Checkmate With Bishop: A Hellions MC Novel (35 page)

“I’ll give you a couple of hours, but if your mom’s not in residence, I’ll be sleeping in her bed in her absence.”  Sure, Bishop was aware he’d answered on a menacing growl but he couldn’t help it.  “You know who she’s gonna go with, what she’s gonna be doing?”

“Naw,” came the calm reply before J.R. wiped at the metal piece in his hand with a greasy rag.  “I asked but she blew me off.”

Mother
fuck
er!

“When’s she leaving?”  Christ it was hard to sound sane when he was feeling anything but.

“Tomorrow at noon.  Said she’d be back after lunch on Sunday,” his kid immediately shot back, having absolutely no idea of the devastation his casually uttered words were creating.  At how, in the midst of negotiating some alone time in order to get into some girl’s panties, his son had shattered his father’s world.

“You know where she is now?”

J.R. finally looked at his dad before shrugging again.  “It’s Thursday, right?  That means she’s probably teaching her master class.”

*.*.*.*.*

I walked around the room, overseeing my student’s first attempts at setting multi-toned highlights with foil packets in actual human hair.  My feet were killing me and I was rethinking my pretty, knee-length heeled boots as the right choice in footwear when I’d known it was going to be a long day.  Longer and more filled with crap than usual.

“Use the comb, Shea.  The rat-tail of the comb will help you get the best crease and a better crease will let it sit closer to her head,” I offered quietly.  Watching Shea do the adjustment as instructed I moved on.

But my mind wasn’t on the class. 

Or my beautiful new boots.

Not really.

It was still in what I’d gone through earlier in the day.  A day and all its revelations that had eaten through me in the hours since I’d first experienced them.

Which started when a certain Miss Carmi had wiggled her shapely, small but round ass into my chair.

The conversation had started civilly enough.  Me ascertaining exactly what she wanted done as I’d dragged my fingers through her locks.  A freshening of her perm that was going to be tricky since I could tell she’d bleached in the highlights. 

No, the real of it had happened later.  When the young girl’s shiny mouth had begun talking, going into areas I knew shouldn’t be explored.  A conversation that shouldn’t have ever taken place.

 “So you and our Bishop used to have a thing,” was her opening salvo, even though in that particular moment, I hadn’t recognized it had been launched in a gauging of the distance between us.

“We were married back in the day,” I’d replied with a small smile, remembering she’d been at the Labor Day party even while I finger-combed through her layers, trying to find the symmetry in her last cut.  “But that was a long time ago.”

“Yeah, I got that.  And that way back when, you butted heads with the Honeys who were with the former Hellion council.”  The girl’s words were almost obscured by the popping of the huge wad of gum she had in her mouth.  “I got there later, just at the end of that reign, but damn!  Those were some dirty pieces of old man shit and their women weren’t much better.”  I felt more than saw her eyes as she watched me and with one glance to our reflections, I saw Carmi was assessing me.

“But you handled yourself pretty good when Teeny and Lily started their shit.  More than handled, if you want to know the truth.  In fact, some of the hive are saying you handed them bitches their asses on a platter.”  I only nodded at the young girl’s words as I tried to determine how to accomplish the miracle she wanted performed on her hair.   “You know Dee’s gone, right?”

“So I heard,” I muttered, reaching for a comb and my shears.  Frankly, I wished she’d just let me work my magic in silence but that wasn’t to be.

“And just after that bar-b-que, Teeny’s man, Jake got transferred to Billings.”  Was there inquisitiveness in her tone or simple accusation?  “Lily, on the other hand, moved to Northern Cal saying she was gonna live with her sister.  And I know for a fuckin’ fact that those two never got along.”

I didn’t say a word, since there wasn’t anything I could say that didn’t expose my relief in having Lily and Teeny out of my town. 

“That Dee, though,” she smacked, her jaws working her wad of gum quickly and firm as I began shaping her locks.  “She started out hard from what I heard, not that I was around.  Then her brother bought it in some kind of club war in Spokane.  Some of the other Honeys have said him dying broke her in some way.”  Carmi munched through a few more chews as I tilted her head down onto her chest.  “Then when Big Duke was diagnosed and seemed to be eaten from the goddamn cancer he had?  Yeah.  That’s when I first met her.  And to me, she was always sweet.”

