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Ride Wild(43)



"We need to talk," Dare said. "And I think you know why."

Luckily, the skate rats read the writing on the wall and didn't try to  run. Before long, the Ravens had them lined up against the fence, Slider  and his four brothers in their Ravens cuts, a solid wall of muscle and  anger.

"Tell us about the dumping on our property. And start at the beginning,  from how you got involved to what happened after," Maverick said, his  voice tight.

The one named Bam was apparently their leader, and he spoke first. He  had tattoos visible through his hair, piercings . . . pretty much  everywhere, and wore jeans hanging so low on his hips that Slider  wondered how he could skate with them. "Dude, it wasn't our idea. That  muthafuckin' sheriff said he'd jack up charges against us if we didn't  help him move a bunch of shit."

"And then he promised us payment that he never delivered," Mikey Mo said. He was the one with the dreads.

"Yeah, dudes, we didn't even know what we were moving until the night of  the job," the third guy said. When he opened his mouth, Slider  understood his name, Bucky. The guy was missing half his teeth. Add to  that his holey clothing and he looked like he lived on the streets.  "When we realized where we were, we didn't want to do it, but the  sheriff got all up in our grill, threatening us and stuff."

"So he was there?" Slider asked, stepping forward. "Curt Davis was there?"

"Muthafucker would only come partway," Bam said. "He took us to this  dirt road that led onto your property and then waited there while we  unloaded the stuff. Asshole wouldn't even help. Fucking cops, man, you  know?"

"Did you ever meet with Grant Slater?" Maverick asked.

"Don't know no Slater," Bam said. "We're telling you everything."

"Look," Mikey Mo said. "We didn't mean no harm. I mean, my dad used to take me to your races, and they were fucking gnarly."

"Yeah, and the demolition derbies are epic," Bucky said with a toothless grin.

Slider traded looks with Dare and Maverick, who rolled his eyes. These  guys were just a bunch of loser kids who'd been pulled in by Davis to do  Slater's dirty work. Hell, Slider would be surprised if Mikey Mo was  even in his twenties. He crossed his arms. "You three need to clean up  your fucking acts. And I'm not talking about the skateboarding. What are  you? Twenty? With arrest records already the length of my arm. Get your  damn lives together because the next time people like us come knocking,  it isn't going to be to talk."

Dare nodded and stepped closer, getting right up into Bam's face. "He's  right. Which is why I'm going to let you off with a warning-you ever do  something that interferes in our business again, you even think about  it, and I catch wind? We'll burn down your whole fucking world-with you  in it."

"Yeah, yeah, man. We get it," Bam said. "It's cool."

"And if we ever call on you to do something," Caine said, that icy gaze  as intimidating as Slider had ever seen it, "your answer-your only  answer-is yes."

Mikey Mo held up his hands. "Sure, sure. Whatever you say."

Slider sighed. Goddamn kids with no idea of consequences. This could've  gone so much worse for them, and it still could, now that the Ravens  knew how dirty Davis was. "You need to watch your backs around Davis,  too," Slider added. "He's not a friend to you. You need help with a  police matter, you ask for Sheriff Martin."

"And tell him we told you to," Dare said.

They left the skaters cowering there and headed back to the clubhouse.

In Dare's office again, he said, "We're going after Davis. Someway,  somehow, he's going down. The question is, how dirty do we want the  club's hands in doing it?"

On a troubled sigh, Maverick shook his head. "This sucks ass. With  Jagger in jail, I feel like we're on the radar too damn much to take out  a cop ourselves, as much as I'd fucking like to since it's that prick  Davis. I say we go after him, not to kill, but to get him put away."  Slider nodded. The club had lost too much the past few months to take  such a big risk themselves right now.                       
       
           



       

Caine palmed the cap on his head and let out a noise like a growl. "If  we're building a case that Martin might be able to use then we need more  ammunition against Davis. The word of three druggy skateboarder freaks  isn't going to cut it."

"Which means that dogfight just became even more valuable," Phoenix  said. "We place Davis there, and he's toast. I think Mav's right. It's  time to bring Sheriff Martin into this."

Dare's cell phone buzzed against the desk, and his eyebrows shot up.  "It's Marz." He answered. "Marz, hey. You're on speaker. The gang's all  here."

"Yo," Marz said. "I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling like Santa Claus today."

Slider stepped closer, the promise of good news luring him in.

"What you got for us, brother?" Dare asked, trading looks with the rest  of them. The weight of their collective anticipation was thick in the  room.

Marz's voice came down the line. "A hit on that same truck. Two  different cameras. Right by the Ravens' property on the night of the  dumping."

"Fuckin' A," Maverick said, voicing the excitement they all felt.

"Am I your favorite person right now or what?" Marz said, making them all chuckle.

"There it is," Caine said. "There's the kind of solid physical evidence Martin's going to need."

"I'll shoot it over," Marz said. "And one more thing. I'm not finding  anything criminal on the suit your PI talked to at Slater Enterprises,  but what I am finding is that the guy is way behind on paying his taxes.  Like, six figures kinda behind. And Davis seems to have a gambling  problem, because he's on the radar of some of the bookies here in the  city. Which is making me think that Slater was in the habit of finding  out and exploiting the dirty little secrets of the people around him to  get them to do what he needed."

"Or, at the very least, to keep them quiet or get them to look the other way," Slider said.

"Roger that," Marz said. "Anything else, hoss?"

"That's a good haul for a Monday morning, Marz," Dare said. "Thank you."

When they hung up, the five of them erupted into an impromptu celebration. Whoops and hell yeahs and clasped hands.

"We just might be able to take Davis down and bring Jagger home all at  once," Maverick said. "God, that would be some justice right there."

"And long overdue," Dare said. "So let me tell Martin what's going on and see how he wants to be involved."

Caine jabbed his finger into the desktop. "But you tell him, either way,  this is happening. With his help on the up-and-up, or our way without."

Slider nodded, his gut clenching with the need for this to finally be  over, and for them to be able to know that the people they cared about  would be safe once and for all. "Davis framed the club, arrested Jagger  for it, and threatened Cora. We can't let this sonofabitch hurt us even  one more time."



Cora came out of the shelter to find Slider sitting on his bike, legs  spread wide, boots braced on the ground. Wearing his cut and a pair of  dark sunglasses, he was so freaking sexy she could barely handle him.  And then he saw her and smiled.

"Hey, handsome," she said, coming up to his side.

He put his arm around her waist. "Handsome, huh?"

"I just call 'em like I see 'em," she said, pressing a kiss to the scruff on the side of his face.

"As long as you call me ‘yours,' anything else is gravy." His hand slid  up to her hair and pulled her in for a kiss. Slow, thorough, almost lazy  in the way his tongue explored her mouth and curled around hers. He  moaned low in his throat, and the sound hit her right between the legs.

"Slider," she whispered. "You're making me wet."

"Jesus," he bit out, handing her a helmet. "Get on. And hold on tight."

He drove them through town, the cool breeze making her chilly and giving  her the perfect reason to snuggle in against all Slider's heat. That  closeness turned her on even more and sent her hands wandering over his  chest and down to his stomach. His muscles clenched under her touch, and  that drove her on to torment him more, until finally her fingers found  the bulge filling out the front of his jeans.

Slider's hand clamped down on hers. He didn't push her away, but he held  her still. And since that meant her hand was full of his denim-covered  cock, that was fine by her.

But by the time they pulled into Slider's garage back at the house, she  was a needy mess. And what she most needed was to make him fall apart.  Cora removed her helmet and was off the bike in a flash, and then took  his helmet and hung it on the handlebars.