King-sized bed, two end tables, a desk in the opposite corner, and two doors—she investigated both doors. One was a closet with boxes and clothes, nothing she needed to see, and one led to a pretty decent bathroom, but neither of them held what she needed.
The desk was her next choice but again, nothing, only paperwork, pens, and the usual office supplies. She assumed his phone was in the pocket of his jeans, but until she found his laptop, that wouldn’t help her. Doing another walk around, continually looking back at her sleeping beauty to make sure he was still knocked out, her eyes landed on a metal footlocker with a lock. BINGO! The keys were easy to find. When she got her stuff done, she would be sure to tell Baden a cheap master lock with a combination would always be the better choice to keep wannabe raiders out of his stuff, but this worked in her favor. She could have gotten into a combination lock as well, but this was just so much easier.
Putting the key in the lock, she twisted and popped the little lever thing, and lying right on top of a couple blankets was exactly what she needed—his laptop.
Pulling the flash drive, disguised as a lipstick tube, out of her pocket, Ryan went to work, breaking his password, hacking the wifi for the club, and setting up her virus. It all took a half-hour, tops. Ryan had practiced and prepared for that part. It was almost too easy. Putting everything back, Ryan didn’t bother wiping the log on Brick’s computer because soon enough, what she had done would be discovered anyway, and a little part of her wanted him to know, maybe. Walking around the room one more time, accidentally kicking over the trash can next to the bed. The sound of the crashing tin in the silent room made her heart jump.
Fuck! Quickly cleaning up the contents—well, most of it because there wasn’t anything on this earth that could make her pick up a used condom. He could do that himself—Ryan righted the can and walked out of the room.
This was the part of her plan that was tricky. She could just wait Brick out in his room. He would be pissed that she had used him, but she hoped once she explained why she had done it, he would understand.
Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. Guys like this didn’t like being used, even if it was for the greater good.
This was definitely one of those ‘better to apologize than ask for permission’ type of situations.
Roo was her better option. He might be pissed, but he would still protect her—at least that was what she was hoping. It had been a long time since she’d heard from any of them. She was still shocked that none of them had recognized her. Then again, it had been years, and she’d stayed away from Roo as best she could.
Caine had walked by her once and did a double-take but kept on walking. Axel hadn’t even looked her way, and she had never seen Junior. The guy she had been playing pool with before Brick walked up was standing behind the bar, cleaning up. The look he gave her was not welcoming.
“Bars closed for the night, time for you to move on.” Yep, not a happy camper. Shit. Ryan tried to be cool. She had dropped the whole Southern belle routine but still kind of felt bad because Dave had seemed like an alright guy.
“I’m waiting for someone.” He walked up to the opposite side of the bar, still glaring at her.
“Little piece of advice, sugar, patch chasers only get one shot. You had yours. Time to move on.” Well, maybe good old Dave wasn’t so nice.
“Umm, I’m not kidding. I really am waiting for someone.”
“Listen, bitch, I’ve heard it all before. Brick busted a nut with you. Be thankful because that is all you’re going to get. Come back next Friday. One of the others might be willing to take you for a ride, but it isn’t going to happen tonight.”
Okay, she hadn’t planned or practiced for this.
“I need to talk to Caine.”
“Fuck, you just don’t give up, do you? Caine doesn’t do sloppy seconds. You’re shit out luck tonight, sweetheart,” He got down right in front of Ryan. “Now, get the fuck out of here before I have to throw your ass out.”
Nice guy Dave was a total douche. Fuck, what was she going to do now? Looking around, she tried to come up with a plan, but nothing was coming to her, and Dave was already moving to come out from behind the bar. Shit! Getting up, she straightened her clothes as if he hadn’t insulted her multiple times.
“Fine, can I at least use the bathroom first?”
“Five minutes and make it quick. I’m locking this place up for the night.” At least he had stayed behind the bar, but his eyes were glued on her all the way to the hallway that held the bathroom.
