Hell on Heelz (Asphalt Gods' MC) (15 page)

There was a lone bar of soap to be found in the bathroom, and it was on the sink. I took it to the shower. Lathering up my body, I thought of yesterday, last night, all the times we did it. I could feel my face twerk up into a shit eating grin.

The curtain suddenly opened, scaring the bejesus out of me.

Holding open the screen, Mud stared at me, bewildered. “You left me?”

“I needed a shower.”

Still naked, he stepped in with me. His expression, still serious he caressed my face. “Don’t leave me like that, not without saying goodbye.”

Somehow, it was the most romantic thing a man had ever said to me. Feeling gooey, I was about to be washed down the drain. We kissed, naturally, like it was just what we always did, like it was our thing. And one thing led to another. Since Rage had left the building, I was on my knees, the water streaming over my face as I took his large cock into my mouth. Wanting to please him, I milked him to completion, even swallowed and hoped he like it. Rage hadn’t done that in a coon’s age. Mud was grinning like a possum eating sweet potatoes.

When we were dressed, his cell phone rang with someone saying my bike had been found. I was sorry it was all going to be over.

“I’ll take my truck to pick it up.”

Since Mud hadn’t asked me to come with, I figured it wouldn’t be a good idea.

“Maybe we can go for a ride before you have to leave.”

At the moment, I didn’t want to ever leave but reality was creeping back on me.

“My day with Mud had been a dream I didn’t want to wake from but all good things must end.”

I looked around the cabin. This was Alabama. Mud was in the Asphalt Gods’ MC, a rival club, and I was due back in Florida where I didn’t know what would happen to me. I wasn’t bringing back the Banshee’s killer for Legs. I’d failed. I didn’t know which one of my sisters would be taking over our club as President and what kind of example she might want to make out of a failure such as me.

“Edie, you’ll go for a ride with me, right?”

I’d spaced out but answered him, “Yes.” One last ride. I didn’t know when I’d see him again, if ever.

Mud moved to the door, but I thought about him telling me not to leave without saying goodbye. “Aren’t you going to say bye.”

“No, because I’ll be right back.”

The words made me smile, show all my teeth smile.

With nothing else to do while he was gone, I cleaned up the cabin as best I could. Two hours passed, and I relaxed on the couch, wishing I had gotten Mud’s number. Then I was telling myself he couldn’t take much longer, be patient.

I must have fell asleep on the couch because when I came to, I was being slapped. Mud was slapping me. My eyes widened when I realized it wasn’t a dream. I fought him as he pulled me up.

“Get this whore up and out of here,” he told two men who proceeded to duct tape my mouth and wrap my arms and legs up in the chain from last night. They put a sack over my head and all was black.

Lying in the trunk of a car, I tried to listen, find out where they were taking me, but all I heard was road noise. Outwardly, I struggled, hoping to break free of the chains so I could escape when they opened the trunk. On the inside, my heart was breaking. How could Mud do this to me?

The hood was taken off my head after the men chained me to a chair. Mud didn’t even look at my face. He left the room.

Truth be told, Edie was a dope. She’d been fooled like she’d always been fooled. Rage would have never been so careless with her emotions.

He ripped the duct tape off my mouth, and I thought my lips would come with it. Bending down, he came in close. “Where is he?” Mud screamed at me, but he wasn’t Mud. Couldn’t be. It hadn’t taken me too long to figure it out because he kept asking, “Where’s Mud?”

Rage would have never been ambushed, so she was back in full force. I spat at him.

The man wiped his face and hauled off and back handed me. It stung like hell, but what was worse, being chained to a chair, I couldn’t fight back so I growled at him like a rabid dog.

“Listen bitch, I know who you are, you fucking heel and if you killed my brother…”

“Hold up,” I stopped him. “I didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t kill Mud.”

Seeming to calm down at that, the man sat opposite of me in another folding chair. His elbows on his knees, he scrutinized me as I studied his familiar face. He looked just like Mud, down to the trim on the beard, but where Mud had had a black eye that had been healing, this man had other injuries, a busted nose and a big purple bruise on his neck.

He studied me too, the twinkle Mud got in his eye when he’d look at me was missing. “Then where is he? No one has seen him in days.”

My eyes narrowed. “What makes you think I’d tell you shit? If he’s your kin, why don’t you know?” It was obvious that Mud and this man were twins, identical, but I didn’t know if they were brothers, the kind whose ties are stronger than blood. Mud hadn’t mentioned he had a twin, even when I’d told him about my kids.

He flipped open a big knife. “You’ll tell me because you want to keep your ears, your nipples.”

Moving my arms, I tried the chain, finding it was still as heavy as ever and wrapped tight.  I couldn’t get away or get the better of him. Caving at the prospect of getting sliced up, I settled down, telling the truth, “I wouldn’t hurt Mud.” At least now I wouldn’t.

He smirked, not believing a word of it. “Why should I believe you? I found you at our cabin. What else would you be doing there?”

“We were on a date,” I mumbled under my breath, not looking him in the eye anymore.

He laughed, “You?”

“And that’s funny why?” I snapped.

