Retribution: A Motorcycle Club Romance (3 page)

Charlie chuckled at the memory. “And
don’t think I didn’t get switches aplenty for it. There’s no solace for a
hooligan in an Irish neighborhood.”

Owen laughed from deep in his belly.
It made Eva laugh a little bit from behind the bar. She hadn’t expected the man
to be in such a bright mood, considering the circumstances.

“You kids have no idea how much I
appreciate your help,” said Owen as he made his way over and dropped into one
of the bar stools. “There is no blasted way I would be able to maintain the bar
long-distance and still be there for your Aunt Geri. Together, we are going to
give her the best shot possible at beating this thing.”

Eva crossed her arms. “How is she?”

Owen pursed his lips and opened his
hands. “She’s in pain, but getting comfortable. Whatever happens, at least I
can rest knowing I did all I could to help.”

 “And we are happy to contribute,”
said Charlie, clapping a hand on Owen’s shoulder. “I promise, this place will
be just like you left it once you return.”

“Well, if you could make it
better
somehow, I wouldn’t stop you,” said Owen with a laugh. “How’s the house? Any
problems getting in?”

Charlie shook his head. “No, it’s
quite comfortable.”

Eva almost interjected about the
mattress, but she decided against it. She and Charlie could fix that without
bothering Owen. “It’s a beautiful place,” she said instead.

“Did you take the master bedroom?”
said Owen, looking at her. When Eva nodded, Owen let out an exasperated breath
and adjusted his hat. “Don’t mind telling you I’m glad to be out of there for a
minute. Geri loves those little dolls she keeps around, but they just give me
the willies.”

Eva smiled broadly before she could stop
herself. She flushed red a bit around the cheeks as she said, “Yeah they… they
are a little creepy.”

“The things we do for love, eh?”

Owen’s response and his soft smile
made Eva ache somewhere inside her chest. She cleared her throat and nodded
with a smile. “Aunt Geri obviously picked the right man.”

Owen patted Eva’s hand on the bar and
then stood up, stool squeaking on the floor. He led Eva and Charlie around the
whole of Swashbuckler’s and introduced them to the ins and outs of the place,
and the strange quirks of operation that always seem to come with any
building—even the new ones. He warned them about making sure the dumpster lids
were always closed and latched, so the forest’s bolder scavengers didn’t make a
zoo out of the place in the night. He sat down and showed them the shipment
schedule and how to work with all the bar’s vendors to keep everything stocked
and ready for customers.

“Oh, the customers,” said Owen with a
snap of his fingers. “I suppose we should talk about them a bit.”

Eva and Charlie both looked up from
the scattered logs Owen had spread out along the bar. “We’ve both worked
customer service jobs before. I don’t think it will be much of an issue.”

“Well, now,” said Owen, adjusting his
hat. “That’s part of it, and I’m sure you’ll be fine there. In the interest of
full disclosure, I have to say that you may find yourselves dealing with some
characters of the rough persuasion, from time to time.”

Eva’s heart skip a beat. “What do you
mean, rough?”

“Nothing too terrible—nothing that
should be a problem. But, well, this ain’t exactly a ritzy joint, as you may
have noticed. It’s clean, and we try to keep it as free of hysteria as anyone
can. But your uncle here is not a soft-handed businessman from some penthouse
high-rise, so of course, my establishment is going to be a little bit more on
the unpolished side.” Owen put a finger in his own chest as he spoke, without
any shame or guilt. “So sometimes, you’re going to have some fellow roughnecks
hanging out. Quarry workers, industry folk, truckers… and of course, the
bikers.”

“Bikers?” asked Charlie with just a
hint of concern.

“The town next door—LeBeau—is a bit
of a nest for the vipers, if you will. They don’t cause much trouble, and I
hear tell they actually do some good around here occasionally, but they stop in
pretty often, and they aren’t always gentle boys.”

Charlie looked over at Eva with a
worried look on his face. Eva knew what he was thinking—she was thinking it,
too, but with less alarm. “Should I keep Eva from interacting with these guys?
I can have her doing back-office duty alone, if…”

Immediately, Eva felt a bit of shame
come over her. “Oh, Christ, Charlie, I’m not made of glass. I was married,
remember? It’s not like I’m totally clueless about this stuff.”

“Yeah, and the guy you married was a
piece of shit, just like a ton of these bikers are going to surely be. I don’t
want them giving you a hard time,” said Charlie.

