“So Torres was all alone there?”
Ivan blinked. “Uh, yeah. What’s going on? Is there a problem?”
“Nothing for you to concern yourself about,” Ace said. “Where do I find her?”
“Gabi? Ummm. I have an address on file…” He shuffled through some papers. “Yeah. Here it is.”
Ace took the paper. “OK, I’ll swing by there this morning. If she ain’t there, where else would she be?”
Ivan shrugged. “She’s got other jobs – maybe she’s on another shift somewhere? She works insane hours, I know, and pulls all-nighters sometimes.”
“Where else does she work?”
“Dangerous Curves every day and a few nights, and some office building in the city center.”
Dangerous Curves. Fuck. Ace bit his lip, frustrated. The Fallen Angels were no longer welcome at Curves, couldn’t set foot in the fucking place anymore. Not since Kane – known in the MC as Joker – had held a knife to the owner’s bitch’s throat. Jax Hamill had lost his shit and that asshole King had followed up with a personal visit to Kirk Jensen.
None of the Fallen Angels knew what the hell King had said to Kirk, but Jensen had told Trigger that they were to steer clear of Curves. Whatever the hell Matt Kingston had on the big boss, it was good enough for him to make some demands and for them to be met.
This was a problem now, though. If Gabi Torres was at Curves every day and some nights, then it was hands-down the best place to find her. Ace could hang out in the parking lot, grab her as she left… but no way he could be spotted within a mile of the damn place. Jax and his boys were like fucking rabid dogs when it came to securing the premises, and no way anyone from the Fallen Angels could get anywhere close enough to see Torres leave.
Fuck. I guess I’m staking out her apartment, then. There better be a place to get a decent cup of takeaway coffee nearby, I swear to Christ.
“OK. I’ll look for her at home, then.”
Ivan knew better than to ask what for. He’d been in Kirk Jensen’s pocket for almost four years and even though it was uncomfortable in there, it was safer than the alternative… which was to not have Jensen’s protection from Jensen. So long as Ivan kept Jensen and the Fallen Angels happy, he was able to go about his life relatively immune to the kind of shit that led to you waking up dead.
“So… am I looking for a new cleaning lady?” Ivan said.
Ace stared at him, those dark eyes deep pools of every foul and ugly thing on earth. “Yeah. Yours just quit.”
**
Gabi finished her breakfast and headed down to the staffroom to grab all the cleaning supplies. She was relaxed, happy to be in her familiar, soothing routine. She’d worked at Curves for almost three years and it really was like a second home in some ways. She knew the guys well – Jax and Aidan, and their friends King and Mac – and she trusted them, despite their tough demeanors and shady backgrounds.
She scrubbed, swept, washed, rearranged. She chatted with Luke and Alex and Curtis; when the bouncers left, she nodded at the second shift. It was Dillon and Wes today, and she knew that no matter who was here watching the place, she was as safe as she’d ever be.
“Hey, Dillon?” she said while she was waiting for the floor to dry. “Is Mister Jax going to be in today?”
Dillon Saunders stared down at her. “Yeah,” he said in his rough voice. “He has to call in another girl for tonight.”
She paused. “You mean a waitress?”
“Yeah. Donna quit last night.”
“She did?”
“Yep. No notice at all.”
“Why?”
Dillon shrugged. “Didn’t say. My guess? Her boyfriend put his foot down.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Waitresses here have to flirt for their tips, you know, and I don’t think Steve liked that very much.”
“I can see that, I guess.”
“So, Jax is out a girl on a Saturday night, so he’ll be in to go through his on-call list. Hopefully someone’s able to come in on short notice.”
Gabi nodded, but her mind was racing a million miles a minute: she knew what an opportunity looked like when it came knocking. And holy crap, wasn’t this one kicking the damn door down?
I can waitress. Hell, yes, I can. And I’ll offer to work for free – in exchange for a room for a few nights. I’ll be here to serve drinks late, I’ll be here to clean early. It’s perfect…
“What time will he be here?” she asked, trying to slow her galloping heart.
“He’s taking Sarah to her physio and then he’ll be here around two, he said. You need to talk to him?”
“I do.”
“Something wrong?” he asked in his usual forthright way.
She looked away. “No. Nothing.”
“Ohhh-kay.” Dillon didn’t believe her in the slightest and he wasn’t afraid to show it. She looked weird today: edgy and nervous, glancing up sharply every single time the door opened. He decided to use the element of surprise to see if she gave anything away. “What’s going on, Gabi?”
He watched as Gabi jumped, a look of fear flashed on her face. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what I mean.” Dillon was observing her closely now, those mint-green eyes pinning her in place. “You’re just not yourself today.”
“Well… I had a bad night. I guess I’m just off.”
“Yeah? You sure that’s it?”
“Yes.”
“OK, then. If you say so.”
He wasn’t anything close to convinced and she knew it. Quickly, she moved away from his laser-beam gaze. “I have to get back to work.”
“You do that.”
