It Ain't Me, Babe

  No way out.

  Didn’t want out neither.

  Ky threw an arm around my shoulders. “So now you’ve quit being a weeping pussy, you gonna get Lois to relieve some stress?”

  “Y-yeah.”

  “Cool. I got dibs on Tiff and Jules. You wanna see them licking on each other, man. Fuckin’ makes me blow every time. Even better when it’s in one of their tight asses. Crackin’ view…” He waited for my response. “You get it… crackin’… ’cause of the ass…”

  Christ, he’s a slut… and a shit comedian to boot.

  As I walked outta the office, the whole room quieted as I tipped my chin toward Lois across the bar. Brothers hated being on the outs with me, but this kinda fucked-up shit didn’t go down at my club. Not without some serious fuckin’ consequences.

  Lois slipped off the stool and began making her way to me, her tall, lithe body strutting like a damn model in her short black dress. Her old man used to be a brother until a collision took him out five years ago—Harley totaled, head split open, asphalt roadkill, skin hangin’ like fuckin’ ribbons from the trees.

  He went to Hades—Lois became another club whore.

  The sound of heeled cowboy boots on the wooden floor followed me out back into the yard. Stopping at our usual spot against the clubhouse wall, I pulled out a smoke from my pocket, lit up and took a long, hard pull. Without a word, Lois dropped to her knees, her big tits busting out of her dress and she pulled out my cock, wrapping those lips around it like a fuckin’ wet fist.

  The back of my head hit the wall, my eyes closed as she worked that tongue ’round the tip, and I enjoyed my smoke as she suckled down hard.

  Fuck. This was what I needed. Stress draining from my body with every scrape of her teeth along my dick. I wrapped my fingers in her long brown hair, slamming in farther and farther until it was time to blow. Lois just took it, mewling, lapping at my cock like a starving kitten at milk.

  My legs bent as I braced and came, shooting to the back of her throat. She drank it down, moaning. Sighing in relief, I opened my eyes and took one final pull of my smoke before flicking the cherry to the ground. Backing her off my junk, I belted up my jeans.

  As I pushed off the wall, I noticed a red pool on the asphalt beneath my feet. Blood lay below Lois. Red streaks were dashed all over the inside of her thighs.

  Lois caught my hard stare and, frowning, she glanced down to her knees. “What…? Shit! Is that blood on my legs?” She jumped up and tried to wipe the red liquid from her skin. “Where the hell’s it coming from?”

  I tracked the blood with my eyes and noticed a thin, fresh stream coming from around the back of the dumpster.

  “Jesus! Is there a dead body out here again?” Lois said, trying to cover herself with her arms. Bitch was too soft for this kinda shit.

  Without paying her attention, I rolled the blue dumpster to the side, revealing the source. A bitch’s body—young, black hair mangled around her face. Slim body covered in mud, her white dress ripped and sopping with blood.

  I searched for the wound… Her leg.

  A huge, gaping gash, deep enough that her muscle was exposed, some pitted fuckin’ rag attempting to stop the flow.

  It weren’t working for shit.

  Checking her pulse, not able to find even a lick of movement, I could only surmise one thing: bitch had croaked.

  I turned to Lois, who was hovering behind.

  “Is she dead?” she asked.

  Go get Ky, Pit and Rider, I signed.

  Lois ran for the door, hand over her mouth.

  Moving forward, I pushed the stiff’s hair from her face and immediately let out a long breath.

  Christ.

  She looked like she used to be a fuckin’ stunner under all the mud and shit—creamy skin against that long black hair, big pink lips, killer frame. Damn shame she’d gone to the boatman, she’d have been one hot fuckin’ bitch.

  Reaching into my pocket, I laid two dimes on her eyes. Poor bitch needed to pay up to go to a better life.

  I put one arm behind her back, one behind her legs, and lifted. She weighed almost nothing. She was fuckin’ tiny.

  Ky, Pit and Rider burst outta the doors behind me. My VP rolled his eyes and groaned as he pulled up his zipper—brother must’ve been busy.

  “Not another one of ’em! I know. I’ll kill a bitch and dump the stiff on the Hangmen. Cocksuckers. Fuckin’ had to tear myself from underneath the licking twins for this shit!”

