Wild Child: A Skull Kings MC Novella (2 page)

“Anyway,” Gabriel said, blinking quickly, “if you need a tour guide, I’m free in a few hours.”

Pft.
If anybody could give a tour of the city, it was me. After everything I’d been through, I knew the fire escape routes of practically every building in town. “I’m kind of busy.”

“With what? You got a job or something? Is that why you’re wandering into lesbian bars in the middle of the day?”

His arrogance knocked me over. Part of me wanted to rise to his challenge, but I had to talk myself out of it. While I was in this city, I had to keep a low profile. “No. I’m...job hunting.” God, I was pathetic.

Gabriel shrugged. “Cool. I know of some places that are hiring.”

I studied him carefully, and I knew he could tell. He straightened his spine and shoulders, raising himself another inch.
Come on, give me a chance,
he seemed to say.

I released a deep sigh. “Fine. I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” I felt like a rubber band snapped inside of me. Relief flooded through my system. Why? Why did it feel good to accept Gabriel’s offer? I had to admit that I could use some money, but my head was screaming at me to get away.
He could be from Laughlin! He could be dangerous!

But all the warning sirens in my head were muted out when Gabriel’s face broke out into a grin. Just looking at it made me feel like I was taking a naked bath in sunshine.

“Great. Come back in four hours?”

“Okay.”

He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You promise?”

I threw up my hands. “Well, I have nowhere else to go.”

Gabriel laughed. “Looking forward to it, I see. I like it. See you tonight.” He waved a vast hand at me before leaving me standing alone by the exit. The first few notes of the next song played to near-silence in the bar.

She’s addicted to nicotine patches...

I took that as my cue to leave. With one last glance at the interior of Lip Service, I escaped into the warm, Las Vegas sun.

* * *

I
walked across one of the Las Vegas Boulevard bridges, blending into a flock of tourists. Here, I was invisible.
Lucy Hernandez
, a simple faceless stranger. I tried not to look at the teenagers sitting at the railings with cardboard signs. Especially the girls.

Deep down, I knew what their fates would be. They’d succumb to True North, one by one. A kind stranger would appear out of nowhere, with fliers, with promises.
Find God’s plan for you at True North Healing Clinic.
They’d go and they’d get tricked into using drugs, getting hooked or for most of them, relapsing. They’d work up a hefty debt, and True North would present them with the only way to pay it off. I knew because I’d been through it, and I’d escaped.
Barely.

I drew my sleeves over my hands. The thought gave me chills. My memories of this city weren’t of glitz, glamor, and poker chips. I could only remember darkness, coldness, backrooms with strange men. Lady Luck had forsaken me here, along with dozens of other young girls.
Patron Saint of Fanny Packs,
Anna had called her. Lady Luck was for the tourists, and we were nothing but glass smashed into the pavement.

I felt a tug on my jeans. I stared down into the face of a pregnant girl.

“Spare some change?”

I tossed what I had into her cup. “Good luck,” I said.

I bought a slice of pizza and killed time watching some Michael Jackson impersonators performing on the street. A few hours later, it was time to go meet Gabriel and take him up on his offer. I took a bus back to Lip Service.

By the time I stepped off the bus, the sun had already set, and the nightlife crowd began to crawl the streets. I walked down to Lip Service only to find the entrance blocked by a huge line of women. A bouncer I didn’t recognize was checking I.D.’s at the door.

I frowned. Where was Gabriel? Then, I heard it.

Va-ROOOOM!

Several people in line jumped from the sudden noise, but not me. To me, that kick-and-sputter was as commonplace as the twitter of birds in the morning. I knew the Harley would be motoring around the corner even without looking. I turned around just in time to watch it slide to a stop at the curb.

Gabriel nodded at me from the seat. He was out of his Lip Service security tee and back in his cut. Now, I knew for sure he was a Skull King.

“Hey, Lucy,” he said.

“Hi.” My voice was deceptively calm. Gabriel looked like a young Brad Pitt in his leather and sunglasses. I pointed my chin bravely at him. “Got a helmet for me?”

“A biker always keeps a spare, just in case.” He tossed me a beat up bucket of a thing.

