King of Hearts

Ray's insisting that we needed our own place. He'd been slowly transitioning us out of the club even then. His selecting some of the guys to run things while we were in our place was his way of grooming them to take over when we were gone. The rallies and other money making activities were his way of making sure that the club would survive when we were gone. He was trying to make sure that not only would the two of us survive, but the club would as well.

I think that back then he already knew that most people wouldn't want to live out of a shoe box forever. He also obviously didn't believe in the whole rotating bed syndrome. He never wanted to share me with anyone else. Even some of the things he did that bothered me the most, like when he called me his wife accidentally and I'd been offended by it; I'd love to be his wife now.

Back then I guess I was all about freedom. I didn't want anything legal tying me to anyone else. No one owned me, not even King. But thinking about it further, I've seen that in some ways we're all owned by someone else. Beth has never had a man of her own since she joined the club. She's probably the woman with the greatest amount of freedom of us all. What does it get her? She literally has to fuck any guy who asks her. Her legs are constantly in the air just to earn a ride or a place to sleep. All her freedom gets her is used by everyone. The men look down on her and the women hate her. She's free, though.

Then there's that fucking car. What I wouldn't give right now to be cruising down the road in one of those cushy leather seats, without the harmful vibrations and road noise. The worst part is that I can sometimes imagine what our kids would look like. I still don't think of myself as mother material, but my body is crying out for it. Even seeing little kids in the cars we pass, finds me staring at them and wondering what my babies might look like.

When we pull into our last night time stop, we separate as usual. Some of the bikes continue to the local camp grounds. At least the weather is warmer here in the south. I can't believe that the temperatures are in the sixties. We were barely cracking forty two days ago in Michigan. The newspaper I looked at, while we stopped at a gas station to pee, had a story about a huge storm that had dropped five or six inches of snow across the Midwest. If we'd left even a day later, we might not have made it.The rest of us separate, to find motels that match our budget. We'll all link up again in the morning before we ride the last fifty miles or so to meet up with Gonzo. I'll be glad to see him. He's a friend of mine as well. He's a big thick goofy looking guy. He always had trouble starting his bike. I think electric starters were made for guys like him.

I nod at Beth as she rides off behind her guy. The frown on her face tells me that she's not happy to be heading for the camp grounds. The guy she's with probably wants her as his bed warmer for the night again. And if she doesn't perform her duties, he'll probably leave her stranded and pick up someone else on the way, or simply choose one of the other unattached girls who might be riding with someone who's tired of her.

After we settle into the motel, I head for the hot tub as usual. This time the tub isn't in our suite, it's down the hall in the fitness area. "Sorry, best I could do," says Marcus.

I punch him gently on the shoulder. The warm water and the bubbles massaging my back are almost magical. "Christi," he says as he slips into the tub with me. "You're in charge. If you don't like the situation here, we'll just go someplace else. I have no idea what this will be like. It might be the most fun we've ever had, or it might be pure hell. Before I became a biker, I worked some factory jobs and they were just totally soul sucking experiences. You begin to feel like a machine after a while. So just let me know."

I nodded. I woke up several hours later and didn't know where I was. I was in a bed. My mind went into shock. The last time I'd awakened in a strange place had been the time I'd lost Ray. I reached down to see if there was anything leaking out of me, because I wasn't on the pill anymore. I felt stretchy material. And I was slightly wet, but not down there. I was slightly wet because I was lying on top of a couple of towels. I turned on the lights and laughed my ass off. I'd fallen asleep in the hot tub. Marcus had probably carried me into the room and put the towels on my bed so it didn't get soaked. He hadn't so much as tried to take my swimsuit off, let alone done anything to me. I knew Marcus. Not only would he not try to take advantage of me, he wouldn't let anyone else either. He'd covered me with a couple of those motel robes that everyone was always stealing. Nowadays they just charged your credit card for them if they weren't left in the room.

Bright and early the next morning we were up and out. This was going to be a big day. We had to drive into the town that was still sixty miles away, but we also had to find and meet up with Gonzo to find out about the jobs and still find a place or places for all of us to stay.

Marcus had arranged for us to all meet at our motel which gave us extra time to sleep and to have a nice breakfast. He tried to stuff me with both bacon and sausages and sweet rolls. He told me that we didn't know when or even if there'd be time for lunch. So we should eat while we could.

