Chapter Twenty
“TWO WEEKS.” ZACH dropped into a seat across the booth from Saint with a disgusted huff.
“Two fucking weeks and not a goddamn thing to show for it.” He set a burner phone on the table, then flicked it across the surface, away from himself.
“Someone else needs to take this before I lose my mind and Toni has to have me committed.”
Two weeks ago, Zach texted the phone number the laundromat attendant gave them from this burner phone. He’d made it clear who they were in a slick way and demanded a meeting with whoever ran the drug operation happening under their noses.
And it had been crickets since. No text. No sightings of the bikers. No reports of increased drug trafficking in the area.
One would think Zach would be relieved, but he was a suspicious fucker who wouldn’t be satisfied without absolute closure, and that would come in the form of someone’s head on a spike.
“I’ll take it,” Saint said, scooping up the phone. “Maybe they left town. It really could be as simple as that, Zach. If they’re small-time, they can’t risk taking us on. The easiest thing to do is pack up shop and find a new home.”
Zach shook his head. “I know. And you’re right. The simplest solution is usually the right one, but I can’t fucking shake this feeling in the back of my mind that they’re playing a long game.”
Saint lifted his hands. “Hey, I didn’t say I believed they’d gone. Just floating it as an idea.”
Toni wandered over with a full coffee pot. “Hey, guys. I’m guessing you need some caffeine.
“Always.” Saint pushed his mug her way.
“Hey, baby.” Zach stood and quickly kissed his ol’ lady. Toni stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the diner, but she enjoyed hanging out with customers and mingling occasionally. She could usually be found assisting the servers once or twice per week.
Saint had only agreed to meet Zach here because Melody didn’t work on Tuesdays. He’d been avoiding her and the diner like the plague since the scene in front of her house.
“You guys hungry?” Toni asked.
“I’m good with coffee,” Saint said, lifting his mug to his lips.
“Same, baby.”
She looked between them with concerned eyes. “Okay. I’ll let you talk business. Holler if you need me.”
As soon as she reached another table, Zach said, “So you think it’s bullshit too?”
Saint considered before answering, “Yes. Probably. Maybe I’m reading into shit, but I keep thinking if it were me, I wouldn’t be so quick to back off.”
Zach grunted. “This is why we work so well together. We think the same way.”
“So, what’s the plan? I hate sitting around waiting to be caught with our hands on our dicks.
” After a week of silence, Copper deemed it safe for Beth to no longer take someone with her everywhere.
Well, after a week, Beth demanded Copper call off the babysitter.
She and Saint were able to sneak time for each other much more easily when they weren’t worried about whoever had been assigned to tail her that day.
Saint signed up for as many of those shifts as he could without raising suspicion, but it wasn’t enough.
Since Copper called off the watch team, they’d taken advantage of her newfound freedom, fucking on every surface of his house and anytime they could slip away for some privacy.
Even though no one had seen or heard from Demo or any of his cronies, Saint, like Zach, apparently couldn’t shake the feeling that they hadn’t seen the last of the assholes.
But they were stuck, powerless to do anything if they couldn’t even find the fuckers, and he hated that feeling.
Especially when he felt an overwhelming need to keep Beth safe.
“I don’t fucking know,” Zach said, strumming his fingers on the tabletop.
He downed his coffee in three gulps and set the mug down with a hard clunk.
“I’m gonna go talk to Copper. We need a more proactive approach.
I want to start with a thorough search outside of town.
I need to do something to set my fucking mind at ease. ”
Mine too.
“I went back to the laundromat three days ago.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “By your fucking self?”
Shrugging, Saint nodded. “Yeah…. just listen. The same guy sat at the counter, still nervous as fuck, but he pretended he had no fucking idea who I was. I asked for machine thirteen, and he said they didn’t have one.
Stuck to that story no matter what I said.
Been keeping my eye on the place too. Haven’t seen anyone suspicious come and go. ”
“Fuck, I’m afraid to hope it was this easy to get them to fuck off.”
“It’s never this easy,” Saint said with a snort.
“Exactly. Fuck. All right, lemme go talk to Cop. You coming to the clubhouse?”
“Not yet. I gotta swing by my house for a bit, but I’ll meet you at the clubhouse later.”
