CHAINS (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 18) Read online

  “I swear, the entire crowd tonight is just horny truckers.” Renee rolled her eyes as she chewed gum and flicked mascara across her long, thick eyelashes.

  They both were sitting in the dressing room, and Star was painting her nails a hot pink while Renee put the final touches to her own look before she hit the stage.

  Star laughed and said with a wink, “Isn’t that the case every night?” She blew on the edge of her nails to get them dry.

  “I’m sick of this goddam job.” Renee pouted as she kicked her feet out and slipped them into a pair of stilettos with a three-inch heel. “I’m tired of being a piece of meat.”

  “You’re looking at it all wrong,” Star said with authority as she pulled the little brush out of the pot of polish and began to paint her other hand. “They’re the pieces of meat. The dumbasses we’re exploiting, not the other way around.” She raised her eyebrows and watched as Renee’s face cracked into a smile.

  “I know you’re right,” she agreed. “I used to have the same attitude, but the more months that pass by, I just find myself feeling done.” “You can’t leave me,” Star said, pouting. “Ever since I first started here, you’ve been the only one I could count on to kick my ass and make sure I’m always giving one hundred percent.”

  “That’s because I give a shit about you and the other girls.” Renee’s tone was almost motherly. “I remember what it was like starting out, I was scared, but then I realized how much money I could make, and I quickly changed my thought process.”

  “So, change it again now,” Star said with a little bit of exasperation.

  “Maybe,” Renee said with a shrugged. “Or maybe it’s time to hang up the pantyhose and be a real adult.”

  She winked at Star before they both burst into laughter.

  “Who else is working tonight?” Star asked as she twisted the little bottle of nail polish back closed and leaned back against the wall. The whole of the dressing room was an explosion of colorful clothes and underwear. It was almost looking out across a rainbow.

  “Candy was on day shift,” Renee said. “Jill’s working bar, and I do believe we may have a new girl starting later tonight.” She raised her eyebrows and Star’s eyes widened.

  “Really? I haven’t heard anything about it.”

  “Neither had I until I came in tonight,” Renee said. “Jill said she heard one of the bikers talking about new blood. What else could they mean? I don’t like being kept in the dark.”

  “Me neither,” Star said as she picked up a brush and started to comb through her long, thick hair. “But who knows? I guess with them it could mean anything.”

  “Maybe Jill got it wrong,” Renee shrugged. “Maybe it was all just Chinese whispers.”

  “Maybe,” Star agreed as she found herself staring into space.

  Every time a new girl started at Tanner’s, the existing girls all became a little nervous. Not that they were ever anything but kind and welcoming, it just always brought with it a sense of fear, as if one of their days were numbered.

  Star couldn’t help but worry, as in this case maybe it was Renee. If she had been telling other people around the club she was starting to feel unhappy, and the bikers were bound to find out at some point and take action to help her along right out the door.

  “Well, I better get out there.” Renee sighed as she rose to her feet and plucked the wad of gum from her mouth before she threw it into the garbage. “Wish me luck!”

  “Good luck.” Star smiled warmly. “Not that you need it.”

  Renee winked at her before she adjusted her boobs in her bra and slipped out of the door into the hallway. Star looked around once she was alone and felt a deep affinity to her surroundings. She could understand where Renee was coming from, but at the same time she loved what she did, and she knew she was lucky to have such a sweet deal.

  The Forsaken Riders, the bike gang who owned the club, were decent and solid. They were the kind of men who had honor and were always true to their word. When Star had been travelling across the country, she had heard many terrible tales from girls in similar lines of work who were employed by really nasty guys; the kind of men who would beat them up if they called in sick, or took their hard-earned money, then giving them a swift slap if they dared to ask why.

  Star never had any trouble in Slate Springs. She hated her apartment, and the dodgy side of town it was on, but apart from that, she felt pretty settled and lucky to have found such a welcoming place. She often marveled at how much of a little family seemed to thrive within the walls of the strip club, and there had never been a time while she had been at work when she had felt genuinely unsafe.

  She looked at herself in the mirror and cocked her head to one side as she studied her outfit. She looked cute in a pink bikini to match her pink nails, and her shoes were almost as high as skyscrapers, making her legs look even longer.

  “Right.” She smiled to herself as she began to psyche herself up. “Let’s get out there and earn some money.”

  She winked at her own reflection and turned on her heel before heading for the same door Renee had just disappeared through.

  As soon as she stepped into the darkened hallway, she could feel the vibrations through the floor of the heavy thumping music. Walking to the set of swinging doors that led to the main body of the club, her heart began to race and she felt both alive and nervous.

  Even after all the months she had worked there, she still thrived off that feeling. The one that told her she was in control and she held the power. She was about to walk through those doors a star, and be coveted by every man in the place. It was a great feeling, and one that never seemed to get old.

  She pushed the doors open and stepped into the dark, hot swarm of music, smoke and bodies. The club was packed and filled to bursting, the bright spotlights and heavy smoke making it almost impossible to see even two feet in front of her.

