by Naomi West
4
Piper
Piper felt the exhilarating rush of adrenaline through her blood as she walked out of the bar. Tank’s eyes were still on her. She could feel it, and she loved it. She had never imagined that it would be so fun to just go spend an evening at a sleazy bar, talking to the head of a biker gang. He had told her right out that he was a criminal, and that was more than she ever could have hoped for. As she trotted out to her car, she thought about everything that Tank and the Chrome Kings could be involved in. Drug sales? Smuggling weapons? Gambling rings? The possibilities were endless. Finding a big story was going to be much easier than she imagined, and she chastised herself for waiting so long to try.
As she got behind the wheel and put her key in the ignition, Piper realized that she couldn’t just let this lead go. She had his name and the name of his club, but that wasn’t enough. She would need to be able to keep track of him, to find a way to uncover what he was doing. She slumped against the seat back, thinking.
Tank was an attractive man. She had noticed him as soon as he had come into the bar, and the slew of leather-clad men who strode in behind him had identified him as someone important. With his wide chest, muscled arms, and strong legs, it was hard not to look at him. That was only made more difficult by his chiseled jaw, dark eyes, and the long black hair that swept back from his forehead and hung just past his ears. His eyebrows had an angle to them that made him look like he was up to something, which he obviously was. The denim, leather, and an abundance of nicely done tattoos completed his look.
He didn’t have to tell her that he was dangerous; she had deduced that before they’d ever spoken a word to each other. The way the bartender reacted to him, the way his men deferred to him, it all spoke volumes. Even just the way he walked exuded confidence and power, the kind that most men didn’t have unless they truly deserved it. And once he had slipped into the bathroom with that slutty chick in the corner, Piper had decided to leave her table in the back of the room and get more into the center of things, hoping to catch a snippet of conversation that might turn into a real lead. She should be scared of him, but the idea of such potential power and violence within him only intrigued her.
Piper knew Tank was interested in her, or at least interested in sleeping with her. She could use that to her advantage if she started coming to The Dive regularly, stringing him along until she got what she wanted out of him. Unfortunately, that would probably also involve Tank getting what he wanted. Just how dedicated of an investigative reporter was she? If she pushed the limits that far, would anyone take her seriously?
She laughed at herself as her core tightened at the thought. How long had it been since she had been involved with a man? The guys at the office were all either married, losers, or both. She wasn’t about to become the subject of office gossip, anyway. It didn’t help that she had learned at a very young age that men couldn’t be trusted. She knew, deep in her heart, that even the best of men were liars and cheaters. It was a good thing she had set her phone to go off every ten minutes, just in case she needed some excuse to leave. If not, she might not have been able to get up and leave, and maybe she would have ended up on the back of Tank’s bike after all.
The door of the bar swung open, showing a glimpse of the neon signs that were thickly distributed on the walls of The Dive. Two people walked out, their arms around each other, and they stumbled across the parking lot toward a beat-up Chevy. From where Piper was parked, she had a perfect vantage point of the front of the bar and most of the parking lot. Perfect.
She leaned her seat back a little to make sure her face was in the shadows. She didn’t want it to be obvious to anyone that she was sitting out here in a car by herself. As she waited, she thought more about Tank and what it would feel like to have those massive arms around her. It wasn’t likely that he would be gentle. Well, maybe that would be all right with her. The biker hadn’t been wrong when he’d made a guess about the type of men she had been with before. They were just regular guys who worked desk jobs, corporate ladder-climbers and college graduates. There was something to be said for that, but it didn’t usually translate between the sheets. They fussed and worried, striving for a level of performance they could never achieve. Tank was too confident for any of that nonsense. Piper imagined he had a take-charge attitude in bed as well as outside of it.
“Damn it, Piper!” she whispered to herself. “Stop that! You’re on a mission, remember?” It was difficult to bear in mind that she was working up a story when Tank made her so hot. At this rate, she would be fogging up the windows all on her own.
Just then, the bar door opened again. There was no mistaking the man who stepped outside. Piper caught a glimpse of his silhouetted form before the door swung shut behind him, and she hadn’t noticed anyone else in the bar that was as big as Tank. He paused a moment, talking to someone else inside the bar before coming outside. He strode out into the lot and swung his leg over a nice bike parked near the entrance.
Piper sucked in a breath and held it, convinced that the man would somehow sense she was there. But he wasn’t a wild animal, and she had to remind herself that he had probably forgotten about her already. She wondered why the rest of his men weren’t leaving with him.
He fired up the engine, the rattling roar vibrating through the parking lot, and took off. He swung out into the aisle right in front of her car as he did so, his powerful arms sculpted in the street lights.
“This is it, Piper.” She started her car and took a deep breath, wondering if she really was crazy. Alexa’s sentiments about it being dangerous to go out and chase new stories echoed in the back of her brain, but Piper also knew that Mr. Walter was never going to give her the break she deserved. She would linger on little community stories for the rest of her career, only dreaming of getting out there with the big boys. Well, she would show him when she slapped a big fat story on his desk.
