Chapter 6

Michelle received a call from the hospital's personnel director the first day back at home. He told her he'd been immensely happy for her when he had heard she'd been able to quit her dancing job. He asked her to take a job as a substitute or shift breaker to cover for vacations for all of the next week. He promised her she could work practically any number of hours she wanted to after she readjusted to the job.

Michelle didn't want to be away from Rick and the others, but because of her work ethic, she felt she should be paying her own way. She reluctantly told the personnel director she would be at the hospital bright and early Monday morning. The others got up with Michelle that Monday and went through the motions of getting her off to work.

Rick fixed her favorite breakfast, French toast and crisp bacon, while she dressed in one of her spotless white nurse's uniforms. Rick and Snowman were eating their own breakfasts when she came into the kitchen; the two of them dropped their forks as if on cue! Michelle was an absolute vision of loveliness in her white uniform. The mystique of the nurse's uniform combined with the sweet femininity Michelle exuded was a definite turn-on!

The smile she gave them showed she felt their reaction to her appearance was well worth all of the effort she'd put into it. Snowman spoke right up. "Damn it, Michelle; is this gig a job or a beauty contest? Either way, I'm voting for you, Babe!"

Rick readily seconded that emotion. "Yeah Babe; you're out of sight, as always!" Their compliments were the high point of the morning; all too soon, Michelle had to kiss them and head on in to work.

Her first whole week back at work was a definite bummer for the rest of the Fearless Foursome. They had quickly adjusted to having the vibrant beauty with them all the time and now they seemed to go into a form of withdrawal. Little Cat began to pitifully sulk while Snowman moped.

Poor Rick walked the floors as he tried to think of interesting things to do that would keep the three of them busy until Michelle got off of work each afternoon. It got to where they looked forward to their bounty hunting jobs as temporary relief from the enormous vacuum the absence of the blonde bombshell left in their lives.

On Friday, Michelle had car-pooled to work that morning with a friend so they planned to ride down to pick her up. That afternoon, they were impatiently waiting in the circular drive for patient pickup at the end of her shift. Rick was closely watching the busy entrance and exit so he recognized the stir Michelle usually caused when she came on a scene before she actually came within range of his vision. Some men's heads turned and other men stopped walking entirely when she came into sight. One dazzled teenaged boy was watching her with so much concentration he walked into an ornamental brick wall.

When Michelle cleared the exit, she began to run eagerly toward them as fast as she could. Rick got kissed and hugged first, then Snowman and Cat got theirs. "Thank God, it's Friday!" Michelle yelled and flung her arms out wide as she literally jumped for joy. "Crank the Bitch, Rick. Let's get the hell out of here before somebody tries to catch me for overtime."

Rick kicked over his Harley's engine as Snowman did the same to his bike. Michelle stowed her purse away in a saddlebag then she hitched her short skirt up almost to Heaven and climbed on behind him. She hugged him strongly from behind and begged him, "Could we ride just a short while before I have to go home to change? Please, Baby?" Michelle was very appreciative of Rick's tolerant and generous nature so she was usually very careful to never really push her limits, but thus far in their relationship Rick had denied her absolutely nothing.

He gave Snowman a quick hand signal, one that meant that they would scout around, then they rode out. Their distracting ride around town nearly caused several car wrecks. Michelle's short skirt blew up her smooth thighs despite her best efforts to keep it down. Several men purposely riding beside them in a car got an attractive eyeful before Rick and Snowman could catch their eyes and warn them off with cold, threatening stares

They rode the freeways for a while, then they wound up cruising through one of Houston's parks to get away from some of Michelle's admiring public. A circling snow cone truck, with its loud speaker blaring kiddy tunes, attracted the girl's attention like starving bears to a honey tree.

Rick bought refreshing rainbow cones for all four of them, then he led them as they walked over to some handy benches by the duck pond to be in the shade. Rick and Snowman immensely enjoyed watching the girl's techniques with the snow cones.

