FOUND: A Motorcycle Club Romance Novel (9 page)

You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Everyone except Ez, Jerome and myself gazed into the bottom of their glasses.

Jerome clenched his fists behind my neck and his eyes focused lazer-like on Ez. He was pissed, and experience told me exactly what this would lead to. Jerome wasn't one to back down and Ez, try as he might at pretending to be civil, was goading him. To what end I did not know.

“Anyway,” Ez charmingly laughed before flipping his hand and stretching out the bottle of liquor towards Jerome. “Have a drink, my nigga. It is what it is... Ain't worth talking 'bout no more. This is a night for celebrating.”

“No,” Jerome replied deeply between clenched teeth. “I want to talk... Let me get this straight... you saying I can't run women?”

Ez smirked.

“Can't you tell I got this one here on lock?” He gripped the back of my neck tight as a sign of ownership. It hurt, though I didn't show it.

The other guests looked at each other tentatively. None of the men weren't nearly as aggressive as the pair of roosters squaring up and their indecisive movements made it clear they didn't know how, if, or dare to step in.

“Frankly...” Ez spoke slowly and sliced through a hard silence. “I am.”

Jerome's hand locked on the other end of the bottle Ez held as they both stared daggers at the other. Veins throbbed in both men's hands with the force of their grip seizing the glass.

The image of the bottle shattering flashed through my mind and I recognized enough to step in to stop a scene before it was started. If I didn't, the others here certainly wouldn't.

“Yeah,” I said with my hand stroking the back of Jerome's neck affectionately. “It goes without saying... I'm his...”

“That right?” Ez asked, a smile forming at the corner of one lip.

“That's right...,” I affirmed, “In mind, body and soul. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him.”

At that moment all I wanted to do was diffuse a dangerous situation. Jerome had a short fuse and at this level of provocation was a ticking time bomb ready to blow. Things could get ugly. Fast.

Ez released the bottle and grinned from ear to ear. “I guess that covers it then. I didn't doubt it for a second. My man's always reigned his women in good...”

I breathed out relieved, for the first time in minutes.

“...Though Jerome, I have to ask, do you have her on lock enough to make her turn a trick.”

Of course it wouldn't last.

The passive aggressive fuck! That tricky, sneaky dick!
Every pore in my body realized what he was doing. What he built to...

Ez's rat face turned to me, his eyes now wantonly tracing a line down my body. From the moment I met him, his eyes drilled a hole through my clothes eager to see what lay underneath. This was his plan all along. He wanted me, and tried to manipulate Jerome into giving me up.

I raised a hand, ready to tear in.

Ez cut me off sharply, “Let us men do the talking for once.”

I looked to Jerome. He sat back in silent meditation, having poured himself another drink. The bottle he won rested held in his lap.

“Well?” Ez asked. “Cat got your tongue?”

I turned to him and let rip, “If you think for one second I'll---”

But this time Jerome cut me off. “I can make her do anything.”

I couldn't believe it. Was he saying what I thought he was saying? Shock overwhelmed me. I couldn't speak.

Ez laughed, half-manically and half-gleefully, which set off the rest of the group too. The manipulator continued, “Well... how about it then?”

I watched as he took a huge bankroll from his pocket and began laying down twenty dollar bills on the table. One after the other. There was at least five-hundred dollars. Each bill dirtier than the last.

“I'll even sweeten the deal. Give me a night with her and, in exchange for your dime piece, you can any of my girls here...”

I sat stunned by what played out before me. My feelings didn't matter at all to their dealings. The way Ez spoke about me was like how someone talks about a piece of meat they intend buy at the store. I was a commodity, pure and simple. While I was once a stripper, a stripper does her business on her own terms. This was on another level. During this transaction my existence was forgotten.

To my right, Jerome still sat in contemplation without any sign of movement.

Jerome leered. “... Remember this bank closes soon.”

I interrupted, “You can't be serious!”

“Done,” Jerome's head lifted and he replied.

Done
...

