I nodded and sat down on the edge of a table. I had my legs wide, tapping my toes on the ground in an irregular rhythm. I was irritated. Flush and frustrated. My body was wired, and I needed a drink. Either that or a good fuck. Women tended to chill me out.
“We’ve got another shipment coming through tomorrow,” Toke said. He dealt with the paperwork. We handled a couple of drug cartels and helped get cocaine to its destination without getting the cops involved.
“I want this shit sorted before my next run,” I said. “I don’t want to go down for someone else’s shady deal. We’re not even getting in on any blow, so if I get jail time for this, I’m taking someone out.”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Skinner said in a way that made me want to take him on outside with a crowbar. But we didn’t fight our gang leaders, and Skinner had been at the top of the food chain for a while now. But I was itchy as fuck, and I wanted to get rid of all this pent up frustration.
“We’ll sort out our security detail. I want to talk about that diner you pulled into last night.”
I jutted my chin up in a what-about-it way. Next guy who commented on where I planted my seed was going to get it.
“There are bound to be cameras in that joint. You need to get back there and take care of them. If we have your face on tape somewhere, you’re going to do time no matter how hard you run.”
Shit, I hadn’t thought of that. I should have scoped the place out before I’d marched in there and demanded protection.
“I’ll take care of it,” I said. Besides, if I went back there, I could see that waitress again. She’d been such a small thing, but there was so much fire in her. I liked to fuck and forget. Women were only good for one thing. But this one was different. I wanted to get into her panties again and make it last this time. I wanted round two and round three with her.
I shifted, moving my pants so that my hardening cock wouldn’t pull my pubes. Thinking about her got me ready for it. I wanted to see her naked. I wanted to see her curves, her wide hips, and her ass that looked like I could slap it.
And those tits, bouncing.
Or I wanted her on her knees, those big, brown eyes looking up at me as she closed her lips around my cock and bobbed her head so those curls bounced on her shoulders the same way they’d bounced last night.
Yeah, that mouth looked like it could give a hell of a blowjob. I wanted to hear her scream. I wanted her to say my name over and over, as I pumped into her and finished off all over her. One five-minute quickie on a desk wasn’t nearly enough with this one. It was with all the others, but she was different.
And women were never different, so when they were, I sat up and took notice.
“Get back there and sort it out,” Skinner said, finishing off the conversation of which I hadn’t heard the rest. “Toke, you make sure the rotations are set, and I want the rest of you to stick to the rules and let us know if something comes up. I don’t want violence that isn’t necessary. I’ve gotten word twice now of beatings that took place in your area, Mordecai.”
Mordecai was a big, black man, with his eyes and his skin all the same color. His hair was cut in a fuzzy Mohawk over and down the back of his skull, and he had hands the size of a man’s head. He had a quick temper, and he wasn’t scared to really do some damage.
“Don’t look at me,” he said, holding up those hands.
“I’m looking exactly at you,” Skinner said. He was the only guy who wasn’t scared of Mordecai. Even I was nervous around him. “And I don’t want any shit with the others unless they’re looking for it. You’re attracting too much police attention.”
There was a murmur of disapproval that rippled through the group. We slayed other bikers for sport. We didn’t usually kill them, but we trashed their pubs or their bikes, and I liked cutting up their kuttes. It was the kind of thing we did for fun.
“Dammit, Skinner. What are we going to do to unwind, now?” I asked. He pegged me with a stare, and it was menacing through those shades.
“You’ll figure something out,” he said. There was a snicker here and there, and the double meaning wasn’t lost on me. Women, that was what we were going to do to unwind. I got it. And maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. I had my sights set on a waitress.
CHAPTER 3
I ran my hand through my hair and thought absently that I hadn’t washed it. I’d overslept this morning, and I’d ran to get to work. Kenneth was a pain in the ass when I was late for a shift, as if I was the only one who was around to run the place. But Kenneth always wanted me there. Sometimes I worked a lot more than I should have. No one else pulled back-to-back shifts.
Why did I put up with it? Because I needed the money. My studies weren’t going to pay for themselves, and the moment I had that damn degree I was going to walk out of this godforsaken diner and never look back.
There were some things in life that were just stepping stones. Kenneth Sherman and his crummy diner in a bad part of town were one of those stepping stones.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Tanya,” Reggie called over her shoulder before she walked out the door. She was the last to leave; the other waitresses had left hours ago. As far as co-workers went, I liked Reggie the best. Maybe it was because I spent so much more time with her. She was the only one who came close to doing the same kind of hours as me.
“Try to get some sleep,” she said, as the door swung closed. I watched her blond hair float away until it disappeared into the night. Right. Sleep. I’d forgotten what getting a good night’s rest was. Since I’d started studying, I’d been hitting the books after my shifts, but last night I’d struggled to sleep. Maybe it had to do with the hot biker who had come into the diner and had his way with me.