Dillon watched her scurry down to the back rooms and he just knew that she wasn’t right. He sighed and turned his attention to the group at the far table. They were getting loud and he walked in their direction, just to check in.
They were arguing about money, he heard now, so he leaned against a wall close by, in case thing got heated. When the fight broke out less than five minutes later, he and Wes had their hands full with controlling the drunken idiots pounding the hell out of each other. Dillon was so focused on sorting out the brawlers that he didn’t think about Gabi again until he saw his boss come in – and then all the worry for her came rushing back.
I hope she talks to Jax… if she doesn’t, I’ll push again. No way I leave here today until I know for sure what’s going on with her.
**
Jax Hamill turned on his laptop and took a sip of coffee. The last thing he wanted to do right now was call and beg any of these women to help him out of this jam – since he’d fucked every single one of them. God, here was yet another case of his man-whore days coming back to haunt him.
Why didn’t you keep your dick in your pants, man, just once in a while? At least have one woman on the on-call list who you hadn’t taken to the crash rooms? Dammit. Thank God you have Sarah now… your life was such a mess back then.
Her beautiful face came to him now and he smiled. Sarah Matthews had just walked in to his life one night – totally by accident, totally by fate – and despite the fact that she’d rejected him and held herself away from him at first, here they were. Living together, loving each other, making it work.
She was still recovering from the attack that had put her in a coma and left the lower right side of her body numb and unresponsive. It was now going on eight months since her ex had beaten her almost to death, and she was walking well and her balance was good.
She still had huge gaps in her memory they may always be there and she still got tired far too easily for his liking. But she was bright and shining and healthy, and he thanked God every day that she was in his life. He’d never thought that he’d ever deserve a woman like Sarah and he’d never stop trying to be the best man he could – for her and for himself.
&nb
sp; There was a quiet knock at the door now.
“Come in,” he called.
It opened and Gabi stood there. He smiled at her, waved her in.
“Mister Jax,” she said. “Could I please speak to you?”
He nodded. He’d given up years ago trying to get Gabi to just call him ‘Jax’. She’d been horrified at the thought and he’d never really pushed the issue. If it meant that much to her to show respect in this way, he’d let her, he figured.
“Sit down,” he said. “I hear you stayed with us last night.”
“Yes.”
“Everything OK?”
“Oh, yes. Great. Thank you.”
“So what can I do for you, hon?”
“I – I heard that Donna quit.”
Jax sighed again. “Yep. You heard right.”
Gabi fidgeted. “I was wondering if – I can – I was thinking…”
Jax leaned back in his chair and stared at her.
“You want to take her shift?” he asked.
Gabi stared up at him, her eyes surprised. “How – how did you know?”
“I’m psychic.”
She cracked a grin at that. “So what am I thinking now?”
“Uh.” He pressed his fingers to his temples, narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re hoping to trade off some work hours for the room last night.”
Gabi gasped. “How…”
Jax laughed. “So is that it? You’d like to do a barter?”
“Is that OK?” she faltered.
“Well, maybe. You got any waitressing experience?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t mean an Appleby’s or Pizza Hut, OK? I mean in a bar – preferably a rough bar with the kind of clientele you have to be able to handle a certain way.”
“Still yes.”
That interested Jax very much. “Yeah? Tell me.”
“Every summer, my parents sent me to Mexico to work at my uncle’s bar in Guadalajara. It’s in a rough neighborhood and the bar was patronized by known criminals.”
“Your parents sent you to work at a place like that?” Jax hated to criticize the woman’s dead family members, but that really seemed like a questionable parenting decision, in his opinion.
Gabi shrugged. “Most of the criminals were members of my family. To this day, all my cousins are in and out of jail and back then they drank at the bar and they brought their friends. They watched out for me and I had nothing to worry about. Nobody would lay a hand on Hector or Bernardo’s cousin, believe me. In many ways, I was safer there than our family home in East Corfax here in Denver.”
“Oh.” That stumped Jax for a second. “So… you served up drinks to shady characters?”
Her smile was sweet and sunny. “I did. For about six summers. Great tips, I assure you.”
“Ever come across any trouble?”
“Oh, yes. Fights and drive-by shootings and strange meetings in the back rooms that ended up with someone getting stabbed.”
“Huh.” He stared at her, unable to believe any of this from the quiet woman sitting in front of him. He knew that Gabi was tough as hell, despite her reticence and constant exhaustion, but this caught him by surprise. “I guess Curves would seem tame by comparison.”
“Safer, for sure. Your bouncers are way more in control when things go wrong.”
“OK, then. You get a shift tonight.”
“Really?” A delighted smile lit up her whole face. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“A few things. Listen up, now.”
“OK.”
“Any sign of trouble, you get the hell out of the way. No bullshit, Gabi, you hear me? If you can, you head to the staff room or you get to Aidan behind the bar. If not, you get your back to the wall and stay out of the way. Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Any tips you earn are yours to keep and I’ll not charge you for the room last night. Fair trade?”
“Ummm.” She hesitated. “One thing?”
“Name it.”
“Could I stay here again tonight?”
He looked puzzled. “You can’t go home?”
