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“I wouldneverleave a woman stranded on the side of the road—at any time of night. It’s just not a good scenario, you know? But that’s just the cop in me.”
“Yeah, I get that,” I said with a sigh. “I didn’t want to be stranded, but had you not known up, I probably would’ve just tried to call someone.”
“Someone like Gunner?” His voice went flat when he said his name. The pleasantry on his face seemed to fade at the conversation shift, but he went back to removing the flat tire from the wheel well. I couldn’t see his face anymore.
“I did try to call Gunner,” I admitted, not wanting to leave him hanging. “But he didn’t answer the phone. It went straight to voicemail.” He grunted something in response, but I couldn’t make it out. “He can be hard to get ahold of sometimes.”
“Yeah, probablyclub business,” Robbie laughed, shaking his head. “All those guys are just glorified criminals that putt around on motorcycles. If they didn’t have the patches and the bikes, no one would think anything good about them.”
I had the urge to take up for Gunner, but at the same time, I didn’t know what to say. I was so angry at him still. I didn’t wantRobbieto be the one changing my tire. I wanted it to be Gunner…
Where is he?
“Sorry if that offended you,” Robbie said to my silence. “It’s just that I’m on the other side of the law. And while, I definitely get that maybe they make the town seem more secure to the public eye, they really are just funneling in problems from the underworld.”
Underworld.
“So, do they cause a lot of problems for you?” I couldn’t hold back, suddenly feeling like getting a few answers.
“Uh…” his voice trailed off as he fit the spare onto the pattern bolts. “I wouldn’t say that, necessarily.” He reached for the lug nuts, beginning to thread them on. “But they attract a lot of bad people. I don’t think this town would have some of the problems with drugs and shit if they weren’t around to spread it like wildfire.”
“They’re drug dealers?” I don’t know why it surprised me. Iknewthey were into criminal activity—I just didn’t think it was drugs. Gunner didn’t do drugs…
Or at least I didn’t think so…
Maybe that’s why he’s MIA all the time.
“If they were avid drug dealers, they would probably be in prison, but I don’t know. There’s a lot of things they do that we don’t know about, to be honest. We don’t have the resources to go undercover and shit. Plus, bringing in the feds just causes us a whole lot of trouble.”
“Why?”
“Because they’ll look very hard at everything in this town, including the department.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that, but I stayed silent on that matter. “But, do you get along with the club?”
“Mostly. My dad keeps tabs on them, and I prefer to keep my distance unless I have to get involved. Any time I do, it doesn’t really work out for me. They piss me off—and then I piss them off.” He added that last bit with a grimace. “But anyway, it doesn’t matter. They wouldn’t bother you out here at night, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“No,” I shook my head as Robbie stood to his feet. “I just was frustrated that I couldn’t get ahold of Gunner.”
“Ah, right,” he didn’t look at me as he torqued the nuts down. “I forgot that you’re seeing him now, right? I think I overheard it at the café couple of mornings ago.”
“Yeah, something like that,” I mumbled.
He chuckled but didn’t say anything else as he put the jack and flat tire away in the back of my SUV. I was more relieved than ever as he shut down the back hatch, meaning that I was going to get to go home and go to bed.
“You know, Hallie,” Robbie walked me to the driver’s side door of my car. “I know old habits die hard, but you can do better than Gunner.”
“This is feeling like deja vu,” I answered him, sliding into the driver’s seat and starting my car. “I think you’ve always told me this.”
“That’s because it’s true, Hal. Gunner is just another criminal walking the streets. He’s not the kind of guy you raise a family with—he didn’t even show up to change your flat. You need someone who canreallybe there for you; someone who’s not disappearing from the face of the earth all the time. You know he’s probably out committing crimes.”
I didn’t want to think about what he was doing. “I don’t know. Thanks for changing my tire, Robbie. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. If you ever get tired of waiting on your biker, let me take you out for dinner.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but he shut the door of my car, not giving me a chance. Taking a deep breath, I put the car in drive, pushing the offer from Robbie away, and headed home.
Finally.
