Bounty:Fury Riders MC(11)

I shook my head. "No."



"Liar."



"I'm not lying. I don't think about it."



"But I bet you have a lot of girlfriends, huh?"



I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Why do you wanna know?" I liked her this way, lubed up, no inhibitions.



She hiccupped. "Because. I think you're interesting."



"Thanks. So are you." I leaned toward her, to see what she would do. "And you know what else? You're pretty."



"Psssh. Get outta here." She pressed her hand against my face, pushing  me away. I caught her hand, laughing, and noticed how small it was when  compared to mine.



I looked up at her, and for one second she wasn't drunk. She was very  clear and sober, and she was looking into my eyes. Then she laughed.



"Your hands are cold." She pulled her hand away and took a long drink of  water. Good. I wasn't sure what was happening before then. I didn't  like the way she made it feel like we were the only two people in the  room who mattered, especially when there was a room full of my men just a  few yards away. She was making things too complicated, and I was  letting her do it.





Chapter Eight





I went to the office when Brett came back to the bar, leaving the girls  to their drinking. "Watch her," I said. "Not much more, you know? All we  need is for her to end up with alcohol poisoning." Brett nodded, and I  turned away.



That was the least of my worries when it came to Erica. I knew she would  be okay-Brett wasn't stupid. Maybe a little flakey, but not stupid.         

     



 



I wondered what was going on in my head surrounding this girl. That was  my problem. Why did she have this weird hold on me? I should have dumped  her ass on a chair in the office and told her to get the pictures and  left it at that. But no, I had to talk to her and flirt with her and  like her. Why did she have to make me like her? It would have been so  much easier if she was a troll, or the stuck-up bitch I assumed she was  when we first met.



Just then, Onyx came in. "It was like shooting fish in a barrel," he  said, laughing. "I couldn't take advantage of them anymore."



"You're a sweet guy," I said with a smile. Then my mood fell again, and my face with it. "She told you what happened?"



"Miss Erica Quentin, as she introduced herself?" Onyx chuckled, sitting  across from the desk and putting his feet up. "Yeah. She told me  everything. But her version was a little … slurred."



I rolled my eyes and told him what happened, according to what she said,  and then what went down when I got there. "I brought her here. I didn't  know what else to do. When he came to, I know he had to go back to his  own HQ. I hated the thought of leaving her out there. Besides, when she  pulls the memory card, who knows what we'll find? She might be worth a  lot to the club."



"You're so full of shit, it's pathetic," Onyx said. He had a way of cutting through bullshit in a few words.



"What?"



"You heard me. You're full of it. I know you mean what you're saying,  because it's what you're telling yourself. But it's not the full story.  I've known you too long." He narrowed his eyes at me. "You're into her."



"Cut the shit."



"You cut the shit," he challenged. "There's nothing wrong with being  into her. She's cute-she might even be hot, if she tried. What's wrong  with that?"



I rolled my eyes. "Now's not the time, that's what's wrong. I have too much focus on."



He yawned. "If you say so." He wasn't normally like this, picking at me,  trying to break me down. His smile told me he was joking, though, so I  was willing to let it go.



"Think what you want. But try to tell me she's not valuable."



"Oh, she's valuable. Like you said, she probably got something good on  that camera. I wanna know who got killed, too. But I saw the way you  looked at her." He grinned. "Your damsel in distress thing is-"



I heard voices shouting outside the door, in the lounge. I wondered if a hand of poker had led to a fight.



But no. Angelo was there. He'd been out that night, and from the way he looked, he'd seen something that shook him to the core.



"What is it?"



"Wolves." He was panting for breath. "Three of 'em. On their bikes,  about a block from here. Watching. Could have been more in the other  direction. I was in such a hurry to get in here, I didn't wanna take the  chance of checking."



"Shit." I mulled it over, thought about the options. "Get yourself a  drink. I'm glad you made it back safe." I turned to Onyx, sitting on a  stool at the bar. His face was unreadable as always. "What do you  think?"





"You're the boss," he said, sounding cool and calm. We could have been  talking about the toppings to order on a pizza. I could always count on  him being able to keep his head. "It's your call. I'll back you,  whatever you wanna do."



"They're not gonna like it."



"It's for their own good," he said. It was amazing the way I knew he  knew what I was saying without having to say it out loud. I nodded, then  turned to the rest of the room.



"Is everyone here?" I looked at Onyx. He got up to take a head count.



"What are you going to do?" Brett asked. I felt Erica's bleary eyes on me.



"We're gonna go into lockdown."



Brett snapped to attention, getting the other girls together. She knew  what to do in this situation. The girls made sure the beds had fresh  sheets and pillows, and that the bathrooms were stocked, then they came  back down to check the kitchen situation.



Brett and Onyx returned to me at the same time.



"We have plenty of food to last us up to three days," she reported. "And all the rooms upstairs are ready."



"All the guys are here," Onyx confirmed.



I nodded. "Get them all out here." He rounded everyone up, and soon two  dozen people surrounded me. Including Erica, still sitting at the bar  with a bewildered look on her face.



I couldn't worry about her at the moment. I looked over the group.



"Guys, we're in lockdown," I said. "Call your women, let them know you  won't be home tonight. If they have a problem with it, they can talk to  me. Meanwhile, bedrooms and facilities are stocked and ready, kitchen's  in good shape, and you know we have plenty of booze. We're in good shape  here. It's safer for us to stay put while the Wolves are watching so  closely. I don't want anyone in or out for any reason, unless I'm with  them. Understood?"         

     



 



Everyone nodded.



Everyone except Erica. Well, she knew she wasn't going anywhere, so I didn't care much if she agreed or not.





***





It was a tense night. Maybe we all saw this coming after what happened  with our guys. It was part of the process, the ongoing war between our  clubs. I wouldn't lose another one of my men.



"How's it going?" Axel asked me, hours later. I had been watching the  ongoing card game. I knew my guys well enough to know they could play  all night.



"I'd feel better if I'd been able to give the family members a chance to  get here," I said. "But I don't trust the Wolves to let civilians  through."



"Nah, man, you can't trust them with anything." I saw him look behind  me, to where I knew Erica still sat. The camera was forgotten, sitting  on the bar. I decided to give her a break on it, for now. She needed to  cut loose a little.



"What do you think about her?" he asked. I didn't need to question who he meant.



"What do you mean, what do I think?"



He rolled his eyes at me. "Answering a question with a question. Textbook evasion, my friend."



I laughed. "You sound like a therapist."



"Yeah, well, when you've been through as much of it as I have … " he  trailed off, and I felt like an ass. Sometimes I forgot about all the  shit he went through when he was a kid. My childhood was bleak-dead Dad,  Mom died a few years later when she couldn't take it anymore, brothers  and sisters split up among family members-but Axel had been through  hell.



"What I think of her is she's a pain in the ass. She's not worth the  trouble she brought on us." I felt Axel's eyes on me, and I took a long  drink from my beer before I couldn't take it anymore. "What?" I asked.



"Is that why you can't look at her right now?" he asked. "You're deliberately keeping your back turned to her. Is that why?"



"Because I can't fucking stand her? Yes. Okay? Yes. She's a pain in my  ass, and I can't wait until she's out of here. I'm tired of having to  look after her."



"Who says you have to do that?"



"Are you fucking serious?" I glanced over my shoulder, to where she and  Brett were getting good and drunk together. "She can't handle herself.  She was in the fucking badlands, taking pictures. Give me a break. Who  does that?"