Nasty

by Claire St. Rose

  “THIS IS A HORRIBLE idea!” Anthony’s face had taken on an expression of disgust, and his eyes shot right through Shayla. “You want us to romanticize gang violence? These guys are thugs.”

  “Some of them are thugs,” Shayla conceded. “But Luke’s not one of them. Neither are any of his guys.”

  “You’re just saying that because you’re sweet on him.”

  Shayla looked over at Amy for support, who had been sitting at her end of the conference table looking pensive. It took everything in her not to reach down the table and smack Anthony upside the head for talking to her like that, but she knew she’d have to be diplomatic if she wanted to get him on her side. That meant not attacking him for every asshole thing he said.

  Amy sat forward in her chair. “I think that if it’s what Mr. Putnam and Mr. Green want, there’s not much we can do about it.”

  That was hardly the answer Shayla had been looking for.

  “That being said,” Amy continued. “I also think that it’s a great idea, if played correctly. Anthony’s right that it could be taken as romanticizing gang violence, but we also have to remember that edgy content brings in viewers.”

  There it was! Shayla breathed a sigh of relief. She thought that she would have to fight both of them tooth and nail. She vowed to give Any more of a break for her incompetence in the future. Maybe not all of it, but some of it.

  Shayla turned a smug smile on Anthony. “You don’t have to be in it,” she said sweetly. “I can film the segments myself.”

  He snorted. “As if. I’m not letting some Cinderella story intern scoop a story this big, no matter how dumb I think it is.”

  What happened to all his talk yesterday about them having to work together? Anthony’s moods flip-flopped more than a strung out junkie.

  “I think Shayla should do most of the segments through,” chimed in Amy. “She and that biker guy have such a natural chemistry, whereas he just seems to hate you.”

  “He just hates me because I actually take a shower every once and awhile.”

  Shayla held in a laugh, remembering the shower she and Luke had shared last night. The thought sent tingles to her core. She couldn’t wait to see him next.

  “I’ll get a camera crew ready, and we’ll film the segments during the day. Can you start on this tomorrow, Shayla?”

  Shayla nodded at Amy. “Absolutely.”

  “You know that you’ll be working doubles because of this. We’ll still need you to do the news at night and present the segments.”

  “I understand.”

  “Good.” Amy rose from the table. “Now, I’ve got to go get some work done. Shayla, you should get to make up. You look a little red.”

  Shayla turned even more red when she realized that her thoughts of Luke had manifested in a burnt complexion.

  Anthony rolled his eyes and left the table too, but Shayla didn’t move right away. She pulled out her phone and called Luke.

  “Hey there, wildcat.” She still wasn’t used to his gruff tone. It sent a flame of heat through her body.

  “Hey Luke.” She didn’t have a fun nickname for him. Yet. Was that a thing she needed to do? “I talked to everyone at the station about your idea. They think it’s great, and they want to start shooting tomorrow.”

  “That’s great news. I’ll make sure the shop is clean.”

  “Shop?”

  “My auto shop, little one. It’s the Trojan clubhouse.”

  Shayla could have groaned at her idiocy. She knew absolutely nothing about Luke. How could she have been so blockheaded not to ask him anything about his life? She loved the small business owner angel she was going to be able to work in though.

  “Right, of course.” Shayla paused, looking down at her hand on the table and gathering her courage. “I had a lot of fun last night.”

  Luke’s baritone chuckle blasted through the phone. “I had fun too, little one. I can’t wait to have fun with you again sometime soon.”

  “What about tonight? After I’m finished?”

  Luke hesitated. “I can’t tonight, babe. I’ve got some club business to deal with.”

  His tone was dark, and Shayla sensed that asking what business was entailed wouldn’t go well.

  “Okay, that’s fine,” she mumbled. “Want to text me the address of your shop and I’ll let you know when me and the team will be over tomorrow?”

  “Sure thing. Have a good broadcast.”

