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Kids, my ass.
I was soak and wet from being dunked by everyone in the goddamn club.
Even Prez got in on the action. Since he never dresses up, they gave him a top hat and his whip. After all, he was the ringleader of this circus. His Ol’ Lady, pregnant with his twins, was showing and had her belly exposed and painted like a Jack-o-lantern. They were the only bikers already in costume if you didn’t count Dimple who always dressed as Elvis. I heard him say, he’d be switching it up for the real party and doing an undead Elvis tonight.
Damn, Kingpin had an arm, and they didn’t charge him, so I went under ten times until he got bored with it. Then the man started a bet on how long I could hold my breath. Fuck, he could bet on anything. I entertained him once and won him a pile of cash. But soon, I felt like one of the freaks. I’d had enough. I told Prez I was done. At least the biker respected that.
Memphis joined me beside the tank as I tried to dry off.
“That was Junebug’s thing, the Jack-o-lanterns.” She spoke of Prez’s woman as always.
I nodded. “Yeah, she liked to paint her titties like it every Halloween.”
“How could he forget it? Kingpin replaced us with a younger model. Knew it’d happen. Men are all the same. Anyway, where’s that Maren of yours?”
Of mine. It did sound nice. Maybe she would be mine if everything went well tomorrow.
“You’ve not seen her?”
“No, but I said I’d take over so she can do her act.”
I had wondered if the head of our whores was being genuine or not.
“You’re stepping up again?” I asked her only to get more information.
“Someone’s got to. Besides, Opry’s not worth shit without me. Royal Road’s going downhill. We’re having a goddamn kiddie fair for Christ’s sake. But tonight, we’ll be back to our old evil self. We’re doing biker rides, too, my idea.”
“What’s that?”
“Saddling up some of the prospects to replace the circle of ponies.”
“But they’ll be in the shit.”
“That’s the point. You fuckers have gone too soft on them.” Memphis laughed.
Memphis reminded me of Maren complaining that we didn’t patch women. If anyone deserved a patch in all these years, it was Memphis. She always ran this show.
“The ladies are going to love it. Five bucks a ride’s not too much, right? We’re making money hand over fist with your girl’s idea.”
“Maren’s idea?”
“This Haunted Carnival. She talked Opry into doing all this cause he’s sweet on her.”
I was speechless. The carnival was Maren’s idea? Kingpin’s question from earlier rang through my head. Did Maren plan this for a nefarious reason? All this time, I thought Halloween night would be the perfect time to get the Gods here. Catch them unaware and defeat them but maybe that had been Maren and Killer’s plan all along.
“Oh, I almost forgot, I’ve seen Fireball too,” Memphis announced, adding to my worry. “But I’m not too worried about him. Also, thought you should know, Kingpin’s allowed another Asphalt God on the premises. Eve’s brother, Hob. He’s been staying over the clubhouse for weeks now.”
What the hell? “I haven’t seen him. No one has said.”
“No. They don’t want to tell you and get him killed. And you’ve been too busy playing house while Prez doesn’t need you. He’s keeping a secret for that girl, Eve for some damn reason. Aren’t you wary? He gave her your house. She’s not even an officer.”
“Kingpin?” I didn’t want to tell Memphis I suspected our Prez had feelings for that girl even if I hadn’t seen any evidence that he’d been fucking her. Perhaps she blackmailed him. None of it made a lick of sense.
“Eve’s brother is keeping to himself until Kingpin decides what to do with him, I’ve heard.”
“Could he be our spy?” I tried to throw the scent off Maren but was also curious.
“Doesn’t match up with timing, but I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him,” Memphis said.
With all of that, I had to warn her. I thought of a way to tell her without telling her. “I’ve got some intel of my own. I ran into Fireball a couple of weeks ago. From what he said, I got a feeling they’re about to make a move. The Asphalt Gods MC. All of them. An ambush. If he’s here, perhaps it’s tonight.”
“You didn’t report it?” Memphis was instantly apprehensive.
“I tried to tell Prez, but he’s been fawning over that wife of his,” I lied. “So, I need you to go tell all the men to be on high alert tonight. Have their weapons ready. Tell them to be careful not to get too drunk or high. Be ready for a fight to the death. I hadn’t thought of it until now, but this Halloween party would be a perfect time for them to surprise us.”
“Agreed. Shit’s dangerous. Should I tell Prez?” She thought enough to ask.
I made an executive decision. He’d shut this show down, and we wouldn’t be able to wipe the Gods out like I longed to. “No. I already tried. We’ll have to keep this secret to protect him. Tell Pagan though and tell him that Kingpin doesn’t believe it.”
I knew that even with everything that had happened between them, Memphis loved Kingpin. She’d want to keep him safe. She’d spread the word. Gossip was her specialty.