“On a date with my brother? A date?”

“Yes, a date.”

“My brother doesn’t date. Doesn’t need to. He may have had a hankerin’ for some dark meat, sister, but a date—I know you’re lyin’. Besides, he’d never take a woman to our cabin.”

What could I say to any of this? If he didn’t believe it, so be it. I shrugged the best I could with the chains weighing me down.

The man stood, kicking his chair away. “You’re with the fucking Heelz too—lying, conniving bitches you are. Y’all don’t want to live the life my brother lives, and he won’t have a woman who won’t live the life. You ladies live in a fantasy land. Want to rule us men, use your womanly wiles to get your way. Then you want to turn around and pretend you’re men—dikes, the lot of you.” He came close, his knife leading. “So, I know you’re lying.” Mud’s twin loosened the heavy chain, moving it off my shoulders. “I’m going to enjoy this a little too much, Swirly, so I’d start talking.” He ripped my tank and ran his blade down my now exposed cleavage, droplets of blood followed it.

I sucked in my breath. The blade had sliced me, thin and precise like a scalpel.

“You think that smarts wait until I cut off your tits and toss you in a ditch—leave you to die.”

I gritted my teeth, saying, “Why do you want to know where Mud is? You gonna hurt him too?”

His face said it all as it twisted in disgust. “Me, hurt my brother?” Then his expression changed to one of regret. That part confused me, but I was certain he didn’t want to kill Mud himself. Besides, he could’ve found him at that cabin at any time.

I decided talking was better than him slicing.  “Nathan,” I said very clearly, so he’d get my drift, “went to the junk yard this morning to get my Harley back for me. He was supposed to come right back.”

“Melvin’s?”

“Don’t know. Didn’t ask.”

He left right away, saying, “If I find out you’re lying, if you hurt him, I’ll send you back to the Roost in pieces.”

I’d already figured out I was in someone’s house, in a regular room though filled with cardboard boxes. It was carpeted and there was a window letting in a stream of light that dust particles danced in. I waited a bit before I tried the chain. Mud’s twin had loosened it to cut me and never fixed it back. Plus, I was in a folding chair that had some give if I moved around. There had to be a way out, I told myself over and over like I was the little engine that could. A bunch of wiggling and maneuvering like I was playing twister with myself, and I was free.

I tiptoed to the door and tried the knob. It was locked, wouldn’t even budge. I stopped trying it, didn’t think I should bring attention to the fact I was loose. I pressed my ear to the door, and I could hear a t.v. or radio, shuffling around but no talking. I assumed from that, I had only one guy guarding me. I went to the window and peeked out the blinds. Luckily, I was on the bottom floor, the ground a big jump down but not impossible. I could also see someone’s rusty hog parked in front. The window was an easy open. A plan fell in place.

Permitting my body to hang out the window before I let loose, falling down, I landed on my feet before I rolled, but I didn’t break anything. Sneaking around front, I spied a mess of tools on the front porch. I grabbed a flat head screwdriver. An old bike, I’d heard you could start with a screwdriver if you disconnected a wire or some shit. Clutching the tool, I hunched over and ran at the same time to the old Harley to have a look. Unlike some of my sisters, I wasn’t the least bit mechanically inclined. Fuck, I’d never stolen a bike before neither and for the life of me couldn’t remember the one time I’d been with the Banshee when she’d hotwired one. She simply pulled off some casings and twisted some wires together and started it up. No, she used her mouth to strip a wire then wrapped it around something. Honestly, I didn’t know where to even start. As my eyes traveled the bike, looking for the right wires, they finally landed on the keys sticking out of the ignition.

Lady luck, that fucking cunt was back in my bed. I pocketed the screwdriver and started the bike, ready to hightail it out of the gravel lot. The door swung open, and I heard the unmistakable sound, a shot fired.

It missed me.

I road like the wind all the way back to the Roost, only stopping once to squat.

That night, I walked into the Roost like I was in a cowboy movie. It was good to see Pepper’s pink head. She hugged me hard. “You’re alive.”

“’Course I’m alive. I’m too mean to die,” I said as she patted my back.

She told me I just missed Shirley’s funeral. The whole town was there.

“How was it?”

“It was just like any other funeral except a whole lot more bikers. Ripper was asking after you.”

I ignored her talk about Ripper. “How’s her mama?”

Pepper pulled away. “Legs is staying at her house in town with Star. Lots of casseroles to put up.”

“I’d say. What have we told the cops?”

“Lovers’ quarrel.” Pepper’s face took on a weird expression as she’d said it.

“But there were three dead.”

“Exactly.” She chuckled. “You can’t say Banshee wouldn’t like to be remembered that way.”

“That’s true. But what about Dixie…”

“Louisiana State police are reporting her a Jane Doe, just another victim of gang on gang violence.”

“But her family.” Everyone has family. Dixie had plenty of cousins in the area and that meant aunts, uncles. She spoke of her mother and grandmother like they were still living.  

“Legs has been too busy grieving and cleaning up this mess to deal with it.”

“Somebody’s got to.”

“Don’t have to be you.” Pepper said with a bit of attitude.