I had to admit it, being on the road again, even though Marcus made it tolerable, wasn't as much fun as it used to be. In fact, it was pretty boring and scary at the same time. We didn't know anyone. The drivers of cars and semis could be rude and even mean sometimes. They sometimes tried to crowd us off of the road either purposefully or just because they didn't give us a thought.

About an hour after we left the motel, we were cruising down the highway, cheerfully whooping it up. We were happy because after three days on the road the end of the trip was in sight. We were going about 80 just slightly above the speed limit when everyone pulled over into one lane. I wondered why.

"Car," said Marcus. I didn't understand. Very few cars could keep up with us. Before I knew it, I heard and felt the car as it rocketed past us. We were doing eighty and the car sailed past us like we were standing still. A couple of the younger crazier guys went after it to put the driver in his place. They didn't catch him.

As Trey slowed down and Marcus caught up to him I could hear them yelling over the sounds of their motors. I'd felt weird when the car passed us. The car had been a Mustang of some sort. The car was red with black trim. Even the wheels were red to match the body panels. The car was similar to Ray's Mustang but a different color. It also sounded beefier.

"We were doing better than a hundred and ten," yelled Trey. "And he just kept pulling away from us. Even on the curves that thing had only a trace of body roll."

"It was a Boss 302," yelled Marcus. "Those things are barely street legal. Some of them have roll cages and no back seats. They're designed for racing." Trey nodded his head.

About five miles further down the road my world came apart. We pulled into the parking lot of a seven eleven and the red car was there. As some of us headed for the rest room on the side of the building, others opted for coffee or snacks. Trey got off of his bike and his silly girlfriend stayed on it. Beth was nowhere in sight.

"Hey Grandma," said Trey's girl to me. "Is it hard on your old bones riding these days?"

I ignored her. She kept talking.

Beth wandered over to me. "My God that's beautiful," said the girl. "I want one."

"That cars starts at almost fifty grand," said Marcus.

"I wasn't talking about the car," said the girl. Trey looked up angrily to see what she was talking about. Beth's mouth dropped open and she grabbed my hand.

"I had no idea," said Marcus. "Christi, I swear I didn't know..."

"What?" I asked.

"I want that," said the girl, getting off of Trey's bike.

Trey erupted. "Sit your ass back on this fucking bike," he spat. He headed for the car. The driver of the car was placing a tray of coffee cups on the roof of the car while he fished for his keys. Trey walked up to him and started yelling. As the driver looked up he was eerily calm. I hadn't recognized him. His hair was cut so much shorter than I ever remembered, but once I saw his face, I almost blacked out.

Trey took a swing at him out of pure rage. He caught Trey's fist, twisted his arm back on itself and Trey screamed in pain. He threw Trey almost casually on the ground and walked after him. A couple of the other guys got off of their bikes just as Marcus ran over and stood over Trey.

"King, don't hurt him," said Marcus. "He's young and stupid, but he's one of us."

"Hey Marcus," said King. "Hey, Digger, Phil, Steve. If I'd wanted to hurt him, I would have broken his arm instead of just twisting it."

Then he started laughing. Beth grabbed my arm excitedly. "Christina, it's..."

"Shut up idiot," I hissed. "I don't want him to see me like this. Get up there and find out what's going on. No, you'll just fuck it up. I'll let Marcus tell me."

"What the fuck are you two old biddies talking about?" asked the girl.

"The guy driving the Mustang is the old leader of our club," said Beth. "And he's kind of Christina's ex."

"You let that get away from you?" asked the girl, shaking her head.

"Well don't worry," she said. "I'll take good care of him."

She fluffed out her hair and licked her lips. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked.

"You know how this goes Grandma," she said. "Two guys fight over a girl. If the girl is willing, the winner gets her. Mr. Hotness just won me, by beating Trey's ass. He didn't even break a sweat doing it either. He must want me really bad."

"He hasn't even seen you yet, you psychotic whore," I said. I was so pissed that I'd already started clenching my fists.

"Well, once he does, he'll like what he sees," she said smiling. "He'll especially like it if I'm standing near you. I'm younger, I'm prettier, I'm built better and I'll do whatever it takes to keep him happy. Whatever it was, that broke you guys up, won't be an issue. I'll be..."

