IRON AND FIRE
CHAPTER 1
Mal
Seems like it’s always the days that start out the best that end up taking a turn for the worst.
“Ah, Jesus, this is the life,” Matthias groans as he accepts an ice-cold beer from the big-chested waitress serving us, and clinks it against mine. “Just think of all those poor fuckers out there right now, toiling away in a cubicle somewhere, instead of out here in the sun on a fuckin’ beautiful day like this.” He takes a long swig and exhales in satisfaction. “Poor fuckers,” he repeats.
Matthias, Ranger, Bear and I are at a bar the name of which I can’t even remember right now. We’re taking a beer break after an afternoon of riding through the countryside of southern Ohio into northern Kentucky. I toss a twenty on the waitress’s empty tray just before she turns away. “This is a tip just for you, sugar,” I tell her.” Don’t you go puttin’ that in the common pot, now.”
“Thank you!” she coos, giving me a killer smile. “You’re so nice!”
“Don’t go spreadin’ that around,” I tease her. “I got a reputation to uphold.” I watch as she saunters away, ass swinging like a sexy little pendulum. When she’s gone, I turn back to Matthias. “‘Toiling?’” I stick my pinky up in the air to mock him. “What’s with the la-di-da words, brother? You been takin’ night classes in how to sound like a fancy-ass?”
“Don’t be such an anti-intellectual, ya fuckin’ bonehead,” Matthias replies. “Words exist for a reason. Use the right word for the situation, I always say.”
“I ain’t never heard you say that,” Ranger says mildly.
“Well, I’m sayin’ it now.”
“Too much goddamn yappin’. Shut up and drink your beer.” Bear lifts his own beer over his considerable gut and sucks down half of it in one gulp, then wipes his forearm over his white beard. “Aaahhh. That hits the damn spot.”
For a few seconds, we do shut up. No one says anything, which is just fine by me. I’m not even tempted to fill the silence with one of my usual wisecracks. Gotta say, this is the best birthday I’ve had in a fuck of a long time.
Probably because no one here knows it’s my birthday.
Holidays in general ain’t my thing. Birthdays especially piss me the fuck off. I got some bad memories from childhood that don’t exactly make me want to stand up and throw myself a party. So usually, I just treat it like any other day and don’t tell anyone about it. It just happens to be the case that today Matthias suggested taking the afternoon off for a run.
Hell, I almost feel in a celebrating mood after all. One year older, and I’m still here.
Within a few minutes, we’ve all drained our beers. I signal to the waitress and pantomime her getting us another round.
“Waitress is hot,” Ranger observes. “Not a lot of eye candy here today, except for her.”
“There’s that chick over there,” Matthias observes, glancing in the direction of a good-looking brunette across the bar. “She looks like she’d like Mal to take her for a ride. Keeps looking over here.”
It’s true, she’s been glancing over for a hot minute. She’s pretty, but a little scrawny for my taste. She must figure out that we’re talking about her, because she meets my eye and gives me a little finger wave. I raise my empty to her and then turn toward my brothers.
“I only fuck club girls,” I remind them. “You’re welcome to her.”
Civilians are off-limits to me. I’ve learned my lesson. They ain’t worth it.
“Shit, I’ll take her, then,” Matthias mutters. “I ain’t been laid in almost a week.”
“Why the fuck you wastin’ a golden opportunity, dumbass?” Bear grouses at me. “Club girl pussy gets old after a while.”
“I ain’t interested in catching feelings. For anyone. Club girl pussy is ideal for that.”
Ranger lets out a bark of laughter. “Shit, brother, this ain’t the dark ages. Women’s lib and all gave them the freedom to fuck just because they wanna get their rocks off, just like us. I doubt that girl over there wants you to put a ring on her finger.”
“Civilian chicks mostly want a walk on the wild side when they see us,” Matthias agrees. “Just tell her you’re one and done. It ain’t that deep, Mal.”
The waitress comes back with our beers, setting them down in front of us with another little smile for me. Bear grunts at Mal’s words. “Yeah, but, you three ain’t gettin’ any younger, either. Y’all think you’re gonna be like this — young, dumb, and full of cum — forever. But you ain’t. You’re gonna get older someday. You don’t wanna wake up when you’re forty, doin’ the same dumb shit you were when you were twenty.”
