Troubled Son: Savage Sons MC Romance (19 page)

I shucked my boots, peeled off my socks, slipped out of my jeans, and took of my top and bra. I couldn't believe that I was standing naked in front of a wall of glass and that there was no one to see me. I tossed my clothes onto the chair, grabbed my shampoo, conditioner, and razor, and headed into the shower room.

I hadn't noticed earlier that a low bench ran the length of the room, perpendicular to the window. I was glad I'd have a place to put my foot up while I shaved. My face flushed as I thought about other uses for the bench. I turned on both shower heads, waited until the water got hot, and stepped beneath.

Heaven.

I felt like I was in the shower for thirty minutes, and when I emerged, I had wrinkled fingers and toes, but I felt like a new person. I smoothed on some of my favorite citrus body lotion and crossed the bedroom to the door. I listened carefully because I didn't want to open the door to find Moses in the living room staring at me naked. I could faintly hear thumping bass, though, and I guessed that he was still working out. I opened the door, checked to make sure I was alone, and grabbed my bags.

Realizing that I had no idea what we had planned for the rest of the day, I decided to go with comfortable and sexy. Thinking about Moses had made me crave sexy lingerie next to my body. I pulled on navy blue panties that were low cut in the front and had lace that looked great on my ass. The matching bra was all lace in the back, and the hook between my breasts pulled the cups together in a way that made me look quite well endowed. I looked at myself in the mirror -- wet hair making the tacky blonde dye job less obvious -- and thought that I would love for Moses to see me that way. What was I thinking, though? I couldn't possibly be his type. He was used to women who made out with other women on pool tables. There was no way I could compete with that.

I slipped on a loose, soft white button down, knowing that the navy bra would show through a little bit. I buttoned the buttons over my breasts and left the rest open. As I pulled on my favorite comfy, filmy, low-rise black knit pants, I thought that I didn't look half bad -- sexy without being slutty. Perfect.

Stowing my bags out of the way until Moses told me where he wanted my stuff, I finally -- at about 11am, felt like I was ready to start my day.

Chapter 24

Moses

M
usic cranked, I pushed myself a little harder than I usually did in my workout. Between having Max in my house and being pissed at Tombley, I was all out of sorts. I couldn't actually figure out what had me so mad. I just felt like Tombley should have told me that he had informants in the Vandals. Maybe I was worried that somehow his rats would somehow jeopardize my safety -- I tended not to trust anyone other than myself to do things properly. The man was a federal agent, though. Surely he knew what he was doing. There was something about the situation that just didn't sit well with me though.

Sweaty and exhausted, I turned off the music and was startled by the sound of Max in the kitchen. Just that quickly, I'd forgotten that there was someone else in the house with me. I hoped she'd just make herself at home and not expect me to wait on her. That wasn't gonna fucking happen.

I walked out into the living room and saw her opening cabinets in the kitchen.

"Make yourself at home," I said with a smile, hoping she knew that I wasn't pissed.

"Oh, I am," she answered cheerfully. "I'm about to make some coffee. Want some?"

"I will after I take a shower."

She turned to face me, and she looked like she wanted to take off the little bit of clothing I had on. I usually just worked out in a pair of shorts, and I hadn't seen any reason to change that, just because Max was here.

"I feel like a new person," she said as she measured out coffee into the filter.

"I feel better, too, after the workout." I headed toward the bedroom. "Back out in a minute."

I walked into the bedroom, afraid that I was gonna find girly shit all over the place. I was pleased to see that she'd neatly set her stuff up out of the way. Good sign. The room smelled like lemons, and it was fresh and erotic all at the same time. I peeled off my sweaty shorts and tossed them toward the laundry basket. As I went into the shower, I saw a beige lace bra hanging over the shirt Max had worn earlier. So she hadn't been naked underneath after all.

Showered and dressed, I went back out to the kitchen and laughed when I saw Max holding a Waffle House mug, with another set out on the counter for me. I poured myself a cup of coffee.

"I had these brought in special for you," I said, as if I were completely serious.

"Does Lily know that you've been absconding with her coffee mugs?" Max asked.

"Yeah, the girls knew I was stealing them. I just wanted six. Full set, you know."

Max shook her head and laughed. "You're something else, Moses Hall."

"It's probably warm enough to sit outside. The humidity's low and the sun's out. You mind?"

"Absolutely not," she answered. "Coming from the East Coast, I'm loving the sunshine. I thought Colorado would be really cold, but it's been gorgeous while I've been here."

"It ain't always this nice, but I try to enjoy it while I can. I don't have many days off when I can sit in the sun."

We settled in a couple of chairs facing the mountains.

"You're not working today?"

"Not at the studio. I figured we needed to get some things sorted out, and I only had a couple of people to reschedule. No big deal."

"Good. I'm glad we'll have some time to come up with a plan."

"Yeah. So where do we start?"

"Well, one of the things we need to accomplish is getting you comfortable with the recording equipment. I've already tested it, but we should probably run through everything one more time and make sure it works properly."

"Okay."

"Most important, though, we need to figure out a way to get me on the scene so that I can record the evidence we need."

"Right. I have some ideas about that."

"Good. 'Cause I have no idea where to begin."

"There are a couple of places that we're likely to get good material. The labs would be great, but hard to set up right away. We have a set rotation for our trips there, and I'm not due to go for three weeks. So if we're still on this in three weeks, I can take you along."

"That would be great."

"I think our best bet, though, is for you to come with me when I make a delivery to one of the girls who moves the crank for us."

"Okay. Can we do more than one delivery? We're looking for more than small-time possession charges here."