I strapped it on and moved to settle in behind Gabriel. Seeing the flaming skull emblazoned on his back made my throat feel scratchy all of a sudden, but there was an extra patch that was unfamiliar to me.

Nomad.

Usually, a Skull King’s backpatch included his home chapter. Liam’s said Canyon City below the skull. But Gabriel’s was no chapter, town, or city I’d ever heard of. Just that one word.

He’s not from Laughlin.
I grinned. “Where are you taking me?” I asked.

Gabriel turned his head, and I could see the corner of his eye from behind his shades. He smirked. “Out.”

I yelled something about having to find a job, but my words were swallowed up by the engine’s growl as we revved into traffic, leaving behind a line of bewildered lesbians in our wake.

* * *

G
abriel took us to a strip mall at the edge of the city. I read the signs of the businesses quickly. There was a talent agency, a pay day loan place, and someplace called “TA Enterprises.” After sliding off his bike, Gabriel began making his way toward the latter. He turned around to look at me.

“Coming?”

I eyed the storefront. The window was completely painted over and covered in iron bars. Nobody would’ve been able to see me once I got inside. My stomach coiled into a nervous ball. I crossed my arms. “What is that place?”

Gabriel stared at the sky, deep in thought. “I guess you could say it’s kind of my part-time job.”

I opened my mouth.
No thanks,
I should’ve said. But when Gabriel turned back around, I caught another glimpse of his backpatch.
He’s a Skull King,
I told myself. And all Skull Kings identified themselves as that, first and foremost. If you asked a brother what he did, he didn’t ever say he was a doctor or a bartender or a security guard. He always said, “I’m a member of the Skull Kings MC.”

I felt the pull of kinship again. Even if I met a different stranger every day for the rest of my life, they’d always be familiar to me if they were a King. My gut wanted to trust Gabriel, but my head was a whole different story.

Gabriel chuckled. “What, do you think I’m going to sell you to some human traffickers or something?”

I jumped as if I’d been punched. “No!” I said.

Gabriel looked surprised by my sudden volume, but he tried to ignore it. “Then, come on.”

I breathed in. “Okay.”

Gabriel held the door open for me, and I walked inside. The “enterprise” was a small room, barely bigger than my room at the Paradise Motel. Several cluttered desks lined the walls. The one just opposite the door was the only one with an occupant, a balding man in a gray suit.

“Gabe, baby!” he said, kicking himself up from his leather-backed chair. He reared back his hand before swinging it forward to grasp Gabriel’s. “Ready to make some money? Who’s your friend?”

I studied the man warily. He talked a little too loudly, like a DUI lawyer in a commercial. He smiled a well-practiced smile, but his little black eyes floated suspiciously between me and Gabriel.

“This is my friend Lucy. She’s new in town and needs to make a quick buck. Lucy, this is Tim Hawk.”

“Perfect,” Tim Hawk said as he shook my hand. “A couple girls didn’t show up tonight. I could use the extra muscle.”

I widened my eyes at Gabriel, but he shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips. Tim walked over to a file cabinet and began searching its drawers.

“You explained how it all works, right? Pass out the wristbands, come back and pick up your cash.”

“Yup. That’s pretty much it,” Gabriel said, looking at me.

“Great!” Tim turned around and tossed something at Gabriel. “Then, here’s for
you.
And here’s for
you
.”

I caught the bundle just before it hit my chest. It was a plastic bag filled with what must’ve been a hundred neon green rubber bracelets.

“See you in a few hours,” Tim said with a wink.

I said an awkward goodbye and followed Gabriel back outside. “What just happened?” I asked.

Gabriel tucked his bundle away in a saddlebag and reached out for mine. “You needed a job, I got you one,” he said matter-of-factly. “All we have to do is walk along the Strip and hand these out. Then, we get paid.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

I squeezed my plastic bag, shifting the bracelets. They were stamped with the words “DURANGO.”

“How will they know we did it? What’s to stop us from throwing this shit away, hitting some bars, and coming back to get paid for doing nothing?”

Gabriel shook his head. “You don’t want to do that. Because if they should find out...” He drew his finger across his throat. “They have some scary friends, if you know what I mean.”

