Page 3 of Rough Ride

“I don’t think you know anything about me,” Eliana stated frankly, and Jez’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose.

“I’m a pretty good judge of people,” she said with an air of pride. “I know you’re small town. You’ve got that goody-goody vibe.”

“It’s Pine Hill, we’re all small town.”

“I know you’ve got soft hands so you work at a desk, but you bite your nails, so it’s something stressful. Stockbroker?”

“Lawyer.”

“Even worse,” Jez said and took Eliana’s beer from her. When Eliana’s brow furrowed, Jez took a long swig. “We don’t waste good beer in this place.”

“I prefer bourbon.”

“No, you don’t,” Jez said with a coy smile. “You’re a whiskey girl playing at bourbon.” Jez reached for the top shelf and filled two glasses with Johnny Walker Black Label. Eliana took the one handed to her and slammed it. The liquid burned, and she coughed a couple of times much to Jez’s amusement. The older woman downed hers in one long gulp and smiled before pouring them both another one.

“So you’ve got me all figured out,” Eliana said sarcastically. “Tell me, what exactly does a Hell Kat do?” Her question was biting, but Jez played along.

“You see him?” she asked, pointing to a man in the center of the room. He was surrounded by a crowd of men and women who were all listening to him ramble on. He must have said something funny because the crowd laughed.

“Yeah.”

“We do things like him. That’s Riggs. One of the Demon Elite.”

“So you’re prostitutes?” Eliana asked, looking back at Jez whose smile turned to a frown.

“Hookers get paid, little girl,” Jez said coldly. “Around here, being a Hell Kat is like royalty. Some girls spend their entire lives on the Wall and never get promoted. We get respect and prestige. That’s something your fancy law degree won’t get you around here.”

“What are you two talking about?” Kye asked, breaking the conversation. He was dressed in clean jeans and had brushed his hair and let it down from his ponytail. He smelled of a potent and alluring cologne.

“Status,” Jez said before Eliana could say anything.

“Oh,” Kye said, not fully understanding. He set his empty beer bottle on the bar. “Anyway, we need to go,” he said to Eliana. “Max is waiting.” Eliana let out a shaking breath and looked from Kye to Jez and knocked back her second shot of whiskey.

“Now or never."

Eliana thought she would feel relieved to be out of the bar and away from Jez’s interrogation, but as they crossed the courtyard, her stomach that was filled with nothing but top-shelf whiskey, knotted itself with nerves. The large building that they entered was the renovated warehouse that had served as the main building for the steel mill. The floor was cement, though it looked like it had recently been polished.

Surprisingly, the place had been arranged with care. Clearly reserved for the men of the club, there was an L-shaped bar and kitchen to her right where currently no one was and across from that, separated by several benches, was a gym with fairly high-tech equipment. To their left, a large common room had been set up complete with couches, armchairs, four televisions, three octagonal poker tables and chairs, as well as bookshelves lining the wall.

Next to the bookshelves were four floor-to-ceiling garage doors that were currently closed but led to the adjoining building they used as a maintenance shop for their vehicles. The whole place looked expertly renovated, including lighting fixtures, a walled-in bathroom, and even decorations. The only remaining evidence in the place had been a factory where the chains and gear tracks still hung from the ceiling.

“This way,” Kye said, placing a hand on her back and leading her toward the room. “Max’s office is upstairs.” Eliana only nodded. While outside had felt like a Friday night at the county fair, the ambiance of the clubhouse was that of a stag room in a men’s only club. The only thing missing were antlers on the walls and red-vested man in the corner named Horatio who clipped the tips of cigars and called everyone ‘master’.

The few men who were inside were using the gym, and their bare chests and rippled abdomens were covered in sweat. They looked at Kye then Eliana with a mixture of curiosity and hunger. She quickly turned her eyes toward the single door on the far end of the room where she was being led.

If Hell Hollow Road was the first circle of hell, the bar was definitely the lust-filled second level. With the markings of indulgence so evident in the warehouse, Eliana felt the walls screaming gluttony which would make this the fourth. How many levels would she find on the other side of this steel door?

Without much time to anticipate it, Kye opened the door and let her step in first. Looking more like the sterile corridor of a hospital, only fluorescent lights lit the windowless passage. She couldn’t help but drag her feet, and Kye had to take her by the hand to keep her moving. When they reached the end of the hallway, they trekked up a staircase.

At the top, another shorter hallway led the opposite direction giving the implication that the office overlooked the warehouse below them. The hall opened into a makeshift waiting room where four men were sitting around a foldout table chatting. They all stopped and stood. Dressed in jeans, black shirts, and patched leather cuts, Eliana could see their guns openly displayed on their hips.

Two of the men had long, ponytail bound hair, one had a crew cut that screamed ‘former military’, and the other chose to shave his dark head bald. Eliana didn’t think it was possible for Frank and Bruce to be dwarfed, but this special-forces-looking-crew had enough testosterone to produce a dozen men.

“Here to see Max, KD?” the crewcut man asked and spit a mouthful of sunflower seeds into an ashtray.

“He’s expecting us,” Kye replied. Crewcut poured another handful of shell-covered seeds into his mouth before rapping twice on the heavy, dark wood door. The only indication he had heard from someone was the way he tilted his head to the right where a coil cord connected to an earpiece.

“Go ahead,” he said with a bulging cheek and opened the door. The two men with ponytails entered first, and Kye’s nudge on her back urged her in behind them. When Kye reached the doorway, Crewcut placed a hand on his shoulder. “Not you.”