  I tipped my chin at Pit, the prospect moved forward and I dumped the bitch in his arms. Get the van. You’re gonna dump the stiff. Usual place. Make sure the coins stay on, I signed. Ky translated, still pissed he’d been dragged away from his sluts.

  And then I fuckin’ froze—lungs stopped, eyes bugged, heart jumped—froze. The bitch in Pit’s arms flinched and moaned, dimes slipping off her face to clatter on the ground.

  “She ain’t dead!” Pit blurted. As usual, statin’ the fuckin’ obvious.

  “Shit! We gonna dump her? Or we keeping her here? The Feds are watching us, Styx. Viking said we got two agents stationed undercover half a mile away. The good ol’ senator’s still on our backs. It’ll be risky to carry some bloodied bitch outta here without being pulled and questioned. Ain’t got those fuckers on the payroll.” Ky slapped my back and pointed to the bitch. “Could be a message from someone, or she could’a been planted to put us in shit with the law.”

  I heard what Ky was saying, but I couldn’t stop glancing at the bitch’s pale face. She looked familiar somehow, but I couldn’t place from where.

  Shaking my head, I looked to my best friend. Yeah. No getting out tonight. Bitch is gonna have to stay. Fuck! Just what we need.

  I looked over to Rider, who was standing silently behind Ky. Brother had almost as much to say as me. Rider was ex-marine and fully trained as a medic. Saw some shit he couldn’t deal with in Afghanistan and left. Fortunately for us, all the brother wanted to do when he got off service was ride and serve this club. Rider could stitch something fierce and even operate if need be. Saved our outlaw asses more times than I could count.

  I indicted for him to take possession of the half-dead stiff. He would see what’s up and either be able to fix the bitch or not. Hell, it’s not like death was a stranger around these parts. Sent more brothers to Hades this past year than are still standing in this club, fuckin’ war. Death’s a cycle. Sooner or later we all gotta meet the boatman, pay up for the fucked-up shit we’d done in this life.

  Rider reached for the bitch, when suddenly, she jerked in Pit’s arms, her eyes springing open, fixing right on mine, pure fear bursting through for less than a second before shuttering down again.

  Fuck me. Those eyes. Even through all the blood, mud, and shit on her face, those eyes fuckin’ shone—ice-blue, like a goddamn wolf’s. Only seen one pair of eyes like that before…

  I couldn’t help but think of that fuckin’ young bitch from behind the fence fifteen years ago. She was one of the only folks I ever spoke to in my life. Hell, I’d spoken to her. That howled fuckin’ volumes. She was number three. Ain’t talked to none since.

  A long, pained groan slipped from her mouth, causing me to refocus.

  Shit.

  Ky moved to pull her from Pit’s arms. “Give her to me. Gonna dump her in your room, Rider, then get back to licking Tiff’s and Jules’s pussies. Fuckin’ bitch ain’t cockblockin’ me no more tonight.”

  I watched as Ky touched her skin and all I could see was that young bitch behind the fence. Fuck! What if it was her? Nah, impossible. Load’sa bitches have those eyes. Right? Right?

  Thinking I’d pulled my shit together, I relaxed. But when Ky took her in his arms, I fuckin’ lunged for him and grabbed his arm in my hand, dropping it only to sign, Back the fuck off. Give her to me.

  My VP stepped back, his eyebrows bunched, trying to read my mood. “What the fuck?” he said out loud. The other brothers frowned in confusion. Lois’s red-lipped mouth droppe
d open.

  Shaking my head, I signed, Back off. Give her to me. NOW.

  Ky looking confused as all hell, put her in my arms, and raising up his hands, backed away. Pit gaped at me like goddamned fish.

  “What the hell, man? I’m back, I’m back. Okay. Calm the fuck down!”

  I cradled the bitch to my chest, some possessive voodoo shit taking over my mind, body… my fuckin’ soul.

  I headed for the door, ignoring everyone but the bitch in my arms—pasty dying skin… white dying lips… bleeding, dying body.

  Shit!

  “Where’re you taking her? What the fuck’s got into you?” Ky stayed behind me, his roll of questions pulling in the attention of the whole damn club drinking and whoring in the lounge.

  I pointed to my private apartment above the garage, clutching the bitch to my chest.

  “Your apartment?” Lois caught up to my fast stride, trying to catch my eye. “Your bedroom in your apartment? You’re taking her to your apartment, above the garage? No one goes there but you. Said so yourself.”

