“Do I smell Italian?” Zero, the brother in charge of prospects and one helluva ink slinger, strode through the door pushing Delta to the side. “Bro, you’re blocking the way to food.”
“Punk.” Delta elbowed him and laughed. “Why are you here?”
“You didn’t send in your prospect update, Mama Delta.” Zero grinned. “When do we eat?”
“Get this shit done, I hate babysitting,” he growled at me.
“You’re doing a bad job so you don’t get stuck with it,” I accused.
He smirked.
“Maybe you should stick to it until you get it right,” Thorn rumbled with his deep bass voice.
Delta’s face crumpled. “No, torture, anything...but prospects.”
“Even celibacy?” Zero joked. He and Delta would have a tight race for the title of pussy hound in the club.
“Bring on the prospects.”
Our laughter was interrupted by the beeping of the stove. I brought out the lasagna and set it on the stove.
I took off the foil and stuck it back in the oven. “Find plates, set a table. I’ll get Charlie.”
“If you can wake her after that show,” Thorn called behind me.
I heard the other two questioning him, but I didn’t want to hear his responses. If they wanted to keep their teeth, they wouldn’t say a word in front of Charlie.
In our room she lay asleep, so tempting. But if I indulged, we’d be lucky to have scraps to eat. I peppered kisses over her face, she found my lips and kissed back.
I stood up. “Darling, we need to eat your lasagna—”
“Is it burned?” She sat straight up, looking for her shorts.
“It’s fine, but it’s ready. And we have guests.”
She buttoned up her shorts and slipped on flip flops.
“You know everyone but Zero. He’s unique, and he’s in charge of the prospects and recruits.” I patted her ass, wanting to do more than touch.
The guys had pulled two tables together, put the food out, set plates and silverware out. Zero stood behind the bar. “Drinks?”
“Beer me.”
He threw me a Budweiser.
“Water,” Charlie said and caught her bottle a second later.
Zero grabbed two more bottles and hurried around the bar. “I’m Zero, and you’re Charlie of the lasagna.” He bent to one knee. “Marry me now?”
I smacked the back of his head. “Not cool.”
“Ouch.” He stood and laughed. “Sure you don’t want to run away with me? JoJo isn’t any fun.”
Charlie laughed. “You’re cute, but not for me.”
“Mortal wound there,” Delta called out. “She called you cute.”
We sat down and soon were eating.
“This is the best lasagna I’ve ever had.” I patted her hand. “Seriously delicious.”
The others echoed my compliment.
“I’m bored, how long are we stuck here?” she asked me.
“At least a week.” I wasn’t looking forward to it any more than she was.
“Feel free to cook,” Thorn offered with a grin that I thought made him look twice as scary. He and Jericho shouldn’t smile.
“I’ll do that, but what else are we going to do?”
“You doing something wrong if she has to ask,” Zero popped up.
“Funny.”
Charlie blushed.
“Oh, you still blush...now you have to marry me,” Zero pleaded his case.
Charlie went a brighter shade of red.
“He’ll keep it up as long as you react, darling.” I’d threaten him but it’d do no good. He loved attention.
“I was thinking you could teach me to drive your bike.”
My bike? No way. Oh hell no.
Zero laughed. “You don’t know what you asked.”
“The back of his bike only,” Delta added.
“Uh, darling, no one drives my bike but me, or a prospect in a pinch, and I mean that hardly ever happens.” I squeezed her hand. “But we have a few prospect bikes for new recruits who don’t have their own wheels yet. I’ll teach you on that.”
Charlie glanced from one to the other of us. “If it doesn’t break any egos—uh, I mean rules.”
I belted out a laugh. “My ego can stand that.”
“I’ll teach you,” Zero offered. “JoJo has little finesse, but you probably already know that.” He wagged his eyebrows at Charlie.
“Finesse, huh?” She looked from me to Zero. “I’ll take JoJo all the same.”
My blood sung as elation pumped through me. I’d take every bit I could get.
