Biker (5 page)

He then dragged Noelle out of the room, and she screamed as he pulled on her hair.

Once they were out of the room, he began to pull her down the hall. “I have to leave your blindfold on,” he whispered in a rush. “Try to keep up.”

He dragged her down the hall, and then she felt him nudge her down a staircase. Her mind couldn’t keep up with what was happening. What exactly had just happened?

She tripped down the stairs, unable to keep her footing without her sight.

“Blaze? Please...” she pleaded as she stumbled down two more stairs, her voice full of fear and panic.

“Not now, I’ll explain later,” he panted. Noelle could hear the heavy footsteps of the other men ahead of them. She knew it would be only a matter of time before people came after them. Either they would be chased down the stairs, or security would be waiting at the bottom of the staircase.

Suddenly Noelle felt a burst of air, and she stumbled onto what felt like concrete.

“Come on,” Blaze yelled, picking her back up and dragging her forward.

Noelle could tell that they were outside now and she staggered blindly next to Blaze, terrified.

She shrieked as a half dozen loud, roaring engines fired up next to her.

“Just motorcycles,” Blaze muttered, propelling her forward. “Try to climb up,” he said gruffly, throwing Noelle over something hard.

“What?”

“Hold on!”

Horrified, Noelle reached forward and felt Blaze in front of her. Another loud roar filled Noelle’s ears and with shock, she realized that she was on the back of a motorcycle. She reached out swiftly, wrapping her arms around his waist, just as the motorcycle tore out onto the strip.

The wind whipped at Noelle, and she squeezed tighter around Blaze’s waist, afraid that she might fall off at any given moment. Her hair blew out around her and she felt like she was getting whiplash from the wind.

“What the hell is going on?” she yelled, now finally able to form a coherent phrase. “Get me off this thing!”

Blaze laughed wildly. “Didn’t you want to make two-hundred thousand dollars?”

“What?”

“That’s what I offered you! Two-hundred thousand!”

Noelle shook her head, frustrated and confused. She could barely hear Blaze, and now the motorcycle was flying. She knew they were long gone from the Vegas strip, and long gone from the safety of her hotel room with Liz and Quinn.

“You are fucking crazy! Where are we going? I want to go back to Caesar’s!”

“I’ll take you back there later. For now you need to come with me.”

“Take me back!” she screamed. Part of her was thrilled to be so close to Blaze, holding him around his tight abs, and she hadn’t forgotten how much she wanted to sleep with him. But whatever had just happened inside that high roller room was
bad.

If she wasn’t mistaken, Blaze and his crew had just robbed the high roller room at gunpoint.

Noelle wanted to throw up. Was she an accomplice now? Was she going to go to jail?

“I had nothing to do with this!” she cried frantically.

“I know,” Blaze called back, “That’s why I said trust me and that’s why I blindfolded you. No more questions until after we get off the highway.”

The motorcycle pressed forward, moving deep into the Nevada desert, and Noelle had no idea where she was going.

She let the wind whip about her body as she clung to Blaze, her mind as crazy as the whipping wind. Hundreds of thoughts and questions swirled inside her head, and she hoped that he would be able to give her the answers that she needed. Yet the more she thought about what happened, the more questions she had. The thoughts made her dizzy with fear and anxiety. She craved the comfort of her bed, and the safety of her luxury suite overlooking the Las Vegas strip.

G
ripping Blaze tightly, Noelle hung on as the motorcycle flew through the night. There was something exhilarating about feeling the world rush blindly alongside her. She felt like they were flying, and she pictured the layers of her old self falling off, spilling onto the road behind her, leaving nothing but clouds of dust.

The motorcycle began to slow down, and Noelle squeezed tighter against Blaze as she felt their sense of gravity shift. She had no idea where they were going, but Blaze seemed confident, so she knew he was familiar with their destination.

“Almost there,” he called back. The motorcycle continued to move more slowly, and Noelle could hear the other bikes nearby as they cruised to a halt. She could hear some of the men calling to each other and hooting and hollering.

“Alright,” Blaze said, as he brought the bike to a stop, his feet touching down on the ground. “I can’t let you see the outside of the building, but I can take your blindfold off once we’re inside.”