I held back my snort of derision.  Dee, sweet?  Not goddamn likely.

Carmi was thankfully quiet for a time as I continued to cut, to coax a new shape into her hair.

“Listen, do you know if Bishop is seeing anyone?”  She popped her gum and I glanced into the mirror to see her eyes were watching me closely.  “It’s just that he’s one of the last Hellions on the council that’s single.  I mean, there’s Dice but that brother is fucking crazy, the sort of crazy that a girl doesn’t want to be alone with.  So Bishop is my last chance at getting a good place in the Hive.  One of the movers and shakers within the club, ya know?”

I tried to keep my eyebrows from lifting in shock at her bald question as I looked at her reflection again.  “How would I know?”

“I dunno.  I hear he’s at your place a lot even though you two only share a kid.”  She did another couple of chews that masticated her gum more thoroughly as she eyed me.  “I ain’t into having any myself, but I could put up with the stupid rug-rat if Bishop was the prize.”

Jay-sus, was she serious?  Didn’t she know how close J.R. and Stan were?

“And since he ain’t at the compound as much as he used to be, always having some shit to do at home, I figured you could put in a good word for me or something.”  I blinked in order to focus on her hair while my mind raced.  Was she asking me to pimp her out to my ex-husband?

“I mean, we’ve hit it before.  Done the ol’ horizontal mambo more than a few times.  And he’s good, not as awesome as Dare or even Trey, but Bish knows his way around pussy.  Lately, though?  Shit, he’s never at the clubhouse long enough for me to even get an in with him!” 

“I need to get the rods and the solution ready,” I advised through lips that didn’t want to work.  In essence, the little bitch, one I knew in just the few minutes we’d spent together, was just as cold-hearted as the old Honeys had been, yet wanted my man.  Wanted Stan not because he was a wonderful man or because he was caring and sweet, but was a Hellion who could give her a hand up in gaining a better position within the Honeys.

Oh hello, no!

And I tried to think of a way to both shut her up and shut that kind of thinking down as I rolled the perm cart back to my station.  But I couldn’t seem to come up with anything as I sectioned off her hair.

“I’m thinking he’s getting it from that new one, Sissy.  I mean, every time I see him, she’s hanging off him.  Laughing at his stupid jokes that don’t even make sense.  Grabbing his arm when she talks and he leans in closer to listen to her stupid, kid-like voice.  Yeah, she’s young.  With her tits and ass still in all the right high places, but damn!  She ain’t got nothing I ain’t got.  And at least I learned how to work it, ya know?”  Carmi seemed triumphant in the way she saw to fulfilling the Hellion brothers sexual needs.

I must’ve made a noise, must’ve given some indication that I was listening because the little slut continued.

“And the two of them take off for hours before he comes back.  I’ve even checked and every time she’s around, the key-slot for room number four is missing.  Which everyone and their mother knows is Bishop’s room.  That if
he’s
on the property, number four is
Bishop’s
room.”

Oh shit.  The number four room was where I’d seen our old bedroom suite!

Since I was then rolling the top-front area of Carmi’s head, I saw her eyes narrow and her ever-moving lips thin.  “Yeah, I bet that little bitch is offering herself up to him.  Giving him exactly what he needs so that she can elbow the rest of us aside in order to get in with him good.   To take a position on the inner circle so she can tell the rest of us what to do.  The stupid cunt!”

It was at that moment, I realized that on my weekends according to our calendar, Stan hadn’t been around.  That there’d been no trace of him or his truck from Friday through Sunday afternoon at least once a month since I’d moved into the Henderson place.

And by putting two-and-two together, it wasn’t hard to figure out why.

“So if you could talk to him, Debby…”

“It’s Dory,” I corrected.  I was
so
done with listening to not only her words but her stupid wheedling voice that I was going to goddamn
scream
if she didn’t simply shut the freak up.  “For what it’s worth, he’s more involved with our son than with me, but I’ll see what I can do.”

The little bitch-in-training smiled at me as if just shooting her teeth at me would ease the tension between us.  “That’d be great, honey!  Thanks!”

And I got on trying to perform a miracle on the straw little Miss Carmi called hair.

