that’s gotta be the new bar. By my rough count, there’s gotta be at least fifty MC members and most of the club whores in there now.
The house on the hill is mostly dark, only the lower windows on one side lit up. Snake has been in and out three times today and has had at least ten different visitors. He’s acting as their leader, there’s no doubt about that, but if there’s a chain of command under him, I haven’t been able to spot it.
“I think Ace should take extra care to confirm that all the guys down there are actually Sinners,” I say very quietly, but not in a whisper because whispers carry better. “Or maybe we could get Brenda up here and she can do it. She probably knows them better. She might even know some of the wives and she certainly knows all the whores.”
I can barely make out Blaze’s face in the darkness, but I clearly see him rolling his eyes at me. “You just want that girlfriend of yours up here. I’m sure Ace has his orders and I’m sure Cross is way ahead of you on coming up with them.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” I say, ignoring the rest and grinning. “But I want her to be.”
“Dude, you fall for women too easily, and you’re always disappointed in the end. Watch out with this one, she’s been around the block and she knows what’s what,” Blaze says.
“She hasn’t been around this block,” I say, meaning myself, and it’s a pretty lame thing to say, overall. Leave it to Blaze to put his finger on the exact spot that’s been nagging me for the past two days.
Is Brenda just faking it all for a free ride with me? She was doing it with Piston and she’s in no hurry to get back to her old life in Vegas. Does that mean she’s still hunting?
“Whatever, she’s fun and I like her,” I say. “Now quit talking trash about my lady.”
I was joking, but being serious at the same time and I know Blaze got it.
“All right, Colt. I’m just worried. You’ve made enough mistakes for this woman already. And you gotta keep your focus on this job. It ain’t gonna be easy and I have no desire to be at your memorial service any time soon, brother.”
Mitch’s death has been on all our minds, and clearly Blaze has done quite a bit of worrying.
“Or I yours,” I tell him. “When this job starts, I’ll be one-hundred percent with it, I promise you.”
“Good,” he says, and then we slip back into not talking as we watch the town.
Slowly, one by one, the houses start going dark. By four AM we might as well be staking out a real ghost town. I had planned to call Brenda once it got quiet and dark down there, but Blaze’s words sobered me up. He’s right. This job will take all the focus I can muster and more. Right now, Brenda’s soft skin, sweet, plump lips, and wicked eyes are taking up most of my mind. And that won’t do. It won’t do at all. Not when it comes time for the old kill or be killed.
And I want to live a long time yet. Not just for Brenda, for my brothers too.
Brenda
I walked less than ten minutes down the side of the dark, empty country road before I knew the truth of the receptionist lady’s words. The tall, shrubby bushes lining the road were black in the darkness, hissing and buzzing. The noise got louder the farther away from the motel and its light I got. I could smell green things, dust and asphalt cooling, but also a rot underneath and coupled with the sharp tang of rot underneath coupled with an eerie coldness the farther I walked made me turn and run back to the motel before I got anywhere near my destination.
I settled on a ramen noodle soup and a candy bar from the cafeteria for dinner, and neither of them sat well in my stomach. Images of the night I almost died under Crow’s knife flooded my mind and wouldn’t recede into the oblivion I’ve pushed them into.
I needed Colt then and I didn’t know it. I need him now and I do know it. I need him to kiss me and hold me and make love to me and let me know I’m worthy of living and loving. That I’m not just here on borrowed time,