“Oh, Charlie, it’s not all like
that,” said Owen with a raised hand. He looked suddenly worried that they would
back out of the deal.

“Don’t mind him, Owen. Charlie’s very
protective of me,” said Eva with a heavy glance to her brother. “I’m sure I can
handle serving beers and rebuffing advances of big, tough bad guys.” She looked
down at her comfy, worn, pastel sundress and added, “I don’t get the feeling
I’m their type, anyway.”

“She probably has a point there,”
said Owen.

Charlie’s mouth twisted like he
wanted to say something in argument, but he just shook his head and pushed away
from the bar. “Yeah, I’m sure it will be fine.”

“If anything should ever get too hot
to handle, there’s a wall panel in the back that opens up into a gun cabinet.
Got a shotgun in there for emergencies,” said Owen, pointing to the storage in
back.

Charlie folded his arms and gave a
nod. “That helps.”

“I owe you kids everything for taking
care of this for me,” said Owen. “You’re sure you can stay a while?”

Eva patted her uncle’s forearm with a
smile. “We’ll be here as long as you need us.”

They walked Owen outside to his worn
Ford pickup and gave him parting wishes for Geri, and he promised he’d be in
touch soon. Before he hopped in his truck, Eva remembered her question.

“Owen, why is the parking lot so big
compared to the bar? Seems like a lot of wasted land,” she said.

Owen looked around, squinting, like
he hadn’t thought about it in a while. “Oh, that’s because of the bakery.”

“Bakery?”

“Yeah, the place that used to be here
before was a lot bigger than mine, one of those old two-story outfits from the
fifties with apartments on top of the storefronts. It took up a lot more
space.” He adjusted his old John Deere hat. “I got a great deal on the parcel
of land, and there weren’t a point to building an enormous bar—I just wanted
something small. Leaves plenty of room for the truckers to come hauling in.”

Eva looked around the gravel and
tried to imagine a building of the size Owen described on the land. “Yeah, I
guess that makes sense.”

“All right, you kids take care now.
You call me if you need anything, you hear?” said Owen through the open window
of his truck.

Charlie promised they would. Eva
stood next to him, waving, as they watched Owen turn out onto the highway.

~
TWO ~

The world spun, glittering and deafening with noises
Will couldn’t make out. It was all one big cloud of pressure trying to get in
his head. He fought it. He fought all of it.

He landed sloppy on something hard.
Couldn’t be the floor—he was still on his feet. Wetness under his cheek smelled
like bottom-shelf tequila.

The hairs on the back of his neck
stood up, a surge of animal instinct that ran from the bottom of his spine, up
his back and over his shoulders like an army of angry spiders on his skin. Will
clenched his right fist and twisted his body in a wild swing as he stood.

His fist connected hard with the face
of the man rushing at him. Will felt teeth loosen under his knuckles, felt the
shock run up the muscles of his arm and into his back, like it was happening in
slow motion. The man’s face collapsed under Will’s fist and his body came to a
stop like he had run headlong into a wall. His feet slipped beneath him and he
tipped backwards, landing with a sickening
thunk
at Will’s boots.

For a split second, everything was
quiet, and Will felt like he existed in pieces. He was aware of the fingers of
his right hand flexing open and shut, trying to stretch out the pain from the
punch. The smell of tequila still lingered on his beard. Faces from the crowd
surrounding him started to look familiar—most of them were not happy. That
second ended as soon as the bar crowd digested what they had just seen, and the
place erupted into chaos.

The man at his feet hadn’t been
alone, and now his friends came rushing out of the crowd at Will with righteous
fury. He only half-noticed he was outnumbered as he fearlessly cocked back and
swung hard at the closest one, connecting, but not as strongly as he’d hoped.
He sent the fucker tumbling on unsteady feet into the crowd, creating a domino
effect of toppled tables, spilled pitchers, and broken glass.

Someone came at Will hard from his
right, tackling him at the shoulders and taking him down to the bar floor. He
tried to twist his way free as he watched dozens of feet storm by, people
rushing for the exits or running to join the fight. Before his attacker could
land a good punch, Will saw Jase’s giant form stalk over on heavy boots. Jase
threw the man into a table and pulled Will roughly to his feet.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Jase
screamed at him. He held him by the cut, drilling his angry gaze right into
Will’s eyes, but Will could barely focus on it physically, and felt nothing
emotionally. He replayed the knockout punch he’d just landed in his mind and
smirked to himself instead.

