The Devil's Due (12 page)

The bridge over the train yards led us into the shimmering embrace of Puerto de Fuego itself. I squinted at the dark storefronts. The dawn light that had been warming my shoulders on the highway couldn’t penetrate the steep canyons of the city. It was still as dark as midnight behind those buildings.

Cade led the Devils through the dark maze of one-way streets, twisting and turning down narrow alleyways. I was instantly confused. Without the sun to help my country-girl eyes, I was utterly lost.

We passed through a narrow opening between two skyscrapers and boiled out onto a broad avenue of low, squat buildings. Cade slowed to a crawl and turned into one of the uglier buildings on the strip.

It was long and low and rambling, as if it had been added onto piecemeal by a bunch of unskilled workers. An ugly chain link fence surrounded the huge parking lot, much bigger than seemed necessary. But I soon figured out why it was so big: the entire club must have parked their bikes there.

Even in this early morning hour, the lot teemed with gleaming hogs. The bikes stood alongside several large pickups. I even spied a few black Cadillacs that reminded me of those that had parted for us on the highway.

Cade killed the engine and I glanced around some more. Trash was stuck in the links of the fence, fluttering like leaves in the warm breeze. This place was ugly—almost as ugly as Flint Springs itself. My heart sank as Cade held out his hand to me.

He led me around the back of the building and paused at a roll-up metal door.

“So,” he said, taking a deep breath, “remember how I said I had been away a while?”

I nodded. “In the mountains.”

“Yeah. Well, this is gonna be the first time some of these guys have seen me in... a bit.”

I nodded, once more hearing the reticence. Whatever he was doing while he was away must have had something to do with Moloch. He was deliberately not telling me how long he had been gone.

“Okay,” I said brightly. “I bet they’ll be glad you’re back.”

“Some will.” He took a deep breath and rolled up the door.

I squinted into the vast, echoing metal expanse of what looked like an oversized garage. I looked at Cade, about to ask him what I was looking at, but the look on his face stopped me short.

He was standing in the doorway, slowly surveying the empty space. Whatever he was expecting to find, it wasn’t there.

“Are you okay?” I ventured.

He shook his head slowly. “This is... different.”

“Where are we?”

“The clubhouse.” He stepped in, looking around with a furrowed brow. “There should be guys here. There should be a bunch of guys working on bikes and shooting the shit. It shouldn’t be...” He spread his arms. “Empty.”

“Well,” I stifled a yawn against the back of my hand. “It is really early in the morning.”

“No, you don’t get it. Devils
live
here. We work here. This is where everything happens.”

“But I thought you we all at the meet-up?”

“No, Lainey-girl.” His voice was tight. “That was a fraction of us. This place should be crawling with my brothers.”

I surveyed the space. Now that I knew what I was looking for, I could see signs of recent habitation. A pair of leather boots was shoved into a corner. A musty looking bedroll was lying under a pile of binders.

“Where do you think they all are?”

“I don’t know. Maybe things have changed since I’ve been gone.”

“But you haven’t seen it with your own eyes.”

He looked at me sharply, frowning

I held up my hands in an effort to placate him. “What happens now?” I asked

He led me back through the metal door and rolled it shut behind him. “I have to figure some stuff out. And you need a safe place to stay while I do it.” He walked ahead of me, his long limbs covering so much ground that I had to trot to keep up.

“Have you ever made a drink before?” he asked as we crossed the parking lot and back up to the nondescript door.

I startled, and then thought about Darryl, collapsed into his sagging bed with a drink still in his hand. He only drank beer and rotgut whiskey straight from the bottle.

“Not really, but I can learn. Why?”

“I need a place to put you, and here is the best I can do. Don’t freak out.”

“After everything I’ve been through, you think I would freak out?” I scoffed.

He looked at me mildly, but didn’t answer. Then he pushed open the front door of the building.

