Greatest MC Romance Box Set

by Blair Grey

  -Call me as soon as you get this message. It’s urgent. Dean –

  I didn’t want to call him at all. But when I called Garrett, it went straight to voicemail. So, I really had no choice.

  If the woman sitting in my living room was telling me the truth, Dean had been the last person to see Garrett and now he wanted me to call him.

  So, I did. “Finally,” Dean answered my call. “You’re in danger. You need to get the fuck out of your apartment now. I mean right now. I’ve been trying to call you for the last hour. You’ve fucked with the wrong man this time, baby. The Iron Cobras are coming for you.”

  “What are you talking about?” My head throbbed and I had to sit on the toilet before I fell down.

  “You poisoned Garrett Robertson. He came to me, staggering and asking me if I had the antidote. You told him that I had one. When I told him that I had no idea what he was talking about, he made a call and then he told me that you would soon be dead, his brothers would see to that.”

  All I could think about was if Garrett was okay. “Is he alive? Did you get him to the hospital?”

  “What do you think?”

  I think I’ve gone clinically insane!

  Chapter Seventeen

  Garrett

  The internet wasn’t exactly the most reliable source, but I didn’t have anything else to go by. Nicki had been questioned in three missing person cases.

  I had no idea which one of the three men was Strong’s uncle, but two of the guys were married. The thing I found odd was that there were no pictures of Nicki with the men. All the pictures online were of each individual.

  In my opinion, the entire report could’ve been fabricated. Lyle looked over my shoulder. “I don’t know, kid. But this really isn’t our concern anyway. My advice to you is to take care of Strong and let this shit with this girl go. She’s not part of your project. You know what I’m getting at here?”

  “Yes, I get it.” But I still had this gut feeling that Dean Strong was pulling some crazy shit. “I need to deal with him already. The rest can play out however it will.”

  “I’ve got your back. You tell me what you need, and I’ll make sure you get it,” Lyle let me know. “Whatever you do, don’t go it alone.”

  “I understand.” I had to devise a plan and I needed to do it fast. “I’ll get with you later to let you know what I’ve come up with.” As I left the bar where we’d had a short meeting with the council, then Lyle and I did our research on Nicki’s past. Pulling my cell out of my pocket, I saw it had run completely out of charge.

  Being that I’d come on my bike, I had no place to plug it in. Shoving it back into my pocket, I got on my bike and rode home. My brain hurt from all the questions I had going through it.

  I needed to take a moment to just relax and let things settle in my head. So, once I got home, I plugged my cell into the charger then went to take a nap.

  I wasn’t typically a nap kind of guy. But I felt a bit run down with the activities of the prior day and night. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. I needed time to regroup and a nap sounded like the perfect way to do that.

  When I woke up, I found an hour had passed. So, I rubbed my eyes, rolled off the couch then went to get my cell phone off the charger.

  “What the fuck now?” The first thing I saw on my screen was that I’d missed a call from Nicki. “She blocked my number last night. What does she want now?”

  Dean Strong’s advice about watching my back came into my mind. Maybe he wasn’t lying to me after all. Maybe Nicki was some sort of black widow.

  The one thing I had noticed about the men who’d gone missing was that she’d only had one interaction with them. She and I had several interactions, but they were all within the same twenty-four-hour timeframe.

  Is she trying to make up with me to get me alone?

  It wasn’t like me to be afraid of a woman. But this was a highly trained woman. She’d told me that she’d never killed anything but was an excellent shot. Not that she would need a gun to take me out. I was pretty sure she’d been trained to kill using only her hands.

  Snapping my thick neck wouldn’t be a piece of cake though. It would take more than her trying to do that to take me out.

  Laughing out loud, I had no idea what I was thinking. “She’s not going to try to kill me.”

  With my cell still in my hand, I looked up the report I’d been looking at with Lyle. It might’ve been a longshot, but I wanted to see if I could find out about the two wives that got left behind when their husbands went missing.

  After an hour of research, I’d found a social media profile for Beatrice Delgado, the wife of Ray Delgado. So, I asked to be her friend and it took her no time to accept. It also took her no time to call me when I sent her my phone number in a direct message.

  Being good looking might’ve helped me a bit.

  “Hi,” I answered her call. “Beatrice, right?”

  “Yeah. Call me Bea,” she said with a sultry sounding voice. “What had you asking to be my friend, Garrett Robertson?”

  I knew she was hoping for a hookup, but she was about to be disappointed. “I’ve met a woman who you probably hate. Nicole Johansson.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t sound nearly as mad as I had thought she would. “That girl. I don’t know much about her. She works for the DEA. She met my husband in a bar. He never came home that night. And no one knows where he is or what happened to him. But she was cleared.”

  “Do you think she and your husband had sex?”

  “No. I know they didn’t,” she answered. “See, I confronted her. I didn’t believe her about the no sex thing. She went with me to take a lie detector test. My stepfather is in that business. He’s the one who told me to bring her to him. She passed the test. They danced a few songs and talked a little. Then she left. I don’t know who took Ray or what they did to him, but she didn’t have a thing to do with it.”