  Star flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled sweetly, as she weaved her way through the crowd and headed towards the bar. She liked to begin her night on neutral ground, and the bar always seemed like the ideal place to hook a customer who needed a little attention, or a good conversation. If Star was lucky, she would probably get a drink bought for her as well.

  The mist in front of her cleared and she could see the backlights illuminating the length of the bar and Jill working away tirelessly behind it. Star picked up her pace so that she could get to her sooner and as she reached it she slapped her hands down playfully on the top of the counter.

  “Good evening.” She grinned as Jill looked up, then laughed.

  “Hey,” Jill smiled. “When did you get in?”

  “About a half hour ago,” Star called back. “I’m not on stage until midnight, though, so I thought I’d come down here and see what was going on.”

  “Good.” Jill grinned. “Maybe you can distract some of these assholes.” She said this in a whisper and behind her hand so the men loitering around the bar couldn’t hear her or if they lip-read, see.

  “Oh really?” Star asked with a frown. “That bad?”

  “Terrible,” Jill mouthed. “Full of fire and aggression.”

  “Urgh.” Star pouted as she looked around at the sets of eyes watching her.

  “But now you’re here,” Jill said, still grinning. “You’re the calming influence. You’re the one who’ll bring them to their knees.”

  “Well, in theory.” Star laughed. “Let’s see if that works in practice.”

  “As if it wouldn’t.” Jill laughed as she brushed off Star’s comment, and Star had to admit, she knew she was just being modest. She had a power that no man in there would dare mess with.

  She turned around and leaned back against the bar before she began to twirl a long strand of hair around her finger, and began the short wait for someone to approach her. At the front of the room and on the stage, Renee was gathering one hell of a crowd, and Star couldn’t help but cheer her on.

  She had only been waiting there
for a matter of moments when she saw the main doors to the club swing open and the familiar gate of Bull marched through and into the room. She held her breath for a moment as she tried to gauge what kind of a mood he was in from the way he was walking, and could tell instantly he was agitated.

  His wide, muscular shoulders were hunched, and his fists were clenched. He looked as if he were tense and ready to pounce into action.

  Bull was the current head of The Forsaken Riders. He was a big, badass mean biker, with nerves of steel and a body to match. He hadn’t been around the club much in the past couple of months, and Star had wondered where he had been hiding, but now he was back and he looked like he meant business.

  “Hi,” Star smiled as he approached the bar and crossed his huge arms over his chest.

  Bull nodded down at her, but didn’t smile. That’s when Star knew that something really was up.

  “Some of the other boys are coming in,” Bull said sternly as he eyeballed Star and then Jill behind the counter. “I want this place as empty as possible within an hour’s time.”

  Star and Jill looked at each other with wide eyes and an expression which could only mean that neither of them knew if he was joking or not.

  “I’m being serious,” he said again.

  His face was flat and angry, and the girls both nodded nervously.

  “Stop all the dances,” Bull said as he raised a hand and pointed at Renee. “Who was taking over afterwards?”

  Star raised her hand. “Well, I was.”

  “Not anymore. Just for tonight, we’re closing up.”

  He looked at them both sternly to check that they had understood and they both nodded with their mouths sagging open slightly with shock. In the whole time that Star had worked at Tanner’s, she had never known them to close like that.

  “Closing up?” she asked bravely.

  “Yes,” Bull confirmed. “Emergency meeting. We don’t want the place so overrun we can’t keep track of everything and everyone who’s in here.”

  “But—” Jill began but quickly stopped whatever she was going to ask.

  “Just stop the dances, take a while serving the drinks, and stay off the floor.” He looked at Star when he said that. “The truckers will all get bored and head to The Bullet, and the youngsters playing tourist won’t know any different. This is all just a novelty for them anyway.”

  Star nodded her head.

  “You’ve got an hour to get this place at half the capacity it is now,” Bull said again, and this time he had a little grin of amusement as he raised his eyebrows. “No pressure.”

  He turned and looked back over his shoulder before he disappeared into the crowd, and Star and Jill looked at each other as if they couldn’t believe what they had just heard.

  “Emergency meeting?” Star said.

  Jill shrugged and slipped a stick of gum into her mouth before she started to chew.

  “I’m not questioning it,” she said, laughing. “All I want is to get off early.”

  Star shrugged too. She hadn’t predicted such an easy shift, but she wasn’t about to start digging around for answers. If there was one thing she had learned from working with a group of outlaws, it was sometimes it was much better to be kept in the dark.

  3.

  Trying to calm Tanner’s down and get the majority of customers out of the doors within an hour proved to be much harder than they originally anticipated. Jill and Star worked as hard as they could at snubbing conversations, as well as making sure no one was taken care of when it came to serving drinks or having dances. But still, the crowd seemed to remain.

  “If we don’t do as Bull asked we’re going to be in trouble,” Star said. “You’ll be fine because of Ax, but I’m sure he’ll come down on me like a ton of bricks.”

  Jill laughed and shook her head. “Ax would no doubt enjoy telling me off too.” Jill’s boyfriend Ax was another one of The Forsaken Riders, and who would no doubt be returning to the club that night for whatever they had planned.

