"Aidan? You sorry son of a bitch. Where the hell are you?" Pacemaker sounded a bit worried, and if nothing else that was scary. The man seemed to have no emotions beside angry and gruff, but here he was sprouting some new ones.
"Trying to get a few things in order." He wanted to know how much his friend had been able to find out, but he thought he needed to feel the other man out for a minute. He'd been away for a few weeks, and he hoped the man was still on his side. Loyalties changed so quickly now, and with him not being able to see what was going on, he was at a loss.
"I heard. Sounds like you're trying to keep your cock warm in that high class pussy you lucked into. Man, you always get all the good ones. I keep asking you to help me in that department." There was a question tucked into the gruff and raunchy talk. This wasn't about disrespect; the bikers were a tough group and their words could be as nasty as the missions they completed. It was a way of life for them, so Aidan didn't even bat an eyelash over the wordage.
"You have to work on your demeanor if you want pussy to fall in your lap. There are women everywhere but you get overlooked because you're just too mean looking. No one wants to deal with that crazy shit. Put a fucking smile on your face and try to look like you won't kill them after they blow you, and you'll see your luck change." Aidan laughed at his friend as they fell into the same conversation that they always seemed to fall into when they talked.
"Yeah, yeah, that's what you always say." His voice trailed off, and Aidan could hear voices in the background.
"You never try my way, so if you have to pay for it or use the 5 knuckle shuffle. Whatever you decide to do is totally up to you." Aidan missed just shooting the shit with his brothers, but not as much as he was enjoying being with Lorna. Well if you could get rid of the whole ‘he may lose his life and the life of the woman he was beginning to care too much about' thing, he was practically in paradise.
"There is a lot of talk about you here. The boys are getting antsy, and Maverick is sending out Crowbar to do the job you seem to be taking your slow ass time to complete. I was going to call you, but your phone goes straight to voicemail so I figured you must have dumped it and the other number just rings and rings."
It sounded like Pacemaker was in a crowded place because the voices that he thought he'd heard before were louder and now there was accompanying music. That whole situation struck him as odd. The man liked solitude and quiet even though he did go out to be with his friends and talk to the ladies every once in a while, but he wouldn't be talking to him if he was around other people or in a conversation prior to the call.
"Where are you, bro?" Aidan asked.
"They are sending off Crowbar in style, and they took him out to Beverly's for a dinner before we go out for drinks?"
"Why so much fanfare? I didn't get a fucking dinner before I left." Oh, shit. Something was definitely up, and it wasn't looking good for whatever plans he was trying to work out on this end.
"Well that guy Leon called back and doubled the fee to kill your mark and threw in a few perks for the business apparently. Maverick is happier than a pig in shit about whatever is going on, but I think he wants to make sure this job goes as planned and quickly."
"Fuck!!!!" Aidan stood up and walked over to the balcony. He knew it was going to be bad, but he hadn't anticipated this. Not only was this was going to make his job harder, but it was going to be impossible to keep this thing quiet. Here he was thinking he was getting close to a resolution, and now he finds out that he somehow swung this the other way and now Lucca's death was a priority.
"I know man. You need to get in there and finish this because it is going to look like hell if you have been out there playing titty winks with some girl while someone else has to come in and do your job."
"It's tidily winks, Pace." Why in the world was he making small talk about this when he was dealing with such heavy shit he didn't know, but it did make him feel normal. Fucking with Pacemaker was one of his favorite things to do, and even though his scowling face and rough voice didn't show it … that man loved it too.
"I think it's you playing with titties not tiddlies that's making your crazy. You've got half the women in the metropolitan here asking for you and you're keeping yourself tied up with just one set. Are you crazy? Do your job and save yourself. It sounds like you are on a sinking ship, and you need to pull the eject button." The man wasn't anyone's fool, and he knew that the wisdom coming from his friend was well intended, but he didn't know what he was going to do with this situation.
"I hear you," Aidan responded.
"I know you can hear me, but are you listening? There is a difference, and I'm hoping that you're doing it and thinking with the brain that sits in your head and not your cock. That fucker has gotten you into trouble before, and damned if it doesn't look like it's rearing its ugly head again. Pussy is pussy."
"Says the man who hasn't had any in so long he thinks his hand is his girlfriend," Aidan was trying to make light of the situation, but no one knew better than him how fucked up this could end up being.
"Whatever man, do your job and come home. We'll be waiting for you to return whether you fuck this up or not. You've got a family with us, and I don't want you to forget it. Family forgives, but don't make us have to." Pacemaker had let all the jovial talk go for a minute, and he could tell that the man was being serious.
"Is that you or Maverick talking? I can't imagine that he is going to be that understanding that I've fucked this up."
"You'd be surprised at what Maverick is saying about you. I'd not tell you that because it was told to me in confidence, but I do know that you'd be welcomed home. So don't worry about that," Pacemaker explained. It sounded like the man had moved to a quieter place in the bar. "I've got to go. We're on the move to the next place, but make sure you keep in mind what I said."
"Yeah, right."
"I mean it. Get rid of the girl, and get your ass back here safely."
"I hear you, and I'm working on it." Aidan wasn't going to leave his girl out here in the wilderness not knowing what could happen to her, and he wasn't going to bail on Lucca either. He didn't know that man, but he did say he wanted to make sure everything got cleared up. It had been too easy in the past to just let things go when they got too hard, but he was committed to sticking it out for the cause. Even though the cause was Lorna.
The gruff grunt was Pacemaker's classical goodbye as Aidan didn't think he'd ever heard a proper farewell from the man, but they knew where they stood, and he knew that the plan to kill Lucca was escalating and he hoped it could be stopped.
This thing was like a live being, and it was growing hungrier an uglier by the minute. His only hope was that it wouldn't eat up everything in its path.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lorna had ordered dinner from a local Chinese restaurant and knew she'd bought more food than they needed, but since the cabin had a kitchen, they'd be able to keep the food cold until they wanted it again. It shouldn't bother her that he was trying to get rid of her so that he could do something as she knew he was working on getting them out of this mess, but she wasn't sure he could fix the chasm that she'd put between herself and her father. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it had been over 45 minutes since she'd left him on the balcony. and she wanted him to come and eat while the food was still hot. Plus waiting around for people to come to her felt too much like what she went through when she lived at home with her father. She'd known better than to rush into his office when he was doing business, and that intimidation is what she felt now as she waited or Aidan.
Just when she was getting up her nerve to go disturb Aidan, he walked down the stairs looking fresh as a hot man ready to be fucked or in his case do the fucking. Maybe she would turn the table on him and blow his mind. The smirk that appeared on her face when she had that thought must have been seen by Aidan.
"What is that look on your face? It looks like you are planning dirty, wicked things. I hope they are for me." He tried to pull her into his arms, but she moved away playfully as her thought up plan started to sound better and better to her.
"Maybe I am, but first I want you to sit down and get comfortable."
He did as she said as he kept his eyes on her like she was going to do some kind of trick. In a way, maybe she was but he looked more than ready for whatever came his way. She had scooted his chair back before he came down and now as she watched him sit there, she decided that he should earn his meal.