––––––––
“Gabriel,” I heard myself say.
He raised his dark eyebrows. “And...your name?”
I jerked back to life. “Lis—” I faltered. “Lucy. My name’s Lucy.”
“Nice to meet you, Lucy,” Gabriel said, pumping my hand.
I gulped, hoping he didn’t notice how damp my palm was. I tried not to stare too much at his chest. It wasn’t because it was so muscular and attractive (though it was). It was because I knew what was probably under his tee shirt.
Tattoos.
Tattoos of burning skulls, to be precise. All the Skull Kings had the ink. A huge back piece proclaiming their loyalty to the club, plus some small individual markings of their choosing, wherever they had room on their bodies.
For one fleeting second, I was overcome with the urge to spill my guts to Gabriel. I wanted to tell him that I knew what he was, and I wanted to ask where he was from. But the feeling went away just as quickly as it came, replaced with bone-chilling fear.
I couldn’t reveal who I was to anyone, not even to a boy with beautiful eyes like Gabriel’s. Not while I was in Las Vegas.
Plus, what if he was with the Laughlin chapter?
I dropped my hand like a dead fish.
“What brings you into Lip Service, Lucy?”
My face flushed with heat. “Oh, um...” He was the reason I’d come into Lip Service, but I couldn’t tell him that. “Just exploring. I’m kinda new in town.”
Gabriel laughed. “I thought so.”
I cocked an eyebrow at his trembling shoulders. “What’s so funny?”
Gabriel pressed his lips together, holding back his laughter, but they spread into a huge smile. He gestured at the bar behind him. “This here is a lesbian establishment.”
“What?”
I scanned the place quickly. Soon enough, I realized that Gabriel was right. He was the only man in the building, and strangely, nobody else seemed to be preening for his attention. Even the beautiful bartender kept eyeing a middle-aged blonde woman from across the room.
“I take it you didn’t know.”
“I’m not...I mean, not that it’s wrong, but—”
“It’s okay. I figured you were new in town. I’m kind of relieved, to tell you the truth.”
Why?
Well, it was obvious, wasn’t it? The heat in my cheeks intensified when I noticed Gabriel’s eyes grazing along my body. It was barely a glance, but I was quick enough to catch it. I felt myself coming to life in his eyes, like the first blossom of spring cracking through winter melt. No guys had looked at me in Canyon City. Anybody who wasn’t Liam or a Skull King just remembered me as a skinny ten-year-old troublemaker. It’d been a long time since I caught a guy’s eye, and it felt nice.
“Anyway,” Gabriel said, blinking quickly, “if you need a tour guide, I’m free in a few hours.”
Pft. If anybody could give a tour of the city, it was me. After everything I’d been through, I knew the fire escape routes of practically every building in town. “I’m kind of busy.”
“With what? You got a job or something? Is that why you’re wandering into lesbian bars in the middle of the day?”
His arrogance knocked me over. Part of me wanted to rise to his challenge, but I had to talk myself out of it. While I was in this city, I had to keep a low profile. “No. I’m...job hunting.” God, I was pathetic.
Gabriel shrugged. “Cool. I know of some places that are hiring.”
I studied him carefully, and I knew he could tell. He straightened his spine and shoulders, raising himself another inch. Come on, give me a chance, he seemed to say.
I released a deep sigh. “Fine. I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” I felt like a rubber band snapped inside of me. Relief flooded through my system. Why? Why did it feel good to accept Gabriel’s offer? I had to admit that I could use some money, but my head was screaming at me to get away. He could be from Laughlin! He could be dangerous!
But all the warning sirens in my head were muted out when Gabriel’s face broke out into a grin. Just looking at it made me feel like I was taking a naked bath in sunshine.
“Great. Come back in four hours?”
“Okay.”
He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You promise?”
I threw up my hands. “Well, I have nowhere else to go.”
Gabriel laughed. “Looking forward to it, I see. I like it. See you tonight.” He waved a vast hand at me before leaving me standing alone by the exit. The first few notes of the next song played to near-silence in the bar.
She’s addicted to nicotine patches...
I took that as my cue to leave. With one last glance at the interior of Lip Service, I escaped into the warm, Las Vegas sun.
* * *
I walked across one of the Las Vegas Boulevard bridges, blending into a flock of tourists. Here, I was invisible. Lucy Hernandez, a simple faceless stranger. I tried not to look at the teenagers sitting at the railings with cardboard signs. Especially the girls.
Deep down, I knew what their fates would be. They’d succumb to True North, one by one. A kind stranger would appear out of nowhere, with fliers, with promises. Find God’s plan for you at True North Healing Clinic. They’d go and they’d get tricked into using drugs, getting hooked or for most of them, relapsing. They’d work up a hefty debt, and True North would present them with the only way to pay it off. I knew because I’d been through it, and I’d escaped. Barely.
I drew my sleeves over my hands. The thought gave me chills. My memories of this city weren’t of glitz, glamor, and poker chips. I could only remember darkness, coldness, backrooms with strange men. Lady Luck had forsaken me here, along with dozens of other young girls. Patron Saint of Fanny Packs, Anna had called her. Lady Luck was for the tourists, and we were nothing but glass smashed into the pavement.
I felt a tug on my jeans. I stared down into the face of a pregnant girl.
“Spare some change?”
I tossed what I had into her cup. “Good luck,” I said.
I bought a slice of pizza and killed time watching some Michael Jackson impersonators performing on the street. A few hours later, it was time to go meet Gabriel and take him up on his offer. I took a bus back to Lip Service.
