Sam jogged past the open door and called, “Bus coming.”
“Dammit,” Kimber muttered.
We finished up in 10B and made our way to the ambulance dock.
“And here I thought we were going to have a quiet end to the day,” I laughed.
Kimber and I stood beside Sam and watched the ambulance pull up.
“Any idea what we’re dealing with?” Kimber asked Sam.
“Female, unconscious. Multiple contusions. She was found in an empty parking lot.”
“Damn,” I whispered.
The ambulance pulled into view, and a sense of dread washed over me. No lights. No sirens.
Kimber glanced at me and sighed.
Sam patted me on the shoulder and stepped to the curb. “Get ready, girls. It’s time to earn those paychecks.”
✽✽✽
Dyno
“Drywall will be here tomorrow.”
I dropped down onto my chair and sighed. “This place is going to actually look pretty damn good by the time we get everything done.”
Quinn handed me a beer. “That’s all because of you, brother.” He leaned against the window sill and popped the top on his beer. “Those blueprints you drew up were fucking amazing.”
I shrugged and twisted the top off my beer. “Nothing special.”
“Says the guy who saved the club a shit-ton of money by planning and designing the clubhouse himself. If it weren’t for you, we’d still be scratching our heads wondering where to start first.”
Quinn looked around. “All of this has me thinking.”
“Oh, God,” I laughed. “I can only imagine what you are about to say.”
Quinn and I had known each other for years. We had been through a hell of a lot, and starting the Kings of Vengeance together was a new chapter in our friendship.
“We need something to do. Something to make money for the clubhouse.”
I nodded. “Yeah, guess we do.”
I had my own talents to make money for myself, but the rest of the guys didn’t have anything to do.
“You’re fucking amazing with designs and building shit, so I figured we could make this a construction company or something like that. You take the reins on the whole thing, but we do it as a club.”
“You’re kidding me.”
Quinn shook his head. “Nah, I’m not joking. I know we were thinking we would make this a garage or something like that, but none of us really know anything about being mechanics for a living. But you know how to make a living from doing construction. You built your fortune, so now you can help the club make a fortune.”
“Fortune?” I took another swig of my beer. “I hardly have a fortune, Quinn. Last I checked, I still work for a living.”
“So, work here.” Quinn spread his arms wide. “Make this yours. Teach us everything you can, and then we can set about remodeling and building our way through Marion.”
“You’re crazy, Quinn. Starting a business is crazy. Starting a motorcycle club is crazy. Doing both of those things at the same time is even more crazy.”
Quinn laughed. “Have I ever done anything that wasn’t a little bit crazy?”
He did just go toe to toe with the Rolling Devils and came out on top. He had to have been a little bit crazy to do that. “You’re telling me you’ll be in charge of the MC and I’ll take over the business side of things?”
“You’ll handle the Kings of Construction.”
“Already got a name for it,” I chuckled. “Makes me wonder if I really have the opportunity to say no, or if you already got the ball rolling on this.”
Quinn shrugged. “I know you haven’t stayed in one place for longer than a couple of months, brother, but I was hoping you might be looking to lay down some roots in Marion. Make a home with the Kings of Vengeance.”
I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually stayed in the same town for longer than a few months.
“You really think we can make a go of this, Quinn? The guys are going to actually listen to me?”
“As much as they are going to listen to me when it comes to the club. Hell, we’re all a bunch of guys who have been in prison, lived on the wrong side of the law, or just been dealt a raw hand, brother. Starting from the ground up is something we can all do together.”
I shook my head and drained the rest of my beer. “Well, I guess I couldn’t really ask for a better load of bullshit spewed at me.”
“Hey, I thought I spewed that shit pretty well.”
I laughed. “You did, brother. Now grab me another beer so we can properly toast not only the Kings of Vengeance but also the Kings of Construction.”
✽✽✽
Chapter Four
Shitty TV dinner and crap TV…
Fancy
“She didn’t make it, Kimber.”
“I know.” Kimber grabbed her coat from her locker and shrugged it on. “I thought for a brief second that she was going to be a fighter, but there was no way someone could have made it through what she had.”
“I had hoped when we came in this morning that there would have been good news, but there wasn’t.” I grabbed my keys and purse. “They had a story on the news last night.”
“Did they?” Kimber slammed her locker shut.
“Yeah. You would have seen it, but I’m assuming as soon as you got home your big, bad biker whisked you off to bed.”
“You would be correct,” she laughed.
“How did you like being on the peds floor today?”
The beds were pretty empty in the ER today, so Kimber had been sent to the pediatrics floor to lend a hand. We had barely spoken ten words to each other the whole day.
“Good. A totally different vibe going on up there, though,” she laughed. “So what did the news have to say about the girl?”
We walked out of the locker room and toward the parking lot.
“Not a whole lot. They didn’t even know her name or anything. She was found off Meister road yesterday afternoon around two o’clock. They, of course, suspect foul play, but that was about the extent of what they were saying.”
“Crazy something like that would happen in Marion.”
Crazy was right. We may be close to Detroit, but I liked to think that murder or whatever happened to that girl didn’t touch us.
