Titan’s Creed (8)

8

Rylynn’s plan of attack was to do a quick surface cleaning, and then focus on one nasty, crusty, disease infested room at a time. She dressed down as much as possible. No make-up, nothing but a brush through her hair. Jeans and a baggie tee were on tap for a day of mucking shit.

“Blend into the background. Don’t draw attention to yourself,” she recited as she descended the stairs into the bar below.

She was pleased to find the room empty…of people. There was plenty of crap to clean, but at least it would be without the obstacles of naked bodies lying on every surface. If it were the weekend she would have been surprised to find it bare. She had seen her fair share of naked ass after a night of hard drinking and debauchery growing up in the land of the Titan’s. Rylynn sighed in relief and headed toward the supply closet to load up on trash bags, paper towels, trash bags, cleaners, and trash bags. Back home, the honeys did the cleaning, but back home, the honeys wanted to take care of the men. They wanted a chance at being more to the brothers. She wasn’t back home and wouldn’t be until some serious house cleaning occurred. Rylynn was in a place where familiar rules didn’t apply. She just needed to keep her head down, mouth shut, and clean.

She was two trash bags in before she saw anyone. A few women walked through the bar in little more than thongs, bras, and spiked heels. They eyed her as she swept up cigarette butts and broken glass.

“Hey, who are you?” yelled one as she passed.

“I’m R…Julie. I took the HM slot. This is my first day.”

“Bitch, you ain’t gonna get dick if you dress like that. These men like to see tits and ass.”

“I’m not here for that. I am here to clean the club. That’s all.”

The bed mussed women all stopped and turned toward Rylynn. The blonde crossed her arms over her overly exposed tits and jutted out her hip, “You ain’t here for dick? You do know that the HM slot gets fucked whenever one of these boys want it, right?”

Rylynn leaned the broom against the bar and stepped closer to the honeys, “I know the rules. I also know that if I have been claimed then none of them will touch me.” You would have thought Rylynn had dumped a bucket of cold water on them when they all stood up straight and looked at her.

“Slow your roll, bitch. You been claimed? By who?” the blonde hissed.

“Wraith.”

The blonde was in Rylynn’s face as fast as her stilettos could carry her, “Wraith? When? When did he claim you?” she demanded.

“He sent me here yesterday to apply for the position. Since he is up North he put me in contact with Elvis. I’m staying upstairs,” Rylynn pointed to the ceiling, “in his apartment.

The blonde looked back at her crew of women, “Shit’s gonna get real as soon as word gets out, ya know what I mean?” All the honeys seemed shocked and amused all at the same time. Rylynn knew this was bad. Men think they are fighters, but haven’t seen a brawl until you see women go at one another. No rules. No restrictions. Just bitch on bitch. It was bloody and brutal and someone would be stomped into the dust. The other would have a hand full of the victims hair as a trophy.

“I’m Glitter.”

“Club name?”

“Yea, the guys gave it to me a few months back. Cuz I sparkle,” she smiled. “Later, bitch, coffee’s calling.”

Rylynn waved and chuckled to herself, ‘Glitter is the name they give women they can’t get rid of. She sticks like fucking glitter.’ Ry almost felt bad that Glitter didn’t know the truth, but she knew the truth would always find its way out. She thought about what Glitter said about shit getting real when others found out about Wraith claiming her. Would it be the men or the woman who would take issue? The women? As long as there was pussy available for the brothers they didn’t give a shit. The women are pickier. Each of them would have their favorites. They may not admit to it, but the honeys would know who belong to whom. Each of them would have let the others know who was off limits unless the brother demanded it. Someone staked a claim on Wraith. Rylynn knew the women were going to be more of a problem then the men.

Rylynn took up the broom and resumed cleaning when she heard heavy boots stop just inside the doorway. She turned to acknowledge the figure taking up the entire space.

“You the new HM?” came a voice formed by God himself.

“Yes, sir. I’m Julie,” she murmured as she clung to the broom for balance. The man was a blessing to admire. He was thick in all the right ways and in all the right places. His chocolate waves hung beyond his shoulders and his cut fit like a second skin over the black wife beater.

“Banger.”

“Club Prez,” finished Elvis as he emerged from the archway to the kitchen. He walked over and handed Banger a mug of coffee and then turned to Rylynn, “This is Julie. She’s Wraith’s woman.”

Banger raised the mug to his lips along with a thick eyebrow without losing sight of Rylynn. “Is that so,” he murmured just as the mug reached his lips.

Elvis straighten a bit taller, “’s right. He is gonna claim her official like when he gets back. He planned on doing it sooner, but got the call to go North.”

Banger cupped the mug in his thick hand and continued to stare at Rylynn. She felt as if he could see through her and the lies being told him. “Where’s she staying?”

