Tempting Country: Ruthless Sinners MC

by Wilder, L.

  Hawk pulled up to the large parking lot in front of the school and turned off his engine. As soon as we got off our bikes, I looked around at the odd-shaped houses and the hundred or so acres of land that surrounded us. “What the hell is this place?”

  “The sign back at the gate said it’s the Langford Nature Preserve.”

  “Well, I’m not feeling the whole nature preserve vibe.” I nodded my head towards the old church house. “I mean, look at this fucking place. I’m just waiting for David Koresh to show up with his ‘Army of God’.”

  The words had barely left my mouth when two guys came out of the old school to greet us. There was nothing all that menacing about either of them. They were just two regular guys dressed in camo cargo pants and t-shirts. The older of the two with the military-style haircut walked straight up to Hawk and extended his hand as he said, “Hey, you guys must be the Ruthless Sinners.”

  “We are.”

  “Great. Welcome to Langford Manor.” He shook Hawk’s hand. “I’m Braylon.”

  “Good to meet ya, Braylon. I’m Hawk, and these are my brothers, Menace, Country, and Rafe.” Hawk sounded displeased as he said, “We were expecting to meet with Kiersten.”

  “Of course. She’s waiting for you inside.”

  Hawk nodded, and as we followed the two men towards the schoolhouse, I kept expecting to see armed guards or, at the very least, some high-tech security system but found neither as we approached the front door. I followed Hawk, Rafe, and Menace inside and was surprised that the place looked nothing like a school.

  The floor had been redone with marbled concrete, and the walls were drywalled and freshly painted. There was an oversized sectional sofa with end tables and lamps and a colorful rug positioned in the center of the room, making it look more like an office or a home than an old school building.

  Once the door closed behind us, Braylon turned to Hawk and said, “I’ll let Kiersten know you’re waiting.”

  Before any of us could respond, he vanished through two large wooden doors. I took a quick glance around, making sure we were alone before leaning over to Hawk and Menace and whispering, “Is it just me, or is this some crazy shit?”

  “It’s different. That’s for sure.”

  “Maybe we should just get the fuck out of here and be done with this shit.”

  “As tempting as that might be, we can’t.” A look of distress crossed Menace’s face as he reminded us, “She’s kind of got us by the balls with—”

  Before Menace could finish his sentence, the wooden doors swept open, and I felt like I’d been knocked on my ass when I saw the beautiful brunette from the bar sauntering towards us. She was wearing a long-sleeved, vintage AC/DC t-shirt with jeans and black boots, and she looked fucking incredible. Unable to hide my surprise, I grumbled, “Fuck.”

  “What?” Rafe asked.

  “I might’ve fucked up.” I prayed that it wasn’t the same chick, but as she got closer and smiled, I had no doubt it was her. “Nope, I definitely fucked up. I fucked up big.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Before I could answer, she walked up to Hawk and said, “Hey there. I’m glad you guys could make it.”

  “Appreciate you having us.” Hawk motioned his hand. “You’ve already met Menace. These are my other brothers Country and Rafe.”

  “Hi, I’m Kier...Oh, umm…” Her voice trailed off the second she noticed who I was, and the blood drained from her face as her eyes widened. We both stood there, silently reliving the events of the other night in our minds. I felt like the fucking wind had been knocked out of me, and by the expression on her face, Kiersten felt the same fucking way. Thankfully, she recovered quickly and went straight back to business. “I’m Kiersten. I think it’s best if we start the tour here in the school.”

  “Just lead the way.”

  I was hoping no one noticed her odd reaction to seeing me, but no such luck. As soon as we started down the hall, Rafe gave me a hard nudge with his elbow and whispered, “What the hell was that?”

  “That was my fuckup.”

  Rafe looked over to her and then back to me. His head fell back as he groaned. “Oh, damn. You didn’t.”

  “I did.”

  “What the hell were you thinking, man?”

