The Bad Boys of Summer (74 page)

T
he sound
of the door banging open again startled the girls awake for the second time, but this time they weren't happy at what they saw.

"Here they are!" said a voice familiar to Madison, and the sound of it made her heart sink. "Look at these sluts, I think they were fucking each other!" Courtney was standing over them, her eyes full of hate and malice.

The door was wide open, and moments later Guts strode in, the familiar scowl on his face not wavering for a moment, even as he took in the two naked beauties laying on the couch. Both girls scrambled up to a sitting position, covering themselves with knees and arms.

"Get the fuck out!" yelled Trish. "This is the VP office, not the ass kisser lounge."

Courtney's eyes flashed in anger and she stepped forward, swinging an arm out and slapping Trish across the side of the head.

"You fucking bitch," Trish cried out, holding her head. Madison jumped up to try and slap the girl back, but Guts just stuck out a hand and shoved her back down onto the couch.

"You're coming with me," he said, glaring down at Madison. As she started to protest, he cut her off. "You have two minutes to get dressed," he said. "If you aren't ready, you're getting on my bike bare ass naked for all I care."

He turned and strode out of the room. Courtney threw her finger back up at the girls and gave a self satisfied smile as she turned and followed him out.

"What the fuck is going on," Madison asked her friend.

"I have no idea, but it isn't good," Trish replied.

"What should I do?"

"Get dressed! I assure you, Guts isn't kidding. He'll put you on the back of his bike naked and the only one that will care will be Courtney."

Madison jumped up and grabbed her clothes, quickly putting them on as Trish did the same. She was just finishing up by pulling on her shirt when the door opened and Guts returned, this time alone. "Let's go," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said, defiantly. Guts calmly walked forward and without a word punched Trish in the stomach. She doubled over, falling onto the couch.

"You fucking asshole," Madison screamed, tears starting to roll down her face as she turned to see if Trish was alright. Guts grabbed her by the arm, holding her in an iron grip. "She'll be fine as long as you come with me."

As he spoke, the Prez walked through the door, his big gut making an entrance before the rest of him. He was smiling behind his black beard, but it wasn't friendly. "Oh, is your friend hurt?" he said as he walked into the room. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she stays safe until you get back."

Madison tried to pull away and reach her friend, but Trish just looked up at her, shaking her head. "Go," she mouthed.

Wracked with indecision, Madison stood there not moving as she stared down at her friend. "Do you need more convincing?" Guts asked.

Finally, she shook her head, letting him pull her out of the room and guide her in front of him. The Prez closed the door behind them as they left. Guts still held her arm tightly as he guided her out the front door of the clubhouse towards his bike. He got on and indicated that she do the same. She knew she had no choice but comply, although she had no idea what was going on or where he was taking her.

His bike fired to life, the motor roaring underneath Madison but she was numb to everything as her mind raced, trying to figure out what was going on amidst her worry about Trish being left with the Prez. She doubted he would do anything to her, not while Dax was VP and Dane was Sergeant-at-Arms, but she still didn't feel comfortable leaving her like that.

As they rode, Madison paid little attention to where they were going until things started to look familiar. The houses around them were run down, the few people they saw looking like they had seen better days. By the time they pulled up to the warehouse, she had figured out what was happening. Somehow Guts had found out about the meeting and he was coming here to stop it. But why did he need to bring Madison along?

He pulled his bike around back, parking it next to what she knew was Dax's. The parking lot was surprisingly empty, only two other cars keeping the few motorcycles company. Was the casino closed? She didn't think it ever closed.

Guts led her around to the front. She was surprised to see that Thunder wasn't there to greet her. No one was, in fact. Guts pulled the heavy door open himself and pushed her through ahead of him. The place was deserted, even the bar was empty. The lights were on, though.

"Let's go," Guts said, pushing her forward towards the back of the club where the door to the VIP room was. Madison's heart was pounding as memories of the last couple of times she entered this room returned. Nothing good ever came of her going back here.

