CRASH: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Outlaw Series) (43 page)

Crash
knew Cole was working out an old wound, and he needed to dole out this beating.
Payback, with a big fucking exclamation point!

Red
Dog looked over at him. “Crash.”

Crash’s
eyes moved from Cole to Dog, and he nodded almost imperceptibly. Finally, Crash
intervened, pulling Cole off the man before he killed him. “Brother, he’s done.
Unless you want to start a war, that’s enough.”

Cole
shrugged off Crash’s hold and stared down at the bleeding man, breathing
heavily. Then he spit on him. Looking over at the other two Devil King’s, he
barked, “Once this motherfucker comes back to the land of the living, get his
ass on his bike and get the fuck off the property. This is done. Don’t fuckin’
come back.”

The
two men’s eyes slid to the guns still aimed at their chest and slowly
dismounted. They hefted Taz to his feet and dragged him to his bike. After
about ten more minutes, they were able to revive Taz enough to get him on his
bike and ride away.

Shannon
watched as the three bikes rode off down the darkened road, the roar of their
engines fading into the darkness with their taillights. Crash headed over to
her, while Red Dog, Green and Wolf hung back congratulating Cole on the beat
down.

Shannon
could see the concern in Crash’s eyes and knew he hadn’t wanted her to see
that. She was scared to death. Those three men had frightened her in the
casino. They were dangerous, especially that one they called Taz. She
understood nothing of the MC world, but she feared there would be retaliation
for this. She studied Crash as he walked up. She didn’t know how he lived like
this. It was a brutal, violent world where just having the wrong colors on your
back could get you killed.

And
she felt some guilt for it. If it hadn’t have been for her, Crash wouldn’t have
been in Reno in the first place. She may have even been what had interested
them enough to follow Crash. My God, if those men had caught up to them before
they’d reached The Pony, what would have happened? Would they have beaten or
killed Crash? And her, she didn’t want to think what they’d have done to her.

Maybe
she was letting her fear run away with her.

“You
okay, Princess?”

She
shook her head no.

He
pulled her into his arms. “C’mere.”

Her
shaking arms went around him. “Will they come back?”

“No,
baby. They’re gone,” he said against her hair.

“You’re
sure?”

“I’m
sure.”

“Your world is not normal.”

Crash
pulled back and looked down at her.
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth for just a moment, and
then it was gone. “Maybe not, but it’s my world. Till the day I die, baby.”

“Your world is violent and male-dominated and-”

“I won’t deny it. And I make no excuses. I know exactly who I am,
Shannon. I don’t regret this life. It’s who I am. I was born for this life.”

“You don’t care about the rest of the world, what people think?”

He grunted. “What people think? I know what people think.” He nodded
toward the outside world. “They all know our name. Evil Dead. I hear their
whispers when I walk through a store, a restaurant. There’s fear there, maybe,
yeah. But there’s respect too. We don’t take crap. I don’t take crap.”

Her
eyes moved from him to her surroundings. “What is this place?”

A
grin pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, about that. You familiar with
the phrase cat house?” At her frown, he continued. “Guess not. It’s a whore
house, baby.”

“You
mean a brothel?”

Crash
shrugged. “Fancy word, but yeah.”

She
pulled back, taking a step away from him. “Why are we here?”

He
pulled her back. “Relax. We’re not here to partake. This is just business.”

“Business?”

“Yeah.
And the less you know…”

“The
better. I know, I know.”

He
grinned down at her. “She’s learnin’.”

Cole
walked up shaking the pain in his fist out, and his eyes fell on her. “You and
me are gonna have a sit down when shit calms down.”

She
swallowed and nodded.

Cole’s
gaze slid to Crash. “Come on.” He led the way to the door, ringing a bell.
Crash took Shannon by the hand and pulled her along. Red Dog, Green and Wolf
followed. A moment later, a middle aged woman in a long silk caftan answered
the door. Her flaming red hair was tied headband style with a matching scarf.
She had false eyelashes and bright red lipstick. She took one look at Cole and
grinned.

“Hey,
baby. Glad to see you. Come on in.” She stepped back, swinging the door wide.

Cole
stopped to give her a one armed hug. “Hey, Dolly. How’s it shakin’?”

“Sweetie,
it’s shakin’ just fine. You want a test drive, ‘ol Doll will be happy to
oblige,” she teased, at least Shannon thought she was teasing.

Cole
moved into the room, and Crash pulled Shannon in with him. The woman’s eyes
fell on her, and then moved back to Cole. “She lookin’ for a job?”

Cole
shook his head. “Sorry, Doll. You wish.”

“Hell,
I knew my luck couldn’t be that good. Too bad, too. She’d make us a mint.”

Shannon
felt Cole’s eyes land on her and worried that he might be considering that very
question, but then he winked at her, and she relaxed. “Naw. Just a
ride-a-long.”

“We
can’t have women in here, Cole. It’s bad for business,” Dolly explained.

“Well,
then we’d better get this shit sorted, hadn’t we?”

“The
office is back there. Your boys can wait in the bar.”

Cole
nodded and gave the boys a head jerk toward the bar before he headed off with
Dolly.

While
they’d been speaking, Shannon had let her eyes travel around the room. It was
set up like a large living room or parlor. There were black leather couches and
chairs, red velvet curtains and plush red carpeting. There were erotic
paintings of nudes hanging on the walls. A sign near the entry to the back
hallway proclaimed a two hundred dollar minimum. The lighting was dim, and the
mood was sensual.

And
then Crash was pulling her through a large archway on the left into what looked
like an ordinary bar room, with a long fully stocked bar running the length of
the room on her right and tables and chairs to her left. Yes, it looked like an
ordinary bar until her eyes hit the big screen on the wall beyond the tables.
It was playing non-stop porno movies. Shannon quickly averted her eyes back to
the bar, only to find that the mirror behind it reflected the movie back at
her.

