Page 70 of My Temptation

She watched me in the mirror until I smiled. “What’s your name?”

She studied me but then slowly smiled when I turned on the water and began washing my hands. “Linda.”

Still smiling, I finished and grabbed a paper towel from the roll sitting on the counter. “Nice to meet you, Linda.”

“Didn't take you for a dancer when you first walked in.”

I thought that was an odd thing to say, but I wanted to hear the rest of it, so I encouraged her to continue. “No?”

She shook her head. “Most dancers around here are strung out on drugs.”

It was as if she was trying to gauge my reaction, but I’d been trained to always appear neutral and open to anything. That kept every door open to me. “Had some trouble with that shit in the past.”

“Clean now?”

I thrust my elbow against her arm and grinned. “Clean enough.”

She laughed, and I hoped like hell that Ethan was playing up my past if he was being questioned. We hadn’t discussed the information we should share, but we should’ve. That was my mistake.

She turned toward the door, and I followed her out of the bathroom, pausing briefly when one of the doors down the hallway opened, and a couple walked through. The girl smiled at Linda and raised her hand in a small wave. “Hey, Linda.”

Linda looked back and forth between us, but I kept my expression neutral once again. She nodded at the girl, and they moved past us toward the door. She was laughing while they passed, and it was apparent, by the way her clothes were disheveled, that they’d been doing more than drinking. Wanting to know what was behind that door, I decided to make a joke and see if Linda took the bait.

Smirking, I glanced at Linda. “Looks like the real party is in that room.”

She frowned slightly and ignored me while I walked toward the bar.

I followed but had a feeling Ethan and I had just stumbled onto something useful.

22

ETHAN

Stretching out on the bed, I listened to the shower water running and tried to think about anything besides Mila naked in the bathroom. We left the bar last night more than aware that something was going on in that place but unable to go further because Jenny and Carl never showed up. We waited a while, but after another hour, it was obvious they weren’t coming, and Samson had disappeared. After we left, Mila told me what happened in the hallway, and it only confirmed our suspicions, but we had no way of getting behind that closed door. We both realized that was where Samson had gone, and there wasn’t a chance in hell we’d lay eyes on him again before we left.

Lifting my hands, I rubbed my palms over my face and sighed. We’d gotten up this morning and checked out of the hotel we’d been in only to drive fifteen minutes and check in to a new one. The only advantage was this room had two double beds, one of which I was currently lying on and enjoying. We’d decided to go to the motorcycle rally after we got settled just to see if Samson showed, but the only familiar face was that of the bartender, Steve. I talked to him for about an hour while Mila wandered around, but we left disappointed. We were so close and had the lead we needed, but we couldn’t do anything about it.

My phone vibrated, and I leaned to the left to dig it out of my pocket. Not surprised to see Brody’s name, I sighed. I wanted to have more to tell him and felt like we were letting him down, but it wasn’t due to lack of effort.

Brody: Any luck at the rally?

Lifting my phone, I typed out an answer: Negative. Saw the bartender from last night, but he only wanted to talk about bikes.

Brody: You made a connection. That’s something.

Me: Not enough.

Brody: You going to the rally tonight?

We’d put in a call this morning and shared our story from last night on speaker with Brody, Jax, and Kyle. They agreed there was more to find in that bar, but their only suggestion was to keep our eyes on Samson. He would eventually lead us right where we needed to be. Luckily, he hadn’t been back to New Hope since Skinner was killed, but we knew his mission wasn’t over. He wanted something that Beth had, and there wasn’t a doubt in our minds that he wouldn’t stop until he got it.

Me: Yeah. Got no reason not to.

Brody: Samson on the move?

Me: Nope. We waited in the car last night until he left the club, but he went straight home and hasn’t left since.

Brody: What the fuck was he doing there until four in the morning?

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