  “That’s good to know.” She’d given me some valuable information. “I appreciate your help, Bea. And I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “We weren’t getting along well at the time. Well, we hadn’t been getting along for the year before that happened to him. As a matter of fact, even I was questioned about his disappearance. Our marriage wasn’t a happy one,” she admitted. “But I would give anything to have him back now. Or, at the very least, know if he’s dead or alive.”

  “I’m sure you would. Not knowing must be hard to take.” I knew I’d go crazy with that.

  “It is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. I’m just thankful that we didn’t have any children. It would’ve been so much harder if we’d had them.”

  I wondered if she knew about the other wife. “So, did you hear about what happened a year later with Nicole and another man?”

  “Oh, yes,” she said. “That was Jimmy Slayton. He met Nicki in the local grocery store and afterward they went and had coffee at a café not far from there. They took separate cars to the café. He and his wife were having problems too. She wasn’t even living in their home at that time. Taylor Slayton was at her mother’s in Arizona when her husband went missing. I don’t have any more information on that case than what I’ve given you.”

  “Thank you for all your help.”

  “You know, when I confronted her and took her to get the lie detector test, we talked a little bit. She’s sort of – how should I put it? Broken. Not that she said a lot. It was what she didn’t say that told me that.”

  “Yeah, I’ve picked that up about her too.” And from what I’d seen so far, Nicki wasn’t making a hell of a lot of progress getting any better. “Well, I should get going. Thanks again.”

  “You’re interested in her?” she asked.

  “I was. It’s complicated.” I didn’t want to say too much. “She’s got a lot to get over.”

  “Yeah. Just be nice to her. I’ve got this feeling that she’s been through some tough shit. It’s not her fault that she’s so c
losed off. At least, I don’t think it is.” She sighed. “Well, good luck with whatever you’re after. See ya.”

  “Yeah, bye.”

  I didn’t know much more than I’d known before. Except that Nicki had undergone a lie detector test that proved what Dean had said wasn’t true.

  Whatever Dean Strong’s role was in all of this, it was about to end. My job was to get rid of the man. That might help Nicki out in the long run, but that was just a happy coincidence.

  I wasn’t in this to help her. I was in this to get my patch for the Iron Cobras faster than usual. Somehow, I had to try to ignore everything but that.

  As I sat there, though, looking at the call she’d made to me that morning, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering why she’d made it.

  Why do I care?

  Nicole Johansson had issues. Many of them. I didn’t need that kind of drama in my life.

  I had my own issues to deal with. I was quite the handful all on my own. Bringing in more drama would be stupid.

  And it would take me away from what really mattered - becoming an Iron Cobra. That was the goal. That was my main objective.

  So, why am I still looking at this fucking cell phone in my hand?

  Why would I try to call her back?

  It was sure to be some sort of a trick. Maybe she was behind the missing men. She’d only seen each of us one time. I didn’t want to end up like them.

  You are not afraid of that girl!

  Pinching my brow, I took a deep breath. One phone call wouldn’t hurt a thing. And it would help me get the closure I needed.

  She’d called me, but when I called her back, I wasn’t going to let her have her say. I would tell her that I wasn’t into playing these head games. I wanted no part of the crazy thing she had going on.

  My finger hovered over the screen. Nicki had been through hell. She didn’t need me giving her another dose of it.

  Putting the phone down, I walked away from it. I had to distance myself from the temptation to get even deeper into the drama that surrounded the woman.

  I had a plan to make. I had something to deal with.

  Dean Strong.

  Sitting at the kitchen table, I reached into the drawer near me and pulled out a pen and piece of paper. I needed to make some notes. Nothing had been planned at all.

  If I wanted to be an Iron Cobra, I had to learn how to think like one.

  So, how will I pull this off?

  There could be no link to me at all. It had to be as if by chance I’d come up on him while he was alone.

  Strong had placed cameras in Nicki’s apartment, so that meant he might’ve put some in his too. A sexual deviant like that might want to have photographic evidence of all his encounters.

  His place wasn’t the right place to do what I had to do.

  Somewhere between point A and point B is where I’d find my ground. A parking lot maybe. He would be easy to sneak up on while he was in the middle of stalking Nicki. I knew he’d done plenty of that, no matter what he’d said.

  But if I used that, then I’d been following her around too and I didn’t want to do that. Forgetting about her would be the best thing for me to do.

  It was crazy to me how little time we’d spent together and how much she weighed on my mind. Hell, we may as well have been together for years with the way I couldn’t get her out of my head.

  My eyes went to where my cell phone sat on the coffee table where I’d left it.

  So much for distance. I should’ve put the damn thing in another room.

  Why did she call me? What did she think she could say to make what she’d said last night okay?

  Tapping my pen on the empty sheet of paper, I tried to focus on my plan for Strong, instead of Nicki and that stupid call she’d made to me.

  It became clear to me that I would have to follow Strong around before I could form a good plan. There could be no loose ends. There could be no mistakes. There could be no holes in the plan at all. And I couldn’t go asking Lyle how to do it either.

