Page 28 of Blood Ties

“This is ridiculous,” I muttered as I quickly dropped my pants and carefully placed toilet paper over the seat. I wasnotsitting on a public restroom seat.

I hurried, and he made sure to go outside first before he waved me out.

When we returned the key, the chick behind the counter took it from us and still didn’t make eye contact. “Hard to get good help these days,” Alessio muttered.

Back on the highway, we followed it until we hit Ankeny. The sign as we exited said North East 14th Street/69 and we took it north out of town.

More expanses of nothing passed until we pulled into what looked like the driveway to a business of some kind. Strange that a business would be out in the middle of the country.

Flood lights on the corners lit up the parking area. There was a big metal building with motorcycles parked out front. What looked like several smaller buildings surrounded that one, and across a field there was a big farm.

At the entrance, a young guy with a scraggly beard stopped us. Before the guy could ask, Alessio told him, “We’re here to see Facet.”

“And you are?”

“The Huntsman. He’ll know who I am if you tell him that.”

The Huntsman?

The guy stepped back a few feet and used a small walkie talkie. The next thing I knew, he was opening the gate and waving us through. We parked at the end of a bunch of bikes. I couldn’t believe that many people would be out on motorcycles in this cold.

We got out and I warily scanned the area. The walk-through door to the massive building swung open and a guy with a dark mop of hair that fell over one eye stepped out.

“Hey brother, what’s up?” the dark-haired guy asked as he gave Alessio some sort of handshake-hug combination. As he did, he cast an assessing glance my way.

“Facet, I’m sorry we’re just dropping by. Ordinarily, I would’ve given you a heads up, but it’s complicated,” Alessio explained before he and the man had a seemingly unspoken conversation.

Dropping by, like we had driven across town instead of a state away. I snorted and they both faced me. Several other scary-looking guys ambled out of the building. A broad-shouldered, older man with a salt and pepper beard broke away from the rest and approached.

“Venom, it’s good to see you again,” Alessio offered as they did the same bro-hug gesture. “This is Nivea,” he finally introduced.

“Hello, Nivea. It’s nice to meet you,” Venom said as he held out a big, thick hand.

Hoping his name wasn’t indicative of what could happen by simply touching him, I swallowed hard and placed my hand in his. We shook and he gave me a small, but friendly, smile.

“You, too,” I mumbled.

Introductions followed, and names got thrown at me that I wouldn’t possibly remember. Though the guys had all seemed pretty scary at first, I realized they were pretty friendly, and truthfully, a good-looking bunch. Well, in that bad-boy sort of way.

“Do you have somewhere Nivea can freshen up and rest for a bit? And I’ll explain why we’re here.” Alessio addressed Venom.

“Of course. Voodoo, would you show her to your old room?” he asked one of them. The man I now remembered introducing himself as Voodoo stepped forward, and I was struck speechless by his icy gaze. Something cold bumped my hand and I jumped as I looked down.

“That’s Zaka,” Voodoo explained with a quirk at the corner of his mouth. The giant black dog nudged my hand again and I scratched behind his ears. “He obviously likes you. Follow me, I’ll show you where you can get cleaned up.”

I followed him and Zaka into the massive metal building. At the far end, it was two stories high, and the main end had what looked like a living room area with a couple of huge TVs, and I was pretty sure—a stripper pole. Music blared out of big speakers mounted high on the walls.

A bunch of people were hanging out at that end. All of them glanced our way as we came in. Their attention followed us as we went the opposite direction. I couldn’t have said if they were guys, girls, or a mixture because I kept my eyes on the scary, pretty man and his equally beautiful dog.

We passed a decent-sized bar with what looked like a kitchen behind it. In front of it, there were a bunch of mismatched tables we walked through before we went into a short hall underneath a set of stairs.

“In here,” Voodoo instructed as he opened a door. “There’s a bathroom through there.” He pointed. “There might be some T-shirts and basketball shorts in the closet, and the bedding is clean if you want to hit the hay.”

“Thank you, I think I will.”

“Oh, and the WiFi info is on a paper taped in the desk drawer,” he mentioned as he pointed at the small desk in the corner.

“Thanks again.”

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