I was wrong.
“You want to come to the clubhouse tonight?”
I glanced over at Kimber. “You think I’m crazy or something?”
“Come on. It’ll be fun. I’m headed over there right now. You can leave your car here, and I’ll drop you off at home later.”
I beeped open the locks on my car and shook my head. “Thanks, but no thanks, girl. I like to limit my hangovers to once a week.”
I was not up to going to the clubhouse to drink and talk. All I wanted to do was go home, heat up some shitty TV dinner, and then watch craptastic reality TV.
“You’re sure?”
I nodded. “Yup. I am completely sure.”
“Sure you don’t want to see Dyno?” she asked coyly.
“Absolutely positive that I do not want to see Dyno.” Never seeing that man again sounded perfect. I opened my driver’s door and flung my purse over onto the passenger seat. “I’ll see you in the AM, girlfriend. Try not to hurt yourself having crazy monkey sex with the biker boy.”
Kimber flipped me off and flounced over to her car. “Have fun with your shitty TV dinner and crap TV.”
I slid into my car and shook my head. Of course Kimber would know what I was going home to do. She knew me too well.
Kimber followed me most of the way home until I turned off onto the road my apartment was on. She flashed her headlights at me and kept driving straight toward the clubhouse.
For a split second, I almost pulled a uie to follow her, but I didn’t.
Kimber lived the exciting biker life now.
I didn’t want to crouch in on her.
After all, my TV dinner and shit TV were waiting for me.<
br />
✽✽✽
Dyno
“You hear about the chick they found in the parking lot?”
I looked up from my notebook. “What?”
Zephyr reached into the bag of chips in his lap. “A few streets over, they found a chick in the parking lot of one of the abandoned factories.” He crammed a handful of chips into his mouth and crunched loudly.
“No shit?” How the hell had I missed that news? “She good?”
“Nah, brother. She was alive when they found her, but she didn’t make it.”
Holy shit. “They know what happen to her?”
“Not a fucking clue. Seems like everyone is spooked about it, though.”
I was going to have to check it out later. Ever since Quinn had brought up Kings of Construction, my mind had only been thinking about that.
“Hey!” Kimber walked through the front door and dropped her purse and bag.
Zephyr and I both tipped out heads to her.
“What’s shaking, doll?” Zephyr asked.
“Long day,” she grumbled.
I nodded toward the cooler. “Hopefully nothing a cold beer can’t fix.”
“Pretty sure nothing could fix this.”
Zephyr and I glanced at each other. Dealing with ol' ladies was new territory for me, and from the look Zephyr gave me, he hadn’t dealt with them much either.
“Uh, you wanna talk about it?” Zephyr mumbled.
Kimber reached into the cooler and pulled out a beer. “I worked peds all day which wasn’t bad, but just seeing all of those sick kids sucks, and then, when I was leaving, Fancy told me the last patient that came in yesterday didn’t make it. Poor girl was found in a parking lot for dead.”
“Whoa shit. You had the parking lot chick?” Zephyr dropped his feet to the floor. “They know anything more about her?”
Kimber shook her head. “Not that I know of. Yesterday, we knew nothing while we were taking care of her, and I know nothing new about her today.” She popped the top on the beer and took a sip. “Is Quinn around?”
I hitched a thumb toward the back. “He was paying the guy for the drywall.”
“Nice. Does that mean there are going to be actual walls here soon?”
I nodded. “That is the plan. Tomorrow starts the beginning of building.”
“If it turns out anything like the plans Quinn showed me, I know it’s gonna be kickass here. I’m thinking you guys could rent out those extra spare bedrooms and make bank.” Kimber winked.
“You aren’t renting anything out, woman.” Quinn walked into the main room of the clubhouse.
“Grump,” Kimber muttered. “This place is huge, Quinn. What are you going to do with all of this space?”
“Kings of Construction, baby. All of our equipment and shit is going to take up a lot of space.” Quinn wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to his side.
“Equipment and shit,” she laughed. “You sound so professional.”
“You know just how professional I am, babe.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Save some lives today?”
Kimber told him the same thing she had told us.
“I’m sorry, babe. How about I take you out for dinner and then back to the apartment so you can unwind?”
I rolled my eyes, and Zephyr chuckled.
“Pretty sure that’s code for takeout pizza and sex,” Kimber giggled.
“Only one way to find out.” Quinn pulled his keys from his pocket. “I’m out, brothers. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”
“You okay with me starting the drywall?” I asked Quinn. I knew the plan was to start tomorrow.
“Do whatever you want, brother. This is all your domain.”
Tomorrow was when the real work would start, but I figured getting a jumpstart couldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like I had any other plans tonight.
Quinn and Kimber headed out the front.
“You really gonna start working tonight? We spent all day ripping out the last of the old lumber and shit.”
I nodded and flipped my notebook shut. “Sure the hell am. Maybe you can help me out and lift a hammer all night instead of a beer.”
Zephyr held up his beer in one hand then flexed the fingers of his empty hand. “God gave me two hands, brother. I can do both.”