T
humping music assaulted my ears and I squinted in the sudden gloom. The crowded parking lot made sense all at once. In spite of the early hour, the place was packed.

Well, here’s where everyone is,
I thought as I fell into the sea of bikers.
Why is he worried
?

Then the throng parted and I could see girls. Topless, dancing strippers were dangling from poles all around the cavernous room. Heavy metal music blared from the sound system. I could feel it reverberating in my chest and buzzing up through the floor. The slinky girls on stage eyed me up and down as I stood there, feeling stupid in my oversized t-shirt-dress.

They were uniformly gorgeous. I stared openmouthed at their ripe breasts and flat, toned tummies. What little self-confidence I had managed to keep in my ridiculous outfit drained away.

I spied a flame-haired redhead grab the pole and flip herself upside-down. She spun like an acrobat to the appreciative hoots and hollers of the bikers. Dollar bills rained onto the stage.

She spun down the pole and slunk over to one biker, crawling like a cat. Her back undulated to the beat of the pounding music. Licking her lips, she took the dollar bill on offer between her teeth. The biker had a bottle of whiskey that he lifted to her lips. She threw the flames of her hair back from her face and flipped onto her back. The she arched backward, bending almost in half, to close her lips around the neck of the bottle.

She slid them onto the opening so lasciviously that I blushed. The biker pounded on the stage as he poured the liquor down her throat. When her eyes bugged slightly, he pulled it from her mouth to pour the remaining golden liquid over her breasts. She allowed him to lick it from her cleavage while she smiled a Cheshire cat grin. The whole crowd roared.

I looked at Cade. Did he expect me to be able to do that? I could barely stand upright. I would never be able to dance like that. The thought of the bikers’ eyes on me flashed me back to my initiation, and I shuddered again.

As if he was reading my mind, Cade ripped his eyes from the red-haired spectacle in front of us. “No, you’re not going to do that,” he grumbled.

“Oh, darn,” I mocked.

He shot me a dark look, and then smiled. “Oh, I’m sorry for getting your hopes up. Do you know how to dance?” he teased, slipping his hand around my waist.

“Weren’t many places in Flint Springs I could learn to dance like that!” I watched the woman as she strutted away from the biker. The whiskey hadn’t affected her at all. She twirled and undulated her way across the stage, regally accepting the money thrown her way.

“Then here.” Cade led me through the throng and towards the long bar that lined the bar wall away from the stage. The grizzled, bearded biker behind it seemed almost bored. He watched the red-headed stripper critically, his mouth turned down in an appraising frown. He barely took notice of us as Cade led me through the waist-height swinging door.

Cade pointed at the row of dusty bottles that lined the back shelves. “No one pays much attention to those,” he explained. “Give beer and pour shots. That’s basically the whole job.”

I blinked. “I’m a bartender now?” I couldn’t even drink legally yet. But legality didn’t seem to be a stumbling block around here.

Cade’s face darkened at my question. He looked around the room at his sworn brothers.

“Hopefully not for long. But for now, at least, you’ll be safe here. Protection.”

He motioned to the doors. I noticed the huge, hulking bikers perched there in on tall stools. Their massive frames belied their quick eyes. I could see their gazes darting over the room, scanning for the least signs of trouble.

Cade pulled me close to him. Pressing his lips to my ear, he whispered: “We watch out for our girls.”

As if on cue, I saw motion out of the corner of my eye. A sweaty looking bald man stood up from his table and was weaving his drunken way towards the stage.

He wasn’t a biker. That was obvious. He was dressed in a white button-down shirt. Huge half moons of sweat outlined his armpits. Nearly stumbling face first into the stage, he somehow managed to right himself and grab hold of the raven-haired girl in front of him. She smacked him when he tried to pull her in for a kiss, but his lips never reached their target.

The big gorilla of a bouncer was at his side in two paces. I heard the bald man squeal as the biker wrenched his arm up his back. The bald man’s face registered shock to find himself dragged painfully towards the door.

“Sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll pay!” he shrieked. But his pitiful cries were drowned out by the sudden onslaught of insults and abuse hurled from the bikers in the audience.

“Get him the fuck outta here!” came the cry, just before the morning sun pierced the neon-darkness of the club.

I blinked at the open door and missed the sight of the bald man flying through the air, but the heavy thud afterward let me know he had landed. The bouncer shut the door on his protests and the whole club turned their back and carried on like nothing had happened.

“Let’s get you some clothes.” Cade said, tugging on my arm.

I shook myself and turned to follow him. His broad back was my beacon as I threaded my way through the crowd and followed him behind the stage.

The heavy door swung shut and the sudden quiet was a relief. The twisting, turning passageways behind the stage led off into parts unknown.

I followed Cade through the semi-dark rabbit warren of hallways. Laughing voices called out in echoes around us. As we turned a corner, I had to stop short before I ran into a biker nuzzling a stripper he had pinned against the wall. She moaned as he ground himself against her semi-naked body.

I bent my head and hurried after Cade, turning back to see the biker flip the stripper to face the wall and shove her G-string aside. I slowed in shock and Cade grabbed my arm, hauling me away from the grunts and gasps.

We turned into a main hallway that was much better lit. Cade stopped at the first door on the right and knocked primly. I smiled to myself at his random attack of manners after what we had just seen. He was different from the other Devils.

And that difference made him quite popular, I suddenly realized as the door opened and a pink blur streaked into his arms.

“Cade!” I heard the topless, pink-wigged stripper shriek. He caught her easily and she wrapped her legs around his waist in greeting. “You’re back!”

“I am,” he grinned, patting her back affectionately.

She kissed his cheek and allowed herself to be set gently back onto the ground, but she didn’t let go of his neck.

“The girls missed you!” she squealed. “It’s been too long!”

I felt a twinge of jealousy stab my belly.

Cade gently untangled her fingers from his hair, his eyes soft and warm. “How’re you, Larissa?”

She fluffed her hot pink wig and struck a pose. “Tonight I’m going with the name Pink Martini. What do you think?”

She twirled around to give us a better look at the frothy pink confections that barely covered her breasts and ass. Pink marabou feathers dotted the whole ensemble.

Cade nodded. “Creative.”

Larissa beamed like a prized pupil who had just received praise from her teacher.

Cade cleared his throat and pulled me from my hiding place by the doorframe. “This is Lainey,” he introduced me.

Larissa stiffened slightly, but smiled in greeting. “Hey there, doll.” She wiggled her fingers in my direction.

“Hi,” I breathed.

“She needs clothes,” Cade continued.

Larissa sniffed as she took in my t-shirt dress with the hair-tie belt. “I can see that.”

I smiled lamely. It was hard to look her in the eye. For one thing, she towered above me in a sky-high pair of clear stilettos. For another thing, she was blindingly pink.

Cade gave me a gentle nudge forward and I found myself nearly falling into her cleavage. Her heels were so high that her breasts were bobbing in my face like a scrumptious pair of mouth-watering apples.

“Take care of her,” Cade ordered gently. It came out more like a request.

Larissa’s expression changed immediately from one of derision to one of fondness. I realized she adored Cade and would do anything for him—including taking the likes of me under her wing.

She smiled at me and took my hand like a mother would a child.

“You got it,” she said with a grin. I could see that even her eyelashes were tipped in pink. “Come on in, Lainey. Meet the rest of the girls.”

I didn’t want to leave Cade, but his hand on the small of my back pushed me gently but firmly through the door.

“You Cade’s new old lady?” I heard someone called out.

The room was lined with mirrors. Strippers lounged in the folding chairs, smoking, talking, and reapplying their makeup. I looked for who had spoken to me and a dark-haired, olive-skinned knockout wiggled her fingers in greeting. Her expression was hard to read as she looked me up and down, taking in my t-shirt dress and knock-kneed, bony frame.