  “Thanks. Have a good...club...thing...”

  Luke laughed. “I’ll try.”

  Shayla ended the call with a curious mix of dread and excitement in her stomach. She knew there was something going on in Luke’s world, but didn’t know what that entailed. She only hoped that he would confide in her soon.

  On the plus side, she was excited to be at the helm of a story. She would be the one developing it and bringing it to life, and it would look great for her in the future if it went well. And, as an added bonus, following Luke around for a week would give her a sense of who he really was underneath all that sexual prowess.

  She just hoped she liked what she found.

  Chapter 10

  Luke hung up the phone and turned back to Sparky and Rose. Whatever comfort Sparky had provided the teen had given her enough strength to go back and stay with her parents again, but she still spent most of her time at Sparky’s place. Now it was for a different reason.

  She was scared.

  The guy who’d sold her friend the drugs had tracked Rose down and threatened her after seeing the piece on the news that blamed bikers for her friend’s overdose. But goddamn if she wasn't a feisty one. She was scared, yes, but she refused to let anyone bully her. Which was why she had put herself under Trojan protection and said she’d help them in any way she could.

  Sparky had a laptop resting on his knees, and was going through photos of Reapers MC members. Rose hadn’t remembered for certain what the guy had looked like before, but now that the idiot had come after her in broad daylight she had a much better idea.

  Luke never got tired of dumbass crooks. They made life so much easier for him.

  Rose was looking a lot better than the last time Luke had seen her. She wasn’t sobbing, which was part of it. She also just seemed more determined and less vulnerable. With a backbone like hers, maybe Luke would have to reserve a jacket for her when she turned twenty-one.

  “That’s him!” she shouted suddenly. “I can’t believe it! There’s his little ratty face!”

  Luke jumped up and sat down on the couch next to them. They were looking at the Facebook of Brad Kingsley, one of the Reapers’ lower level members, if Luke remembered correctly.

  Luke scowled as he saw that Chester Smith was in the photo also, with his arm clamped around Brad’s shoulders. Herman’s third and youngest son, Chester still seemed to cause the most trouble. And despite his other siblings’ vendetta against Luke, Chester knew better than to get within ten feet of the Trojans leader. The Brad kid was a pretty good looking guy, so Luke could see why Rose’s friend had been lured under his spell.

  “Well now we have a name. Brad.” Sparky put his hand on the lid and began to close it.

  “No!” Rose flipped it back up. “Not the pasty little one. The burly guy he’s with.” She pointed and tapped on Chester’s face.

  Luke’s blood boiled. “Are you sure?”

  She turned to Luke and nodded, conviction in her eyes. “I would bet my life on it.”

  Luke rose up from the couch, his fists balled at his side. “I can’t believe it!” he stormed. “What kind of shit is going on in that club if they’ve got Herman’s goddamn son running petty drug transactions and pushing bad pills onto teenageers?”

  Rose, to her benefit, did not cower back. Neither did Sparky, but he’d seen Luke’s rage plenty of times before.

  “Who’s Herman?” Rose asked.

  Luke leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to calm down. “He’s the leader of the Reapers.” He opened his lid
s and gazed at her, but she seemed unmoved. Serious balls.

  “That’s good though, isn’t it?” Rose asked brightly. When both men looked at her questioningly, she continued. “If he’s high up in the gang they have even more reason not to want him exposed.”

  Luke gave the girl a sardonic smile. “I wish I could still see everything with the same sunny disposition.” He walked over and sat back on the couch, leaning into the cushions. “We have no proof. It’s your word against his, and frankly his dad will do anything he can to keep Chester out of prison.” He sighed. “It looks like he’s easier to bring down, but in practice it’ll be a lot harder. I can’t even go kick the living shit out of the maggot.”

  Rose jolted upward, standing and turning on the bikers. “You can’t?” Her eyes were wide.

  Sparky stood up and placed a hand gently on her arm. “Not yet. But we will do something, I promise.”

