Page 23 of Rattler’s Revelation (Demon Dawgs MC: Las Vegas #6)

Bianca’s gasp draws my attention.

“What’s wrong?”

“It can’t be. He was my friend. It can’t be him,” Bianca rambles. She looks so upset that I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her close to me.

“Who are you talking about, Bianca?” Randy asks. “Does that description mean something to you?”

“That sounds like Billy.”

“Billy?”

“Billy Stocko. He works as a bartender at 1%. You met him the day we met,” Bianca says, turning her face up to mine.

“I did?” I think about that day. I saw her for the first time upstairs in Brigit’s office, then later, when I was leaving to get the van so we could transport Walt to The Pit. “You introduced me to him.”

“What’s going on?” Randy asks when he realizes how close Bianca is to tears. He reaches over to massage her neck while I explain her suspicions. “We don’t know it’s him,” Randy tries to assure her.

“One way to find out,” I say, taking out my phone. “Chill, we have another possible accomplice who works at the casino. Can you send me an image of Billy Socko? He’s a bartender. Yeah, he works in Bianca’s area. Okay, thanks.” I end the call and wait for the image to come through.

“You didn’t tell her what we found in Nadine’s apartment,” Randy reminds me.

I shrug. “I forgot. Let’s figure out if this is the guy, and I’ll call her back.” When the phone pings, I turn it so Madilyn can study it. She immediately nods when she sees him.

“Yeah, that’s him.”

Bianca sobs, so Randy pulls her into his arms to comfort her. I brush my hand over her hair before stepping away to call Chill.

“Is he part of it?” Chill asks when she accepts the call.

“Yeah. The witness identified him.”

“I asked Reggie to watch him. That’s a good catch. Good job finding a witness.”

“We found more inside Nadine’s apartment.

Turns out she suspected Walt of luring girls somewhere, so she followed him.

She has a notebook with all her notes and a USB drive with photos.

We’re going to hit the other two apartment buildings before heading back to the clubhouse.

Unless you want the notebook and USB drive now. ”

“Really? Wow. I’m not sure what to think about that. It was pretty stupid to put herself in danger like that, but pretty ballsy, too. I can’t wait to see what she’s uncovered. We might be able to use her data to shake up Walt.”

“Still not talking?” I ask. We captured Walt and obtained some details from him before he clammed up. I knew Chill had been working him off and on, but he was still refusing to give us what we want most—the location of the women they kidnapped and that of his father and mother.

“No, but I haven’t pushed him hard yet. I don’t want to until we have more information. We’re only going to get one shot at making him tell us everything because I don’t plan on letting him live once it is over.”

I chuckle. “I take it Rafe isn’t around?”

“He’s not. He and Viper headed to the storage unit. The kid working there called and said he talked to Tommy. Tommy was pissed that someone broke into the unit. He told the kid he was on his way.”

“That’s good news.”

“They called that guy Taylor to meet them there, which is why you don’t have to hurry back. Spark went with Rafe and Viper. Turns out he’s all excited about the gadgets and gizmos Taylor has access to. There was talk of using drones to track Tommy back to their lair.”

“Okay, then we’ll finish with our interviews and head back to the clubhouse. We might stop for lunch.”

I end the call with Chill and turn back to find Madilyn back in her apartment, and Teddy holding the elevator door open.

“Ready?” Randy asks as he leads Bianca into the elevator.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Once we make it back downstairs, we thank Teddy for his help. We don’t speak until we’re back in Randy’s car.

“How are you doing?” I ask Bianca as Randy starts the car.

She shrugs. “I’m not happy, but I’ll deal with it. I can’t believe Billy fooled us like that. He was always the person with whom we felt most comfortable. He was like a big brother. I thought he was our friend.”

“Not all guys like being relegated to friend status, especially if they want to be more. He never hit on you or any of the other girls?” Randy asks.

Bianca begins to shake her head, then frowns.

“You know what? He did ask me out once. It was after I started working there and we had gotten to know each other. He wasn’t pushy about it, which is why I forgot about it.

One night, we both got off shift at the same time.

He asked if I wanted to join him for dinner.

I brushed him off, and he never asked again. He didn’t seem upset.”

