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  Allison went out to the main room and saw that there were even more people in the Oakwood than there had been the night before. She easily identified the Hellclaws dominating one half of the bar, but there were several other tables of people who didn’t seem to be connected to the bikers in any way.

  “People must have seen how busy the parking lot was and thought this place was picking up again,” said Becca. She had three empty pitchers in each hand and looked like she’d been running non-stop since that morning.

  “Which section do you want me to take?” asked Allison.

  “Why don’t you serve the bikers.” Becca nodded towards the table where Mike American and Craig sat. “The cute one with the brown hair has been asking about you all day. They’re looking for refills on these. Kaylee and I can handle the other customers until Hannah gets here.”

  “Sure,” replied Allison, grabbing clean pitchers and setting them up under the taps.

  She glanced at the table and saw that Craig was looking in her direction, a slight smile on his face. Allison bit her lip and decided then and there that she wouldn’t hesitate if she had the opportunity to fuck him. Miriam was right about having a little fun, and it seemed like Craig was up for picking up where they’d left off the night before. She filled the pitchers and carried them over to the head biker table.

  “There’s our girl!” roared Mike American. He hopped up from his seat and threw his arms around her, embracing her in a big bear hug. He set her down gently and kissed her on the cheek, his scruffy black beard tickling the smooth skin and sending her into a fit of giggles.

  “You guys hungry?” she asked, leaning on Mike’s shoulder after he’d sat back down. After the stack of cash they’d left the night before, she’d flirt like crazy to make them feel welcome.

  “Does the pope shit in the woods?” said Mike, with a grin.

  The other bikers laughed and chimed in with their orders as Allison scratched out their requests on her pad of paper. She then made the rounds of the other biker tables, taking orders and clearing empty pitchers. As she moved around the bar, she positioned herself in a such a way that she could see Craig out of the corner of her eye, and she noticed that he watched her wherever she went.

  “Get ready, Walter,” she said to her brother when she poked her head into the kitchen. Both he and Ricky were busy at the grill and prep station. “Big order coming in.”

  Allison read off the order, amused by the look of happiness and irritation on her brother’s face. She could tell that one part of his brain was tallying up how much money he’d make off the Hellclaws that night, while the other half was trying to come to terms with the fact that he’d be stuck in the kitchen until closing. Walter hated working the kitchen, but the demand was just too high to let Ricky handle it on his own.

  “Is that all?” asked Walter, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he shoved another potato into the fry cutter.

  “For now, they said.” Allison grinned. “Relax, big brother. We’re going to make our month on these couple of days alone.”

  Walter just grunted and slammed the handle of the fry cutter down again. Deciding to let Ricky deal with her brother’s grumpiness, she backed out of the kitchen and almost bumped into Mike American helping himself to a drink refill from behind the bar. She’d almost forgotten that she’d told him to go back there whenever he wanted.

  “Becca and Kaylee didn’t give you trouble for coming back here, did they?” she asked.

  “Nah, they’re a couple of sweethearts. Besides, not many people go out of their way to tell me not to do something.” He flashed her a grin that made him look both cheerful and menacing at the same time.

  “Now, that I do not doubt one bit.”

  “Someone was looking to chat with you a minute,” said Mike, nodding towards the pool table where Craig was alone and racking up a game.

  Allison nodded and made her way through the tables to where Craig was lining up his first shot. “Playing with yourself?”

  “I lost my partner last night,” he said, slamming the cue ball and sending several other balls into the pockets.

  “Yeah, well you were the one who walked out on me.” Allison sat on the edge of the table, watching him walk around to line up his next shot.

  “I am sorry about that.” He took his shot and stood upright, leaning on the wooden pool cue. “We had a little something to take care of, and we had to get out of here in a hurry. You know how it is when business calls.”

  “Actually, I can’t say that I do.”

  Craig came around the table to stand next to her. “Well, I’m sorry for rushing out. It wasn’t my choice, believe me.”

  “I could probably find my way towards forgiving you.” She chewed on her lower lip. It was an involuntary response, but she knew from watching Miriam do it that it sent a pretty clear signal to a man as to what she was after.

  “Oh yeah? And what would I have to do to earn that forgiveness.” Craig brushed a strand of her hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear.

  “I’m sure I could think of something, but we’d need to find someplace a little more private than this.”

  Allison’s heartbeat accelerated. She was never this forward, and it gave her a thrill to play this little game.

  “That would be my pleasure.” An awkward look crossed his face, and he pulled back a little. “Although it won’t be tonight. We’ve got to head out to take care of a few things.”

  “Right, business,” said Allison, unable to hide her disappointment.

  “It’s unavoidable,” replied Craig. He placed his hand on her thigh and squeezed it a little. “Believe me, I’d rather spend the time getting to know you a little better.”

  Allison nodded and looked over her shoulder to see how everyone was getting along. She could just make out Walter’s head at the pass-through window, and saw that no food was up yet. Mike American had taken it upon himself to serve his gang, and he threw her a wink and a smile that said stay right where you are, I got this.

