Disruption of Desire Read online

  Pulling up to Wacko’s, both Brock and I back our bikes up right in front of the entrance. Having an easy get away if needed, but also letting people know we don’t give a shit and we will park wherever the hell we want to. Dismounting our rides, Brock looks over at me as we slap hands together and give a bro hug to each other.

  “Let’s do this, brother!” he says, checking his vest to make sure his pistol is hidden. We walk up to the door and are greeted by this scrawny little guy checking IDs. This dude isn’t any taller than five-foot-six and maybe one-hundred and forty pounds soaking wet. I bet this kid just graduated high school and got a job here because his girl is in there working the stage to pay for college. He asks to see our IDs, and of course Brock has to give him shit.

  “Bro, I’m old enough to be your Pops. You really wanna see my shit?” He flexes his biceps, trying to intimidate the kid. Surprisingly the kid doesn’t back down any.

  “Sir, I’m just doing my job. Can I see your ID?” He holds his hand out, waiting for Brock to hand it over to him.

  “Ya know, kid, I can respect that. Here ya go.” He passes it to him, and I reach into my wallet and pull mine out as well. After looking them over, he hands them back and opens the door for us, waving us in.

  “Have a good night, gents.”

  The lights are turned down and the spotlights are shining on the girl swinging around the pole on the center stage. The song “PornStar Dancing” is blaring through the speakers. I can’t keep my eyes off the ass that’s dancing up on the stage. Brock gives me a quick smack in the chest.

  “Focus, brother. As much as I would like to sit up at the stage and throw my dollars at her, we have a job to do.” Looking around, and scoping out the joint for these fuckers, Brock points up to the bar to our right. “Go grab us a couple of beers, while I case this joint out.”

  I look over at the bar and a tall blonde with all the right curves is standing behind the counter. Walking over, she looks up at me, and her eyes widen. She motions over to the bouncer standing at the end of the bar. I give this guy a onceover, and damn, this dude is a huge motherfucker. His legs look like tree trunks, and his biceps look like fucking basketballs wrapped in his tight ass shirt. As I get closer to the bar, he walks over, obviously coming over to confront me.

  “Something I can help you with, pal?” he asks in a raspy voice that sounds like he had one to many cigarettes.

  “Nah man, just grabbing a couple beers for me and my boy.” I lean up against the bar and motion for the bartender, basically turning my back to this Hulk-sized fucking dude.

  “I think you and your boy need to take your business elsewhere.” He puts his hand on my shoulder and gives it a tug. Lowering my head down slightly, I take a deep breath.

  “Get your fucking hand off me.”

  Turning around quickly as his hand slides off my shoulder, I hear a loud ass thud, kind of like two pieces of wood slamming together. Brock has come out of nowhere and sucker punched this dude right in the side of his jaw. The bouncer’s head bounces off Brock’s fist as he falls forward into the bar, slamming into the bar stool in front of him, before his big ass body falls to the sticky floor of the club. In one single punch, Brock has laid this dude out. As I look up at Brock, all I can see is this smile on his face.

  “Thanks bro, but I had that shit under control.”

  “You know I’m always looking for an excuse to hit a fucker.” He chuckles and wipes his knuckles off. As we both stand over this dude, the bartender throws her hands up and waves at a group of guys sitting across the club. There has to be at least eight of them all sitting around a table, with pitchers of beer and empty shot glasses scattered about. Two of the guys stand up abruptly and start making their way over to us. Brock reaches into his vest, gripping his pistol but not bringing it out.

  “Hope you’re ready, bossman; shit’s about to get real.” I can hear the cracking of his neck as he turns his head from one direction to the other.

  The two guys come over to us, chests pushed out, acting like they are tough shit. I can tell these guys are ready to throw down, but to my surprise, neither of them do.

  “Well you have gotten our attention, homies. What can we do for you?” One of the guys crosses his arms, giving off that “I’m a tough SOB” look. I can’t stand guys who think they are tough, but deep down, they are nothing but little shits with mommy issues. His partner standing next to him is rather tall, with baggy jeans on, the waistband around his ass cheeks. He’s wearing a flat-brimmed hat and a white t-shirt, his fake gold chain hanging to the middle of his chest. Just a straight-up punk ass bitch. He gives me a little smirk, raising his upper lip a bit exposing his gold-plated tooth. I want to knock that fucking tooth out of his mouth, but I keep my cool for the time being.

