Chapter 12
2179 Words
The clubhouse didn’t look like much from the outside. Just a huge metal warehouse. The only reason it stood out was the rows of motorcycles lined up in the yard. Beth would have liked to look around more, but Sadist ushered her inside before she had a chance. She understood. He had business and he wanted to get it taken care of.
Inside was dim and she was grateful for Sadist’s hand on the small of her back, guiding her, because it took several seconds for her eyes to adjust enough so she could see. This wasn’t what she’d expected. It looked like the inside of a bar, mostly. Well, except for several sofas in one corner, with a TV mounted on the wall and a pole to one side. Thankfully the area was empty, she didn’t want to know what the pole was used for, at least not today.
Sadist guided her to the bar and helped her up on a red vinyl stool. “What do you want to drink?”
“I don’t know,” she hesitated, what would they have? Glancing down the bar she saw the tap with several brands of popular beer. “Oh, you have some Barrios, do you have Rojo?” She recognized the names from one of the local micro-breweries.
“Only in a bottle, that okay?”
“That’s good.”
“Dumbass!” Sadist shouted, making Beth jump. The kid behind the bar, who looked about her age, hurried their way.
“Yes, V.P.?”
“This is Beth. She’s my girl and you are to take special care of her while I’m busy.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Give her a bottle of Rojo and make sure everyone behaves.”
The kid behind the counter swallowed and nodded.
Is his name really Dumbass?
Is his name really Dumbass?“Will do, sir. You can count on me.” The kid hurried away to get her drink.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be, but it shouldn’t be too long. Enjoy a drink, and have a second if you want, but watch out. Some of these guys can be a little rough. The girls too.” He looked up as the door opened. “Oh good. Here’s someone I wanted you to meet.”
Beth looked toward the door as it swung shut and saw a tall man in a white t-shirt under his vest, tattoos down both arms. He had one arm around a woman. She was closer to Beth’s age, dark hair and skin a beautiful honey color Beth had always envied. The two were headed their way. The kid behind the bar set a bottle in front of her and disappeared
“Hey, brother,” Sadist said as they neared. He stepped away and gave the man a one-armed hug.
“Hey, where’s your kutte?” the new man said.
“On the bike, I was busy when I got called in.” Sadist turned to the new woman. “You finally get him to take you home?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “During the day at least. He’s still insisting on sleeping here though.” She rolled her eyes.
Sadist laughed. “I’ve got someone I wanted you to meet.” He moved back beside her. “Beth, this is Ruger and his ol’ lady Krissi.” He turned to them. “This is Beth.” He didn’t say they were seeing each other, or what they were.
She got it, this was only their second date. She didn’t know what they were yet either.
“Nice to meet you.” Beth extended her hand first to Ruger, then to Beth and they exchanged pleasantries. After a couple minutes a loud whistle echoed across the room, making Beth turn, she found a tall, bald man standing in an open doorway. She didn’t know what to make of him.
“We’ve got to go, you two stay here. You can trust Krissi, she’s a good one,” Sadist said. “I’ll be out when we’re done.” With that he turned and walked away, disappearing through the same door where the bald man had stood. Beth didn’t know what to say. She turned back to the bar where her drink sat and took a long pull.
“How long have you been seeing Sadist?” Krissi asked.
“Not long.” Beth wasn’t sure how much to say. “Why did Sadist call you an old lady? You can’t be much older than me.”
“I probably am about your age but ol’ lady has nothing to do with age. It’s a title. It means you’re in a serious relationship with one of the Brothers and aren’t a piece of ass for anyone to pick up or have fun with.”
Beth blinked then looked around. Other than the boy behind the bar all but one of the men had disappeared into the same room where Sadist had gone. The one other left in the room stood in front of the door, hands behind his back, obviously guarding it.
“You mean…” A shudder went through Beth as she trailed off, not sure she could say what she as thinking.
“No, not here,” Krissi said. “I’ve seen clubs were any woman was fair game if she was in the building without an escort, but these guys are better than that.” Krissi waived at the bartender and he brought her a bottle without asking what she wanted. “Don’t get me wrong. They’re rough and they’re men, so they do and say things that make you want to kill them, but they’re not rapists or bad guys.” She took a drink and stared at the bottle for several seconds.
Beth didn’t know what to say and they sat in an awkward silence for several minutes, until Krissi spoke again.
“What do you do?”
Beth turned back to face the other woman. “I’m a stylist. You?”
“Stylist?”
“I do hair, cut, or color mostly. In a salon not too far from here.”
“Oh, that’s nice. I’m a student and a bartender for Drifters. It’s a few doors down.”
“I bet that pays decent.”
“It does and since it’s a club bar, I get my ass grabbed far less than when I was waiting tables in a diner.”