I sighed.
Gangs.
It had to be. Gangs ran half of the city. At least I didn’t have to take my clothes off on my first night in Vegas. “Thanks. But why are you helping me?”

Gabriel shrugged, suddenly avoiding my eyes. “I just felt like it. A little thing like you in a big city like Vegas. You’re like a lost puppy or something.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Gabriel stared at his boots, grinning. “Well, come on, then. Let’s get to work.”

––––––––

I
counted the cash Tim Hawks had handed me after showing up with an empty plastic bag. “A hundred and sixty dollars. Not bad.”

“Don’t spend it all in one place,” Gabriel said as he pocketed his. “Sometimes months will go by before he has another open gig for me.”

We were sitting on the curb in front of a burger place. After walking up and down the Strip all night, I was ravenous. I fished some fries out of the grease-stained paper bag that sat between us.

“So you’re a security guard, a club promoter...what else?”

“Professional nomad,” Gabriel said immediately. Then, he smiled.

I stared pointedly at his cut. “Is that why you have that patch?”

“That patch just means I don’t have a home.” His jaw worked after he took a massive bite of his burger.

No home. That meant no chapter. I didn’t press the issue further, but I got the feeling Gabriel was hiding just as much as I was. My secret was crouched inside of me like a sleeping tiger, waiting to spring out at any moment. I was the sister of a Skull Kings VP, the daughter of a former president, and I had to pretend that I didn’t know squat about any of this.

What was his secret? He wasn’t part of a chapter, but a “nomad.” How could a biker live without his brothers?

I swallowed daintily. “Then, I’m a nomad, too.”

Gabriel was silent for a moment. “Well, you’re pretty trusting for a girl who’s traveling on her own.”

I sneaked another glance at his cut. I thought I’d been careful, but apparently not careful enough. I mentally kicked myself. Of course, Gabriel probably wasn’t used to girls accepting rides from him, especially when he was decked out in his biker regalia.

When I turned to look back at his face, I was surprised to find him staring at me.

“What’s your secret, Lucy?” he asked.

My insides froze until Gabriel’s lips spread into a smile. There was a mischievous glint in his eye. He wasn’t serious. He was
flirting.

I cleared my throat. “I don’t have any secrets.”

“Everybody’s got secrets.”

I raised my chin. I struggled to flatten my lips into a straight line, but a little grin fought through my efforts. “Yeah? What’s yours, then?”

Gabriel’s face suddenly turned serious, half illuminated by the neon lights of the burger shack. The other half was plunged in shadow. His eyes searched mine, wide and deep as lakes. I inhaled sharply as he opened his mouth.

Then, he turned away. A light seemed to have gone out in his eyes. “I don’t have any secrets either.”

I flinched. There was a tiny seed of disappointment knotting up in my belly. Maybe I’d hoped that he had a secret, one he was willing to share with me.

I squeezed my hands into fists and crunched down on my empty burger wrapper. “Should we get going?”

“Yeah,” Gabriel said, strangely distant.

I followed him to his bike. What had happened? Things had been going great, only until we started talking about secrets. It was a harmless subject.
Except for
my
secret,
I told myself. And maybe Gabriel’s secret was just as serious as mine.

I studied him in a new light as he straddled the smooth seat of his Harley. “Are you coming or not?” he asked, keeping his gaze fixed ahead.

Prickled with sudden annoyance, I took my seat behind him. “I’m staying at the Paradise Motel,” I said.

* * *

T
he city whirred by in a neon haze as I rode with Gabriel, my cheek pressed to his back.
Nomad,
his backpatch proclaimed at me, almost like a taunt. A nomadic Skull King? What a joke. He might as well have been invisible. At least he wasn’t a Laughlin King, so I was safe thus far. But I had nothing else I could gain from him. I told myself this was the last I’d ever see of Gabriel.

Still, I felt a tightness in my chest thinking about how he’d helped me out with a job, with a ride around town.

I steeled myself for the inevitable goodbye that was about to come as Gabriel rode into the parking lot of my motel. I pointed him toward my room, number fifteen, so he could take me right up to the door, but I noticed something strange.

The door to room fifteen was wide open.

I felt the grease from my burger and fries all at once. Nauseous with apprehension, I wobbled slightly as I set my feet on the pavement.