Stolen Ride: A Biker Erotic Romance (4 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

“The only way to make the Dixon Crew disappear is for the truth to be out. If they are being hunted, they won’t be visible.”

He listened to her words
, but all he could think about was the night before. The way she felt. Even afterwards, lying in his arms. She felt right.

“I know.” Jake wasn’t exactly fond of the idea. It was his life being changed. But if they didn’t, his life was in danger. And so was hers. And he’d do anything to protect her. Them. Both of them. Together. He hoped.

***

He wasn’t paying attention. Frankly neither was she. They were getting ready to go and meet her client and they needed to be on board. But all she could think of was how amazing they were together. And how he was a biker. A drifter. Who’d just found out some pretty shocking things.

He wasn’t going to stay with her. It was a fling. The heat of passion. She’d move on to her next gig. He’d likely stay with her client for a while. The way life was supposed to be.

“You ready?” He smiled at her and she knew she wasn’t. She wished they could stay here. One more night. Or week. Or year.

“Sure.” She smiled in return and they walked into the damp and dark tunnel.

***

He could smell her. She smelled like fruit. And sex. Fruity sex. He wanted to take her back and sniff her. And taste her. And be with her forever. But he knew better.

She wasn’t going to stay. Her world was different. A lot different. His was too. Normally. But this wasn’t normal. He’d have to stay here. In this horrible little town. Without her. So for now, he’d be happy with what he’d had.

“Is he here?” Jake looked at her. He didn’t know who they were looking for.

She was checking out the park. She was beautiful. He’d miss her. A lot.

***

She saw him on the first glance. She was afraid to move. This was it. The end. Jake had asked if she saw him and she had ignored him. Acting busy. She didn’t want to do this. But she had to. Besides, think of the money she’d make for this one. It was worth it, right?

“Ali, I’ve been waiting.” The voice brought her out of her thoughts. Well, he’d found her. “Is everything okay?” He was looking at Jake with skepticism. He didn’t want anyone else to know.

She knew he was panicking.

“Chris, nice to see you.” She smiled at him. “Chris, during my visit with Allen I learned a few things. I decided to use them to make even more money because I presumed they would be worth more than what I was being paid to locate. I mean, a missing child is far more valuable than a few documents.”

“Who told you about a missing child, Ali?” She saw the look on his face. Worry. Hope.

He had never told her. That his son had gone missing at an early age. That he’d spent years looking for him. That his wife had endured a nervous breakdown over it. He’d never shared any of that with her. He only wanted some documents that his adversary, Allen Wilmont, had possession of.

Allison had liked Chris. The job paid well. Of course that’s why she’d taken it. She wasn’t one for doing charity. But she liked him. And she’d really regretted that she couldn’t get the documents.

“Allen thought I was someone else. Someone the bikers had sent.” Allison rolled her eyes.

Jake grinned. She was amazingly sexy. Even when she was being a stubborn pain in the ass. And she hated the idea that anyone had assumed she was one of them. The bikers. Not her thing. The idea made him smile.

“So,” Allison continued, “He shared some information with me. He had heard the bikers were in town and assumed it was to swindle more money. So he gave me that as well.” The smile on her face was pride.

“Did you learn anything about the child? What happened to him? Where he is? If he is alive?” The man was starting to look somewhat excited.

Jake watched the two of them interact, listened to the conversation. This man seemed very hopeful. He knew who the man was. Chris Charles. The wealthiest man in this godforsaken town. Jake couldn’t help but wonder why this would matter to him.

“He is alive,” she began.

Chris looked at Jake with skepticism. Jake knew he wasn’t welcome here. The guy seemed to be concerned about trust. He shrugged. He got it. In his line of work, secrecy was important.

“He was kidnapped,” Allison finished. She watched Chris almost slump over. He was relieved, but angry.

“I looked for a long time.” He sighed. “My wife…”

Allison didn’t need the rest. She knew. She had made sure she knew as much as she could. The goal was to get as much out of this as possible. At least originally.

“What do you want for the information?”

Jake looked at Allison. What was he worth to her? Would she sell him for a large amount of money? Would she get all she wanted from the deal? Take off to some great foreign land and live the life of her dream? Nah, that little bitch would keep conning people for money.

“I don’t want money,” she sighed.

Jake and Chris both looked at her in shock. Jake couldn’t believe what she was saying. The girl he’d met, the girl he’d gotten to know intimately, wouldn’t have given up a price like that. She wouldn’t have bailed on a chance like this.

“I just want protection.” Allison looked at Chris. “I’m being chased. By a gang of bikers that want me dead. I need to be safe.”

Chris looked at Jake.

“Not him,” Allison said.

“Does he need to be here?” Chris asked. He was getting to the nitty gritty and he didn’t trust the biker standing beside this girl. What if he was one of them?

“I’m going nowhere until she’s safe.” Jake nodded in Allison’s direction.

“He’s fine,” she said in a huff. As if she needed protection. Didn’t he know that by now?

“Okay.” Chris looked resigned. What could he say? “If you have information on how to find the child, I’ll do whatever you need.”

“Chris, the child was taken. I’m not sure the reason. A group of bikers was paid for the kidnapping.” Allison twiddled with her thumbs. “Apparently, they decided that having him afforded them protection should they need it. So they kept him.”

“Really? So he’s a biker?” Chris asked, fascinated with the story.

“He thinks so.” Allison rolled her eyes again.

