Luka pushed open the doors of the bar and smiled at the man behind the bar as his boys followed behind him. The bartender and owner, Alonso, paled visibly as they piled in.
"Luka! I told you I will have it by the weekend!"
"I am aware, Alonso. How many weeks have you been saying that? What is it, Stavo? Four? Five?"
"Six now, Luka," Stavo smirked, leaning over the bar and twirling one of his ever present hand knives.
"Six! Six weeks you have been promising what you owe. Putting me off. It is well known I am not a man to be kept waiting, Alonso," Luka taunted, stopping to look at an obviously photoshopped picture of Alonso and Obama shaking hands. "When you borrowed all of that money, I lent it in good faith! You swore on your mothers life you would pay it back in two weeks, it was a sure thing. And yet here we are. Come to find out your mother is ten years in the grave. What am I to make of that, Alonso?"
"Luka, I promise you, I..."
"I make several things of it. First, you are not very smart. Second, you never intended to pay me back. Third, you think I am a fool."
"No! Luka, I swear, it was a sure thing, it was!"
"And yet here we are."
"Luka?" Amelia called, coming out of the stock room. "We are off four whole cases of vodka, two of the..."
"Amelia! Not now, go back and finish inventory!" Alonso yelled quickly, making her look up from her clipboard.
She looked at the dozen men in biker vests, all looking at her. One was tall and slender and he stood out ridiculously from the rest of them. For one, he was younger than most of them, for another, he was stunningly beautiful in a way that would make most girls trip over themselves just to get him to look their way. He was also the most pure native american she had ever seen. His long black hair flowing down his back like a silken waterfall, his dark eyes large and intense. Under his vest, he wore a native american chest piece made of bone. It didn't look odd on him at all, even with his jeans and cowboy boots.
"What is this then, Alonso?" the tall man asked, cocking his head and stepping closer to her.
"No one! She is new, she knows nothing and she isn't one of my normal girls! She isn't a waitress or a Lay.""
"No? She looks like a bit of sweet meat to me, Alonso," he smirked, backing her to the wall and leaning over her as he put a hand on the wall next to her head.
She stared up at him fearfully. He may be stunning, but he was a predator and he terrified her.
"She isn't! She isn't part of this! She is deaf! I will have your money with interest this weekend!"
"She seems important to you, Alonso. Why do you care so much? What does she mean to you?"
"Nothing! Nothing, she is just a girl who asked for a job, but she isn't like the others. She wants a real job."
"Maybe I need a little collateral. I think I will hold on to this little piece of ass for a few days. What do you think, boys? We came for a few fingers, but I will take this little... bookworm instead. Am I right, little Cherry? You a little number crunching bookworm? You have a name?" he asked as he tilted her head side to side to look at her hearing aids.
"Amelia," she whispered, trembling. "I... just want to go home. Today is my first day, I am just here to work and I..."
"Hush now, little Cherry," he whispered, smirking.
"She doesn't know what that means! She isn't from around here!" Alonso said quickly. "Look, take what's in my register! Take what you want from the stockroom!"
"Oh, we will," Stavo laughed, motioning to a few of the boys who took off to the back room.
"You have until Saturday, Alonso," Luka smiled, taking her arm and pulling her across the room. "After that, I get to keep this little Cherry and two of your fingers. Stavo," he nodded, pulling the girl outside with him as three of his boys followed. He turned, looking down at her. "You give me trouble, little Cherry, and I give you trouble, you understand?"
She nodded, trembling. There were unshed tears in her huge doe eyes.
"You will ride with me, hold on, and don't move around, you understand?"
She nodded again, looking at the bikes wide eyed. "Please," she whispered. "I'm afraid."
"I can see that," he grinned. "It's fucking thrilling," he laughed. He got on his bike, then grabbed her arm and pulled her up and on behind him. "Hold on!" he yelled as he started it.
She squealed and gripped him, hiding her face in his back.
He laughed again as he took off, his boys behind him.
She clung to him and didn't move a muscle until he was pulling into the clubhouse. She finally moved her face from his back when he killed the engine.
He pulled her inside behind him and as he and the others walked in, several girls hurried to greet them, kissing and smiling and rubbing on all of them but the tall one.
"Luka!" one of the girls smiled. "You brought us a new friend?"
"No, Val, not this one. Girl. See that blue chair there by that door? Go sit in it and don't get up, you hear me?"
She nodded and he let her go.
"She's a fresh baby," Val smirked, watching her.
"She ain't here for that."
"She wouldn't make it a day. Look at her. She looks like a kindergarten teacher or something."
Luka laughed and watched Amelia curl up in the blue chair and look around fearfully. "Just make sure the other girls leave her alone!"
He glanced at her again, hugging her knees and hiding her face. She was such a frightened little mouse.
He went to the bar as the more of his boys piled in with more alcohol and quickly forgot about the girl until late in the evening when more of the crew came in. Those who had day jobs outside of the club.
He sat at the end of the bar with Jay, one of the new patches, to give him a rundown on who he would be collecting from that night.
Amelia watched Luka sit down not ten feet from her at the end of the bar and turned in the seat to watch him warily as he talked to the young man. A giant walked in the front doors, a huge man. As tall as Luka easily and twice as wide. He was much older and had long white hair with a ruddy complexion under his black bandana he wore like a skull cap. There were shouts and greetings and more than one of the girls who seemed to live in this place hurried to him as he laughed loudly and shouted hello's. He was the sort of man who commanded the attention of the whole room. He had her attention.
He started to the back and his eyes fell on her. He looked her over with an amused sort of smirk. "Well, what have we here?" he asked, leaning over her, a hand on each side of the chair.
She leaned away hard and turned away from him.
"Don't be shy now, little Cherry, let's have a look at the goods!" he laughed, then ripped her v-neck sweater wide open down the front. She grasped at it, trying to shut it, but his hands were huge and strong as he pushed them aside and shoved her bra down to pull her breast out. She let out a whimper and tried to wriggle down to the floor, but he held her, chuckling as he pulled her other breast out. "Very nice," he purred, massaging the one he had just pulled out.
"Please stop!" she wailed.
Luke spun to her, then jumped up, jerking Lee back. "Lee! What the hell? Do you see where she is sitting?!?"
"Course I see where she is sitting! What fucker here outranks me enough to care if I have a look and sample the goods?"
"This fucker," Luka snarled.
Lee stook up straight, looking Luke in the eye. He stepped back, both his hands up. "My bad, boss. Never occured to me a little Cherry like that might be yours. You've never..."
"I don't care what I have never done before! You know that seat means she is reserved and that means hands off for ANYONE but the man who put her there! I don't care if it is Jay who put her there. That chair means hands off. This shouldn't be something I have to repeat to anyone, let alone you!"
"Easy, Luka, the girl is fine. I didn't know and I didn't think anyone would mind if I had a look. This gonna be an issue?"
"Only if you make it one, Lee. That Cherry is mine."
"Understood. What's on the fucking agenda tonight?" he asked, his face red with fury he couldn't unleash. He would change the subject instead.
