Rod (8 page)

I sit on my bike patiently waiting for the
Google Maps app to open up.
 
I type in
109
Bober
Street and let it lead me to my
destination.
 

I say to myself, “If this asshole has my
sister, I’m going to rip his fucking head off.”

I speed off, but slowly so that I can hear
the computerized voice’s navigational turn-by-turn directions.

Thirteen minutes pass and I am at the rear
of a boarded up looking shanty.
 
It’s so
back woods looking that I find myself curious if there’s electricity in
there.
 
It has one window completely
ravaged by dust, but from a couple of feet closer, I can see a light
inside.
 

I turn my headlight off and pull the key
from the ignition.
 
I leave the bike
where it sits and walk over to the small building.
 
In the shadows, I overhear two men talking as
their voices get louder and louder.
 
I
crouch down in the shadow of a giant bush and peer through its rough branches
to see Les and Frank.
 

Their ache in frustration and I try to
inch closer, but make a noise in the process.

“Anyone out there?” Les asks, moving
closer to my hiding spot.

I still myself and wait it out.
 

“It’s probably some animal, dipshit,”
Frank tells him.

“You’re probably right,” Les says as he
moves his blackened boot from my view.
 

They enter the place and turn on the rest of
the lights.
 

I try to take a peek into the filthy
window, but think better of it.
 
I inch
my way back to my Harley and push her down the dirt road.
 
We arrive at a safe distance where the roar
of her engine won’t set anyone off.
 

I turn the key in the ignition and ride
away slowly.
 

When I get back to the Hinton Township
sign, I pause to look around.
 
Maybe
Sasha is lying in a ditch somewhere?
 
I
take out my phone and see that I have a missed call.
 
It’s
Rodney’s
number.

I dial his number before taking off.
 

“Hey,” I tell him sweetly.

“Hey yourself.
 
Are we still on for our date? I mean, with
everything going on?”

“Yes, we are still on for our date.”

“Oh, okay,
‘
cause
I’m at the Corkscrew now and I don’t see you
anywhere.”

“Our date is Friday, silly,” I joke.

“It is Friday,” he says matter-of-factly.

“Fuck, it is Friday, isn’t it?”

“Yep,” he chuckles.
 

I shake my head silently and say,
“Alright, I’m not far from there, I’ll be there soon.”

“Great.”

“Bye,” I tell him before I disconnect the
call.

Riding through the streets, I feel the
wind on my skin as I near the Corkscrew.
 
I saw the familiar lit up blue screw in the window and a red LED “Beer”
sign.
 

I walk in the door and scan the room.
 
I really don’t want to be here, but I also
don’t want Rodney giving me away to my father.
 
I need to find out the type of person he is and having drinks is the
perfect way to break down that barrier.
 
Who knows, maybe he’ll end up helping me in my mission.
 

“Hey!” Lisa asks from behind the bar.
 
Her hair is done up like it’s still the
eighties and her makeup makes her look like she’s fifteen.
 
There are roughly fifteen people in the bar,
aside from myself.
 
I study their faces,
looking for Rodney.

From behind, a man wraps his arms around
me.
 
I close my eyes and take in his
scent.
 
It’s Rodney.

“Hey there hot stuff,” I say.

“Hey there yourself.
 
Thought you forgot about me.”

He turns my body to face him and his eyes
sear a
hole
right through me.
 
He keeps his hands firmly on my hips and I
realize that I want them there.

“I just have a lot on my mind,” I tell
him.

“I can understand that.”

“What are we having?” I ask.

“My guess is that you’re probably a
whiskey girl.
 
Jack Daniels, maybe?”

He takes my smile as his answer.
 
His body is breathtaking and being this close
to him makes me want to do nasty things with him.

“Care to sit down at the bar or at one of
the tables?” he asks.

I glance around the bar and point to a
table off to the back of the place.

“Alright, I’ll bring our drinks over.”

I walk to the table and sit down, toying
with my cell phone.

He strides on over and places two rocks
glasses on the table.
 

“Don’t tell me that you’re drinking Jack,
too?” I ask.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Copycat.”

His plump lips form a smile.
 

I feel a bit woozy as the effects of the
drink take hold of me.
 
It makes me want
to kiss his lips just to feel how soft they are.
 
He’s delicious, I gather and his body is made
of steel.

“So, how long has your father been in
charge of the Dragons?”

“He’s a founding member, so like ten
years,” I say.

“Never been challenged, huh?”

“No, his members are all one hundred
percent loyal to him.”

“Your mom is interesting, but I take it
she’s not a member?”

“No, she never asked to be a part of the
club.
 
Instead, she runs the family store
down the way.”

“I just feel terrible that your sister is
caught up in the mix,” he reveals.

“You think
it’s
club related?” I press.

“It very well could be.
 
You never know.”

“She’s so young and innocent; she has no
idea about anything to do with the club.”

“Whoever took her is a fucking monster,”
he exclaimed.

“I’ll drink to that.”

