Page 28 of Property of Thrasher
The rumble of pipes filled the air as we pulled off the highway and into the back lot of Maddox’s. Asphalt was hot like the sticky summer heat that clung to your skin after the wind from a ride. We’d just finished a smooth club run. No trouble, no tails, everyone accounted for and money in my pocket.
Engines cut out one by one, the lot eventually going quiet except for the ticking of the cooling metal and occasional rousing of one of the brothers to another. Maddox’s neon sign flickered out front. The smell of exhaust mixed with dumpster trash and the stale beer that always seemed to leak out of the club’s back door.
I noticed, though, Tiny pulled in, gave a quick chat with K-9 before pulling off instead of staying with the club.
“The hell’s goin’ on with Tiny? Why did he take off?” I asked DK as I climbed off my bike.
“Don’t know,” he said looking to the rear brake light of Tiny’s bike as he pulled out. “Not like him to not even step inside.”
“Nope,” I responded keeping my eyes on the space Tiny just pulled off from. “We just rode two hours, flawless run, and he bailed before tits hit his face. That is definitely not Tiny.”
Beyond that, he didn’t look back, throw up a hand, or crack a joke. He pulled out with gravel crunching under his tires. Dk let out a low whistle as he dismounted but also kept his gaze where the rearview light was no longer in focus.
“Yeah, that’s different.”
We fell in step with one another heading to the side door of the club as our usual entrance. The bass was already thumping through the brick walls.
“You know something I don’t?” I asked him watching the side eyeing smirk he gave back.
“Possibly.”
“Don’t give me some cryptic shit, brother. What the fuck is up with Tiny?”
He gave me a slow, lazy grin. “Our boy might be locked down tight on some cunt.”
“Guess he likes to mix business and pleasure.”
It was my turn to side-eye. “What?”
“Met her at the Velvet Inn.”
“She a guest? He’s always all business about the Velvet.”
“Sure,” DK drawled out. “He does more than check the books. Lyric is there. She was one of the employees he had that weren’t bunnies. Trades out some of her work for a room. Her and her cousin. Started out sharing a room, now Tiny done gave Lyric her own room. She’s basically available anytime for him and brother seems to like that.”
I frowned, the name sounding familiar as I had heard it in passing, but I did not know the face.
“Pretty little thing, sharp tongue if she feels caged. She laughs at his dumb jokes and that apparently is all it took.”
I huffed out a laugh, “you’re telling me Tiny’s skipping naked women and free whiskey for a clerk?”
Dk’s grin widened. “Not just skipping. Man’s acting and talking like it’s serious.”
That single word landed heavier than I expected. Serious wasn’t necessarily a regular thing in our world. We did hookups, warm bodies, and the occasional few who landed an old lady who could handle the life. But Tiny, that man was married to the club and not anyone or anything else.”
We stepped inside Maddox’s. The wall of sound surrounding me, music pounding, men whistling, and the laughs of strippers all around. The air was thick with sweat, booze, and the kind of perfume that made your nose burn. Girls worked the room, leaning in close to whisper promises they would never keep. One thing about Maddox’s he kept the room full of women. On slow nights as a patron you could have two draped on you while watching a third give you the show of a lifetime in front of you.
I couldn’t shake the thoughts of Tiny. Him having a woman wasn’t the issue. It was the distraction. Women made some men better and other men fall off their game. In our world, distractions made you sloppy. And sloppy got you or a brother killed.
We found a spot near the bar, leaning back against the wood, I watched the chaos unfold. Grown men tossing bills on stage, girls crawling for a damn dollar, with a handful ready to brawl in a back corner over a damn dancer.
It was a typical night at Maddox’s.
DK circled back to Tiny. “You ever notice, Thrasher, how a man can go years just running through pussy. No name, no connection, no entanglement. Then one shows up and suddenly the fucker gets twisted up inside. Like she somehow makes everything make sense?”
“Sounds to me like you want to get twisted up around someone. That kind of shit can make a man better or destroy a damn brotherhood. Tread carefully.”
He gave me a nod before taking a pull of his beer.
