Nomad's

"Uncle Bull! I haven't seen you in forever." She said before she reached up on her toes and kissed the man on his cheek.

Uncle? Oh, fuck. Had Tank just fucked the owner's niece? He had known Bull for about a year. And he was one of the toughest, meanest, hardest men he had ever met. Seeing the guy acting so lovey dovey was almost...weird.

"What are you doing in this neck of the woods, little girl? Last I heard you were working at some carnival out in Texas or something." Bull said. Tank, as well as several others, was listening to their conversation. What the hell was she doing working at a carnival, he wondered. He thought she was a waitress.

"The money was shitty." She answered. "So I started working the renaissance faires this year. The pay is better, and the people aren't so weird."

"Are you sticking to the old pick a card stuff?" He asked her.

"Sometimes. It just depends on the crowd." She said.

"Are you a con artist or something?" Tank asked her. He hadn't pegged her for the type, but he didn't actually know anything about her. Coco glared at him, but Bull was the one to answer.

"Hell, no! She's a mind reader." The older man proclaimed proudly.

Tank and several of the other people who were listening laughed in genuine disbelief. None of them thought that mind readers were real. Con artists were just really good at what they did. And Tank didn't think for one minute that Coco was old enough to have gotten so good at it that she could make a living at it.

"You think I'm lying?" Bull asked with a menacing look on his face that silenced everyone in the bar.

"No offense, Bull. But that kind of thing just isn't real. I mean...I've seen psychics and stuff on tv here and there who are supposed to be the real deal, but those people are rich as fuck and sure as hell wouldn't be working in some shitty little diner."

Coco was insulted that Tank seemed to think so little of her. Did he really just assume that she was a fake who ripped people off? What an asshole! Oh, well. It wasn't as if they had gotten to know each other at all yet. They had met and skipped all the usual aspects of dating, going straight to fucking.

Coco climbed back over the bar and stood in front of Tank, glaring up at him. Bull grabbed a simple deck of cards out of a drawer and stepped out from behind the bar. He was practically growling at Tank when he gave him the cards.

"Shuffle them, and then split them up between you and a few others." Bull hissed angrily. "Unplug the damn jukebox!" He bellowed to no one in particular. Someone obeyed him, and the room grew eerily quiet as everyone was suddenly watching them. Coco turned her back to the small crowd, and Bull covered her eyes with a handkerchief from his pocket.

"That better be clean, Uncle Bull." She teased as he tied the makeshift blindfold behind her head. Just to be sure that nobody doubted her, Coco put her hands over her eyes on top of the handkerchief for good measure.

"Look at one of the cards." Bull said to Tank with a scowl. The man was pissed, but Tank was too curious to care. "What's the card, Coco?" Bull asked her.

"The queen of hearts." She answered immediately. There wasn't any hesitancy in her voice. And she was right! Tank's mouth dropped open in shock. He looked at her closely to see if she could see the card from where she was. Her hands were still covering her eyes, and the blindfold was firmly in place.

"Now someone else!" Bull yelled. One by one, different people held up cards. But they were never facing Coco. She was on the other side of the room, and she was correct every single time she said what card they were holding. Once she had gone through the whole deck, everyone erupted into loud applause.

Bull took the blindfold off and hugged Coco. They were both smiling when Tank came over to her and kissed her. She wanted to stay mad at him, but he was giving her the puppy dog eyes. Coco rolled her eyes at him dramatically and allowed him to pull her into his arms. Bull, who had been happy only a moment earlier...was instantly frowning again.

"You know Tank?" He asked her.

Coco smiled up at Bull sweetly and simply said, "I only met him today. He's letting me stay in his room with him while I'm in town."

"What thefuck?!" Bull yelled. His skin was turning red, and Tank was afraid the old man was going to hit him, or shoot him. Or both.

"Don't worry, Uncle Bull." Coco added, rubbing the man's arm in an attempt to calm him down. "I can take care of myself. We're just fucking."

Bull looked like a volcano that was about to explode, and Tank couldn't believe she had just said that. It took a lot to surprise a man like him, but she had done it. He squared his shoulders and prepared himself for a fight, knowing full well that Bull could decide to throw him out on his ass for pissing him off.