There
were several men at the bar, sipping drinks. Another group at a table that
Shannon thought looked like either a group of frat boys or a bachelor party.

Crash
pulled Shannon to the bar, his hand going around the back of her barstool. She
noticed his eyes move from one man to another, to the group at the table. And
then his hand moved to the back of her neck, rubbing and massaging, and she
swore, claiming her, marking her his.

A
good looking bartender came over. He was a big man, muscular with broad
shoulders. Probably about Crash’s age. He had dark brown eyes and a close cut
beard. “What can I get you?”

Crash
looked at her questioningly. “You want a cola or something stronger, babe?”

She
glanced around her surroundings again and murmured, “Something stronger.”

The
bartender leaned his palms on the bar. Smiling at her, he teased and offered,
“How ‘bout a Screaming Orgasm, darlin’?”

She
turned flaming red. Crash grinned and nodded. While the bartender moved off to
make her drink, Shannon’s eyes drifted around the room, taking it in. She
noticed a display of merchandize with The Pony logo on them. There were tee
shirts, hats, coffee mugs, shot glasses and bumper stickers. She tugged on
Crash’s sleeve pointing. “I want a tee shirt.”

Crash
looked over at her like she’d lost her frigging mind. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No,
it’s cute.”

“Babe,
I’m not getting you a tee shirt.”

A
moment later the front doorbell rang, and the madam, Dolly, went to answer it.
Shannon watched through the archway as three men and what, judging from his
attire, looked like their limo driver walked into the parlor. The driver headed
into the bar and took the stool next to Shannon, ordering a drink.

Shannon
watched, fascinated as Dolly greeted the men and seated them. A moment later
she rang a bell, and then suddenly the parlor filled with about a dozen girls.
They formed a line, all standing with their hands behind their backs. Shannon’s
eyes moved over them, they were all different shapes and sizes. Thin, curvy,
tall, petite, blonde, redhead, brunette, fair-skinned, mocha-skinned, Spanish,
oriental. There was a type for any man’s taste or fantasy. And their costumes
were as varied as they were. Some were in skimpy cocktail dresses suitable for
the trendiest nightclub. Some were in sexy lingerie designed to tease a man
into wanting to see more. Some were even in sexy school-girl outfits.

Her
gaze slid to the three men. They sat rapt, their eyes running over every girl
and all the charms each had to offer, their seductive eyes, the exposed length
of their legs, the curves. The whole presentation calculated to entice any man
to want to open his wallet and indulge his every desire, no matter what the
cost.

Shannon
watched as the three men made their selections and moved off down the hall out
of sight. The line-up of girls dispersed.

Cole
stood waiting in the doorway of Dolly’s office as she returned to her office
and took a seat behind her desk. His eyes followed the girls as they led their
customers down the hall, each taking them to their individual rooms. Behind
him, he heard Dolly flip on the intercoms and listen in on the in-room
conversations as each girl began to negotiate services and price.

“You
listen in?” Cole asked, frowning.

Dolly
smiled up at him. “I’m not a pervert. Just good business, sweetie.” At Cole’s
frown, she elaborated. “Oh, that’s right. You didn’t get the whole rundown when
you were here last with Mack that first visit when your club took over
ownership. I seem to remember you stayed outside most of that visit.”

“Yeah,
so maybe you’ll enlighten me on all the ins and outs,” Cole paused to smile,
“no pun intended. And tell me what the fuck the problem is that we had to make
this trip up here.”

“First
off, the girls are alone in their rooms with those men. It’s for their safety.”

“You
listen the whole time?”

“No,
just the negotiations.”

“And
after that? Those girls are still alone in a room with a stranger.”

“There’s
a panic button for that.”

“And
what happens then?”

“We
come running.”

“Who’s
we?”

“Me.
Jason, the bartender. Roy, the maintenance guy.”

Cole
nodded. “You said first. What’s second?”

“Secondly,
I listen in to make sure the girls aren’t offered drugs, they aren’t
propositioned to take clients outside of the house. It can be dangerous for
these girls to meet their customers after hours at a motel or wherever.”

“As
well as bad for business.”

“Yes,
and bad for business. We also listen to make sure the girls aren’t shorting the
house. I have to make sure the services they just negotiated for match up to
the money they bring me.” She paused to look over Cole’s shoulder. He turned to
see two of the girls bringing payments up. One in cash. One with a credit card
and driver’s license. After Dolly had accepted and recorded the payments, and
the girls had retired back to their rooms, Cole turned back to Dolly.

“So,
we take credit cards?”

Dolly
laughed. “It’s a plastic world, sweetie.”

“The
guys don’t worry about that showing up on their statement?”

“We’re
discreet. It appears as NVA Inc. They explain it however they wish.”

“So,
why are we here, Dolly?”

“Profits
are down. Way down. Business is not.”

Cole
frowned again. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Nope.
That’s why you’re here. To help me figure it out.”

Cole
closed the door and sat down in a chair across from Dolly and ordered,
“Explain.”

“The
house is just as busy as ever, but somehow the amount of services charged and
the amount of money coming back to the office is down. Now either my girls are
all shorting the house somehow or…”

“Or?”

“Look,
I’ve worked in other houses. I was even one of those girls once. I know the
ways to skim. I know the tricks that can be played.”

“Such
as?”

“In
one house I worked at, it turned out the bartender was in league with the
manager, unbeknown to the madam they were getting the girls drunk so they’d get
confused as to how much money they’d earned. Then they were skimming off the
earnings and splitting it.”