  “It’s not my fault. Seriously—”

  Before I could finish, Hawk glanced back at us and gave us both a scolding look, putting an immediate end to our conversation. He then turned his attention back to Kiersten. “Gotta say, it’s an interesting place you got here.”

  “You haven’t seen anything yet,” she replied proudly.

  Kiersten opened one of the wooden doors and motioned us through.

  As I walked past her, she did everything in her power to avoid eye contact with me, making it painfully clear she wasn’t happy about me being there. I couldn’t exactly blame her. I felt the same fucking way, but neither of us was going to let it interfere with the tour.

  When we continued down a long, dark hall, she stepped in front of the group. “If you haven’t noticed, we’ve completely renovated the entire property. Every room has been updated to fit our needs.”

  She opened one of the doors, revealing row after row of cannabis plants. As she waited for us to gather inside, she said, “We’ve created a state-of-the-art greenhouse using the best lighting on the market, a filtration system above all others, and we’ve developed the perfect blend of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus for optimal growth of our plants.”

  “Damn, seems like a lot of trouble for fucking weed,” Rafe grumbled.

  “It is, but it’s worth it. You’ll see.”

  I had to give it to her. Kiersten had certainly outdone herself. Damn, the chick wasn’t only beautiful, she was intelligent and driven, too. I was impressed—so much so, I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off her. She had my full attention as she continued, “This is just one of our many start-up rooms. We use this and a hydroponics room to start the process. Once the plants are thriving, we move them to the gymnasium. Come with me, and I’ll show you.”

  Hawk nodded, then followed her out of the room. I was about to do the same when Rafe reached for my arm and tugged me back. “What are you going to do?”

  “About what?”

  “Kiersten.” He shook his head. “I’m watching the way you’re looking at her. Damn, brother. You got a thing for this girl?”

  “No, it was nothing. I’m good.”

  “Then what’s your plan here?”

  I knew he was concerned, and he had every right to be. Viper already had his misgivings about Kiersten. Not only was she Billy’s daughter, but she’d also breached Menace’s computer. If he’d known that she and I had gone at it in the bathroom, I had no doubt he’d lose his shit, and for good reason. I had to tell him what happened, but I didn’t know how or when. We were in the middle of the fucking tour, so I told Rafe, “Fuck if I know.”

  “Well, you best be figuring it out.”

  “Okay, Judge Judy. Court is adjourned,” I grumbled, then turned and walked out. Rafe followed after me, and we quickly caught up with Menace and Kiersten. As soon as he saw that we were back, Hawk gave us both another reprimanding look.

  Kiersten was either ignoring it or hadn’t noticed our odd behavior and simply continued on with her tour.

  When we walked into the gymnasium, I was blown away by the number of fucking marijuana plants lining the floor. “Each of our startup rooms offers a different harvest time, so we have to use a variety of methods to ensure we’ll have the right amount of product we need.” She waited a moment, then said, “If there aren’t any other questions, I’ll take you over to the barn where we dry and cure the plants.”

  Kiersten was about to lead us out of the gym, when Hawk said, “I think we’ve seen enough.”

  “Oh? Okay, well we can go to one of the meeting rooms, so we can—”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Hawk cut her off.

  “But—”


  “Look, Kiersten. I appreciate you taking us around to see everything. It’s clear you’ve put a lot of time and money into this place, but the Sinners won’t be partnering up with you.” Menace’s voice never wavered. “Not like this.”

  Four

  Kiersten

  I’d lost them and had no idea how to fix it. I thought the Sinners would be blown away by what I had to offer, but clearly, that wasn’t the case. I needed to act fast, to propose something that would convince them to stay, but nothing was coming to mind. It didn’t help matters that the hot guy, Country, from the bar was staring at me again. With every step, I could literally feel the heat of his gaze on my skin, and knowing he was watching my every move made it impossible to think straight.

