Torched: Afterburn (Iron Serpents Motorcycle Club Book 2) (6 page)

Right.

Seeing her coming down the front steps, I hopped to my feet and jogged up to meet her halfway. “Councilwoman Collins,” I greeted.

“I’m on my way to an appointment, Mrs. Larter. What do you want?”

Ignoring her objection and shitty attitude, I smiled and remained planted in place. “Oh good, you know who I am, saves us the boring formalities. I’ll be quick and to the point, I want the club’s liquor license back.”

“You need to take that up with Rick Gellar, the city manager,” she replied curtly.

“Are you sure? Because I’m fairly certain he only suspended it to keep
you
quiet. Blackmail really should be left to the professionals, Jan. Amateurs like you tend to… you know… fuck shit up.”

“I have no idea what you’re babbling on about, but I don’t have time for this. Excuse me.”

She tried to step around me, but I skipped down the stairs and intercepted her. I wanted to grab her and hurl her down to the street, but seeing as how we were out in public, I decided to practice a little self-control. “You’ll make time,” I insisted, the bogus saccharine tone of my voice making my own stomach curl.

She angrily stared me down. “Do I need to call security?”

“Sure, go ahead. But then I’ll have to stick the real cops on your son for the shit he pulled at the bar last night and I don’t think you want that.”

“My son was attacked by
your
husband’s gangster friend,” she snarled. “The police know that.”

I nodded. “Right, yeah… I’m sure they’ll completely dismiss the security footage of your precious kid scoring the glass a few hours earlier to make it easier to break. Regardless of intent, it didn’t come crashing down on an innocent patron’s head so it probably won’t be a big deal. They probably also won’t care that he provoked the brawl by getting a little too handsy with a woman who made it clear she didn’t want him touching her. Vandalism, public endangerment, sexual assault, I’m sure I’m missing a few.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. That’s absurd.”

“What part?” I asked. “That Alex could be looking at charges, that we have hidden cameras you didn’t factor in, or are you just talking about this entire harebrained scheme of yours in general? I agree with you on the latter, it
was
pretty absurd. For someone in a position of power, you’re kind of a dummy.”

“I thought your kind doesn’t believe in getting the law involved,” she seethed, “but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re using my son’s freedom as a bargaining chip. You’re simply proving what I already know to be true, the MC and everyone associated with it are a blight on this town.

I rolled my eyes, biting my tongue to avoid going off-topic by defending my
kind
. What a bitch. “Where was this moral line in the sand when you asked him to do it in the first place? He’s the one trying to press charges. Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll get nothing more than probation. But you? I hope you have a good PR firm on speed dial. You should consider a career as a smut writer after I ruin your political one, those emails between you and Gellar were fucking gold—”

“A sexual relationship between consenting adults isn’t illegal,” she shot back.

“No, but it wasn’t a relationship, was it? Poor Gellar, he probably thought you actually enjoyed his company until you showed him your true colors.”

“If this town tolerates outlaws having half the local government in their pockets, I doubt they’ll care about what I do in the bedroom. Try again, Mrs. Larter.”

Challenge accepted. “See, that’s the weird thing about Linwood,” I mused, “it seems like people are fairly open-minded but it’s a small town to the core. Granted, I haven’t lived here long, but I’ve noticed the rumor mill tends to be particularly vicious to women labeled as tramps. Now, I’m no prude. Use it if you’ve got it, honey. But I wonder how your constituents would react to finding out that you did a little tramping around yourself. Actually, a
lot
of tramping around…
Ginger May
.”

As if I’d flipped an invisible switch, her face suddenly turned as white as the morning snow. Her lips parted but nothing came out.

“Yeah, I know all about your foxy alter ego,” I revealed. “Colorado Springs may be hours away, but the internet knows no borders. I’ve gotta say, legitimate escort services are really up on their digital recordkeeping these days, it’s pretty impressive. Did you know some of your old clients kept their own records too? I tracked down emails and videos from five of them in a matter of hours. Let’s just say they put you in very compromising positions and I don’t just mean that figuratively.”

By now her eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets. “You’re lying.”

I pulled out my phone, found one of the more damaging videos, and held it up for her to see. “This one’s my favorite. I definitely took you for the fetish type, but getting fucked in a latex nun outfit while getting your ass stuffed with a crucifix? Oh boy. I really don’t think that’ll go over well with your religious supporters. Isn’t the mayor Catholic? And come to think of it… his position is your ultimate goal in the next election, isn’t it?”

“I… That’s not…What are you going to do?” she stuttered.

“Mmm, I don’t know yet. I’d really hate to have to make these public because I’m not a huge fan of slut shaming, but I guess it depends on you. Don’t look so sad, at least you’re dealing with me instead of my husband. I tend to be a little less temperamental.”

Backed into a corner, she gave in. “I’ll ask Mike to reinstate the license.”

“And?”

“And there won’t be a criminal investigation.”

“
And?
”

She sighed and pulled out a checkbook from her purse. “Will three thousand cover the window?”

“Twenty.”

She glared at me with disgust. “Are you out of your mind? I don’t even have that much. Three thousand is being generous.”

“I got into your emails, what makes you think I didn’t check your bank accounts while I was at it? That’s only a third of your savings, I think
I’m
the one being generous here.”

“Ten,” she countered.

“You’re in no position to negotiate,” I pointed out. “I can make the videos go viral in five minutes. Twenty thousand in cash delivered to the clubhouse by the end of the day or the price goes up and I start leaking them one-by-one. You’ll also stop talking shit about your daughter all around town and stay out of her life if that’s what she wants. Same goes for Gellar. Don’t play with me, Jan. I’m a patient woman, but if you keep pushing your luck I’ll fucking bury you.”

Her eyes started watering. “Fine,” she finally mustered out.

