Integrity Has No Bounds

by Ryder Dane

  “I wasn’t here much at the time, I had a job with Brown & Benjerman as a paralegal. I didn’t know.”

  She thought about that conversation, and his surprise when she told Leon she planned to keep the place if the mortgage holder would allow her to take over the note. She’d been so lost at the time, and offered to allow him to keep working at the bar when she took it over.

  “Why did Harry fire the man?”

  Before he could answer her question, there was someone pounding on the backdoor, so he went into the office to see who it was before opening the door for John to enter.

  The men were talking quietly as they returned, and she compared the two side by side. Really, Stevie? There was no comparison. They had height in common, as far as looks went, and that was about it. Though there was also the glaring wet-a-girl’s-panties fact that they might be totally opposite, these men were sexier than hell. She preferred John’s tough guy appearance over Lonnie’s centerfold sex god looks, but for all intents and purposes, neither man would need to do much talking to get a woman to wet her lips and hit her knees.

  John felt the weariness leave him when she smiled in welcome. He’d carried a picture of that smile in his mind for the entire day, and seeing it in front of him was even better.

  Lonnie clearing his throat brought the two out of staring at each other with heat.

  “I was just telling Stevie here that Harry fired old Leon a week or so before he bought it. He was dealing out the backdoor, and from what Harry told me, it wasn’t a few ounces of weed. I only mentioned it because after seeing the old fox in action tonight, he’s still got his game on.”

  She had envisioned Leon embezzling money, selling drugs from the bar was even worse. “He’s been asking some personal questions lately, and I’ve had to put it pretty blunt that I wouldn’t discuss my family with employees. He wasn’t happy when I put it that way, but he dropped it for a few days and I found him snooping in the office last Monday, so if he’s the one that killed Harry, how come he’s asking so many questions and snooping around?”

  She got up from her seat at the bar and started walking around the room. John figured she was worried and needed to get rid of some of her feelings in moving around. He told Lonnie that he could go. “Pick her up in the morning at the diner.”

  Lonnie said good night and she waved at him from the other side of the room. The puzzle of her brother’s death finally fit, but why didn’t the police investigate his death when she’d brought the pictures to them from their own files, and said that something was wrong. They’d dismissed her concerns completely.

  First thing tomorrow, Leon would learn that she was not as stupid as he thought she was, nor as helpless as she’d been acting. Harry had done his best to give her a normal life once he got a steady job and they had their first apartment. He insisted that she become like other girls her age and took her jeans and leather jacket away. He never allowed her to know his friends, and until the last few months of his life, he’d discouraged her from even stopping by the bar after work.

  Later she realized he hadn’t wanted her to become a tough biker chick, he wanted her to have a professional husband and a couple of kids, and living in a suburb making her happily-ever-after with the attorney or doctor hubby. His plans for her were written in his journal. She hadn’t known he kept one to begin with. She found it in a box under his bunk with skin mags covering the slender book. Reading his thoughts about the death of their parents, and how worried he’d been about her had made her break down and grieve his loss. She never wanted him to feel like a failure, or less than the wonderful loving brother that she knew she could count on to always be there if she needed him. Now it was too late for her to tell him she loved him, or anything else, and she was mad.

  Leon had reason, opportunity, and plenty of motive for killing Harry, and she was going to make that bastard pay. She looked toward John who was drinking a beer and watching her.

  “If you have a few minutes to wait, I’d like to run something by you, maybe you can help me gather my thoughts about something.” She perched herself on the stool next to him, and gathered her thoughts.

  “After Harry’s death, I had so much on my plate that I never questioned whether the accident was legitimate, I didn’t question the bag of ashes they gave me and told me that his body had been burned beyond normal procedures, and the coroner had declared that he died of an accidental death.

  “I admit, I was stupid, it never occurred to me that officials would lie to me, or try to cover up the death of a biker. Six months after his death, I opened this report I had requested, and saw the pictures of the accident scene. No matter which angle I looked at the wreckage, I couldn’t see a ding or a bent fork, there was no exploded gas tank either. It showed his plate very clearly, but I have studied that picture for over a year, and I still don’t believe it was an accident. When I went to the police, I was shuffled from one deputy to another until Sheriff Lime told me to stop trying to make Harry’s death into more than it was. He all but banned me from the station and recommended that I see someone to “unscramble” my brains on the subject.

  “My question to you is this, Leon was dealing drugs from the bar, and Harry fired him for it. Harry dies in what I think are questionable circumstances, and Leon shows up at the bar acting like nothing had happened, as if he was still an employee. Going by logic, not emotional distress, would it be reasonable for me to suspect that Leon killed Harry, dumped the bike, then set fire to his body and bike to cover up his murder?”