  “What about after you do whatever mysterious thing you have to do tonight?” she asked, turning her attention back to Craig.

  “It’s going to be really late. I wish I could say yes and tell you when we’ll be done, but I’m afraid it might not be until close to sunrise.”

  Allison was about to say something else, but she held her tongue as one of the other bikers came up to them.

  “Hey Craig, I’m going to run to the store to pick up a carton of smokes for the boys. Mike told me to get some cash from you.”

  “Yeah, sure,” said Craig, slipping his wallet out from his back pocket. He removed a couple of bills and handed them to the biker.

  “Is that your regular wallet?” asked Allison.

  “Yep, why do you ask?”

  “I’m positive I found your wallet on the floor last night when I was cleaning up. I forgot to tell you about it because, well, because something really weird happened after.”

  “Are you sure it was mine?” asked Craig. He flipped his open to show her the driver’s license that she’d seen the night before. “I’ve had mine the whole time. Trust me, I wouldn’t get on my bike without my license. The last thing I want is to get hassled by the cops and to not have this with me. You wouldn’t believe how often we get stopped for no reason.”

  “Oh, I’d believe it,” she said, trying to stay calm. She’d definitely had his wallet, hadn’t she? The whole thing with the bear and the wolf had been so crazy that she hardly believed it herself, but could she have somehow imagined the whole thing? “You’re sure you didn’t find that on the street when you came back or something?”

  “I think I’d know if I lost my wallet. Mike makes me manage all our money, and we’d be screwed if I lost this thing.”

  Craig’s body stiffened a little and he went to the other side of the table to take a shot. Allison looked at the layout of the balls and saw that it wasn’t the smartest shot he could take, and she realized he was putting space betw
een them.

  “Must have been my confusion then,” she mumbled. She felt awkward and weird now, and wished she didn’t have to spend the rest of the night serving the Hellclaws.

  “Look,” said Craig, putting the cue on the table and walking around to lean on the table near her. “It’s no big deal, right? You thought you found my wallet, but it turns out I have mine and it must have been someone else’s. Why don’t you show me the one you found and I’ll help you get it back to the right person.”

  For a second, Allison considered telling him the whole story. She had a pretty good idea what kind of a reaction she’d get from that, though, and so instead she just lied to him and told him that she’d given the wallet to her brother to put into the lost and found. It wasn’t worth making things any weirder, and now Craig was smiling at her in a way that made her wonder if she hadn’t imagined the way he’d reacted over the whole wallet issue.

  “I’d rather hear more about you than talk about missing wallets,” said Craig.

  “There’s not much to tell,” replied Allison. She put her hands in her back pockets and tried to let go of the awkwardness that now clouded her attraction for Craig. “I work here, as you know, and I go to school some nights. That’s about it. My brother Walter runs the place, and he’s pretty much the only family I have.”

  “What are you in school for?”

  “ECE,” she replied. “Sorry, Early Childhood Education. I really want to teach pre-school.”

  Craig chuckled a little and ran his eyes up and down her body. “You don’t really look like a preschool teacher. No offense, but you’re way too sexy for that.”

  “This is obviously not how I’d dress for school,” she said, smiling at the compliment. “If I’d been less of a troublemaker when I was a kid, I probably wouldn’t have gotten all these tats, but there are a few progressive preschools out there. I’m hoping it won’t be a problem, and I can wear long sleeves a lot of the time.”

  “Well it sounds like you’d be good at it. Your eyes light up a little when you talk about it.”

  “Really?” She was surprised to hear him point that out. “Well, I had a weird childhood, and I guess it means a lot to me to be able to work with young kids to make sure they get a good start on life.”

  “If you’re good at working with kids, then that explains how you can handle us Hellclaws so well,” Craig said, grinning like a fool.

  “You guys are sweethearts,” she replied. “I’m not worried about any of you causing troubles.”

  “Well, just in case,” said Craig, reaching out to snatch the pad of paper from her apron pocket, “let me give you my personal number in case you ever need to get a hold of me. You know, for protection or whatever.”

  “I’ll do that,” she said.

  The ding of the order bell rang through the tavern, and Allison winked at Craig before spinning and walking off to pick up the food. She put a little something extra into her walk, knowing that Craig was watching her the entire time.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  After a few hours of serving the Hellclaws and other customers who’d wandered into the suddenly popular Oakwood Tavern, Allison ducked outside to catch a breath of fresh air. After the awkwardness of her conversation with Craig, she’d spent most of the night both avoiding him and trying to tell if he was watching her or not. A big part of her natural instinct was to stay away from him and not get involved even casually, but she couldn’t change the fact that he was attractive and eager to spend time with her, and that she wanted to do the same.

  Walking around to the picnic table where she used to come and smoke a cigarette on break before finally quitting once and for all, Allison couldn’t help but notice the large bear paw symbol that had been spray painted onto the side of the bar. It was about as tall as she was, and it had been done in bright white against the dark red brick of the building so that it was clearly visible to anyone driving into the parking lot. She didn’t have to wonder about where it had come from, because she recognized it instantly from the patch on every biker jacket in that bar. It was the Hellclaw logo, and that meant Mike American was responsible for putting it up there.

