Page 10 of Asking for Trouble
Lookin’ at her huddled on the ground in that cage, fear in her eyes but resolve in the set of her chin as she clutched a baseball bat in her lap, somethin’ subtle but profound shifted inside’a me. Somethin’ I’d always had inside me to give meetin’ a reason to give it.
It was a no-brainer to take her outta that hellhole even though involvin’ myself in theft and assault was fuckin’ stupid. I was a known associate of The Fallen MC, and the cops were always lookin’ for reasons to put us behind bars.
Somehow, in ways I didn’t know and didn’t wanna think too hard about, savin’ this blue-haired girl was worth the trouble it might’ve bought me.
Which was really the only explanation for why she was curled up, knees tucked to her chest and arms wrapped around them, on the passenger seat in a stolen van filled with contraband jewels on the way to Whistler with me. I’d been on my way up the mountain on club business to meet with one’a our dealers who was havin’ a sudden change’a heart about his involvement with the MC.
I was gonna have a little friendly chat and remind him that our friendship was unbreakable.
Blue would wait at Bob’s Diner while I did business, and then I’d pick her up on the way back down the Sea to Sky.
After that, I wasn’t sure.
All I knew was, I didn’t want to let her outta my sight and the scope’a my protection ’til I was sure those thievin’ assholes, especially her fuckin’ ex-boyfriend, were safely behind bars. Somethin’ in my gut told me they weren’t done with Blue, and I wanted to be there if they came for her again.
“We’ll leave the van parked here,” I told her as I swung the cage into the deserted lot across from the diner. “Got a buddy who’ll lend us a car to get back down the mountain. Don’t needto get caught drivin’ a stolen vehicle associated with jewelry theft.”
“What if someone finds it?”
“I’ll send someone to deal with it.”
“And the jewelry?” Blue asked in that surprisingly low, buttery voice. “Are we just going to wear it beneath our clothes?”
I laughed, startled yet again at her ability to make humour outta shitty situations. Maybe she wasn’t as innocent as I’d assumed if she was unfazed by most’a the events’a our fucked-up night.
“I was thinkin’ we’d just take the duffels, transfer the loot, and figure out what we do with it when we get back to Entrance.”
Somethin’ about her demeanor changed then, a bristlin’ energy that cloaked her like a shield.
“You live in Entrance?” she asked carefully as if she was defusin’ a bomb.
“You gotta problem with Entrance?” My tone was incredulous if only ’cause my town was the prettiest damn place on the West Coast.
Nestled in the belly of a wide bay tucked up against sheer cliff faces and towerin’ mountain ranges clothed in thick forest, it was a natural wonderland. The town itself was what King’s Old Lady, Cressida, called “quaint”, with old-style buildings on Main Street and all things associated with small-town charm.
It was also, and this was most’a the reason for my pride in it, the home’a The Fallen MC.
One’a the biggest, most profitable motorcycle clubs in North America with chapters all the way to Europe. The club originated in Entrance decades ago and still housed its mother chapter.
Mychapter.
Blue peered at me from under a lock’a electric blue hair. “No. But anyone who reads the news knows some shady stuff goes down in Entrance.”
This was true.
Human traffickin’, pornography operations, drug makin’ and dealin’, police corruption, and plenty’a violent events marred its history.
“Most of it seems tied up with The Fallen MC,” she continued, her mouth movin’ over the words too judiciously, as if she was strugglin’ not to speak her truth. “You know anything about them?”
“Some.”
Her gaze was hot on my face as I parked the van behind the veil’a two dumpsters and swung outta the car. The back door rattled as I slid it open to grab the bags, securin’ them crosswise over my shoulders. Blue appeared beside me, worryin’ her lip with her teeth as she watched me.
“You think schlepping around town with contraband strapped to your chest is the best idea?” she questioned when I finally turned to look at her. One’a her full hips was jutted to the side, sassy in tone and body.
It made me smile to see her like that, so full’a verve in the face of an unknown situation. I wondered if she’d spit in the eye’a death when he came for her one day.
My hand found that cocked hip and curved around it while the other went to the van on the opposite side’a her head, cagin’ her in with my body. When I dipped closer, the smell’a somethin’ sweet like sugared plums swarmed my senses and made warmth coil low in my gut.