Page 21 of Cruz: Skin Deep

Brian had followed the pack all the way to Lake Charles and when they pulled into the campground, he parked his bike a little further up the road. He took off his helmet and put it, and his jacket, into his saddlebag and wandered back towards the park.

He could see their bikes, but he couldn't see Cruz or the woman who had been on the back of Cruz’s bike. The bikers had taken over a grassy area of the campground and some of them were already pulling tents out from their saddlebags. They started erecting them near a couple of small cabins. It looked like they had booked the cabins too.

Brian needed a closer look, and if Cruz was there, and he questioned why Brian was there too, he’d just say he’d been riding and was looking for a place to camp for the night.

He walked a little closer and one of the bikers said, “Hey, man. You looking for someone?” He had Finn, and Phoenix Skulls, on his kutte.

“No, man, I was just out riding, and I was looking for somewhere to stay. I came in here to see if they had any free space for me to hunker down for the night. I was hoping for a cabin because I don’t have a tent or anything. I guess I should’ve planned a little better before I left on the trip I’m doing.”

“Where are you going?” Finn asked.

“Heading west,” Brian told him.

“Yeah? So are we.”

“Really? How far west?”

“LA. We’re driving through the same places they did in the Easy Rider movie,” Finn told him.

Great…I know where they’re going now. It’ll give me plenty of time to sort out a plan for Cruz, wherever the fuck he is.“Me too!” Brian said. “I’ve always wanted to do the trip since I saw the movie.”

“Most of us haven’t even seen the movie,” Finn said.

Neither have I.“It was OK,” Brian said. “It’s more about having an excuse to finally get a long ride under my belt.”

“You haven’t done any?” Finn asked.

“Not that far. I don’t usually go too far from home,” Brian said.

“Which is where?”

Brian hesitated for a second. He hoped Finn didn’t notice. “Jackson,” he said. He didn’t want any of them to know he was from New Orleans, so he said Jackson because he knew the place if any of them asked questions.

“OK, so you’re just starting out.” He turned away from Brian and called out to no one in particular, “We got room for a tag-along?”

A mean-looking dude with Razor on his kutte said, “Got weed or beer?”

Brian laughed and called back to him, “I got beer money.”

“That’ll do,” Razor said. He pointed to Finn and said, “You can sleep with him.” They all started laughing.

“Where’d you park your bike?” Finn asked Brian.

“Just outside the gates. You sure this is OK?” Brian asked.

“Yeah, man…we’re all easy.”

“Appreciate it, Finn,” Brian said as he looked at Finn’s kutte.

“I didn’t catch your name,” Finn said.

Brian blurted out his own name before he could think to come up with a fake one.Shit. I don’t want them to know who I am.

“OK, Brian, park up over there.” Finn was pointing to where the other bikes were, “and we’ll see if we can get something better than the stars to lie under tonight.”

As Brian was walking outside of the campground, Jigsaw asked Finn, “Who’s that?”

“Some guy on the same track as us. I told him he could tag along. He seemed like a genuine guy.”

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