  Stopping short, I faced her and jerked my chin, telling her to get the fuck outta my face.

  “Are you serious?” she whispered, all hurt and upset, before seeing my pissed expression and walked off slowly back into the bar.

  Ky flanked me as I ran up the stairs and kicked open the door to my place. Laying the bitch on my king-size bed, I leaned over, shoving back the clumps of dirty hair from her face. Mud and blood instantly stained my black sheets.

  “Styx. What the hell? You gotta start explaining, brother,” Ky said, running his hand through his hair. We were alone, Pit and Rider outta sight.

  Clenching my hand into a fist, I tried to calm and stuttered, “R-R-Rid… R-R-R…” I took a quick, deep breath, eyes squeezed shut, and tried again. “R… R… R—Argh!” I hissed, too frustrated at losing control of my fuckin’ words, again.

  Ky grabbed my arms and kicked my bedroom door shut, immediately blocking out the noise from the brothers who were gathering downstairs, and growled, “Calm the fuck down. Look at you! You’re too wound up to speak. Brothers’ll hear you and I know you’ll regret this shit later.”

  I stopped fighting him off. Getting my breathing under control, I felt the tightness in my throat loosen up. Ky, seeing me simmer down, relaxed his hold. “Rider’s on his way. Had to get his med kit.” He nodded to the bitch on my bed. “She’s in a bad way.”

  I nodded and he released my arms. I walked into the bathroom and wet a towel, then set to clean up her face. Pale skin, black hair… just like that young bitch behind the fence. My VP watched me as though I’d lost my damn mind.

  Maybe I had.

  “Seriously, man. What the fuck’s happening?” He stood at the other side of the bed as I mopped up her blood. Ky just gaped at me. I was distracted by her leg—long, slim, porcelain, per-fuckin’-fection.

  Hearing Ky cough, I sighed, then pressed the rag down to apply pressure to her wound. “R-r-remember th-th-that story I t-t-told you w-when I was a k-k-kid?”

  Ky’s face straightened, expression disbelieving. “Not this shit again, Styx. The girl behind the metal fence? The ‘wolf-eyed’ bitch you obsessed over for years until your old man forced you to finally shut the fuck up? If it’s that story, then, yeah, I remember!”

  Dragging my bottom lip ring between my teeth, I talked myself back from punching my best friend’s nose through his goddamn brain. “Y-yeah, that girl.”

  “So? You were like, eleven? Personally, I always thought you fuckin’ dreamed it.” All the brothers back then thought I made it up or imagined it. So did I after a while. Thought maybe I’d had a fever or some shit. I don’t know, maybe I’d talked to a fuckin’ ghost.

  I pointed at the bitch and stared at my VP.

  Ky walked over to where I sat and leaned against the wooden wall, arms folded. “You think this dying bitch is her?” He started laughing, head thrown back. Fuckin’ hysterical laughter spouted from his mouth. “You have lost your mind. Too much stress with the fucked drop tonight. The chances of this piece of pussy being her are not good. I’ll never understand why you still remember that bitch anyway. If your old man was here, he’d beat the shit outta you… again.”

  Too wound up to speak, I met my VP’s stare head on and signed, I’ll give you exactly five seconds to shut your fuckin’ mouth before I shut it for you and ruin your goddam pretty-boy looks.

  Ky cleared his throat and wiped the grin off his face. Good choice. No one messes with me and walks away. He knew it. My brothers knew it. Hell, every damn MC in the US knew it. If my old man was still alive and tried to knock some sense into me, I’d shove his teeth down his fuckin’ throat too.

  “So you think this random bitch, is Wolf Eyes? The weird Amish Pilgrim-looking girl you met fifteen years ago… behind a metal fence… in the middle of some fuckin’ forest… while your old man was putting a damn Diablo in the ground? Have I got that right? The piece of ass you turned into a weeping, pining pussy for?”

  With only a hunch of my shoulders, I managed to ignore his dick tone.

  Those wolf eyes. I stood and began pacing. I know I sound like a whining fuck. But what if it is her? What the hell’s happened to her leg? And more importantly, where’s she been all these bastard years? Still caged in that fuckin’ concentration camp that I’ve never found since? Still not talking, scared of her own fuckin’ shadow?

