Train's Clash (The Last Riders Book 9) (34 page)

“
I
t’s kind of small
, isn’t it?” Fat Louise remarked, closing a kitchen drawer.

“Bitch, it doesn’t matter. I cook maybe once or twice a year.” Killyama stared around the tiny living room.

“You might decide to. Then what are you going to do?” Fat Louise came around the kitchen counter, her expression showing she liked the living room less than the kitchen.

“Do what I always do—use the microwave.”

“Let’s move on to the other one,” Sex Piston suggested. “Go look in the bathroom. You can’t even squeeze in to put your makeup on.”

“I’ll take the key back to the landlord.” She could deal with a small kitchen and living room, but she had to have a nice bathroom. It was her only necessity.

“This is the fourth one today. How many more are we going to look at today?” T.A. asked as she locked the apartment behind them.

“Just one more. If I don’t like it, we’ll have to come back another day.”

“We’ve made three trips to Knoxville. You sure Hammer wants to move? There has to be better apartments in town than what he’s sending you to.”

“He wants to move. It’s Mama who doesn’t. She calls Hammer all the time, asking him to talk me out of it.”

“Peyton’s ass will be waving good-bye to you before you admit to yourself she isn’t moving.” Sex Piston put on a large pair of blinged-out sunglasses.

“She’ll move.”

“Bet she won’t.”

“What do you wanna bet?” Killyama tilted her head, considering her offer.

“The shoes Lily lent you.” The black lens of the sunglasses turned toward her.

“No.” Those were her shoes. Lily had finally stopped asking for them back. She had already taken grief from her as payment for not giving them back.

“You don’t need them anymore, and I do. Stud gives me a little something extra when I wear them.”

She firmly shook her head. “Pick something else.”

“Then the beer cozy. That had to be cheap. Stud—”

“No.”

“Damn, bitch, nothing else you have is worth betting on.”

“I’ll bet my bike that Mama will move to Knoxville.”

Sex Piston lifted her sunglasses to rest them on her head. “You’d bet your bike, but not a pair of heels or a beer cozy?”

“Sure, why not? I know she will. Think about it while I go take the key back.”

The bitches were already in the car when she came back outside. Sex Piston must have decided not to bet her because she didn’t mention it again.

They didn’t even get out of the car to see the last apartment, driving past without stopping in the sketchy neighborhood. After that one, Killyama decided to take the reins for her apartment search.

“Hammer said it was up and coming.”

“Yeah, they come up to see it and run.” Crazy Bitch rolled her window down, waving at a homeless man who was carrying a sign asking for work. He was going from car to car at the red light with an empty milk jug, asking for donations. One look at Crazy Bitch brandishing her Taser, he backed off, as Killyama was trying to get her money out of her wallet.

“Stop that. I was going to give him some money so he could eat.” Killyama blew the horn to try to get him to come back.

“There’s a liquor a store a block back. Just go there and buy him a bottle; save the fucker a trip.” Crazy Bitch hung out of the window when he tried to approach them again.

Killyama heard zapping coming from the back seat as Crazy Bitch tried to scare him off again. Then, as the light turned green, she saw the homeless man picking up a rock to throw.

“If he hits my car, you’re paying for the window.”

“Sucker couldn’t hit the side of a barn.” Crazy Bitch scooted up until she was hanging over the center console. “Sex Piston, hand me her wallet. She can give me the five dollars I saved her.”

“Crazy Bitch, if I pull over, you’re riding back to Jamestown in the trunk.”

They drove back to Jamestown after stopping for lunch. She dropped Fat Louise and T.A. off first.

Killyama looked at Sex Piston when she received another text messages. Sex Piston had been getting them for the last thirty miles.

“Is Stud texting you so much because we’re running late?”

Sex Piston and Crazy Bitch were going to the Destructors’ clubhouse, where they planned to hang out for a while. Stud was supposed to have met Sex Piston there twenty minutes ago.

“Stud and Lily,” Sex Piston explained. “I promised Rocky’s and Star’s hand-me-downs for the church store. They’re in my car. I was supposed to drop them by this morning, but you were bitching at me for being late to meet you. Stud’s mad because he’s hungry, and he wants to go out to eat.”