I’d been hot and bothered, my body flush and blossoming for more, and I’d fought the temptation to do something about it. Because at the same time, I’d hated myself for being so loose. I never slept with strangers. Hell, I didn’t even sleep with guys I knew and actually dated right off the bat. I always liked to think of myself as a good girl. I had morals and class and standards. All that muck.
And then he’d walked into the diner, and it had just been me and him, and the next thing I knew, he’d had me pulled up on Kenneth’s desk and was buried deep inside of me. And all I’d been able to think ever since was that I wanted more.
Well, it was a good thing I wasn’t going to see the likes of him again. I could do without a bad boy who would put my life on hold. If I was lucky, I would never run into him—or his type—again, and after a while, I would forget about him and move on.
I started packing away the dishes Lorenzo had washed. He was the bus boy and dishwasher, but he didn’t dry and pack away. We let it drip dry if we could afford to spare some crockery, and I was the one that stacked it in the small cupboards in the kitchen.
I wanted to get home. I was dead on my feet. My eyes felt gritty when I blinked; I needed a hot bath; and my head throbbed with a dull lack-of-sleep headache. There were only two customers left, and they were readers. They didn’t like to be bothered, so I doubted I would have to offer a lot more service tonight.
“Do you have a moment?” Kenneth asked behind me, and I jumped.
“You make a habit of sneaking up on people?” I asked. My heart hammered in my chest, and I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down again.
Kenneth rolled his eyes and beckoned for me to follow him. He hadn’t waited for an answer to his question. He assumed I always had a moment for him. I followed him to his office and stepped inside. The office was small and cramped, with the desk in the middle so there was no proper walking space. I glanced at the desk where the dirty had happened with the biker. The office hadn’t felt so small when it had been him and me in here.
When I looked up Kenneth was staring at me with an expression that I couldn’t place, but it made me uncomfortable all the same. He bent over the desk, hand on the mouse, and clicked around on the screen. I shifted my weight from one foot t
o the other. I’d been on my feet for over twelve hours. I eyed the chair and decided against sitting down. I didn’t want to make my stay in the office any longer than it needed to be.
“You were in trouble last night,” Kenneth said. It didn’t sound like a question, so I didn’t make an effort to answer him. He looked up at me, and his eyes were dark and brooding, just the way I didn’t like them. “Want to tell me what was going on?”
Not really. I didn’t want to tell him anything. But what was I going to say?
“Nothing’s going on,” I said carefully. Kenneth raised his eyebrows at me, and I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Will you make your point?” I asked, trying to be polite, but I was at the end of my line and my tolerance for people and their bullshit only went that far. “I’m tired, and I really just want to finish my shift so that I can get home.”
Kenneth glanced up at the clock above the door. “Your shift isn’t going to finish for another hour, whether you’re in my office or out there.”
He nodded toward the seating area.
“Besides, judging by the cameras, you didn’t mind putting in some overtime last night.”
My body went cold, and it felt like I was suddenly made of lead. Cameras?
“You didn’t forget that I have cameras everywhere so my waitresses don’t steal from me, did you?” he said in a way that told me he knew that I’d forgotten. I wasn’t the underhand type. I never paid attention to security cameras because I never had anything to hide.
At least, not until now.
I walked around the desk and looked at the computer screen. It was divided up into four screens that all had black and white footage on them. One showed the door and the first half of the diner. One showed behind the reception counter where the customers paid. One showed the other half of the diner, and the last showed Kenneth’s office.
My mystery man’s face was all over the first and the third screen, and there was a nice video of him and me on the desk, my legs around him, panties on the floor, rocking back and forth.
I felt sick to my stomach. I wondered what would happen if I threw up all over Kenneth. Or all over the computer so that it blew and the vulgar footage was lost.
“Oh, my God,” I breathed and lifted my fingers to my lips. I wanted to say that I could explain. I wanted to say that it wasn’t what it looked like. Hell, I wanted to say that it wasn’t me at all. But there was no denying whom it was and what was happening. No matter what I wanted.
Kenneth turned to me, blocking the screen from my view. Just as well there was no sound footage, I didn’t want to hear how I cried out when I orgasmed, his gruff voice telling me to “Come for him, baby.”
“I’ll open a case,” Kenneth said. “We have enough evidence here.”
“Of what?” I asked, the initial humiliation draining away a bit and making way for confusion.
“Of this man taking advantage of you.”
I shook my head and tried to look at the screen around Kenneth’s bulk. He lifted his arm, blocked more of the screen, and ran a hand through his sandy hair.
“You don’t have to be strong about this,” he said.
“Kenneth, don’t get me wrong, as embarrassing as this is, it wasn’t an accident,” I said. I hated admitting it, but the last thing I wanted was for this guy to end up behind bars for something he didn’t do. I had no doubt that there were a million things he’d done that would put him in jail and keep him there, but forcing me into a situation I didn’t want wasn’t one of them.
