Asher: Heartless Devils MC (14 page)

She creeped back. “What now?” she whispered.

“Wait him out,” he whispered back.

Jenny was about to go stark raving mad. They had been stuck on the roof for two hours, she had to pee, and the sun was up. The man moved about, but never moved far enough away to make her confident of their escape.

“Fuck this,” Asher whispered as he pulled his phone out and dialed. “Don’t talk. Listen,” he hissed into the phone. “I need the cavalry to 6900 NW 74
th
and I need it fucking yesterday. Just stir the shit out front. I’ll do the rest.”

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. But we will when it happens and we need to be ready to move.”

They sat in silence for another thirty minutes before they heard the roar of a straining V8 engine followed by the screech of tires, gunshots, more screeching from abused rubber and then another round of gunshots as the vehicle raced away, their man running for the front of the building at the first set of shots.

“Let’s haul ass,” Asher muttered as he went over the edge and down the ladder recklessly fast.

He was standing at the bottom, waving his arm in a frantic gesture for her to hurry up so she jumped off the ladder before reaching the bottom, stumbled, then turned and ran. Asher was fast, but she was faster, her legs, once again, fueled by her fear. She was already through the fence, panting on the other side, as Asher squeezed through the opening. Once on the other side, he, too, bent over and put his hands on his knees for a moment to catch his breath.

“Can I show a girl a good time or what?” he woofed out between breaths before standing up. “Let’s get out of here before something else goes wrong.”  

They took a long, circuitous, route back to her car, but made no pretense of trying to hide now that the sun was up and the car was clearly visible. Trying to be sneaky would draw more attention than just walking along hand in hand as they were doing would.

Less than an hour later, the door to Asher’s house was swinging closed behind them. His place was closer and, after being up a little more than twenty-four hours, they were exhausted.

They tumbled into bed and, though he thought about Jenny having to pay up on her cowgirl remarks, he was just too damned tired to care at the moment. They had barely become still before first Asher, then Jenny, crashed headlong into a deep sleep.

“Now I wish I had kept his card,” Asher grumbled as he pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the Blue Fox. He didn’t have Thomas Nakagawa’s email or cell number so he was making a personal delivery of the pictures.

“It’s okay. I want to see his face when he finds out Hamasaki is screwing him,” Jenny replied as she shut her car door.

They entered the bar and No Neck met them again. “I need to see Nakagawa. I have some information that he’s going to want to know.”

No Neck continued to get in Asher’s face, but Asher ignored him as if he were of no more concern than a speck of lint. After a moment a man stepped out from the back, nodded, and No Neck stepped aside.

“You might want to try smiling a little. People will think this isn’t a fun place,” Asher said with a bright smile, patting the other man softly on the cheek as he walked by.

Jenny looked away to hide her smile as they walked to the back of the club. They entered the back room, and the man escorted them to Thomas Nakagawa’s office, closing the door behind them.

“I heard we had a little excitement at the warehouse early this morning. That have anything to do with you?” Thomas asked as the two sat down.

“Maybe,” Asher allowed with a smile. “I didn’t want to put you in the difficult position of having to explain our presence.”

Thomas thought about it a moment. “It’s a good thing your guys are lousy shots or I might not be quite so understanding.”

“How do you know what they were aiming for?”

Thomas’s lips quirked into a smile. “Fair enough. What have you got to show me?”

Asher unlocked the phone and handed it to Thomas after calling up the first picture. “I took that this morning at the warehouse.”

“Those mother-fuckers,” Thomas hissed as he flipped back and forth among the three photos. “They’ve been playing us all along. I’m going to find that Hamasaki fucker and feed him his nuts.”

“You’ll have to wait behind us.”

Thomas handed Asher his phone. “You have a plan?”

“No. Only that the Devils and the Trifectas work together. What’s that old saying… the enemy of my enemy…?” Asher began.

“... is my friend,” Thomas completed. “Yeah. Fucking the Bucs is one thing, but getting fucked ourselves…no. That shit isn’t happening.”

Asher rose and extended his hand. “I’ll be in touch. Now that we know what is going down, I need to report this to the Boss.”

“If I hear anything, I’ll let you know,” Thomas said as he took Asher’s hand.

“Got a minute, Boss?” Asher asked as he stuck his head into John’s office.

“Yeah. Have a seat.”

“I have been doing some digging on this Hamasaki problem,” Asher said as he sat down.

“And?”

“And I met with the Trifectas. They have partnered with Hamasaki to push the Bucs out.”

“Fuck…” John muttered.

“There’s more. Hamasaki isn’t playing it straight with Nakagawa’s crew. Thomas sent me to a warehouse and I did some snooping. Hamasaki is screwing the Trifectas, too. Hamasaki told Thomas they were bringing drugs. Maybe they are, but they are bringing in guns, as well. Nakagawa is
pissed.

