Banished Souls MC (13 page)

This gave Caine pause. He looked at Harris, wondering what he was babbling about.

Harris was grinning. "The big hot air balloon that is the Banished Souls have themselves a leak. And it's getting louder." He looked Caine and said, "Wonder if Angus would still be alive if that leak was plugged up."

Both detectives were enjoying the look on Caine's face.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Caine asked. He was almost afraid to. Did the cops know about the stolen van now?

Harris shrugged. "Maybe nothing." The detectives started walking in the direction of their parked sedan across the street. "Maybe we're talking about Proctology."

The detectives laughed. "We gotta go now, Caine. There are other asses for us to go climb up."

Caine sat in his car and watched them leave.

Now that, he thought, was a curious conversation. Add that to what was just discussed with the Dark One made Caine decide to hang out at Maggie's more often.

He sighed. All business. He found himself thinking of Cherish, curled up in his bed. Maybe he should call her, wake her up?

His cell phone rang. Expecting it would be Cherish he answered without looking.

"You need to get your ass over to the Club House," said Uncle. He sounded pissed. Caine straightened in his seat.

"Like right now," Uncle said, and hung up.

Caine had gone cold. This didn't sound good. He started his car and headed back into town.

He hoped that it would be nothing. Just something to do with other Club business, and nothing to do with either him or Cherish.

He was wrong.

Chapter 15

Cherish

Cherish woke to an empty bed.

She sat up and looked around. No Caine. Then she noticed his jacket and car keys were gone. She grinned, slightly.

Better get use to this, she thought. Not that she was unfamiliar with the irregular comings and goings of a Biker boyfriend. She had her fill with Devlin. But with Devlin she didn't care. When he had left, she was actually relieved.

With Caine, though, she felt a ping of disappointment that he wasn't there when she woke. She took that was a good sign.

She yawned, stretched, and got out of bed. She looked down at it and was greatly satisfied at how messy it was. They really went at it last night. She happily made the bed, fluffing the pillows while remembering their uses the night before to assist in certain positions.

Going to need to buy more of those, she thought.

She looked around Caine's apartment. It really was empty. The man practically owned nothing. She padded around naked, snooping while telling herself that was not what she was really doing.

No pictures. No knick knacks. Like he had just arrived with only a suitcase of stuff.

Huh, she thought. Kind of like me.

She opened the small dresser, the only one, and poked through it. Hardly any clothes, either. This guy appeared to run his life with the same efficiency as his business. Simple and to the point.

She walked over to the only closet and opened it. Half expecting to find it stuffed with exotic weaponry and guns, she was actually startled to find only a few shirts hanging inside.

Then she noticed the jacket pushed to one side. Removing it, she pulled it out to get a better look.

It was a Banished Souls Motorcycle Club jacket. Complete with a large patch emblem on the back which depicted a skeleton wielding a long scimitar in one hand, and a uzi pistol in the other.

The jacket itself was in pristine condition, as if it had never been worn. No doubt it got little use in the average day to day life of a Member. Most bikers were doing business most of their waking moments, and most of that business would be illegal. Getting caught, or arrested committing a crime while wearing the Club colors was a big no-no in the Biker world.

Mostly, they just wore these jackets during Club runs, ceremonies, or special events. Sometimes for intimidation.

And her touching it was also not allowed. She carefully returned it to its original spot.

She envisioned Caine wearing it, riding down the highway on his motorcycle. Cherish pictured herself on the back of that motorcycle, arms wrapped around her new man. Both of them smiling into the wind.

She put her clothes back on, and frowned down at the secretary outfit in her little bag. Well, mission accomplished, I guess.

Although not official yet, Caine had said she was now one of the Club's dancers. There would be other winners from last night, but that didn't bother her. Her take away prize from the whole thing wasn't just a paying job. But the fact she nabbed Caine.

After she tidied up a little, she left and flag down a taxi which wasn't hard in her skimpy outfit.

But as the taxi later turned into her motel parking lot, Cherish was surprised to see a pink Volvo parked outside her room door. There was someone leaning against it, as if waiting patiently.

Addison.

Cherish paid the driver and got out to face the other woman. Addie looked gravely concerned.

"Cherish, baby, are you okay?" Addie threw her arms around Cherish and gave her a big hug. Cherish was unsure of how to react so she gave her a less enthusiastic hug back.

"What are you doing here?" Cherish asked. She tried to not sound rude, but this was unexpected. And she had just come from Caine's apartment which she didn't want to mention to Addie for obvious reasons.

"I heard about what happened yesterday. After your audition. Your boyfriend came to get you and there was some sort of drama?" Addie looked a little too thrilled at describing what happened.

Cherish said, "Look, I don't really want to talk about it right now." She started to open her motel room door.

"Oh, I understand. Not outside. Let's get you in, okay."

