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Barbarella’s was a decent-sized bar housed in brick. The area in front of it was closed off by a gate, but instead of tables for beer-drinkers to sit and chat, the entire area was filled with motorcycles of all types and designs. More than half were occupied by tough-looking leather-clad women, sizing me up to see if I fit.
Sunny warned not to get shifty-eyed and make it obvious I wasn’t comfortable here. Advice I didn’t think I’d have so much trouble with. It wasn’t that I’d never been to a bar or even that I wasn’t familiar with biker gangs. You meet a lot of interesting people when you live on the streets.
It was that every. Single. Eye found us when we stepped inside.
Conversations halted. The bartender stopped mid-pour. A game of pool came to a cue-clattering end.
“They’re all women,” Sienna remarked loud enough for them to hear and blasé enough to show she didn’t mind. “Hi, ladies.”
Sunny didn’t say anything about her greeting. It wasn’t like we were keeping a low profile.
The bartender slammed the bottle down. “Something we can do for you?”
Translation: Get the hell out of here, bums. You’re lost.
Sunny hunched his shoulders. “We, uh... We don’t want no trouble.” Sunny adopted a slow, halting speech, swaying on his feet like he was high. “We want the boss.” Sunny bumped a wall as though he didn’t see it there. “Get the boss.”
A voice rang over the falling silence. “Oh, you want the boss, do you?” Blonde hair, ripped top, and high-cut shorts pushed through the pack. Sunny was a tall guy and she met him inch for inch. She confirmed it by getting in his face, bobbing her head comically along with Sunny’s attempt to stop her from looking under his hood.
“Come on, man,” he drew out, sounding pained. “We don’t want no trouble.”
“Aw, you don’t want twrouble? Then, you walked into the wrong bar.” She shoved him into the wall, sending up laughs and jeers.
“Hey, back the fuck off!” I jumped between them and was swiftly sent to the side by Sunny. Our new friend must’ve noticed the oddly fast and strong reflexes of the supposed junkie bum, because the next thing I knew, there was a gun in her hand.
“Out! The three of you,” she shouted. “Or I see how the walls look in red.”
The situation changed so fast. In the half a second it took to shove Sienna behind me, half the bar had their weapons trained on us.
“Picked the wrong one today.”
“Fuck the guy and leave the little one for me.”
“Shoot him, Bugsy!”
What kind of twisted hellhole did Sunny bring us to? Shouting to kill the guy though he didn’t lay a hand on her or anyone else?
I backed Sienna toward the door, calculating both how to shove her outside and grab the gun digging into Sunny’s scalp before they opened fire.
I don’t give a shit who his sister is or how she’s supposed to help us. I want nothing to do with the leader of this zoo.
“Everybody relax,” Sunny drawled. He was not showing the proper amount of fear for a guy with a gun to his head and twenty more waiting to finish the job. “Your boss and I... are cool. She sent me. Told me to see you... Shit, what was it again?” Sunny shuffled headfirst into the wall again and was shouted at not to move. “She said... Think she said...”
Bugsy cocked the hammer.
Dammit, Sunny! I readied to shove Sienna out. Do something!
“Penguins are always dressed for sweater weather.”
“You have five seconds to walk out that—”
“Penguins are always dressed for sweater weather,” Sunny said clearly. “Your boss said to come here and say that if shit... ever went down and I needed a favor. Call her up and tell her what I said.” Force crept into his tone. “I’m guessing she won’t be happy if she finds out you sent me away.”
Bugsy, so-named I assumed for the ladybug tattoos climbing up her left arm, didn’t show an outward reaction, but neither did she count down. I held my breath, heart pounding, waiting for her to speak.
“Penguins are always dressed for sweater weather,” Bugsy repeated. “You expect me to believe FGH told you to pour that garbage in our ears? Sounds like the ramblings of a cokehead to me.”
Sunny did that slow shrug of his. “If I’m lying, your boss will say the same, won’t she?”
Eyes narrowing, Bugsy lowered the gun. “Damn right she will, then she’ll give me the order to kill you herself. Ladies, show our friends to a table in the back. Keep an eye on them while I make a phone call.”
This wasn’t a request. Two women burst in from outside, grabbing me and Sienna, and frog-marching us over the cheap hardwood. I looked back, wincing at Bugsy sweeping his legs and dropping Sunny on his ass. Four biker chicks hauled him up with his arms held out to his sides, patting him down.