Disgusted, Jase pushed Will back with
enough force to make him stumble, but not fall. Will held out and grasped the
bar to regain his balance as Jase turned away from him. Will squinted as the
overhead lights in the bar flashed on suddenly, flooding away the moody
darkness. The man he hit was still on the floor, but coming to, writhing and
moaning in his own blood. He saw his MC brothers buzzing around like angry
hornets, holding off the tough guys in the crowd, shoving them out the door,
and getting ugly with anyone who didn’t comply. From the back of the bar, Will
could hear someone yelling in high-pitched Spanish.

Someone had left a full shot of
whiskey on the bar in the chaos. Will drank it and tossed the shot glass across
the dance floor. Ghost, Tommy, and Martin huddled together in a group, shaking
their heads and giving him pissed-off glances until Jase came back in from the
parking lot. He stalked right over to Will at the bar.

“You about finished with your
tantrum?” he growled. He stood in front of Will with his arms crossed.

Will laughed bitterly. “Fuck you,
man. That shithead had it coming.”

“You can’t fight every prick who
tries to rile us up at a bar,” said Jase. “And anyway, it didn’t look like this
guy even started anything this time. You’re the one being a prick.”

Will stood up and straightened his
cut. He was bored with this bullshit. Jase had been rubbing him the wrong way
for months, and he had just about enough of it. “What’s wrong, huh? Big, tough
soldier-boy isn’t so fucking hard anymore? Did you finally realize how many of
your victories were just dumb luck?”

Will saw a flushed anger rise from
deep in Jase’s chest. His arms dropped to his side with balled fists. Something
cold appeared behind his eyes. Whatever Jase wanted to say first, he seemed to
swallow it as Will stared him down with eyes that probably looked as lifeless
as he felt.

“You’re out of fucking line, Bowers,”
said Jase. Will couldn’t remember the last time Jase hadn’t used his first
name. “And you know what? I’m done cleaning up the shit storms you create. So from
now on, don’t bother calling me when you want to go out and set fire to the
town.”

“That’s fucking fine with me,” said
Will. “You’re only in my way, as it is.”

Jase shifted his shoulders, and for a
moment, Will thought he was going to throw a punch. He didn’t even flinch at
the threat.

“You need to get your house in
order,” said Jase in a low, angry voice. “You’re out of control. This isn’t
going to end how you want, or how you think.”

“What the fuck would you know about
it, anyway?” said Will, taking a half-step forward to invade even more of
Jase’s boundaries. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a goddamn child. My life is none
of your business.”

Jase didn’t answer right away. He
didn’t seem as angry in that moment. “That’s your call,” he said. “But I’ve got
brothers to keep out of jail and a wife who would prefer me home in one piece
at the end of the night. So you can keep driving this suicide machine on
without me.”

Will scoffed at Jase’s seriousness,
his dramatic choice of words. “Step the fuck off, then. I don’t need you.” He
moved around Jase and headed for the door, passing by the group of his brothers
without a look or a word. They watched him leave in silence.

The night air felt good on Will’s
skin. Every inch of him felt inflamed with stress, with energy, with impulse.
He lit up a cigarette and climbed on his bike, finishing half before he chucked
it to the gravel and revved his way out of the parking lot. He drove aimlessly
for ten minutes before he decided he wasn’t done with his night of fun, and set
course for Aphrodite’s.

Saturday night meant the strip club
was packed with visitors from both Howlett and LeBeau, aided by that sexual
charge in the air during the summer months that seemed to get everyone riled up
without even trying. It seemed like his hunger for women had become insatiable
in the past few months. If he wasn’t thinking about kicking the shit out of
some asshole who had crossed him, Will was thinking about getting his dick wet,
and doing what he could to make it happen. He had every mouse at the clubhouse
worshipping him, and even their constant willingness wasn’t enough.

Will parked his bike in a long line
of others and sauntered into the club. Lights and bass pulsed against the dark
walls, people moving and cheering in the shadows as they watched the glowing
stages. Saturday nights meant the varsity team was on deck, and Will felt his
dick harden at the sight of three gorgeous women writhing naked on the stage.
He moved through the crowd and kept his eyes on the dancer with the deep brown
hair and skin like fine china. He could see the delicate folds of her
smooth-shaven pussy and imagined it hovering over his tongue, his fingers
buried inside its soaking warmth.