“That’s a problem I’ve not had.” Beth shook her head, wondering why the other woman had put up with being treated that way. She couldn’t imagine a circumstance where she would let strangers touch her like that. She probably would have slapped them or punched them in the face.
“It’s not a problem anymore. Aside from the bar in between customers and me now, all the Souls know who I am, and not only will they not pull anything, they’d knock anyone who tried anything on their ass.”
That made Beth feel a little better, not that she needed anyone to stand up for her, but it was good to know this rough, scraggly group of men had their own set of morals and expectations. While their values might not exactly match hers, from what she’d heard, they weren’t too far off.
Beth finished her first beer, which Dumbass had immediately replaced and was more than halfway through the second when the door across the room opened. Several men came out right away, but it was several minutes before Sadist emerged. She watched as he glanced around then spotted her right where he’d left her. A smile spread across his face and he made a beeline for her.
“How are things going here?” He glanced at Krissi a couple times but kept his attention on Beth.
“We’re good. We’ve been getting to know each other.”
“That’s good.”
Ruger approached and dropped a kiss on Krissi’s lips. “What’s up?”
“What time is it?” Sadist asked.
“Almost nine,” Krissi said.
“Damn.” He looked down at Beth. “You still want to see if we can find that movie tonight?”
Beth shook her head. “If we find anything starting this late, we won’t get home until after midnight. I’d rather go somewhere where we can talk.”
“You ready for that dessert?”
“Sure.”
Sadist looked over to Ruger and Krissi, “You want to go have dessert with us?”
“I don’t know.” Ruger looked to Krissi.
“We don’t want to intrude on your date,” Krissi said looking at Beth.
“You’re not,” Beth said. She liked Krissi and if Ruger was Sadist’s friend like she’d said, then Beth wanted to get to know him some too. “Come have dessert with us. It’ll be fun.”
“Where?” Krissi asked.
They glanced at each other and talked for a few minutes before deciding where to go and heading out to the bikes.
It didn’t take them long to get to The Cheesecake Factory. Sadist and Beth pulled in first but since the place wasn’t busy, they waited for the others. Once Ruger and Krissi had parked and dismounted, the four of them went inside. They were seated immediately in a quiet corner of the dining room.
“What’s good here?” Krissi asked as she scanned her menu.
“Everything’s good, it just depends on what you like.” Beth showed her new friend the dessert section and Krissi’s eyes went wide with the options.
“Wow.”
“What do you like?” Sadist kept his voice low as he asked.
“I like a few. The s’mores one is good, and the red velvet, so is the lemon. But my favorites are the key lime and the original.” She turned to watch him. “Which is your favorite?”
“I don’t know.” He continued reading the menu.
“Can’t make up your mind which you like the most?”
“No, I’ve never been here.”
“Me either,” Ruger said.
Beth looked back and forth between them, only vaguely aware her mouth was hanging open.
“My first time, too,” Krissi spoke up.
Beth wondered why they all agreed to come here if they’d never been. This place had been her and her sibling’s favorite place, but they only got to come on special occasions growing up.
“Okay, what we need to do then, if everyone is okay with it, is everyone get something different, then we all share so everyone gets to try them all.”
Sadist looked down at the long list of cheesecakes. “Have you tried all these?”
“Oh no. I’ve tried several but nowhere near all of them.”
“Then I’m in for sharing but you have to get a flavor you haven’t tried, so there will be at least one new one for you.”
“Done,” Beth said. She knew what she wanted. She’d been wanting to try the carrot cake for a while. Sadist looked across the table at Ruger and Krissi.
“You two in?”
“Sure.” Krissi smiled at Ruger and nudged him with her arm.
“Why not?”
They spent several minutes discussing options until they settled on four flavors. The waitress came to check on them and took their order.
“How long have you two been together?” Beth asked Krissi once the waitress was gone.
Krissi blinked, then looked at Ruger. “What’s it been? A year? No almost fifteen months since I walked into Drifters that first time?”
“About that, yeah,” Ruger said.
Wow. Beth tried to remember the last time she’d been with anyone that long. Maybe not since junior year in high school. The older she got, not that she was all that old at barely twenty-four, the less willing she was to put up with stupid s**t. Maybe.
Glancing at Sadist, it occurred to her it might be different with him. Hell, it already was and had been different from their first date. Unlike anyone she’d dated before, Beth couldn’t keep Sadist off her mind. Thoughts of him would sneak in at odd moments and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop them. That was something she’d never experienced before. She’d always been able to push someone out of her mind and keep them out. With Sadist though, she would find herself smiling while she swept only to realize she’d been thinking of him. When something happened, she couldn’t wait to tell him.
“Sadist said you’re closer than brothers.” Beth looked from Ruger to Sadist and back again.
“You could say that,” Ruger said after a moment. The waitress delivered their plates and conversation turned to who liked what and which slice was the best.
- Writer
