by Blair Grey
I was only human, sure, and I certainly wasn’t immune to his intense sexual radiance, but that didn’t mean I was going to set aside any of my rules for him. Hell, it wasn’t just my own rules, either. It was the rules of the firm. I could take on or turn down any case I chose, but I didn’t have the final say in how people went about taking up my time.
There were still rules that had to be followed, and my boss was adamant that we followed them all to the letter. It wasn’t just that it looked better for him, but it did help with the entire process of the firm. We dealt with a lot of different cases from a lot of different people, and we couldn’t bend or change the rules for some and not others.
Not to mention, there was something about this guy that didn’t seem to like being told no. Perhaps with his incredibly good looks, he was used to women doing what he wanted when he wanted. But that wasn’t me. I was proud of my work and my career, and I required everyone to behave the same when they dealt with me.
“I don’t need an appointment for you to take on this case,” he said.
“Good day,” I replied. “I’ve got work to be doing, and I’m not going to stand here and argue with you about what that is.”
“But-” He clearly wanted to continue arguing, but I’d had enough. I wasn’t going to keep going back and forth with him on this. I had said my piece, and that was enough for me. He could try to continue, but I was done.
I pushed past him, suddenly glad that I had another errand to do in the upper level of the courthouse. I didn’t want him to follow me out to my car. The last thing I needed was for this guy to be following me around and trying to get me to work with him.
I wasn’t looking forward to talking to the clerk upstairs. But, I was going to drag out the appointment as much as I could. I wanted to get it over with, but more than that, I didn’t want to deal with the guy downstairs.
“Amelia!”
I cringed at the sound of my name before I even looked. I had taken more than half an hour upstairs with the clerk, but as soon as I got to the parking lot, I was caught up with the same biker.
“Rocco, I told you. I can’t work with you on this,” I said. “And, it’s inappropriate for you to stalk me! If you don’t leave me alone, you’re going to find yourself in legal trouble.”
“I need you to just consider this case,” he said, ignoring my warning.
“Why?” I challenged him. “Why do you want me to take on this case so much? You know there are plenty of other lawyers around here. Have one of them take it. Get your friend out of jail, and go back to doing whatever it is you do.”
“It’s not that simple,” he insisted. “You are the best of the best. I’ve done my research, and you the one with the highest rate of success for this kind of case. I need someone who’s going to guarantee he gets out of there, and soon.”
“I can’t promise you anything,” I shot back. “And even if I could, I don’t have the time to get into this right now. I told you already, I have a lot of other work I’m doing, which is taking up my time.”
“I know what you said,” he replied. The exasperation was evident in his tone. “But you don’t get it. He already had the shit beaten out of him in jail once, and it’s only going to get worse from here.”
“First of all,” I said. “That’s what happens in jail. Second of all, why do you care about this so much? He’s being offered so much help while he’s in there, do you really think he’s going to need you out here pushing to get him more help?”
“It’s what I do,” Rocco said with a shrug. “I’m the chaplain of the MC, and it falls to me to make sure we get what we need. He needs the best of the best right now, and they’re not going to offer him that behind bars.”
I was about to reply, but he continued.
“But more than that, this isn’t just something that happens to someone behind bars. Don’t try to tell me what goes on in there. I’ve been there enough times myself to know whether that’s true. This was a warning, I’m telling you that right now. And, it’s only going to get worse for him.
“He’s like a brother to me. I’m not going to just walk away and leave him in there to die. Now, you need to listen to me. You need to help us!”
For a brief moment, I paused. I considered what it would mean for me to take on the case. I almost wanted to help him. There was something so sexy about him, and the fact he kept telling me I was the best lawyer around felt good. I had worked hard to get to that status, and it meant my hard work was paying off.
But, I remembered all the other work I had lined up. There was still a pile of paperwork on my desk back at the office, and I had a few people who were sitting in jail at the moment who needed my help, too.
To take on a case like this would mean I would be spending most of my time with that, and I just didn’t see how it was going to work. At the same time, and perhaps even more so than that, I didn’t want to be associated with these people.
There was no denying that. They were all the same, and they weren’t the kind of people I wanted to get tied up with.
“I’m sorry,” I said with a shake of my head. “But I can’t. I just can’t.”
I pushed past him to my car, ignoring the way he called my name. I felt bad, but I knew I had to focus on myself right now. I knew what MCs were like, and I wasn’t going to stick my neck out for this one.
I couldn’t. I had to think about my career and my own wellbeing, and that’s what I was going to do. After all, this guy got himself in this mess; he could get himself back out of it. I was sure he’d be fine.
Or, if he wasn’t, then he likely had it coming to him anyway.
It might sound harsh, but I had been in this game long enough to know how it worked, and I wasn’t going to get drawn into another sob story.
I just couldn’t.
Chapter 9
Rocco
As Amelia drove away, I took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching my fists.
