7. Towles
7
Towles
W e passed Smith’s Funeral Home on the way to Hogzz to find the Punishers. I hated that my siblings blamed me for our parents’ deaths. I didn’t even fucking know they were going to be in town. My brother sent me a text that he wouldn’t be in town. That was it. I replied, love you, bro. I heard nothing back.
Tom, my brother, was worse than my sister Sabrina. He was a judgmental asshole; he didn’t understand I had fewer options than him. Yes, I’d fucked up by laundering money in college. I got mixed up with the wrong people, which sent life in a completely different direction from his. I told him he could hate what I did, but at least love me as a brother should. He declined to do so. I suggested he give up his glass house.
Dad was the same way. I couldn’t count the number of times as a child he told me to hate the sin but not the sinner. He and Tom should have followed that advice .
The club helped. They accepted me for who I am. In the beginning, I fell in love with every woman who threw herself at me. I always told myself this was the one. Few of those women stuck around. Those who did eventually got tired of the biker life. A few of those left with an explanation. So I learned to look at pussy differently. I never let my heart heal because an unhealed heart can never be broken again.
We stopped about fifty yards from Hogzz, climbed off our bikes, and armed ourselves. I carried a .45 in my waistband and an AK in my left hand. Manning wouldn’t be happy—me being a felon and all.
“Take it easy, Towles,” Beast said.
“I don’t give a fuck about getting caught,” I told Beast. “They know I’m coming at some point.
“Do this right, Towles. For now, get out of your feelings. Let that shit go.” Beast put his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm my growing anger.
I shook my head. “Those feelings are the reason I’m here, brother.”
We stayed in the darkness. Beast sent five men around back, leaving ten of us to enter through the front. I wanted them to see me coming. I wanted them to know who took their lives.
“You have a woman waiting for you at the club,” Big Kentucky said. “Don’t fuck that up.”
“She’s just a friend.”
“Yeah, and I’m just a billionaire.” He clapped me on the back. “We got you, brother.”
Two Punishers exited the front, and we raised our guns.
“Drop your shit on the ground, motherfuckers,” Beast said. The men did, and so did I. “The fuck are you doing, Towles.” Beast pointed at Cinder and a Prospect to cover the entrance.
“Come on,” I said to the two men. Thankfully, they wasted no time rushing me.
I let the first man hit me in the chin. The second man thought he had the same gift, but when he started his swing, I hit him between the eyes, and he dropped to the ground. The first man ran off into the darkness, and I heard a loud thud.
“It’s gonna be different on the inside,” Watcher said. “Watch your ass.”
“I’ve got the first ten,” I said, winking at Watcher. All the club members had a friendly competition about who could put the most men on the ground. I think Diesel was first, Beast second, and me a close third.
We walked into the bar, and everything went silent. The Punishers claimed to be one percenters, but not one of the assholes went for a gun. Gunfire erupted out back, but still, nobody moved.
“I want the two men who gunned down my parents,” I said. “The rest of you can walk away unhurt.”
A man my size but much older slid from a nearby booth. His cut let me know he was the club president. Beast saw the man and moved in front of me.
“I can do it, Beast,” I said.
“I know you can. But this big asshole is my counterpart.” Beast stuck his gun in his waistband, which was a bold move with so many Punishers in the room. It showed his confidence in us. It also showed the man standing before him that he better back down.
“Did you put the hit on his parents?” Beast asked.
“Bud Simmons,” the Punisher’s president said. He offered Beast his hand, but Beast wasn’t here for a meet-and-greet. “It was a misunderstanding, Beast. Nothing more.”
“They weren’t the target,” I said, guessing. “That’s even fucking worse.” Beast put his hand on my chest when I started at Simmons. “I’m not leaving until I have the two men we saw in the video. ”
Simmons’s face fell slack. He didn’t know his men had been IDed. “I think we can come to a reasonable agreement.” Every Punisher in the bar stood. We were outnumbered two to one.
The door behind us opened, and Manning and three of his men entered the room. He said nothing until he stood sideways between Simmons and Beast.