  John nodded his head, but he was on shaky ground here, so he agreed with her, after all, her thoughts were similar to what had actually happened, loosely, but her theory could also work to satisfy her questions.

  “In theory, I guess it would be reasonable to assume what you’re thinking, but proving it is another story. All you have is hearsay evidence and that isn’t going to cut it.”

  He stood and turned the seat she sat on to face him while he ran both hands through her hair. “I thought about you all day, the way you taste, the generous way you give me your body, right down to the way your pussy squeezed the cum from my prick this morning. It’s kept me simmering for more all this time.”

  Switching gears from the murder of her brother to the memory of last night’s activities took a few seconds to shift, but the way he was kissing her lips, tugging her head back for deeper kisses, soon put everything else on the back burner. He smelled so good, and his kiss promised more than she’d expected. If she read them right, he was promising a night of satisfying sex, and if last night was any indication of how this could go, she would sleep like a baby when they were done. No nightmares for two nights in a row.

  She was almost looking forward to sleeping in his arms more than the sexual release, feeling secure and… Loved would be stretching it, but whatever those feelings were, she’d known she could trust him. His way of waking her up this morning had iced the cake for her.

  Her hands went exploring under his cut and found a hardened nipple covered by the soft cotton of his t-shirt. She scraped her fingernail over the tip, and he flinched, so she did it again, and he drew away from her just enough to grab her hand and bring it up behind her back.

  “You keep that up, and I’ll slide your ass up on this bar and take my refreshment from your sweet pussy, after I spank your ass for tickling me.”

  She laughed at his threat, not because she didn’t think he’d follow through, but knowing she’d found a chink in his bossy armor. “Oh come on, you’d spank me for making you laugh? That’s not nice. So if I was to,” she leaned in close and latched her mouth over the nipple closest to her and held the small circle in between her lips while her tongue lapped at the tiny bud through the thin material.

  The hand cupping her head encouraged her action. “Harder, use your teeth, yeah, like that.”

  She let go of his nipple after worrying it until he moaned, and gave his crotch a playful pat. “I think you’re happy to see me.” She started to w
alk back to the office to get her backpack, and giggled when her arm was grabbed and she was lifted up onto the end of the bar on her belly. She pushed up with her arms, and got a slap on her ass for her trouble. She was still laughing until the third swat. “Hey, biker man, that stings.” The forth and fifth smack got her the satisfaction of knowing she’d kicked his thigh in reflex as the intensity of his swats increased.

  The waistband of her skintight leggings was peeled down over her ass and thighs, and she felt his lips kissing the reddened cheeks. Somehow she ended up on her back lying on the hardwood surface of the bar with her ankles together and her thighs spread wide. John’s hands were trailing up and down the inside of her thighs.

  “This is such a pretty sight. Tell me, Stevie, how many orgasms do you think I can give you in the next half hour or so?”

  She knew that wicked grin on his sexy lips, she was in for some enjoyment, and she gave him a smile, cupped her breasts, and lifted her hips, giving him a big hint how she felt about his question. “Bring it, but you might want to remember paybacks are coming, and I’ve found I like the taste of your skin.” His eyes were on her mouth and she deliberately licked her lips.

  Chapter Nine

  Lonnie got the call from the hospital shortly after they got back to the bar. Stevie had dragged him through the mall. At least she’d gone into the leather shop.

  While she was trying on boots, he bought a buttery soft vest for Sharon, and he added a silver arm cuff to his purchase. She would scold him for spending the money on her, but he planned to insist on a private show. He tossed in a black thong to complete the outfit and smiled while he paid for his purchases.

  Stevie spent almost a grand on a jacket, boots, chaps, and gloves. The next store, he sat on the bench outside of the shop. She said he was welcome to join her in picking out panties, but she wasn’t sure how John might feel about Lonnie knowing what kind of undies she owned. He was loaded down with the leather she purchased and she carried the ladies underthings.

  He didn’t mind carrying his woman’s panties, hell, he often wore her thong on his bicep after he took it off her when they made love. This was different, and he’d be damned if he could figure out why the idea of carrying another woman’s sexy underwear made him uncomfortable, but he was glad she carried her own.

  At first the call made him panic. Sharon had been in a bad accident, according to the hospital, she was brought in unconscious, and he was listed as her next of kin. He wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but something about the call was off. After assuring the caller that he was on his way, he ended the call. He looked at Stevie and told her to call John.

  “I’m calling the clubhouse to get someone over to where Sharon works. Unless she borrowed a car, I know for a fact she rode her putt into work this morning, we left the house together, so how else would she be in a car accident?”

