Patience: Biker Romance (The Davis Chapter Book 1) (7 page)

The puzzle pieces were coming together at a glacier’s pace. The last thing on earth I wanted was to be wrapped up in a mystery, but there I was. “So the DEA thinks that the club is dealing?”

Thunder gave a shrug, “That’s my guess. I didn’t buy from someone in the club, but any organization of bikers must have illegal goings on. I’m guessing that’s their philosophy.”

“Where do I fit in, then?” I was mostly just thinking out loud; I knew Thunder wouldn’t have any answers.

“Hot young thing shows up at the club, start sleeping around? Nobody’s going to bat an eye at that. All in all, it’s a pretty damn good cover.” Thunder gave me a smile that was warm and knowing.

He was right, actually. I had the body, the wardrobe, and I’m guessing the attitude of just the type of woman those bikers craved. My best guess was that my objective was to find out if the Rising Sons were dealing or trafficking drugs. The best way to do that? Get in good with them. If Patience was as loose as she sounded, I’m sure she was getting in
very
good.

I nodded, “Yeah, I guess so. I guess the next question is have I found anything? Have you?”

“Haven’t been looking, haven’t been listening. If it comes up in conversation, I walk away. Any drug. I went down a bad road; one that detoured me for years. I’ll fight for that club with everything I’ve got, but not if drugs are involved.”

Conviction. That’s what Thunder had, and he had it in spades. I admired him for kicking the habit, especially in a club of bikers who lived in excess. They did what they wanted, when they wanted, and with who they wanted. For Thunder to survive in that environment and not have a relapse was impressive.

“So I didn’t get any good info from the bar. Everyone there knows me as Patience, which makes sense, since I’m undercover, apparently. There was absolutely nothing at my apartment, and the only evidence I found in the car was a scrap of paper telling me I had a meeting here tonight.”

Thunder eyed me, “Don’t forget the gun.” There was a little bit of bite to his words. That was fair; I had been aiming down on him.

“Yeah,
guns
actually. Two in my glove box.” As I spoke, I heard the bell on the door jingle. Up until then, we had been the only two people in the diner. Ten P.M. on the outskirts of Davis? I was already on edge, so it raised my suspicions. I turned to see who had come into the place.

Two men in suits. They couldn’t have looked more like government if they tried. Two cheap haircuts, two cheap suits, and two of the blankest looks I’d ever seen. As soon as I caught the eye of one, they both turned away. The hair on the back of my head rose.

“Friends of yours?” Thunder lowered his voice.

I turned back to him, leaning in to match. “I have no idea, you know that.”

Thunder nodded. He leaned to one side and dug into his pocket. “Don’t want you to flip, but I’m gonna hit you with a theory.”

I’d spent the entire day trying not to flip out. I couldn’t tell if I was mastering it or just pushing closer to cracking. “Go for it.”

“They were there at the meeting. I don’t know if they heard us, but they were watching. My guess? They’ve got you bugged. I know your place and car look like shit, but I’d put money on them being wired.”

Thunder’s warning about not panicking was faltering. “Suggestions?” I could almost feel the agent’s eyes on me. Or maybe they were on Thunder. They could have known everything, or they could know nothing. Either way, I felt danger for Thunder and myself.

He dropped a twenty on the table, “\We’re heading to my place. Follow my lead.”

As Thunder stood, I stared, “What?”

“Stay close,” his words were low, and I could see that Thunder was on edge. He was leaning forward, and I could see his pulse in his neck. The thing that set him over the edge was the smile on his face. It was fun for him. I was terrified, and he was looking forward to it. I didn’t know if I’d ever understand.

When I turned around, the two men were watching us. They hadn’t moved, but we all knew the score. They made no bones about trying to hide it; they were waiting for us.

Thunder stepped in front of me. I tried to control my breath, but it was no use. My mouth was dry, and swallowing did nothing.  I was expecting trouble the second that the two guys walked in, but I couldn't have imagined anything like what happened.

Looking over to the right, even the waitress knew what was about to go down. She had fear in her eyes as she backed through the doors to the kitchen. As Thunder moved closer to the door, one of the men stood up. He walked towards Thunder, trying to cut off our escape.
 

“You don’t want to go down this road, man.” Thunder was shaking his head. I looked past him to the man standing up. The stranger didn’t have a hint of emotion on his face as Thunder gave him the chance to back down.  Thunder cranked his neck from side to side, cracking and popping as he did. “I’m not fucking around. Last chance, assholes.”

The man’s head barely turned side to side, and his lips curled into a half-smile. There was no way he was going to back down, even though Thunder was a foot taller and probably had fifty pounds on the stranger. That scared me. If the stranger wasn’t afraid of the hulking biker, he knew something Thunder didn’t.

The second stranger began to stand, and the first reached for something. He moved one side of his jacket, and it all happened in a flash.

I saw the gun. Before he could reach for it, though, Thunder had him. My biker grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him. The stranger’s eyes went wide as Thunder launched the man over the counter of the diner and into a stack of coffee mugs. They shattered beneath him as he fell to the floor.

The second stranger stood just in time to get a hard kick in the stomach. He dropped to his knees, both hands clutching his gut. Everything felt like slow motion. I watched it all happening in front of me. Thunder threw a hard punch on the second man, sending him reeling backwards.  Something caught my attention, and I turned back to the diner counter.

The first man was dragging himself over, and I didn’t think; I just reacted.

