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A salt-and-pepper beard covered half his face and his silver hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Brown eyes surveyed me, making me feel naked. His gaze stayed riveted on my chest a moment before he looked up. A slight smile curved his lips.
Something was off with him. Though only average in height and bulk, I knew he was dangerous. His leather vest didn’t hide that he was packing. We were in Texas, so it wasn’t a huge shock. I even had a pistol in the glove box of my truck.
“Sorry,” I chirped, forcing a smile. “Didn’t know Richie had company. I’ll just leave all this here.” I walked toward the desk and set everything down, wanting to escape as soon as possible.
“Thanks, Mia,” Richie said, his voice strained.
“Mia,” the stranger crooned. “That’s a beautiful name.”
My smile remained in place, but I attempted not to engage. The man wasn’t having it. He strode toward me. He took my hand and brought it to his lips and I had to force myself not to pull it back.
“I never let strange men kiss me,” I teased, calling on my arsenal of bartending flirting skills.
“Call me Dev.” He kept my hand as his smile widened. “There. We’re not strangers anymore.”
I glanced at his leather cut, noting the president patch. Batting my eyelashes, I prayed he thought I was a ditz with a decent rack.
“You headed home?” he asked.
“Yup.” I extracted my hand. With a quick wave, I skedaddled out of the office and closed the door. I grabbed my purse from underneath the bar and exited to the side alley. I found my keys, ready to head to my beaten-up, green and rust colored vintage Chevy truck, but the sound of voices through the air duct stopped me.
“She’s a hot piece of ass,” I heard Dev say.
“She is,” Richie agreed.
Swine.
“Customers love her. She’s fast and her till is never off,” Richie continued.
“Is she smart?” Dev asked.
“I trust her with money, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Dev said, his voice dropping in tone. All playfulness, all lightness had leeched out of him, and I heard the dominance, the strength in him.
It was terrifying.
“She doesn’t know anything,” Richie promised. “She doesn’t know about our arrangement—”
“Good,” Dev interrupted. “It better fucking stay that way. New shipment coming in tomorrow. I don’t want any trouble.”
“There won’t be any trouble. She doesn’t know. No one at the bar knows anything.”
I’d heard enough. Whatever they were involved in, I wanted nothing to do with it. Backing away, I left the alley and got to my truck. I opened the heavy old door and climbed inside, wanting to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.
Richie’s bar wasn’t a biker bar, but in the last many days, two men from two different biker clubs had found their way in. Coincidence?
Doubtful.
“Have you heard from Richie? Or seen him lately?” Shelly asked three nights later.
I frowned. “Now that you mention it, no. I’ve been off the last couple of nights though.”
“Hmm. He’s usually here at the end of the shift to open the safe and put the till in, but he hasn’t come in yet. I’m glad he finally gave me the safe combo so I can do it myself.”
“Well, let’s hope he shows up tonight,” I said.
She held up a nearly empty bottle of tequila. “We’re out of Añejo and I couldn’t find any more in the store room.”