“What the fuck is going on!” Noelle cried. “Why won’t you tell me where the hell we are?”

“I will once we’re inside,” he said softly. “And just—’’ his voice faltered, “—be prepared. I think you’re going to be surprised by what you see inside.” He reached out and helped Noelle off the motorcycle. She climbed down as gracefully as she could manage.

“Oh right. As if I’m not surprised enough already,” she snapped. Now that she didn’t fear for her life and was off the death machine, she was beginning to come around. And Blaze was the obvious target for her anger and distrust.

“I’m sorry, but I asked you to trust me and you said that you did.”

Noelle couldn’t argue with that, and she let Blaze take her hand and lead her wherever they were going.

“That was fucking awesome, Blaze!” came a male voice.

“Total adrenaline rush!” someone else called out.

“We hit the jackpot!”

Noelle turned her head towards each voice, wondering how many men had helped him hold up the high-roller room and how she factored into it all. Was Blaze just looking for any woman that he could take hostage? Or did he decide to use Noelle on purpose?

None of it made sense, and her mind swam with questions. For the second time that night, she was sobering up and she wondered what time it was. She’d told Liz and Quinn that she would be back by sunrise. If she wasn’t back in the morning, they were going to freak out, especially since they had been hesitant about leaving her with Blaze.

She felt herself being pulled indoors, and suddenly the area erupted in cheers and whoops. Noelle jumped at the ruckus, and Blaze wrapped his hand around her waist, pulling her towards him. She felt him reach up and remove her blindfold.

She blinked in the lights, her eyes adjusting, and she tried to process the scene before her.

They were in a large room, though it didn’t quite seem like they were in a house. The room was too big and the ceiling too high. First, she noticed the people. The men seemed to be some kind of bikers. Most were dressed in black jeans and dark tank tops, their arms covered with various tattoos. Some looked cleaner cut while others were scruffier looking, with wild hair, beards, and goatees. Noelle noticed that the men ranged in age from what looked like barely twenty years old to upwards of sixty.

Through the thick hazy smoke that hung in the air, she was able to make out a logo high up on the back wall:
WIDOWMAKERS MC.
The words were wrapped in a crescent around a symbolic coffin, the lid cracked just enough to expose a skeletal hand reaching for freedom.

And then there were the women. The first word that came to Noelle’s mind was
whores
. The women, who Noelle assumed were wives and girlfriends, were dressed in skimpy, tight, revealing clothing. And some of them didn’t have the bodies to pull it off. One woman’s nipples were nearly hanging out of her sequined dress, and Noelle had to look away in embarrassment because she could literally see up the woman’s skirt. Many of them had poor dye jobs, and a handful of them had platinum-blonde hair with dark, scraggly roots growing in.

The room, which was the size of a small hotel lobby, was filled with area rugs, mis-matched couches, tables, TVs and pool tables. People seemed to be sitting in groups, each little group occupying a particular corner of the room.

All in all, Noelle guessed that there had to be at least twenty men in the room, not counting the men that had just arrived with her and Blaze, and around the same number of women.

Noelle pressed herself more tightly to Blaze, as people began jumping out of their seats, clamoring to get near the new arrivals.

Blaze jumped back, pulling Noelle with him, and reaching his other hand out to guard the men behind them. Noelle peered behind him and saw that the other men were holding stuffed duffle bags.

Her eyes widened when she realized that the bags were probably filled with cash.

“Sit down!” Someone bellowed, and Noelle looked quickly around to see who had yelled. She saw an older man, dressed in a simple black t-shirt and black jeans, standing on top of a table. He had bright blue eyes and long dark hair that was slightly graying. His hair was pulled back tight in a ponytail.

Noelle blinked, noticing the uncanny resemblance to Blaze. She looked over at Blaze, and was about to open her mouth to ask him if they were related, but he held his finger to his lips.

Noelle noticed that the room had fallen silent.

“No one approaches them. Let them tell us what they brought back,” ordered the older version of Blaze.

Blaze turned around to the men. “Count it,” he said sharply, and the other men swiftly emptied their bags.