Killyama frowned as she parked behind the club. “Why can’t you just take them by her house tonight or in the morning?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her.” Sex Piston waved her phone in front of Killyama’s face. “Lily said that the mother she had promised the clothes to is supposed to be there in an hour. The lady doesn’t have a car, and a friend is bringing her to town to pick up the clothes. Lily says the woman can’t be back to town for another week.” Sex Piston gave a long suffering sigh. “I’ll go inside and tell Stud to go without me. It’s our date night.”

Crazy Bitch was already shaking her head. “Don’t look at me. My ass is already numb from riding in this back seat.”

“I’ll do it,” Killyama offered. “It won’t take long. You can get me a to-go order.”

“I can do that. What do you want?” She held her hand out for the money.

“Where are you going?”

“Stud promised me the Green’s Steak House.”

Killyama gave a low whistle. “What’d you do to deserve that?”

“You bitches don’t expect me to tell you all my secrets, do you?”

“Hell yes.”

“I’ll tell you when you get back. So, what do you want?”

Killyama opened her wallet, giving Sex Piston a twenty. “The cheapest steak on the menu.”

Sex Piston kept her hand held out. “A twenty couldn’t buy you a burger.”

Killyama gave her another twenty. “That better include a steak and a baked potato.”

Her hand still didn’t move. “They charge extra for sour cream.”

“I don’t need it.” She refused to fork over another dime.

“How about the tip? The waitress will add the cost of your meal to our bill.”

Killyama reluctantly gave her another five. “If it costs more than that, buy me the burger.”

“I’ll get the clothes out of my car.”

A few minutes later, Killyama left Sex Piston and Crazy Bitch, who were arguing whether or not Crazy Bitch could go with Sex Piston and Stud to dinner.

It was going to be a quick trip to Treepoint. She planned to be in and out. The diner was across the street from the church store, where The Last Riders ate frequently. If Train’s bike was there, then Lily was going to be shit out of luck. She had no intention of seeing Train again.

He had tried calling her every day for the last week, so she had blocked his numbers. She had even gone as far as blocking Beth’s and Lily’s numbers when she had heard Train’s voice after answering a call from Beth.

There weren’t any motorcycles sitting outside the diner, so she parked in front of the church store and took the clothes out of the trunk.

Lily saw her coming, holding the door open for her.

“I really appreciate you doing this.” Lily thanked her as she carried the two large bags to the counter.

“I wasn’t doing anything.” Killyama looked around the tidy store that Lily kept organized. She took in the sparse racks and shelves. “Looks like business has been too good.”

The store had catered to low income members of the attached church. However, Lily and Lucky, who was the pastor, had branched out to offer clothes and gently used household items to the whole town.

“It always does when the seasons change.” Lily started pulling the clothes Sex Piston had sent out of the bags. “This is going to help. There’s enough here for three or four families who have children this size.”

“I’ll be right back. I left something in the car.” Killyama headed to her car, taking out her wallet. Pulling out her checkbook, she filled out a check then signed it. Going back inside, she gave it to Lily. “You can use this to fill some of those racks.”

Lily stared down at the check. “I can’t take this—”

“I didn’t ask. I’m telling you.”

Killyama tried unsuccessfully to dodge her hug.

“Thank you so much, Killyama. I can even use some of this to buy a few backpacks for when school starts back up in the fall.”

“Use it for clothes and coats. I’ll make the Destructors kick-in for the Back to School Drive in a couple of months. Woman, quit hugging me. Someone coming in will get the wrong impression, like I’m nice or some shit.”

“You can’t hide good deeds from God.”

“Well, I hope he remembers this one when he meets me, and not the other stuff he’s going to blast me for when I arrive at the pearly gates. I better get going. Sex Piston is getting me dinner.”

“Speaking of good deeds; can you do one more for me, please?”

Her shoulders dropped. It was hard to tell Lily no. Hell, if Killyama had been born with those violet eyes, she would have ruled the world.

“What do you need?” Killyama put her wallet back in her purse.

“I’m waiting for Krista to come pick up the clothes Sex Piston sent, so I can’t leave the store. Do you mind going to the diner for me? I need a cup of coffee.”