  Brock removes his grip from his pistol, and puts his hands to his sides. Still on edge though, he looks this guy up and down.

  “We have some business with your boss,” he states, nodding his head over to the table with the other guys, who are closely watching what is going on.

  The guy with his arms crossed looks at Brock. “I’m in charge. Your business is with me.”

  Brock quickly explains that we’re here to figure out what the deal is with guns these guys purchased, and why they haven’t paid up yet. Pulling out the bar stool and taking a seat, the speaker for the group holds up a finger to the bartender. She reaches down into the beer well and twists off the top to a Bud, placing it in front of him. Brock pulls the stool out next to him and sits down, and she cracks open a beer for Brock as well. As the two sit there discussing the situation at hand, I look at the tall guy still standing and simultaneously, we both look at the bouncer laying on the floor.

  “Well this fucker ain’t worth a shit.” He kicks his arm, and pulls the cigarette from his ear and sparks it up. I give him a nod, but don’t say a word, trying to keep my cool because I really want to hit this fucker and knock that gold tooth out of his mouth. Brock continues to talk to the so-called leader of this crew, trying to get to the bottom of things. After about twenty minutes, they both stand up and surprisingly they shake hands. I didn’t really get a chance to hear what they were talking about as my eyes were glued on the rest of the guys and this tall fucker.

  “Let’s go, Connor. Our business here is done.” As we both turn away from the two gentlemen and start heading to the exit, I feel something hard as fuck hit me in the back of the head. I begin to lose my balance and can feel my legs get weak underneath me. I don’t have time to brace myself before I hit the floor face first. My eyes shut and everything goes black.

  The sun starts peeking through the blinds in our bedroom, hitting my eyes slightly, and I can feel the warmth of the sun beating down on my face. I reach my arm over to the other side of the bed, hoping to feel Connor’s body, but he isn’t there. I look around the room to see if he might have gotten up to pee or is changing, but no such luck.

  I throw on an old button-up shirt of his and button only one of the buttons, giving myself the sexy morning look so Connor will take me as soon as he sees me. I scour the house, looking for him, but he isn’t here. I must have fallen asleep before he came home last night. He will usually kiss me goodbye in the morning before heading off to work, but this morning, he didn’t.

  I grab my cell to give him a call and make sure he is okay. I dial his number but it goes straight to voicemail. I know when he goes to bed at night, he charges his phone, so it can’t be dead. I try again, but straight to voicemail again. Now I’m starting to worry a bit. It’s not like him to turn his phone off, or have the battery go dead. I try not to panic. Maybe he’s just in an area with bad reception. I’ll give him a few minutes and try again, but for now, it’s shower time.

  As I dry myself off, I hear my phone go off with an incoming text message. Picking it up, I see it’s a message from Connor.

  Connor: Babe, I’m good. I’m sorry, Brock was having a family issue and asked me to come over. We got drunk and I stayed over. I
should’ve told you.

  Piper: I wish you would’ve called me, but I understand. You coming home?

  Connor: Be home after work. Love you!

  Piper: Love you too.

  Getting dressed for the day, I can’t help but wonder about Connor lately. He has been acting really strange, with all the working late, leaving dinner early, and then not coming home last night. This isn’t like him. This seems all too familiar, like when he was running with the club back in the day, and I get that nagging feeling he isn’t being completely honest with me. I don’t want to think he’s back with the club, but damn, things just aren’t making sense. I trust him, but this just doesn’t seem right. I wonder if I should ask Frankie to follow him around. Shit, if he finds out I asked Frankie to do that, he would kill me. I can’t do that, but then again, I really don’t think he is working all this time. Is he cheating on me? Sneaking around on me? I don’t want to think he is up to no good, but fuck. I need to know something.

  Grabbing my phone, I shoot Frankie a text.

  Piper: Hey…Can you meet me? 30min Coffee House?

