Wild Heart- Extended Edition (The Wild Heart Series) (9 page)

As Ani followed Jill over to her office, she glanced toward the customer sitting at Jill’s desk. He was dressed in the same ragged leather cut and tattered jeans as the men she’d seen the day of her interview.

As they stepped into her office, she closed the door, “What’s wrong, Jill?” Ani could see the worry and anxiety on Jill’s face, something about this man wasn’t sitting right with her.

“Well, he wants to open an account with over twenty thousand in cash. Of course, that threw up red flags and when I asked him how he’d acquired the money, he refused to tell me. If he won’t tell me, I can’t fill out the proper regulation paperwork and in turn I cannot open the account,” Jill talked nervously and too fast.

“Ok, do you want me to speak with him?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.” A look of relief washed over Jill’s face as she hurried off toward her desk.

Ani removed the papers and folder from her desk just as Jill came back, showing the man into her office. She stood to shake the man’s hand, but he refused it and plopped down sideways into the chair in front of her desk. Trying to hide her own irritation, she sat back down and looked the man over. His long hair was peppered with black and gray streaks and his face was worn in the same way as the leather of his jacket. Over the right pocket it read “Renegades” with another rocker on the other side that said “Neanderthals”.
Fucking bikers.

“Sir, Jill tells me that she’s having some problems opening your account. Is there anything I can do to help with that?” Ani smiled nicely toward him.

“Well, you can open the account without asking so many damn questions,” he stared blankly over her desk.

“Unfortunately, to open the account I will need to ask a few question. Now, I will try my best to make the process as easy for you as I can, however, there is certain information we have to record per government law.” He shifted irritably in his seat and cleared his throat to loud.

“Ok fine. Then I want to put this in the account we already have.”

“We can do that. I just need to know the amount and the account name for the deposit ticket,” She said, reaching over and grabbing the ticket from her desk.

“Twenty thousand, five hundred, and four dollars,” he said plainly.

“Sir, to deposit that amount of money, I will need to ask you where you acquired it from,” she stood her ground, “and I will need your identification and social security number as well for documentation.” She wasn’t about to let this man come in here with his bad attitude, and ugly ass shoes, and keep her from doing her job.

He twisted in the chair until he faced her directly, “That’s none of your damn business.”

“Ok, great. Then I hope you are able to find somewhere to deposit that money. We always like to warn our customers of the dangers of carrying around large amounts of cash,” She sat back in her seat, unimpressed by his demeanor.

“Oh yeah? You know bad things happen to women who don’t do what they are told,” his words were challenging and held a deeper meaning than what floated at the surface.

“Good thing I carry protection. It helps me feel safe,” she challenged back as she cut her eyes toward her purse hanging on the coat rack. How dare this man come into her office and throw idle threats toward her. She wasn’t backing down.

She could see Jill and Kate out of the corner of her eye, standing at the corner of the large glass window of her office. They stared at her and the biker facing off across the desk. Ani didn’t break eye contact with the man as Kate knocked lightly on her office door and peeked her head in.

“Everything ok in here?” she said in almost a whisper.

“Yes, everything is fine. I was actually showing this nice gentleman out.” Ani stood, waiting on the man to get up from the chair.

His eyes didn’t leave hers as he stood, taking a few steps toward the door and then hesitating as he stood next to Kate. “Better get yourself some real protection. Wouldn’t want a pretty girl like you getting hurt, Ms. Forrest.” He turned back enough to give her a look that shot shivers up her spine.

“I’m sorry, but was that a threat?” Kate’s voice was angry and protective as she stepped between Ani and the biker and glared him down.

“No, ma’am. More like a warning.” With that, he turned and left from the bank, slamming the glass door behind him.

Ani sat frozen as the vibrations of the motorcycles rumbled throughout the building. She could hear them as they drove around the building and then faded off into the distance.

“Ani, you ok?” Kate’s voice was filled with concern as she took in the look on Ani’s face.

“Of course,” her voice sounded more confident than she felt, “he was just angry because he wasn’t going to get his way.”

“Ok, if you say so,” Kate eyed her one last time. “Do you want your door open or closed?”

“Oh, you can leave it open. Thanks, Kate.”