Noelle gasped when she saw the piles upon piles of green cash fall out of the bag.

“Oh my God, Blaze,” she whispered, “This isn’t good.”

“Everything is fine,” he whispered back.

She stood quietly at his side as she waited for the men to count. They began to add their totals together, and finally one of them came up and whispered to Blaze.

He nearly choked, and then a wide grin spread across his face.

“I’ve just been informed that we have secured nearly twenty million dollars this evening!”

Noelle barely noticed the room erupt into frantic cheers and celebration as the men and women went berserk over the obscene amount. Noelle, on the other hand, sank to the floor, burying her head in her hands. She had just helped Blaze, and six other men, rob a casino of twenty million dollars.

Twenty million dollars.

She felt like she was going to throw up.

“Hey, hey, are you alright?” Blaze knelt down beside her.

Noelle looked up at him with wild eyes. “No, Blaze. I am not all right. I am not all right, okay? Twenty million dollars? You just took twenty million dollars from the Mirage, and I was there! I was part of it!”

“Shh, no one else knows.”

“No one else knows!” she choked, “I’m sure they had cameras. My life is over! I’m going to jail!” She was hysterical now.

“Okay, okay. I think this is a little too much for you right now. Come on, follow me.”

Noelle eyed him suspiciously.

“Trust me.”

“You said that before and look where it’s gotten me,” she said bitterly.

“Are you safe? I took care of you,” he said, his voice filled with hurt pride. He stood up and reached his hand down for Noelle to take. Sighing, she took his hand and stood up with him. She had temporarily forgotten about her desire to fuck him.

“Let’s go somewhere quieter. They’ll be partying in here for a while, no one will miss us.”

He took her hand and led her toward the back of the room.

“Who do you have there, Blaze?” a man sneered, suddenly blocking their way. “She looks like a fine, sweet little piece of ass. Classy, too.”

“Fuck off, CJ,” Blaze snapped, pulling Noelle closer to him.

“You know the rules,” CJ smirked. He reached out and touched Noelle’s cheek and she recoiled from his touch. He was scruffy looking, and reeked of cigarettes and booze. “What I would give to get a taste of your sweet little pussy,” he purred.

“Let’s go,” Blaze snapped, pulling Noelle along with him.

She noticed CJ walk over to a group of people who were separating a fine, white powder with a credit card. Noelle studied them again, and then as one person leaned down to snort it, she jerked back up in surprise. They were doing lines of cocaine. She didn’t get a chance to say anything to Blaze because just as they were about to leave the room, the man who looked like Blaze appeared in front of them. His eyes were cold.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, staring down at Blaze.

For some reason, Blaze almost seemed frightened of the man.

“She was blindfolded,” Blaze explained, “she doesn’t know where we are.”

“You know the rules,” the older man said, his voice full of authority.

Noelle wondered what was up with these rules that everyone was mentioning.

“She won’t be here long. It’s fine,” Blaze insisted. “The whole damn heist wouldn’t even have worked if she hadn’t been with me.”

That seemed to appease the older man a bit and he looked at Noelle with a slightly more civil look. He gave her a curt nod.

“Thanks for your help,” he said formally.

Noelle didn’t know what to say or do, so she nodded quickly and then ducked her head.

“Not long, Blaze,” the older man warned and Blaze nodded, before pulling her into the hallway.

He spoke up before Noelle could.

“My father is charming, isn’t he?”

“So he's your father? You look just like him.”

Blaze choked back a laugh. “So, I’ve been told.” He seemed to want to say more, but Noelle could tell that he was unsure. “He kind of runs things here,” Blaze explained.

“And what exactly is
here?
” she couldn’t help asking.

“You haven’t figured it out yet? This is a motorcycle club. We’re one of the bigger charters outside of Vegas. This is our clubhouse.”

“Wait. Are you telling me that you are part of a biker
gang
? This is essentially what you do?”

“Well, yes. Biker club.” Blaze straightened his shoulders.

“But...but...you look so clean cut!” she stuttered, still trying to wrap her head around the information.

Blaze gave her a wry grin. “Why thanks so much.”