Ryan had done her homework. She had the blueprints and thankfully, knew exactly where everything was. Had she come in here blind, she would have been lost in the maze of hallways. It was freaking huge. Two doors down from the bathroom led to a kitchen, which led to a backdoor out of the place. This might not have been part of her original plan, but in a way, it worked out better.
She wouldn’t have to face Brick and try to explain. She wouldn’t even have to explain anything to the rest of them. If she got out of here, back to her hotel room, and picked up the burner phones, she could always come back and plant them somewhere close. Then she could go home and run her little operation, safe and sound.
She would eventually have to make a phone call and explain because those phones would only stay charged for so long. Still, she knew she was working on borrowed time, so it wouldn’t really matter.
Mind made up, she got out of the Blacktop Renegades’ clubhouse and started following the path behind it. It was pretty rough, and she wasn’t wearing the right clothes or shoes for this little adventure, but hell, you had to work with what you had. She walked for a few minutes, smacking at the devil mosquitoes that were intent on taking all her blood and using her phone as a flashlight after stumbling over too many things to count. When the house she knew finally came up, she kept walking. All she had to do was make her way around the front and call an Uber to get back to her hotel room, easy peasy. She stopped and looked around just to be safe. The place was dark, and she couldn’t hear anything, so she assumed it was safe but still turned off the flashlight on her phone, stuffing it into her pocket. No need to let the owner of this place know someone was lurking around the back. Incognito was the name of the game. She giggled at her own joke.
SPLASH!!
“Son of a bitch!” Ryan sputtered as she broke the surface of the water.
All the lights in the house came on, blinding her. A gorgeous redhead carrying a rifle pointed directly at Ryan stood in the doorway.
“Damn it, Roo. I swear to God if you have another one of your skanks in my pool, I’m going to shoot your ass!”
Ryan froze. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
“Umm, no skank here, just trying to do my walk of shame without any witnesses.”
Hell, it sounded good, and it seemed to work because the woman muttered, “Shit,” and put the gun down, coming to the edge of the pool, and flipped another switch to light it up from the inside.
“Who are you?”
“Umm, Ryan…” Ryan was treading water, still not sure if it was safe to get out of the pool. She might be about the same size as the woman, but she wasn’t a fighter by any means. Hell, she spent most of her time behind a computer screen. Although the woman was pretty, she looked pissed, so Ryan talked fast. “Listen, I’m really sorry. If I had seen your pool, I would never have fallen into it.” Duh, Ryan thought, but kept going. “I just wanted to get out to the road and call an Uber, so I could get back to my place and not have to deal with the biker element to make that happen.” The woman was still looking at her like she was a piece of scum floating in her pool, so she went for broke. “I went to the party next door. I thought it would be fun, and I kind of chewed off more than I could handle, if you know what I mean. I just want to go home.” Ryan put a whine in her voice, and it seemed to be working on the woman. She saw a little sympathy in her eyes instead of just a pissed-off woman.
“Stairs are over there. I’ll get you a towe
l, but honey, I hate to tell you, there isn’t an Uber that will come out this way or even cab service.”
Shit! Ryan looked down at her soaked phone and thought about cursing out loud again. She only had minutes to counteract the alert she had planted to wake up all the guys. With the waterlogged piece of shit in her hand, there was no way in hell that would ever happen. Now, knowing she couldn’t get out of here, she just had to bide her time until the ultimate confrontation with the Blacktop Renegades.
Damn it!
Chapter Three
“GET THE FUCK UP!”
Brick jolted, sitting straight up. Only then hearing the alarm blaring through his room. His head ached and throbbed like nobody’s business, but he rallied quickly, standing.
“What is going on?”
“We’ve had a breach.” Falling back on his bed, doing a roll, Brick opened his nightstand drawer and took out his weapon, quickly unlocking the safety and chambering a round.