“It doesn’t mean he wasn’t,” I say. “Chill has Reggie watching him. We’ll figure this out. Maybe Tommy and Walt asked him to help pack up Nadine’s things, but didn’t tell him what they were really doing.”

“Maybe,” Bianca says, but I can tell she doesn’t believe it. Her mind is busy searching through her past experiences with the man. She’s likely trying to figure out what she missed.

“Did you tell Chill about the USB drive and notebook?” Randy asks me.

I nod. “Chill’s pretty excited to see it. She’s hoping to get some information we can use.”

“Does she want us to bring it to her now?”

“No, Spark isn’t at the clubhouse,” I tell him before explaining how they’re meeting Taylor at the storage unit. “We may get lucky, and Tommy could lead them right to Wade’s location.”

“That would be great, especially if the girls are there, too. So, we go to the next apartment on the list?”

“Yeah. Let’s finish them up, and then we can take our girl out to lunch.”

Randy grins as he glances at Bianca’s reflection in the rearview mirror. “I like the sound of that.”

The last two apartments on our list are a bust. No one has anything additional to add.

The scenarios are the same. In each case, the resident provided notice and requested that their security deposit be deposited into the Keeper’s bank account.

In both cases, someone came in and packed up the resident’s belongings first.

Two hours later, we slid into booths at a diner. Bianca chose to sit with me, while Randy sat across from us.

“Feeling better?” I ask Bianca when she closes the menu.

“Not really, but I will be, eventually. You’re right, I need to wait to see if Billy is really part of this. Unfortunately, I keep remembering things he’s said and realize I might have missed something.”

“What do you mean?” Randy asks. Before Bianca can respond, the waitperson takes our orders and delivers our drinks.

“Billy made friends with every girl working at 1%. He went out of his way to be their friend. I think he did it to try to find someone to date. I’m remembering more and more women commenting about going out to dinner with him or doing something with him outside of work.”

“Did he make anyone uncomfortable?” I ask.

“No, and that’s the thing. We all thought the same thing.

We saw him as a nice guy, but nothing more.

We joked with him about how he was going to make some girl lucky when he found the right one.

He would always turn red when we teased him.

I used to think we embarrassed him, that he was shy, but now I’m wondering if he was mad. ”

“You could be projecting,” Randy suggests.

Bianca sighs. “Yeah, I know. I thought that, too.”

“Try not to think about it,” I suggest. “We don’t have all the information yet.”

“You’re right. I’m going to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.” Bianca leans over to kiss me before sliding out of the booth. She then leans down to kiss Randy, too. The two of us grin after her like a couple of idiots.

“Can I ask you a question?” Randy asks. “It’s personal.”

I shrug. “Go ahead.”

“Are you planning on telling the members of the club about the three of us, or did you want to keep it a secret?”

I reel back in surprise at the question. “Why would I keep it a secret?”

“Aren’t you afraid of what they’ll think? You’re a biker. There aren’t too many bikers who will admit to fucking men.”

I snort. “Is that all we’re doing? Fucking? I thought it was more than that.”

“It is, but my question stands. You can’t tell me you’ve met a lot of homosexual bikers.”

“As you pointed out, I’m not homosexual, I’m bi,” I grin at him before turning serious.

“Look, I’m not embarrassed about what we did last night.

I’m excited about what the three of us are building.

Before you and Bianca, I wondered if I’d ever be attracted to anyone.

As for the other members of the Demon Dawgs, they don’t get a say on who I date.

Maybe there aren’t a lot of homosexual or bisexual bikers, but there also aren’t a lot of women bikers, either.

Our club has two. Puma won’t judge us. Well, he might not be happy that I’m bringing another cop into our club, but we’ll deal with that.

I think you’ll have a harder time with your fellow cops than I’ll have with my club. ”

Randy sits back with a grimace. “Yeah, you might be right about that. I’m not sure I want to stay a cop, though.”

“Really? What do you want to do?” I ask.

“I don’t know. That’s something we need to discuss together.”

When the waitress delivers our food, I glance at the hallway where the restrooms reside. “What’s taking her so long?”

“I don’t know.”

“Could you check the bathroom to see if our friend is okay?” I ask the waitress.

“She left with some guy. They went out the back.”