Jake wanted to argue, but stayed quiet instead.

“He’s a good guy. From what I could tell.” Allison sounded hesitant to say much.

Jake was watching the conversation and trying to figure it all out. Why did this man care so much?

“And where is he, Ali?” Chris looked at her as though he could barely wait.

“Chris, this is Jake. Brighton. Or I guess you could say Charles. This is your son.” She waved towards Jake and stepped back.

What the fuck? Jake couldn’t catch his breath. This man was his father? This very rich and powerful man was his
father
? She had left
that
part out of the story.

Chris looked at the biker differently. This was his son. The one that’d been taken years ago. Should he hug him? Shake his hand? Offer him better clothes?

Jake had known he was kidnapped. That he was raised by someone else. That the Dixon Crew had lied to him and made him believe his parents died. He didn’t know that Chris Charles was his father.

Allison watched the two stare at each other. She was happy, but she wasn’t. She wanted Jake to want to be with her. Why? She was so damned independent. She didn’t need a man. It was best to take off before this got worse for her.

“Well, you two have a lot of catching up to do. I need to go.” She turned to leave. “Jake can tell you the danger I face. You make sure I don’t face it. We’re all good.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Allison took off, watching all around her for any sign of Dixon’s boys. She didn’t see any. Maybe that was because she had tears in her eyes. Stupid fucking tears. She didn’t need this.

“Wait!” Jake called out. He couldn’t just let her leave without a goodbye.

Allison heard his voice and stopped cold in her tracks. She was afraid to turn around. She tried to clear her eyes, but she was certain she failed.

He chased her to the spot she stood. “Don’t go.” He surprised himself. He wasn’t expecting that. Just a goodbye.

She wasn’t expecting it either. It took her by surprise, and she wanted to run. That was the best thing. Run away.

“What?”

“Stay. With me. Stay here. I need you. I want you. I… Please stay.”

Could she do that? Give it up? Stay by his side. Allison didn’t know what to say. She never expected that. She smiled.

“I’ll stay.” She hesitated. “For now. Not forever. But you piss me off, biker boy, and I’m out.”

“Deal.”

“And I get to decide how this—” she waved her arm between the two of them, “—goes. And no lip service about my work.”

“Deal.”

“No strings. Understand?”

Jake grinned at her. “Completely.”

“Okay then. I suggest that since you are rich, you get to buy dinner.”

Jake took her hand and began to walk off, but she pulled hers away. “I can walk by myself, thank you very much.”

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***

They stopped looking for Shane Perry fifteen years ago.
They did all they could do; filed reports, dragged the lake, and finally presumed him dead. The high school football field lit up with candlelight at his memorial, and mourners gathered to gaze at his glossy image: youthful and tall with a heart melting grin.
Bikes and bikers are all Maggie Rice has ever known.
She was riding before she could walk and switching out clutch plates by junior high. She was a quirky, fiery haired tomboy and it was her dream to ride with the 417s. Formerly her father’s crew, they all had a hand in raising her after his passing. Now that she ran her own garage, it seemed her chance had arrived at last.
When the ghost of Shane Perry rides into town, he threatens to spoil it all.
The day of her initiation into the 417s, Shane waltzed back into town as if he’d only been gone the weekend, and his first order of business was to crush her chance at happiness. No woman was going to ride in Shane Perry’s gang, not ever, and certainly not his closest childhood friend.
Maggie doesn’t believe for one second his arrival is coincidental.
Was it possible to hate and love a man at the same time? Where had Shane been all those years and why was he back? And when the Hell did he get so damned gorgeous?

***

Grace is the very best at what she does.
Working for the Public Defender’s Office is thankless and the pay is meager, but she’s a true believer in the justice system. The beautiful, underpaid attorney has made it her life’s mission to see to it that ‘innocent until proven guilty’ still means something.
Tobey is a self-confessed career criminal.
Enforcer, thief, con-man ... He’s done it all and proudly. Tobey never cared for authority and a life of crime agrees with him.The handsome thug carved out a comfortable life for himself pulling odd jobs for a motorcycle gang, but only when he feels like it.
There are some things Tobey won’t do for any price.
Namely murder, so it’s a shock when he’s arrested for the death of a local businessman. Tobey knows he’s been framed, but the evidence is overwhelming and the outlook is grim.
That is until the lovely public defender comes to his rescue.
But when Grace uncovers evidence to exonerate Tobey both their lives are in danger and Tobey is quickly coming to the conclusion that he can’t let any harm come to his beautiful champion, not now or ever.

***

Casey Stone has always known her family was a little different.
She doesn’t know the details, but she’s heard enough whispers through cracked doors to know they’re criminals of some variety, and she’s happy not to know which.
Brian was just playing around when he sidled up to the Stone boys’ sister and offered her a drink.
He isn’t a cruel man, but the boys were watching and their sister is objectively beautiful - long legs, modest curves, and a face that begs to be kissed. He just couldn’t resist riling them up a bit. Then she spoke and he was lost.
The Stone boys were not about to let this one slide.
They couldn’t send her running to him any faster than by forbidding her to see him. If they’d told her she’d destroy the subtle truce between two rival gangs and cause a cycle of violence and death, she might have been more willing to listen.
Now there’s a line drawn in the sand, and Brian and Casey are standing on opposite sides.
Can Brian put an end to the feuding before he loses Casey forever? Or is it too late already to repair the fragile trust between them?

***