  Luke sat forward. “Don’t worry, little rage demon, we’ll get him.” He groaned in frustration. “We just have to be a bit more careful.”

  “I don’t want to sit here and watch that douchebag hurt someone else while you guys hang around with your dicks in your hands!” She shrugged out of Sparky’s grip. “He threatened me, but I came to you because you promised me revenge!”

  Luke stood up, towering over the tiny girl. “And you’ll get it,” he said sternly. “And until you do, we’ll protect you. If Chester tries anything, we’ll have his ass in the ground before he even blinks. But there are a few matters we need to take care of before we can punish him for this.”

  She clenched her jaw but didn’t argue.

  Luke gave Sparky a look that told him they needed to talk. The men walked to the kitchen, where Luke grabbed both of them a beer from the fridge.

  “Has Chester lost his damn mind?” Luke asked lowly. “Do you think his father knows about this?”

  “It’s worrying to me because it’s not like Chester needs the money.” Sparky cracked his beer open and leaned against the counter. “He’s doing this for fun. Probably just to get his dumb ass laid.”

  Luke nodded. “So how do we approach it? My instincts tell me we should take it up with Herman as soon as possible. If he doesn’t know about this shit, then he could end up fixing the problem for us.”

  Sparky nodded. “I agree, except I think this needs to wait until things are a bit more stable with Raven. Especially because of the way he reacted when I called about Holly’s overdose.”

  Luke remembered Sparky calling him in a rage after Herman had basically told him to go fuck himself, and that he would beat his face in for accusing any of the Reapers of selling drugs in Trojan territory. Luke had also told his friend about his encounter with her and her brothers. But Luke knew the only way he could solve things with Raven would be to stop seeing Shayla—and he straight up could not and would not do that.

  “Give me some time to think about this.” Luke knocked back a swig of his beer. “Can you stop her from going AWOL until I have it figured out?”

  Sparky’s lips tugged into a smile. “I’m not sure a nuclear missile could stop her on the rampage, but I’ll try.”

  Chapter 11

  Shayla was a bundle of nerves for her first daytime interview, but she was so excited to see Luke again that she nearly ran out the door in the morning. She drove to the station first to pick up the news van, then hopped in the back with the camera guy Amy had picked out for the week.

  Both the camera guy, Pierce, and the guy driving the van, Bernard, looked sleepy and not nearly as excited as Shayla. She wished them a merry good morning anyhow, and began touching up her makeup in the back seat. She wanted to look perfect, both for her field reporting debut and for Luke.

  Pierce drove the van through the downtown hub of Templeton. It was a quiet morning, and the shops along the street were just putting out their signs. People walking along the cement sidewalk stared warily at the sky above, wondering if it was going to rain today. According to what Sam Gardener had told everyone on the news last night, there was a sixty percent chance of it. The sky certainly looked grim—all gray and mottled with clouds.

  But Shayla’s good mood could not and would not be shattered by some lousy weather and a motley camera crew. She kept on smiling the whole way to Luke’s auto shop. Admittedly, Shayla hadn’t expected his shop to also have a tattoo parlor running out of it, and that threw her off her game a bit. She wasn’t sure what angle to use to approach that, considering he’d picked the two roughest businesses to combine, but settled on idea rich entrepreneur.

  Luke greeted her out front, standing by that tattoo parlor portion of the establishment. Behind him, Shayla observed a hulking mass of a man with a long, gray beard stepping into the tattoo shop. Through the open door she saw that it looked clean inside, at least.

  “Hey beautiful,” said Luke, pulling Shayla toward him for a kiss.

  She squirmed and looked back at Pierce and Bernard, but neither seemed to care. She and Luke could probably have dropped to the ground and started rutting without either of them taking much notice. Where had Amy picked these guys up from?

  Luke gave her a peck on the lips and released her with a devious grin. “You look gorgeous.”