  This was all up to me. Plus, I had the help of as many Iron Cobras as I needed. As long as I’d made a foolproof plan that Lyle had okayed.

  Maybe we could all just ride up to Dean’s place and do an old-fashioned drive-by.

  Smacking myself in the forehead, I tried to knock that idiotic thought out of my head. “Stop being so lazy. Come on!” But I did need to find out where the man was staying while he was in Baltimore.

  Covert action was what was needed. No one could see. No one could witness. This was a government agent. I’d get life in prison if I got caught.

  I did not want to spend my life in prison. But even more than that, I couldn’t get any of the men I would involve in danger of getting prison time either.

  Going it alone wasn’t an option either. I had to show the MC that I knew how to work well with others. I couldn’t be a loner. Being part of their tightknit organization was part of the reason behind this test. I had to perform as if I was already one of them.

  Okay. I am an Iron Cobra. I am a badass biker with a lot of other badass bikers with me. I don’t come alone. I come with many men. And I can lead them when it’s my turn to lead. I can follow when it’s my turn to follow.

  I am an Iron Cobra.

  Slowly, my eyes moved back to the fucking phone across the room, sitting on the coffee table. “Jesus Christ!” I got up and went to get the damn thing. “I’ll see what she wanted. I’ll just see, then I’ll know. And then I can get over this fucking mystery that’s stopping me from getting to what I need to get to.”

  With a quick swipe, I made the call. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. – You’ve reached the voice mailbox of Agent Johansson of the DEA. At this time, she is unavailable to take your call. Please leave a message or try your call again later. Thank you. –

  Well, what the fuck?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nicki

  One thing I knew for sure was that I had no poison in my possession. Nor did I have any idea where I could get anything like that.

  I’d gotten dressed so I could deal with things. Something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my bones. Either I wasn’t right in the head or people were lying. Which people, I wasn’t sure.

  I’d never been able to trust Dean Strong. So, why would I suddenly do it now?

  “I need to know everything.” I wasn’t going to just do as he’d said to.

  “You need to sit tight. I’m on my way now.”

  “No.” I didn’t want him to come to me. I wanted to go to his place. I just didn’t trust that he hadn’t done something to Garrett. “I’ll come to you. Send me your address. I’ll leave right away.”

  “No,” he was quick to shut that idea down.

  That just told me that he had a reason not to want me over there. He probably had more than one thing he’d rather me not see at his place. The video monitors from all the cameras he had in my place were probably one thing. And there might’ve been signs of a struggle or even worse if Garrett had actually gone over there.

  “I’ve got his wife here. She’s adamant about getting to him. Did someone go pick him up? Or did he drive somewhere?” I was at a loss. My mind was moving a mile a minute.

  And then something strange happened. My phone went dead.

  An odd sizzling sound came from it, then it began smoking. Tossing it into the metal trashcan next to the toilet, I grabbed the small cup next to the sink and filled it with water. Flames erupted from the phone and when I poured the water over them, they flared up even more.

  Something was not right. Things were spiraling and I had the idea that I didn’t have shit to do with any of it.

  Running out of the bathroom, I moved past the woman who sat in a chair, watching me. “Do I smell smoke and burning plastic?”

  “Yep.” I found a fire extinguisher underneath the kitchen cabinet then ran back to put the fire out. “My cell phone just caught on fire. So, there’s that.” Taking deep breaths, I tried to think
rationally.

  “You burned your phone?” she asked as she looked over my shoulder.

  Turning around to face her, I was just about done with dealing with the woman. “Can you call anyone from the MC Garrett’s affiliated with? I have reason to believe he’s with them now.”

  “He’s with that other guy. I told you that. And we need to go now. I’ll take you there.” Turning to walk away, she must’ve thought I would simply follow her.

  But I wasn’t going to do that at all. “You drive your car and I’ll follow you,” I said as I grabbed my keys and followed her out.

  “I’d rather you ride with me,” she said as she went out the door.

  “So.” I wasn’t about to let this woman call the shots. “I’m not stupid. I don’t get into cars with people I don’t know.”

  With a shrug, she tried not to act like it bothered her that I wasn’t going to ride with her, but I saw her tapping something into her cell phone. “Have it your way, I guess. I’ll lead the way. But you get out and deal with whatever’s going on over there. You’re the cop, not me.”

  As I got into my car a rational thought finally came to me. Garrett doesn’t know where Dean is staying.

  At least to my knowledge, Garrett didn’t know that intricate piece of information. Since I didn’t have that little tidbit of information myself, there was also no chance in hell that I’d given him an address to go see Dean about some antidote for poison I’d supposedly given him.

  This is all just a huge crock of shit!

  I’d left the credit card on the kitchen counter that I had guessed I’d used to by vodka the night before. Once the woman claiming to be Garrett’s pregnant wife took off, I got back out of my car and ran inside to get the card.

  I needed to find out when I’d used the card last if I was going to be able to confront Dean Strong of gaslighting me. It took me all of three minutes to obtain my card, then I was back in my car.

  Picking up my gun while inside, I wasn’t as ill-prepared as I’d been when I’d first hopped into my car. And just before I drove away, the woman’s car came back around the block.