  A few seconds later, Frankie responds.

  Frankie: Sure thing.

  Walking into the Coffee House, I hear Frankie from the corner of the store.

  “Piper, over here.” Standing up and waving over at me, Frankie is already at a table, with two coffees and a bagel. I give him a hug as he pulls my chair out for me, scooting it back in as I sit down.

  “So, what’s going on, Piper?” Frankie asks, as he takes his knife and spreads cream cheese onto his bagel.

  “Well, I wanna ask a favor, but I’m skeptical about this.” I take a sip of my coffee.

  “Let’s hear it!” Frankie says.

  “So, as you know, Connor has been working these crazy hours and has been called into work numerous times in the middle of the night, and well, just like the other night at dinner. He just up and left. Well, last night he was supposedly working, but ended up out with Brock and didn’t come home. He said he was too drunk and just crashed at Brock’s house.” I look around, just to make sure no one is listening to our conversation.

  “He does have a pretty important job, but what are you getting at?” Frankie frowns.

  “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind keeping…well, ya know…an eye on him for a couple of days? It’s not that I don’t trust him. It’s just, something doesn’t seem right.”

  “Do you think he’s cheating on you?” Frankie asks.

  “I would hope not, but I don’t know. Like I said, something just isn’t right,” I sigh.

  “You know if he finds out I’m watching him, he is going to freak the fuck out.”

  “Oh, I know, and that’s why I’m skeptical about doing this. But I need to know what’s going on. If he is truly working overtime then so be it, but I need to know.” My eyes fill with unshed tears.

  “I don’t know, Piper.”

  “I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I wasn’t truly concerned.”

  “If I do this, then you need to do me a favor.”

  “Let me guess. Hook you up with Brit?”

  Frankie offers me a small smile, then looks down at the table.

  “You sure, Frankie? Brit is a wild one who really has no regrets with anything. I just don’t want her breaking your heart. You’re like my little brother, and I would hate to see you hurt.”

  “Pipe, I never said I wanted a relationship with her. I just want to have a little fun.”

  “I’ll see what I can do, sweetie. All I’m gonna say is, be careful with that girl.”

  Frankie winks at me with a silly smirk on his face. I know he doesn’t want a relationship with her but damn, that girl can’t keep her legs closed. But she’s my best friend, and Frankie is family, so I guess I can do this for him. I mean, he’s risking a lot for me, looking into what Connor is up to.

  As we are finishing up our coffee and chatting some more, Brit walks into the coffee house unexpectedly. She spots us and walks her happy ass over, sitting down and grabbing my coffee. As she takes a sip, I notice she has completely changed her hair color.

  “Holy shit, Brit, your hair is red!” I can’t stop looking at her hair with my mouth open wide and a look of shock on my face.

  “It was time for a change, girl.” She flips her hair back as if it was just taken by a gust of wind, and running her fingers through it. “You should see my bathroom. It looks straight-up like a murder scene in there. I don’t know how the fuck I’m gonna get that shit out of my tub and sink. It’s all over the place.”

  Frankie looks over at Brit and kind of stutters a little. “I think it looks great.”

  “Well thanks, darlin’. See, Frankie likes it, bitch.” Grabbing his thigh, she gives it a little squeeze. “So, what are you two up to?”

  I sip on my coffee again, reluctant to tell her what we have going on, but she is my best friend. So, I take the next few minutes to explain to her what’s going on, and what Frankie and I have come up with. She looks at the two of us like we’re crazy.

  “Wow, girl, you know if he finds out about this, he is going to flip his lid. But you know I’m on board with it if you need me.” She waves for the waitress to come over.

  With our plan in the works, the three of us sit back and relax for the rest of the afternoon, drinking coffee and deciding how this will all go down. It’s going to take a lot of planning to try and keep Connor from catching onto what’s going on. I have faith in Frankie’s ability and if we work together on this, I know we will get to the bottom of what Connor is up to. God, I hope he isn’t cheating on me. I don’t think he would, but thinking about all this and what has been going on lately, I just don’t know anymore. I feel the tears starting to build up in my eyes. I don’t want these two to see how much it’s affecting me, so I excuse myself and head to the bathroom to clean my face up.