Rick wheedled some cold purple snow cone kisses from Michelle just for the novelty of them; then Michelle's passionate mind began thinking erotically. She whispered to Rick, "Hmm, Baby, if you'd like my mouth cold for a change, I could suck on some ice cubes later." Michelle watched closely as Rick's expressive eyebrows elevated with interest at the very interesting thought.

It was typical of Snowman's nature that he simply could not resist a smart-assed comment. He told Rick, "Bro, I'll bet ya' five bucks my old lady can deep throat her cone." His rude, crude, and socially unacceptable comment earned him a sharp elbow in the ribs from Cat. "Hey, Rick, see what I get when I try to brag on my old lady." Cat elbowed him sharply again.

Michelle took one of Rick's hands in her's and told him, "I've got something serious to tell all of you. A patient at the hospital made me a proposition today."

Rick facetiously told her, "That's only natural for any flesh and blood man; but if he tried to push himself on you; I'll infiltrate the hospital tonight and kill the son of a bitch."

Typically, Snowman volunteered for the mission, too. "Bro, I'll cover for you; we can do him the same way we did that Chinese General in Cambodia; no one will ever know we've even been there!"

"Count me in, too." Cat threw in, she was usually radically non-violent, but she would be willing to make an exception when it came to protecting Michelle.

"No, sillies, I'm not talking about that kind of proposition." Michelle retorted. "His name is Giovanni Valentine, he's a fashion designer from New York. He flew down to Houston last week for a business meeting and to sign some contracts but while he was in town he had an acute appendicitis attack that put him in the hospital. He told me he'd just die if I don't agree to fly to New York to model his fall line of fashions for his photographers. I told him I was interested, but I'd have to talk it over with my family first."

Rick thought that one over for a minute before he asked her, "Would you enjoy doing some modeling? I've told you before you don't have to work at anything at all that you don't want to. That certainly goes for fashion modeling, too."

"I'm not sure, I have done some modeling before." She admitted. "It was for a contest I entered a few years back. Some publicity people I met convinced me to run in the Texas Miss Galaxy Contest. I was voted first runner-up after I sprained my ankle on a wet floor during a dance routine. I limped my way through most of the contest but the only girl who beat me in the state contest went on in the international finals to become Miss Galaxy that year."

"That was a damned tough break; but then if you had won, you'd probably have been in Hollywood or New York making movies and we'd never have met." Rick truthfully told her. "There's no doubt in any of our minds you're world class. If you'd like to, we could talk to this man during visiting hours this evening. It couldn't hurt to listen to what he's got to say.

Michelle seemed to think Rick's proposal sounded reasonable. "Just wait until you meet him, Honey. He seems like a sweet man and he was extremely enthusiastic about his ideas. He said most years the gaunt or statuesque models are in vogue, but he's been waiting for the right time to try something really innovative and his styles this year were literally made for me. I was thinking, if this works out well, maybe none of us will have to be apart from the others for a while. You've all been terribly brave, but I know how it affects you for us to be separated because I feel exactly the same way."

"I hope you take the job, Girl." Cat spoke up earnestly. "Your face and body deserve to be on the front covers of all of the fashion magazines!"

Michelle's voice dropped into the vulgar slang she only adopted on rare occasions so she could get the maximum shock effect from it. "Well, I'll tell you one thing. If this broad goes to any freaking New York City, you're all coming with me. This biker chick don't go nowhere without the rest of the Fearless Foursome!"

They'd wandered back toward the bikes by then, and Michelle resumed in her normal voice, "If you're all ready, we can go to the house for me to change and then we can all ride back by the hospital to see the man." When they got back to their house, Michelle insisted they all wear the leathers they usually wore. She told them, as far as she was concerned, the freaking fashion world could take the Fearless Foursome as they really were or not at all!

Mr. Valentine was alertly sitting up in a chair when they came into his room. He was a Sicilian import of about fifty years of age; he was balding and strongly built, and his dark eyes had a very powerful intensity. Those intense eyes widened perceptively and he stood up from his chair as he looked them over. "Magnifico! Steel Harleys, thick leather, and tough men!" The excited man's accented speech was all in exclamation marks. "The perfect background and contrast for my delicate creations! Your friends must also agree to model for me, Signorina Devereux. You should be a designer yourself, my dear; our campaign this year will be an incredible tours de force!"