It was nearly seven, therefore I went to find my daughter. I’d have to drive her home. At least with the youngins home, I could take her on the back of my Harley. I could clear my head on the way back. I couldn’t quit thinking that possibly Maren was up to something. I couldn’t figure out if I believed she was truthful. On the way to search inside the tent, I ran into Thorn.
He flirted with a little person, a gang of them.
Big, black, and wearing a cowboy hat like Opry did, Thorn was our badass Cleaner. He had nary a tattoo on him, except for his backpack, the Royal Bastards logo. But he did have a couple of piercings, some diamond bling in his ears and a bar in his eyebrow. A stone-cold set of eyes adorned his smooth face. The things he’d seen would torture most men. Not just what he’d seen in this club, he was ex-military with stories that even sickened me, the supposed monster.
I greeted him and the little ladies marched off.
“What’s with them?”
“The little strippers, your girl hired them for tonight. Ain’t that wild?”
“No, I mean, they left awful quick.”
“At the sight of you, yeah. You look mean, man. Plus, you’ve got a reputation around Nashville, you know. No mercy shit.”
“I’m merciless.”
“Yeah, brother. But you’re supposed to be. You’re our Enforcer. Not a lowly Cleaner like me. The ladies aren’t scared of me because they don’t understand what a Cleaner does. They think I’m mopping floors or something. Like I’m the janitor. It’s fucking embarrassing sometimes.”
Being the Cleaner not only meant he was in charge of the crew cleaning up a crime scene. It meant he hunted down the enemies we missed and killed them indiscriminately.
“Where are you off to?” he asked.
“I’m taking Haven home before the wild party starts.”
“Wild is right. They couldn’t get a bearded lady, but they did one better. Opry hired a girl who has two vaginas. Can you believe that shit? Two pussies. She’s setting up in the basement. It’s a look but no touch situation, but I’m going to try and hit that afterwards.” Thorn chugged an IPA. “Want to help? There are three holes.”
“You and every biker here, I’m sure. But no, brother I don’t want to rub dicks with you. Hey, has Memphis talked to you yet?”
“What have you heard? We aren’t doing anything but fucking.”
“No. I’m not talking about that.” I took the time to tell him about Fireball snooping around and my suspicions.
“Fuck, man. I intended to get plastered. Shit faced wasn’t the word. Can’t now. I see one of them Gods, I’ll kill them for fucking with our Halloween.”
“That’s the spirit,” I said as I left to search for Haven.
Searching everywhere, I couldn’t find my daughter. I asked Opry, Cricket and Gunn who worked the front gate if they’d seen her leave with anyone.
Opry said, “No. But I did see her with Buzzard’s shit of a grandson earlier. They were in the back of one of the cars out front, making out. But I opened the door, told them to get lost.”
“Why didn’t you bring him to me?”
“Girl’s sixteen, almost seventeen, ain’t she? It’s a party. They weren’t fucking. Relax.”
I took him by his western style shirt. “Fuck you, Opry. You don’t have kids. She’s almost seventeen. ‘Bout the age you like them. Get your eyes off her, you pervert.”
I was fixing to fight him.
“Hold your horses, Levi. We’ll find her. There’s an hour yet until the youngins need to clear out. She’s probably trying to get an autograph before Bubba leaves like the rest of the teens.”
Gunn spoke up. “Adan’s old enough to stay for the real party, maybe your girl’s hiding out, trying to stay too.”
That was a real possibility. Sounded like something she’d do. I let go of Opry.
“The hell she will,” I proclaimed. “Should’ve made the age limit twenty-one and over, Opry, but then your girlfriend couldn’t come.”
“Half the strippers are between eighteen and twenty-one, Levi. You’ve never complained before. Guess since Maren chose you, you think you’re better than us, but she’s trash too.”
“What did you say about her?”
“She’s trash. A fire spinner we hired knows of her. Told me she was a pregnant teen. A real nutcase. Thinks she sees ghosts and shit. Therefore, you don’t need to be harping on me liking them young. At least they’re not crazy.”
“Keep my woman’s name out of your fucking trap,” I advised him.
Opry stepped up to me, his hands on his hips like he was in a gun fight in the old west. “Make me,” he dared me, his hand hovering over his gun.
Clobbering him, I knocked the cowboy hat off his head. Took his gun like it was candy from a baby. It was all too easy to overtake the twig of a biker. But I wasn’t planning on hurting him. I needed all the brothers I could get tonight. A little shit talk was nothing, wouldn’t distract me from my heap of problems.
Leaving him on the ground, I said, “That was stupid, fucker. Need to warn you boys.”
I told them to be on the lookout for the Asphalt Gods MC. They were as disheartened to be on guard as Thorn had been and have to miss some of the fun. But it had to be done.
Opry got up and dusted himself off. “We’ll keep an eye out for Haven too. I’ll spread the word about both things. She’ll show up, brother.”
I searched for Haven for the next thirty minutes with no luck. Everyone saw her with that boy, Adan. Finally, I went to find Maren in the dressing room before she missed me.
Haven sat with her.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked her.