Killyama raised a brow. “What’s wrong with the coffee in the pot behind you?”

“It’s decaffeinated. It’s all Shade lets me drink.”

“You ever think of shoving that pot up his ass when he says that to you?”

She shook her head. “That wouldn’t be a Christian thing to do.”

“Maybe not, but it would be effective.”

“I understand.” Lily practically pouted. “I’ve already taken up enough of your time. I can drink the decaffeinated.”

“Jeez … I’ll get it for you.”

Killyama brusquely left the church store, thinking, if one motorcycle was sitting outside, Lily would do without her coffee.

Since it was so close, she didn’t drive. Seeing no cars, she walked across the street where she saw Knox dressed in his sheriff uniform coming out of the diner, carrying his coffee cup.

“Hey, Knox,” Killyama greeted.

“Didn’t you see the crosswalk?”

“What crosswalk?” she joked.

“The one you just walked by.” Knox’s stern face didn’t even crack a smile.

“Yeah, well, I must have missed it. Gotta go.”

Knox moved his large body to block her from entering the diner. “You can come back later for what you were in such a hurry to get that you couldn’t take the crosswalk. Follow me to the office. I’m going to write you a ticket.”

“Dude, I just crossed the street. I didn’t rob the fucking bank,” she snapped, trying to step around him.

“Go, Killyama. I’m not joking.” Knox tried to take her arm, but Killyama jerked back from his reach.

“I seriously don’t like to be manhandled.” Her temper rose when he tried to reach for her again. “Diamond will k—” Her mouth dropped open when she found herself pinned against the diner’s door. Her reflex was to fight him, but seeing the faces of the diners inside staring stopped her. “Asshole, you’re going to be working at the factory when I get done suing you.”

She felt the handcuffs clipped around her wrists before Knox turned her around to face him.

“You ready to walk to my office now, or am I going to have to carry you?”

Killyama kicked the coffee cup where Knox must have dropped it when he had handcuffed her.

“I guess you’ll be carrying me, you—”

“You just added littering with malice to your charges,” Knox stated grimly.

“What charges!” she screeched. Killyama forgot she hadn’t planned on going with him as she tried to keep up with his angry strides.

“Jay walking, littering with malice—”

“Is that even a charge? I’ve never heard of that before?”

“… disorderly conduct, resisting arrest,” Knox continued at he opened the door to the sheriff’s office.

“How can you get me for littering? It was
your
coffee cup.”

Knox skirted the counter where a tramp who had to be seventy years old was wearing a bright pink blouse that made her orange complexation stand out so much that Killyama wished she had borrowed Sex Piston’s sunglasses.

Killyama expected Knox to sit her down on one of the chairs by a desk, but he kept going toward the back.

She looked back at the tramp. “Call Diamond and tell her that her husband has flipped his lid.”

It was when she was locked in a cell that she truly believed he was serious.

“Knox, this isn’t funny. At least unlock my handcuffs.”

“Turn around.”

She turned around, looking over her shoulder as she watched him unlock the handcuffs. “I get a phone call,” she snarled.

“I’ll get to it when I’m done booking you. Take a seat. It’s going to be a while.”

“Son of a bitch, when I get out of here, I’ll own this fucking town,” she yelled as Knox left.

Ranting until she ran out of steam, she then paced back and forth, waiting for Knox to come back and release her.

Surely Lily would become worried when she didn’t come back to the church store. Sex Piston would also get worried when she didn’t make it back to Jamestown.

Sitting down on the bunk, she stared morosely at the wall facing the cell, seeing wanted posters. Bored, she started reading them.

When the door opened, it took her a second to look. Then, when she saw Train, she started yelling at him before he could take a step into the room.

“Fucking hell! Are you—”

Train went back out the door, closing it.

Not letting up from screaming at him, she called him every cuss word she could think of and even made some up when she couldn’t think of anymore.

Frustrated at his lack of response, she finally shut up and sat back down on the bunk. Ten minutes later, when Train came back inside the cell room, she ignored him, continuing to read the wanted posters.

“Look at me.”

She pointedly laid down on the bunk, staring up at the ceiling.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Train lean against the cell, crossing his arms against his chest.