✽✽✽
Chapter Five
Open mind…
Fancy
“We have breaking news from the southside of Marion. Early this morning, a man driving down Hamilton street spotted a strange object and upon further inspection, he discovered a body.”
I cracked open one eye and lifted my head from the couch. “Again?”
“Currently, police don’t have any information as this is an active crime scene. As of right now, they are not saying whether or not this is linked to Jane Doe found one street over two days ago.”
The news cast faded into a commercial, and I dropped back onto the couch.
“What in the hell is going on?” I wondered out loud.
I grabbed my phone off of the coffee table and saw I missed two calls from Kimber and had a handful of messages on one of my dating apps. I opened the dating app, hoping I would find a distraction from the horrible news. Kimber was probably calling to talk about the girl found today.
Hey, babe. Saw your picture— I deleted the message without reading the whole thing. Calling me babe and then commenting about my picture as the first two things you say are an automatic delete.
Hi, Fanny. Delete. Can’t even get my name right. Also, who the hell has the name Fanny?
Hello, Fancy. My name is Kent, and I’d love to get to know you better.
Hmm. Not creepy and knew my name.
I clicked on his profile and was pleasantly surprised to see Kent had a dating profile I could get behind.
Thirty-three, six foot three, sandy blond hair, and was wearing a sport coat and dress pants in his profile picture. It looked like he was at a tropical bar with a martini in his hand.
“Baby, take me to wherever you took this picture,” I muttered.
I scrolled the rest of the way through his profile and decided Kent was exactly the guy I was looking for. At least, on paper he was. I clicked back over to the message he sent me. “Shit,” I muttered. He had only messaged me forty minutes ago. I was going to look way too eager if I messaged him right now. I closed out the app and dropped my phone on the floor. Damn stupid dating rules. I had to wait at least a full day before I replied to him.
My phone rang on the floor, and I knew it was Kimber without even looking at. “Damn girl,” I muttered. I reached for the phone, swiped the green button and put it to my ear. “Hello, Kimber.”
“How’d you know it was me?” she demanded.
“I saw you called twice.”
“And you didn’t call me back?” she pouted.
I rolled off the couch and stumbled into the kitchen. Not only was I too old to go out drinking on a work night, I was too old to sleep on the couch without waking up like I had been ran over by a pack of alpacas. “I was working on it.”
Kimber sighed. “Did you see the news?”
I opened the fridge and pulled out the coffee creamer. “I woke up to it. Fucking crazy another girl was found in a parking lot.”
“Right? I don’t know what the hell is going on.”
I popped a coffee pod into the coffee maker and stuck a mug underneath. “Hopefully it’s just a coincidence and nothing more.”
“Two girls found beaten in parking lots in the past two days? I don’t know how that could be a coincidence.”
I hit the start button and watched my cup fill. “It has to be, Kimber. Shit like that normally doesn’t happen in Marion.”
“You’re right. I’ve been watching too many crimes shows lately. It has my mind going a mile a minute about serial killers and murderers.”
I laughed and flipped open the top of the creamer. “Then your big, bad biker isn’t doing his job of keeping you occupied.�
��
“Say that again, Fancy,” Quinn thundered through the phone.
A gasp escaped my lips. “Kimber! You didn’t tell me you had me on speaker.”
Kimber laughed and hushed Quinn. “He’s taking me out for breakfast before work. I didn’t think you were going to say anything he shouldn’t hear.”
“She says shit I shouldn’t hear?” Quinn questioned.
Oh, Lord. This was going to get heated if I didn’t get the hell off the phone. “I gotta jump in the shower, Kimber. We’ll talk more when I get to work.”
I ended the call and tossed the phone on the counter. It wasn’t that I said things that Quinn shouldn’t hear, but did he really need to know everything Kimber and I talked about? I liked to joke about him being her big, bad biker when he wasn’t within earshot.
Once my coffee had finished brewing, I splashed in a healthy dose of creamer and headed to the bathroom to get ready for work.
One of the perks of working in the ER as a nurse was the fact I never really had to worry about what to wear.
Blue pants.
Blue top.
After I showered, I piled my hair on top of my head, swiped on a bit of blush, and grabbed a set of scrubs from my closet.
I brewed another cup of coffee while I brushed my teeth and slipped on my shoes. I dumped the coffee into a travel cup, grabbed my wallet and keys, then I was out the door. I may look like I was high maintenance, but I really wasn’t.
My phone vibrated once I slipped into my car. I had gotten another message on my dating app. I pressed the notification and was surprised to see it was Kent again.
Hey, Fancy. I know I’m breaking every rule here, but I just wanted to let you know I’ll be out of town for a couple of days, but I do really want to try to get together with you once I get back.
A bit forward, but it didn’t seem creepy.
The one bad thing about this app was the person who was messaging you could see if the message they sent had been read or not.
“Gah, what are you going to do, Fancy?” I whispered. Kent seemed like a good guy from the little I knew about him, but was he being a bit pushy? Perhaps too eager?
Lean Into It (Kings of Vengeance MC Book 2) Page 3