She pulled open the door and started to walk down the corridor again with Guts right on her heels. She knew there was no turning back, no stopping. As she got closer to the main room, she could hear voices. She recognized Dax's right away, among others.

As soon as she turned the corner, Dax looked up and saw her, his eyes instantly turning to anger at the interruption. As soon as Guts came into view, though, his anger dropped away into confusion and shock.

The other men turned to look at them as well. Dane was there, looking just as shocked. Troy was standing next to the other bikers but for some reason, he didn't look surprised at all. There were also the two Mexicans she had seen the night before as well as three Asian men who she assumed were members of the Triad. They were young looking, thin. All three of them were dressed in black.

"Sorry I'm late," Guts called out as the two of them approached the group. I hope I didn't miss everything.

"We were just getting started, actually. Good to see you again, hombre." One of the Mexicans reached out to shake Guts' hand. "Dax said you had something else to attend to and wouldn't be able to make it."

"Right, well I was able to get out of that and come here instead. This is far more important. Anyway, I made you a promise last night and I wanted to make sure I kept it."

Dax was staring in confusion at Madison but she just lifted her eyebrows and frowned, trying to indicate she had no idea what was going on either.

"Oh? What promise was that?"

"I told you that when we made a deal, I would bring you one of our girls to help you celebrate. I brought our finest. This one loves to please her men."

"Si," the other Mexican said. "And she loves to please her women, too, if I remember correctly."

Guts and the two Latinos laughed. Madison's heart was pounding even harder now and she shot a look at Dax. His brow was furrowed and his face a mask of anger that she could tell he was trying hard to control. Dane was looking furious as well, and not doing quite a good a job at hiding it. To Madison's surprise, even Troy looked angry and was staring at Dane with daggers in his eyes. Luckily no one was paying the other bikers any attention.

"Well, that settles it then. If we can make this deal work, then think of her as yours to do with as you please. As she said last night, she's not one of our regular girls anyway, so we won't miss her." Guts casually shot a glance at Dax before smiling back at the men. The gauntlet had been dropped and Madison's heart sank. He was setting Dax up, knowing he would be forced to make a decision - make the deal and give her up to the drug lords, or block the deal somehow to keep her safe.

"Guts, I need to speak with you," said Troy, his jaw clenched tightly.

"We can speak after the deal is done," Guts said, not even looking at his fellow Desperado. "Let's not be rude to our guests."

"I think we need to talk now," he said. "I think some conflicting promises were made, and that needs to be resolved."

The two men were now staring hard at each other. The Mexicans and the Chinese were watching as well.

"I said
later
," Guts said, not backing down.

Troy now took a step toward Guts, whose hand moved to the side of his belt. All of a sudden, the room exploded as both the Mexicans and the Chinese all drew weapons. Dax raised his hands up, palms towards the two groups in an effort to calm them down. Troy ignored them and took another step towards Guts.

"Don't fuck with me, Guts. You wouldn't even be at this meeting if it wasn't for me, so I'll not have you go back on your word."

"Shut the fuck up, Troy," Guts said. His hand was still hovering at his side and Madison could make out a bulge under his jacket that she assumed was a gun. She could see him looking at the guns pointed at him nervously while still trying to face Troy.

"Let's have everyone just calm down," Dax said. "No one needs any weapons, this is just a friendly disagreement."

The Mexicans and the Chinese were all still holding their guns, although all of them had them pointed at the floor. Madison could feel the tension in the air, though. No one in this room trusted one another fully, and they weren't sure what was going on. It was quickly turning into a disaster.

"You can't promise the same thing to two people," Troy said. He took another step. One more and he would be within reach of the other biker.

"Back the fuck up, Troy. Don't do something you're going to regret." Guts' hand now reached into his jacket and instantly five guns lifted and trained on him. The sudden movement distracted him, and he turned to look at the other men who were nervously aiming their weapons at him, making sure if he did draw he wasn't going to fire it their way before they put him down.

