Ashby Holler (5 page)

Chapter Six

Ellen

A diesel engine rumbled the clubhouse floor, and Ellen rose from her desk. She peeked out the window of the backroom as Dez jumped from the shining cab of a semi. His tight jeans hugged every curve as he walked, bringing a smirk to her lips.

Cheers rang out from the bar, echoing through the doorway of the backroom. Ellen strolled to the threshold, staring into the bar. Women swarmed Dez by the pool table, rowdy locals filed through the open door, and speakers crackled to life.

In almost slow motion, Dez steered his gaze to her, and she dipped her head. He cut through the crowd, walking into the backroom, and she shut the door.

“How was your run?” Ellen leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. It was hard not to stare. His large muscles had doubled in size since he’d gone away, and those eyes of his seemed even bluer.

“Like skinning a biker,” Dez said.

Her own chuckle caught her by surprise, and she flung off the grin.

“What’s up, prez?”

“This vote might go downhill for you. Sasha has Chewy, Vinny, and Kev. You…”

“Don’t you want your daughter to be sergeant at arms?”

“Yeah. Maybe in five years. She’s not ready yet. The girl’s sloppy, wild. She’ll get herself killed.” Ellen’s stare sharpened, and Dez shifted. “I think Sasha will back down if she’s challenged.”

Dez squirmed in his chair, his jaw clenching. “You mean—”

“No. Sasha needs a heavy hand, just not that kind of heavy. You dig what I’m saying?”

A devious gleam ran through Dez’s eye, followed by a snicker. “I got ya.”

“Go.” Ellen motioned to the closed door. “Enjoy your party.”

***

Sasha

Sasha passed Vinny a lit cigarette. The last six hours flew by, thanks to his endless chatter about their past misadventures. She had forgotten half the dumb shit they’d done, until now.

“How much longer?” Vinny asked, wiggling in his seat.

“About an hour. We should catch the tail-end of your brother’s party.”

“Don’t we have to unload this shit at the warehouse?”

“No. Only the prez and road captain know the location of the warehouse.”

“And you,” Vinny said, glancing at Sasha.

“Right. That’s different. When my dad was prez, he took me everywhere with him, even let me drive the forklift to unload the crates.” Sasha turned her gaze to the window, leaning into a gentle breeze. “I stole one of those teddy bears when I was nine. Two years later, I found out what was in them, ripped the head off, and smoked that shit. It was all dry and flakey, nasty.”

Vinny’s laugh filled the cab, pushing a smile onto Sasha’s lips.

“Is it weird,” Sasha asked, stealing the cigarette from Vinny’s mouth, “having your brother back around?”

“Sort of. Dez is crashing at my place for a few days until he gets set up. That’ll be weird. I got used to living alone.”

“You should tell him to beat feet. He treated us like shit when we were younger.”

“Yeah right. He’d probably kick my ass then take my room.” Vinny smirked, but a hint of fear shined through.

“Dez does have a mean right hook.” Sasha peered across the cab, frowning.

“Yeah.”

Brakes whistled as Vinny steered off the highway and onto their ramp. They merged onto a skinny road, heading up into the hills, and he sighed. “I can’t wait to get out of this truck. My ass is numb.”

***

The sweet smell of sticky bud wafted from the clubhouse, and Sasha closed her eyes, inhaling the scent deeply. Vinny stood beside her, leaning against the front bumper of the semi to join her in staring at the rowdy swarms of people trampling their clubhouse.

“Weed,” Sasha said, stretching as she walked toward the voices that flowed over loud music.

Two men burst from the front door, tumbling down the porch steps while locked in a backwoods brawl. Sasha steered her gaze from flying fists and spurts of blood, looking at Vinny. “One in the morning and it’s still jamming. Here, gimme the keys.”

“Sweet. I gotta take a leak.” Vinny thrust the keys into Sasha’s palm and squeezed his way inside the clubhouse.

Sasha stepped around the bloody men on the ground and pushed through the growing crowd. She wasn’t even two feet inside when her mother waved her over. Tiny leather skirts and near nonexistent tops surrounded Sasha, yet somehow she managed to walk through the room with her eyes high.

“It’s all good,” Sasha said, handing the keys to Otis and reaching for her mother’s joint. “Felix says hi.”

“I doubt that.” Ellen yanked her hand away, blocking Sasha from the roach in her fingers. “Felix hates me. Always said—”

“You weren’t good enough for his brother from another mother. I know. I’ve heard it.”

Ellen snickered, passing the joint to Otis.

“Hey, Sasha, will you give me a hand unloading?” Otis asked between hits.

“Shit. I just got back, man.”

Otis held out a tiny smoking stub of a joint. “Please.”

“All right,” Sasha said, as if she could deny a request from her road captain. “Just give me twenty minutes to get my head on straight.”

As Sasha walked from the clubhouse, Dez caught her eye. He sat on the small couch, a cute blonde under each arm. Sasha slowed her steps, listening as she passed.

“My fist shattered the whole side of this guy’s face. That’s why they gave me seven years, but overcrowding…”

Sasha stopped short, her glare shooting to Dez. He flinched and she recoiled, then rushed out the door. She almost made it off the porch when Dez called out from behind her. “Sasha!”

“What!” Sasha spun on her heels, staring straight into Dez’s eyes.

Dez strolled into the doorway, smirking as he leered down at Sasha. “You know how shit was handled in the old days, when two club members wanted the same position?”

Chatter lulled to a hush around the compound, and Dez raised a brow. He waited for something, Sasha to argue or maybe throw a punch, but she kept her lips shut and her face blank.

“They had to slug it out,” Dez said, the words carrying chills. “I say we settle this the old-fashioned way.” He lifted his arms at his side, and his stare locked on her face. “If you can drop my ass, the spot’s yours.”

