Cowboy
In the early morning, I rolled out of Anarchy’s bed a happier man than the night before.
We’d fucked like bunnies until the wee hours of the morning.
I came three times, and she came four, because when a woman climbs on my saddle, I give her a ride to remember.
And now, it was my turn to leave her while she was sleeping, like she had me a million times.
I stretched, staring at her naked body crashed on the bed.
Fire engine red hair cascaded over her back, over her backpack.
She donned the same tattoo of the Asphalt Gods’ MC three-piece patch as I did.
Never mind she’d colored it in and surrounded it with a bunch of colorful Celtic knots and whatnot.
I laughed at her tramp stamp of an anarchy symbol. That was new.
It felt damned good—my heart didn’t belong to her anymore. I’d only wanted her pussy last night. It’d be the last damned time I’d give her any, too.
She was kidding herself if she thought I’d forgiven her.
It was a damned dirty thing she did, turning me and my brothers into her daddy, the General.
We could’ve been killed because of her deceit.
Anarchy had broken my heart and used me so many times.
After all the times I’d been there to put her heart back together when another man broke it, too.
Now that I knew she’d use the relationship we had, my love for her to relay info on my boys and me—Fuck her.
For good measure, before I pulled on my pants, I drew my dick out of my boxers and jerked off, squirting my wad all over her bed and her nude body. She didn’t wake up, either.
Even better.
I got my phone and snapped some pictures.
More than getting mine all night, it felt even better to use her like she’d used me all those years ago. Give her the ride of her life and just leave. There’d be no note. No call. She’d wake up to a hot sticky mess, gone cold.
A hot sticky mess gone cold—that had been our relationship.
I went to find Scar, wanting to ride with him to California to rescue his sister, only to discover our second in command out here in Arizona, Hannibal yanking Scar’s woman, Emery around.
He was pulling her kicking and screaming out of the whore Jessy’s room, out of the clubhouse.
No match for the likes of him, since I couldn’t open fire, I hid away in the bushes and watched him push the tiny blonde into a long black car that had been waiting up the road. He got inside with her.
Fuck, Hannibal didn’t do anything the General didn’t order. The General had traded Emery to the Mob.
I had to do something. But lo and behold Anarchy had loaned me a bike that wouldn’t start.
It fucking figured. Time lost, I wouldn’t be able to catch up with Hannibal and Emery, but I snuck over to his place and took his bike.
Hotwired the shiny piece of shit. Hannibal was a fucking chromosexual.
I’d be riding on more chrome than Harley.
But Bones and I’d talked about our situation after we watched Scar get whipped, deciding I should go help him in California since Bones couldn’t ride with his gunshot wound to the leg.
Now, I’d have to go and tell him about Emery, too.
And no one was watching me.
The big bad boys of the mother chapter of the Gods weren’t afraid I’d do anything. I must have been a fucking nobody to them all. I could make my way back to Louisiana at my leisure, the General had said.
He hadn’t given Scar any back up, either. He’d set him up to fail—or worse.
I’d show them all not to underestimate me.
I’d known the way to Halley, having been down this road before.
The actual road, and I’d been on a run to rescue Scar’s sister more than once.
She was a damned mythical creature we could never find.
A fucking Unicorn or Narwhal, or some shit like that, that you’d never see in your life.
We’d raided the Sons of Satan’s clubhouse before, years ago to no avail.
We’d followed false leads in their little tourist trap town and on the road.
We fought and mostly lost. I was beginning to think Halley didn’t exist.
I spent the long road to California not thinking of helping Scar rescue his sister or about Anarchy, that bitch I used to love, but pondering my future in the club.
Bones and I’d had a long chat yesterday about taking over the Louisiana chapter.
Skeeter had to go, and Bones become president, of course.
I had no desire for that kind of responsibility, or that kind of target on my back.
No, I didn’t want to rule the world. I’d be happy with my own spot on it.
Now, second in command, I could do. It’d leave me plenty of time to find a woman to fill Anarchy’s abandoned place in my heart.
I realized, that sounded pretty pathetic.
I wish I had some other dream, but all I wanted was a good woman to love me, some good friends, a cold beer and warm bed.
I added a new Harley to that list since Anarchy had left mine on the highway when they picked us up by gunpoint.
A good woman, good friends, cold beers and whiskey, a warm bed and a new motorcycle.
Simple things. Once I had that woman, I planned to devote my entire life to making her happy.
Parking Hannibal’s metal monster about five miles up the road, I made my way to the Devil’s Den crouching behind bushes and trees. When I got close enough to see the lights in the distance, I went to my elbows in the grass like a snake. Sometimes if you want to catch one, you had to become one.
“Halley, come on.”
I froze in the grass at her name, stopped breathing even. It seemed tonight was my lucky night.
Holy fuck, I’d found Halley.
“I can’t,” the girl said, before dropping to her knees, her hands following. Her eyes met mine.
I smiled, trying to show I wasn’t her enemy and put my finger to my lips.
Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. Seeing her face, I was sure she was Halley now.
She looked like Scar with tannish skin, dark wavy hair but with greenish orange eyes like a leaf changing colors and beautiful as a star lit night.
I caught the man by the ankle, knocking him down and was on him in a flash, my hand over his mouth, my blade against his neck.
The girl watched silently, still on her knees as if in shock.
The man was Snakebite, Serpentine’s son.
