Page 2 of Harley's Hex
“Thanks, man,” Bowie said. “You sure you’ve got time to follow us to the hospital?”
“Yeah, I’ve got some PTO and sick leave. I can take the day off if necessary. Plus, if something happens on the way to the ER, I’ll be right there to help.”
“Nothing is going to fucking happen,” Savage spat, standing from the sofa. The big guy looked like he might topple over, and Bowie and Hex flanked his sides. “I’m a bit dizzy,” he admitted.
“All the more reason to get you checked out, man,” Hex said. Savage was definitely suffering some health issues; he just hoped like hell that he was wrong about it being his heart—and that he had gotten to Savage in time to help him.
Harley
Harley was excited about Halloween this year. For the first time in her life, she had her own place and could actually decorate for the holiday. Halloween had always been her favorite time of year, but her aunt didn’t like anything about it. She told Harley that Halloween was Satan’s favorite day of the year, and when Harley would roll her eyes at her aunt, she’d have to endure both verbal and physical abuse until her aunt was satisfied that she had learned her lesson. She had never been trick-or-treating. The only thing she knew about it was that kids dressed up and ran from house to house to get candy. She used to watch those kids out of her bedroom window until her aunt caught her and made her go to sleep while she stood in Harley’s room to make sure that she did just that.
But this year, things would be different. Harley was finally making enough money down at the club, tending bar, and she planned on buying a ton of candy to hand out to the kids in her neighborhood. She just hoped that they actually had trick-or-treaters in her neighborhood still. Harley even had a costume picked out, and even though she knew that the slutty nursecostume was perfect for the party down at Savage Hell, while she tended bar, it wasn’t going to work for handing out candy to kids. So, she decided to get a second costume—one a bit more kid-friendly, and what kid wouldn’t love a pirate giving them handfuls of sugar? If she planned everything out, she’d be able to hand out candy to kids and quickly change before heading to the bar for her shift.
By the time she got down to Savage Hell, the place was humming from the inside out. The guys liked to listen to their music a bit loud, and she swore that some nights, she could feel the base of the music in her soul as she walked into the place. It was just her working the bar tonight, but Savage and Bowie would be around to help out if things got too busy or too rowdy. Harley had gotten used to the guys hitting on her, but she had learned a long time ago that you should never shit where you eat. She knew that dating a biker wouldn’t work out for her in the end, so she turned every one of their offers down.
She walked in through the back door and put her stuff in the kitchen, waving to the cook. She usually kept to herself as much as possible, and he seemed to respect that about her. Harley grabbed her apron and tied it around her waist before heading out to the bar to start her shift. She stopped dead when she found a guy standing in her spot, talking on his cell phone. Her number one rule was no club members behind the bar. She was lucky that Savage didn’t seem to mind her making a few of her own rules around the place, and the big, tattooed biker was breaking her number one rule.
“Excuse me,” she said, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. He was wearing his cut with the RBMC patch on the back, so she knew he had to be a patched-in member, but she had never seen him at the bar before—not that she knew every guy that walked in, but she knew most of them.
“Hold on, Savage,” he said into his cell, lowering it from his ear. “Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yeah, you’re not supposed to be behind my bar, yet here you are,” Harley spat, looking him over. If she wasn’t completely pissed off by the guy, she’d find him to be just her type—but that was a moot point since she didn’t date club members.
“Your bar?” he repeated.
“My bar,” she said again. Maybe the poor guy was hard of hearing or something. Hell, she was going deaf from the damn music, but turning it down only seemed to piss the bikers off, and then her tips would suffer. She didn’t need that since she had bills to pay.
“Oh, you must be Harley,” the biker said. He held out his hand to her, and she looked at it as though it had offended her in some way. “I’m Hex,” he said.
She didn’t shake his hand, not wanting to waste the poor guy’s time, because once she was done with him, he’d be banned from Savage Hell for at least a month. “Well, Hex,” she spat, “I’m going to go find Savage and we’ll see what we can do to have you removed from behind my bar.”
“Um, hold on,” he ordered. Hex put the phone back up to his ear, and she crossed her arms over her chest, pissed that he was going to finish his phone call instead of talking to her. And, he had the audacity to tell her to “Hold on.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she mumbled under her breath.
“I think that you should talk to Harley, man. She seems pretty pissed off at me,” Hex said. Well, at least he was picking up on that fact. Maybe he wasn’t as dense as she first thought him to be.
Hex nodded and handed her his cell phone. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to take it from him or tell him to shove it up his ass. “It’s Savage. He’ll explain everything.”
Harley sighed and took the phone from Hex. “Hello,” she said, half expecting Savage not to be on the other end of the call.
“Hey, Harley,” Savage said. The big guy sounded horrible. She had never known him to be sick, let alone take a sick day from the club.
“What’s going on?” Harley asked.
“Well, I had to have a little procedure this morning, and I’m in the hospital. But I want to be the one to tell the guys, so if you could keep this information to yourself, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course,” she agreed. “Shit, what kind of procedure?” Harley asked.
“Hex can explain all that. He’s a good guy, so don’t give him too much grief. I asked him to help you around the club tonight since I won’t be able to, and Bowie is going home with Dallas to be with the kids. I just want to keep things running as smoothly as possible,” Savage insisted.
“Absolutely,” she said, “and don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of the bar, Savage.” He chuckled into the other end of the call and then groaned. “Why are you laughing?” she asked.
“Because I just know that you’re going to give Hex hell, and I’m sure I’ll get an earful from both of you tomorrow. Just try to be nice,” Savage said.
“I’m always nice,” she said, quickly handing back the cell phone to Hex before Savage could make a snide comment. Hex put the phone to his ear and seconds later, barked out his laugh. Harley knew that Savage did exactly what she was trying to avoid, and whatever he said about her was pretty damn funny. Or at least, Hex thought so.
Hex said his goodbyes and ended the phone call, shoving his cell back into his pocket. “So, you want to tell me what happened with Savage?” she asked, still feeling pretty damn pissed off that he was standing behind the bar with her. “He said that you’d fill me in.”