“You two go on with your lessons, we’ll clean up.” Thorn glared at the other two bikers who were too smart to argue with our sergeant at arms. “Thanks for the meal, again.”
“They’ll be more. Any requests?”
“Pot roast.”
“Pork loin.”
“Fried chicken with mashed potatoes.” Thorn spoke with longing.
Charlie noted it. “Fried chicken tomorrow, provided you do my shopping.”
“Will do. Now let’s get the KP duty done.” Thorn shooed the other guys into the kitchen ahead of him.
We headed down the hall. “Get on jeans and boots.”
I stopped in Thorn’s room for a key to a Harley Fat Boy that had seen more than its share of miles. When one of us bought a different bike, we often donated our old ones to the club for new members. I’d donated the Fat Boy a few years back.
Once she’d changed, she met me out back.
“First thing, always wear a helmet.” I handed her one.
“You don’t.”
“But I’m an experienced rider with a death wish. You aren’t either.”
She frowned and put on the helmet. We spent thirty minutes going over the gears, gas and brakes. I had her practice moving the gears and hitting each control as I named it.
“Let’s get to the fun part already.” She beamed at me.
“Go slow, so if you tip it, you won’t be hurt,” I cautioned.
She nodded and sped off, not going slow at all. However, she managed to stop it without laying the bike down. “Joe,” she called to me, enthusiasm lighting up her words. “How do I turn?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Charlie
Riding was the second best thing in the world. Sex with Joe topped the list. My God, he’d put me out with that last orgasm, and we’d been in the club kitchen. But I refused to worry about that. I was riding a Harley on my own, and as soon as this standoff was over, I’d be buying a bike. I wasn’t sure if I loved the thrill or sense of freedom more.
JoJo rode next to me a smile cracking his face wide. No helmet, though he made me wear one. We rode the back road that connected the clubhouse to members’ houses. We drove the big circle that took us past another house, then the big metal building where they made the porn movies and we were back at the club. Joe parked, but I was ready to ride more.
“When do I get to go on the road?”
“After Franco calls off his hitmen.” Joe ruined my high.
For a couple of hours I’d forgotten about the men hunting me and the reason I was here. So far the club wasn’t what I’d expected. Lots of rough-looking guys, but they were nice, even the meanest-looking ones, or especially those. Both Jericho and Thorn had made me feel welcome, yet they had this intimidating aura that screamed badass.
I liked Joe’s friends and the clubhouse was growing on me. Despite my imaginings, I hadn’t seen a single thing that resembled that biker show from TV or the outlaw stories that spread through the police station. Wild parties. Free-flowing drugs. Women used as slaves. The stories were extreme, and totally without basis, here anyway.
“Come on, I owe you some payback.” I crooked my finger
for him to follow me.
JoJo had shown no mercy when he’d rocked my world and I’d never thought feelings shot so deep, could overtake me so completely. Now I needed to see if I could do the same for him.
We hurried into the small clubhouse bedroom and slammed the door shut.
“Undress.” I pushed him back toward the bed.
“Yes, ma’am.” With a smug grin he tugged off his shirt. The Jericho Brotherhood tattoo covered his heart, reminding me that they were a package deal. Before we’d come here, I’d have said that was a deal breaker, more so after the rocky first night, but now I could see it working. The club wasn’t terrible and my feelings for Joe went deep.
I knelt between his open legs and met his gaze, then slowly took him into my mouth, circling down his shaft with slow licks.
He moaned, and a thrill chased through me. I wanted him at my mercy, just like I was with him.
* * *
Days passed with me cooking, cleaning and learning to ride, but not even the bike held the pleasure of a few days ago. I might go insane if I had to stay another day.
We sat in the main room, just finishing off the pot roast I’d cooked today. Somehow the crowd had grown to include Thorn, Delta, Zero, Elle and Rebel. I was glad Elle was here. The testosterone surrounding me was epic, and I’d had enough.
