Page 32 of Hallow’s Eve
“Speaking of murderers, I’d like to get to Ford before he strikes again.”
I agreed.
“Normally, I wouldn’t take you within fifty miles of trouble, but I don’t think you’ll be safe here.”
“Good. Cause I’m coming?” If Ford tried to kidnap me and killed my boss, I had a thing or two to say to him.
Hallow handed me a gun. “You know how to use one, right?”
Staring blankly at it, I said, “I might be from Arkansas, but I don’t hunt or anything. I have no earthly idea.”
Swinging around me, he circled me in his arms, bringing the pistol in my hands up between his. He drew one of my arms back tight to my body. “Keep this arm tucked in close, so you don’t miss your target. Here’s the safety. Keep it on. Here’s the trigger. Don’t shoot me.” Taking the weapon, he ran it down my body to tuck it in my pants. “Not sure where you want to put this.”
Not comfortable with a loaded weapon stuck down my denim, I asked, “Do you have a jacket I can borrow?”
“Nothing that wouldn’t swallow you up. Here.” Hallow left me to open the closet. Inside weapons neatly lined the shelves. Where did he keep his clothes? He came at me with a shoulder holster and helped strap it over my t-shirt. The gun tucked in under my left arm. Then he held up an oversized tracksuit jacket for me to slip into.
After I zipped it, I pushed up the sleeves, but it still fit me like a dress.
“Oh, and you’re going to need this.” He handed me a black helmet. Even though my hair was still wet, I situated it on my head and buckled the strap.
Hallow locked up the room and took me by the hand. He led me down the stairs and out a different direction that avoided the bar to a row of motorcycles. This time I climbed on back and wrapped my arms around him. When the motorcycle rumbled, I felt the first rain drop.
Chapter 8
Hallow
When Buzzard chose Eve as a suspect, I knew I had to take her to Kingpin myself to clear her name. After all, the stinky bastard whispered to me in the breakroom that he thought she was Fighting Cocks daughter.
“Who’s that?” I asked him.
“Arkansas God.” That was all he had to say.
There wasn’t anyone in the club that didn’t know about our feud with the Asphalt Gods’ MC or that the Tennessee Gods strung our Enforcer’s sister up a telephone pole. They fucking crucified her, nailed her to the damned thing. Fucking gruesome shit. Leviathan wasn’t our Enforcer back then, and I’d just joined the Charleston Chapter of the Royal Bastards MC as probate and missed all the action. So, I only heard tale of how Kingpin ran them out of the Volunteer state. Many of those bikers he ran out ended up in their Arkansas chapter. And Fighting Cock, I’d never heard of him but just being one of the Asphalt Gods put his daughter in danger.
The whole time Riff questioned Eve, I couldn’t worry about her anger at finding out I was a biker. My mind raced, searching for a solution to our real problem. If Leviathan found out about her, he would no doubt kill her. Riff our Road Captain was one of the meanest sons of bitches I’d ever met who could also keep his cool. I thought being in Music City, with his long hair, the name Riff would have something to do with guitars, but I’d been wrong. Riff, short for Riffratt was born bad, he claimed. Yes, it’s Riffratt not riff-raff, because he was a biker brat, or rather a biker rat, like they liked to call their boys. His late father had been Vice President of Smokey Rollers MC over in Sevierville back in the seventies. To Riff, being an outlaw was not just an occupation but a legacy. The man was serious about moving up the ladder. Kingpin kept him close because we all knew Riff wanted to rule.
My roommate Thorn was the biggest of the bunch. Kingpin, knowing my past, that I’m mistaken as my partner, the police officer who senselessly killed an innocent black man, thought sticking me with one of our few black members would be hilarious. Being ex-military though he didn’t like to talk about it, Thorn and I got along well. He’d killed more innocent black and brown people than a white boy like me while he was overseas, he liked to joke. We also got along when it came to tidiness. His bed was always made before I woke up. Not a tattoo on him other than his backpack, he got up early to run before he hit the gym. Like me, he didn’t touch the illegal drugs floating around the club and preferred to get drunk to party. We both took care of our demons by working out or beating someone to a pulp. Unlike me, he was all country, wearing a cowboy hat most of the time. Other than that, Thorn and I knew little about each other. We certainly weren’t up late at night chatting.