"No problem." I hesitated before I said any more. "Max, these deliveries are sometimes ugly."

"You mean dangerous?"

"Not very often. I mean, the places some of these girls live are fuckin' nasty. They're tweaker prostitutes. They ain't nice ladies, and if you're not used to seeing some of this stuff, it's gonna bother you."

"Oh." Max sat for a minute and drank her coffee. "I dealt with some pretty nasty characters when I worked for a defense attorney in DC. I can handle it."

I was glad she didn't just dismiss what I'd said, but I knew that the places we'd go were probably nastier than anyplace she'd seen. At least I'd warned her.

Max stood up and held out her hand for my mug. "Want a refill?" she asked.

For a second I couldn't even talk. I could see the dark colored bra she had under her white shirt, and the skin revealed by the unbuttoned bottom showed me smooth, sexy skin above seriously low cut pants. Jesus, did she have any idea how sexy she was? If she knew the thoughts I had in my head, she'd back off quick because I had seriously dirty things I wanted to do with her. It took every bit of self control I had not to set down my mug, unbutton those two buttons and strip her down right there on the deck. I wondered what she'd do if I leaned forward and licked her.

Instead, I handed her my mug.

She walked toward the door before she turned to look back at me -- a little smile on her face. "Black, right?" she asked, in a voice that sounded innocent, but I suspected was not.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah."

She closed the door behind her and I stood up, adjusting the hard on she'd given me. I'd spent way too much time wondering about whether she knew I kinda had a thing for her. That little smile she'd given me answered that question. She'd been fucking with me all along. Not only did she know that she was killing me with the glimpses of lingerie and skin, but I also was pretty damn sure she was interested in me too. Game changer.

I stood there on the deck waiting for her to come back out with the coffee, and I made up my mind. I knew that it wasn't exactly a great idea to sleep with an FBI agent working on putting my brothers in prison, but to be honest, I was gonna fuckin' explode if I didn't get some. Max was an adult, and she was going to be a willing participant -- I could tell. I decided that I was gonna give her a taste of her own medicine. If she thought she was the only one who could be a tease, she had another thing coming. I knew we had serious business to do, but I was going to have some fun with Max.

I didn't have to use it very often -- hookers didn't really require it -- but I could turn on the charm if I needed to. This was gonna be fun.

Max came back out on the deck, and swung her hips in a way that was really distracting as she came toward me.

"Thanks, sugar," I said, with a wink.

She walked back to her chair and turned quicker than I'd expected her to, which meant that I was busted for staring at her ass as she walked away. I was about to bring up dinner plans -- I was thinking wine, a gourmet dinner, and Max for dessert -- when she jumped back up from her chair.

"Oh, I forgot. One of your phones rang while I was in there. I meant to bring it back out with me."

"Sit back down. I'll get it. It's probably just Krystal at the shop, anyway." I fixed her with a look. "I'll be back."

I picked up the prepaid cell phone that was beeping and didn't recognize the number. I hit the button to listen to the message.

"Moses, it's Angel. Um, I have a problem, and I...um...need you to call me right away."

Fuck. There was no telling what was wrong. Could be hooker drama. Could be the fucking Vandals at her door. Could be that she was outta crank.

I called her back.

"Moses?"

Her voice sounded like she'd been crying.

"Yeah. What's wrong, Angel?"

"Um...I sold some stuff to a guy and he...um...he's..."

"Jesus, Angel. He's what?"

"I think he's dead."

"Dead? What the fuck? Are you sure?"

"Um. No, but he was on top of me and he just kinda fell over, and it didn't look like he was breathing, and..." Her voice dissolved into tears.

"You at your place?"

I could hardly hear her through the crying, but it sounded like she said yes.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Probably forty minutes."

"Okay."

"Listen to me, Angel. Don't you call anyone else. Don't go anywhere. Don't answer the door until I get there and you're sure it's me. You understand?"

"Yeah."

"Get yourself cleaned up and I'll be there soon."

I hung up. So much for my plans of getting Max into bed. She was about to get a trial by fire.

"Change of plans," I said when I got back outside. "I gotta go handle something. You can come if you want, but it's a fucked up mess."

Max stood up, all business and dead serious. "What's wrong?"

"One of the girls sold crank to a guy, and he just dropped dead while he was banging her."

Max's eyes looked big as saucers. "He's dead?"

"That's what she said. I told her I'd be right over. You coming?"

"Yeah. Let me throw on some jeans."

"I'll be in the garage."

Max came out in just a couple of minutes. She'd taken the time to button her shirt all the way, put on a pair of jeans, and braid her hair. I handed her a helmet and backed the bike out of the garage. She climbed on behind me like she'd been doing it for years, and I hauled ass north to Denver.

We made it in about thirty-five minutes. I was hoping that Angel had done what I'd told her and hadn't called an ambulance or anything stupid. When we pulled up into the apartment complex, I was glad I didn't see any cops around.

"You ready?" I asked Max after I parked. "This ain't gonna be pretty."

She just nodded, and we started up the rusty steps to the second floor. I knocked, and the door opened immediately, like Angel had been waiting right there.

"Oh my god, Moses," she said, as the threw herself into my arms.

Angel had never been one of my favorite girls. She had a mean streak, and I didn't trust her as far as I could throw her skanky ass. She'd never been able to take a hint.

Max and I got inside, and I closed the door.

"What the fuck happened?" I asked, shaking my head as I saw Angel sizing up Max and giving her a narrow-eyed, catty glare.

"Who's she?" Angel asked, as if she didn't have a dead john in her bed.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Angel? She's my old lady, not that it fucking matters. What happened? Where is he?"