“Thorn, what else needs fixed?” JoJo spoke while he chewed. No manners.
“Nothing, brother. Go out and buy shit to decorate the place. The women have been on that project for months now.” He shook his head. “Now, I have no idea when that will happen.”
“Dare okay?” JoJo frowned.
Thorn shrugged. “Dare, Jericho and Bear rode out a few days ago.”
“Is he fucking stupid?” JoJo asked.
“Yup, and tell him if you feel like a second helping.” Rebel nodded to his black eye and bruised cheek, both fading but not gone.
“I can’t hang out here any longer, I’ll go crazy.” JoJo sounded like a pouty kid, but it summed up my mood too.
“Take her south, go hunting for a bounty.” Rebel grinned. “Maybe you can convert her.”
Bounty hunting? That could be fun.
“Any good cases? So I can train Charlie on how to hunt criminals.”
I smacked him in the ribs. “I know how to apprehend, thanks all the same.”
“You should take Viceroy, we really need to tie that one up, and Rebel and I are busy with Longstreet, the bastard keeps slipping away from us.” Elle grinned at me. “Charlie can show you the right way to do it.”
“But I wanted that bastard. He’s down for murder, worth a cool hundred.” Rebel pulled Elle onto his lap. “But if the boss says...”
“Exactly.” Elle grinned at us. “Charlie and you should be able to take him, no problem.”
“Why aren’t you after him?” JoJo asked Delta.
“I’m covering your ass in Oklahoma City and babysitting.” Delta sighed. “I miss Vegas. Can you wrap your shit up, soon?”
“Delta’s addicted to the tables, but he wins, a lot. He’s in Vegas more than here.” JoJo squeezed my knee before glancing at Delta. “You could always go there and straighten Franco out.”
Delta tucked in to his food.
As the guys cleaned up after lunch, Elle and I sat together in back. “You doing okay?”
I nodded. “I learned to ride a motorcycle, and the guys like my cooking, but I could use more action.”
“Viceroy is a murderer, worth a hundred grand.” She stood up. “Let’s go get the file. I have it in the truck.”
“Really, that much?” I hadn’t realized they had contracts that big.
“Yeah, we like the big contracts—Rebel, me, Delta and JoJo. We have a competition. Anyone who doesn’t bring in 100K in bounties has to buy drinks when we go out.”
“Drinking and betting. Two of their favorite pastimes?”
“You know it.” Elle winked at me. “Read it over, you guys need to get out and rile up Franco again. Word is he’s feeling the money drain.”
“Really?”
“No one looks good when three attempts fail.” She patted my shoulder. “You’re almost clear of this. Then the fun really begins.”
“What does that mean?”
“What will you do when you aren’t running from Franco?” Elle gazed at me with knowing eyes.
“Rebuild my life in Oklahoma City.” I had a house to rebuild, a career to get back to, and I wasn’t sure where JoJo fit in my boring normal life or if he even wanted to.
I slipped in the back door and into the room we’d stayed in the past six days. I opened the file and began reading. Al Viceroy was out on bail for armed robbery. The bank guard had died, now he was up for murder. An arrest warrant had been issued, but Viceroy had eluded police for the past four months. He’d had a string of arrests and done three stints in prison over the years, two in Montana and one in Texas. He’d be going in for life this time. The background was extensive—credit charges, phone bills and more. We didn’t have access to this kind of information, unless we got the mother of all warrants. I didn’t see a clear lead here, but I wasn’t familiar with Dallas or Viceroy’s hangouts. Hopefully JoJo would see more in the file.
He came in a few minutes later. “Elle said she gave you the file.”
I handed it to him. He scanned it and smirked. “Pack for three days, tight and revealing should be the theme. Don’t forget your gun.”
I stood and looked over the file he held. “What do you see that I didn’t?”
“All these charges at bars—biker bars. But Viceroy isn’t with a club. So he’s at best a friend, most likely a wannabe. He’ll be easy to track. I’m sure he thinks this card is clean, it’s in his cousin’s name.”