Beside the echo of music, a stillness clutched the air. Her gaze never left his, but she could feel a hundred other eyes on her. Without a word, Sasha turned and walked to her little room above the garage.

***

Otis revved the engine of a rumbling semi as Sasha hurried down the stairs. Twenty minutes was not enough. One could only suck down two joints in that time, and she needed far more narcotics to regain normal operational status. Her eyes kept to the gravel as she walked to the idling semi, ears blocking out whispers. She should be fuming. Cartoon smoke should be streaming from her every orifice, but it wasn’t. The fact that she wasn’t angry bothered her more than the humiliation. The piece of her that harbored dignity must have shattered. That, or she was just too numb. Either one would get her eaten alive.

After climbing back in the truck, and once they left the compound, Sasha turned to face Otis. “So what’s this really about?”

“What’d you mean?”

“You don’t need help unloading. There’s a forklift at the warehouse.”

Otis glanced at Sasha, his eyes stern. “Candy’s got loose lips.”

“So I’ve heard.”

The chuckle that flowed from Otis’s mouth twisted Sasha’s stomach, and that lovely visual of Candy going down on him popped into her mind.

“That’s not what I mean.” Otis shifted into seventh gear, glaring at her again. “She talked about you, a lot, the way a chick talks about a dude she’s into. Except you’re not a dude. No matter how hard you try, you can’t change what you are.”

A light shiver quaked Sasha’s shoulders, but she couldn’t tell if anger or fear was the culprit. “And what am I?”

“Just a little girl who likes to play with all the other little girls.”

Sasha moved back until her side hit the door. Fear. The shiver was caused by fear. “What are you gonna do?”

“What? You mean, like, tell Ellen?”

When Otis looked at Sasha, she nodded as words failed.

“Nah. Ellen would throw you in the cellar this time. I don’t want to see you hurt. That’s why I nominated Dez.” His hand fell to her knee, and he squeezed. “You have some tough choices to make, kiddo.”

“I know what I want,” Sasha said. She’d spent many nights pondering her choices. “The club is all that matters to me, my whole life. I just wanna do right by you guys. You’re my family.”

Otis rubbed Sasha’s leg before releasing his grasp. “Then you better straighten up, if you know what I mean.”

“No more of that shit,” Sasha said. “Women, men, fuck all that. It’s just club business from now on.”

“That’s not gonna work either.” Otis parked beside the warehouse, cutting off the truck’s engine. “Club members have fun. If you’re not having fun, Ellen’s gonna know something’s up.”

“So, what? I just slut around until I find the magic cock?”

Otis snickered, turning to face Sasha. “Maybe. I got one right here you can try.” He grabbed his crotch, grinning.

“You dirty old man,” Sasha said in an even tone.

“Old.” Otis’s hand dropped from his lap, his smile fading. “I’m only thirty-eight.”

***

A hush had claimed the compound by the time they returned. Otis climbed from the semi and into his pickup. After a quick nod, he drove off, leaving Sasha alone in the empty lot.

She walked toward the garage, noticing a light in her bedroom window. “Vinny,” she said, hurrying across the lot. She took the steps two at a time, stopping to smooth down her hair before opening the door. When spotting Dez on the corner of her bed, she choked back a groan.

“Excuse you,” Sasha said in a sneer, holding her hand out to the open door.

Dez grinned, rising to his feet.

“Leave,” she said, since he was too dim to pick up on her hand gestures.

The frost melted from Dez’s stare as he walked toward Sasha. He grabbed the door, his chest brushing against her arm. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said, slamming the solid slab closed.

“What the fuck, Dez? Nobody’s here to watch you put on a show.”

“You’d do the same thing if some youngin’ came in here flashing their shit.”

“Youngin’?” Sasha took a deep breath. It was either that or slug Dez. He reached for her hand, and she pushed past him, yanking off her coat.

“This was supposed to play out different,” Dez said, almost to himself.

“What are you talking about?” Sasha tossed her jacket into a corner, searching her nightstand for a joint.

“I went to jail because of you.”

That stopped Sasha’s fumble with the ashtray, and she stood up straight. “How do you figure? ‘Cause the last time I saw you, before you got pinched, you were shattering the side of
my
face with that fist of yours.”

“Yeah.” Dez rushed toward Sasha and she backed away, bumping her nightstand. Bottles clinked as he froze in place. “I couldn’t stand what I did to you. I couldn’t stop feeling your bones break, so I took it out on some asshole in a bar.”

“That’s not my fault.”

“I’m not blaming you,” Dez shouted in a way that clashed with his words. “But I spent sixty-eight months thinking of ways to make it up to you. This sergeant at arms shit is fucking that up.”

The air grew thick between them, and Sasha slithered away from the intense stare bearing down on her. Dez grabbed the sides of her arms, driving her back against the wall. She held her breath. Her coward of a mind fled, leaving her head empty and body trapped inside the fire behind Dez’s icy blue eyes.

“You’re reckless,” he said, pressing against her. “Too smart for your own good. You’ll hurt the club, hurt yourself.”

“Let me go.”

Dez squeezed tighter, grinding against Sasha harder. “Say it again, with more fear, and I will.”

Sasha turned her head, skin rubbing skin. Their lips hovered over one another, generating an electric charge. Dez’s hand glided along her cheek, sparking prickles of heat, and Sasha fell into his kiss. It all stopped. Her whirling thoughts, tight chest, aching heart, they all dwindled under his touch.

Dez spun Sasha toward the wall, her forearms slamming onto wooden planks. Hands traveled her body, teeth digging into the back of her neck. His fingers slid inside her pants, and a moan scraped past her throat. This was right. Rough, hard. That’s what she needed. That’s what she deserved.