Black Dogs Motorcycle Club: Full Series Box Set (26 page)

“It has, Charlie, it has!”
said Owen as he took the handshake. “I think you were still tearing around the
alleys doing your BMX stunts, the last time I saw you.”

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.