"Picking your fucking teeth up off the ground," I screamed as I threw my fist at her. My first punch landed squarely in that area between her nose and her left eye. She staggered back and I followed her. She looked shocked, but she quickly recovered. She started screaming and turned things into a girl-fight. She grabbed my hair and started trying to scratch me and drag me to the ground. I needed to get some distance between us so I kicked her in the stomach. As the wind went out of her I punched her in the side of her head and knocked her down. I got on top of her and straddled her. My legs had her arms pinned to the sides and I just punched her in the face as hard as I could. I reached back to punch her again even harder but before my fist landed, someone grabbed me around my waist and lifted me away from her.

"Let me go," I screamed angrily. "I'm going to kill her fucking ass."

"Christi, let it go. It's over," said Marcus. "Look at her. Whatever you were fighting over, you've already won. You and I aren't the kind of people, who need to hurt someone really badly to prove a point, are we?"

"I guess not," I said.

Trey was helping the girl, whose name I still didn't know, to her feet. Her face was a mask of bruises and her left eye was already starting to swell. Beth came over to us shaking her head.

"You did that all wrong," she smirked. "Your second good shot shouldn't have been to the side of her head. That was the one that really rang her bell but you should have punched her in the other eye so she'd have a matching set. And you didn't deliver on your promise at all. You told that bitch that she'd be picking her teeth up, but you never hit her in the mouth and..." She stopped talking when she saw the way that Marcus and I were looking at her.

I tried to be slick about it, but I looked around to see if King had noticed my fight. Not only did I not see him, I didn't even see his fancy Mustang anywhere.

"He was gone before your fight ever started," said Marcus. "But don't worry, I'm sure you'll see him around. It turns out that it isn't really a coincidence that a company is looking to hire bikers during the winter months. King owns the company we're going to work for. Gonzo works for him."

He looked in one of the bike's side carriers and got a small first aid kit. He had me sit down while he wiped the few small scratches I had with an alcohol wipe and then dabbed a first aid cream on them. I had one small scratch on my neck. The others were on my hands and wrists.

Digger, who was supposedly the club's leader, called everyone together. Marcus and I started to go to listen to what he had to say. Trey was going too. He told his girlfriend to just sit on the bike and shut up. She could barely stand up.

I knew Marcus would tell me whatever was going on, so I went over to the girl. As I walked up to her, she tried to look hard, but I could see that she was on the verge of tears.

I reached out my hand and she flinched. "I'm sorry," she said. "Please don't hit me anymore." I moved her hair away from her face and pinned it behind her ear. I reached into the first aid kit and got a chemical ice pack. I squeezed it to activate it and placed it against the side of her face. Beth started putting ointment on her scratches.

"I'm sorry too...uhm?" I paused because I still didn't know her name.

"Alicia," she said. "It really was my fault. Sometimes I don't know when to shut up and..." She just started crying then. She wasn't just sniffling as a release from the tension and stress of the fight, she was crying like a little girl. Beth and I looked at each other and shook our heads.

I wrapped my arms around the crying girl and rubbed her back as she sobbed uncontrollably. "I didn't mean any of that stuff, but they always tell you to act tough when you're scared so no one will know just how afraid you are. When I do that, usually people always back off, but you just started beating the shit out of me. I'm not tough..."

"Alicia, you don't have to be tough," I said. "You have friends now."

We talked for a little while longer until Marcus came back. "We have the rest of the day for most of us to find some place to stay at least temporarily," he said. "We're all meeting at a park near Gonzo's place for a picnic tonight. There are some interesting things going on."

Trey looked at Alicia. He saw the ice pack she was holding on her face. "Can I use that for a while?" he asked. She started to give it to him.

"What do you need it for?" I asked. His eyes went to the ground.

"My shoulder hurts really badly," he said. I shook my head. I got back off of the bike and got the first aid kit out again. I cleaned and applied ointment to several big scrapes he'd gotten on his arm when King threw him on the ground. It also appeared that he had a minor shoulder strain from the joint lock King had done. I gave him an ice pack of his own.

"Thank you ma'am," he said. For some reason he reminded me of a younger version of Ray before he started running the club and became King.