Ani sat at her desk contemplating whether she should call Cash. She didn’t want to use him, but something about the weighted message in the man’s words made her stomach turn in knots. She opened her desk drawer and removed her cell, turning on the screen she noticed a missed call. She opened the screen, there was a number she didn’t recognize and a new voicemail. She was hesitant as she called her voicemail, until a deep Irish accent came through the speaker.

“It’s Knox. Gonna ride out to my cabin tonight. Was gonna see if you wanted to come.” She latched onto each of his heavy breaths until the speaker went quiet. Excitement and adrenaline flowed through her body, it was everything she could do to not start shaking. Quickly she pulled up her e-mail and typed a message to Kate.

Recipient: Kate Benson

Subject: Tonight

Message: We have had contact with Knight Rider. You game for tonight?

Ani leaned back in her chair, she wasn’t sure how Knox would react to her inviting people along, but he couldn’t expect her to saddle up on the back of his bike and ride off into the sunset when she didn’t really know him. Her phone unexpectedly began vibrating on her desk, causing her heart to jump into her throat. Looking down she saw Cash’s name come across her caller ID. Might as well break it to him now before things went any further. She hit the answer button, not really knowing what she was going to say.

“Hey, Cash,” she answered.

“Hello, princess. How’s work?” his voice was as sweet and smooth as honey as he spoke to her.

“It’s alright,” her answer was short. Damnit! This was going to be harder than she thought.

“So, did you think any further about my offer for dinner?”

“I did,” she swallowed, “However, Kate and I had a long chat this afternoon and we’ve finally made up.” Ani jumped as the door to her office came flying open and Kate came running in, silently apologizing when she noticed Ani on the phone.

Ani held her hand up covering the receiver and mouthed Cash’s name, laughing quietly as Kate pretended to fall asleep.

“Well, that’s good you girls have finally called a truce. I was beginning to think I’d have to lock you both in a closet until you became friends again.” She smiled as he chuckled. What made this so hard was that deep down she knew that Cash would do anything for her. After she had left, nothing existed to Cash except for Ani. No time was too long, no distance too far; in his mind nothing could have kept them apart. Even if he hadn’t known how to deal with it when they were younger, she knew he had always wanted what was best for them both. The only problem with that, was in his mind, what was best for Ani had always seemed to bit different than what she had imagined.

“Yeah, so we decided to take a little trip for the weekend, to sort of get away and rekindle,” Ani looked up so see Kate making romantic faces at her and mouthing, “
Oh yeah!”
A quick hush toward Kate and Ani was devoting her attention back to Cash.

“That’s ok. I know you girls have a lot to catch up on. I can’t say I’m not disappointed; I was hoping to pick up where we left off last weekend,” his voice was deep and lustful as he spoke, “But we have plenty of time for that.”

“Yeah, maybe next weekend we can get together.”

Shit. You weren’t supposed to keep playing with his head, asshole.
Without thought Ani brought her hand up, slapping herself in the forehead. She shook her phone in the air with over exaggerated anger before bringing it back to her ear.

“Sounds good. I’ll give you a shout over the weekend,” he said flatly.

“Ok. I’ll talk to you later.” She grimaced at the disappointment in his voice and hung up the phone. She wasn’t trying to, but she had hurt his feelings. But after a deep steadying breath, she accepted the fact that for the past five years she had been over thinking everything. It had twisted shit around and made situations out to be much worse than they really were. It was time now to focus on Ani and no one else.

“Ok, so I want to know the plans for tonight,” Kate pulled her from her self-loathing.

“I haven’t gotten that far yet. I got a voicemail from him, but I didn’t get a chance to call him beck yet,” Ani answered nervously.

“Well…What are you waiting for? The spider webs to start growing in your lady parts? Come on, blow the dust off it and call him back.”

“You are just as crude as you used to be,” Ani rolled her eyes as she hit Knox’s number on her phone and called him back.

“I was beginning to worry you weren’t going to call me back,” his voice came through the speaker.

“Sorry, I’ve been working all day. Just got your message,” she tried to sound smooth, but she was nervous as hell and Kate’s prying eyes weren’t helping.

“So, you wanna come tonight?”

“I’d love to; under one condition,” Ani smiled up at Kate.