And we were done. A great big axe came crashing down between us as we sat on that red fake-velvet couch. Symbolic, of course, but it was just as heavy and death-dealing. How could any man trade his woman to another?

Ez smacked his palms together elated. “I like it. I like it. Good to see my boy still can check his women. I always say, 'if you can't turn a bitch out she ain't nothin' to you'... I got some beds up in the manager's office. Everyone here won't mind if we disappear for some fun.”

Jerome nodded, impassively as if none of this was a concern. To tell you the truth, right then I'm sure he valued the bag of coke in his pocket more than me.

A loud upbeat song hit the speakers and everyone else around began talking among themselves.

Ez placed a hand on my knee. “Come on, girl.”

But I lost it. As mild-mannered, soft, weak – whatever you want to call me – as I am; I couldn't hold it in. I lost it and all eyes were suddenly on me. The kind of moment where the record stops with a scratch.

“I'm not that kind of girl. If you think for one second I'm doing anything like that, you're crazy!” Venom lashed out in every word I spoke. Who could blame me? I had just been sold like cattle.

Ez jumped back chuckling. “We got some fire in the house!”

His excited tone agitated me even more. He didn't, not for one second, take what I said seriously. He viewed me like a stupid and confused child. His intonation spoke volumes.

“Outside!” Jerome ordered deeply the second I stood to protest further.

I knew that tone. I understood it all too well. It meant move.
Move or else
.

I turned for the door, leaving Ez making a joke at my expense, and Jerome flanked me instantly with a grip of my arm. He kept pace behind me while we made our way down the flight of stairs and to the back exit.

“Listen bitch,” he growled the second the backdoor closed. “You gonna do what I say.”

I looked him up and down. He stood before me, finger pointing towards me with his whole body tensed and ready to pounce. This is his routine whenever he felt I was defying him, and I have been conditioned to react in only one way – submission.

But not that night.

Standing before him, I didn't feel fear. Some might say it was the drink, but the reality everything changed when he offered me up. From that flash I felt nothing towards him.

I stood my ground and shouted, “No. I've put up with a lot of shit in this relationship, but I'm not doing anything like that! What the hell were you doing in there?
Really
? I'm not some girl you can trade around. We had something real...”

He stepped towards me with eyes complete glazed from the drugs. “You'll fuck... whoever I tell you to fuck!”

“Jerome... We've been together for years. You know I'm not like that. I'll never been like that... That fucker in there is twisting your head. You're too high and full of too muck bravado to even realize it!” I shook my head and breathed a massive sigh. Without thinking my legs turned and I made for the car.

He pounced on me like a tiger, gripping the back of my hair. “You fucking bitch! You fucking hoe!”

“Hit me! Hit me!” I screamed at him while wrestling in his arms. “Come on! Give me your best shot, you pussy motherfucker!”

For years he broke down my spirits convincing me that I could never rely on myself. Making me truly believe I wouldn't survive without him. But in that parking lot the cage I had been trapped in opened around me. I pulled myself free and shoved him back three feet.

“What the fuck?” He stared down at me with shock in his eyes. “You... you...”

“Bitch? Is that what you were going to call me? I don't care anymore... What ever you're going to call me, whatever you're going to do -
I'm not going to take it
! There's nothing you can do that'll scare me! Kill me if you want!
Hit m
---”

Concrete cutting against my cheek was the first sensation I registered. My brain rattled inside my skull while complete darkness flooded my vision.

Lights out
.

He punched me, and the next couple of seconds were lost forever in a haze of my rattled brain trying to protect itself.

I rolled onto my back, my dress hiked up around my thighs in the fall, shocked that I could see so many stars in the city. Though they weren't stars. They were all in my head. Jerome's making. Warmth dripped from above my left eye. I reached up and blood covered my fingers.

“You bastard!” I groaned, my voice muffled by the ringing in my ears. “You no good bastard...”

Jerome didn't reply. His feet tread across me and made their way for his car. He opened the trunk and went for another one of those cocaine filled bags.

