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Clutch grinned and ran his hand over his close-cropped blonde hair. “I’m told that a real man’s gotta show the lady she’s appreciated, so I take her to all the finer establishments in town that will let an old biker in. So here we are.”
“Ronan can’t stand being away from this dump,” Tessa teased, using Clutch’s real name as she always did. Most everyone else managed to forget what his name was until Tessa said it—she always called him Ronan. “And after a long day repairing motorcycles, what could be better than hanging around a biker bar talking about… well, motorcycles?”
Max grinned. “Where’s Romeo?”
“Jett will be along shortly,” said Tessa.
Clutch stepped back. “Does all that mean you’d rather go somewhere else? I think there’s a hamburger place open.”
She slapped his arm playfully. “Get in the damn bar, knucklehead.” As she spoke, another bike pulled up, and Romeo soon joined the two of them, putting another arm around Tessa. It was still a little startling to see both guys touching her so affectionately, though they’d been together a while now.
Clutch walked toward the steps, giving Rafe a wink. “How’s the computer shit going, Rafe?”
Rafe suppressed a chuckle, knowing that Clutch was just asking to be friendly. He didn’t know a thing about computers and was happy that way. Until they put an air-cooled motorcycle engine in a laptop, the man wasn’t going to take the least interest in them. “Well, I guess the computer shit is just about like it was yesterday, Clutch. Just a bunch of dancing ones and zeroes.”
Clutch nodded. “How’s the learning coming, Ace?”
Max shrugged. “Okay.”
“Well, have you hacked anything interesting?” asked Clutch.
Rafe sighed. “Not lately. We just prowl around, sort of taking inventory of what’s out there. Truth is, right now it’s all kind of boring, unless you’re trying to rip people off. If that’s the game, it’s amazing how many lovely lists of credit card numbers and other stuff are floating around. I spend most of my time trying to write a new program to monitor the club investment portfolio. The existing ones use a lot of assumptions that are basically fucked. It’s gonna be nice when I’m done, but it’s slow going.”
Clutch seemed clueless, but he nodded. “Uh huh. What about you, Max? You doing anything more interesting?”
Max shrugged. “Just filling in the blanks in my knowledge. I’ve been poking around the Russian mob’s transactions.”
Clutch blanched. “What? You got a death wish?”
Rafe shook his head. “He’s not leaving any trace, and he sure as shit ain’t taking anything. He’s just doing it for practice and to see how they run their money-laundering operations.”
“It’s not that dangerous,” said Max in a careless voice. “It’s all just research.”
“Truthfully, it’s just practice,” said Rafe. “Our investments are doing well, and you all know Chief doesn’t like to get into too much shady stuff. Importing prescription drugs from Canada is about the extent of his risk tolerance, and my investments are paying off nicely. We aren’t going to be laundering money or stealing from the bratva.”
“Well, snooping on the Russian mafia, hacking into their financial programs, and playing the stock market… I can see where that’s all boring.” His voice was heavy with irony. “Sounds like you both need a real challenge to get your blood going.”
“He means a girlfriend,” Tessa added. “Ronan thinks that if a man has a good motorcycle and a good woman, he’s got it all.”
“A little money is nice too,” Clutch said. “So you can enjoy the bike and the woman, and hell, throw in a million from the mafia.”
Max laughed. “We aren’t taking from them, believe me.”
Rafe cleared his throat. “I’m working on it. I might have found one.”
“A mobster to rip off?” Clutch looked aghast.
“No, a woman.” Rafe shook his head as Max grunted, looking like he was withdrawing.
“I hope she isn’t a virtual woman,” Tessa said.
Rafe laughed. “No, she’s real enough.”
Tessa grabbed his arm. “I hope so. I happen to agree with Ronan. Some of you thugs actually have a lot going for you, but you both need to stop relying on the girls that just come around the clubhouse for the thrill of being with bad boys. A real woman will want you to be more.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. And this is a real woman who is smart and independent. I don’t know if a biker stands a chance with her, but I’m giving it a shot.” Assuming Max was okay with that.
“So, dress up like a civilian, make her think you’re an upright citizen, and shag her ass,” Clutch said.