“Wraith’s.”

“Keep her out of reach,” he informed Elvis without breaking eye contact with Ry. “You,” he addressed her with a jerk of his head, “You can’t hide how fucking hot you are by dressing like that. It looks more like a challenge then a deterrent. I will declare you off limits. No one will fuck with you unless they want to go through me.”

“Thank you,” Rylynn squeaked.

Banger and Elvis turned as one and moved down the hall toward a door she was not allowed to enter. Before Banger disappeared he glanced back over his shoulder. The looked wasn’t predatory, it was confusion. Did he know who she was? Rylynn shook herself from her stupor and released a breath.

Banger was intense in every way, shape, and form. He was intimidating in a way a club Prez should be and commanding in a way only an alpha male could be. Wraith was the same way. There was something about these men that demanded absolute respect. She would have to tread lightly around Banger.

“Forget it, bitch. Banger’s got an ol’ lady,” snapped Glitter from the kitchen doorway. “He don’t fuck around on her neither.”

Rylynn looked at the women who was in need of a very hot, very long shower and smiled, “I can respect that. He’s a good man to stand true to his ol’ lady.”

“Huh, remember that when Wraith gets bored, little girl. We are all here to fill your slot,” Glitter barked in laughter. “Not all these guys stay true, as you said. Some like flavor.”

Rylynn stood still and smiled, ‘and STD’s apparently,’ she snickered to herself.  She knew the best way to win a fight with a club honey was to have self-respect, strength, and to make eye contact.  No words were necessary. Honeys were no better than a pack of dogs. Eye contact was all it took to weaken their attempts at playing bad-ass. That was all it took to chase Glitter and her entourage back into the hole they crawled out from. It was almost like the sun chasing a vampire hoard. The image made Rylynn laugh as she picked up the broom and went back to work.

Being a week day, Rylynn found her attempts at cleaning easy. Everyone was either asleep in their own racks or had left for their day jobs. Once showers were taken and the area cleared out, Rylynn decided that day one’s project would be the communal locker rooms; one for men and the other for the honeys. She didn’t like the idea of cleaning the honeys locker room, but had no choice. Don’t make waves. Don’t draw attention. It took hours and a multitude of gags to make it through the men’s locker room. In the end it was worth knowing that the men would be less likely to get a staph infection from any given surface. The women locker room was worse. She would have to chisel hairspray and make up off of every surface. Rylynn would leave that challenge for another day.

As Rylynn returned items to the supply closet a full patch member stood in the narrow hallway holding a baby boy talking to Banger. The boy was busy watching the activities of the bar, activities that his little eyes should not be watching.

“We got club business. Call her back and tell her to pick up the kid.”

“I can’t, Prez. It’s my time with him and she disappears after she dumps him off,” he grumbled. “We probably won’t see her until the parties start tomorrow night. You know how she is.”

“Yeah, I know. We all know how she is. Tank, you gotta get your shit together with that bitch. We have shit going down and we need your skills.”

The baby squirmed and seemed to cower from Banger as anyone with a brain would. “Prez, man, I…”

“I can watch him.” Banger and Tank turned to Rylynn who had stepped into view, “I can watch him if you need me.”

Tank turned so that his son was protected from an unknown, “Who that fuck ‘re you?”

Banger placed his hand on the protective father’s shoulder, “She’ Wraith’s new woman. Julie, right?”

Rylynn nodded at the false name, “I’m the HM, too. I’m staying upstairs at Wraith’s, so I wouldn’t take your boy far. He would still be on Titan property,” she explained to try to appease the man protecting his boy. “It’s up to you, but I’m done for the day and was gonna head upstairs for the night anyway.”

Banger looked at Tank, “We got club business and need you in place.”

“You trust her?”

“I have no reason not to. Wraith is putting his claim on her. We have no reason to doubt him.” Banger narrowed his eyes at Rylynn, “The boy stays here. He doesn’t even go out to piss in a bush. Got me?”

“Right. Um…I can fix him dinner and we can watch cartoons or something. I promise he will remain inside the building,” Rylynn stated.

“I’m Tank, this is Mikey,” Tank said as he walked to Rylynn with the baby in his inked arms. “Hey, buddy, you are gonna go with…Julie?” he confirmed. Ry smiled and reached out her arms to the little boy. He was little more than two years old and an identical match to the man that was handing him over to Rylynn. “She’s gonna watch you, okay? I have to do some work with Uncle Banger, buddy,” the man cooed to the boy with the big blue eyes. Mikey looked to his dad and then to Ry and back again. He was connected the dots and faces in his rapidly growing brain.

“Hi, Mikey. I’m Julie. Do you wanna come and play? We can watch cartoons and make mac-n-cheese.” Mac-n-cheese was a winner as he leaned in closer and became comfortable in Rylynn’s arms.