“You bastard!” Through the pain I hissed at him. I dragged myself crawling to him, the parking lot scratching up my elbows and knees. Blood flowed onto the concrete from my numb forehead and left a trail behind me. Yet, the pain didn't matter. I wanted to get to him. Hurt him! I wasn't going to run from this blow. I found his ankle and dug my nails into his calf.

“You crazy ass bitch!” Jerome jumped back hollering out. “Didn't that fist teach you nothin'?”

I reeled. With an all powerful kick he booted me in the stomach leaving me in agonizing pain. With it all the fight left me, along with the blood I coughed up onto my chest.

“
Ba...stard!”
I whimpered out and bit down on my bottom lip to stop myself from crying.

He knelt down beside me and pressed the weight of his knee into my back. “Still buggin? I thought the first one would have knocked some sense into you... Call me a fool... But you never learn,
bitch
, do you? Now listen up,
you good for nothing whore
. I'm gonna take this block of coke here and have some fun tonight. I don't want you here. You'd only bring me down... Now pick that hoe ass of yours up and drive my car back to the hotel. You gonna wait until I get back...”

I lay there fighting to breathe. His punt ripped through me still and I shivered wishing to be anywhere but there.

“...You understand, or did I break those fucking ears?” With every word his voice got aggressive and threatening. Jerome took a handful of my hair and pulled me half up.

“I understand,” I whispered afraid and still struggling for air. “I understand...”

“Good.” He let go of my roots and my face slammed into the concrete once again.

I peered through the pain to him as he brushed down his suit down and strode back to the club like nothing had transpired. The backdoor slammed.

I was alone.

The pain echoing through my body slowly subsided and I dragged myself standing. I closed the trunk he left open and used the hood of the car to help me get to the driver's side. The keys were still in the ignition. After the drinks, let alone the beating, I wasn't in a fit state to drive, but I managed... as I always do.

I pulled my dress back down, rubbed away the blood from my eye and turned on the GPS.

~ Chapter Ten ~

The first time I ever saw blood...

“Can you believe Boyd's taught that rat to stand?” I asked Anita as we swung on the tire swing in her backyard. “How cool is that?”

She shuddered. “Uhh... It gives me the creeps whenever I see its little hands reaching for the cheese he gives it. I don't know how he touches such an ugly thing.”

“I think it's cute...”

“Don't you know they all have diseases? Dirty! Those things are dirty!”

It was early in September and the days were still long and hot. Another school year started a couple of weeks ago and I lounged with Anita hoping that the day wouldn't end. I can't be sure, though think it was either a Saturday or Sunday and we were either ten or eleven. We spent the afternoon playing with everyone down at the fields up from the high school, but now, after dinner and with the sun about to set, we were tired and wanted to spend the rest of the day close to home.

“Anita, do you ever think about the boys round here?” I asked with my voice suddenly sounding real shy. In that way kids do, I switched the conversation in the blink of an eyelid.

“Huh? They're boys...”

I brought myself to a stop on the swing. “I guess I'm saying is do you think you could ever like one? You know, like our moms liked our dads enough to marry them...”

She continued swinging for a moment, letting her legs flap in the air. “Maybe... But most smell too much to every marry.”

I nodded, trying to think through the fits of her laughter. She didn't seem to understand what I meant.

“You thinking about marrying someone then?”

“I... Uh, no. Just thinking.” I pushed myself off the dirt and we swung along together.

“Look!” She pointed over her garden fence and into the distance. “Who's running? I can't see without my glasses.”

I struggled to see who it was. I could make out only a blue shirt speeding along at a million miles an hour. “Is that... Kenny?”

“Kenny!” Anita shouted out before spiraling into laughter again. She faced me, “Maybe you can marry him. Hey Kenny... you wanna marry her?”

“I---”

He didn't hear. But before I could defend myself, Kenny's desperate cries cut me off. He ran into Anita's backyard gasping for breath. He was never the most athletic of kids – you would probably call him chubby - though I'd never seen him run so fast before. “You two... u
hh
... Come... a
hh
---”