“What’s going on, boys?” Manning said. He tucked his thumbs in his utility belt. Every man in the room was bigger than Manning, though Manning had all the power. He poked a finger in Simmons’ chest. “I want the two men who shot the Towles.”
Simmons snapped his finger, and two men stepped forward.
“Don’t, Towles,” Beast said. “Another time, another place. What are you going to do with them, Manning?”
“Feel free to think this is over,” I said to Manning and Simmons. “But you took something from me that I can never get back. Never. It’s gone. Not lost. Gone.” I walked to the exit. Life is all about how you act when people can’t see you. I’m about to be the biggest invisible asshole you’ve ever met.
Outside, I climbed on my Harley and pulled away by myself.
I wanted to drown in my own despair. That’s where I belonged.
I started toward the club but turned away at the last minute, deciding on a late-night visit to the pussy house. I didn’t drink, but I loved pussy, and pussy was what I needed. Denise Anderson, a club old lady, sat at the front desk, watching porn on her phone.
“On company time,” I smiled warmly. “Hope that’s the free shit.”
“Slow night,” Carmen said. “Yeah, it’s free.” She smiled. We both glanced down the hall when a man yelled. “I’m glad you’re here. I may need you to throw that asshole out. ”
“He have a name?” I moved around the counter and looked at the ledger. The club insisted we keep a paper copy and an electronic copy of our clientèle. “Paul Summers?”
“Yeah. He’s been belligerent since he walked in the door. Asshole had a wad of cash, so Sophia agreed to take him on. I think she’s regretting it.” Denise turned in her chair. Blue jean shorts barely covered her pussy, much less her thighs. She was putting herself through college, and fast food wasn’t getting it done. With the club, she made ten times what she did waiting tables or pushing burgers around a grill.
I held her hand and helped her up. “I need an hour. Let’s go have some fun.”
“I’m the only one here.”
I walked back around the desk and locked the front entrance. I returned to Denise, and we walked down the hall together, entering the room across from Sophia and Paul.
All of the new rooms were dark and inviting. Each room had a bed, comfortable bedding, a Victorian-style chair, and an attached bathroom with an extra-large shower. Four kinkier rooms with ropes, shibari, and other eccentricities were located at the end of the hall. A few customers came in for those rooms, but because most men were coming in for quickies, the rooms toward the front remained full most of the time.
I laid Denise on the bed and kissed my way from her ankles to knees to thighs. I pulled her jean shorts down and revealed a tiny pink thong struggling to cover an already wet pussy. It wouldn’t be our first time together; we knew what each other liked.
Denise reached between us and unbuckled my belt. I put my hand around her throat and pushed her back down to the bed. I kept my hand there, moving the thong to the side with my teeth. I buried my tongue into her wet pussy and licked. A whimper filled the room .
I moved a finger between her lips, entering her slick hole. The whimper shifted to a loud moan. Sucking her clit, I slipped a second finger inside, working in and out, her writhing on the bed intense and pleasing. She came and looked down at me. I kissed her stomach, leaving behind small wet marks.
“One more,” she said. I expected the request. Denise was greedy with her orgasms.
I pushed her legs further apart, our eyes curiously locked. Denise’s eyes grew wide when I inserted a third finger, dropping another finger to her ass.
“Ready?” I said.
“Fucking bitch!”
I stepped back and helped Denise off the bed, my dick aching, balls swollen and needing release.
“It’s that guy,” Denise pulled on her shorts, and we left the room.
I opened the door and found Paul Summers raising his hand to Sophia. Her left eye was already black and blue.
I grabbed Summers’ arm and pulled him back. He took a swing, missed, and then got a punch in the jaw.
“Motherfucker,” Summers said. “I’ll sue your ass.” He grabbed his phone and called 911. I let him finish the call.
“The fuck are you doing?” I said. “Get the fuck out.” I grabbed the man by the arm and dragged him down the hall.
“You don’t know who you’re fucking with,” the man said.
“I chuckled. “Paul Summers.” I shoved the man out the front door as a police cruiser pulled into the parking lot. Manning never seemed to take a day off. The asshole drew his gun and pointed it at me.