It was difficult to keep up with Tank as he wove his bike in and out of traffic, gunning the engine on the long stretches and heading toward the edge of town. Piper tried to stay back as far as she dared without losing him. She had a hunch that he frequented places like The Dive on a regular basis, but if she knew exactly where to find him then she wouldn’t have to sit in the bar every night for a week until he showed up again.
The bike pulled off the main road and onto a side street. Piper had been over this way once before, to write up a story about a local stay-at-home mom who had started a charity for homeless dogs or homeless kids or some other pitiful creatures. She couldn’t even remember anymore, because that part of her life was already slipping behind her. But the neighborhood was a familiar one, and it was much nicer than any place she would have expected a man like Tank to frequent. The houses were two-story jobs with neatly-kept front lawns, and sidewalk lamps and porch lights that illuminated their homes even in the darkest part of night. There were no junk cars in the driveways or questionable characters on the sidewalks. Large picture windows gave Piper quick tableaus of couples watching television.
“I highly doubt you live in a place like this,” she speculated to herself as she hung back a little when Tank paused at a stop sign. “Maybe there’s someone here you have business with. Oh, that could be good! Maybe a local politician whose wife is sleeping with you? Or a high school teacher who buys his drugs from you?” She couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she imagined all the dirt she could dig up just out of this one night. The one thing she knew was that it all had to be true. No matter how desperately she wanted to know everything immediately, she wouldn’t put a single word on Mick’s desk unless she had absolute proof of it.
The bike slowed, and she expected Tank to park on the street. Maybe he would knock on a front door or sneak around the back of some big house for a clandestine meeting. Instead, he pushed a button and the garage door opened. The interior was clean and organized, with toolboxes pushed up against the wall and a fridge in the corner. As he got off his bike, the door closed once
again.
Piper noted the address as she rolled on by. That was the very last thing she expected. “You can’t live here, can you? What the hell would some biker be doing in a neighborhood like this?” It mystified her, but Piper knew that wouldn’t last for long. She had an address and one of his hangouts, and that was at least a start. She would get to the bottom of this.
She headed for home, checking her rearview mirror to see if anyone was following her. She tried to laugh her paranoia off, but knowing that she had just successfully followed someone halfway across town and potentially to his home made her wonder if someone could do the same to her. What if one of Tank’s men had seen what she had done? They were dangerous, as he had been so determined for her to know, and she didn’t want anyone to feel the need to prove it to her.
She skittered into her apartment as soon as she got home, bolting the door behind her. Slumping against the door, she rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. “You’re being ridiculous, Piper. You would know if someone was following you.” Determined not to let the events of the evening get to her, Piper got ready for bed and slipped between the covers. It was late, and she had to get up early for work, no matter what investigations she had been up to.
As she closed her eyes and snuggled into the blankets, she thought of Tank. What might she have been doing if she had taken him up on his offer? What if she had gotten on the back of that bike, straddling the seat with her arms around his hard abs? Would she have ended up straddling him as well? The thought wasn’t an unpleasant one. She imagined that those tattoos on his arms continued past the sleeves of his tight T-shirt and onto his chest, maybe down his back. And what was probably waiting for her down below? Well, she could imagine.
She reached down with one hand and touched herself as she recalled the way his obsidian eyes had looked at her, practically devouring her. She had done nothing more than be in the right place at the right time, and he had chosen her out of the crowd. While Piper doubted he was generous, she was sure he was commanding in bed. What might he make her do? She imagined herself getting on her knees in front of him, looking up at him as she took him into her mouth, his hands running through her hair and gathering it at the nape of her neck, pulling ever so slightly to remind her that he was the one in charge. She opened her throat to let him in all the way, sucking him inside of her.
Then Piper’s fantasy took a different turn, and instead of riding off into the night on his bike, she had been the woman he had taken to the bathroom. She could imagine him picking her up so that she wrapped her legs around his waist, pushing her against the wall as he fucked her. He wouldn’t have been nice about it, either, grunting his pleasure as he took what he needed.
Piper’s fingers moved faster, and she moaned out loud, lost in her reverie.
5
Tank
Tank woke up and rolled over. It was early yet, and most of the men in the club wouldn’t even be getting up, but there was something he had to check. As soon as he remembered, he was instantly awake. Stealthily, Tank slipped out of bed and to the floor, moving across the room on his hands and knees so that there would be no view of him through the window. He had purposely left the curtains open the night before.
When he reached the wall opposite the window, he slowly stood and looked out onto the street. He didn’t dare go straight up to the window and peek out. That would be too obvious. It was less likely that anyone would see him if he stood further back, and just in case, he pretended to be looking for something else in the room.
