Page 2 of Biker's Dark Revenge

I took a deep breath, my hand still on his collar. This was it. If I wanted to take revenge for my daughter, it had to be now. It had to be here.

And it had to happen before someone walked out of that bar and stopped me.

Chapter One – Liana -Nine Years Later

"Hey, Liana!” Star called to me, waving to me from the other end of the bar. I lifted a hand in greeting, letting her know that I had seen her.

"I’ll be with you in a second," I called back.

"Oh, it’s okay, no rush," she replied. I grinned back thankfully. For someone who had been raised in such a fancy household, she was a total sweetheart. I would have expected someone like her to be entitled, acting like the whole world should fall in line with what she wanted, but she’s never acted that way with me.

"What can I get you?" I asked Lee, as he settled into the seat in front of me. I knew it was in my best interests to take care of the Dogs first and foremost. Star could wait, at least for now. Lee let out a sigh.

"A beer," he replied. "And a shot of vodka. Thanks."

His voice was low, as it usually was, but there seemed to be something bothering him – I paused for a moment, considering asking him what was on his minds, but thought better of it. If there was something he wanted to talk about, he would bring it to me himself. Lee had never been the kind of guy to spill what was on his mind, and I doubted that was going to change tonight.

I grabbed his usual beer from the fridge underneath the bar and pushed it across the counter towards him, then grabbed a large shot glass from the stand behind me. I poured a double shot of vodka into it and handed it to him.

"Here," I told him. "Seems like you could use something a little stronger."

For a small moment, he grinned. Those dark brown eyes lit up, and he ran a hand over the crop of dark hair on his head.

"Thanks," he muttered, as he took the shot quickly, then got to his feet to head back and talk to the other Dogs hanging out at their usual booth close to the entrance of the Kennels. From there, they could keep watch on everyone who came and went, a good idea given how tense things had been around here lately.

Even though I wasn’t one of the Dogs, I had been working for a while at the Kennels which meant that I picked up on what was going on with them most of the time, and there seemed to be something going down with some guy called Lombardi – I'd heard Chuck talking about it in hushed tones, worried about what he was trying to pull, about the girls he was moving around the city. It sounded serious. It worried me – I mean, yeah, I knew I worked for the Dogs, but that didn’t mean I approved of all the criminal activity that happened in Atwood. Running pills, and guns, was one thing, but selling people? That was fucked up.

As I cleared up a few empty beer bottles along the bar, I found myself glancing back towards Lee, stealing another look in his direction. I knew I shouldn’t have been staring, but there was something up with him, and I wished I knew what it was. Most of the Dogs, after a few drinks, would spill what was on their minds – it was part of the job as a bartender, to be there for people to talk to you when they needed to get something off their conscience, but Lee? Lee kept himself to himself, and had done since I first started working here, and I would be lying if I said that didn’t intrigue me a little.

Well, that, and the fact that he was hot. Seriously hot. The kind of brooding, mysterious hot that made my head spin a little. I was so used to guys getting drunk and spilling their guts to me, but Lee...he carried himself with this cool, calm collectedness that made me more interested than I should have been. Silly? Probably. I shouldn’t let myself get worked up about someone like him. But it was just a little crush, and there was nothing wrong with making work a little more interesting, right?

It was busy this evening, a handful of the Dogs were coming down from their compound on the other side of the city to convene with Chuck and the rest of the guys. It meant good tips for me, though, and I was fine with that.

"Hey!”

I lifted my head to see a younger guy, around my age, leaning on the bar. He flashed me a flirty grin.

"How much for a beer?" he asked me. I nodded to the price list on the wall – there were discounts for the Dogs, of course, but that didn’t mean we could run this place on fumes.

"And how much for a conversation with you while I have it?" he added. I laughed, shaking my head.

"Good try," I replied, as I grabbed him the beer he had asked for. "But that’s not my thing. Sorry."

He shrugged, grinned, and took the beer from me.

"Hey, it was worth a shot," he remarked, and he turned to join his friends back over at the other side of the bar. The guys knew not to get pushy with me – I always shut it down if any of them tried anything silly, it was one of the reasons I had been able to work here for so long. Not many girls could handle motorcycle club guys the way I did, but I had worked in places like the Kennels for years. I knew you just had to be firm, and they would leave you alone and let you get back to it.

The rest of the evening ran smoothly – the place was soon filled with laughter and conversation. Star was hanging on Jaxon’s arm like she couldn’t get enough of him. We had talked a few times, when she had had a few drinks and had been feeling particularly chatty, and she’d told me about everything she had been through with her father – it was crazy, how bad it had gotten for her, but I admired the hell out of her for choosing her own life path.

Sometimes, I wondered if I should have looked for something outside of the club life, but it suited me down to the ground. My father had worked for another club when I was growing up and I had spent weekends hanging around clubhouses, getting to know the guys there – they were like one big family, looking out for each other, doing everything they could to make sure I was safe and taken care of.

When my father passed, and the club he had been a part of dissipated, it hadn’t taken me long to find a new one to attach myself to – the Dogs. When I first applied to work at the Kennels, I knew Chuck had had his doubts about it – worried about whether I would be able to handle it, whether it would be too much for me. But I proved that I was perfectly capable of handling whatever these guys threw at me, and, over the years, I practically found myself an honorary member of the club in the process. The Dogs suited me.

My shift wrapped up around two in the morning – I was used to the late nights, and I enjoyed the peace and quiet as I helped the other staff clean up the bar when everyone was gone.

"You mind if I head out?" Taylor, one of the other bartenders asked me, pulling a face. "I really want to get back and see my daughter. She had a fever when I left today-"

"Go," I told her, waving my hand to dismiss her. "I’ll be fine. I just need to clean the floors and close up the till and I’m done."

---