Page 12 of Down & Dirty

I reminded myself of the cash carrot hanging at the end of this stick as I rounded the back of my truck, and spotted Ronnie in the far corner of the lot; he wasn’t alone. Jerry Conlon, the head of sales for one of the biggest energy bar companies in the country was with him and they looked entirely too chummy.

Ronnie knew better. Jerry and his team had been outspoken in their hopes to collaborate with OTM, but since nothing had ever materialized, it clearly wasn’t what management wanted. Our rider contracts had entire sections dedicated to outside endorsement deals, and for the most part they were banned. Bruce and I had been able to negotiate my lot of endorsements because they were so far removed from the moto world. But, something with CapCraze energy bars would have fallen squarely in the forbidden territory.

“Hey gents,” I said as I strode up to them. Ronnie smiled widely at me, but Jerry’s expression soured. He knew he was busted. “What’s the good word?”

“Jerry was just telling me about his parent’s lodge up in Tahoe. Sounds incredible.”

Jerry nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You both are welcome any time.”

With a quick glance back at the building I confirmed we were still alone. “What brings you by Jer?”

“Quarterly meeting with Ezra and the rest.”

“Here to get shot down again, huh?”

I might not know Ronnie well, but I was warming up to the youngster. I took offense to the guy risking his spot on the team by trying to land him in the damn OTM parking lot. Ronnie’s expression narrowed as he picked up on the shift in tone.

“Just exploring options.”

I nodded, taking a step toward Ronnie. “Well, we wouldn’t want to make you late for your quarterly dismissal.”

Jerry took the hint, giving me a slick grin. “Talk to you soon, Ronnie.”

As he walked away, I took a step back, trying to remind myself of the foolish risks I’d taken when I was Ronnie’s age. “Don’t be a fucking moron.”

Ronnie jerked back. “What? Nothing happened.”

I opened my mouth to speak and paused when I saw the doors to the lobby swing open and my favorite little pain in the ass coming straight for us.

“You better keep it that way. You know better than to even entertain conversations with a sponsor not approved by management.”

Ronnie crossed his arms over his chest. “We didn’t talk business, man.”

I shook my head as I started to walk away, the scrutiny on Skylar’s face like a repellent I couldn’t get away from fast enough. I looked back at Ronnie. “It’s all business, all the time, kid. Don’t ever forget that.”

Skylar’s gaze ping-ponged between us, as if she was trying to sort out what we were talking about. But I wasn’t in the mood to stick around for the two of them to hash out Ronnie’s latest near miss. From what I’d read up on the kid, I could understand why his big sis was around so much. He needed a handler.

The image of the two siblings getting into it made me chuckle as I put my truck in reverse and started for home. When my phone ringing cut off the country song that had just started to play, I tapped the button on my dash to take the call.

“Hey Bruce, what’s shaking?” My agent almost never called me, preferring a paper trail to keep track of our conversations, so my pulse hammered a little harder against my throat.

“Where are you?”

“You want GPS coordinates or what?”

He sighed loudly. “Cory.”

I huffed out a laugh even as my stomach got tighter. “Just leftthe shop. Was heading back to my rental for a shower. What’s up?”

“We’ve got a problem.”

He’d barely finished his sentence when my dash lit up with another incoming call. It was Cass. I sent it to voicemail, knowing she’d ream me out for it later.

“Cass is calling too. What’s going on?”

“I bet she is. She better have a damn good explanation for this.”

It was unlike Bruce to express any emotion at all, let alone the kind of frustration I could hear in his voice. And he knew better than to talk shit about Cass. She wasn’t just a business partner, she was a friend.

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