“No.” She took a deep breath and launched in to the lie. “My landlord is out of town until Monday and I have no way to get in before then.”
“Shit, Gabi. You want to come and stay with me and Sarah? We have two guest rooms. It’d be no trouble.”
“No, thank you, Mister Jax. I have to be back here tomorrow at ten o’clock to clean, remember?”
“Oh, we can forget that… I’ll call in someone else to cover the shift. You can sleep in, take it easy.”
“I’d rather not.” She hesitated. “I – I can’t lose the income, you see.”
“Ah.” Jax stared at her, took in her strained expression. “Yeah, I get it. So in that case, you’re right, actually. It’s better for you to stay here if you’re going to get up early to clean. We’ll figure out payment for the room tomorrow, alright? If things go OK tonight, I may need you to work tomorrow night as well. Donna was scheduled for Sunday, so maybe we can trade that shift for the room, too.”
Gabi almost fell over with relief. Thank God he’d agreed to one more night and no Spanish Inquisition about any of it. She had some extra cash coming to her from waitressing and she had another night someplace safe, maybe two if she got a shift tomorrow. And – best of all – by being on the bar floor and mingling with the patrons, she’d hear if anyone was talking about Miguel.
Wow. It just couldn’t have worked out better, really.
“Just one last thing.” Jax looked a bit uncomfortable.
“Yes?”
He gestured at her clothing. “You got anything else to wear?”
Horror-struck, Gabi stared down at herself, at her baggy stained shirt and torn jeans and sneakers. Shit. She hadn’t thought about this part of it. Thank God she at least had clean panties.
“Sorry to sound like a sexist asshole, but you ain’t gonna get any tips in your cleaning clothes. Not in this place.” Jax grinned, his dark green eyes twinkling. “You’re going to have to show a bit of skin.”
“No, I know. You’re right.” She bit her lip. “I guess – I guess I could go and buy something?”
“And lose any money you’d have earned from working tonight? That makes no sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. But…”
“OK, how about this. I’ll call the girls who are working tonight, see if one of them can loan you something.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You’re close to Kenleigh’s size and she’s a sweetheart. She won’t mind.”
“Yes, I know her. She’s great.”
“She and Tessa are working tonight. Maybe I’ll ask them to come in a bit early, help you get ready, yeah?”
“You think they would?”
“Sure they would.”
“Well, then… yes. Please. If it’s OK with them.”
“It’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Jax smiled at her. “So… anything else?”
Gabi stood up. “No. I’ll finish cleaning, then I’ll maybe get a bit of rest before tonight.”
“Good. And thank you, Gabi. You really helped me out by being able to take the shift.”
“You’re welcome, Mister Jax.”
He watched her leave his office and he shook his head in bafflement. Gabi working in a bar in Mexico? Serving up shots to sketchy guys – who were her cousins? Going back to work the day after a drive-by?
Fuck, man. Just goes to show you, huh? You never know where someone’s really coming from, do you?
**
Ace threw his coffee cup out his car window and scowled back at the woman with the baby carriage walking by. Fuck, these people just kept breeding, huh? Like the world needed more of them.
He looked around Gabi Tor
res’ neighborhood again. Nothing but brown people, everywhere he looked. This was a known Mexican area and Ace had been here before – to pick up some drugs. Beyond that, he’d never had any reason to set foot in this slum again. Until now.
Fuck you for making me sit here for hours on end, Gabi Torres. One more reason to fucking want to beat your head in, bitch.
His cell phone rang and he jumped to attention. “Trigger?”
“Yeah, man. Any sign?”
“No. None. I’ve been here since nine this morning and she hasn’t shown up yet.”
“OK. She’s definitely in the wind. She won’t be going back there.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. She’s hiding.”
“You think she’s at Curves?”
“Maybe. I’m going to send a few guys in there tonight to check it out.”
“Not from our club?”
“Fuck, no. Hamill’s boys would have them out of there so fast, it’d make them dizzy. Naw, I called a few guys I know who aren’t in the club. They’ll go for a few drinks on me, scope the place. See if she’s staying there, maybe.”
“Or maybe she’s staying with family.”
“Yeah, that’s possible, but from what I’ve found out so far, her parents are dead. Died a year ago in a car wreck and I can’t find any other relatives that aren’t back in Mexico. I’ll keep looking, though, just to be sure.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“Stay put. You never know… she may decide to sneak home later tonight. I fucking doubt it, but bitches do stupid things when they feel cornered.”
Ace rolled his eyes but knew way better than to let Trigger hear any complaints from him. “Sure thing, man.”
“If you clap eyes on her, you grab her, no hesitation. Feel free to slap her around a bit, if the mood strikes, but not too much. I want to talk to her and that’s easier if she’s conscious and has all her teeth. Yeah?”
“With pleasure,” Ace said grimly, furious about being stuck in this car until his President told him otherwise. “Nothing I’d love more, believe me.”
Chapter Three
Gabi stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, simply unable to believe what Kenleigh and Tessa had dressed her in.
Killer Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 3) Page 3