*.*.*.*.*

But my day had only gotten worse as I’d seen Marian Chirge, current owner and queen bee of Missoula Mousse enter my shop, trying to throw her weak-assed brand of hate around as she demanded to speak with me.

Crystal, my new receptionist who was sweet and nice, organized and helpful, shot her eyes to mine and I’d realized it was a plea for help.

“I’m Dory Leone,” I said as I strutted towards the other woman, an older one who obviously hadn’t been the recipient of all the beauty treatments her shop boasted.  “How can I help?”

Marian’s eyes skimmed me from stem to stern as she re-hitched her purse on her shoulder.  “By getting right the fuck out of town, that’s how!”

Stopping three feet from her, noting the high spots of color in her face and the whiff of some kind of alcohol on her breath, I cocked a hip. 

I’d had it up to
there
with being forced to deal with feminine attitudes of any variety, especially after Carmi!

“Since that’s not going to happen in the near or far future,” I offered with a slow smile.  “You might want to be a little more specific.”

I saw her puff out her small chest, a move that caused her heavy coat to fall open, allowing me to view her hard, sharp collarbones exposed by her gaping top.  It was, suffice it to say, not a pretty sight. “You’re stealing MM’s clients and I won’t stand for it!”

“Just how am I doing that?  By doing great hair?  At reasonable prices?”  I kept my tone calm, levelheaded but I propped a hand on my hip in challenge.  “Or is it that Luscious treats their customers with dignity, accepts walk-ins and doesn’t bump out appointments in order to cater to the hoi-polloi that think they own Missoula?”

Marian’s eyes did another sweep of me before turning to the shop floor.  I knew what she would see:  every station filled with a client and more waiting in the seats along the front windows, the linoleum gleaming since I kept two girls on the floor at any given time.  A student to sweep and another one to work reception.  There was nothing the other woman  could point to as a problem.  Other than having her in the middle of my space, spewing shit just because she hadn’t had the foresight to ensure she wouldn’t have competition!

“This is nothing but a haven for bikers and their whores,” she sneered, but my meter was full up with that particular attitude.  Especially when given by some skinny, obviously drunk and jealous business owner who was starting to come to terms that she and her shop were no longer considered the best around.

“Just as long as they pay, I couldn’t give a rip how they live.”  I swung my eyes back to hers and saw desperation in them.  So I took a step forward, crossing my arms over my chest and spoke softly, as kindly as I could given the circumstances.  “I think you need to go now, Mrs. Chirge.”

“I’m gonna run your ass outta town.  Prove to everybody that you’re covered in as much shit as that Hellion you’re fuckin’ on the sly.”  I couldn’t even begin to fathom how she knew about Stan, about my midnight trysts and, frankly, didn’t want to.

So I shrugged, a move given up so sanguinely, I amazed myself given all the shit my day had held.  “Do what you’ve gotta do.  But you really should leave.”

“Oh yeah, he’ll fuck you but the moment your back is turned, he’ll be fucking another one.  Taking her slow and sweet while you twiddle your thumbs wondering why he’s late.”

What the freak?

What was it, let’s-make-Dory-feel-like-shit day?

So Stan had apparently tapped the ass of my major competitor at some point in time in between hitting all the freaking pussy the club made available!

Big, freaking whoop. 

Her place, at least according to what I’d heard from Carmi, was way, way down the column in the queue of women that Stan had fucked. 
Take a step at the end and just to the left of that particular line, darlin’
, is what my mind sneered right the hell back but I was careful to keep that thought out of both my voice and my face.  “Or maybe I need to call the police in order to get you gone?  Because you can leave under your own steam or with a police escort.  Either way, Mrs. Chirge, you are outta here.”

She pushed forward until I could feel the bones of her thin chest against the forearms that I still held in front of me.  “This isn’t over, you stupid cunt.  So far from over its not funny!”

Jay-sus.  Had she planned this, copying the words from some ‘B’ rated flick or a bad novel in order to try and intimidate me?  “Just go, and please know you are not welcome in Luscious Two ever again.”

She glared my way, glared at all the doings behind me before turning away and stomping towards the door.  “You can go take a flying leap at a doughnut hole, you stupid broad!”

I had to give it to her, the drama her words were given in, with just in the way her threatening tone was delivered, was one worthy of applause.  But after the door had closed behind her skinny ass I knew all the hand-clapping I heard was just for me.