“I’ve wanted to up my security system around here for a while now. I realize now, I should have done it ages ago.”
“That’s great, Kenneth. And by all means, do what you feel you must. But nothing illegal happened in here. Unethical, maybe. But not illegal. It was consensual.”
Kenneth looked at me long enough that I wanted to squirm, but I fought the urge. He lifted his hand and put it on my shoulder. It was uncomfortable. He was too close.
“The idea of you being with another man bothers me, Tanya,” he said.
Another man? What was he talking about? There wasn’t any man to start off with, to justify to word “another.”
I shrugged out from underneath Kenneth’s hand and took a step back. Kenneth took a step toward me, closing the distance I’d manage to put between us again.
“I’m really sorry about this,” I said, still trying to step away from him. “I know it was wrong, and I know you should probably take action.” At this point, I wanted Kenneth to shout at me, or fire me, or something. Anything to get him to break this horrible focus on me. “I’ll understand if you feel the need to let me go.”
If he fired me now, I could walk away. I knew Kenneth liked me more than the other waitresses, I figured everyone had a favorite. However, this was bordering on creepy.
“Let you go?” he asked, and he looked confused for a second. “I’m not letting you go; I’m going to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I want you safe. I was thinking I should stay late tonight and make sure you get home okay.”
I shook my head. I was at the door now. I’d made my way slowly to the door, so it didn’t look like I was running away, but I wanted to get away.
“I’ll be fine, really,” I said. “What are the odds that he’ll come in here again?”
Kenneth shrugged. “Maybe he liked what he got,” he said, and his features grew dark. I shivered.
“Really, don’t worry about a thing. I’ve got this under control like I always do,” I said.
Kenneth smiled at me, and I wished he hadn’t. It wasn’t the kind of smile I wanted him to give me. “That’s why I rely on you so much,” he said. “You put effort into this place like it’s your own.”
I looked over my shoulder and thanked the heavens that one of the readers waved at me to bring him the check.
“I have to go. Duty calls,” I said and turned my back on Kenneth and his office. Suddenly, I didn’t want to go home because I was tired. I wanted to flee the diner and lock myself inside. The biker that had come in and pushed all the right buttons had been a hell of a thug. He’d had it written all over his face and arms and chest. However, Kenneth was the real danger here.
CHAPTER 4
My days were busy. Being a biker wasn’t just riding around on my Harley, wearing my leathers, and scaring the shit out of good civilians. We had a whole schedule to stick to with blow coming in, and we had to make sure shipments ended up where they belonged without police interest.
That was hard when the police were already interested in us, but we managed. And then, after it all, I had to swing by that diner and go pick up the videos I’d left behind when I’d run in there to hide from the popo. That had been a good move on every level.
I pulled my bike up some distance away from the diner and cut the engine, so she wouldn’t hear me coming. I didn’t want her to think about last night and run before I had the chance to talk to her again. I thought about those legs that she’d spread for me so easily and those big, brown eyes that looked into mine with questions to which I’d given her all the right answers. I hoped to God that she’d enjoyed what I’d done to her because I sure as hell enjoyed it.
Part of me wanted to go in there and pull her over—even if it wasn’t what she wanted. I just wanted to bury myself in that body again and hear her voice when she cried out. But a part of me wanted her to want me. And that was new.
I’d never given a shit about what women had thought of me before. As long as I got off, I was happy. But this one… I wanted her to be happy, too. I wanted her to beg me for more; I wanted to hear my name tumble over her lips when I did all sorts of things to her body.
I walked down a narrow alley, tugging at the belt of my leathers to readjust and make space for the hard-on in my pants. It was irritating when the thing wouldn’t listen, but thinking about her got me hard straight away.
When I was close enough to see the diner, I stopped and leaned against the wall. There were still
lights on inside, and I could see shadows moving behind the blinds. I knew she was in there, the shorter one with the big hair and the big tits. However, she wasn’t alone. Someone was sitting at a table.
Half an hour. That was how long I was giving them to get packing before I walked in there and made sure all the customers were leaving. I didn’t feel like waiting. Patience wasn’t my strong suit, and I was getting edgy. What I really needed was a blunt. I could do with a bit of green right about now, take the edge off while I waited for that piece of ass to make her way to the door.
The customer got up and—a moment later—made an appearance at the door, a middle-aged man who looked like his constitution would have been too weak for me to give him a scare. I started walking toward the diner but stopped again. She was coming out. The door opened, and she stepped out wearing a coat over her diner dress. She had a bag hooked over her shoulder. I wanted to follow her when she started walking to see where she lived.
Filthy Ride: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Iron Bones MC) (Whiskey Bad Boys Book 3) Page 2