Tank hefted over Mikey’s diaper bag and then tugged a few twenties out of his wallet and stuffed them into a pocket in the bag, “All his shit’s in here. If you need something you send out a honey. If his mother shows, he stays with you. Got me?”

“Who’s his mama?” She asked while bouncing Mikey on her hip. Rylynn grinned at her date for the night, “We are gonna have fun, aren’t we?” she giggled at the smile Mikey gave her.

“Debbie, lil Debbie, but this is my time. He stays.”

“He stays,” Rylynn agreed, “Elvis has my cell if you need to reach me. I’ll watch him for as long as you need.”

“Good. Come on, brother. Business is waitin’,” barked Banger.

Tank ran his hand over the soft waves of blonde hair on Mikey’s head, “See you soon, big guy.”

Ry turned so that Mikey could see his dad walk away and wave. Banger turned back to Rylynn. He eyed her while waiting for Tank to catch up to him. He gave her an approving jerk of the head as he and Tank disappeared behind the door. “Come on, buddy. Let’s go find some cartoons to watch.” Were there cartoon’s on at six o’clock? She was about to find out.

“Toons,” Mikey babbled as Ry carried him through the bar and up the stairs for a night of bubble baths, diaper changes, Sponge Bob, and mac-n-cheese. She was eyed by the honeys that had already started to congregate in the bar room as she scurried up the steps with Mikey giggling all the way.

It was nearing one in the morning when her phone starting vibrating across the bed side table. Mikey was asleep next to her in one of her tee’s. She found that most of the clothes in the bag were filthy and opted to wash them instead of force them on the toddler

“Hmm…mello,” she mumbled into the receiver.

“It’s Tank. How’s my boy?”

“He’s sleeping.”

“I’ll be back in ten to get him.”

“Well, he is asleep. You can leave him ‘til morning if you want.” Rylynn could hear hesitation on his part, “Or you can crash on the couch here if you aren’t comfortable leaving him, but waking him would mean a rough night for both of you.”

“Be there in ten.”

Eight minutes later Tank stood in Wraith’s living room eyeing Rylynn, “Where is he?” Rylynn showed Tank the sleeping boy and waited for a decision. None came, instead Tank pulled out his phone and made a call.

“Brother…I’m at your place…chill the fuck out and listen…your woman watched Mikey and he is asleep here. I want to clear it with you that I crash on your piece of shit couch…hold up…,” Tank held the phone out to Rylynn, “He wants to talk to you.”

Rylynn took the phone from the mountain of a man, “Wraith?”

“Are you cool with him or do you want me to toss his ass?”

Ry smiled at his assertiveness. He was hundreds of miles away yet still so protective, “No, it’s fine. That way he is near his boy and we don’t have to wake Mikey.”

“Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine. Everyone has been…cool since I got here,” she didn’t want to say anything that would pull his attention from what he was already dealing with. “Here, talk to Tank while I get him a pillow and blankets,” Ry handed the phone back to Tank then disappeared down the hall to get the things needed to set him up on the couch. As she was coming back out with a mountain of blankets, she caught the tail end of Tank’s conversation with Wraith.

“…right…nah, she’s good, man, prez put the order out that she is off limits. You could have let one of us know you had a woman, man. We all thought you high-tailed it North for the slice you have been chasing for years now.” Rylynn held her breath. Were they talking about her? “Trust me, brother. No one will touch her. Shit, I got me a babysitter I can trust. No way in Hell I’m letting one of these shit heads fuck that up,” he laughed. “Give me some heads up if you need me to watch your six. Later.”

Rylynn counted to three then exited the hall with her load, “Here ya go. This is all I could find.” She tossed the pile on the couch for Tank to pick through. “Oh,” she stumbled back from her retreat to the bedroom, “I wanted to let you know that I washed all the stuff in Mikey’s bag. He didn’t have anything clean after I gave him a bath.”

Tank stopped and dropped the blanket he was holding, “What do you mean he didn’t have anything clean?”

Rylynn wrung her hands thinking she had insulted him, “Um, I thought I would just help you out by washing his laundry from the diaper bag. No harm, no fowl.”

Tank growled, “Fucking bitch sent him in filthy clothes. I’ll fucking kill the bitch.” Rylynn watched as Tank grew angrier and angrier the more the statement sat with him.

“Tank, it was no big deal. Mikey is clean, fed, and asleep. There is nothing you can do at,” she looked at the clock above the television, “1:30 in the morning. You can talk with his mama later. Right now, we all need to get some sleep, ok?”

He dropped down on the couch and leaned back looking up at her, “Right. Tomorrow,” he mumbled as he raked his paw over his face.

“Night,” she whispered as she tiptoed back down the hall to the still sleeping boy.