"If you hurt her, I'll kick your ass." The man snarled.

"I just met the woman, Bull. We're not planning on getting married." Tank replied sarcastically.

"Then maybe you should have kept your dick in your pants." Bull said angrily.

"I'm a big girl, Uncle Bull. And I'm not doing anything that I don't want to do." Coco said. "I knew what was going to happen when I came here with Tank. So, get over it."

Well, shit. Tank had never heard anyone put Bull in his place before. He got his nickname for a good reason. The man had a temper like a raging bull, and getting on his bad side was never a good idea. But Coco spoke to him like he was a normal person who didn't have a tendency to put people in the hospital.

One of the other men came over to them then and started asking Coco questions. "How'd you do that?" He asked. "Is it magic?"

"Nope. I really am a mind reader. I just looked into your mind and picked the card out of your head. Easy!" She answered as if her ability was the most normal thing in the world.

"Easy?!" The man yelled. "What else can you see in my head?"

"Whatever I want to see." Coco replied a little nervously. Being able to read people's minds was as much a curse as it was a gift. People kept some of their thoughts private for a good reason. There was true evil in the minds of some of the people she had read over the last couple of years. And then there were the customers who would drag their spouses into her tent at carnivals or faires to find out if they were cheating. She hated doing those readings.

"What do you see inmy future?" A woman asked her sarcastically. She clearly didn't like all the attention that Coco was getting. It was then that she recognized the woman from Tank's bedroom when she had first arrived. Tank had assured her that the woman wasn't his girlfriend. But someone seemed to have forgotten to tell the woman that.

"I'm not a psychic. I don't tell futures." Coco replied defensively. But she wasn't going to let this bitch make her feel like she was being dishonest. She didn't usually like taking people down a notch, but the memory of seeing the woman naked in Tank's bed pissed her off.

"So, I'll just pluck a recent memory out of your mind. And you can tell me if I'm right. Ok?"

The woman, whose name was Trixie, seemed to lose her confidence and barely nodded. Suddenly, she didn't like the idea of someone digging around in her head. She had plenty of secrets and bad memories to hide. But to admit that would be to admit that the new girl wasn't a phony. So, she stood her ground and waited to see what Coco would say.

Coco grabbed Trixie's hands and looked deeply into her eyes. Then, she closed her eyes and focused. At first, what she saw was nothing she hadn't seen a hundred times before. Trixie with bikers. Having sex. Drinking. But she was looking for something that would embarrass the woman. She knew it was petty, but the little witch had all but dared her.

Then she saw Trixie having a conversation with a biker whose leather vest had a name on the back of it. It said Legion of Hades. Trixie was walking up to the man from behind, and when she was in front of him...Coco could see what he looked like. He was a tall white guy with a goatee and a bald head. His most prominent feature was a long scar on his face that went from just under the corner of his right eye to his nose.

"We'll be at the Nomad's Tavern in a few days. Make sure you clear out of there before then. I wouldn't want to see that pretty little face get blown off when we kill those fuckers." The man said. Holy shit! A biker club was planning on storming Uncle Bull's bar! Coco gasped and dropped Trixie's hands.

"How fucking stupid could you be?" Coco spat. "Why would you let me read your mind when you knew what I'd find?"

Trixie's previously smug expression changed in an instant to absolute terror. "I thought you were a fake! Fuck!" She yelled before she bolted for the door.

"Stop her!" Coco screamed. One of the men who had been standing near the door easily caught the fleeing woman and dragged her kicking and screaming back to where Coco, Tank, and Bull were standing.

"What's the matter, Trixie?" The man taunted as she squirmed in his arms. "Did she see what a freak you are behind closed doors?"

"Who are The Legion of Hades?" Coco asked seriously, and every eye in the bar was on her once again. The man who was holding Trixie tightened his grip at the mention of the club that had been trying to buy the bar from Bull for weeks.

Bull cussed a blue streak before he finally answered her. "They're a motorcycle club that's trying to buy my bar. I've told their presidentno a dozen times. I guess he decided not to take fuck off as an answer."

"I say we torture this little bitch for more information." One of the men said, pointing to Trixie. She began sobbing uncontrollably and begging Bull not to kill her.