“I wanna file charges,” Summers said.
“On the ground, Ethan.” Manning moved closer. “Do it.”
“He was fucking hitting one of our girls.” I got down on my knees and then moved to my stomach. I put my hands behind my back because I knew Manning wasn’t strong enough to do it himself. “You’re making a fucking mistake.”
With my help, Manning lifted me from the ground. He pushed me to the cruiser, ignoring Summers.
“I’ll call Beast,” Denise said.
“Twice in twenty-four hours,” Manning said. “We need to stop meeting like this. People will start to talk.”
“What is it with you, Manning? Why a dick all of a sudden?”
“I’m doing my job, Ethan.”
“If you were doing your job, my parents would still be alive.”
He glanced at me through the mirror. I’d hit a chord.
At county, he booked me for assault and took me to the same cell I’d been in the day before. Everything was going just fucking perfect. I lay on the cot and took a nap, interrupted by a soft, sweet voice; I thought I’d died in my sleep and gone to heaven.
“Ethan,” April said. She held the bars as if she were in a cell, not me.
“What’re you doing here?” I stood and went to the bars. It just sort of happened. Her face was practically between two bars, and I kissed her. She didn’t pull away. Instead, she put her hand against my face.
“Beast and Waters are getting you out now. What happened?”
“Some asshole was beating on one of our girls, so I clocked his ass.” I took a step back. “Guess I need to go back to those anger management sessions.”
“What? Ethan, What?”
“The guy’s name was Paul Summers. You know him?”
“Shit!” She moved back against the wall and covered her mouth.
“Who the fuck is he, April?”
“My husband.” She came closer. “What was he doing there? ”
“What every other guy does there. Looking for pussy.”
“He hit a woman,” she said and turned away. “He’s never done that before.”
“Bullshit,” I blurted. “I’m sorry, April. I didn’t mean to…”
“No. No, it’s okay.”
“I’m sorry.”
“This is my life,” I said and returned to the cot. “It’s for shit. I have no hope for anything better.”
“There’s always hope, Ethan. I can help you with that.”
“Right. Hope has only ever failed me, April. I’m not one of your patients who can be fixed. I don’t run like that.”
“I get it, Ethan. Always pretending that everything is okay is exhausting.” She reached out, and I stood.
“You don’t want to do this, April. This life, the one I lead, isn’t for you. Fuck, it isn’t for anyone.” I turned away and hit the wall, leaving behind a smattering of blood.
“Towles,” Beast said. “I got him,” he said to April.
“Ethan,” April said before leaving. “You’re allowed to fall apart, even if it’s only a little bit. Don’t be hard on yourself.”
Beast waited for April to leave. “Manning’s going to set you free. I told him we wouldn’t press charges against Summers.” He nodded toward the exit. “What’s with you and this April chick?”
“She’s my therapist,” I said, stretching my fingers, knuckles crunching.
“Your therapist?”
I told him what Manning had me do. I’d yet to share that with the club.
“She’s also Paul Summers’ wife. Future ex-wife.”
“Fuck. He’s the mayor’s brother, too. ”
Manning entered the room and unlocked the cell. He said nothing and left. He hated not being able to keep me overnight.
“I’m not fucking her, brother.” I walked out ahead of Beast and found Paul Summers speaking to April in the lobby.
“You need to keep walking, brother,” Beast said. “Don’t start shit here.”
April broke eye contact with Summers and smiled. The rage on his face was priceless. I thought about giving her a tap on the ass but decided against the idea. Manning was still watching, holding his handcuffs. He would charge me with sexual assault.
“How’re Sophia and Denise?” I asked.
Beast climbed on his bike. “Denise is fine. Sophia quit. Said she didn’t sign up for this shit.”
I didn’t say it, but shit is what you got more often than not when you were affiliated with a club like ours. It was part of the territory.
Skittles and Gigi exited their car and met April at the top of the stairs. They ushered her into the car before Summers came out. He’d been added to the list of assholes I needed to deal with.