Chapter 11
ELEVEN
Oro
Ah, mi isla.
The best part about living on a tropical island is the fact that I don’t have to go far to find a little slice of heaven.
Today that slice of heaven comes in the form of the small beach my patch brothers and I are at.
Since we’ve done the renovations on the club, our side businesses have started to uptick, but it’s nothing like what it once was. It will take a while before the community realizes we are back and here to stay.
That’s why these little events are perfect for us to show up at. Not only will the locals get to interact with us, but if there are any visitors or future clients, the beach is an open and non-intimidating place for them to introduce themselves to us.
Today’s event is to put a focus on some of the awesome food trucks that have been popping up on the island. Most are traditional Puerto Rican fare, but there are a few outliers that I’m sure will get a lot of interested buyers. Everyone wants to try the new thing.
The group of us are here in shorts and bare-chested.
Our bikes are parked in a row under the closest set of palm trees.
We’re already getting quite the crowd around us.
It doesn’t hurt that Coca has dolled up the club bunnies, both the veteran faithful ones and the new ones that we’ve just gotten on board, to come and join the party.
The music bumps through the open area, Bad Bunny, and a steady stream of beer allows everyone to shed some of their inhibitions.
I pull my long blond hair up into a bun and lean back on the sand as I watch Pooh lunge for Coca, picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder.
Coca is a little woman compared to Pooh. He’s a big man, but over the years he’s lost quite a bit of weight. Still not enough for him to be able to control a motorcycle safely, but at least he’s getting his health in order.
Pooh may not be a patched brother, but he’s been with the club for so long as our IT specialist that everyone here already sees him as family.
Coca squeals and slaps at his back, screaming something about cursing him if he dares throw her in the water.
Pooh instantly stops.
Smart man.
I wouldn’t bet against Coca’s hexing skills. I don’t fully believe in all that spiritual crap, but I’m not going to chance it.
My eyes drift to the left for what feels like the millionth time since we’ve been out here. Once again I’m pissed off.
Yet another man is standing next to Estrella. I don’t know him, but it sure does look like he’s trying to get better acquainted with her.
They laugh, but Estrella looks uneasy, as if she’s waiting for him to go away but trying not to be impolite about it.
It almost seems like she doesn’t like all the attention she’s getting. That’s fucking laughable. When we were younger, I remember her thriving on attention.
I don’t know what is said, but soon the man walks away from her. Estrella isn’t on her own for very long. Not more than ten seconds later, a different man strides up to her.
Now I can’t keep my eyes off the interaction. I want to not care, but the fact that it looks like she’s uncomfortable is painting her as hypocritical in my mind.
Is she truly that much of a stuck-up priss that she has to act like that? Does she think she’s too good for the people in this area? Too good to be associated with the club?
I have to stop myself from jumping up when I watch the man put his hand on her waist.
Who the fuck does he think he is touching her?
Instantly I squelch the emotion down. I force myself to look away from the two of them and take stock of what’s going on inside of me.
Is this jealousy?
No. Fuck that.
I don’t want Estrella. She’s gorgeous, has a body that most women will pay for, and is sharp as a fucking whip, but I don’t want her.
When I was younger and living in the same house as her, I did have some very intense fantasies about her.
I’ve come hundreds of times thinking about her body or those pouty, luscious lips, but I always chalked that up to being a teenager living next to a bouncy, blossoming girl.
I’m sure I’ve jerked off to dozens of women I would never think about being with. She’s in that category.
I’m sure what I’m feeling right now is anger due to her just being here. Happy. She’s got a smile on her face when I would prefer her to be in the corner somewhere miserable.
With a new goal in mind, I get up and make my way in her direction.
“I’m saying, is this Seda place the only way for me to get in contact with you? Can’t we meet up somewhere else? I’m only here for a few days and I’d hate to—”
I can hear what the man is saying as I move closer to them. I should wait for Estrella to answer, but I’m not about to allow anyone to undermine what we’ve got going on in the club.
“You want to find yourself a girlfriend, check the boardwalk or the marketplace.” I glare at the man, who is shocked that I’ve just inserted myself into their conversation. “She’s working right now. Fuck off.” I growl, and that’s enough to get the man scurrying away.
“I guess that’s one way to end the conversation,” Estrella says and looks off into the distance at the bright blue water lapping at the sandy shore.
“If you wanted to end the conversation, you could’ve simply said you weren’t interested.” I grumble and stand next to her.
“Isn’t the point of us being here today to try and find more clients? I thought you guys wanted us as approachable as possible.”
She isn’t wrong about that. It won’t do the club or Seda any good if the girls all act like they can’t be bothered.
“Why are you standing here like you’d rather be anywhere else, anyway?”
She turns her gaze to me. “Is it really that hard for you to believe that I don’t naturally like the limelight?”
“Yeah, that’s really hard for me to believe. Besides, doesn’t the limelight come with the territory of looking like that?”
Her face falls. She glances down at her outfit before crossing her arms over her chest as if she’s trying to cover up.
“I told Coca this wasn’t a good choice for me.”
“What? Why not?”
She rolls her eyes as if I’m asking her something that’s obvious. I look her over again, trying to figure out what I’m missing. I don’t see anything.
“Oro, if you’re just trying to find another way to humiliate me, just stop. I’m already humiliated enough having to parade around in something like this.”
Now I’m really confused. This is the same woman who just the day before had stripped with so much confidence it would have made anyone believe that naked was her most comfortable state. “Why would you having to wear a bathing suit be the reason to be humiliated?”