I hadn’t noticed that detail. “It says A. Viceroy.”
“But the detail in the report says that account belongs to Alex Viceroy of Austin, Texas. Our guy lives in Dallas. The skip tracer included the cousin’s address as well as other family.”
“Skip tracer? What’s that?” I knew police investigations, but this wasn’t the same.
“Bounty and bail bonding has different specialties, very few do it all. Skip tracers focus on the web and computer tracks to find bounties. But some don’t like to do the takedown. We have a company who does our skip tracing for us.”
“All that info can’t be legal.” Yet Joe wasn’t bothered he’d admitted he paid someone to break the law.
“It’s a shade of gray I’m comfortable with.” He smacked my ass. His universal response when he didn’t want to talk anymore. “Pack. We’ll leave in thirty minutes.”
“Is your leg up to a chase?” I’d noticed him limping when he thought no one was watching.
“Yeah, good as new.” He smacked his thigh where the wound was.
Ow. Men could be complete idiots sometimes.
I sorted through the few clothes I had. Nothing would work, most of them had been given to me by someone else. All my stuff had gone up in the fire. My gut twisted at the reminder of how much I’d lost. Sure, Danvers had started the claim process and I’d talked to the adjustor, but my life was in ashes, literally.
“We’re going to have to go shopping on the way.”
“Sure, I’m surprised you waited this long.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Just grab a bag to put it all in and I’ll buy whatever you want.”
What did he say? “I can buy my own clothes.”
“You can.” He glared at me. “But I will.”
“Goddammit. Why are you being so stubborn?”
Anger smoldered in his dark eyes. “You’ll have lots to buy thanks to Franco, just let me do this for you. Believe me, I make good money.”
He blamed himself. I saw it there behind the anger. I knew that emotion too well since I blamed myself for the fire. I should’v
e noticed sooner, been able to do something different—the thoughts had chased me in my downtime this week. Something I’d had too much of.
I cupped his cheek and brushed a kiss across his lips. “Okay, you buy today.”
“Thank you.” He kissed me back, long and slow. I loved his kisses. Loved everything about him.
We headed out in one of Brotherhood Bonds’ black SUVs, making great time to Dallas. After a fun and frantic shopping trip at a mall at the edge of Dallas we checked into a motel. Joe had a thing about access to the outside, but it was quite a bit nicer than the clubhouse bedroom. I’d grown attached to our bedroom at the clubhouse. It had its own shabby charm, or maybe it was all the orgasms he’d given me there. Getting over the way I felt for him might not be impossible, but going back to my sexless existence would be. Yet the idea of anyone but JoJo in my bed felt wrong. Yup, I was screwed.
“So when do we hunt?”
“Now.” He prowled toward me. “Change, the slinkier the better, and we’ll go.”
“Why don’t you have to go all sexy?” I laughed.
“Darling, you can’t improve on perfection.” He winked at me. “Tonight my cut will be what matters.”
I put on the slinky jean skirt and crop top I’d bought. My gun went into my purse and I slipped on a pair of wedged heels. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to give chase tonight.
“You look good enough to eat.” Joe jerked me into him. “Let’s start tomorrow.”
I pushed against his chest, but it might just as well have been a brick wall. “We’re going.”
“Fine. The places we’re going are sleazy at best. Stick to me, and remember we’re undercover, so what I say is pure bullshit.”
“I know, you don’t have to...”
His look pierced me. Yeah, I deserved that. I’d thought the worst of him at every opportunity.
“We’re both undercover.” I rubbed against him and squeezed his dick before twirling away.
“That’s just mean.” He followed me out the door.
We drove into a seedy part of Dallas. I’d only been here a handful of times, so I couldn’t say where we were exactly, but someplace where criminals outnumbered the law-abiding citizens. Places like that just had a look, more a feel. “How bad a neighborhood?”
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