"As much as I'd like to beat the shit out of her myself, violence won't be necessary." Coco said before she grabbed Trixie's hands again none too gently. When the woman fought to free herself from Coco's grasp, the man holding her put one of his hands around her throat.

"We can do this their way," Coco said, motioning to the men. "Or we can do it my way." Trixie nodded frantically and immediately stopped struggling. Coco tightened her grip on the little traitor's hands and concentrated.

"They'll be here in two days. Trixie's been fucking their enforcer for a couple of months. He told her that they were going to kill whoever happens to be here when they storm the bar, and then they'll torture Bull until he signs over the business before they kill him." Coco said with disgust before she knocked Trixie out with one punch. She was absolutely furious that the woman had been willing to let Bull be murdered without saying a word.

"Put that little skank in one of the empty rooms and lock her in. Make sure there's a man guarding the door 24/7. I don't want her running back to those fuckers and telling them I know what they're up to." Bull said angrily.

Bull went behind the bar and began lining up shots of vodka. He was angry enough to spit nails, and he found himself regretting that he didn't belong to a club that could back him up and give him the kind of man power that he would need to fight off The Legion of Hades. Fuck. But, like his patrons, he wasn't the kind of man who could take orders from a president.

"Scan the minds of the others." He told Coco. "Sorry, boys." He said to the men in the bar without sounding genuinely apologetic. If anybody else had sold him out, he was going to shoot someone. "I need to be sure nobody else here is a rat."

Reading so many people was going to be too draining if Coco tried to scan their minds for deception or malice towards Bull one at a time. So she stood in the middle of the room next to the stripper pole and told everyone to form a circle around her and to make physical contact with each other. They did what she said, but the men weren't about to hold hands. They'd rather have Bull shoot them where they stood. Instead, they touched each other's shoulders. That was good enough.

Coco smiled at Tank and grabbed one of his hands. She put her other hand on his chest and closed her eyes. Her brows furrowed in deep concentration as she searched the minds of everyone in the room for any sign that they were a part of the plot to torture and kill Bull. Her relief was written all over her face when she let go and practically collapsed into Tank's arms.

He picked her up and sat in a chair with her in his lap. Bull came over and gave her a strong drink. Her grogginess and fatigue slowly left her as the burn of the vodka slid down her throat and brought her back to her senses. She looked up at the man she had known and loved as an uncle her entire life. Coco couldn't stand the idea of him getting killed.

"They're ok, Uncle Bull." She told him as she curled into Tank's arms.

"Alright, then." Bull said, addressing the men. "This is going to get bloody. I'm not giving up my bar without a fight, and I can't ask any of you to stand by me. None of you belong to a club for a reason. You answer to no one, just like me."

Bull could barely believe it when five of the men, including Tank, stayed behind after the others left. The women left too. They weren't about to get caught in the crossfire. And besides, none of them were old ladies. They were just local tramps who wanted to tell their friends that they fucked a biker.

The remaining guys were men Bull had known for a long time. He had given them a place to stay, filled their bellies, and bailed them out of jail more times than any of them could count. There was no way they were going to abandon him. Even if it meant they'd go down in flames too.

Bull wasn't an emotional man, so he just nodded to each man and shook their hand. They understood each other. Then he turned to Coco, and he knew he was in for an argument with her. He had been her father's best friend, and he had watched her grow up. She was going to want to stay, and the thought of her being in danger because of him put him in an even worse mood.

He pulled her up out of Tank's lap and held her firmly by the shoulders. He knew that trying to scare her into obeying him was going to be useless. The woman was as tough as her father, and she wasn't going to leave willingly. Still...he had to try.

"I want you to leave. It isn't safe here." He told her.

Coco shook her head and wrapped her arms around Bull's waist. "The only way you can force me to leave is if you have Tank or one of the others take me away. And that will leave you down one fighter. I can help, Uncle Bull." She said as she clung to him.

Bull gently pushed her away from him. He knew she was going to be difficult. "Can you still shoot a gun?" He asked her, hating that he was going to have to give in just to keep her from doing something stupid that would only end up getting her killed.