  “Why don’t we just shut down the bar and head back to the changing rooms?” Star suggested.

  “Because then we really are shutting up shop and it’s bound to affect business in the long run.” Jill sighed as she rubbed her forehead. Star could tell that being given this job was stressing her out. “If we shut up shop completely, Bull will think we’ve taken the easy option. Plus, he said half capacity.”

  Star nodded and looked around the room. Renee had vacated the stage at least forty-five minutes before, but there were still several groups of eagle-eyed and optimistic truckers waiting for more.

  “You head out back,” Jill said. “If they aren’t any girls out here, then surely they’ll all lose interest.”

  Star gave her a mock salute before she began to weave her way back through the crowd and towards the swing doors that led down to the changing rooms, which led to the back entrance of the club.

  Renee was standing in the doorway smoking a cigarette, looking out over the back of the carpark.

  “I’m glad Bull called time on tonight,” she said as she exhaled a plume of smoke up into the night air.

  “Yeah,” Star said with a shrug. “I know you weren’t feeling it.”

  Renee nodded her head in agreement before she threw the smoking butt down onto the ground and twisted the sole of her high, stiletto over it.

  “Any ideas what this emergency meeting is about?” Star asked.

  Renee shrugged. “The new blood maybe?” She half laughed.

  “No, surely not,” Star shook her head. “Why would they have an emergency meeting to talk about a new girl?”

  “Maybe Jill got it wrong,” Renee said wisely. “Maybe it isn’t a new girl.”

  She let her statement hang between them and Star churned it over in her mind. She ran her long fingernails through her hair like a comb and bit her bottom lip.

  “A new biker?” she asked, almost in a whisper.

  Renee and her locked eyes and they could both sense the excitement in one another.

  “It would make sense,” Renee said with a grin. “New blood… an emergency meeting. Maybe it isn’t a meeting at all.”

  “Maybe it’s an initiation!” Star said with wide eyes and Renee nodded.

  “Suddenly I don’t want to go home,” Star said with a small laugh. “I’m going to make a coffee. Want one?”

  Renee shook her head. “No thanks sweetie, this old girl definitely wants to get herself to bed.”

  “Old girl. Are you serious? You’re twenty-seven!” Star laughed.

  “Precisely.” Renee yawned. “I’m practically ancient by stripper standards. I should be curled up in bed with a good book and a mug of hot coco.”

  “You’re insane.” Star rolled her eyes as she blew Renee a kiss and slipped back down the corridor towards the side room which housed a small sink and refrigerator.

  She started to boil some water and leaned against the counter as she waited. It wasn’t even midnight, and already the night had suddenly taken a new and exciting turn. She knew she wasn’t expected to work the stage or the customers for the rest of her shift, but she did wonder if Bull and the other Forsaken Riders would want her to stick around to help Jill serve drinks.

  She chewed her bottom lip as she mulled it all over and started to make herself a strong, instant coffee. If she was sticking around, then she was going to have to perk herself up.

  She sipped it as she walked back down the hallway and went toward the changing room. Out back where Renee had been smoking, she could see that the door was still swinging open and there were headlights in the parking lot.

  She tried to see who was out there and when she saw a swoop of motorcycle headlights, she felt a tightness of excitement in her belly.

  “Here they come,” she whispered to herself as she stopped by the doorway, drinking her coffee.

  It was always a big tell when the bikers all started to filter in at the back of the building. If there were only a few of them,
they would usually come in the front doors like Bull had done around an hour before. But when they all parked their bikes around the back and started to come in quietly at the exit nearest to the changing room, Star usually took this to mean that there was going to be a lot of them, and they wanted to be as invisible as possible.

  She swept her long hair over one shoulder and tried to see out into the night. Big, tall figures were dismounting bikes in the dark and were slapping each other on the backs and embracing each other in hugs. Star’s heart had started to beat a little harder and faster, just like it always did when there was so much power and testosterone in the air around her, and she tried not to grin.

  The Forsaken Riders were dangerous and bad to the bone, but they were all easy on the eye. She didn’t mind having a good look every now and again, even if she would never get with one of them in a million years.

  “Hey,” Diesel nodded as he ducked through the doorway and smiled at her.

  “Hey,” Star replied as he walked on past her.

  One by one, they all began to arrive. She said hello to King and Hunter, to Decker and Stick. All of them, even some of the bikers she barely recognized and who never came across to the club were arriving, and she watched them all with anticipation, waiting for one of them to tell her what was happening.

  She had finished her coffee by the time Bull emerged from the furthest end of the hallway and he nodded at Star to get her attention.

  “Thanks for helping Jill clear out,” he said.

  “She did most of it,” Star said, not wanting to take credit where it wasn’t due. “We thought I should stay out of the way until it was quieter, give the customers less to bank on or look at.”

  Bull smirked and nodded in agreement.

  “So, what’s going on?” she asked tentatively, not wanting to overstep any boundaries.

  “Why don’t you come and help Jill tend bar and find out?” he asked cockily.

  Star had to tried to hide her grin which was rapidly spreading from ear to ear and she turned on her heel and slipped back into the dressing room so she could get changed.