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“It had occurred to me to think whoever did this might be looking to get rid of witnesses,” she said, worrying her teeth across her bottom lip. A lip he wanted to bite and suck on.
“That ain’t it. You didn’t witness anything except a bunch of dead bodies. Soon the cops will be here, along with the county coroner, and there’ll be eyes on you with this whole stinking mess. If whoever did this comes looking for any of you, it will be to send a message about squealing to the cops. But then again, if you didn’t call the cops, they’d ice you for sure to keep their dump site secret.”
“You had me to call because notifying law enforcement is the less dangerous of the two options?”
“Yeah, but reporting it isn’t safer by much.”
Chewing her bottom lip anxiously, she asked timidly, “Does your club have places like this?”
“Hell the fuck no, we do not,” he said fiercely. “This shit feels like stumbling into amateur hour for me.” When she didn’t reply, he reluctantly whispered, “Every now and then, when things turn bad, we either have the person cremated or buried in an actual cemetery. We ain’t barbarians, you know.”
“I didn’t mean to insinuate you were.”
Tilting her head up to look into her eyes, Ace searched Barbara’s face for some indication that she didn’t think he was an out-of-control killer. “We never kill anyone if we can get out of it.”
“You sure about that?”
Shrugging, he replied, “I’ll kill a man if he tries to kill me first, or if he looks like he might… If he bothers me, or if he’s harassing a woman… Or if I’m getting paid. Mostly if I’m getting paid.”
She finally smiled at him, and it hit him square in the chest.
A shocked female voice said, “Jesus, you really kill people for money?”
Jennifer had recovered from her shocking ordeal and answered before Ace could get the words out. “Don’t be a dipshit, Jack. He’s quoting a famous movie. It was a joke to lighten the mood.”
Jack looked sheepishly down at his shoes. “I knew that.”
Within a surprisingly brief period of time, they heard sirens. Ace guessed that Barbra’s report of multiple dead bodies drew them to the sight in record time. She must have done a good job of communicating that this was not a current crisis because the officers approached with their guns holstered, but that didn’t keep them from immediately separating everyone and taking their statements.
Ace told them exactly what happened, just the way it happened. He had nothing to gain in this particular situation by not fully cooperating, especially since his footprints were tracked all through what they would consider their crime scene.
By the time law enforcement loaded them to take them back to the precinct for yet more questioning, their crime lab was just pulling in with even more officers, along with the property owner.
Ace stuck close to the woman he was growing more attached to by the moment. He was protective by nature, but now that she’d drawn the notice of dangerous men, his protective instincts had multiplied exponentially.
Come hell or high water, he was going to ensure that not a single strand of hair on her pretty head was harmed.
~ Barbara ~
The ride from the police station to Ace’s MC had been on the back of his bike. There was something soothing about riding on the open road. Sitting with her arms wrapped around his waist and her body pressed to his back felt more right than anything she’d known in her life. His hand had come back to touch her leg a few times, in what felt like an effort to be reassuring. Laying her cheek against his back, she realized Ace was nothing like what she thought she needed in a man.
Barbara had been taught to look for a clean-cut gentleman from a good home, who had been schooled in how to treat a lady. She’d spent her life sifting through dozens of doctors, lawyers, and accountants before finally choosing Dr. David Reynolds.
What a disaster that turned out to be.
Her ex had pursued her hard and fast, pressuring her into both intimacy and marriage before she was really ready. The good doctor had turned out to be dishonest, disloyal, and hypercritical.
By contrast, Ace seemed prepared to spend time getting to know her. He was sweet, funny, and heart-achingly honest. Him taking the lead today had taken a load off her mind and let her see how mature and grounded he was. It made her think that no matter how crazy things got, he’d be there for her. It would have been easy for him to jump onto his bike and just leave her to deal with it. Instead, he’d stayed and did his best to make sure it was handled properly.
They pulled up behind the SUV carrying her students, who didn’t seem any worse for the wear. Barbara eyed the bulky two-story structure and the surrounding area. A huge garage ate up most of the parcel, but her eyes kept being drawn to the other building.
A sign sported a skull design and the words “Blind Jacks MC” in glowing neon colors. The bottom floor looked like a club or a sport’s bar of some sort. The upper story had curtains in the windows, like a home. It was clearly some type of mixed-use building for the club. A nine-foot-tall chain-link fence surrounded the place, with a man in a leather vest who had checked them in at the door. She could see cameras, so they had a security system in place.
Before they’d even finished parking, a young woman came running out. She was wearing jeans, an old T-shirt, and black boots. The words “Old bikers never die, they just ride into the sunset” was written in script over the image of a biker with a skeleton riding it. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail, making her look about fifteen or sixteen. She practically screeched, “Oh my God, Ace, are you okay? I’m been worried sick about you, and the brothers wouldn’t tell me anything.”
Ace shook his head at the teen. “This ain’t club business or nothing like that, so I’ll tell you all about it when we get settled in.”
“Ryder told us about the strays. Tiffany and I put three blow-up mattresses in the garage for the guys, but the girl can bunk with me if she wants.”