He waited until she finished her
stage show, and then moved to the bar to talk with the manager of the dancers.
He slipped the man several hundred dollar bills and pointed out the pale stripper.
Deal done, Will headed without pause to the rear of the club to the private
rooms. He sat down in the first open one and waited, rubbing an eager hand on
the bulge in his jeans. He only stopped when a topless server girl brought him
a double whiskey, winking at him as she left.

Moments later, the dancer came from
around the corner with a devilish grin. She had put back on the tiny gold
bikini she wore when she wasn’t on stage and closed the door behind her as Will
stared without shame at the curves of her body.

“I heard you asked for me,” she said.

“ ‘Asked’ is putting it nicely.
Did your boss also tell you I don’t like names?”

She nodded and ran a soft hand down
the length of her body, almost absentmindedly. Will felt his dick twitch at the
sight.

He leaned back against the cushioned
seat, putting up his arms. Ice clinked against the glass in his hand. “Get on
with it, then.”

The pale dancer began to move her
incredible body and strip for Will, slowly untying the bikini top first, then
her bottoms, and letting them fall to the floor of the room. She grinded
against Will’s lap as he sat and watched her, staring at her tits. He took a
drink of whiskey, then with his other hand, grabbed one of her tits and brought
it to his mouth. He rubbed an ice cube against her nipple as he sucked it into
his mouth and the girl let out a surprised moan. She rubbed her pussy against
the bulge in his jeans.

“Take off my pants,” said Will.

For a moment, the dancer paused,
unsure. Will paid to break protocol, and the girls had their choice whether or
not to come in the room. She seemed to remind herself of this as she climbed
off his lap and smiled, kneeling at his feet. She unbuckled his pants with
seductive slowness, pulling them until they bunched around his ankles. His
rock-hard dick sprung free, and Will let out a low, satisfied laugh when he saw
her staring at it.

“I want you to suck it,” he said.

The pale dancer licked her lips and
leaned down to wrap them around his cock. Will leaned his head back and closed
his eyes as she expertly ran her mouth up and down his length, moaning against
it. Her soft hand cupped his balls and the bottom of his shaft, moving in a
gentle rhythm. After a few moments, however, Will had no interest in
gentleness. He tangled a hand in her dark brown hair and started controlling the
pace, pushing her head down deeper and deeper on his cock until every inch of
it was in her mouth. When she came up again, she took a deep breath and smiled
at him.

“Should’ve guessed you’d like it,”
said Will as he watched her lick saliva from her lips.

“Only with cocks as nice as yours,”
she replied. As if it heard her, his dick moved in her hand as she rubbed it.
She bent back down and began sucking again, letting Will fuck her face as she
kneeled over him. He only let it go on until he felt close to the edge, then
pulled her head away by the hair and commanded her to stand up.

Bouncing off the cushioned seat of
the private room, he swung the girl around and bent her over the back, her
knees digging into the seat. Will ran his hands down her curves, and then
smacked her heart-shaped ass, smiling at her answering yelp. Her sounds turned
to moans when she felt Will’s hand run down her slit with forceful pressure.

“Christ, you’re already soaked and
ready, aren’t you?” he said to her, his voice rough with lust. The dancer
writhed under his touch. “Just a bitch in heat.” He pushed three fingers into
her pussy without warning, and she moaned louder.

“Please, fuck me,” she begged, laying
her face on the back of the chair.

Will pushed his fingers harder inside
her, deeper. “What did you say? I didn’t quite hear that.”

“Fuck me, please! Fuck me now!” she
screamed, gasping with every move of his fingers.

In one swift move, Will pulled his
fingers out and fished a condom out of his pocket, slipping it on before
positioning his hard cock at her pussy entrance. He waited till she begged one
more time before he plunged his entire length inside her. The dancer cried out
in pain and pleasure, squirming underneath him, pushing her ass back against
him to invite him deeper.

His powerful became more forceful
with each passing moment as he fucked her hard against the chair, shoving his
body into hers, sweat dripping off his face and onto her glistening gorgeous
back. He reached his greedy hands underneath to paw at her tits, grasping while
he fucked her and to her moan and cry as she came twice on his hard cock. He
didn’t slow his pace, lost in the feel of her warmth surrounding his own hot
shaft.