  A few weeks have passed since Brock and I went to try and collect the money for Brett. We haven’t been back to Wacko’s since. Number one; I needed to let my head get a rest. I’m not sure exactly what was smashed against the back of my head but it fucking hurt. And number two; I think Brock and I need to come up with another game plan to collect for Brett. Maybe rolling in there with more brothers from the club might not be such a bad idea. After getting clobbered in the head and waking up at Brock’s place, I definitely think we need to go in heavy next time; maybe stake the place out and get them on the road.

  After talking a bit with Brock about the situation, we decided to hire Frankie to keep an eye on things. Of course, he’ll have to keep it on the down low as I can’t chance Piper finding out what I’m up to. I’ll meet up with Brock this week and we can go over our next plan of attack on this, but for right now, I’m just trying to rest up and get rid of this damn headache I’ve had for a couple weeks. Brock let everyone at the clubhouse know what was going on, and why I haven’t been around. Damn, I love those guys.

  As I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling – insomnia is a motherfucker – Piper is laying beside me, all cuddled up and sound asleep. I start to drift off, when out of the corner of my eye, I see the black shadow again. I have been seeing this shadow now since the night I was hit in the back of the head. I don’t know if it’s from the trauma of the blow or if there really is something standing there. It doesn’t move; it just stands there. I can tell it’s the shadow of a medium-sized man, wearing a ball cap and I’m not really sure what it’s doing here, but it has shown up almost every night. Just standing at the foot of my bed. It’s freaking me out, and either I’m crazy, or I got hit a lot harder than I thought.

  I want to wake Piper so she can see but each time I wake her, the shadow disappears and she says it’s just my eyes playing tricks on me, from all the long hours I’ve been working. Little does she know, that’s not the case at all.

  As the figure stands there, I stare back at him. I’m kind of scared to say anything to it; this is all so new to me. I never believed in the paranormal, but I tell you what.
I, sure as shit, am starting to now.

  I call out softly, as to not wake Piper. “What do you want?” Now, if Piper was to wake up and see me talking to absolutely nothing, I’m almost positive she would commit me to the looney bin. But I need to find out what this thing wants and why it’s here. Does it have to do with someone who used to live here, or is this thing here for me? As I sit up in my bed, I notice the figure move back a bit. Did I just scare it, because he sure as fuck is scaring me right now. I don’t want to let it know that’s how I’m feeling, though. I have always heard if you show the paranormal you are scared, they will feed off it. Again, I never believed in that shit. So why am I so comfortable with its presence?

  I really don’t know what to think or do right now. Not really knowing why, I slowly raise my hand toward the shadow person. I see it move a little but then starts to raise its own hand. In my mind right now, I’m thinking, “What the fuck is going on right now? This can’t be really happening; this has got to be a dream. Am I really making contact with the dead?” Just as my hand is about to touch the shadow, Piper rolls over in her sleep, and as fast as the shadow appeared, it’s gone again.

  Wanting to know more about this thing, I get my ass out of bed and start walking around the house, hoping I will catch a glimpse of this thing again and maybe interact with it some more. I walk out of our bedroom and start heading down the hall, which is pretty long, with two bedrooms on either side and a bathroom on the left. As I pass the first bedroom on the right and take a glimpse in, there is the sound of a door closing. I look up to see the bathroom door closing slowly. I know it’s not Piper, as we have our own bathroom, and she sure as hell didn’t pass me in the hall. I walk toward the bathroom door, and suddenly the shadow appears again on the top step of the stairs. Startled by the re-appearance of this thing, I kind of jump back a foot or two, and the shadowy figure begins to go down the stairs. Do I follow? Do I run back to my room?

  I choose to follow it because I want to see why this thing has been appearing and watching me for the last few weeks. I slowly start down the stairs behind it, not sure what this thing is going to do, but I need to find out. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the shadowy figure moves toward Piper’s office. What the hell is this thing doing, and why is it going into Piper’s office? It moves slowly into the office, and as it goes in, I lose sight of it. I’m a few feet behind, as I really don’t want it attacking me, or whatever the hell these things do.