Page 16 of Sold to the Bikers
"What if it was Faith? They're about the same age. Wouldn't you want someone to do the fucking same for her?"
For a second, Eagle-eye looks like he's going to deck me for putting the damn thought of his daughter on auction in his head, but then he eases back to sit his weight onto his desk. "You're right. Jesus fuck, I hate that you spent so much of my fucking money on it, but you did a good thing."
I grin. By most standards we’re criminals ourselves, but we’re the fucking closest thing South Side has to good guys. It might not say much since our competition is the Mob, a corrupt government, and shady cops, but it is what it is.
Badass shrugs. "If we wipe the Unwanted off the face of the earth, we might even get the ten grand back. I don't think there's a single fucker in this city who would miss them."
Eagle-eye shakes his head. "We're not going nuclear yet. It's obvious there's more going on. Someone's using them for a front, and we need to find out who the fuck is hiding in the shadows or it's just going to be a bigger mess later. The Unwanted have never been in a position to make these kinds of scores on their own. I’m not going to sit back and let those fuckers turn South Side into a shithole, or bring us back to the days of worrying about losing our boys to raids.”
"I’ll set up a meeting," says Quickshot. "I don’t know about their backers, but there’s no way in hell Cain will pass up the chance to sit down with you."
Eagle-eye leans back, hands behind his head. “I’d rather sit through a hundred of Miriam’s chick-flicks than spend ten minutes with that asshole, but fine. I haven’t heard anything about movement in the cartels, so I’m leaning towards this being something local.”
"Mob?" I ask, my mood darkening at the thought.
Me and them, we've had some pretty personal fucking interactions. Ones I'm reminded of every time I look in a fucking mirror. If that's who the Unwanted are fucking around with, I'm gonna personally tear those fuckers apart.
"Working with a shitty MC like them?" Badass shakes his head. “I don’t see it. The Giordanos wouldn’t move on us, not with Alessa here.”
"Someone political, more like it," says Quickshot. "Maybe someone’s decided they have a lot to gain from making a new threat. Worked for Hawthorne, didn’t it? It’s been a few years since he went down." Quickshot grimaces. He took a bullet to the gut back when the old mayor put together an anti-biker task force and we had to fight off police raids. “He’s still behind bars, right?”
"Best I know." Eagle-eye stands up and starts to pace with Jupiter by his side. "But we’ve got both his daughter and his old lady here, so I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of him. Using the Unwanted, though? Doesn’t feel right." He pauses a moment to gather his thoughts. "Okay, this is how it's gonna go. We'll play it out, and keep them on the hook for as long as possible. Once we know what's going on, we go scorched earth. What’s the deal with the girl? Can we use her?"
"Natalie?" I ask, bristling a little at the suggestion. "Not sure. Crusher said she owes them money.”
Quickshot sighs. “He’s gonna expect to see what we’re doing with her, at least until we’ve paid what we owe.”
“And what exactly is that?” Eagle-eye asks darkly. He doesn’t much give a shit what adults do on his turf, but I’ve seen him crack down on anyone who takes things too far, and straight up selling people? That’s definitely too far.
Badass is the first to dare. “We don’t exactly have it in writing, but he thinks we bought a virgin to fuck around with until we got bored and then we’ll either pimp her out ourselves or send her back so they can do it.”
“They think you’d fucking do that?” he growls.
"He was a little surprised, but it’s the sort of shit he’d do if he was in our place so it wasn’t hard to convince him," says Quickshot, scratching his chin as if he's thinking hard. "It might help our credibility if he thinks we’re interested in expanding our business."
"Fine. Set up the meeting, but keep it out of the compound. Do it at the Eagles' Roost. We can talk there, and I don't want those fucks anywhere near our family. Get the girl on board. She’s your stray, keep her out of trouble."
I salute. "Yes, sir. No problem."
Quickshot raises a curious eyebrow in my direction, and Badass shakes his head but doesn't say anything. I know what they’re fucking like though. None of us will let her leave until we know she’s safe, so all we have to do is convince a girl who thinks we’re a bunch of fucking criminals that she wants to stay with us and pretend to be our plaything.
Yeah, no fucking problem.
10
NATALIE
What just happened?
I offered myself to them on a silver platter!
And what did they do? Turned me down and stashed me away to go talk to their boss.
I perch on the edge of a sofa in Animal’s room. It’s not exactly fancy, but at least there’s no crunchy shag carpet or sheets with lipstick on them. Compared to the Unwanted, it’s nice. Even… ordinary? Like a place I could easily imagine a guy in his twenties living, with a comforter hastily thrown over the bed and clothes draped on the other end of the couch. Cans of beer and soda are collecting on top of a small fridge, and there are what I’m assuming are motorcycle parts strewn over a scuffed table. Messy, sure, but not filthy and gross.
How long are they going to be gone? Sitting here by myself makes me antsy, but where would I go?
I pick at the corner of a fingernail until it nearly starts to bleed before I close my fist with determination to stop, pressing it into my lap and curl my other hand around it. I could tidy up. Sandra loves to tease me about it, but when I’m stressed out, cleaning always helps, and maybe I can show these guys that I can be useful in other ways, too.