“Cyber-attack, asshole. Where’s your laptop?” Roo yelled, causing Brick to wince.
Brick took two steps, and his foot landed on something cold and slimy. Grabbing a tissue, he removed the used condom from his foot as Roo looked at him in disgust.
“Put some fucking pants on. Church in ten, bring your laptop. We’re trying to isolate the breach.”
“On it.” Brick didn’t wait around, quickly pulling on a pair of sweats. He went to his jean pocket for his keys, but they weren’t there. Looking around, he found them sitting neatly on his desk. He had a sinking feeling he knew exactly where the breach had originated. Son of a bitch! There was no way that little chick from last night had… Brick shook his aching head. He felt like he had been on a five-day bender. Although he drank last night and was well past buzzed, he had never gone anywhere close to the drunk stage. Quickly gathering his keys, he unlocked his footlocker and looked inside. Everything looked fine, nothing out of place. Opening up his laptop and turning it on, his password page gleamed back at him. He punched in his password and instantly went to the log—his computer had been active less than an hour ago, and he sure as fuck wasn’t the person who’d done it.
Taking the laptop, he walked down the hall, not sure what he was going to say to the guys. They were all so damn careful. Hell, his stuff had been locked up tight, and still, he had been played for a fool. His brain was foggy, but he remembered the little chick he’d hooked up with—five-five, long strawberry-blonde hair, rocking body, but he couldn’t remember and never asked her damn name. Most chicks offered that up freely, wanting him to know it when he couldn’t have cared less, but this one had been tight-lipped. Brick scrubbed his hand over his head. Fuck, he should have realized something was up from the fucking start.
Going into church, he knew he was about to get his ass chewed or worse, beat, but he was no coward.
“My computer was accessed less than an hour ago.”
“Yeah, welcome to the damn club,” Caine barked. “Every computer in the place was accessed about an hour ago. The fucking Prospect we had watching the feeds fell asleep. We wouldn’t have been alerted at all if Axel hadn’t decided to do some late-night shopping.”
Brick knew the Prospect in question was never going to make it through the night. If his ass hadn’t already been thrown out, it would be soon. He also knew this situation was dire because not a single person gave Axel any shit about late-night shopping instead of fucking.
“Pulling up the feeds now,” Roo stated as they all watched the big screen on the back wall light up with pictures of the compound, and right there front and center, sitting at the bar like she owned the place was his little piece of ass.
“What the hell is Ryan Lowe doing sitting at our bar,” Roo asked.
None too happy, Brick didn’t have the first clue who Ryan Lowe was. He was more interested in the woman who had straddled his dick last night.
“Ryan? That’s not Ryan. Ryan is like fourteen. That’s the chick Brick banged last night,” Junior replied.
The pieces started to fit together in his fuzzy brain. Lowe, Donovan “Tiny” Lowe—the chick he was with last night had been one of his best friend’s sisters. Those pieces must have clicked together for Junior as well because the asshole started laughing, pointing his finger at him.
“Your dick is going to shrivel up and fall off. You remember what Tiny used to say, ‘Touch my sister, and you will never touch anyone else’s sister… ever.’ He practiced that hillbilly voodoo shit. You’re cursed,” he laughed. Most of the guys did as well except for Roo and Caine, who were both glaring at him like he had committed the crime of the century. The bitch of it was, he felt like he had. Reaching down, he made sure his dick was still in place. Tiny could be scary as shit when he’d still been alive.
Roo was fast-forwarding the feed, and they all watched as the Prospect manning the bar and cleaning up spoke to her, and she walked toward the back of the building, then slipped out the door through the kitchen.
“Only place she could be heading is Sedona’s place. I want everyone there in the next five minutes. Run, ride, or fucking limp, let’s move!” Caine commanded. Everyone was moving, but Brick had to ask.
“Why are we chasing after her? She was sitting at the bar, not trying to break into the office or even in here.” Caine stopped and looked at him.