"Trey, you're not a bad guy," I said. "I think we just got off on the wrong foot. Can you do me a favor?"

He nodded. "Make Alicia wear the helmet. You're the guy, you're tough. If you guys get into an accident or a spill, you'll see it coming and be able to prepare yourself; she won't."

"But she says the helmet messes up her make-up and her hair," he said.

"Make her wear it. And just buy another helmet when you get the chance. Until then I'll scout around and see if someone has a spare so you're both safe," I said.

"Yes ma'am," he said. He handed the helmet to Alicia and she put it on.

"I'll see you guys at the picnic," I said.

I replaced the first aid kit as Marcus watched me, smiling the whole time. He shook his head and then put his own helmet over his long dreadlocks.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing ma'am," he said. "You just never cease to amaze me."

"Don't start with that ma'am shit," I said. "I already feel old enough as it is."

Surprisingly enough, Marcus drove away from the main roads. He had a hooded mounting place on his handlebars for his phone. He put the phone there and it served as a GPS unit. We pulled into a quiet neighborhood full of small well-kept houses.

Marcus drove into the driveway of one of those. As we got ready to get off of the bike, a head popped over the fence that shielded the backyard. The head had lots of frizzy reddish curls and an almost comically exaggerated nose.

"Hey Gonzo," I yelled. He looked at me and almost went into shock. He waved guardedly. He opened the gate and we walked into a small yard that was beautifully landscaped. Gonzo continued staring at me.

A short, chunky, cherubic looking woman came over and took my hand. "I'm Peggy, George's wife," she said. "He's not always this rude."

"I'm...I'm...I'm just surprised to see her," said Gonzo.

"Your name is George?" I asked.

"Christina, why are you here?" he asked.

"I told you that I was bringing someone," said Marcus defensively. "You said it would be fine."

"I didn't know it was her," said Gonzo.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Peggy. "She seems nice and..." Peggy had a soft southern accent that I loved as soon as I heard it.

"She is nice," said Marcus.

"Yeah, she's nice, I guess," said Gonzo.

"Is she like some old girlfriend of yours, Honey?" asked Peggy. "I don't mind as long as she realizes that you're ma..."

"Oh it's way worse than that," said Gonzo.

"Why, do you two have a kid together or something?" asked Peggy.

"Why would she want someone like me, Peg?" he asked. "Get serious."

"Well, I want someone like you," she smiled.

"Sweetie, remember when I told you the stories about my biker days. Remember the stories about me and RAY?" he asked. He emphasized Ray.

"Oh Shit," she said. "Is this THAT Christina?"

"Yep," he said.

The next few minutes were spent with the two of them staring at me like I had three heads. "Well, maybe it won't be that bad," said Peggy. "Let me show you where you'll be staying."

Peggy showed us to a really nice mother in law apartment over their garage. I was shocked. I'd been expecting much worse. The apartment had its own tiny kitchen and bathroom. While it didn't have a hot tub, I thought that we'd be fine.

She left us to look around the place while she went off to make lunch.

Marcus looked nervous.

"What were they talking about?" I asked.

"I'll take the couch," said Marcus.

"Okay, what are you talking about?" I asked.

"This place only has one bedroom," he said.

"Marcus, am I evil or something?" I asked.

"Not that I know about," he said.

"Then why did Gonzo treat me like I was the antichrist?" I asked, putting my hand on his brawny shoulder.

"We should probably get down there," he said. "It's kind of rude for us to stay here when we know they're making lunch for us."

I got the feeling that he was hiding something or at least trying to avoid answering me. I let it go but decided that he and I would talk soon.

Peggy made us a very tasty lunch. I found myself exchanging silent glances with Marcus that Peggy eventually caught wind of.

"Is there something wrong with the food?" she asked. Marcus and I burst out laughing.

"Just the opposite," he said. "Peggy, we haven't had a home cooked meal in so long we'd both forgotten how good food can taste. We pretty much live on fast food and snacks."

Peggy smiled and kicked Gonzo under the table.

"What was that for?" he yelped. "You already know I like your cooking. If I didn't, I wouldn't be this fat. Even Angela asks you for cooking tips and..." Peggy's eyes got big and Gonzo stopped talking so abruptly that it was like he tried to suck his words back in.