“Am I hearing you right?” I ask. “Shit, Bear, you’re the last person who should be arguing for any of us to settle down.” Bear used to be married, to a woman named Della. She owns Della’s Diner downtown. Della dumped his ass and divorced him about ten years ago for cheating on her one time too many. Since then, he hasn’t gotten seriously involved with another woman, preferring to keep his options open and his dick wet.
“Della ripped you a new one, brother,” I continue. “She chewed you up and spit you out. You ain’t exactly been in a hurry to get remarried since she divorced you. Didn’t figure you’d be the one defending monogamous relationships.”
“Now who’s the one using ten-dollar words?” Matthias jokes.
I expect Bear to start guffawing in that way of his, and agree with me. But instead, his face turns a little glum. “Del was right to kick my ass to the curb. I don’t blame her one bit for divorcing me.”
“What?” Ranger scoffs. “You said at the time she knew what she was getting into, bein’ a biker’s old lady. That she shoulda known the score.”
“Ah, Jesus. That was just me bein’ an asshole. Not takin’ responsibility for my actions.” He picks up his beer and drains it in one gulp, then slams it on the bar. “The fact is, Della put up with a fuck of lot from me. I made that woman suffer for years. I took her for granted. I just assumed she’d always be around, so I didn’t do a good job of caring for her. I made the mistake of thinking that just because she’s tough, I couldn’t break her. Well, I did. I broke her. And she had to toss me out to heal herself.”
I gape at the old man sitting in front of me. Jesus, I’ve never heard anything like this out of Bear. It’s kinda freaky. I’ve seen this motherfucker with more chicks, including threesomes and even foursomes, than pretty much anyone else in the club. Something about his old ass definitely attracts the ladies. I always thought Bear was happy as a pig in shit to be single again and not have to go back home to a wife every night.
“You okay, brother?” I ask him, frowning. “You don’t sound like yourself.”
“I’m fine.” He sighs. “Shit, just gettin’ old, I guess. Old and tired. I ain’t really been feelin’ that hot lately. Had a headache for the last coupla days. Maybe that’s part of it. I dunno.”
I nod, reassured. “That’ll do it.” I push back my chair and stand. “Okay, I gotta take a piss. If the waitress comes back, let’s grab the bill and head out.”
I go inside, find the bathroom, and do my business. On the way back out, raised voices over by the bar catch my attention. I turn to look. The brunette chick who was making eyes at me earlier is arguing with a dude in a biker cut. His back is to me, but I can’t read the rockers. The chick is gesturing angrily. She tosses her hair and starts to turn away, but the guy in the cut grabs her arm and pulls her back roughly.
“Hey!” I shout, barreling toward the bar. “The fuck you doin’?”
As I approach, I see the rocker on his back says something like Chrome Savages, but he turns around before I can make sure. He yanks the chick by the arm to the other side of him. She stumbles and cries out. As soon as I’m close enough, I reach forward and grab him. Wedging my thumb under his hand, I grab the pressure point between his thumb and forefinger and squeeze. He yelps and lets go of the girl’s arm. She staggers backwards. As soon as she’s clear, I wrench the guy’s arm behind him and yank until he yells.
“You got a fuckin’ problem with not manhandling chicks?” I snarl.
“Fuck you! She’s my fuckin’ sister!” the asshole shoots back.
“You think that gives you the right?” I start to yank his arm higher, but just then someone comes up behind me and clocks me upside the head. I let out a shout and release the asshole as a blinding pain shoots through my skull. Shit, he fuckin’ rang my bell.