“Thunder!” I called out his name as I grabbed at a place setting next to me.  As Thunder turned around, I drove a fork down hard into the attacker’s hand. Blood oozed from the punctures immediately, and the man let out a howl. He reached for the fork sticking from his hand. I backed away, tripping and landing in a booth.

Thunder turned his attention to the man on the counter. He grabbed the stranger by his neck and threw him to the floor. They scrambled, punches thrown from both sides. I backed against the window of the booth as Thunder and the man tumbled on the floor. My biker finally got on top, and he flipped the man onto his back. With a knee at the man’s neck, Thunder went through the pockets in the man’s jacket and pants. He handed me the gun.

I reached forward and took it. My hands were shaking, but I had to grab it. I looked past Thunder to the second man. He was crawling forward. Despite the adrenaline surging through my body and making me quiver, I threw my legs over the booth and trained down on the second man.

“Pull your jacket back. Let me see your piece.” I was surprised at how calm my voice was. For a few seconds, the man didn’t react to me. I thought of the first man and his emotionless face. He wasn’t going to take me seriously, so I was going to have to make him.  He was crawling on all fours, so I kicked one of his hands out from under him. The man’s strength was gone from the two hard hits from Thunder.

These guys were hard, but they had underestimated Thunder. Even
I
had underestimated him. He was fast, and every bit of him was muscle. I had seen it first thing in the morning when I saw his naked body, but in the diner, I saw it in action.

The man dropped to the floor, and I bent down and pushed the gun against the back of his neck, “It wasn’t a request, asshole. I want the only hard thing you’ve got.”
 

The words weren’t my own. I wondered if they were Patience’s or the DEA agent. Either way, Thunder had one man subdued, and I was taking care of the second. The man below the barrel of the gun was done underestimating us. He rolled to one side and pulled his suit jacket aside. I slid the gun out of his shoulder holster.

He was bleeding from a split in his lip, and every breath caused him pain. He was spent. Thunder was still leaning hard on the man he’d thrown over the counter. “No wallet. No I.D. I guess that’s going around. Time for you to talk, fucker.”

“Nothin’ to say.”

Thunder wasn’t going to let that slide. He pushed down harder on the attacker’s neck. “Let’s see if I can persuade you.”

“Yeah, let’s see how well that works.”

“You know, in the movies, they always pop a guy in the knee. The kneebone is a funky one, you know? It’s one of those strange one that never, ever heals right.” As Thunder spoke, he reached out for the second gun in my hand.

My eyes went wide. He was going to shoot the guy for not talking, “They’re law enforcement, Thunder! Whatever you’re thinking, no! We can’t do it. They could be my contacts for all we know!”

He turned to me. “They look like law, but they aren't.”

The confusion and adrenaline had me reeling, “How do you know? From the way they fight?”

“No, not from the way they fight. Check those guns. I guarantee the serial numbers are gone.” He gave me a cocky grin, “Oh, and there’s this.”

Thunder’s hand was at the waist of the man below him. Grabbing the bottom of the shirt, Thunder yanked it up, and I saw it. As if I wasn’t confused enough.  The man’s tattoo didn’t make any sense to me.

“What the hell does that mean?”

Thunder pulled the man’s shirt up all the way, revealing more and more ink. “It means they aren’t law. Ten bucks says the other guy’s got one that matches.”

I turned my head, trying to get the letters to register. The font was artistic, but the words started to come together.  Across the top it read
Devil’s Branch
, and across the bottom,
Motorcycle Club
.

“I’m so fucking lost.” I shook my head. I could feel the gun sinking in my hand as I tried to comprehend.

Thunder must have seen it, too. “Look, we gotta go. If the law wasn’t coming for you before, they sure as fuck are, now.”

I nodded, getting to my feet. I pushed my way through the door, the bell dinging above it. Thunder followed. As I turned to head to my car, Thunder’s arm wrapped around my waist. He picked me up like I was nothing but air. He pulled me in the other direction, towards his Harley.”My guess is they have your car bugged. Leave it.”

“Who? The bikers? The DEA?”

Thunder shook his head as he set me down, “Yeah, one, both maybe. Not sure, but we’re not chancing it, either way.”

I didn’t have anything to say. He had literally picked me up, and he was taking me away on his motorcycle. Thunder had saved me from the two strangers. He left them beaten and broken in the diner.

He fired up his ride, and the back wheel spun as he turned the Harley around. I got one last look at the diner. The two men that Thunder had beaten were still picking themselves up from the floor as he twisted the throttle back and pulled onto the highway.

We drove through endless streets. I didn’t recognize anything, but I was riding high from the adrenaline. Thunder had done something to me. Hearing him threaten the two men, and then actually watching him follow through on those threats...it was powerful.  He was doing it for me, too. He saved me.

We drove and drove. I loved it. The open road was more calming than anything else I’d experienced. It gave me time to think. I didn’t come up with any answers. My thoughts must have drifted, because the constant roar of the throttle died away. I looked around for the first time in what felt like hours, and there was nothing around.

Thunder turned, and I leaned with him. I had wrapped my arms tighter around him as we rode. The single headlight lit up a small home.

It was nothing to write home about, but after waking up in a gross and tiny apartment, I had no room to judge; no room at all.

I didn’t have a moment to take anything in. Thunder had his arm around my waist. He hustled me into the house like we had been followed. I looked back, but there wasn’t a single light in the distance.