Page 15 of Rodeo (Marked Skulls MC 2)
The bells above the diner door chimed, and I turned to see a man in a leather jacket walk in. I scanned him quickly, to check if he had a patch. He didn’t, but his eyes were fixed on me. For some reason, he had sought me out immediately and I had the chilling feeling that he had come looking for me.
“Table eleven, hun,” Nelly, my manager called out to me from the cash register. She wanted me to go to him and take his order. I gulped, feeling for the notepad in the pocket of my apron. I breathed in and out deeply to calm my nerves. Whoever he was, he couldn’t hurt me here; not in front of everyone—could he?
I walked towards him, forcing a smile on my face. He was watching me too, his eyes scanning my body like he was already undressing me.
“Hiya, what can I get you?” I tried to put on a cheerful voice when I came to a stop next to him. I could see the tattoos peeping out from under the sleeves of his jacket now. He had thick chains around his neck and his boots tapped the linoleum floor.
“A cheeseburger and fries,” he said, without looking at the menu. I wrote it down on my notepad and I was about to turn from him, but he had reached out and grabbed my wrist. I tried to yank my hand away from him, but he pulled me to himself.
I fell on his lap with a gasp, but he was laughing now.
“Where do you think you’re going sweet tits? Give me a kiss before you leave, come on, right here,” he laughed, showing me his rough cheek. I struggled on his lap, but he wasn’t about to let me go.
I looked around me with horror, and Nelly had a bored expression on her face. She was used to this sort of thing. A lot of the waitresses flirted with the customers regularly to get better tips. Nobody was coming to my aid, they all thought this was acceptable somehow.
“Let me go!” I squealed loudly, making some heads turn in our direction now. The man’s grip on my wrists became tighter, and he kept me pinned down on his lap.
“Not before you give me that kiss you promised,” he snarled, leaning his face closer to my face as I struggled on his lap.
I wanted someone, Nelly or Flora or any of the other girls to come and help me. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me in front of everyone and nobody was doing anything about it. Didn’t I look scared enough?
“Let me go!” I yelled again, and this time, I managed to get out of his grasp and I hurled myself forward, right into Rodeo’s arms.
***
Rodeo had caught me in his arms with a firm grip. He stroked my hands, squeezing me and peering into my eyes. He was concerned, he wanted to make sure that I was fine.
“Are you okay?” he asked and I managed to nod my head. I was glad to see him but I was also in shock from everything that was going on.
What was he doing here? I didn’t think he wanted to see me again, but there was no time to think about that, because he had pushed past me and stepped over to the man who had just manhandled me.
I whipped around to see them facing off. The man stood up from his seat, and they were glaring at each other. They were almost the same height, Rodeo was a little taller.
“Keep your hands off her!” Rodeo barked and shoved him back with both hands. He stumbled back but came charging at Rodeo in the next second.
“What did you say motherfucker?” he growled and his hand was at Rodeo’s throat.
I shrieked when I saw Rodeo punch him in the gut, loosening the man’s grip from his throat. The man stumbled back again and came at Rodeo again. I was in the grip of violence again, and this time I didn’t duck in fear like last time when I saw Fred being shot.
“No! Rodeo!” I screamed. I didn’t want Rodeo to get hurt.
We had caught the attention of the people in the diner by now. Nelly, Mac and some of the other members of staff had gathered around us. Mac, who was the owner of the diner, pushed past me in anger.
“You boys take it outside. Not in here or I’ll call the cops!” Mac yelled. Rodeo, who had his hand at the man’s neck now, turned to glare at Mac.
“Outside!” Mac yelled again and pointed at the door.
“Fine!” Rodeo growled and grabbing the guy’s jacket collar, he started dragging him out of the diner. The man struggled and kicked but allowed himself to be dragged out.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Nelly screamed after me, as she saw me taking my apron off.
“I’m going after them! You guys did nothing!” I shrieked at her, and turning on my heels I ran after Rodeo who had dragged the man outside by now.
“Rodeo, please stop,” I screeched, bursting out of the doors.
The two of them were hitting at each other now, and they had both landed effective punches. Rodeo had a bloody lip, matching the bruises on the man’s face.
Neither of them even seemed to notice that I was there. I clasped my hands to my mouth as I watched them punching each other.
“Rodeo!” I screamed again, but he didn’t even turn to look at me.
“What the fuck do you want? Are you with the MC?” Rodeo yelled as he pushed the man against a wall. He had him pinned up now, lifting him up a few inches off the ground by the neck. The man’s limbs flailed as he tried to loosen Rodeo’s grip on his neck.
“No, just let him go. Let’s get out of here!” I begged Rodeo, but he wasn’t paying me any attention. I was afraid that he was going to get badly hurt. He was already hurt, he was already bleeding. I just didn’t want it to get worse. But to me, it seemed like now that Rodeo had a taste of the fight, he wasn’t going to stop till he had knocked the man unconscious…or worse?
“Fuck you, motherfucker!” the man growled, and then he spat on Rodeo’s face which made him knock his head back against the wall. I screamed when I heard the sound of the man’s skull ramming against the wall. How was he still conscious? How did he still have the strength to fight back?
I could feel hot tears rolling down my cheeks now. I couldn’t keep looking at this scale of violence, it was making me sick. I didn’t want to imagine what it would be like if the roles were reversed. If it was the man who had Rodeo pinned up against the wall.
“Please, Rodeo, please stop. Let’s just go!” I begged as I watched Rodeo squeeze the man’s neck. I couldn’t understand what had made him this mad? Was it because the man had touched me? Because I had screamed? What was he even doing here?
The man kicked Rodeo, and this time he wasn’t prepared and he went hurtling back. Rodeo was on the ground
and the man gathered himself and jumped on him.
“Oh my God! Rodeo!” I screamed in horror as I saw the man take a punch right at Rodeo’s jaw. He was going to die! I was going to lose him!
I couldn’t stop crying. My vision was blurred. Rodeo was going to die because of me!
That was when I felt the hands on my body. I felt them before I saw them. Two sets of arms wound around my torso, and one hand was on my mouth. There were at least two men who had crept up behind me and now they were dragging me away.
I screamed and kicked, my screams chaffed the back of my throat but my voice was muffled because of the hand on my mouth. I was being pulled away, in the opposite direction, while Rodeo was still on the ground, while the man was still sitting on him, pinning him down.
I hadn’t seen the men who were carrying me away, but I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. It was time. They had finally come for me, and they were going to take me away or kill me, right in front of Rodeo and he wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it.
Chapter 13
Rodeo
I tasted the metallic flavor of blood in my mouth, and till that moment; all I could hear was white noise. I blinked rapidly, just as the guy was about to punch me in my face again. I was jolted back to my senses. I heard Jordan’s scream behind me and realized that the fucker had me pinned to the ground.
I rammed my palm into his fist, using all the strength in my body to push him off me. He had a bleeding nose too and I could feel that my knuckles were badly bruised. I whipped around to see Jordan being dragged away.
There were two guys in leather jackets with the Hell’s Drifters patches on their backs and they were pulling her away.
“Jordan!” I roared, just as the other guy, the one who I had pushed away, jumped on my back. I was down on the ground again and he was holding me back.
I could see Jordan kicking and screaming as they were dragging her away. There was a muscle car parked at some distance, and I knew they were dragging her to it. If they managed to get her in that car, I would lose her. I knew that.