Not wanting to brush her off right then and there, Cherish decided to relinquish her privacy for a few minutes. Addie followed her inside.

As she closed the door Cherish noticed Addie was carrying a brown paper bag. "What is that?"

Addie pulled a six pack of bottled beer from the bag. "Thought you might need this to help you feel better."

"I don't really feel like that right now," Cherish dropped her costume into her open suitcase.

"No need to worry, maybe in a bit," Addie said. "So, I'm sorry you had a bad time yesterday." Addie sat on the edge of the bed, and watched Cherish expectantly.

Cherish sat in the motel room's only chair. "Yeah, it sucked. But what can you do. Life throws you crap all the time. Sometimes you just end up catching it."

Addie looked like she was desperately trying to process what that meant. And failed. "So, Devlin left, right?"

This caught Cherish off guard for a moment. "How do you know his name?"

Addie suddenly burst out in laughter. "Are you kidding, girlfriend? That situation is all the gossip circles are buzzing about. You don't have an armed face off on the side of the highway between two Clubs without people noticing.

Okay, Cherish thought. That was true. She couldn't expect what happened to go unnoticed. "It wasn't an armed face off. Well, not really." There were technically guns there, but none were being pointed at anyone. Thankfully.

"So, spill," Addie insisted. "What happened."

Cherish sighed. There was no getting rid of Addie now unless she gave her something. So, keeping things vague, she talked about Devlin showing up unexpectedly at Booty Bumps, and how he confronted her in the change room. Cherish did not mention her suspicion that Devlin was there because of Caine. That was a none factor now.

She quickly talked about the 'armed face off' in the abandoned lot, but just said Devlin and Caine agreed Devlin should leave, alone.

"And that's it," Cherish said. She hoped that it really was.

Addie nodded through the whole story. Then she furrowed her brow as if struck with a confusing thought. "But what happened after? You didn't come back to your motel room. I came to check on you."

Okay, creepy, Cherish thought. Now she was starting to really get annoyed with Addie's probing. Maybe a healthy dose of reality would send this woman on her way.

"Caine took me back to his apartment after," Cherish said in a matter of fact manner.

"Uh huh," Addie said, nodding.

"I stayed with him last night," Cherish offered.

Addie kept nodding her head, her expression unchanged.

"All night," Cherish finally said. "We're together now."

Saying it certainly didn't make it true. But it sure felt good to do so. And besides, if certainly felt like she and Caine were now a couple.

Addie nodded her head for a few moments, then stopped. She blinked as if what Cherish said had finally hit home.

"That's great!" Addie declared joyfully.

"It is?" Cherish said. She expected crying, or rage, or a melt down. Not happiness.

"Yeah, why not," Addie said looking at Cherish as if this was the most wonderful news in the world. "You two make a great couple. And besides, he's a good guy."

Cherish was relieved but still hesitant. She had begun to realize how unhinged Addie really was. And she still remembered the last time she saw Addie, at Booty Bumps, standing next to Basher watching her run to the change room.

She had that strange expression of expectation on her face then, too.

Addie suddenly lunged forward, and hugged Cherish again. "No, I'm not messing with you. I can see it on your face. I'm really happy for you."

After they detached Cherish found herself asking, "You are? Really? You guys were an item once. I thought this might be an issue for you."

Addie shook her head as if that was the most obsurd idea she had ever heard of. "No. Not at all. Sure we were an item, but it didn't work out. I had to call it off. It was for the best. Besides, I got the Volvo out of it."

This surprised Cherish, and it wasn't really what Caine had indicated for the reason of their break up although he had been vague.

"You broke it off? Why?"

"Well, as you'll probably find out pretty quick, Caine is all about business."

"I already figured that out. He's a Biker. When you hook up with one it sorta comes with the territory," Cherish said.

Now Addie's expression changed. She looked concerned. "No honey. That's not what I meant. Caine is not above making sacrifices to get ahead in business."

Cherish shrugged, "Who doesn't?"

Now Addie was looking annoyed, and talked to Cherish like she was a child. "Sweetheart, Caine is all business. Right to his core. It was why I couldn't handle him anymore."

She looked at Cherish seriously, "And babe, you are the poison in his well. He can't make it with you tied to him. You got too much old baggage that will weigh him down."

Now Cherish was completely confused. What the hell was this nonsense? "What the heck are you talking about?" She didn't know whether to feel sorry for Addie's jealous ramblings or just throw her out right then and there.

Addie looked at her more seriously. "Cherish, I have it on good authority that if you stick with Caine, you're going to bring him a world of hurt."

Cherish's heart froze in her chest. "What? What do you mean?"

"High ranking members of the Banished Souls are close to finishing a deal with another Club, one that would be very lucrative. And because of you, Caine is now in the way of that deal."

"What other Club?" Cherish asked, afraid she already knew the answer.

Addie looked at her with almost comical sympathy. "Why, the Krimson Klowns, of course."