Page 26 of Biker's Enemy

“I’ll track down the Midnight SS next.”

“Are you up for such a long trip?”

“I’ve got nothing better going on. After so much time in a cage, it feels pretty good to ride again.”

“Enjoy that freedom,” Wyatt says wistfully as Junior gurgles loudly. “I have Ruger watching Oske closely while we investigate to make sure she isn’t up to any bullshit.”

“You trust Ruger to watch a woman?”

“No. But if Oske finds out he’s watching her, she’ll know I’m not fucking around. One wrong move and I’ll handle business the way our fathers would have wanted.”

He doesn’t know how much that comforts me to hear.

“I’ll keep you posted on what happens when I get there.”

“Midnight SS,” he says wistfully. “Sounds fucked up. Doesn’t ring a bell though.”

“I’ll call you when I get there.”

“Stay safe, brother.”

I take my time driving out there. In a hurry, I could make the drive in two days, but this time I drag it out to seven. It’s something in me that doesn’t want to get close to the Midnight SS motherfuckers.

It’s this deep instinct I’ve got that they’re the ones looking for trouble. But why? Putting the business with the Blue Blood Knights behind us was supposed to mean an end to shit like this.

I don’t want to do something that sends me back to prison. I would rather die than go back there and I’m too afraid to tell anyone. Especially not my twin brother. I can’t help but think if he were the one behind bars, he would have handled it much better than me. I can’t help thinking that he’s always been better than me. Now, I suppose there’s proof of that. I’m a felon. He isn’t.

If I can do something to redeem myself and to make up for my mistakes, maybe it’s helping the club to solve this mystery. Who wants to punish us? Who wants to hurt our families? And how can we stop them…

Thirteen

QUIN

This dinner with my boss is the first time I have ever gone out with a man. I know it’s not a date. I’m not stupid. Actually, after eight weeks, I think I understand Tanner Hollingsworth quite well and he is in no way shape or form attracted to me. He stares at me like I’m a curiosity because like most of the cruel, tall, and dangerously attractive men I’ve met, he finds my plus-sized body to be some type of freak show. He likes having me around because I’m safe. There’s no one I’ll go to with his secret, so all my appeal to him centers around that — my ability to shut up and stay out of trouble.

Attraction doesn’t factor into it at all.

Eliminating any chance of attraction between me and Tanner should make it easier when he opens the door to his GMC Sierra and offers his hand to help me up. I glance at his hand like it’s a foreign object because I’ve never actually been in that situation before. I’ve had more doors intentionally slammed in my face than held open. If you’re not a plus-sized black woman, it’s hard to believe how fucking badly random people will treat you in public.

“Take my hand,” Tanner says gently. “It’s pretty high up.”

I just keep gawking at his hand like a shelter dog who’s never experienced kindness before. Shame rushes through me and I feel self-conscious about my reaction. Tanner has rough hands that still have engine grease beneath the nails, but are otherwise clean. He has a tattoo around his wrist — barbed wire — and then a date printed beneath that.

I wonder if he’s spent time behind bars or if he knows someone who has. He has a black spade tattooed on one of his fingers and a knife tattooed on his forearm. I wish I wasn’t noticing his tattoos. Nervously, I reach for his hand and he helps me up into the truck.

I’m surprised by how strong he is, although I shouldn’t be surprised by that. He knocked me out and had to carry me somehow to get me here. I don’t know the details.

“One day, I’ll take you on the bike. But you look too pretty for a dirty ride.”

Did my boss just call me pretty? He shuts the door to the truck and climbs in the driver’s side before his words hit me. Tanner looks over at me and smiles. I quickly look away.

“Honestly. I haven’t been out in a while either. If you enjoy dinner… We could make this some type of ritual. You get a break from cooking and get some real food in you and… I don’t have to worry about your safety.”

“Are you really worried about that?”

I scrutinize his face for the truth because I was pretty sure Tanner brought me here for his own selfish reasons. By now, I’m sure those reasons aren’t sexual, but they are definitely still selfish.

“Yes,” he says. “It would be a lot of trouble to find another nanny I trust. You are great with Avery.”

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