They'd all been a little shocked by the demonstrative reaction they'd gotten from the man, but Michelle made a rapid recovery. "This is my family I was telling you about, Mr. Valentine, this is Cat, Snowman, and Slick Rick. We were hoping that you'd like our biker image. From your description of your new lines, we felt our natural look would appeal to you."

Mr. Valentine gestured extravagantly, "Please call me Gio or John, my friends. My competition will be so overwhelmed by this; I can see it all now. My creations draped around you, mingling with and accenting your alluring feminine aura! I can envision the finely textured fabric streaming in the wake of a powerful motor bike, with a masterful man in charge of it all. What is this, bullet holes in your jacket sleeve? It is all so incredibly authentic!" The fashion designer was positively ecstatic.

"We could get you as many extras as you wanted if you were to do the shoot in Houston." Rick suggested to his receptive audience as he swept his arms grandly in an imitation of Gio. "All of them as authentic as we! Picture twenty cycles all standing in a row. Masterful bikers and their old ladies lounging around, and lovely Michelle in the midst of it all, showcased in your incomparable creations, of course!"

"A magnificent idea, I love it!" Gio's eyes became slits as he rapidly thought over the logistics of a plan. His arms went back into motion as he spoke again. "My camera crews will be in Houston within two weeks. My business agent will call you tomorrow to tie up the loose ends concerning the contracts and wage negotiations for the shoot." Gio was smiling broadly. "This is going to be my most creative season ever!"

"I'm afraid this is probably more excitement than you should have had just now, Gio." Michelle's strong nursing instincts kicked back in despite all of the commotion. "Let me help you back into bed. You can sit up again for a while and make more plans tomorrow, but right now you need to get some rest!" She assisted Gio back into his bed, adjusted its position, and expertly plumped up his pillow until he was comfortable. After she tucked him in to her satisfaction she helpfully wrote their names and phone number on a pad for him and put it in his bedside table's drawer.

Michelle held Gio's hand as her voice dropped lower and she began to sing a verse of a lullaby in Italian. Gio's face lit up in avid appreciation as he watched her and listened to her sweetly singing to him. Rick, Snowman, and Cat exchanged mutual looks of astonishment! Michelle sang beautifully until she finished the refrain and Gio grasped her hand and kissed it, then he expressed his gratitude for her kindness in his native language.

Gio switched to English and told them, "Your delightful Michelle is so exquisitely charming! I haven't heard that lovely song since my dear Mother sang it to me as a small child." They each told Mr. Valentine how wonderful it had been to meet him, they wished him a speedy recovery, and then they exited his room.

They waited until they were all in the elevator alone before they excitedly began discussing the results of the visit! They were all immensely excited about their modeling job, but Rick wanted to ask Michelle about her language skills. He warily asked her, "Alright, Michelle. I'm almost afraid to ask. Where did you learn to speak Italian so perfectly?"

"The same place I studied ballet. I wasn't born there, but I spent most of my childhood living in the Cote d'Azur, which is part of the French Riviera. I learned English only after first beginning to speak Italian, French, German and another couple of languages." This was astounding news to the others.

Rick had detected a distinctly exotic accent in her normal speech when he'd first met her, but he'd quickly become accustomed to hearing it. He'd also noticed another odd thing about Michelle. She seldom volunteered any definite information about her past unless she was first asked some very specific questions.

Rick reflected this revelation about the country of her childhood probably should not have astonished him as much as it had. He was constantly meeting fellow bikers and other people with varied and exotic backgrounds. After all, he thought, he'd led quite an interesting life himself.

He'd noticed she had said she wasn't born on the Riviera, and decided he was going to have to make an attempt to get Michelle to enlighten him further about her personal history in the near future, but enough of that for now. He asked the others. "Would you guys like to go to the Hide Away and have a couple of cold brews to celebrate?"

