Free For the Love of His Life by Fiona McGier Page B

trouble while he was stuck in town without bodyguards or even any of his loyal crew . He looked up to see Tom standing in front of him and their eyes met. Tom nodded as if to reassure Raul he had his back. Then he headed back to the end of the bar to refill some pitchers.
    A couple of the other biker women had walked over to the pool table and sat on it, swinging their legs and laughing at the guys still trying to play. One of them had obviously had enough alcohol to have artificial courage. He first asked the women to move, then he brandished his pool cue as if he was going to use it to remove them.
    One of the men detached himself from the group carrying pitchers back to their table and he strode over to grab the cue out of the hands of the guy being brave, then he broke it over his knee and handed the pieces back to the guy.
    “Now let’s see you play with that,” he growled to general grunts of laughter. “Anyone else want to move our women? Or are you smart enough to go sit somewhere else and let us have the table?” He looked around expectantly.
    The rest of the pool players sensed danger and hustled their friend over to the bar to get him another drink. The darts boards had also been commandeered by the bikers. Slowly the locals began to head out the door, trying not to attract any attention, determined to leave before they became part of the entertainment for the newcomers who were used to getting their own way wherever they went.
    Tom had just put another double in front of Raul when they both heard the redhead address the patrons left in the bar.
    “So rumor has it that Raul Roderick—that sexy beast—has been hanging out here lately. We rode all the way over from Ely because I love his movies. And I got a message for him that I gotta deliver real personal-like. So where is he? He’s here, right? ‘Cause if he’s not, I’m gonna be really pissed and you wouldn’t like me when I get pissed.”
    She began to visit all the tables, checking out the men seated at them, flirting with many of them, insulting the women. No one dared to insult her back, choosing instead to leave. She and her friends laughed each time someone else left because of them. Once most of the tables of locals had left, she wandered over to sit on the pool table. She crossed one leg over the other and began to swing her high-heeled foot back and forth.
    “Okay, if I was rich and famous I would be sitting in some kind of backroom somewhere, so I didn’t have to be with the ordinary people. But if I was trying to blend in, to soak up the local flavor so I could play someone local in a movie, I would probably be at the bar, right? So let’s see…which of the guys with his face in his glass looks like Raul Roderick?” She began to work her way towards Raul. “Nah, too old. Nah, another old one. Nah, too blond. Whoa, another ginger? Baby, you and me gotta have a child. I want a brat with red hair to inherit my gang. Nah, you look like a man from the back but you’re just an ugly woman. Nah, too light-skinned.”
    Raul set his face into a bland look, knowing he’d be the next person she’d pull away from the bar to get a better look at his face.
    “Well, well, what have we here?” She turned his barstool around so he faced the dining area of the bar, now filled mostly with her gang members.
    “He looks like he’s Hispanic, doesn’t he, José?”
    “ Sí, senorita. El es un Hispanico . He’s even darker than me.”
    “That’s ‘cause his daddy was an injun, right, dude? Don’t you guys read anything? How the fuck do you think I found out he’d be here? I stay informed on the important things that inquiring minds want to know.”
    She draped herself on Raul, rubbing her ample breasts on his chest, her already-hard nipples tracing a figure-eight pattern. Her hands began to massage his thighs.
    “I gotta message for you from Tammy. Remember her? Nah, you probably don’t. She said you were drunk as a skunk, but once she got