  Ky stared down at her on the bed, an expression of pure disbelief on his face. She looked like a fuckin’ angel that just dropped in on me from the sky—tiny, fragile… I bent beside her, just staring. Ky moved in front of me to catch the movement of my hands.

  Never found out what was behind that fence. Tried to get information—none to get. No one’s even heard of the place. A fuckin’ Auschwitz near Austin. ’Course, don’t help when you don’t even know the fuckin’ location—my old man kept that locked up tight, I was too young to remember the directions. Wherever she’s come from is iron clad. Protected. Can only mean there’s some seriously fucked-up shit going down. Fucked-up shit protected by powerful people. People who’ll no doubt be looking for her right now.

  Carefully, Ky watched me. I could see real worry in his face. “I ain’t ever seen you like this, brother. You going soft on me? Bikes and pussy, Styx, that’s how we live. Ride hard; die harder. Club first, no distractions.”

  Yeah, he was right. I was being a sappy shit. No way this was her anyhow. Fuckin’ wishful thinking.

  Moving over to the table, I poured two glasses of Jim, downed mine, and passed one to my VP.

  I’ve thought ’bout that girl every day. Fifteen fuckin’ years. You and me grew up in hell… darkness. She was the first bit of good I ever saw. I choked on a laugh. Fuckin’ first kiss, man.

  Ky slapped me on the back, grinning. “And two years later, you fucked your first club slut and never looked back.”

  Yeah. Sunk my dick deep in one of Hangmen’s favorite sluts at age thirteen, courtesy of my old man trying to make me forget about the pilgrim bitch. He even changed the stiff drop site so I’d let go of anything to do with her.

  Ky lost his smile and stood right in front of me. “Look, man. Don’t look like she’ll last the night. Make peace, brother. You meeting that girl was a moment in time, and if this is her, which I’m pretty fuckin’ sure it ain’t, ’bout time you put that shit to bed. She’s on her way to Hades, Styx. Time to wake the fuck up and get back to being the Prez. We’ve too much shit going down to be distracted by pussy.” He reached behind me and passed me the full bottle of Beam.

  Rider knocked on the door. I quickly gripped my best friend’s arm, signing, None of this shit to the brothers. This info stays between us. Just another Jane Doe dumped on us, right?

  His stiff head nod told me he understood.

  Rider walked in, his long brown hair in a ponytail, ready for business.

  “Let me take a look at her,” he said, moving to the bed, all business.

  “Styx foun
d her behind the dumpster. She’s bleeding out from her leg. Looks like a bite, dog maybe? Pulse is low too. Bitch is dying,” Ky informed.

  Rider set to examining the bitch as I watched. For the first time in my life, I prayed to a God I weren’t on good terms with. No one here was. In this kinda life we were tight with the other side of the coin. But she had to survive. That much I knew. That’s what I prayed for, bartering with promises I no doubt couldn’t keep. Truth was I just had to know if it was her or not. Finally put that fuckin’ weird chapter of my life to rest.

  “What the—” My eyes shot up to Ky, who hovered over her newly cleaned wrist, the one Rider was holding out as he checked her pulse. Moving next to Ky, I frowned as he read her small tattoo out loud. “Revelation 21:8. What the fuck?”

  “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

  Ky and I froze as Rider started spouting some Bible shit like a preacher, never missing a beat. Seeing us gaping, he cleared his throat, cheeks blazing red, eyes darting between us and the ground, mumbling, “It’s scripture about sinners going to hell.” Then he set back to work. Ky elbowed me in my ribs and raised his brows in question. I shrugged. Whatever a brother believed in private was his deal.

  After twenty minutes of watching Rider silently sterilize and stitch practically every inch of the bitch’s body, he led me outta the room, shaking his head.

  “Don’t look good, Styx. She’s lost a lotta blood. Savage dog bite. Rottweiler or pit bull’s my guess—ripped muscle and tendons, probable infection. She’s gonna need blood. I got a contact. I’ll get her blood type with the kit from my bag, put in a call. Supplier can normally be here within thirty minutes. Don’t come cheap, though, and then we’ll see if she’s strong enough to pull through.” Rider glanced across at the bitch unconscious in the bed and rubbed a hand across his head. “Fuckin’ gonna be a rough few days.”