Zach cocked his head. “You doing some work on the place or something? Rocket didn’t mention anything.”
Rocket had owned a contractor company for almost two decades. No one in the club would dare use anyone else for their construction projects.
“What? No. Why?”
Zach shrugged as he stood. “You keep having to rush home for shit lately.”
“Oh.”
Well, Z, I’m fucking Beth so…
“Just family shit.”
“Your siblings good?”
“Yeah. There’s just a million of ’em, so someone always has some drama going on.”
“Good luck with that, brother,” Zach said with a laugh. He clapped Saint’s shoulder as he passed by. “I’ll find you later.”
“Yeah. Later.”
Thank God Zach bought the lie. Well, it wasn’t a lie, one of his siblings was always in some state of crisis, but it sure as fuck wasn’t why he’d been rushing home lately. That was all Beth.
He stayed for a few minutes, finishing his coffee.
Around him, the diner bustled with activity as it always did.
Waitstaff rushed from table to table, delivering food, clearing plates, and seating newcomers.
They stopped serving at two in the afternoon, but most of the time, customers lingered past three.
Beth was due at his house around two. She and Screw spent the morning with their corporate realtor scouting locations for the grooming salon. Over the past two weeks, they’d developed a comprehensive business plan and were moving full steam ahead.
Pride welled in him. It turned out, Beth worked her ass off once she set her sights on something. She was a force to be reckoned with and had flourished with her newfound purpose.
It was a beautiful thing to watch.
Each time she came to his house, he found it harder to watch her leave. More than once, he’d had to resist the strong temptation to tie her to his bed and demand she remain there for the rest of her life. Last night, he’d fantasized about slashing her tires to keep her from leaving.
He was sick in the head, but he didn’t act on the impulses, which had to count for something. Beth made him want to be better. To be the man she saw when she looked at him with those trusting eyes.
Right?
Really, they needed to have a serious discussion.
He was ready to claim Beth, to put a label on it, lock her down, and call her his.
Fuck the obstacles in their path. He didn’t give a shit about their age difference, and worry about the club faded with each passing day.
Copper had to relent once he realized his daughter was respected, treated like a queen, and would be taken care of no matter what.
Keep telling yourself that.
His constant hard-on appeared to have siphoned so much blood from his cranium that he’d suffered brain damage and was experiencing delusions. He drained his mug, dug out a twenty, and dropped it on the table. Toni wouldn’t keep it. She’d split it between her hard-working staff.
“Have a good one, Saint,” Toni called as he made his way to the exit.
“Bye, Tone. See ya, Lindsey.”
“Oh! Bye, Saint. Sorry, I didn’t have time to chat. It’s nuts today.” Lindsey rushed around the counter to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“No worries. I’ll catch you later.” He was a few years older than Lindsey, but not many.
They’d been close for almost a decade, with a relationship more like cousins than mere friends.
She’d played a massive part in helping him pull his head out of his ass in his early twenties when he was angry, bitter, and high more often than not.
Who knew where he’d be without her slapping him upside the head and telling him to stop being a fucking idiot and prospect with the club.
Beth’s car was already parked in his garage when he arrived home.
Instantly, everything faded but the anticipation of seeing her, holding her, touching her.
After parking his motorcycle next to her car and closing the garage so no one would discover their secret, he went inside through the interior garage door.
The second his foot hit the tile floor, a soft weight slammed into him.
“Saint!” Beth shrieked as she jumped into his arms.
Somehow, he managed to catch her with two hands on her ass. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him like they hadn’t been together in months. He pressed her against the wall and ground his instantly rock-hard dick against her as he devoured her.
The scent, taste, and feel of her went straight to his head, stealing all rational thought. Nothing mattered but getting inside her as soon as possible.
“Christ,” he said as he nipped her lower lip.
“Fuck me. Fuck me right now.” She’d worn a short skirt, and he could already feel the heat of her pussy through his jeans.
His hands trembled with need as he held her with one arm and ripped his jeans open with the other. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and continued to attack his mouth as he somehow managed to free his cock and shove his jeans below his ass.
Their mouths met again in a feral kiss. She tugged at his hair, nearly possessed as their tongues battled for control.
“I want you so badly,” she said with a whimper against his mouth. “It’s all I can think about. You… all damn day.”