“Good. Let the Trifectas deal with him.”

“I think it would be better if the HDs and the Trifectas worked this deal together. We have a dog in this hunt, too. So let’s squeeze Hamasaki from both sides and pop him like a zit. Maybe reach out to the other clubs and see who else Hamasaki is in bed with.”

John rubbed his chin. “Maybe. We’ll have to be careful. We don’t want to look weak.”

Asher snorted. “The other clubs know better. If the Trifectas have already joined up with us, that will smooth it over some. With the number one and number two clubs working together, they will know this is some serious shit. Look, John, you have the clubs not stepping all over each other and there has been peace between the clubs for years. You made that happen. This is just the next step. We don’t need some outside agent coming in here and screwing that up. We take care of our own.”

John thought for a moment. It’s times like this when he would like a cigar to help him think. “Okay. Let’s do it. You’re driving this, so you handle it. Let’s see if we can get a read on this Hamasaki asshole. We know he’s fucking the Trifectas. Let’s see who else is getting the hard one.”

Asher snorted a laugh. “You got it, Boss.”

“Where’s Jenny?”

“Downstairs. Why?”

“Just wondered. You’re keeping her safe?”

“I am.”

“Where was she while you were digging up the dirt on Hamasaki?”

Asher had to work hard not to squirm in his chair. There was a reason John had climbed to the chair at the head of the table. He was no fool. “She was safe. We picked up her car then went to her place.”

“That didn’t answer the question. Was she with you while you were investigating Hamasaki?”

Asher looked John square in the eye. “No. I left her at her place.”

John met his eyes then looked away. “Okay. She’s all that I have left.”

“I know, Boss. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“How did the meeting go?” Jenny asked as they mounted their bikes.

“Your dad was asking some pointed questions about where you were last night.”

Jenny felt her blood run cold. “What did you tell him?”

“I told him I left you at home. I think that is the first flat-out lie I have ever told him. I didn’t like it.”

“Thank you,” Jenny said as she hauled her bike upright. “I know I’m putting you in a tough spot, but I can’t let this go. I don’t know why Dad isn’t dealing with it.”

“Because, Jenny, he doesn’t know what he is getting into. If he takes out Hamasaki, that might bring in more thunder than we can handle. He’s being good leader. He is putting the club ahead of his own need for vengeance.”

“Whoop-de-do,” she muttered as her bike rumbled to life. “The club can go fuck itself,” she said, but not loud enough to be heard over the throb of her bike.

“Fuck,” Jenny breathed as Asher’s lips caressed the small hollow in her throat. They had arrived back at her apartment and, after they had finished cleaning up the dinner dishes, their evening has started like most. Jenny was propped against Asher, typing away on her computer as he watched television. But his unconscious caressing of her thigh had distracted her to the point that she had put her computer aside and take matters into her own hands.

Asher was stripped to the waist and his pants were open so she could stroke his cock. Her shirt was in a puddle on the floor beside his as he licked and kissed her everywhere, his breath hot as flame on her neck.

She had just pulled his lips to her so she could drink deeply from the well of his lips when her apartment intercom buzzed. “Ms. Carter?”

“Shit!” she hissed, pushing Asher up enough that she could slip out from under him. He held her a moment, kissing her hand, but then let her go. She smiled as he stood and began to strip out of his pants. Her smile broadened as she walked the short distance to the intercom.
That’s right big boy… I’m going to take good care of you tonight.

“What?” she snapped in annoyance, pressing the button so the security guard could hear her.

“Ms. Carter, your father and six others are on their way up to see you.”

Jenny frowned. “Did he say what he wanted?”

“No. He is in the pass log, so he just signed the visitor register and I waved him on by. But he didn’t look very happy.”

“Fuck!” Asher hissed. When she turned, he was furiously pulling his pants up. “He knows. He knows you were with me at the Hamasaki warehouse. We need to go!”

“Thanks, Clark!” she said before releasing the button and hurrying over to snatch up her shirt. “How would he know?”

“Your car was right there. The sun was up. If someone saw it, and told him…”

“Dammit… What are we going to do?”

“Run!” Asher hissed as he pushed past her, picking up his key and helmet before opening the door.

Jenny followed him out, her helmet and Harley key in hand.

The elevator was only one floor down as they burst through the stairwell door, pounding down the steps as fast as their feet would take them, dashing past the security desk and through the doors into the garage.

They had just reached their bikes when her phone rang. “What do you want?” Jenny asked into the phone.

“Where are you?” her father demanded.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Goddammit, Jenny. I’m your father!”

“And I’m a grown woman.”

“Were you with Asher last night, or this morning, at the Hamasaki warehouse?”

“Yes I was,” she said, her voice full of defiance.

“I gave you strict orders to
not
get involved! You and Asher both! You have deliberately disobeyed me!”