Page 47 of Outlaws' Dirty Secret

And they're all armed.

“What's going on?” I eye their guns skeptically. Maybe I thought wrong that I'd be safe in here?

Paige grins. “We're going to the shooting range. Ladies only. Want in?”

This place just gets wilder, but at least it's not something new to worry about. “Thanks, but I'm here for Blackout, Skyhigh, and Dragon.”

“They're still out, aren't they?” The third woman wears thick glasses and has long brown hair. “Ghost and Tex went with them to some kind of pickup, and they're not back yet.”

Paige's smile widens even further. “Then it's definitely our duty to keep you busy until then. After that, I'm sure they'll figure something out.” She winks.

Great. Everyone around here knows already, it seems. Blackout did say that bikers gossiped like old ladies. “I'm not much of a shooter.”

“Only one way to get better. It can be a useful skill around here.” The bespectacled brunette holds out her hand. “I'm Jessica. Old lady to Ghost, Tex and Riot. You've probably met Ghost. He's one of Hellfire's officers.”

I nod.

“And if you want coaching on how to handle a relationship with three big, dumb bikers who love to wave their dicks around, you won't find anyone better to help you than me and Jessica, so I think you should definitely come shoot with us. They'll find you. Trust me.” Paige pats the grip of the pistol in her belt holster.

Bonnie laughs, her voice raspy. “Come on. We'll teach you.”

I follow them around to the back of the school, where a couple of lanes have been marked up with chalk and ropes, and person-shaped targets on paper are mounted on the far end. A couple of bikers are shooting, but Bonnie tells them to fuck off, and amazingly enough, they do. They laugh about it, and I think they were finishing up anyway, but it's obvious that Bonnie carries a lot of respect with what's definitely a man's club.

While Jessica hangs up new, fresh targets for us, Bonnie pulls out her gun and shows it to me. “Ever handle one of these? Or do you want the crash course?”

“No, I've shot a couple of times. For about eighteen months until they decided they wanted the internet back, my parents were obsessed with living off grid with a bunch of people who thought the government was listening to them through their fillings. Some of the skills we practiced were more useful than others.” I eye the gun skeptically. “I'm not a good shot by any stretch of the imagination, but I know enough to not accidentally shoot someone.”

“Shit, I want to hear more about your folks,” Bonnie cackles. “Those targets up yet? I wanna see what our new girl can do.”

When the path is clear, I load Bonnie's gun, line up and squeeze off all the shots before putting the gun down. One of them hits the head of the target, a couple hit the paper around it, and the rest into the backstop that keeps the bullets from keeping going when someone misses. Like me.

“Not bad, not bad.” Bonnie pats my shoulder. “Maybe they didn't all connect, but all it takes is one.”

Jessica steps up to take her turn with her own gun, and she fires five times in rapid succession, each bang coming before the previous one dies down. They're so closely packed in the middle of the target's face that it's hard to separate them from here. The spread can't be more than an inch, if that. “Wow.”

With a laugh, Paige steps up to take her turn. “Jess is the one who will save us if it comes down to a shootout. She's like a freaking assassin.” Paige pulls the trigger until her pistol clicks. Nowhere near Jessica's accuracy, but they all hit the body. It's not just the bikers who are dangerous around here, that's for sure.

After a few more rounds I get more into it, and my accuracy improves. At least now all my shots are hitting the paper, and in the meantime, I'm getting a mix of gossip about certain bikers, many of whom I don't know, but where I can at least laugh at their antics, and some of all of my new friends’ back stories.

Jessica’s been around a little longer than Paige, and was the first to hook up with bikers in a group. Her background sounds terrifying, and her story about ending up here even more so. Like a spy movie. Makes my situation sound pretty tame.

Paige's story is a little less crazy, and that's saying something when it involves bounty hunters and the Mafia. And then Bonnie tells me more about her life with General, and how she ended up there, and how she ended up alone. I can't imagine what it's like to lose someone you love to someone you should be able to trust. Maybe Tanner wasn’t totally off base about how brutal the club can be.

“I swear, each of you could be a fucking movie,” Bonnie says before squeezing off six quick shots with her gun. Not asaccurate as Jessica, but close. Enough that I wouldn't want to be on the other end of that.

“Right?” I laugh. “I'll be happy if the movie of my life is just straight up romance, without shooting and bombs and missiles and car chases and all that.”

Paige gives me a nudge. “Your story's not done yet.”

“Don't tempt fate.” I shake my head.

It's funny, I figured that old ladies—see, I'm learning the biker terms—would be a whole different breed, people I wouldn't have a lot in common with, but with these three, it's like I've been a member of their group all along. Friendly and supportive, and I barely even know them. It's definitely another plus for sticking around.

“Oh, we're going to be neighbors!” Jessica blurts out while Paige is taking her turn. “Did you know that?”

A light bulb flips on in my head. “Is that why they're doing all the renovations and taking over the neighborhood?”

“Yeah. Hellfire doesn’t want the place overrun with chicks, and since they wanted the neighborhood as a buffer zone for the club, it makes sense. Ghost has officer's quarters over there.” She nods at a two-story building separate from the church. “They're bigger than most of the guys' quarters, but it's not somewhere for the four of us to stay together all the time. And this is no place to have little kids, you know?”

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