  I had no one to blame but myself. I should’ve known better than to pick up some guy at a bar. It was just another one of those things that was entirely out of character for me, and it had come to bite me in the ass. And to make matters worse, I knew in my gut something wasn’t right—that there was something familiar about him, and I was stepping into trouble, but I let my overactive hormones get in the way.

  In my defense, I never would’ve dreamed he was one of the men I’d seen on the Ruthless Sinners’ surveillance footage, but there he stood. Holy cow, the man was even hotter than I remembered, which was hard to believe since I’d been so incredibly attracted to him that night, and apparently, that didn’t change. I couldn’t even look at him without remembering how amazing his hands had felt on me.

  Yep. There was no doubt about it. The man was a distraction—a big, whopping distraction, and that was the last thing I needed, especially now when there were millions of dollars at stake.

  I knew the Sinners had doubts about going into business with me, but I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. “Is there something in particular that you’re concerned about?”

  “Oh, I’m more than just concerned.”

  “About?”

  “Everything.” Hawk inhaled a deep breath, clearly trying to collect himself. “You got people living here, and they come and go as they please. That shit alone is enough to make us walk, but the fact that you’re out here in the wide-open is pure insanity. You’re a sitting duck.”

  “Just so we’re clear, the people who live here work for me. This is their livelihood. I trust them, and they trust me. It’s no different than you and your club.” There was so much I wanted to say, but I couldn’t. I’d given my word to keep certain aspects of my work under wraps. “And we have security. More than you might think.”

  “Not the kind you need with all this high-dollar equipment and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs.”

  I wasn’t exactly surprised by his skepticism. I had a feeling from the minute he walked through the door, Hawk was going to be my biggest challenge, and I was right. I was trying to think of a way to ease his agitation when I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. I quickly pulled it out, and relief washed over me the second I looked down at the screen. I read the message, then looked back to Hawk and said, “Riggs wants me to tell you not to worry. We have a state-of-the-art security system.”

  “Riggs?”

  “Yes, I think you might know him. He’s a member of Satan’s Fury.”

  “You gotta be shittin’ me.”

  “Satan’s Fury is the buyer from Memphis that I mentioned yesterday. I wouldn’t have revealed his name or his club’s just now if he hadn’t given me the okay to do so.”

  “And they’re good with the security here?”

  “Riggs installed the system himself. Even hooked up a large generator to make sure it stays up and running when the power goes out. He’s thought of everything.”

  “Clearly.”

  I pointed to one of the hidden cameras and waved. “He knows how important today is to me and has been watching since you arrived.”

  “I gotta say, I’m surprised.”

  “I thought you might be.” I walked over and grabbed one of the hidden remotes. “Riggs added some special features to our security system to help us out in case anything was to happen. I think you will be impressed by it.”

  I pushed the red button, and the hidden compartments above the windows opened. Seconds later, the light in the gymnasium started to dim as the bulletproof panes lowered and covered each of the windows, sealing us in. I couldn’t help but think of the movie I am Legend when I saw those thick metal panels come down from the ceiling. It felt so surreal, and I wasn’t the only one who was impressed. It was clear from their expressions, all four Ruthless Sinners were equally blown away by Riggs’ special set up. Menace walked over to get a better look at one of the window coverings and said, “Damn, I gotta admit, this is pretty fucking cool.”

  “Yeah, until they come down and lock the wrong person inside.” Hawk turned his attention to me. “What are you going to do when that shit happens? You gonna give them some of your miracle pot?”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Braylon answered as he stepped through the side door. “Along with Timms and Duggar. We’re all ex-military and have no issue handling whatever comes our way.”

  “What about the cops?” Hawk pushed. “How are you gonna handle them?”

  “The police here aren’t an issue,” I answered.

  “The cops are always an issue.”

  “Well, we live on a nature preserve, so they have no reason to disturb us.” I could tell by his expression, Hawk wasn’t convinced, so I added, “Besides, the deputies here are under a great deal of stress and need a way to unwind.”