Snowman enthusiastically jumped on the bandwagon. "Yeah, Bro, they've always got ice cold brews in those freakin' big zinc wash tubs. We can drink a few to mellow out, then we can go break the news to the guys. Can you picture Crazy Larry and Mad Mike and the guys in a fuckin' fashion layout? This gig ought to be freakin' awesome!"

Cat thought of an interesting idea. "They could title this layout the Beauty and the Beasts!" After a pleasant ride to the Hideaway, they entered the club to the music of the jukebox playing a loud rock and roll song. They saw even though it was early on a Friday afternoon there wasn't much of a crowd gathered at the bar yet.

Snowman and Rick went to the bar to get the beer as Michelle challenged Cat to a game and the women headed for the pool tables. Michelle put a quarter up on a table to reserve the next game just as one of several burly young jocks that were practicing at each of the three tables sank his last ball. The man told Michelle to rack the balls and Rick saw her bend with her effortless grace to get the rack from under the table as he turned from the bar with their beers.

Cat was already headed back toward Rick and Snowman with an exasperated look on her delicate little face. Rick was the closest to her so he quickly walked over to her and asked her first, "What's the problem, Honey?"

"One of those dick heads asked me what two good looking young women were doing with you old men. I told him he didn't know who he was running his mouth off about and that he'd better shut up if he knew what was good for him! I don't think Michelle heard him, though."

"Let's get her out of there before something else happens!" Rick urgently told Snowman. Rick reached Michelle just as she angrily slapped her cue stick down on the cloth table surface. She turned toward Rick as he asked her, "What's the problem, Baby?"

"Nothing, Slick, it's really nothing!" She told him, but Rick could tell by the tone of her voice that she was very upset.

"You don't get mad over nothing, Babe. What did these guys say to you?" Rick insisted. He didn't want to upset Michelle any more than she already was, but it looked to Rick like something the men had said had gotten her badly shaken up. Rick noticed out of the corner of his eye the young man closest to them had put his stick down. He'd put his hands loosely on his hips in what he must have considered a cool and ready offensive posture.

He was smiling contemptuously as he watched them; he must have been expecting Rick to start a yelling match. Michelle's incredibly sexy lips pouted as she spoke to Rick. "This idiot here told me after he beat me at a game of pool, he was going to 'eat at the wye!'"

Rick flashed! It was as if he were watching someone else moving in slow motion through a haze as he stepped out with his left foot and swung his right fist with every ounce of the weight of his entire body tensed and moving behind it. As his fist connected with the young man's ear, the beer can he had neglected to drop seemed to explode against the man's head. The impact rocked the big man over onto the table and Rick pounced on him like a lion! He held the man down on the table by the hair of his head as he pounded on his face. "You gonna do what to my old lady?" He screamed! "What you gonna do now, asshole?"

Rick was so enraged he literally snatched the big man's body off the table as if he was as light as a rag doll and threw him up against the wall! He held the man on his feet at arm's length and continued to pound him in the face and scream at him. Rick had lost all sense of reality and time, his whole world and reason for existence was solely to pound on this insolent shit head's face!

Cat was pulling on his jacket and yelling; she finally brought Rick back to reality. "The cops are coming, Slick. Let's go. The cops are coming!" Rick let go of the man he'd been holding against the wall and stepped back. Cat couldn't resist the impulse. She screamed; "You're going to do what to my sister?" She reared back and punched the man a couple of times as his knees gave out and he slid to the floor.

Rick checked to see that Michelle was right behind him, then he looked around for Snowman. Snowman was between the tables; he stood over the unconscious form of one of the other pool players. Their other friend was hiding underneath one of the tables and wouldn't come out. The sounds of screaming sirens were quickly becoming audible in the distance.

"Time to go!" Rick shouted to the others. "That fucking beer is kind of flat now, anyway." The rest of the crowd stayed well out of their way as they stomped out of the bar. Their perfectly tuned scooters cranked on their first kicks as expected and they cruised sedately down the road at a pace well under the speed limit as three police patrol cars passed them going toward the bar with red lights flashing and sirens wailing.

"So much for us mellowing out." Snowman yelled as he laughed at Rick. "There's always cold beer at Larry's house. Would you like to go there?"