I stepped to the side, smiled, and waved toward the street. “Have a nice day, Councilwoman. Pleasure doing business with you.”

She clutched her purse and raced down the stairs so fast I thought she’d face-plant.

I probably should have felt bad for extorting her, there was nothing wrong with whatever floated her kinky boat, but I’d had enough experience with hypocrites to know you had to cut them down to size to accomplish anything. It wasn’t about money; it was about coming to a preemptive understanding before she tried to pull this kind of shit again.

Feeling pretty damn good about putting the bitch in her place, I strolled across the street and headed for my bike. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and with Torch busy working away in the salvage yard, I had every intention of enjoying some time on two wheels.

Unfortunately, timing didn’t seem to be on my side this fine afternoon. As I stood next to my Harley and geared up, I spotted a disheveled and barely recognizable Nadia—a former club crawler who’d gotten herself kicked out after pissing off Torch one too many times—walking nervously toward me. There was hesitation in her steps and she kept alternating between staring at me and looking over her shoulder like she was weary of wayward Serpents roaming around.

Despite Torch’s assertion that Nadia had deserved excommunication for disrespecting me and not telling the club about a new drug hitting the streets when she started using it, I felt more bad for her than anything. Aside from her shooting me some nasty looks the few times we’d crossed paths at the clubhouse—which I chalked up to her feeling tossed aside—I couldn’t remember a single time we’d ever actually interacted. Torch had been completely upfront about their past arrangement and it hadn’t fazed me at all, so I had a feeling he’d been running on heightened emotions and acting like his usual, overprotective self when he’d made the call to boot her. I certainly hadn’t asked him to. Personally, Nadia struck me more as a butthurt woman than a hateful bitch, but the decision to welcome or ban someone from the clubhouse wasn’t mine to make. So, while I sometimes wondered what had happened to her after leaving the only life she’d known for years, I hadn’t brought it up.

Based on outward appearances, time hadn’t been treating her all that well, she looked completely beaten down. She was a naturally pretty girl but today her caramel hair was a mess, her eyes looked tired and red, and her clothes hung from a shrinking frame. I put my helmet back down on the seat and waited to see what she would do.

“Hi,” she croaked, her voice shaky. “I’m sorry to bother you. I know you’re probably not supposed to talk to me.”

I studied her face and caught myself scowling, more out of concern than anything. She looked like she needed a hug and a proper meal. “You’re not bothering me. What’s going on, Nadia? ”

“You remember my name?” she asked.

“I have a pretty good memory.”

Her eyes dropped to the ground. “I just wanted to say that I’m… I’m really sorry.”

“For what?”

“For almost getting you killed and Torch hurt. If I’d told them about the drugs, none of that stuff would’ve happened to you guys.”

“Nad—”

“I might’ve called you a bitch and a cunt behind your back too,” she added.

That just made me laugh. “Oh please, I’ve been called a lot worse. And as far as the other stuff goes, there was a lot more to it than the drugs. It wasn’t your fault.”

She glanced back up at me. “You don’t hate me?”

“Nadia, I don’t have a problem with you. Never did. I’m not some deluded woman who wants to pretend my husband was a monk when we weren’t together. And I’m definitely not gonna judge you for having
feelings
. God forbid, right? Honestly, I have no fucking idea how you girls do it. Never mind the emotional highs and lows, you couldn’t pay me enough to clean up after those animals and their parties. Jesus. I’m sure you’ve seen shit you’ll never scrub from your brain.”

Finally, her lips curled up a little. “I didn’t mind. They’re good guys, they help the girls out a lot.”

That much was true and judging by Nadia’s appearance now, it was clear that she’d been a lot better off while in the club’s good graces. I just couldn’t get past how fucking emaciated she looked. All of a sudden, my afternoon ride seemed a lot less important than getting her fed. “I feel like a burger,” I tossed out. “Care to join me? There’s a little hole-in-the-wall place up the street that makes the best mushroom swiss.”

She looked down again. “I can’t really afford to, but it’s nice of you to ask.”

I wasn’t about to take ‘no’ for an answer and handed her my helmet. “I asked, it’s my treat. Hop on.”

“Are you sure?”

I swung my leg over the bike and patted the seat behind me. “I’m sure. Come on, you look like you haven’t eaten in a month.”

She cracked an actual smile and quickly jumped on. Her hands fumbled around nervously the entire two blocks, like she didn’t know an appropriate way to hold onto a woman rider, especially this one. Thankfully, we managed to make it to Luna Burgers without her ass flying off.

As we waited for our food to come out, Nadia practically inhaled the vanilla milkshake I’d insisted she order. Two hundred more of those and maybe she’d look human again. Goddamn. I wondered if that was what I’d looked like from across the table of the diner Torch had taken me to the day we met.

“Guess I was right about you being hungry,” I remarked. “What’s been going on with you, Nad? What happened after you left?”

She bit her lip and ran a finger along the rim of her glass. “I lost my job when Torch banned me, so I went to Denver to start over. I landed a bartending spot and tried to get clean, but it’s hard to do when the shit’s always in front of you. I got busted for possession in a sweep of the bar, but luckily the judge sent me to rehab instead of jail. But by the time I got out and paid the fines, I was broke again. My head was a lot clearer though and I knew I didn’t wanna keep going down that road anymore. I came back a few weeks ago because everything’s cheaper here, but it’s hard to find a job in a small town where everybody knows your business and thinks you’re just some junkie stripper. And a lot of places don’t wanna get on the club’s bad side by hiring one of their lepers.”

Well, shit. I knew the club had reach, but that wasn’t fucking cool at all. It seemed like Nadia’s punishment was a hell of a lot worse than her so-called crimes. I felt for her, I really did. “What about family or friends?” I asked. “You don’t have anybody to help you get back on your feet?”