By the time I stepped off the bus, the sun had already set, and the nightlife crowd began to crawl the streets. I walked down to Lip Service only to find the entrance blocked by a huge line of women. A bouncer I didn’t recognize was checking I.D.’s at the door.
I frowned. Where was Gabriel? Then, I heard it.
Va-ROOOOM!
Several people in line jumped from the sudden noise, but not me. To me, that kick-and-sputter was as commonplace as the twitter of birds in the morning. I knew the Harley would be motoring around the corner even without looking. I turned around just in time to watch it slide to a stop at the curb.
Gabriel nodded at me from the seat. He was out of his Lip Service security tee and back in his cut. Now, I knew for sure he was a Skull King.
“Hey, Lucy,” he said.
“Hi.” My voice was deceptively calm. Gabriel looked like a young Brad Pitt in his leather and sunglasses. I pointed my chin bravely at him. “Got a helmet for me?”
“A biker always keeps a spare, just in case.” He tossed me a beat up bucket of a thing.
I strapped it on and moved to settle in behind Gabriel. Seeing the flaming skull emblazoned on his back made my throat feel scratchy all of a sudden, but there was an extra patch that was unfamiliar to me.
Nomad.
Usually, a Skull King’s backpatch included his home chapter. Liam’s said Canyon City below the skull. But Gabriel’s was no chapter, town, or city I’d ever heard of. Just that one word.
He’s not from Laughlin. I grinned. “Where are you taking me?” I asked.
Gabriel turned his head, and I could see the corner of his eye from behind his shades. He smirked. “Out.”
I yelled something about having to find a job, but my words were swallowed up by the engine’s growl as we revved into traffic, leaving behind a line of bewildered lesbians in our wake.
* * *
Gabriel took us to a strip mall at the edge of the city. I read the signs of the businesses quickly. There was a talent agency, a pay day loan place, and someplace called “TA Enterprises.” After sliding off his bike, Gabriel began making his way toward the latter. He turned around to look at me.
“Coming?”
I eyed the storefront. The window was completely painted over and covered in iron bars. Nobody would’ve been able to see me once I got inside. My stomach coiled into a nervous ball. I crossed my arms. “What is that place?”
Gabriel stared at the sky, deep in thought. “I guess you could say it’s kind of my part-time job.”
I opened my mouth. No thanks, I should’ve said. But when Gabriel turned back around, I caught another glimpse of his backpatch. He’s a Skull King, I told myself. And all Skull Kings identified themselves as that, first and foremost. If you asked a brother what he did, he didn’t ever say he was a doctor or a bartender or a security guard. He always said, “I’m a member of the Skull Kings MC.”
I felt the pull of kinship again. Even if I met a different stranger every day for the rest of my life, they’d always be familiar to me if they were a King. My gut wanted to trust Gabriel, but my head was a whole different story.
Gabriel chuckled. “What, do you think I’m going to sell you to some human traffickers or something?”
I jumped as if I’d been punched. “No!” I said.
Gabriel looked surprised by my sudden volume, but he tried to ignore it. “Then, come on.”
I breathed in. “Okay.”
Gabriel held the door open for me, and I walked inside. The “enterprise” was a small room, barely bigger than my room at the Paradise Motel. Several cluttered desks lined the walls. The one just opposite the door was the only one with an occupant, a balding man in a gray suit.
“Gabe, baby!” he said, kicking himself up from his leather-backed chair. He reared back his hand before swinging it forward to grasp Gabriel’s. “Ready to make some money? Who’s your friend?”
I studied the man warily. He talked a little too loudly, like a DUI lawyer in a commercial. He smiled a well-practiced smile, but his little black eyes floated suspiciously between me and Gabriel.
“This is my friend Lucy. She’s new in town and needs to make a quick buck. Lucy, this is Tim Hawk.”
“Perfect,” Tim Hawk said as he shook my hand. “A couple girls didn’t show up tonight. I could use the extra muscle.”
I widened my eyes at Gabriel, but he shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips. Tim walked over to a file cabinet and began searching its drawers.
“You explained how it all works, right? Pass out the wristbands, come back and pick up your cash.”
“Yup. That’s pretty much it,” Gabriel said, looking at me.
“Great!” Tim turned around and tossed something at Gabriel. “Then, here’s for you. And here’s for you.”
I caught the bundle just before it hit my chest. It was a plastic bag filled with what must’ve been a hundred neon green rubber bracelets.
“See you in a few hours,” Tim said with a wink.
I said an awkward goodbye and followed Gabriel back outside. “What just happened?” I asked.
Gabriel tucked his bundle away in a saddlebag and reached out for mine. “You needed a job, I got you one,” he said matter-of-factly. “All we have to do is walk along the Strip and hand these out. Then, we get paid.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
I squeezed my plastic bag, shifting the bracelets. They were stamped with the words “DURANGO.”
“How will they know we did it? What’s to stop us from throwing this shit away, hitting some bars, and coming back to get paid for doing nothing?”
Gabriel shook his head. “You don’t want to do that. Because if they should find out...” He drew his finger across his throat. “They have some scary friends, if you know what I mean.”
I sighed. Gangs. It had to be. Gangs ran half of the city. At least I didn’t have to take my clothes off on my first night in Vegas. “Thanks. But why are you helping me?”
Gabriel shrugged, suddenly avoiding my eyes. “I just felt like it. A little thing like you in a big city like Vegas. You’re like a lost puppy or something.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Gabriel stared at his boots, grinning. “Well, come on, then. Let’s get to work.”