The Rising Sons Motorcycle Club (8 page)

Raven hung up. She pushed in all the drawers on her tackle box and closed it up. Her mind was racing. She was angry at Trask for thinking that she didn’t have a life outside the club.
 
There was also some distain that Allan had done what she had asked, meaning she had to do what he asked.

“Daniel,” she called out. Her boss was around somewhere. He wasn’t a fan of customers, or people in general. He hung out in back, thinking no one could smell the pot smoke.

Raven walked from the “dressing rooms” back to the storage area. As she’d expected, he was leaning far back in an old tattoo chair. Headphones canceled out any sounds that tried to get through, so she had to pull them off to get his attention.

“Rave, ‘sup?” His eyes were only half-open. She wouldn’t have to worry about his shitty attitude, at least.

She gave him a sexy smile. “Something came up, and I need to check on an old friend. I’ll reschedule my eleven and my one. I should be back this afternoon. If room three is open, I can make up my hours tonight. Cool?”

“How much are the eleven and one jobs?”

“Total? Just under two hundred. Nothing fancy. A sparrow on a shoulder and coloring in some work I did last month. I know both customers. Rescheduling shouldn’t be a problem.”

Daniel sat up. It took him some time, but he managed. “Raven. You’ve been skipping out an awful lot. I can’t run a business this way, you know? Make up the hours and get your shit together. I’ve got inkers waiting in line for your hours. Good artists, too. Just keep that in mind.”

For a stoner, he was a hard-ass. Raven loved her job, but hated the parlor. He was right, though. The club was forcing her to skip out on peak hours. She was between a rock and a hard place. If she made that argument to the club, they’d say almost the same thing.

“All right, Daniel. I’ll make it up. I promise.”

“Whatevs, Rave. What. Evs.” He leaned back and threw the headphones back on. Raven wanted to punch him square in the dick.

Her phone vibrated before she had the chance. When she saw who it was picking her up, it was the icing on the shit cake.
 
One more thing to piss her off.
 

Gunner was outside. She grabbed her tackle box and headed out the front door. She looked around but didn’t see his motorcycle. When he honked the horn, she jumped. Raven had completely missed the pickup truck near the corner.
 
She was glad that at least she wouldn’t have to wrap her arms around the stupid bastard.

Walking up to it, she joked, “Didn’t think you’d drive anything with more than two wheels.”

“It’s Trigger’s.
 
Sometimes you gotta haul cargo. Speaking of, you getting in?”

“Oh, you’re a funny motherfucker.” Raven set the box containing a tattoo gun, needles, and inks in the truck bed. Walking around to the other side, she couldn’t help but think of how many tattoos Gunner had. She had a pretty good idea that the sleeve up his arm was just the start. She reined her thoughts in as she pulled herself up and into the pickup. There was work to do, and he wasn’t funny.

“All right. How’d you do it?”

Raven’s heart jumped. Allan had basically blackmailed her. That was how she’d done it. Trade a Son for sex, and she didn’t want to tell Gunner. Her heart ached at the prospect, but Raven told herself she’d worry about that later. In the meantime, Bear was out.

“I talked to one of my friends.”

Gunner looked over at her. “Why don’t you tell me about him?”

There was something in his voice that Raven didn’t like. Something demanding. “What do you mean?”

“Listen. Some of the guys know about you and this cop. No one is saying anything bad, but you need to understand that you are walking a tightrope. We’ve had cops try to get inside the club before.”

Raven had heard bits and pieces of the story. Two years before, there had been a bloodbath when they found out. The club didn’t like to talk about it. She kept telling herself to look back through the papers and find some articles on it, but it was on her growing list of things to do.

“He’s not trying to get in. I’ve known him since high school. He’s a good guy, Gunner.”

“No, that’s where you’re wrong. Good guys don’t do whatever he did to get Bear sprung. God knows what he’s asking for in return.” He gave her a look that made her feel
owned.
“Good guys think the system isn’t broken. Good guys don’t become cops, Raven. Assholes with small dicks become cops.”

Raven could hear something almost like jealousy in Gunner’s voice. “He’s not an asshole.”

“What did it take him to spring Bear? A big favor, I imagine.” Gunner looked over at her. She could see suspicion on his face.

Raven’s heart raced as they got too close to the truth. “Yeah. I owe him. But that’s on me. I’ll square things with him. Can we just leave it at that?”

Gunner didn’t want to leave it at that, but they were in front of the police station. “Fine. For now. This ain’t over, sister.”

She had been pulled away from work to be attacked, and Raven felt ever muscle in her body tense up all at once. “I’m
not
your sister.”
 
She knew it could undo any civility that was barely forming between them, but Gunner loved to provoke her.
 
He knew how to do it so fucking well, and he had gotten her, again.

Gunner looked her square in the eye. “And you may never be.”

Before she could throw something back in his face, Gunner parked and got out of the truck. She looked toward the police station, waiting for Bear to come outside, but when she didn’t see Gunner walk past her, she spun around. He was halfway across the street, the sound of his black motorcycle boots fading.

She called to him, “Jonesing for a latte?”

Gunner responded by flipping her the bird without turning around.

A few minutes later, Bear pushed through the door. Raven almost did a double-take as she leaned against the fender.

Once he got within earshot, he called to her. “Hey there, darlin’. You’re riding bitch.” Raven knew she shouldn’t take it personal. All Bear meant was that she’d be sitting between them, but it was just one insult too many for the day.

