19. Hard Pass
Chapter 19
Hard Pass
Whitney
Riley wandered into Hard Pressed with a grin. “How’s it goin’?”
I saved the Facebook ad I was working on and looked up. “Good. Shouldn’t you be at work?”
She smiled. “Har took a long lunch and told me to do the same. Wanna hit the mall?”
“Tempting, but I’d rather hit a Harley shop if you’re up for it.”
“What for?”
“Mensa should be wearing his helmet, but he makes me wear it instead. Figured I would get my own.”
She shot me a reluctant smile as she nodded. “You ought to let Mensa handle that.”
I blinked at her. “Why? Is it the cost? I priced some online, but I need to try one on.”
Putting her wristlet on the counter, she leaned toward me. “I feel sure he’d want to provide for you. Besides, he might have a spare that he’s—”
I’d switched back to my Boho bag and I grabbed it from under the counter. “Don’t worry. I’ll let Mensa know what I’m thinking. Let’s hit the mall, I need some body wash and I’m craving some Snickerdoodles.”
Twenty minutes later, I had downed three cookies while Riley sipped a smoothie.
“Are you happy at the shop?” she asked.
I lifted a shoulder. “I suppose. It feels like it’s too soon to say. I have more to learn before I'll be certain.” I tipped my head toward her. “What about you? Enjoying the paint fumes at the body shop?”
She chuckled. “Surprisingly, I don’t smell them much. Probably because Har doesn’t want his office to reek any more than it has to, but, yeah. It’s good over there. It hardly even feels like work half the time.”
“You can’t beat that,” I muttered.
“You got that right,” she said, sipping her smoothie.
I sensed she had something on her mind. Rather than prompt her, I waited her out.
“It’s new, but are you happy with Mensa?” she finally asked.
I laughed. “I am happy, but I didn’t really want another man in my life right now.”
She gave me a ‘don’t bullshit me’ look.
“What? I didn’t.”
Her lips twisted to the side. “The way you and Mensa act around each other… no. You both wanted each other for a while.”
I considered that for a moment. “Yeah, but I wanted him in custody at first.”
“Are you serious?”
I cocked my head. “Those brothers have all done things. Something about Mensa never getting caught bugged me.”
She laughed. “You bugged him too, that was clear.”
“True. We’re oil and water sometimes.”
One of her brows arched. “Doesn’t seem that way now. He helped you move, for heaven’s sake.”
I shook my head. “That was his way of keeping an eye on me.”
She scoffed. “Okay, but word to the wise, I’d be honest with yourself no matter how much you lie to the rest of us.”
We stepped outside the mall, and I paused to scan the parking lot.
“What’s wrong?” Riley asked.
I turned toward her and pasted a smile on my face. “I have a strange feeling we’re being watched. Stay calm.”
She gave a single nod. “I’m pretty sure Har had a prospect follow me. I noticed him back at Hard Pressed. He’s over there smoking a cigarette.”
A tall man in a cut stood under an oak tree. That wasn’t the direction from which I sensed the threat though.
The doors behind us opened and a couple wandered out while carrying on an animated conversation.
“Come on,” Riley said.
A whoosh of cool air hit me from behind when the doors opened again.
A man stopped, right beside me. I smelled the pungent aroma of cigarette smoke before I saw he wore a cut.
“You find your car, sweet thing?”
His name patch caught my eye.
Rod.
“Yes. No thanks to you.”
I stepped forward.
He grabbed my elbow. “Don’t be a bitch.”
My eyes locked with his, and I tamped down my urge to mouth off. I couldn’t give away how much I knew or it would jeopardize Wyatt’s cover. “Your offer at the Twisted Talons might have been nice, but shooting at people is a hard pass.”
An insincere smile spread across his face. “That was just a misunderstanding—”
“Let go of my woman,” Mensa ordered in a very deep and supremely authoritative voice.
Rod glanced from me to Mensa. “Your woman? She ain’t claimed.”
“Get your fucking hand off her.”
Rod ignored him and looked at me. “You belong to him?”
I wrenched my elbow free. “Believe it or not, I belong to myself.”