But his eyes were trained on the street. And just as he had suspected, a green sedan was parked on the street right across from his house. It wasn’t a car he had ever seen in the neighborhood before, and Tank knew every neighbor, every car, even every kid. He didn’t exactly go to block parties or bring a big dish of potato salad to local picnics, but he had done his research. It was the only way he could live out here.
Tank had made the decision several years ago to buy a home, a place just for him that was separate from the clubhouse. Nobody had protested, and of course, they had no right, but he had wondered who might resent him for getting his own place. He lived and breathed the club, but even the president needed a break sometimes. It was nice to get away, to have a private place where he could conduct his own business without having to think about the Chrome Kings. But they would be getting involved in this.
Since he was up anyway, and there was nothing he could do for the moment about the car, Tank got in the shower, got dressed, and headed downstairs for breakfast. As he did so, he thought about what an odd week it had been. First, he had met that strange woman in the bar. She had just been another piece of ass, someone he might encounter again and entice into bed, but he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. She’d been different than the club girl, different from the whores he had bedded, different from the easy sluts who were just desperate for any attention they could get. Piper had liked him, of that he was sure, but it was a different kind of like than what he was used to.
Then there was the fact that someone was following him. Tank had been under surveillance by the police or rival clubs before, and he had enough experience to know when he should be wary. He had seen that same green car far too many times over the last few days. Sometimes it was at his house, other times it was following him in traffic. At first, he’d brushed it off as mere coincidence. But now that it was just on the other side of the street once again, he couldn’t possibly convince himself that the neighbor’s teenage kid had gotten a new car.
He fried up a couple of eggs, cracking them angrily into the pan. Whoever was stalking him could have at least had the decency to do a good job of it. They’d never even changed cars, and the pattern throughout the day was too predictable.
Whether they were doing a good job or a bad job didn’t matter nearly as much as why they were doing it at all. He had a feeling this had something to do with their contract with the Red Devils. It was only about a day after he had made the official announcement that he had started to see the sedan, and the Kings were due to get their first big shipment that day.
Well, that was fine. Let them watch, if it got them off. He would find a way to make it work. Tank was good at that, and it was how he had attacked all the other problems in his life. When he was fourteen and his mother had been stabbed to death, her blood running thick and red through his fingers as he had desperately tried to keep the wound closed, he hadn’t panicked. She had died and left him alone, but Tank had known he wouldn’t go into the system. He had found the Chrome Kings, and they had made him who he was. Nothing could stop him, and he knew it.
When he pulled out of the garage, the green car was gone.
“Men, today is the beginning of something new. You all know what your jobs are. You’ve been assigned and everything has been gone over thoroughly. We have to pull this off without a hitch, but I know you’re capable of it. If anyone has any questions, then I suggest you speak up right now.” Tank surveyed the room. He had only pulled his senior staff into the conference room this morning. The deal with the Red Devils was no secret, but there were other things they would be discussing shortly and only on a need-to-know basis.
“I’ve got one.” Chain, a heavyset man with hooded eyes, lifted his hand slightly and Tank nodded for him to go ahead. “What’s to stop the Devils from killing us as soon as they show up with the goods? I mean, they know we’re going to be carrying cash on us to pay for the stuff.”
Tank nodded again. He had assigned Chain as one of the men to make payments because he knew he could trust him. But there was a large web of men working at different positions here, and it was important that they all knew they weren’t out there alone. “That’s a very good question, and even though I think this business deal is going to be a very good arrangement for both them and us, I’ve taken a few precautionary measures to make sure it goes down smoothly. Your job today is to go to the docks and make sure the Devils get the money for the goods they’re bringing us, ri
ght?”
Chain nodded.
“You already know that I’ll have two men with you, but I also have other small groups stationed in a radius around the docks. Everyone is going to be wired, so if something goes wrong, we’ll all know. Until we build a solid relationship with these guys, I don’t plan on trusting them. That being said, I’m sure they feel the same way about us. I don’t want anyone to do anything foolish. No matter how tempting it might be, don’t go thinking you can get away with shorting the pay to the Devils or sneaking a few guns off the top of the stack. I need everything to be perfect.” Tank knew he had lucked into making this deal. The leader of the Devils had gotten himself into quite the gambling debt at one of the local underground casinos, and Tank had bailed him out just for the hell of it. He liked it when someone owed him something. But it had gotten the two talking, and the next thing he knew, they were shaking hands.
“I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about, boss,” Tar assured him. “You’ve got it all planned out, and everyone knows their positions. We’ll be raking in the dough hand over fist.”
“I think you’re right, but there’s something else we need to discuss.” Tank let the room fall silent for a moment to emphasize the importance of what he was about to say. “Someone has been following me. I’ve only just confirmed it this morning, or else I would have said something about it earlier. I don’t know if it’s one of the Devils, a rival club, or maybe even the cops, but there’s definitely someone on my tail.”
