Down & Dirty (4 page)

I laughed a little. “That was stupid.”

Salina walked up, grabbed the girl by the arm and shoved her towards the gate. “Get out you stupid whore. Don’t ever show your fucked up face here again or I’ll kill you myself.” She threatened.

Gunner and I watched as Salina roughly shoved the girl through the gate making her stumble and fall.

I looked at Gunner, “Remind me not to piss her off.”

“Shit, that’s nothing. These damn whores are getting out of control.” He complained turning his attention to me now, “What ever happened to the old days when whores weren’t thieves and liars?”

“You’re asking me?” I laughed.

“We need somebody to take control of these bitches. This is the second time this week one of them has tried stealing.”

“Really? You guys don’t have somebody to keep tabs on them?”

“No, Slider hates it when Salina has to step in, and nobody else wants to deal with it.” He explained looking over my shoulder, “Here comes your old man.”

I turned, “He really is big isn’t he?”

“Runs in the family. See ya later Red.” He left as Salina and Joe caught up to me from different sides.

“What was that all about?” He asked looking at me.

“I guess you guys have thieving whores in the midst.”

Salina set her hand on my lower back, “When you’re done here, come see me in my office.” She patted Joe’s arm and left. She has a very confident walk. I’ve always envied her style.

I looked up at Joe, “I picked a house, she’s rushing the paperwork though now.”

He bent down and kissed me solid, “Good girl.” He pulled his wallet out and handed me a credit card, “Use this to buy furniture and shit. Again, keep it modest, but get whatever you need.”

I took the card, “Do shoes count?” I teased.

“Get whatever you want.” He sounded annoyed.

“I thought you’d be happy.”

“I don’t like my wife being ambushed by a whore when she comes to see me.” He put his arm around my shoulders and led me to the shade closer to Salina’s office.

“I’ll talk to Salina and see what’s going on there. How long do you need to stay here today?”

“We have a job in about and hour, shouldn’t take long. Don’t forget the riding clothes for the kids run this weekend.” He reminded me.

“Like what?” I’ve been wearing, or carrying, jeans per Salina’s suggestion since he made me his old lady.

“Ask the Harley dealer. Get a nice sexy leather jacket, make sure it’s black.” He slowly backed me to the wall.

“What are you doing?” I put my hands on his waist.

He moved my hair and ran the back of his hands down over the girls. “Getting a fix before I have to focus on work.”

This made me laugh because he had a certain desperation in his eyes. “Right here in front of everyone?”

“Absolutely.” He dove in and kissed me long and hard as his hands memorized my body.

I whimpered when he grabbed my thighs to wrap my legs around him as he set my back against the wall to press his body to mine. By the time he let me go I was sure he was ready to take me right up against this wall.

He unwrapped my legs and set me down as he stood upright. “That will do for now.”

“I think I forgot my name.” I teased touching my lip absently.

“Go talk to Salina. Wait.” He pulled a set of keys from his pocket. “Take this, leave the guys your truck.”

“Why?” I took the keys because I caught the Mercedes key fob and got curious.

“Because it’s safer than that piece of shit truck. The guys will fix it up for you to sell it, or part it out. You decide.”

“Really? You’re giving me a car?”

“Yes. I can’t have my wife breaking down on the side of the road, makes me look like a lousy old man.” He told me running his thumb over my jaw again.

“Be careful when you go out.” I told him because he looks like he’s getting ready to leave.

He kissed my cheek, “See you a bit.” He turned and walked towards the garage. Nice butt. That thought made me laugh. He really is gorgeous. I guess if I’m going to be kidnapped and made an old lady it might as well be by the biggest, sexiest man on the planet. He’s going to be a handful to live with, I guess I better get used to it.

I turned and went into Salina’s office. “Hey.” I jingled the new keys. “Want to go shopping and get lunch in my new car?”

“Hell yes.” She got up grabbing her purse. “What are we shopping for?”

“Everything.”

As we walked around the mall we talked about the problem with the girls, or whores if you can stomach that word. I prefer girls, she seems to agree.

“So, they just show up randomly?”

“Yeah. The last girl that tried to organize them took off with a prospect after getting knocked up.”

“Geeze. I wonder if Joe would throw a fit if I stepped in and managed this. Getting ambushed like that in the parking lot is uncool. Besides, it’s not right for the guys to be accused of rape.” I complained.

“Ask him. It would be nice to have that situation under control.” She picked up a stack of towels for the already overflowing cart. “I’m going to call prospects and have them come get some of this. There’s no way we’re getting it all in the car.”

“Good idea. Is there a place to stash this stuff until I get the house keys?”

“Yup.” She pulled her phone out and expertly instructed a prospect to do exactly that. I like her ability to sound firm yet coat it with enough sugar to make you want to do whatever she wants.

Joe called me around dinner time as we wrapped up our spending spree at Crate & Barrel. “Hey.” I answered.

“Where are you?” He asked in that demanding, annoyed tone he always has.

“Finishing up at the kitchen store. What do you want for dinner?”

“Food. Come to the clubhouse first.” He all but ordered. This is just Joe’s way. I don’t think he knows how to communicate without sounding like he’s barking orders.

“Yes Dear. I have to anyway, Salina’s with me. Nice car by the way.”

“Hurry up, I need my fix.” Meaning me.

“You’re a nut.” I laughed.

“You have no idea. Come straight here when you’re done, we’ll figure out food later.”

“Okay, should be about half an hour at the most.”

“Fine. Love you.” He hung up while I struggled for a response.

I looked at my phone like it was looking back.