“Woman,” Mensa growled.
I ignored Mensa growling at me and glared at Rod. “Why are you still walking free? You shot at people in a bar.”
He looked at me like I was slow. “You don’t need to worry about that, baby. What’s your name?”
In a flash, Mensa had Rod in a choke hold. I caught the glint of a knife blade resting against Rod’s throat.
“Did you hear anything I said, jackass? Her name isn’t your business.” Mensa bit out.
“What’s she to you, asshole?” Rod asked.
“She’s mine, motherfucker.”
Rod scoffed so hard, he nearly spit on Mensa. “Not a fuckin’ chance she’s yours. Any bitch who doesn’t wear a fuckin’ cut is free game.”
I opened my mouth to point out that I wasn’t game of any kind, but Mensa shifted his body aggressively.
He pressed the tip of his blade into Rod’s neck. “You ever been stabbed, Rod?” he demanded, his voice sinister.
“Fuck you.”
“Focus, Roddy. Gettin’ stabbed fuckin’ sucks. I know because a coward stabbed me from behind.”
He’d been stabbed? How had I missed that kind of scar?
“Mensa, we’re in public,” Riley said, pulling me from my thoughts.
“He needs to get my message,” Mensa clipped out.
“You don’t need to go to jail, though,” I murmured. “Tons of cameras out here.”
Finn, Cynic, and the prospect sauntered up behind Mensa.
“She doesn’t exist to you,” Mensa said, giving Rod one last shove before letting him go.
A security guard rode up in a golf cart. “What’s the problem here? No loitering.”
Mensa had tucked his blade away in a smooth motion I almost missed. He slung a heavy arm around my neck. “Not loitering, sir. We were just leaving.”
Finn assumed a similar posture with Riley tucked under his arm. He aimed a good ol’ boy grin at the guard. “Yeah, just needed to find our women. We never know which exit they’re going to use.”
The guard shot a skeptical look at Rod, Cynic, and the prospect, but they ignored it.
To my surprise, Rod hurried to the other side of the parking lot without another word.
Mensa led me to his bike.
“I rode here with Riley,” I muttered when we were half-way across the parking lot.
“Yep. And you’ll ride back with me, Whitney.”
“Why? Just to prove to Rod that I’m with you? That’s ridiculous.”
He pulled my body flush to his. “That’s my world, Blume. You’re my woman and assholes like him especially have to respect that.”
I stared at him for a long moment.
He frowned. “You got problems with that, tell me because that’s not gonna change.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I claim you, then I’ll make sure people know it. And—”
“It shouldn’t require a violent confrontation.”
His eyes widened. “I don’t confront that sort of disrespect, my claim on you doesn’t mean anything.”
I inhaled through my nose, calling on my patience. “You're aware that I’m a person with free will, right?”
“Yes, but an asshole like Rod doesn’t fuckin’ care. You heard what he said about you not wearing a cut. He’ll fuck with you to fuck with me. He sees you as nothing more than something he can take from me.”
“And the only answer to that is staking a claim and being a violent caveman?”
He dipped his chin. “Dial it back, Whit.”
I squared my shoulders. “Tell me where I’m wrong with that, and I will.”
He took a deep breath as though he were weighing his words. “We do this, you’ll be part of my world. Shit works differently in an MC. Surely you know that.”
“Yeah, but getting violent with him—”
“You were in the FBI and wanted to take me down so bad, but maybe you don’t know how it works in my world. Violence is the only language Rod understands.”
My lips twisted with skepticism. “Was the knife really necessary?”
He widened his eyes. “If I hadn’t drawn my knife, he and I would have been in a fist fight instead. I prefer keeping the upper hand whenever I can with assholes like him.”
Part of me could see that, but this wasn’t the time or place for this conversation. I spotted the security guard driving his cart in our direction. “Let’s get out of here. You don’t need added attention from this guard.”
Mensa handed me his helmet. “We’re not done with this, Blume.”
He was right. I needed to figure out if I could become one with my inner biker-diva or not.
No, I had to decide if I could become one with my inner outlaw , because I had a feeling that’s where we were headed.