“As much as Dixie had gotten under my skin. I saw her last moments. I’ll do it when the times right.” That meant when Legs decided.

“I’m glad your back. Things haven’t felt the same with the Banshee gone. Everyone seems to have somewhere else to be.”

“Not me.” The Banshee’s death didn’t mean I was free. Kelly was still dead. “You know the girls will be scarce for a while.”

“Downright disrespectful if you ask me. Everyone wanted to show off our colors at her funeral but no one’s here tonight. If the Banshee is looking down, she’s fit to be tied.”

“You know she’d say it makes no never mind to her. She’d tell you all her chickens will come home to roost eventually.” Tears came to my eyes as I mocked Shirley’s silly sayings.

Yes, whatever kept the girls here would bring them back. I for one couldn’t wait to get to my cabin and lay my eyes on Sugar.  Then I’d take a long hot bath with a glass of whiskey. It was amazing I’d survived this mess. What was better was Neil would be getting me that plane ticket to Maine soon. I’d be seeing my kids at Christmas. As happy as that made me, I frowned thinking of them coming home after that. I didn’t want them seeing me like this. I was a drunk, one thing of many I wanted to change before Gavin and Gail came home.

Pepper frowned when I did, but then brightened. “I’ve got something to cheer you up.”

“What?” These girls tough as they are, were always doing something nice, making pies and shit.

“We found the bastard who shot Sugar.”

I about fell backwards. The man who shot Sugar was none other than Mud. Thinking of him—well I felt a ghost of the sensation, him penetrating me and my reactions to it. Mud was here? “Does Legs know that we have… the man who shot Sugar?”

“Nope not yet. Couldn’t talk club business at the funeral home. Got him strung up in your cabin so you can have your turn.”

“My turn?” I knew what she meant, my turn to beat on him—kill him if I wanted to.

Straightaway, I started walking to my cabin. I spotted my Harley parked in front of it. It was dark, and I’d been too tired to even notice before.

Pepper followed, explaining. She was proud of herself. “Saw your ride hitched on the back of a 4X4, coming through Alabama this morning. We ran the fucker off the road. Even in his state, Sugar recognized the asshole right away. Wouldn’t have got ‘em back here if I hadn’t taken 2Kurrupt with me.”

“2Kurrupt?” I exclaimed. Fuck, I hope he didn’t mess Mud up too bad.

“Yes, I took him. Half our sisters were gone. Miss B, Boots, Locks, Topper, they’re still hunting down the bitch who killed the Banshee. Legs was busy making arrangements. I needed some muscle to get Sugar’s queer ass home. I made the call. Not like I could lift a two-hundred-pound man into a van on my own. Besides, enemies of our enemies and all that.”

I stopped on my front porch, not wanting her to follow me in. I didn’t need my sisters to know Mud was anyone to me. “We owe the Mutherfukers too much already.”

She puffed out her chest. “Banshee left us some debt. Hopefully our new president can find a way to make peace with those boys.” This meant Pepper thought it should be her. It explained her attitude with me just moments ago too. I was about to tell her that no one could ever make peace with them, but I didn’t rightfully care anymore. With Mud inside, I couldn’t think about all the infighting about to happen since our pecking order was gone. “Where’s Sugar?”

“He’s staying with me.”

I pushed passed her and dismissed her, saying, “Well go tell him I’m back and leave me. I don’t want any witnesses.”

I’d had no doubt Pepper would have Mud secured. Even though he was laid out on my nice rug, she’d handcuffed him and had him tethered to a short chain attached to a metal loop on the floor board. I’d always wondered what that damn loop was for. I went to my desk and found a paperclip and straightened it. Thinking of the chain and the cuffs, I thought about making a comment on how the tables were turned now, but Mud was painful to look at, swollen, bloody and bruised. Hopefully, he wasn’t dying. His chest rose and fell like it was supposed to. No doubt he’d been punched, kicked, given whatever 2Kurrupt and Pepper wanted to dish out, short of killing him which they were leaving for me.

Astonishingly, he opened his eyes when I stepped near. “Edie,” he whispered.

I bent down and started to pick the lock. “Can you run? Can you ride?”

“I think so,” he groaned.

All of me wanted to take him and clean him up, make sure he was okay, but I knew that was impossible. Even if Sugar could be forgiving for my sake, Legs wanted blood and rightfully so. She might not take Scar’s, even for Dixies death, but I’m sure a random patched Asphalt God would do in his place. I didn’t think that was how Mud planned to pay Scar back.

“There’s only one chance of getting out of here alive and that’s right now.” Me waiting any longer to beat him or finish him would raise suspicion. I helped him out of the cuffs and off of the floor. Mud was unsteady but not too bad. He was dressed how he’d left this morning, but his long hair hung raggedly, sticking to his wounds. I pushed the keys of the motorcycle I’d stole into his shaky hands. “It’s the rusty hog out front.” I pivoted to my desk again to get into my secret stash of cash. I thrust a couple of fifties in his pocket. “There’s enough gas left to get you to Gainesville.”

“That’s probably about as far as I can make it tonight.” He was about bent over, probably had a couple of broken ribs.