"Yeah, let's go." Rick told him, he was just now beginning to calm down. He realized he'd gone completely out of his freaking head. Damn it; it sure did piss him off when somebody pissed him off!

Dana had heard their bikes coming; she handed them each a cold brew as they came in the front door. "Be careful, Dirty; Slick damned near killed a man with his last can of beer!" Snowman told Dana as he playfully jabbed a fist at Rick. "I hadn't seen your disappearing beer can trick in a while, Big Brother. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten that one!"

"I guess I sort of lost it on that punk, didn't I?" Rick admitted. "Michelle, I'm really sorry for flashing like that. The big prick just touched a raw nerve, I guess. It's like he was arrogantly trespassing or violating something very special to me."

"I understand, Slick; I felt the same way; thank you." Michelle reassured him. They found Larry, Mike, and Mama Juggs in the living room. After the usual amenities, Rick said, "Baby, why don't you tell them about the job, it's your gig."

"Tell us about what?" Larry asked. It didn't take very much to arouse Larry's curiousity about a subject, especially if it smelled anything at all like money

Michelle quickly brought them up to date on their prospective deal. "A patient of mine at the hospital is a fashion designer. He wanted me to go to New York to model his fall lines for his photographers. We went to see him in leathers and now he's decided he wants to use a group of bikes and bikers for the background for his lines and he's going to shoot it out here. His business agent is supposed to call us tomorrow to negotiate the deal."

"Righteous." Larry rumbled enthusiastically and grinned.

"Bitchin'." Mike growled as he reached for another beer. "So we're all going to be fashion models? I love it."

"That's exactly what Mr. Valentine said when we brought up the suggestion." Rick told them.

"Slick, you're the one who really convinced him about that." Michelle told him, she turned to the others. "You should have heard his dramatic sales pitch. It went something like this, 'Picture twenty Harleys, the Bros and their old ladies lying around screwing, the glamorous Michelle giving me head.'"

Rick slyly admitted, "That's actually damned close to what I told him, but all that matters now is that he bought it, didn't he?"

Larry showed them he trusted their judgement. "It's your gig, I'm sure whatever you negotiate for wages will be fine with us."

The phone rang and Dana reached over and picked it up; she listened briefly then she spoke. "Yes, she is, wait just a minute. Michelle, it's for you. It's someone named Melissa

Michelle took the phone from Dana. "Hello, Melissa? Yes, it's Mickey." Rick was listening closely and he was mildly surprised. This was the first time that he'd ever heard her use that nickname. She listened for a moment in silence, and then she spoke again. "Yes, I'm afraid it was us they ran into. They said something they really shouldn't have! I'm okay. Really, we're all just fine. Thanks for taking the time to check on me, Dear; I'll call you back later and explain. Goodbye."

Michelle put the phone down and turned to face them. "That was Melissa. An ambulance with jocks just arrived at the emergency room at the hospital. She said she hadn't seen that many butterfly bandages used on three men in her entire career in nursing! She thought she recognized me from the description they gave the police of the woman who was involved, so she started calling around to make sure I was alright."

"What the fuck is this shit all about?" Larry wanted to know immediately.

Rick had a quick thought that the intensity level of Crazy Larry's curiosity was almost as high as little Cat's. "Oh, it was just some young jocks little Sister was beating up on at our last beer stop!" Rick told them, then they had to tell Larry and Mike the whole story.

The club officers both seemed to be fairly understanding about the situation; they already knew Rick was considerably hot blooded and he was very protective of Michelle. Combine that with this being the first time in his life Rick had ever moved a lady in with him and some problems were probably to be expected. Larry didn't expect or require his club members to put up with any shit or disrespect. What he did expect was, if they started something they'd damned well better be able to finish it. Rick had more than adequately finished every fight he'd started since they'd known him.

The next day, the Foursome all got up early. They were prepared at 9:00 A.M. with the names and numbers of some of the modeling agencies they wanted to check with. Melissa had come through like a champ with this, too. Michelle had remembered that Melly had told her once she had done some modeling when she was putting herself through college.

