“Still happy you joined me?”
“Fuck, yeah. Just felt every fuckin’ bump and pothole ripple up my spine the last few miles.”
“You might wanna check the air pressure on those shocks.”
“No shit, genius.”
“Told you before we left switching them out for the progressive shocks would’ve been better.”
He rubs the back of his neck and sneaks a glance at the clubhouse. “You know what will help even more?”
“Let me guess. Asking the first random girl you see inside those doors to rub you all over.”
He points to his forehead and then mine. “It’s like you can read my mind, brother.”
“Yeah, because you’re pathetically transparent.”
“What’d I tell you about gettin’ smug with me?”
I scratch my beard and pretend to think it over. “Is it smugness if I’m just pointing out that you’re a degenerate?”
“Rooster! Jigsaw!” T-Bone’s booming voice bounces over the parking lot, interrupting our post-ride conversation.
“What’s up, brother?” Jigsaw calls out.
“Long time, dickheads.”
“I can go right back home if you’re planning to bust my balls all night.” I take his outstretched hand, yank him close and slap his back a few times. “How you been, brother?”
“Can’t complain.” He lifts his chin at Jigsaw. “How you been, ya scary fuck?”
“Life’s good.” Jigsaw knocks knuckles with T-Bone. “Nice ride down. Hot as fuck here, though.”
“This is nothing, you whiner.” T-Bone waves at us to follow him into the clubhouse. Place looks like a big, rustic cabin. It’s nestled deep in the woods sort of the way upstate’s clubhouse is but not as hard to find.
For a Thursday afternoon, it’s tame inside—but not so quiet that a pretty dark-skinned girl doesn’t immediately attract Jigsaw’s roving eye.
“Focus,” I growl at him.
“But—”
T-Bone, of course, waves her over. “This is Shonda. Anything you need around the clubhouse, she’s your girl. Shonda, these are our brothers visiting from New York.”
Jigsaw might as well be Roger Rabbit with his lust-crazed eyes popping out of his head.
He rubs his hand over the back of his neck. “Hurtin’ bad after a bit of rough road. You think—”
“I’ll take care of you,” she coos. She lifts one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me. “How about you?”
Jigsaw slaps my shoulder, drawing her attention back to him. “Don’t worry about my brother here. Rooster’s girlfriend took his balls with her on tour, so he won’t be needing any comfort during our visit.”
T-Bone busts up laughing. Jigsaw grins like a puppy looking for a reward for peeing outside.
Poor Shonda glances at the door leading upstairs, like she’s rethinking her offer to give Jiggy a rubdown. Can’t blame the girl, really.
“I’m fine, sweetheart,” I assure her. I reach over and slap Jigsaw hard enough to push him forward. “This one’s laid his bike down one too many times. On his head. So, be gentle with him.”
“Rooster! Jigsaw!” Ice shouts, jogging down the stairs. “Hey, honey.” He kisses Shonda’s cheek before sending her away.
“Welcome, home, brothers.” We go through another round of hugs and handshakes with the president of our Port Everhart, VA charter.
“Thanks for letting us drop in.”
“You’re always welcome here.” Ice scratches his chin and rocks back on his heels. “Z said you’d be able to help us set up a site for one of my girls. Maybe create a membership-based service to distribute films we’re producing. Think you’re up for it?”
“Yup. We have several sites and I’m running all of them at the moment. One’s more successful than the others, but she had a huge following to begin with. Sway bankrolled her project and it kind of snowballed from there,” I say with complete confidence.
“Good. Let me show you one of the areas we might use,” Ice offers. “Then we’ll visit the house we’re setting up.”
Damn, sounds like Ice has this thought out a hell of a lot better than we did.
“Joke’s on you, by the way,” Jigsaw whispers as we follow Ice and T-Bone over gray tile floors into a narrow, stark-white hallway. “Now she’ll want to tend to my boo-boos even more after you basically told her I’m brain-damaged.”
“You’re here to listen and learn,” I growl.
The sooner I turn over the porn production to Jiggy, the better. His obsession with female anatomy makes him perfect for the job.
“So you’re all wifed up now, Rooster?” T-Bone asks.
“I’ve got a girl,” I answer carefully.
“She’s actually pretty cool,” Jigsaw says. “Don’t know what she sees in Rooster, though.”
Ice glances over his shoulder. “You patch her yet?”
Why does everyone keep asking me about patching Shelby? “Not yet.”
“Keep an eye on her if you bring her by,” he warns.
Great.
I hadn’t decided if I was going to even bring Shelby here. Yeah, it’s another Lost Kings MC charter, but I haven’t visited enough lately to know if it’s somewhere I’m comfortable taking Shelby. Especially when our time together is so fleeting.
We step through a wide open door and Ice flips on a light. We’re standing in a cool, mostly empty cement basement that resembles something out of a Saw movie more than a biker clubhouse.