“Because, asshole, coincidences like that chick showing up here after ten years, just to have a quick fuck and drink without telling anyone who she was, don’t add up. For once, use your fucking head instead of your dick to make your decisions. Her brother died on our watch. Best you remember that.”
Yeah, he fucking remembered. He had been there and had to make the decision to leave one of his best friends behind after he watched the bullet go into his head. He still had nightmares about that day and knew he always would. Because he hadn’t been prepared and they had been outnumbered, they hadn’t been able to bring their brother home. He lived with that regret every fucking day.
Following behind the others, they made it through the woods in record time. Sedona’s house was lit up. Not taking any chances, they all took off in different directions, checking for threats or possible hostiles, using hand signals they had developed in the military and perfected over the years. They waited for the all-clear before breaching the property to a choir of female screams.
Ryan was sitting on Sedona’s couch, soaking wet, wrapped in a towel. Sedona had been coming out of the hallway. She might have screamed, but the woman was also holding a double-barrel shotgun, pointing it directly at them until she realized who it was. Ryan, for her part, smiled and hesitantly waved. Brick had a few things he wanted to say but kept his mouth shut.
“What the fuck, Ryan?” Roo yelled.
Ryan stood, her face turning bright pink, glaring at Roo.
“No, hello, Rooster? No, how have you been for almost ten years? Nothing, just what the hell, Ryan?” She turned to Sedona. “You should shoot his ass. He has apparently forgotten the manners my momma taught his scrawny ass.”
“Ryan!”
“Does he do that to you, too? Like saying your name loudly or all grumbly like that actually works and doesn’t instantly just piss you off more?” she asked, still looking at Sedona.
It would have been comical if Brick wasn’t so pissed off and ashamed. He had fucked Tiny’s sister. Pushing his way forward, he got between Ryan and Roo. They could figure their own shit out later. Right now, he had a few questions of his own he wanted to ask.
“You want to tell me why I woke up with one hell of a hangover and an empty bed?”
“Yeah… not really.” Ryan tried to push past him. Where she was going, he didn’t have a fucking clue, but he wanted answers.
“Ryan!”
She turned to him, mimicking his tone of voice. “Baden!” then turned her back on him, addressing the rest of the room.
“I hacked your computer system. Before you ask why, I’ll tell you. Miguel Perez put a contract out for any and all information on your
club. He even put a million-dollar bonus on it for anyone who could get inside your club and get him access to your computers. I did that.”
The room erupted in a bunch of ‘what the fuck’ and ‘you have got to be kidding me.’ Brick kept his mouth shut, just watching Ryan, feeling like a total ass because he hadn’t figured out her game or that he had let this chick use him and hadn’t even realized it. Son of a bitch!
Ryan waited until they quieted down, Caine and the rest of the guys stared her down, but she didn’t look the least bit nervous or scared. Why that made his dick twitch, he didn’t even know. Fuck, what was it about her that had him all messed up in the head?
Ryan let out a putout sigh and said, “But he isn’t getting exactly what he wanted. He’s getting what I decided to give him while I took something I need in return. All you guys have to do is sit back and let me do my job. You aren’t compromised. Your club secrets are safe and sound. Just let the program run. Charge a couple of burner phones I made up to mimic your personal ones and carry them around. No harm, no foul.”
“And why the fuck would we do that?” Caine asked, getting closer to Ryan. Brick found himself making another dumbass move, stepping in front of his President. Ryan apparently had absolutely no self-preservation or didn’t realize what a cluster fuck she had caused because the woman couldn’t just shut up.
“You owe me and my mother for leaving Tiny out in that godforsaken sandpit and not bringing him home to us. Because not one of you has called either of us in more years than I care to think about.” Looking at Roo, she continued, “Because the last time either of us saw any of you was when we buried that empty coffin that was supposed to represent my brother. You were supposed to be family.”
Brick: Blacktop Renegades (BRMC Book 2) Page 2