I stagger so I don’t fall, and turn around. A greasy-looking guy with a crazy beard and bad teeth is roaring something at me, but I can’t hear his words because he clipped my ear and it’s ringing so loud I can barely hear myself think. Behind him, the girl’s mouth is open so she’s probably screaming. I start laughing and charge low at the fucker who hit me, taking him down to the ground. Then I’m on him, one hand on his neck and the other fist smashing his jaw, once, twice, three times. Someone’s trying to pull me off him but I don’t budge. My hearing starts to clear just in time to catch the hammering of boots on the floorboards. The hands that were trying to pull me back disappear. I punch the asshole on the floor one more time for good measure, but he’s out like a light
Scrambling to my feet, I get into a fighting crouch and look around. It’s all-out chaos. The atmosphere has turned from chill afternoon crowd to bar fight. Bear, Matthias, and Ranger are here, giving as good as they get to some other bikers, probably some more of the Chrome Savages or whoever the fuck they are. The chick is still screaming like she’s being murdered. I check to make sure my brothers are holding their own and go over to her. “Come on, let’s get you outta here,” I yell over the din, pulling her into the back hallway by the bathrooms. “That guy really your brother?”
“Yeah!” Her eyes are heavily mascaraed, and that shit is running down her cheeks. Her light brown hair looks like she stuck a finger in a light socket. She’s a mess, for sure.
“You got someone you can call to get you out of here?”
“I just texted my friend,” she says, wide-eyed. “She’ll be here in a minute.”
“Good. Let’s get you out front to wait for her.”
I take her out the back exit so we don’t have to go back through the bar, then walk her around to the front. “Your brother’s an asshole.”
The chick lets out a shaky laugh. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“You gonna be able to stay out of his way? He’s probably gonna be pissed, when he’s done getting the shit beat out of him.”
“Yeah.” She doesn’t look too sure, but she puts on a game face and gives me a small smile. “Thanks,” she says, and places a soft hand on my arm. “You were really brave back there.”
Hesitating, she looks up at me through her lashes. Ah. I get it.
She’s pretty, under all that running makeup. I’ll give her that.
But I don’t do civilians.
I gently detach her hand. “Don’t mention it. Just be careful. Stay away from your brother for a few days.”
She shoots me a disappointed pout. “I will.” A car pulls into the parking lot. “That’s my ride.”
“Okay. Get gone. And remember what I said. Be careful.”
The girl tries one more time. “You sure you don’t wanna give me a ride?”
“Sorry. No can do.”
I watch her climb into her friend’s passenger seat and make sure the car drives away. Then I head back inside. The fight’s still going on, but as I expected, my brothers have the upper hand, even without me. The guy I k.o.’ed is still knocked out cold. Bear’s got the chick’s brother in a headlock, but the guy’s struggling. I go over and give him a solid kidney punch. He doubles over and starts to retch.
“I got him,” I tell Bear. He heads back into the fray. The fight has gotten bigger than just us and the other MC guys. It looks like we’re outnumbered by now, but I’m not worried. Most don’t know how to fight like we do.
The chick’s brother retches again and vomits onto the floor. Curling my lip in disgust, I wait until he’s finished and then grab him by the hair. I pull him up into a standing position.
“Look at me, motherfucker!” I roar in his face. “You don’t touch your sister ever again, you hear me? Now get outta my face. I see you again, I punch your teeth down your throat.”
The fight is finally dying down. The bar owner is shouting at all of us, telling us to get the hell out of his bar. I signal to my brothers, then go over to the owner and pull some bills out of my wallet. “Here’s for your trouble.”
“Fuckin’ bikers,” he mutters, taking the money.
Back outside, the Chrome Savage fuckers are nowhere to be seen. Guess they got the message. Matthias, Ranger, and I clap each other on the back, grinning. It’s been a while since we let off some steam like that. I turn to Bear. “You held your own pretty good in there, old man!” I joke.
“Muhm fuh…” he says with a frown.
“What?”
“Muh-uhmm…” he says again.
As he tries to form the words, I notice one side of his face is kind of drooping. Matter of fact, that whole side of his body looks kind of slumped. He’s listing to one side. He starts to crumple to the ground.
“Fuck, Bear! What’s wrong!” Matthias exclaims, grabbing him by the shoulder to pull him up. But Bear’s eyes flutter as he continues to sink, dead weight.
“Shit!” I shout, realizing something’s really wrong. “Call 911. Now! We gotta get him to a fucking hospital!”