Page 16 of Runt's Haunted Ride
"One thousand dollars," Bulldog stated, pulling me from my thoughts. "Dude gave us each a thousand for breaking up a fight."
"Holy shit," I breathed.
"It wasn't for breaking up the fight. It was for saving one of his," Swinger said, counting his pile. "Yep, a cool grand."
I quickly counted mine, nodding. A thousand too.
"That's three grand total," Swinger said, his voice hushed with disbelief.
"What do we do with it?" Bulldog asked.
I thought about it for a moment. My two cents were that the club was already getting paid for me doing this job. This was extra—a reward from Ringmaster Mortis for protecting one of his people.
Tentatively, I said, "He said 'yours.'"
Swinger spoke up. "Yeah, we earned this," Swinger said finally. "We stopped those assholes from hurting her. Plus, the club's already getting our wages for our work. I say this is separate. Ours, but it has to stay just between us." He glanced around. "What do you two say?"
Bulldog and I nodded in agreement.
"My thinking too. It's ours, and this stays between us," I said, extending my hand.
"Me too. We put up with all the shit this week. Fuck, we've earned it. Stays between us," Bulldog agreed, shaking my hand.
Swinger put his hand on top of ours. "We don't speak of it from this point on."
We pocketed our cash and continued with our patrols. I kept checking my front jeans pocket where I'd stashed the money. This was the first time since I joined the club at age fifteen that I had my own non-club money. All mine. Shit, I didn't even get to bet on my own fights. I was going to have to play it cool and hide it well. If one of those guys found it, there would be hell to pay for sure. Only it wouldn't be the money paying the price.
The rest of the night felt different. I saw the clowns and carnies taking things from people, hiding in shadows, getting their sex on. But the feeling was different, like I'd crossed some kind of line, like I was one of them. It wasn't the money. It centered around Ringmaster Mortis himself. He'd shown us his care for his people and his true power if something happened to one ofthem. Although the three of us had proven ourselves worthy of his respect, I felt that respect was fleeting.
"You feel weird?" Bulldog asked as we walked our last walk-through at the end of the night. "Like you saw something, but you can't place what happened?"
"Yes," I side-eyed him. "That's exactly how I feel."
"I'm telling you two, it's dark magic," Swinger looked over. "Like voodoo or some shit like that. Dude probably put a spell on us."
"Shit," Bulldog muttered. "The way he grew."
As we pulled into the clubhouse parking lot, I could see lights on in the main room. The debriefing was about to begin, and I had a feeling tonight's stories were going to make everyone even more desperate for a piece of the action—which meant Fang wasn't going to be happy.
Chapter 5
The Silverback clubhouse erupted in chaos the moment we walked through the door. Every member who'd been stuck with boring assignments was already gathered in the main room, drinks in hand, waiting to hear what the midway patrol had witnessed tonight.
"There they are!" Heavy called out, pointing at us with his beer bottle. "Alright, let's hear it. What kind of freaky shit did you see tonight?"
I grabbed beers from the cooler and handed them over as I settled in at the same table as Swinger and Bulldog. Around the room, the anticipation was thick enough to cut with a knife. These guys had been stuck watching empty parking lots and closed tents, fully aware of what we'd gone through the first night. They all had the same look, like they believed we'd been living it up in a supernatural carnival funhouse party.
"Knock it the fuck off," Fang barked, bringing the room to order. "Reports first, then we'll see what stories they've got."
Crusher started us off, his frustration clear. "Another eight hours of checking IDs and watching college kids try to sneakflasks. The most exciting thing that happened was a goth chick asked if I wanted to 'explore the darkness' with her. I told her to come back on my break, but the bitch blew me off."
The guys from the parking lot patrol nodded in agreement. "Dead quiet," Snake reported. "The most exciting thing was a couple trying to get it on, wiping out the dude's crotch rocket. He was freaking out about the paint job until she took her bra off. That shut him up fast."
The room shared various comments about the power of tits.
I saw Tank and Diesel exchange glances. "More activity in the performer area tonight," Tank said. "Two of those clowns carried guys on their shoulders. The guys must have passed out because they weren't moving."
"What'd they do with them?" Swinger asked.