  Shayla flushed. “Thanks.” She looked back at Pierce and Bernard. “How long do you guys need to get set up?”

  “We’re good now. Just let us know when you’re ready,” Bernard replied.

  She turned back to Luke. “Did you look through the list of questions I sent you?”

  At work yesterday she’d emailed Luke a list of detailed questions that covered every base she might want to cover during the initial interview.

  Luke shrugged. “I skimmed it.”

  Shayla rolled her eyes and smacked him on the arm. “You better not mess up! I don’t want to do fifteen million takes!”

  He reached behind her and gave her butt a little squeeze. “Don’t you worry, little one. You don’t get to where I am in life without being able to breeze through a few questions.”

  Despite her surface irritation, Shayla’s heart fluttered. She gathered her wits and began looking around the area, trying to ascertain the best spot for an interview. She decided on in front of one of the open garage doors, where viewers would see both the flowering bush out front and the hive of activity in the shop.

  “Let’s set you up here,” Shayla said, moving Luke into place. She ran back to the van and grabbed Pierce and her microphone, and they conducted a short sound test. Then the interview began.

  Pierce counted them in, and Shayla plastered a smile on her face as she stared down the lens and hoped that Luke was doing the same.

  “Hello, and thank you for joining us on this KTMA special: A Week in the Life of a Biker. My name is Shayla Queene, and I’m joined here by Luke Cinder, leader of the Trojans Motorcycle Club and visionary entrepreneur.”

  There was a low chuckle from the man to her left, and Shayla resisted the urge to stomp on his foot. She turned her body slightly toward Luke.

  “Luke, how are you today?”

  His mouth was innocent but his eyes spoke of sin. “I’m excellent, Ms. Queene. How are you?”

  “I’m excited to get a glimpse into your life and culture,” she responded. “What kinds of things will you be showing us today?”

  “I thought I’d give you a tour of the shop, and you can meet some of the guys who work for me and ride in my club. Then I thought I’d take you for a ride, Ms. Queene.”

  The formality of his statement battled with the glint of mischief in his eyes. Shayla’s core began to heat up, despite herself. How was she going to make it through the day without jumping his bones?

  “That sounds great. Let’s see what you’ve got in the shop.”

  Luke began walking through the garage doors, and Shayla and her team followed. Shayla tried not to gawk or drool at all the burly, tattooed guys that were scattered about the place. Luke took them around and introduced them to the guys, each one just as polite and
congenial as their boss. In the tattoo parlor, a young woman around Shayla’s age was getting a tattoo in memory of her deceased mother. Shayla wondered if Luke had planned that or not. Either way, it was great TV.

  Outside again, Shayla prepared for the interview portion. Now that the viewers knew a little about Luke’s business, they would be more engaged with what he had to say as a person.

  “So Luke,” she began. “There are a lot of misconceptions and taboos concerning bikers. What kind of untruths would you like to expose?”

  Luke replied without a missing a beat. “I think the most important thing for people to know is that we’re just ordinary people who happen to love riding bikes. We don’t wake up each day wondering how we can scandalize people next.” He smiled at Shayla. “We just want normal things in life, you know?”

  “And what kind of normal things would you like, Luke?”

  Luke turned his smile up to a dazzling degree. “I think I’d like a wife and kids someday. Maybe some acreage out in the country and some chickens.”

  Shayla tried not to let her face go flat. He was messing with her. At least he seemed completely genuine though, so the viewers wouldn’t know the difference.

  “That certainly sounds like one way to retire,” Shayla replied. “Is there anything else you’d like to let people know about you or your organization?”

  Luke put an arm around Shayla’s shoulder. “Just that we’re excited for you to see what we’re all about.”

  “Well I’m sure our viewers can’t wait to see for themselves. Hang tight.”

  The cameras cut, and Pierce and Bernard went back to the van to download the footage. Shayla turned to Luke with a scowl. “Did you have to be so saccharine?”