Page 6 of Sean Collins

Walking out of the apartment I rented in town, I look up and down the street, making sure there aren’t men in leather jackets and motorcycle boots in sight. I am not sure they would recognize me anyway.

The black lycra suit is gone; I have traded it for a faded flannel shirt, jeans, and chucks. My long dark hair is swept back from my face in a complicated braid. I look like a college student – nothing like the thief I really am.

Across the street from my rental place is a truly amazing coffee shop. I am not sure why someone with Brenda’s talent lives in this backwater town, but she makes the best coffee and pastries. I wave at her as I enter and set myself up in the back of the café, where I have a view of the entire room. She comes over and places what is becoming my customary pastry and coffee next to me. I hand her a twenty, and she stuffs the bill in her apron and walks away.

Upon opening the file I swiped from the MC president's desk, I start to read. It is chockful of information about their past exploits, including a run-in with the mafia and a vicious rival biker club and how they rescued two different women. There was also something about the town judge and his involvement with the Russian mafia. The rest of the pages details the same way they have saved women from awful situations and shut down crime in Truth and Consequences.

Going to the café for a week allowed me to hear whispers about the Steel Kings’ good deeds. The townspeople worshipped them as they had run all the riffraff out of Truths and Consequences. They even donated money to the town and helped in any way possible.

The Steel Kings are nothing like any biker gang I have ever come across. I almost feel bad for robbing them, but this all has to be a front for their real – evil – activities. I want to believe that all of this is true, that the president and the rest of the Steel Kings are good people trying to go straight and protect their town, but the cynical side of me feels like it is a hard pill to swallow.No biker gang is this altruistic.

Closing the file, I sip my coffee and look out at the quaint street of the little town. I could see myself settling here every day. There is an old, dilapidated Victorian house outside of town that is screaming for a makeover. That’s one of my hobbies when I am between thieving jobs. I have to go back and try again because if there is even a small chance that this MC is as good as they seem to be, they can help me find out the mystery of my parents’ deaths and end this search. I am ready to put this burden down, get my revenge, and look toward the future and a normal life.

Chapter Eight

Sean

I can’t get the little thief out of my mind. I should be livid that someone came in and stole from us. I should be out for blood, but all I can think about is how she told me that no child should watch their parents die. The woman even spouted our motto that the bad guys shouldn't have all the money. When I tried to tell her that we weren't the bad guys, she just looked at me disgustedly. I am usually aloof and uncaring. I know what people think about biker gangs, and I am fine with that. It keeps the trash out of Truth and Consequences, and I will hype our rep until the day I die to keep this town safe. However, her reaction stuck in my craw.

I sit back in my chair and sigh. The latest numbers from the casino blur in front of me; I can't get my head in the game. All I can think about is the sultry smile she gave me and how it felt to have her body pressed to mine, even if she was trying to fight me. I told the guys to keep an eye out for her, but I can't just sit here. I don't think that she will come out during the day, but there is no harm in looking.

Walking out of the office, I give Brandy and the rest of the staff a grin. "I’m going into town,” I announce. “Does anyone need anything?"

They all shake their heads, and I continue walking towards my bike before stopping and heading to my pickup truck instead. The woman will be looking for a motorcycle and leather jacket, for sure. In my faded jeans and Henley, I look nothing like the Steel Kings president.

Firing up the truck, I roar into town. I expect to find nothing, but I can't stop my eyes from roaming the streets. There is a little niggle in the back of my mind that if I head into Truth and Consequences, I will find what I am looking for. As I stop at one of three stoplights in town, I see that little niggle was right – walking across the road and into Brenda's coffee shop is the little thief.

The woman looks nothing like she did last night in her skin-tight lycra suit and bright red lipstick. If I hadn't spent so much time replaying our encounter the night before, I might not recognize her fresh face, braided hair, and gorgeous body hidden in jeans and flannel shirt. She looks pretty like this – like a college student going to a coffee shop to study.The two sides of her intrigue me.

I park the truck around the corner and wait for her to come out of the coffee shop, sure that she saw me as she crossed the street. However, after ten minutes, it became obvious that she didn’t notice me as she was still so wrapped in her own thoughts.

Striding up the sidewalk and into the shop, I throw Brenda a wave before surveying the shop. There are not many customers in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon, but I see my little thief at the back. She is smart to have her back to the wall, so she has a view of the entire place. I wait for the woman to notice me, but she is still engrossed in whatever she is reading on her laptop. She doesn't even look up at the sound of my heavy boots on the floor.

I sit in the chair opposite hers and cross my arms, waiting for her to gaze at me. Still, I get no reaction. Shifting in my seat, I clear my throat.Gotcha!The woman finally looks up from her reading and blinks her eyes owlishly at me.

It is one of the cutest things that I have ever seen, but my muscles are tense, and I am ready for her to bolt any second. She surprises me by closing her laptop and sliding a file underneath it. That slow, sultry smile I remember from last night appears on her unpainted lips again, causing my pants to get tight. There is just something about that smile that does it for me.

"You again," she says in greeting, staring at me.

If it is the last thing I do, I am going to unravel the mystery surrounding this woman and eventually make her mine.

Chapter Nine

Elora

I switch from the file to my laptop and see an email waiting from Eliza. They have been able to dig up more information about my parents’ connection to the Russians and Steel Kings. I have been searching for this for years, going through team after team until I met Eliza.

A teen runaway with sticky fingers and a way with hacking when we first met, Eliza was all prickles and fuck you’s. When I offered her a job and a place to stay, she was wary. It made my heart hurt that a simple kindness made her so suspicious. She went out on a limb and accepted my offer. I think it was because I was only a year older than she was at the time. As technology has gotten more sophisticated, I have poured money into Eliza's education so that she can learn from some of the best hackers in the world. It is starting to bear fruit, and we have been a team ever since.

The file she has just sent shows that my parents were in a dangerous game. Much like I am now, they were using their billions to help small rural towns under the thumb of dangerous MCs and mafias. Unlike me, though, they did things above board and legal. It is probably one of the reasons that got them killed. Eliza also found a small thread connecting my parents to the Russian mafia and Truth and Consequences. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

The rest of the information centered on the Steel Kings and their relationship with the same town. As I read on, it seemed that the rumors about the biker gang going clean might be more than a rumor. They helped route out the Russians and clean up the town, making it an attractive place for small business owners such as Brenda to move in. I might have to eat crow and return the things I took from them. I don’t rob from people who don’t deserve it – I am not that kind of thief.

I scroll farther down the page, ignoring all of the good deeds of the Steel Kings, looking for more information on their members. If I am honest, I want to know more about their president. According to Eliza’s file, his name is Sean, but he goes by S.C.

The table jostles a bit just then, and I blink and look up. My eyes widen in surprise, and I let a sultry smile cross my lips. Sitting in front of me is none other than S.C. himself.

"Well, hello there," I say, and the man just grins back. "Why did it take you this long to find me? I thought you would be hot on my tail the other night." I sit back in my chair and look at him across the table.

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