He's in a different suit than the one I last saw him in. But still immaculately pressed and groomed, no hair out of place. Slick. He looks at me in the disappointed way a man looks at an investment that hasn't performed well.
“Bethany. We’re glad you decided to come back.”
“That’s crap. I didn't decide.”
“Call it a figure of speech, then.” Rico pulls out the chair opposite the bed and sits, crossing his legs. He keeps his hands on his knees.
“Now. Let’s talk about this engagement…”
I suck my breath in. “What about it?”
“Your hasty engagement to a Mr. Striker.”
“His name's Striker. Not Mr. Striker.”
He shrugs. “Right. The big biker who runs the bar. The newspaper notice, buying the ring, the whole production.”
“It's not a production.”
“My investigators tell me you have known each other for less than a week.”
“Well, your investigators are wrong. We were keeping it secret. Let me go now and we don’t have to go through this whole rigmarole again.”
He smiles a small, unpleasant smile. “Where did you meet him?”
I open my mouth, and the lie comes out more smoothly than it has any right to.
"In a diner in Ember Heart last May. He was up there for a charity ride… I was visiting my cousin. We had apple pie.”
“Pie?”
“That’s right. And then he came to see me three weeks later. We’ve been long-distance for a year. I took the job in High Vale this trip because I wanted to surprise him and I didn’t have the money. The trip was free.”
“Howromantic.” He raises an eyebrow.
“Yep.”
Rico laces his fingers around his knee. “There's no ring on your finger, Bethany.”
“We had a fight. I left it on the kitchen counter.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It's the truth. People fight. Have you never had a fight with somebody, Mr. Taylor?”
He stands, walking to the window. “You’re lying. The wedding tomorrow goes ahead either way, and when you are my wife it won't matter anymore.”
“You want to piss off the whole MC? Are you crazy? And I won't marry you.”
“Yes, you will. Your brother’s IT access is very important to my superiors.”
“You’re making a huge mistake. Striker is mine… I'm his. I said yes when he asked me to marry him. I left because I was hurt and I was wrong to leave. When he comes through that door it is going to be because he’s my fiancé, and you’ve made an enemy of a man who used to break faces for money, Mr. Taylor. Except he doesn't break faces for paychecks anymore… he breaks them for free.”
Rico stares at me and gets out his phone.
“You’re threatening me? Two can play at that game. I want you to think very carefully about what you’ve said while I make this call.”
I sit on the edge of the bed, staring at my reflection in the dark window.