I was furious.
No woman had ever felt so free to tell me no before. They had always been so caught up in the heat of the moment, wanting my attention more than anything else, they would say yes to practically anything I proposed. But there was something immensely different about this woman. Something I couldn’t figure out.
She didn’t seem intimidated by me, at all. In fact, she almost had the nerve to come back at me. She didn’t hold back, that was for sure, and, well… I found that inviting. I wanted to show her what I could do. I wanted to invite her to challenge me more.
The more she turned me down, the more determined I was to win her over, and the more I knew it was just a matter of time before I did. I had to get her to see things from my point of view.
First and foremost for Roman’s sake. I was genuinely worried about him still being behind bars, and I hated to think what could happen to him the longer he was there.
But, second to that, there was the need to prove to this woman I could win her over. I could get her to do the things I wanted her to do. It was just a matter of persuasion, that was all.
And, I would.
For now, however, I had a lot of anger that I had to work out of myself. And to do that, I would head down to the bar. If there was one place to get in a fight, it was down at Echo Mori.
Sure, it was our home. The bar was the favorite of the Steel Wings, and we spent a lot of time there. We often hung out and talked, made a lot of the decisions for the club, and just bonded with each other down at that bar.
Whenever we had anything to talk about that wasn’t private, it was done there, and whenever there was a celebration, it was held there, as well. There was always a reason to be down there, and right now, I had a damn good one. I had to find someone to burn off some of this aggression toward, and all I had to do was find the right person to piss off.
It wasn’t hard, not with all the different views on clubs in the area. Hell, if someone was too big of a pussy to want to talk club politics, there was always the subject of ac
tual politics. All I had to do was find what viewpoint they held, then I would make sure to piss them off in every way I could until it came down to blows.
I didn’t care if I won or lost the fight. I just wanted to hit someone, and what better way to do that than to get in a fist fight over politics?
It wasn’t going to be hard to find someone to knock around, and I hoped it would help clear my mind. I had to think straight if I was going to get this woman to see things from my point of view. There had to be a way to get her on my side.
The only problem was that time was of essence. We had to figure out something soon, before Roman got himself into even more hurt than he already was. And, that meant we had to get Amelia on the case sooner rather than later. But if money wasn’t going to buy her time, and I couldn’t convince her to work for us through just showing up and putting on the charm like I’d tried already, then how was I supposed to get her to do what we wanted her to do? I wondered.
I didn’t have the answer, that was damn sure, but I wasn’t going to give up, either. I wasn’t going to stop until we had someone on Roman’s side. We had to get him out of there, and I wanted more than anything to have this sexy woman be the one to do it.
But, I had to come up with a plan that would work, so I had to burn off some of this aggression and think. Think. I had to figure this out.
God knew I just had to get in a fight.
“I thought you said it wasn’t going to be hard to get her to work for us?” Jett asked.
“Roman’s not doing so hot in there. You know he’s not keeping his head down or his mouth shut, and he’s going to wind up getting himself killed before we can even get this thing to trial,” Blade said. “I went in to see how he’s doing today. Not well would be a good way to put it.”
“I was in yesterday,” I told him with a nod. “Right before I went to see the lawyer. And, yes, she’s still being difficult, but I think with a bit more time and effort, we’ll be able to convince her to come to our side in this.”
“Just like you convinced that guy over at the bar that your side of politics is the way to do things?” Jett asked.
“He was asking for it,” I shrugged.
“You swung first!” Ares said. “Not that I think there’s anything wrong with that.”
“Then, what’s your point?” I asked defensively. It wasn’t at all like me to get defensive with the men in my own MC, but it was hard for me to hold my own when they were all against what I was doing.
Normally, I would let Jett and Blade call the shots as much as they did, then go along with Ares as he enforced. But with Roman out of the mix, it was hard for any of us to really think clearly.
We wanted our man back, and we knew we were running out of time.
I didn’t want to get into a spat with any of the boys. The reason we were such a force to be reckoned with was because of our unity. We always had each other’s backs, no matter what the situation. But, there were still times in our lives when we came down on each other – and this was one of those times.
Jett was frustrated that we hadn’t made any progress toward getting Roman out. Of course, that was largely due to the fact we didn’t have a lawyer on the case. But, since I was the one who insisted we were going to get Amelia, I was the reason we were being held up.
Sure, I could see that it really came down to the fact she was being difficult and not taking the case as quickly as I thought she would, but the rest of the boys didn’t quite see things that way. They were more concerned with getting someone on the case – not so much caring how that happened – than they were getting Amelia herself.
I understood where they were coming from, and I was a bit frustrated with the fact they didn’t seem to understand where I was, but I didn’t take it too much to heart. I couldn’t, really. I had to focus.
I was going to get to her somehow.