CHAPTER SEVEN

BIKER BITCHES

“Kate! I am not wearing this!” Ani shouted from Kate’s spare bedroom.

“Don’t be a pussy!” Kate shouted back down the hallway.

You have got to be fucking kidding me
. Ani held the short, tight, black skirt up in front of her. At first she’d thought it was a tube top, until Kate had clarified it was actually a mini skirt.
Mini is an understatement
.

“Kate, I know you said blow the dust off, but I don’t want the entire world to see my goods.” She brought the skirt into Kate’s bedroom, “Hey! Why do you get to wear pants and I don’t?”

“Because I can get laid with the push of a button.”

“Sex toys don’t count, Kate.”

“I’m not talking about a dildo, twat,” Kate said, “There’s a list of about 15 guys in my phone that I can call whenever I want.”

“Ok then, who’s the last guy that you hooked up with?”

“Kenny Rogers.”

“Cut the shit. Kenny Rogers?” Ani could barely contain her laughter, “
the
Kenny Rogers?”

“No, asshole; not the real Kenny Rogers,” Kate had now joined in the laughter at Ani’s face. “Do you remember the guy who used to get drunk at the bonfires and sing Kenny Rogers songs? Bastard knew the words to all of them.”

“Oh my God, are you talking about Jeffrey Sutton?” Ani doubled over, “That’s worse than the real Kenny Rogers!”

“Hey, asshole, Kenny Rogers is a legend! You’d be privileged if he came up one day and asked to tap that.” It was everything in Kate to not break her straight face. “And Jeffrey Sutton is not that bad looking… anymore.”

“Key word, anymore.” Ani stood back up with a red face, “Come on, Kate, he used to piss his pants when he got too drunk.”

“Shit happens, you know?” Kate giggled, “And besides, it’s better than going on a dry spell for weeks.”

“I think I’d rather go weeks.”

“The point is, at least I’m getting laid. You on the other hand haven’t been laid in what? Five, six years?” Kate waited for her answer.

“Six is about right. Give or take a few months.”

“Holy shit! Do you want to borrow one of my vibrators and go have some private time?”

“Kate! No! That’s disgusting.”

“I clean them, asshole. But seriously, wouldn’t you be more willing to give it up if it’s already hanging out?” Kate said placing her hands on her hips, she clearly wasn’t going to let Ani out of this one.

“Fine! But I am taking a pair of pants!” Ani stomped back off toward the spare bedroom.

She threw her pants on the small bag she had intended to bring for tonight, staring at them in contemplation before throwing them back onto the floor and slipping the skirt onto her hips with gusto.
Screw it, I’m getting laid tonight!
She walked over to the full length mirror that hung on the wall. The tight skirt actually complimented her long tans legs nicely. She turned in the mirror to make sure her ass cheeks weren’t hanging out, jumping when Kate spoke from the doorway.

“You look smoking hot.”

“Well, then I know I can pick you up if everything else goes to hell,” she smiled sarcastically over at Kate.

“I don’t know what you college girls experimented with up in New York, but I don’t swing that way,” she said, trying to hide her smile.

“Yeah right! How about Gina Baker our senior year at Kyle’s graduation party?” Ani twirled around toward Kate who was now sitting on the bed.

“Ok, maybe that one time,” Kate laughed, “Come on, fix your make up before your stud muffin gets here.” Kate chuckled as she headed toward the front of the apartment.

Ani finished applying her dark black eyeliner as Kate came through the door carrying her phone, the theme song from Knight Rider blaring from the speaker.

“What the hell?” Ani asked confused.

“I took the liberty of changing his ringtone. I think he’s here.” Kate said, handing her the phone

“Hello?” Ani answered.

“You done getting dolled up?” She smiled as Knox’s voice came through the speaker.

“I think so,” Ani answered as she dusted the last bit of blush onto her cheeks.

“Ain’t no need for all that make-up you girls put on, think you look just fine without it.”

The blush was no longer needed as the tint of her cheeks reddened with his compliment. “Are you here?”

“Almost. Tell your girl to call the guard. They don’t want us hooligans in this fancy neighborhood.” For the first time she heard him laugh, causing her grin to widen.