  “Hold up.” Hawk’s brows furrowed. “You’re selling to the fucking cops.”

  “I didn’t say that.” I shrugged as I repeated, “I said they were under a great deal of stress.”

  “Unbelievable.”

  I took a step towards Hawk. “Look, I get that you and your brothers have your concerns, and I’m sure many of them are justified. But you’ve come here to see how we run our business, so please, stay and see the entire process. I believe that in the end, you’ll be glad you did.”

  When he didn’t immediately answer, Menace gave him a pat on the shoulder. “What do you think, brother?”

  “I think we’ll be wasting our time, but we came prepared to stay, so we might as well stay.”

  “Great.” I tried my best to hide my excitement as I said, “I’ll show you to the guest quarters, and we can meet back up after you’ve gotten settled in.”

  “Sounds good.” Hawk looked up at one of the security cameras as he told me, “Tell Riggs I’ll be in touch.”

  “Of course.”

  I pressed the button on the remote to disengage the security brigade, then showed the men back to the front parking lot. After they grabbed their things, I took them across the grounds to the guest house. It was a little bigger than the other houses on the property with a large kitchen and living room and four bedrooms. After I’d given them a brief tour, the men dispersed to their chosen rooms. Each of the doors closed behind them—all except one. Country was standing in his doorway, glaring at me like I was public enemy number one. “Did you know?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Well, I didn’t have a clue.” I felt even worse about the whole situation as I admitted, “I would’ve never... you know, had I known you were a Sinner. I’m actually surprised you thought I did.”

  “Why wouldn’t I? I mean, come on. You were laying it on pretty thick that night.”

  “What?”

  “You asked about places to stay or sights you needed to see. It was all a crock of shit.” Country’s face was void of expression, which made it difficult to tell if he was being serious when he said, “You live thirty minutes away.”

  “I was making small talk, Country. That’s what people do. They talk. They flirt. Blah, blah, blah.”

  “Flirt? Oh, I see. Guess that explains why you were all over me.”

  “What!” I gasped. “I was not all over you!”

  “Yeah, you were, and you know it, b
ut I don’t blame ya.” A mischievous smirk crossed his face as he arched his back and ran his hands over his muscular chest. “I’m quite the catch.”

  It took all I had to keep from laughing—not that what he said wasn’t true because it was, but the playful way he was poking at me helped to ease the tension I’d been carrying around all afternoon. “You’re an ass.”

  “Yeah, I’m that, too, but don’t hold it against me.”

  “I’ll try my best.” We stood there for a moment, just looking at one another, until I finally said, “Well, I guess I’ll let you get settled.”

  I gave him an awkward wave, then rushed out of the house and back over to the main office to find Braylon. I wanted to take a minute to fill him in on everything that had transpired with the Sinners—including my conversation with Country. When I walked in, he was sitting at the desk going over our numbers for the day but put them aside the second he saw me enter the room. “Well, how do you think it’s going?”

  “Couldn’t be going much worse.” I walked over and sat down in the chair beside his desk. “I think I’ve handled this whole thing the wrong way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I should’ve never done the whole cryptic email thing.”

  “I tried to tell you that.”

  “I know, and you were right. They don’t trust me or anything I’m doing here.” I dropped my head into my hands. “I should’ve just gone to their clubhouse and met with them face to face. I certainly shouldn’t have had sex with one of them.”

  “Hold up... You had sex with one of them?” He gasped.

  “Afraid so.” I lifted my head from my hands just long enough to say, “Remember me telling you that I met someone at a bar?”

  “Oh, damn.”

  “Yeahhh, I screwed up.” I lowered my head back into my hands. “I should’ve known I couldn’t do something like that without it coming back to haunt me.”

  “There’s no way you could’ve known the guy was a Sinner.”

  “That’s just it!” I looked back up at him. “I should’ve known! I’ve been watching that security footage for weeks now. He’d crossed that screen a hundred times, but it never entered my mind that he would be sitting at that bar.”