He had been sneaking Halley away before Scar even made it here.
Snakebite rolled me off him but didn’t fight.
He went straight for Halley, picking her up and running the direction I’d come, away from their clubhouse.
I chased slowly while digging in my jacket and then screwing my suppressor on my gun.
When I was ready, I sped up, running faster than I ever had to get close enough to make the shot.
I fired once toward his legs, so I didn’t hit the girl.
I watched the figure in the distance fall, dropping Halley.
Damn, I was good.
I jogged over and bent to see if the girl was okay.
Bleeding—her clothes were soaked with blood.
I hadn’t shot her. I was sure of it. He’d hurt her and by the looks of her, I wasn’t sure if she’d survive a ride to Tucson.
I shot Snakebite again, this time in the shoulder.
He’d die slowly, way out here hidden in the grass before his brothers found him.
Ignoring his cries of agony, I picked Halley up in a cradle hold. “Halley Darlin’, name’s Cowboy, and I’m taking you away from here.”
In reply, Halley screamed in utter agony, herself. That’s when I noticed her large baby bump. The girl bled, and she was with child.
That was no good.
“I’m having this baby,” she warned me.
“I’ll get you to a hospital.”
“No, it’s too far. Not safe.” She handed me some car keys and told me where to find Snakebite’s car.
“You’ll need to get somewhere closer, safer—fast.” His car sat parked a road over, but closer than Hannibal’s bike which we’d leave behind.
I put Halley in the passenger side as carefully as I could and buckled her seatbelt not knowing where I’d take her.
I started driving as her wails continued. “Are you sure we can’t make it somewhere, an urgent treatment center nearby or something?”
She barked out, “They’ll find me. Besides, I think the one in Julian closes at eight.”
She had a point. And from the looks of it, she’d be having her baby sooner rather than later.
I knew the signs. Halley had gone from just screaming to heaving and grimacing before the next cry came.
Unbeknownst to her, and lucky for us both, I had some experience with home births.
And only about five miles down the road, I spotted vacancies for motels, hotels and then for cabins.
A cabin would be a much more private place to take a screaming woman than a hotel, I thought.
My mind was set. I’d have to deliver Halley’s child myself and then worry about getting them to a hospital later.
I slowed in front of a building, advertising vacation rentals and parked out of view.
I took off my jacket that most likely was dotted with blood and my cowboy hat.
I ran my fingers through my hair, combing it back.
Stepping out, I tucked in my shirt to look more respectable.
Taking a breath, I tried to calm my nerves and went in to rent the closest secluded cabin they had.
The old man behind the counter told me they only had one available, but it was a twenty-minute drive up the mountain. I assumed he meant driving the speed limit so reckoned I could make it in half that time. It could work. But then the man burst my bubble, saying I had to rent a week at minimum.
I hesitated, calculating the cost up in my head. There goes the start of my Harley fund.
“If you’re looking for one night, there’s a motel across the street.”
“I’ll take two weeks,” I said for good measure. Maybe I could save up for a used Harley.
The old man was full of questions as he ran my card in the older machine. “Just you?”
“No.” I drummed my fingers on the counter before I caught myself. I stuffed my filthy hands in my pockets.
“How many?”
“Just two.” His old machine was slower than shit. I knew I had more money than I needed on that card. “How long is this going to take?”
He stiffened, seemed nervous all the sudden. “In a hurry?”
“Nah,” I said and quit tapping my foot. Damn, I couldn’t hide the fact I was trying to remember how to deliver a baby.
On top of realizing, not only the baby’s, but Halley’s life was in my hands.
If I lost her to the Sons of Satan, Scar would skin me alive.
If she died on my watch, that’d be the end of me.
Stuck in enemy territory, there were eyes and ears everywhere.
We needed to lie low. Be careful until we could make the drive to Arizona.
Plus, with all the double crossing going on in Tucson, Hannibal kidnapping Emery and all, I knew I couldn’t let anyone in my own club but Scar know about finding Halley.
For now, I was on my own.
“I’ll need to see some I.D.”
I fumbled through some and handed him the one that matched that card.
As he examined my fake license too closely for my liking, I asked, “Anyone close by… to the cabin?”
“Not for about five miles. Why do you ask?”
I thought for a minute. I was parked out of the way now, but when I drove by, he’d not only get a glimpse of the make and model of Snakebite’s car, he was bound to see a woman with me. “My new bride is out waiting in the car,” I bragged, flashing an easy smile.
The old man relaxed after that. “Oh, I see. Would you like to upgrade to the honeymoon package?”
“What’s that?”
“Sort of like room service. We deliver your fresh linens and groceries for your stay… but there’s no maid service.” He winked. “So, you’re not disturbed. You don’t have to leave the cabin.”
Ah, I got his meaning. Although I knew the quickest way to double your money was to fold it over and put it away, the package sounded like it’d come in handy. “Sure.”
He ran my card again. I’d be asking Bones for a loan.
“Almost finished. Just need your license plate number, Mr. Smith,” he said, handing me back both my cards.
Since he was only jotting it down on paper, and I didn’t see a computer around, I made up three numbers and letters, quickly. After that, thank god, he handed me some keys. I was more than ready to go as I imagined Halley could’ve had the baby in the car already.
“Fresh linens and some non-perishables should already be waiting for you. Oh, and congratulations, Mr. Smith to you and your bride.”