Chapter 5 Striker
Chapter Five
STRIKER
I wake up before sunrise and lie on the couch staring at the ceiling for fifteen minutes. The storm passed in the night and the morning is clear.
Next door, Bethany is asleep in my bed in my t-shirt. I’ve spent the last few hours alternating between trying not to think about her and failing; by six in the morning I'd given up trying.
I get up and make coffee.
When I open the bedroom door to leave her a note, she's fast asleep. Her wavy blonde hair is spread across my pillow and one of her hands is curled against her cheek. I stand in the doorway for longer than I'd want anyone to know, then leave the note on the nightstand.
Eat something and stay inside. Keep the blinds down. I'll be back. — S.
The bar is quiet this early in the morning in a way it's never peaceful once it’s open. I set the chairs down and make more coffee. I feed the cat, who’s caught three mice during the night.
Wrench rolls in around eleven, carrying a paper bag of Marvin's danish pastries under his arm. Hawk tries to goad him about being a feeder. He sets the bag on the bar, takes a stool, drinks the coffee I pour him, and listens to my run-down of yesterday without interrupting. He’s the Outlaws’ road captain and engineer; never met a bike he couldn’t fix or a map he couldn’t memorize.
“What do you need from me?”
“More security. New locks on the back office and take a look at the bar's perimeter cameras. Eyes on the surrounding properties in case those Rotten Corp bastards try to stake us out.”
Wrench nods and goes to look at the locks.
Lucky walks into the Saloon mid-morning, dressed like a man who was expecting to spend his day flying men in expensive shoes around.
Like his brother Hawk, he’s been undercover at High Vale Lodge for the last couple of months at Prez’s request. He drops his sunglasses on the bar, and I give him the run-down of what happened last night.
“I’ll send you my passenger log. This Rico Taylor is a new one to me, but I don’t believe they’d marry off one of their small-time crew to run a blackmail sting.”
“I appreciate it.”
“So you’re keeping the girl?”
“I’m making sure she stays out of sight, yes.”
“That’s all it is?” Lucky is ex-military and likes to do everything by the book. “Wouldn’t she be safer at the clubhouse? Or with Viv?”
“If they suspect the Outlaws' involvement, the club is the first place they’d look. And if I want to ensure her safety, the safest place is with me.”
Hawk drifts in just before close but he doesn't sit down. A few customers are playing pool at the back. He keeps his bandana up as I tell him Bethany’s story.
“Something on your mind?” I ask.
“Might have something. Not sure yet.”
“What?” I should know better than to ask. Hawk will tell me in his own damn time.
He works his jaw. “It's nothing yet.”
I don't push. The phone behind the bar rings.
I pick up. “Outlaw Saloon.”
“This is Rico Taylor from High Vale Lodge. I think we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. My men were instructed to be polite, and they exceeded their brief. I wanted to apologize personally.”
“Go on, then.”
“I'm trying to find a young woman. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Pretty. Plus size, about five-eight. She's a personal guest of mine who left our event in distress, and we're all concerned for her welfare.”
“That doesn’t sound like any of our clientele. If you were looking for an ugly ol’ mean biker, you’d have the right place.” I raise an eyebrow at Hawk and he rolls his eyes in response.
“There's a substantial reward. Who am I speaking to?”
“The owner. And I can’t help you.”
His voice loses some of the polish. “I'd like to think we can resolve this without further unpleasantness.”
“Then resolve it somewhere else. Don't send anybody else down here looking. The High Vale Outlaws don't take kindly to men with concealed firearms walking into our businesses. Or, if you want it in simpler terms. Stay the fuck away. Have a nice evening, Mr. Taylor.”
I hang up.
Hawk lets out a long breath and the cat blinks his eye.
“He doesn't know you have her,” Wrench says.
“Yep. He suspects, though.”
“Think he’ll send people to watch the bar?” Hawk asks.
“Probably… he can knock himself out. They won't see anything."
“You moved her to your place because?” Hawk’s mind clearly works along the same lines as his brother’s.
“I can protect her. They won’t assume she’s there. Why would I take some random crying girl back to my place? We have rooms here. Or maybe he’ll think she made it past us and out of town.”
Hawk narrows his eyes. “In a wedding dress?”
“We can spread some rumors that she was seen getting on a bus.”
Hawk shrugs. “I’ve got a better idea. Don’t try to hide her.”
“No fucking way.”
He holds his hands up. “Let them think you already know each other. Maybe you’re even dating, she was gonna surprise you. That way, she’s under our protection, and they fucked up and picked the wrong girl.”
I rub my hand over my jaw. “You think they’d buy that? I’ll consider it… I need to get going.”
Wrench makes a sound that might be approval. “I’ll tend bar tonight… you go check on your girl.”
Pulling my keys out of my pocket, I throw them over. “Lock up for me.”
Riding home, my pulse is running higher than the bike. I take the steel staircase two at a time and unlock the door.
Bethany is asleep on the couch. The apartment smells like the soup she heated up from my fridge. Her wavy blonde hair is loose and falling around her beautiful face, her arms crossed over her stomach.
I walk over and crouch down beside her. The floorboards creak and she blinks those big blue eyes open.
They meet mine and she smiles, raising herself up on her elbow.
She’s a little off balance and rolls toward me, so I catch her arm and we both go still.
The contact is like a wave of electricity, spreading down my arm, then my torso and straight to my dick.
Bethany takes a breath in as my hand comes up to frame her face, stroking the soft curve of her cheek.
We’re both breathing harder. My gaze falls to her lips and I’m lost. Crushing my lips on hers, I kiss her like a man who has been holding his breath for hours under water and has suddenly resurfaced.
I get one hand into that silky hair. The other goes to the small of her back and pulls her against me, her soft tits crushed against my chest. She makes a small sound against my mouth that goes through me, a breathless moan.
What the fuck am I doing? I’m meant to be keeping her safe. I pull back.
“No.”
“Striker. Don't stop.”
“We need to wait.”
“For what?”
“You don't know what I am yet… what you've walked into. When I take you, you're going to choose me with your eyes wide open. The way you didn't get to choose with that fucking marriage sham.”
She strokes her hand across my jaw, smiling. “When you take me?”
“That’s what I said. And I'm going to tell you everything, and then you tell me; yes or no.”