As soon as his head turned, though, Troy launched forward and tackled the man. Both of them hit the ground hard. Troy landed on top and immediately punched Guts in the jaw. The look on Guts' face turned from anger and shock into fury, and he immediately thrust his body upwards which threw Troy to the side. As soon as he was off of his back, Guts jumped over onto the other biker and started to unleash his fists into the man. First against his body until Troy moved his arms to protect himself, and then he started punching him in the face. It wasn't until Dane and Dax grabbed both of his arms and pulled him off that he stopped.

Troy was groaning on the ground now, holding his head. Blood from his nose and mouth had sprayed all over the linoleum floor of the club. Most of the other guys had dropped their weapons now, but they all looked annoyed.

"Yo, what is this shit Dax? We didn't come here to get in the middle of a fucking internal squabble." That was the first time Madison had heard any of the Chinese speak. His English was perfect, but he did have an accent.

"I know," said Dax. "I apologize. I don't know what got into either of these idiots." He still held onto one of the arms of Guts while Dane held the other. The biker was still pulling at them, trying to get back to the fight.

Troy was sitting up now. He spit against the ground and Madison was shocked to see something white in the middle of his puddle of bloody saliva. "You fucker, you knocked out my tooth," he said.

"If these fucks didn't pull me off of you, that's not all I woulda done," Guts said, still struggling against Dane and Dax.

"What the fuck has gotten into you, dude," Dane said.

"He's afraid that I'll tell you he came to screw up this meeting," Troy said.

"Shut the fuck up," Guts snarled.

Troy shrugged. "What does it matter, you screwed me, I can screw you back. He promised her to me if I told him what your plan was for getting out of drugs. About this meeting." Troy nodded at Madison.

"Me?" she exclaimed.

Troy ignored her. "And then we get here he promises her to them." He nodded towards the Mexicans.

"Dax, what the fuck?" The Mexicans had lowered their weapons now and were looking around. "I thought your club was on board with this deal."

"We are," he said. "There was a vote. It wasn't unanimous. Guts here was part of the dissenters. Looks like he wasn't satisfied with being part of the losing side."

Now that Guts had stopped struggling, Dane and Dax let him go. He pulled his arms away and walked forward, toward the Triad. "This deal is a mistake," he said. "It doesn't have the blessing of our president and thus it's not going through."

The Chinese were staring at him, confused as he walked towards them.

"Have we wasted our time here, Dax?" one of them asked the VP.

"Ignore Guts, he has no authority. The club voted, we're handing over our end of the drug business. It can be to you or someone else, but I know you guys want it. Don't let this asshole ruin a very lucrative deal."

"Then let us continue our discussions, in private." The man looked meaningfully at Guts, clearly indicating that he should leave.

"The fuck you say," Guts said. He immediately leaped forward and grabbed the gang member, spinning him around as he drew his gun and put it to his head. He kept his hostage in front of him as a shield so that his comrades couldn't get a shot and he whispered something to the man that Madison couldn't hear. The hostage dropped the gun he had been holding immediately. The room erupted in chaos. Everyone drew their gun again, pointing it at Guts and yelling at once. Guts was too well hidden for the rest of the Triad to take a shot, though. They would risk hitting their friend.

"Get the fuck out of here," he said. "This deal is dead."

"What the fuck, Guts! LET HIM GO!" Dax roared above the noise, but Guts held tight, shoving the barrel of his gun harder against the temple of the Triad member.

The Mexicans had their guns drawn as well, but they looked like they didn't know where to point them now and had lowered them. They weren't going to risk taking a shot and hitting a member of the Triad, potentially starting a war. Dane and Dax also had their guns out now, but they were just holding them. The two remaining Chinese were pointing their guns at Guts and talking quickly in Mandarin.

"Shut up," Guts yelled. The room quieted. "This is how it's going to go. This deal is dead, or your friend is, either way. You guys get the fuck out of here, and once I know you're gone, I'll let this one go. He'll call you to pick him up. And then I never want to fucking see you guys again."