Salina asked, “What?”

“He keeps telling me he loves me and then not waiting for me to respond, not that I know how to.”

“That’s probably why he doesn’t wait.” She laughed. “He really said that already?”

“Yeah, almost right away. I’m not sure what to say. I’ve known him for five minutes.”

“Slider and I haven’t seen him since he was eighteen and went into the service, that was nine years ago. He was a big time trouble maker back in the day. I think that’s why Slider and his dad all but forced him to go into the Marines.”

“Really? Wow. Wait, that makes him twenty-seven.” I don’t know why I didn’t think to ask him before. He looks young in some ways, but mature in others. Like he’s seen a lot more than most people twice his age.

She picked up bags now that I’ve signed the receipt. “There’s some big age differences between Bull’s kids. Shirley always threatens to divorce him for his indiscretions, but we all know better.”

“How old is Slider?”

“Fifty. Bull started young with Shirley. Joe and Slider have different mothers even though they were raised by Slider’s mother, Shirley. Bull liked to sleep with every woman who wiggled her butt in front of him, there’s a few illegitimate kids floating around. Joe’s mom died in childbirth so Bull asked Shirley to take him in.” She explained on the way to the car.

“Dang. I bet she loved that.”

“Actually she treated him like he was her own. I asked her about it once, she said it wasn’t the child’s fault his father couldn’t keep it in his pants. You would have never known Shirley wasn’t Joe’s mother, although I wonder sometimes if that’s not why Joe’s a little off.”

We got in the car, “He knows, right?”

“Oh yeah, there’s very few secrets in this family. The club is family in case you haven’t figured that out.” She pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s pretty easy to see. I’m just wrapping my head around Joe’s mother dying in childbirth, it’s so sad.”

“I can’t imagine how you feel being to abruptly brought into this life and his. I’m so used to it I can’t imagine being a civilian.” She laughed.

“I should be freaking out, but all he has to do is look at me, or kiss me, and I melt like butter.”

“Slider has that effect on me too.”

“Then he leaves a trail of dirty clothes on the floor and I want to throw something at him.” I joked.

She laughed, “No doubt.”

We heard a song we both knew and cranked it up to sing like idiots on the way back to the club. I think I have a friend for life.

I parked and Salina got out to get a prospect to unload our spoils. Three guys jumped up to oblige her.

I laughed, “That’s amazing.”

“Prospects are great, entertaining as hell sometimes too. They’re always trying to please to get into the club, so they’ll do anything, sometimes some really crazy shit.”

“Nice. Are you a member?” I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to ask before.

“No, there’s not too many female members. I like to think of it as we’re too smart to be members. If you wanted to be a member you’d have to find a sponsor and prospect for a year. Joe would never allow that, if for some reason he did, it would take a unanimous vote by the council, and Joe would block it any way he could I’m sure.” She explained while lighting a joint and sharing with me.

“Hm. Speaking of the devils.” I saw Joe and Slider heading towards us from the garage.

“I think we should talk to them about the girls. We need to resolve this soon.” She said as they approached.

“Good idea.” I love to watch Joe walk. He’s got this powerful presence that says you’d be stupid to get in his way. Unless you’re me, then you better stay put. Joe’s stride is long enough there’s no way I’d get away.

Slider put his arm around Salina’s shoulders and kissed her cheek, “Have fun baby?”

“Yup.” They walked inside ahead of us.

Joe cupped my face and kissed me to my toes for a good minute before pulling up and looking at me. “The real estate agent dropped off the keys.”

“She was supposed to call me.” I complained.

“I called her. It helps to get things done faster when you scare people.” He did the arm around the shoulders thing like Slider had done with Salina and I got a warm sense of being a part of this large family for the first time. Don’t ask me why such a simple gesture brought that on.

Once inside a prospect brought Salina and I wine and the guys some beers. Most of the council members are hanging out, playing pool, and drinking.

Salina took a sip of her wine and looked at Slider, “I think we should let Red get the girls organized. Have her find a replacement when it’s time, but somebody has to deal with this shit.”

He looked at Joe, “It’s up to you Bro, she’s your old lady.”

Joe looked at me, “You want to do this?”

I shrugged, “Might as well.”

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with what I expect of you.”

“I’ll do my best.” I kept the dirty look I wanted to give him on the inside and sipped my wine instead.

I think he saw the hint of annoyance on my face but ignored it. “What are you going to do?”

“Call them in for a meeting tomorrow. Set some ground rules, make sure they have a doctor sign off on a clean bill of health, that kind of shit. I’ll probably have to write some stuff down later. Right now I’m tired from all this shopping.”

“Finish your wine and we’ll go.” He hooked his finger under my shirt on my shoulder and pulled it towards him.

I looked at him and saw that lust in his eyes he gets when he wants to kiss me. “Behave.” I whispered so only he could hear and pulled my shirt back up onto my shoulder.

He made some kind of disagreeable noise in his throat before finishing his beer and waiting me out to finish my wine.

Out of habit I started for my new car when we left a few minutes later.

Joe caught my arm, “Leave it. You ride with me.”

“Oh.” I guess it’s going to take some practice before I get used to this.

He helped me on the back and rode us back to my apartment for probably the last time.

Once inside I quickly kicked out of my shoes and flopped on the couch. “I’m used to being on my feet, but that was a lot of walking.”

Joe came over and quickly scooped me up.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He set me on the bed and removed his jacket and boots before crawling over me with those sex filled eyes.

I took a handful of that beard. “Joe?”

“What?” His hand is already under my shirt and heading up.