I raise my glass with his and we clink
them together.
 
I throw back the rest of
my Jack Daniels and grab his glass for a refill.
 
I feel his eyes on me as I walk away.
 

Returning to the table, drinks in hand, I
sit back down and nudge his over to him.
 
He puts his cell phone down on the table and turns his full attention to
me.

“So, I barely know anything about you,” he
confesses.

“What would you like to know?”

I hate these questions and usually prefer
to dispense with the niceties.

“Anything, really.”

“Okay, I’ll bite.
 
Let’s see.”

I search my brain for little known tidbits
about myself, but I find that I’m not that interesting.

“I used to be a cheerleader at the high
school.”

“Ooh, do you still have the outfit?”
 

“Yeah, probably,” I brush him off.
 
“I like Coke instead of Pepsi, country music
and I’m very competitive.
 
What about
you?”

“I’m not much for anything but riding my
bike and taking care of business.
 
What
have you done for work in the past?”

“I’ve been everything from a cashier and a
waitress to a bill collector and a barmaid,” I list off my previous jobs.

“Would it have been easier to ask what you
haven’t done?” He jokes.

“Yeah, probably.”

I take a drink of my Jack and he does the
same.
 

“Are you afraid of anything?”

I think about my poor sister wherever she
is.
 

“I think I’m most afraid of what’s going
to happen to Sasha if we don’t find her in time.”

He places his hands over mine and holds
them tightly.

“We are going to find your sister -
that
I can promise you.”

“I certainly hope so, I just wish that I
could help.
 
I feel so fucking useless,”
I confide.

“I wish there’s something I could do about
that.”

“There is,” I start with a rant.
 
“You could just let me help out and keep your
mouth shut about it.”

“And if your dad finds out?
 
Then I’m out of the club on my ass and
probably with an epic ass kicking on top of that.
 
No thank you.”

“So, you basically tell me to stand up to
my father, but you can’t follow your own advice?”

“He’s not my father, Trish.
 
If you stand up to him, he can walk away or
choose to respect your wishes.
 
If I
stand up to him, he’ll kick my ass out.”

“I guess you’re right,” I cave.

“I’m sorry.
 
Let’s change the subject.”

“Alright.
 
What do you want to talk about?”

“When that Missy chick came storming in
the club, that was fucking crazy.”

“I wasn’t there, remember?
 
My dad told me to get out.”

“She came in there like a bat
outta
hell demanding to talk to your father.
 
Your mother stepped in and basically told her
to go fuck herself.”

“Yeah, well that’s my mother for
ya
.”

“It was fucking hilarious,” he chuckles.

 
“I
did run into Missy on the way out.
 
She’s
terrified about Sasha coming up missing.
 
I told her I’d let her know anything I find out.”

“Won’t that piss your mother off?”

“Probably, but don’t you think it’s cruel
to keep things from her?
 
It’s her
daughter, for fucks sake.”

“Yeah, I guess you’ve got a point.”

I lean in closer to Rodney and tease, “So,
you really haven’t told me anything about yourself.
 
I feel like I’ve been talking about myself
all night.”

“There really isn’t much to know.”

“So that’s it?”

“Would you prefer I go into all of the
boring details about where I grew up and the schools I went to?
 
Or can’t I just tell you that it was of no
special importance?”

“I just don’t get all of this
secrecy.
 
I like you, Rodney.
 
Is that so bad?”

“A beautiful girl likes me and she wants
to know if that’s so bad?
 
Are you
serious?
 
I’m not trying to be secretive;
it’s just that it’s all boring noise as far as I’m concerned.”

“That ‘noise’ you’re talking about is how
normal people get to know each other better.”

I punctuate the word ‘noise’ in finger
quotes, but he doesn’t appear amused at all.

He caresses my chin and lets his fingers
glide against my cheek.
 
I feel a rush of
warmth all over my body.
 
He stands over
the table and reaches his mouth to mine.
 
As he presses his fleshy lips to mine, I feel a tingle from my stomach
to my nether regions.
 
His lips part and
he slips his tongue into my mouth.
 
Together, they twist and move in a rhythmic motion.

 
I
gently pull away with my temperature a few degrees higher.

“I really need to go,” I tell him.

“You do?”

“Yes.
 
I can’t just sit here and do nothing while my sister is out there scared
out of her fucking mind.”

“I know, babe.
 
We are going to find her, I promise you
that.”

“Someone better, because I can’t really
focus on anything else,” I declare.

I focus on the napkin with Les’ address on
it still sitting in my pocket.
 

“I’ll see you soon,” I say.

“Sounds good.
 
Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a
phenomenal kisser?”

His charm wins me over again and I find
that I can’t stay mad at him.
 
It really
isn’t his fault that my dad isn’t letting me help.

I smile in response and he bats those sexy
eyelashes at me.
 
I walk out of the bar
leaving him inside and hop on my bike.
 
I
need to get home and to my laptop where I can utilize my investigative skills.
 
I have skip-traced people in the past, so
searches like these are second nature.