met Steel at a biker rally several years before. They hit it off, and when Steel invited Roughneck and his brothers to one of the Night Rebels parties, a bond had been formed. The revenue for the Fallen Slayers club came mostly from receiving and selling weed and stolen property—usually bike and car parts. Since they didn’t have a license for selling pot, their transactions were illegal. Every once in a while, they’d enlist the help of the Night Rebels in an arms trade with another club or a low-level gangster from the bigger towns.
“Hey, Roughneck, what’s up?” Steel said as he entered the pool hall with his brothers.
“Not much.” He raised his eyebrows when he saw Brandy and Jaime. “You brought women? I thought you had a woman.”
“I do. They came with Crow and Muerto. They work for us at Balls and Holes. They’re not club girls or hang-arounds. You got my drift?” Steel pulled out a chair with his boot.
“Too fuckin’ bad. They’re real lookers. I gotta tell my men. I see the hunger in their eyes already.” Roughneck went over to a group of guys hanging around the bar.
Muerto noticed all the Fallen Slayers were there: Skeet, Buzz, Tequila, Tats, Griller, Knuckles, Ironclad, Patriot, and Brick. Knuckles was the sergeant-at-arms and was always on the lookout for a good fight. Muerto had jumped in on many a barroom brawl with him, Buzz, Griller, and Brick. He held his fist in the air and they returned the gesture.
“It’s really nice in here,” Jaime said as she sat down on one of the barstools.
“It looks like an upscale bar.” Brandy scanned the place while pulling her spandex top down a bit more.
Muerto saw the look a couple of the Fallen Slayers gave her and knew if she laid it on too thick, he’d be knocking their heads before the night was over.I’m gonna have to play babysitter to her and Jaime. Fuck.They probably shouldn’t have asked them to come; he hadn’t thought it through. A light tap on his arm made him turn around.
“Thanks for bringing us here,” Jaime said, her eyes shining. “I don’t get out much, and when I do, I always end up at the same places. Alina isn’t that big. It’s fun being in a different place. I’ve never been to Silverado.”
“No problem. Order yourself a drink. Tonight’s on the club.”
Paco came over to Muerto, a skinny girl hanging onto his arm. “You in for a game of pool? Knuckles and Brick are asking.”
“You work fast,” he said as he nodded to the girl. “I’ll pass on the game. Maybe later.” He leaned closer to Paco. “I gotta keep an eye out for Brandy and Jaime. I don’t want any shit to come down on them. You playing?”
Paco smiled and pressed the woman closer to him. “Yeah, but not pool.”
Muerto laughed and shook his head as he watched the vice president walk away. Looking around the place, he spotted Goldie, Chains, and Skull by the pool tables in the back. The pool hall was one of the modern ones: top-of-the-line pool tables, wooden tables and red leather chairs, a dance floor, and a menu for sandwiches and appetizers. It was the total opposite of Balls and Holes, and Muerto wasn’t crazy about it. It looked like some of the modern places he’d seen in Durango and Pueblo. It didn’t have the feel of the game about it.
“You look real handsome tonight,” Brandy said to Muerto as she outlined the rim of her glass with her green-tipped fingernail. Muerto smiled and picked up his beer bottle.
“What about me? I took hours to get ready. You’re always going on about Muerto.” Crow winked at his buddy.
Brandy laughed. “And you look damn good too. You’re always coming on to me and Jaime. You’re too easy. But Muerto?” She glanced at him and cocked her head to the side. “You’re a different story. You act so aloof, but I know you’ve fucked half of Alina. What’s the secret to riding you?”
“Don’t work with him,” Crow said. “We got a policy of no fuckin’ the help.”
“Didn’t stop you from making out with me and Jaime when we first got onboard. You remember that, don’t you?” She looked at Jaime and then Muerto. Jaime smiled tightly.
“We were all so damned drunk and I didn’t think either of you would last more than a week. Anyway, making out and screwing are two different things.” Muerto took a long pull on his beer. “You sayin’ you never made out with Crow?”
“Don’t drag me into this, brother. I follow the policy.” Crow leaned back against the bar.
“Muerto does too. It was just that one night, and I’m just giving him a hard time.” She leaned against him. “And you’ve been a perfect gentleman ever since, hasn’t he, Jaime?”
Nodding, Jaime stared at her drink.
“Lay off, Brandy. You’re embarrassing her.” Muerto put his arm lightly around Jaime. “Don’t pay any attention to her. She’s tipsy. Remember, she had a few shots on the way up and a couple since we got here. Just have a good time.” He pulled away and raised his fist to Army, Jigger, and Sangre as they walked in.
As the brothers talked, played pool, and flirted with Brandy, Jaime, and a few other women, Muerto found his thoughts drifting to Raven. He still couldn’t believe he’d asked her to his mother’s birthday party, but he wanted to share that part of him with her. For the first time in his life, he wanted a woman to meet his mother and sisters.
A buxom blonde stared at him from a booth against the wall, smiling broadly when he looked at her. If he was into it, he figured it’d take him maybe twenty minutes and a couple of drinks before she’d spread for him in one of the back rooms. Shifting his gaze away, he reached for his beer.I haven’t fucked in almost a month. Damn! How the hell did that happen?He’d been so busy with the pool hall, bike repair shop, and running his rental properties that he hadn’t been interested in anything else. Actually, he hadn’t really been that involved with his properties except for one of the duplexes, the one the black-haired vixen rented.