Coco raised her eyebrow at him and narrowed her eyes. "Of course. I know I won't be any good to you in a fist fight with these fuckers, but I can still shoot a gun better than most." She proclaimed proudly. Her father had taught her how to fight like a man and handle weapons so that she'd be able to defend herself.

"Come with me." Bull said, leading her to a thick door that led to the roof. Coco was surprised that there was an electronic keypad on it. He punched in a number, and she recognized it as her father's birthday. Bull and her dad had been the best of friends. And it had hit Bull hard when his friend had died.

When they got to the roof, Coco saw that the entire top of the building had some kind of metal reinforced wall with several holes in it. It was low to the ground, only about waist high. And she was intrigued as to what it was for.

There was also a large metal box that Bull opened with a key. The box was filled with enough ammo to take down a small army, and eight high powered rifles. The guns were the top of the line, and Coco was genuinely impressed. Bull walked over to the side of the building that faced the lonely stretch of highway that led to the bar.

"The Legion of Hades want my bar because of its remote location. They're a small time club based about 20 miles away from here, but their president wants to expand his territory. And my place is perfect for what he wants, because it's in the middle of nowhere. There isn't a single other building for 5 miles." He explained to her.

"That means that no one can sneak up on us here. We can literally see an enemy coming from miles away. These walls are bullet proof." He continued, pointing to the low walls that ran along the length of the entire roof.

"The holes are for the rifles. It takes less than ten men to mow down most threats, and that's another reason they want my bar. If you insist on staying for this fight, thenthis is where you'll be the most help to me."

Wow. Bull had thought of everything. Not being in a club meant that he had to have ways of dealing with threats that didn't require a lot of men. In a pinch, he could stay on the roof by himself if he had to and trick his enemies into thinking that he had more help than he really did. And without any other buildings around, The Legion of Hades wouldn't have anywhere to hide or duck for cover when the shooting started.

"You're a genius, Uncle Bull." Coco said, throwing her arms around him and kissing his cheek. "But I'll need a little help." She added, pulling out her phone.

"Who the fuck are you calling, little girl?" Bull growled at her. He didn't want anyone else putting themselves at risk for him. He tried to take the phone away from her, but she was much younger and faster than he was. She evaded his grasp and grinned at him.

"Sin?" She said when someone answered the phone.

"Oh,hell no!" Bull screamed, trying again to catch her so that he could throw the damn phone off the roof. "Your mother will kill me if both of you are in danger!"

Coco simply winked at him and stayed one step ahead of him. "Uncle Bull needs you. Bring your toys." There were a few minutes of silence on Coco's end while she listened, then she gave Sin the address of the bar and hung up.

"You little shit." Bull raged. "I'd rather deal with a hundred enemy bikers than have to face your mother if anything happens to you and your sister.Fuck! I must have been out of my mind letting you stay."

"You know damn well that Sin is an expert sniper, thanks to dad's training. I'm good with a gun, but having her here will double our chances." Coco said, giving Bull her best pouty face and doe eyes. She knew he couldn't stay mad at her, and sure enough...he pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head.

"When will she be here?" Bull asked her as they were walking back down the stairs to the bar.

"She'll arrive by tomorrow afternoon. But maybe you shouldn't tell the guys about her just yet. They might be insulted at the idea of a woman being part of this fight." Coco said with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

"She'll win them over. Or she'll kick their asses." Bull replied, amusement in his eyes at the thought of his friends trying to give Sin a hard time. He knew she wouldn't have a problem showing them that she was a capable fighter.

Once they were back in the bar, Bull informed his friends that he was going to have to keep the bar open so that his enemies wouldn't figure out that he knew they were coming. He had no doubt that they would send a scout to see how many men they would be up against. And it would look suspicious if he suddenly closed his doors to the public.

"I'll be able to tell you when someone is here scouting for weaknesses, or just counting how many men you have, Uncle Bull." Coco said, glad that she was going to be able to use her unique talent to help.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, two men came into the bar that Bull didn't recognize. That wasn't out of the ordinary, because his bar catered to the stragglers of the biker community. He got a lot of customers who were just passing through. But, as he had been doing all day...Bull immediately looked to Coco to see if she reacted negatively to the newcomers. Sure enough, she frowned and nodded at him.