“How about ‘thanks?’ Huh?” She put her hands on her hips, a mom voice coming from somewhere inside of her.

Bear laughed. “How about kiss my ass?” He pulled open the passenger door and slid inside. Raven turned to Gunner, her mouth open in outrage. All he could give her was a shrug and a half-smile.

She pulled herself behind the wheel and when Gunner got in, she found herself pressed against him; much closer than she wanted to be. Raven didn’t look at Bear as they sat right next to each other. She wanted an apology or a thank-you, and it killed her to know she wouldn’t get either.

Looking past Raven, Bear asked the enforcer, “How’d you get the charges dropped?”

The question only made her heart hammer with more fury. He acted as if she couldn’t have possibly been responsible.
Hold your goddamn tongue,
she told herself.

Gunner looked to Raven. “Don’t ask me, old man. Ask her.” He nudged Raven in the ribs before turning his attention back to the road. A flush came over her. It caught her off-guard. There was a look in Gunner’s eyes that she couldn’t miss. Was there really a friendly smile on his face? After they had just fought?
God,
she thought,
it’s never easy with him.

“Out with it, sugar.” Bear laughed and opened the glove box, grabbing a pack of cigarettes that were sitting next to a pistol. He closed it, paying no attention to the gun. He stared at Raven as he pulled a smoke out and lit it.

“Roll the window down, Bear.” He did as Gunner asked, never taking his eyes off Raven.

She took a deep breath, enjoying the first scent of the cigarette, “I know a cop. Now I owe him one, but it got the job done.”
 

“What’s his name? Is he Bakersfield PD?”

“Allan- It doesn’t matter. Yeah, he’s with Bakersfield.” Raven felt a twinge of fear sneak up on her. “Bear, don’t do anything. Leave him be. I keep him out of the club life. I don’t tell him anything, and I don’t give him anything.”

“Darlin’, you didn’t tell him nothing about the club because you don’t
know
nothing about the club. Hearsay and tall tales. I’m sure you know all kinds of great stories, but I doubt there’s much you could say that would get us into any real trouble.”

Raven wanted anything but to be trapped between Bear patronized her and Gunner getting her slightly hot. She wasn’t trying to make herself sound like a club member. She wasn’t trying to sound like a Son. All she was doing was trying to fix a mistake.

“Ah, fuck it,” he muttered. He turned back to the road and didn’t say another word until Gunner dropped him off at his and Faith’s place.

It had felt like a very long ride for her, and the more she ignored Bear, the more she couldn’t ignore Gunner’s body against hers. It was a nice, distracting feeling after all the shit she’d been through.
 
Her relationship with Gunner was complicated to say the least, but a small part of her was dying to tear his clothes off and get simple with him.

Bear got out and slammed the door shut. He leaned back into the window. “Loyalty.” Bear thumped his fist on the door twice, then turned and walked away.

Raven didn’t scoot away from Gunner right away.
 
It took a few minutes for Raven to realize what Bear had meant. She faced Gunner, her eyes open wide. “Wait. Wait a damn minute. Did he mean…?”

He shrugged. “I don’t claim to understand the man. I can make a guess, though. He’s gonna call a meeting tonight. You’ll be there, because Bear’s gonna wanna hear about your relationship with Allan.”

Raven heard a tone in Gunner’s voice. He didn’t like Allan.

“Bear’s thorough. He’s gonna wanna hear the story again. After that, I don’t know. It sounds to me like you impressed the old bastard, but who can say? I’ve seen his opinion of someone turn on a dime, good and bad.”

He drove Raven back to the tattoo parlor, and she didn’t ask any more questions. She wasn’t thinking about the club. Her mind was on the president’s son next to her. She had been thinking about him more and more, knowing she could get herself in big trouble over those thoughts.

“You’ll probably get a text any minute. Be prepared for a meeting tonight.”

Before Raven could get out of the pickup, Gunner pulled her against his body.
 
They kissed, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.
 
His strong hands were at the small of her back, reminding her of everything his body was capable of. They broke the kiss, and she grabbed her work supplies from the bed.
 

Her mind was blank, but she turned back to him and managed, “What the hell was that for?”

“A job well done.”

Raven turned back to the tattoo parlor, not wanting to give Gunner the satisfaction of a reaction.
 
She couldn’t believe what had just happened.
 
She felt Gunner’s eyes on her as she headed back to the parlor. Just before the door, he called out to her, “And good luck, Raven.”

She smiled, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the smile the rest of the day.

As he had predicted, the text came. It was the usual.
LB 9PM RSMC.
Be at the Los Bandoleros at nine, Rising Sons Motorcycle Club meeting.

Raven couldn’t focus on her work. Her thoughts wandered back to the club and Gunner. Had Bear really meant that she passed? What was going to happen between her and Gunner after the kiss? Time slowed to a molasses crawl. One of the clients that she’d rescheduled came in, and Raven fought to keep her excitement under control. Becca, the girl getting a sparrow on her shoulder, noticed that Raven had a little more pep than usual.

“What’s up with you, girl?”

As Raven wiped the tattoo gun down with alcohol pads, she said the first thing she could think of that wasn’t related to the club. “Just some guy.”

“Some guy?” Becca’s voice climbed higher at the mention of a man. “Do tell!”

“It’s someone I know from riding.” Raven did all of Becca’s tattoo work, and they had started grabbing drinks on the weekends. She knew that Raven rode with some bikers, but she didn’t know anything about the club.