When Michelle had called her, she had given her the names of several local agencies to call. Rick told Michelle he certainly looked forward to meeting Melissa. "I know you two are great friends and she's gone out of her way to be helpful to us several times before. The next time you talk to her tell her we'd like to take her and her husband out to dinner sometime."

They called all of the agencies Melissa had given them and inquired as to what the hourly charges for models were. They threw out the lowest and the highest wages and then they averaged the rest in together. They subtracted the percentage they estimated to be agency profit, then they came up with some ballpark figures that seemed to be fair to everyone.

At ten o'clock sharp, Mr. Valentine's business agent called them from New York. Rick answered the call and the other three nervously lined up beside him on their couch to listen on the speakerphone. The man introduced himself as Sol Levine then he quickly got down to business. Mr. Levine stipulated he wanted a contract signed by both Michelle and Rick and it would be their responsibility to supply fifteen other authentic bikers, their bikes, and their "old women."

He then surprised them all by offering them a contract for a figure that was much higher than the hourly rates they had just decided to hold out for! Rick delayed his affirmative answer for a moment because he was almost in shock! "Playing hard ball are we, Mr. Gardner?" Levine probed. "Well, Mr. Valentine did say he wouldn't take no for an answer. I'll add another fifteen percent to the offer, but only if you'll all sign to work for an entire two-week period and give us an option for a third week. I will add that if this offer is not accepted, I'll be forced to do my utmost to dissuade Mr. Valentine from escalating the offer."

"No, no." Rick blurted out. "We accept your offer, Mr. Levine. Send the contracts down to us and we'll sign them and return them to you immediately!"

"Good, I'm happy I've convinced you to agree with me on this. I'll send the contracts to you by overnight messenger as soon as my secretary types them up. It's been a unique pleasure doing business with you, Sir. As a shrewd businessman myself, I always admire another man who knows how to drive a hard bargain." Mr. Levine hung up.

Rick told his excited friends, "I guess we'd better not go back to the Hide Away to celebrate; we're probably a little too infamous there after yesterday afternoon! Michelle, what do you think, Sweetheart? This job will feed us for a while and the bounty hunting has been picking up. Why don't you dog off of the nursing job and we'll relax for a while before the modeling job starts."

Michelle readily agreed with him. She called the personnel director at the hospital early the next morning. He was very understanding about the modeling job. He told her, "Michelle, my dear, we've enough substitutes to cover all of the jobs. You deserve this; it could be the opportunity of a lifetime for you. Just come back to us when you can. We'd love to work with you again soon."

They found out, when the contracts arrived that afternoon, the plans had been slightly changed and Mr. Levine had included a note instructing them to call him if they had any problems with the alteration in plans. They would be filming background for a musical video as well as still photos. One of the country's top music recording artist from Nashville, Colt West, was being commissioned to write several outlaw biker songs and perform them to coincide with the filming.

"Colt West; I've heard dozens of his hits and danced to several of them." Michelle admitted.

"He's really a great singer and he's good looking, too." Cat exclaimed. She saw Snowman irritably glance up from the jumbled pile of parts that had once been a functioning Harley carburetor he was attempting to reincarnate at their kitchen table. Cat told Snowman, "Oh, don't get jealous, Babe; you know my heart's right in your ass pocket! This guy does have the reputation of being quite a womanizer, though."

"You know damned well I don't get jealous, Cat." Snowman looked up at Cat as he spoke harshly. "I'd have me another good old lady by noon tomorrow if you walked out right now. The only problem would be if maybe I didn't like her as much as I do you, but I could live with that." Cat's pride wouldn't let her resist making an ugly face at Snowman for his caustic remark.

"Colt West might not actually even come here for the filming." Michelle made an attempt to calm them both. "From what I've heard about these videos, they usually are filmed separately, then they have the audio patched onto them in a studio."

The intervening days until their new modeling job was to begin went quickly, they got out in the wind and put in as much time Harley riding and relaxing as possible, Michelle had repeatedly warned them the modeling schedules could be very brutal both mentally and physically.