  Allison went to fetch her brother so he could see the graffiti for himself, and then they both went back inside to talk to the leader of the bikers. Rather than get loud or boastful about claiming the Oakwood as Hellclaw territory like she was worried he might do, Mike American nodded silently and got up to follow them outside to where the bear claw stood out as clearly as if it had been a neon sign.

  “I should have told you first thing,” explained Mike. “There’s some heavy shit going down in West Liberty right now, and although we don’t want anything bad to happen here after how kind you two have been to us, the reality is that trouble tends to follow us. That sign out there means you’re under our protection, and it’ll keep other… nasty elements from giving you any problems.”

  “Are we in danger?” asked Allison.

  “I really don’t think it’ll come to that,” said the burly biker, “but it’s better to be safe. The fact that you haven’t had to deal with some of the shadier groups in this town is more luck than anything else. A place like this is prime real estate for some of the other gangs in the area, and you want to trust me when I say that you don’t want them spending too much time in your bar.”

  “And why should we trust you any more than we trust them?” asked Walter. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stood with feet planted firmly on the ground. He wasn’t a small or weak man, but he looked scrawny and helpless in the shadow of the tall and muscled biker.

  “You shouldn’t,” said Mike with a big grin. “But we’re here, and they’re not. We don’t mean to cause you any harm here, and you’re just going to have to ride it out and see that we’re the good guys in this whole situation.”

  “Good guys, huh?” said Allison.

  “In a relative sense of the word.” Mike shrugged. “I guess you could say we’re the best of the worst. I don’t claim to be an angel, but there’s them that would drink your beer and eat your food before slicing your throat open just to avoid paying the bill.”

  “And you’re here to piss them off?” asked Walter.

  “Maybe a little,” replied Mike. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket and took his time shaking free one free before lighting it, inhaling, and exhaling a cloud of smoke away from Walter and Allison. “I’m not going to lie to you and pretend that we aren’t here to do work. We’ve been visiting certain business associates on the way up from Kentucky, and most of them haven’t exactly been happy to see us at their doorstep.”

  “What happens to us when you leave?” asked Allison. “I mean, it’s not like you’re going to stick around here to protect us forever, right?”

  Mike took a drag off his smoke and flashed her a surprisingly charming smile. “We’ve got some business up Chicago way after this, but we’ll make sure there isn’t anyone left in town to bother you before we head out again. This isn’t the first stop we’ve made on our little trip, and it hasn’t been a problem yet. You don’t have to worry a thing now that the Hellclaws have got your back.”

  “Well, I trust you to not put us in a bad position,” said Walter.

  Allison looked at her brother, and she could tell that he wasn’t nearly as confident as he was trying to be. Growing up, he’d had to act as something of a father to her, and he’d done a lot of sketchy things to make sure she always had a safe place to sleep and food on her plate. If anyone knew the local rough element and what they were capable of, it was Walter. If he had any misgivings about trusting Mike American and the Hellclaws, the only reason he wasn’t saying anything was because of how much money they were spending in order to use the Oakwood Tavern as their headquarters.

  “I should get back to the bar,” said Walter.

  “Yeah, I should probably check on the guys to see if they need more drinks,” added Allison.

  Mike held up his half-smoked cigarette. “Min
d keeping me company while I finish this?”

  “Sure,” she replied. Walter didn’t say anything, but she knew that look in his eyes. It was the one that said be careful, Allison. She’d seen it often enough during her teens, and ignoring it was a big part of the reason she was fighting to pay her rent and manage the few hours of night school she had each week.

  “Your brother really looks out for you, huh?” asked Mike once they were alone. He went to the picnic table and sat on top of it, his feet on the bench. He then patted the spot beside him and waited for Allison to sit.

  “He does his best,” she replied. “I’ve never been that good at listening to him, though.”

  “No doubt.” Mike chuckled and flicked his cigarette out into the parking lot. “You seem like a smart girl, though. Not many people can handle my guys the way you do. You’ve had most of them wrapped around your little finger since we rolled in here. This is the first place we’ve been where a brawl didn’t break out on the first night.”

  “How many towns have you been through like this?”

  “Enough.” He shrugged and made it clear that he wasn’t going to go into much more detail about what they were doing when they left the tavern to go out for several hours each day and night. “A lot of biker clubs stick to one territory, but we like to roam a little. Keeps things interesting, you know?”

  There was a spark of wildfire in his eyes that made Allison’s throat dry up a little. She swallowed the lump in her throat and found it difficult to hold his gaze for long. The big burly beard and rough exterior were intimidating to say the least, but there was something about him that she was beginning to feel more and more drawn to.

  “It must be nice to just go wherever you want whenever you want.”

  “It does get lonely sometimes.” Mike leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. He stared out into the darkness and there was a long moment of silence before he spoke again. “Being part of the Hellclaws is more than just about being a part of a club. We’re like family, but there’s a lot that comes with that. We love like family, but we fight like family too. It’s not always easy to respect the code of brotherhood.”