The direct opposite of Thorn, bald, toothpick of a man, Buzzard had to be the whitest man on earth. He was pushing eighty years old. They say he got his name because he’d survive us all, survive off our rotting flesh if he had too. He made up for Thorn’s lack of tattoos by having one on every inch except his face. I had no idea why. His hideous face was the one thing he should’ve covered. A complete asshole as far as I could tell, he was happily married to a plump woman named Ida and had seven grandkids.
My brother Dimple occupied the crowd, singing “Witchy Woman”, but of course exactly like Elvis would sing it. A client turned member, Dimple owed Kingpin a large debt for services rendered. No one would tell me why Dimple hired the Royal Bastards to begin with. What happened at Royal Road stayed there. My brothers were sworn to secrecy, they’d say, but there was actually an NDA to back up their words.
Sadist guarded the door. Out of all my brothers here, I knew him the least. Actually, I was surprised he was here with the Halloween Party going on. Like many of my brothers he worked at Royal Road. We all did at times, but Sadist managed the basement where the freaky sexual shit happened.
Riff blew smoke in Eve’s face, and I’d liked to have slapped him. They didn’t give two shits about finding Wolf’s killer. They’d said as much when I first talked to them when they got to Bootsies. Kingpin warned them to keep their noses clean, meaning don’t shoot up the place or kill anyone.
“How does he expect us to fuck with our peckers tied behind our backs?” Buzzard complained.
“Wolf just started prospecting. He doesn’t even wear his cut.” Riff didn’t like that Grady led a double life as he put it. Kingpin casted a wide net, wanting members who had lived outside of the club. The Nashville Chapter of the Royal Bastards MC had grown like a wildfire much like the city. Riff, on the other hand, wanted all our members to work and live at Royal Road. “Wolf was about to be another part-timer.”
My brothers were bored, I could tell. They were getting ready to leave. If they didn’t take Eve with them, I could convince her to leave Tennessee. Go back to Arkansas. Then Riff pulled out Grady’s phone and his text to Eve. Fucking, Wolf. The thought that she had something going on with that old man tore me up. Instantly, I knew I couldn’t let her leave. If she went back to Arkansas alone, she’d be in danger. I could take her, but it’d risk both of us. But that wasn’t why I couldn’t let her go. I wanted her to stay. I wanted her. An animal deep inside me growled thinking of her with Wolf or another man, for that matter. And I couldn’t quit thinking about her and Wolf together. Had she been fooling me?
Jealousy flooded my emotions. “Show me your phone,” I demanded when my brothers left.
Seeing that Eve read Grady’s texts and sent an eggplant emoji back shocked me. I didn’t take Eve for a liar. A fucking eggplant. She denied it. I thought of my dick in Eve’s hand just moments before we found the dead body. I wanted to shove my dick in her mouth and shut her up. Nevertheless, I didn’t have time to think of who else could’ve messed with Eve’s phone and why. The lights went out. Eve squeezed my hand. Of course she did, Wolf was dead. His eggplant cold, too. As much as my possessiveness clouded my thoughts, I knew nothing good happened in the dark. Once the room lit up, I headed straight for the front. There I found a crowd around Sadist’s body. An ice pick protruded from his neck. Who had an ice pick? The bartender. I’d already come to the conclusion Jasper killed Wolf. Earlier, Ford had relayed the story about Eve almost being abducted the night before, saying Grady almost caught the guy in the ski mask who ran off. He ran over his foot. Jasper stupidly limped to work. The man was a few cards shy of a deck and that was the only reason I hadn’t nabbed him already. He’d been working for someone else. Celie maybe. Pleasantly distracted by Eve, I’d not figured it out. At first, I didn’t care to. That was until Eve was involved.
Riff told us to pick our suspect so I grabbed Jasper, not thinking anyone would grab Eve. She struck Buzzard in the balls, and I took my chance to secure her. Gagging her, I placed the tiger mask over her head so she couldn’t see where I was taking her. After all, Buzzard was right. Those were our rules. No uninvited guests. I couldn’t take a prisoner to Royal Road casually riding bitch.