“Because… it’s one thing when a crowd knows what they are getting. When they are expecting a strip tease or whatever. I use what I have to the best of my abilities. Here, at the beach, people didn’t sign up to look at someone like me.”
“Someone like you…?”
“A pig, uggo, slob, aesthetically unpleasing… whatever you want to call it.” She stares at me, waiting for me to respond, but all I can do is blink at her.
I can’t comprehend what she’s saying. I speak two different languages and I’m sure none of what she’s just said translates.
“Pig? Uggo? Are you really trying to get me to believe that you see yourself as ugly?” My eyebrows jump up to nearly my hairline.
“Oro… I know I’m not pretty. I’ve never been pretty.
I just have all the parts most men want to see on one body.
I’m what most people refer to as a double bagger.
” She laughs at herself, but that only infuriates me more.
I stare at her for a second and wait for the joke or the psych to fall from her mouth, but it doesn’t come. She really believes that shit.
“You’re out of your fucking mind. You think all these men are falling over themselves to get to you because you only have the right parts?
You’re an absolute knockout, Starlight. Gorgeous in ways I didn’t think were possible.
That’s true for now and for the past. I don’t know when or how you got it in your mind that you were ugly, but that shit isn’t a good look on you. ”
She opens her mouth once, closes it, then opens it again before words come out. “You think I’m pretty?”
“No, I don’t think you’re pretty. I think you’re every one of my fucking wet dreams come to life.
I think your type of beauty is why people used to start all the damn wars.
I think you’re everything any man on this beach or on this island would dream of waking up next to.
I don’t think you’re just pretty. I think you’re a fucking visionary miracle. ”
She pants and leans forward slightly as if she’s about to swoon, but catches herself just in time.
“Santiago… Dios mío, it sounds like you’ve had a long time to think about that.” Her eyes are glued on mine and I can see the sparks of desire.
This is a good development.
Now I know it’s not just me who has had these unconventional thoughts. If I were to kiss her right now, she’d gladly accept it. The idea sets off a series of conflicts inside of me.
I want to know what her lips taste like. I want to own and destroy every part of her. I want to be her everything, so when I send her on her merry way she would truly know what it felt like to lose everything.
But on the opposite side of all that intense desire and lust is the ever-growing disgust from just being in her presence.
“You’re right. I spent way too many nights in my younger years lusting and fantasizing about you, but I’ve spent double the amount of nights hating the very air you breathe. I can want to fuck you and still wish you’d die a horrible death only suitable for sniveling little cunts like you.”
She snaps back as if I’d just physically hit her.
I’m not that much of an asshole, but I know I’m not far away from it. Just to make sure I don’t cross that line, I turn on my heel and walk away from her, leaving her standing in the sand staring at my back.
The event at the beach was a success. Not only did we make a few new friends from the States, but the community was able to see that the Royal Bastards were still very much active and staying around.
To top that off, Seda got an influx of new clients.
It’s nearly one in the morning and all I want to do is take myself to sleep, except I can’t.
I’m thinking about everything I said to Estrella on the beach.
I meant every last word, from me wanting her to have a horrible death to the fact that I thought she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.
All of it was coming from a place of intense emotion.
I shouldn’t have said any of it, but I can’t take it back now.
I’m not going to be ashamed of it either.
Not only am I thinking about what I said, but also about what’s going on now.
We’ve got new clients, which means undoubtedly one of them will probably pop a fucking coronary trying to get some time with Estrella. Someone is probably over there right now fucking her brains out. She’s moaning and creaming all over another man’s dick.
“Fuck!” I yell to no one in particular as I turn over in my bed and punch the pillow.
I need to get a fucking grip. She’s not my woman.
I don’t want her as my damn woman. So why should it matter who the hell Estrella chooses to have sex with?
She could get plowed through by a damn football team, back to back, and it shouldn’t make a fucking difference to me.
It shouldn’t, but it does.
There’s no way that I’m going to be able to fall asleep now, not with my mind racing like it is. So I get up out of the bed and do a little shadowboxing. What is supposed to be a simple half-paced exercise quickly turns into an all-out battle with the man in the mirror.
My hands move fast. I’m bobbing and weaving to get away from the invisible punches flying back in my direction.
I don’t know how long I’m going at it, but when Lobo kicks my door open, I’m nearly about to collapse from exhaustion.
“What the hell, man? You ever heard of privacy?”
“I forgot to give you the damn pager.” He rushes forward into my room and hands me a small electrical device. It truly looks like one of those neon transparent pagers people used to wear in the nineties.
“What pager?” I ask as I fumble what he’s giving me, dropping it to the floor.
“The pager for Seda. If they need something or there are issues, they hit the button on the reception desk and it triggers a panic button.” Lobo leans forward and points at the pager I’ve picked up from the floor. “Panic button.”
“So you needed to kick in my door to tell me about a pager?” I squint at him, more than just a little pissed that he isn’t respecting my space.
“You never know when an emergency—” Before he can finish the statement, the pager in my hand shakes and flashing lights go off.
I stare at it like it’s a joke before I look back up at Lobo, waiting for him to start laughing. “You rigged this, didn’t you?”
“Fuck, no!” He barks before he takes off out of my room like a bat out of hell, running straight out of the clubhouse in the direction of Seda. I’m close on his heels.
Before we even make it across, we hear the one sound that threatens to rip the soul straight out of my body.
Gunshots.