I had never had a woman tell me no before and stick with it. No, she was going to come around to my point of view – it was just a matter of time until she did. I had to figure out what the magic combination it was to get her to do what I wanted, but every woman had one.
It was simply a matter of figuring out what the code was with this one.
“I still think we should go with one of the lawyers they’re offering through the court,” Blade said. “I know Frank Helm, and he’s a good guy. He’ll make sure we get what we want out of this case.”
“Frank Helm might be the best guy in the world, but that doesn’t mean he’s got the experience we need for this,” I shot back. “We know Roman’s innocent, and we know what he told us, but how are we going to prove that in a court of law? How is Frank Helm going to prove it?”
“How do we know your lawyer will be able to prove it, either?” Jett asked with his head cocked to one side. “We’re going to need to get someone on the case, and sooner rather than later, if you haven’t noticed.”
“I know,” I growled. “I’m working on it. But you don’t need to understand we want to make sure we’re going to walk out of that courtroom with Roman in the clear. If there’s any doubt or any conviction at all, he’s going to be spending a lot of time behind bars. We can’t let that happen.”
There was silence around the table for a moment. We were all thinking of our next move carefully. We had to be smart when it came to tension within the MC; we all knew that for a fact. Of course, we all respected each other, and no one wanted to be above the other in any way.
But, that still led to tension in the group when it came to things like this. We all knew what we wanted. We knew what the best outcome would be. But, we weren’t on the same page about how to make that happen. I knew I had to do the right thing, and that was going with my gut.
I couldn’t just walk away from this. I had to stick to my guns, but I knew I was running out of time. If I didn’t get Amelia on board with what we were doing soon, they were going to go with another lawyer, and I worried that would be a prison sentence for Roman in and of itself.
No, we had to get him out of there, and we had to get Amelia to do it. I just had to figure out how.
Then, as if she was sent directly from God Himself, the door opened. At first, we just glanced toward the door as we always did when the breeze cut through the stiff air in the bar, but I froze when I saw the woman standing in the doorway.
There, as though she could hear us talking about her – as though she could hear me wanting her – was Amelia. She glanced around the bar. Her eyes widened slightly when they fell on me, but she didn’t have the time to react.
I wasn’t going to let her stand there and get caught up with the other guys in the bar. No, she was here for a reason, and I wanted to know what it was. I had to get her answer on this case once and for all, and it better be the answer I was looking for.
I all but pounced on her at the door, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her after me. I knew where I was going, and whether she thought she did or not, she went along willingly. I felt the eyes of my boys on the back of my head as we disappeared around the corner, but that was okay, too.
They could wonder what I was doing. I had to get this figured out. I had to find out why Amelia was there, and why she was looking for me as she so clearly had been.
I just had to have some answers. And, it seemed I was finally about to get them.
It was about goddamn time.
Chapter 10
Amelia
I had to admit, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to find when I went to Echo Mori, but I certainly didn’t expect Rocco to have the reaction to me that he did. He all but leapt from the table when he recognized me, then he hurried over to me, taking me by the hand and leading me into a dark corridor.
I followed willingly. I was sure he knew what he was doing, and I didn’t want to show up at his bar and be the one to make a scene because he wanted to talk to me in private. In fact, the whole reason I went was to get his attention.
I had done a lot of thinking that morning, and
after a while, I found I couldn’t get him or the case out of my head any longer. Perhaps it was the driven way he was so determined to help his friend, or perhaps it was the way he made me feel on top of the world when he spoke.
Either way, I knew I had to talk to him. I wanted to know what was going on with Roman officially. Sure, I could look through some things, but I wanted Roman’s version of what was going on, and I wanted to figure out if there was a way I could help.
I might not want to take on the case entirely, but I did want to do something for the man. If he was innocent, then it didn’t matter that he was part of an MC. Sure, I hated all MCs with a passion and didn’t want to have anything to do with them, but this was an innocent man we were talking about.
Well, allegedly innocent, anyway.
We slipped into a dark room, Rocco flipping on one of the lights as he pulled me in after him. He then took me by the shoulders and pushed me into the wall.
“What the Hell are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you,” I said breathlessly.
“So you showed up here?” he asked. “How the Hell did you know I would be here?”
“I remembered the patches you had on your vest when I talked to you earlier,” I told him. “And, you said your friend was in an MC. It didn’t take long to piece the puzzle together. All I had to do was a bit of research on your club online, and I figured out you like to hang out here. If you weren’t here, I was pretty sure I could find someone who would know where to find you.”
“That was risky,” he said with a shake of his head. “Do you make a habit of just walking up to members of an MC and asking where you can find another member? That could go pretty wrong pretty fast, especially for a pretty young thing like you.”
“I would like to think I know what I’m doing when it comes to dangerous people,” I said with a flick of my hair. I knew I was showing my nerves, despite doing my best to keep them under control. I didn’t want to show him how nervous he made me, but it was hard to hide.