  Stevie didn’t get to talk to John, her message went straight to his voicemail.

  Lonnie was talking on the speaker feature of his phone, and texting Sharon at the same time. Her reply was immediate, and he breathed a deep sigh of relief. Leech was the one to answer the club’s house phone, and once he heard what Lonnie suspected, he told them to keep the doors of the bar locked until they got there.

  “We’ll be there ASAP,” and the line went dead.

  Lonnie looked around them and then to her. “Someone wants me to leave you alone and vulnerable. We need to find a spot to hide you. Leon probably knew I’d say something to you about Harry, and chances are, he has a stash of meth or worse here somewhere that he wants back. Didn’t you say he’s been asking personal questions?

  “Maybe he thinks if you are alone you might be talked into helping him with his sideline. The fucker gives me the creeps up my spine anytime day or night, so I’m prejudice where he’s concerned. I’m going to look at the security cameras, and if it looks clear, I’ll take a walk outside, I want to make sure the bastards know you aren’t a sitting duck, you have backup. Do you have a key to the door that I can use?”

  “Lonnie, I don’t want you going out there alone, please don’t make yourself a target, let’s just wait for Leech and the Breed to show up, please, Sharon needs you to come home to her in one piece and with no new holes in your beautiful body. I’m afraid that you’ll get shot, and I’ll run outside to help you and get shot too.”

  He scowled at her. “That’s not nice, blackmailing me like that. Believe it or not, Stevie, I am capable of self-defense, I may look like a limp wristed bastard to you, but I train and can fight with the best of the Breed.” He could see she wanted to argue with him, but he was losing his temper, and now was not the time for bragging.

  “Did you think John would leave your safety in an incompetent’s hands?” He shook his head, “I don’t think we have time for this shit, come on, let’s go to the office, the door locks and I have a gun to use if I need it.”

  He pulled her into the small room and locked the door after them. She booted up the computer and opened the security feed to show on the monitor. Nothing was moving in the parking lots, so they relaxed in their chairs.

  “Lonnie, I don’t doubt your competency, I would do my best to keep you here with me regardless if you looked like Rambo.

  “The truth is that I’m afraid to be here alone. After the other night, I see ninjas in every corner, and I’m so jumpy that it isn’t funny. The fact you have a wife to go home to makes me worry even more for you. John’s not answering his phone, so who knows where he is. Please understand, I trust you, I don’t trust Leon. You are the only one who he thinks knows about him, and don’t forget, Leon has a key to this place. He could come and go, so why try to get you to leave the building?”

  The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that whoever wanted him out of the building would know that he wouldn’t leave Stevie unprotected, it stood to reason he would take her with him instead of letting her stay, and he voiced his thoughts to her. “We’re looking at this wrong, they don’t want me to leave you, they want the building empty for some reason.”

  Stevie looked at the monitor and gasped. “What on earth, oh God this doesn’t look good.”

  Sure enough, there was a dark blue panel van parking in the lot by the door, and three men exited the vehicle. All of the men reached into the back of the vehicle and hefted assault rifles into their hands. Leon carried a pry bar in his empty hand.

  They looked over Lonnie’s truck and her Jeep, and the short man waved his gun at Leon. He shrugged his shoulders and he must have said something to appease the man, because they headed toward the door.

  Stevie made an executive decision, even as Lonnie pulled a wicked looking Glock .45 semi auto from the back of his waistband.

  She ran to the door, pulling it open and grabbing his hand as she went out of the safety of the room. He tried to stop her but she mouthed the words, “Trust me,” he nodded and followed her through the small utility closet door. She pushed a tall rack of supplies away from the wall and gave the wall a shove. It opened into a larger room, and she pulled him in behind her, pushing the door closed. She laid a broom handle in the track, just like most people do for a sliding patio door to keep it from being muscled open.

  Lonnie looked around the dimly lit space. A large bed sat in the corner, a small table with two chairs, and a desk with a computer that Stevie was booting up. One corner of the room held a small sink and cupboard. On the counter was a hotplate and under that was a dorm-sized fridge. All the comforts of home, and he’d never known it was here. “What.”

  She shushed him, and he wanted to laugh at the fierce look she tossed his way. She crooked her fingers to get him to come close, so he picked up the chair and sat it and himself down next to her.

  She handed him an ear bud and she put the other one in her own ear while they watched the trio search the bar. The cameras were only in the common areas of the building, so there were times they could see nothing, but hearing the men stomping around was clear enoug
h to know where they were looking. The storeroom door was slammed open with such force that it banged into the wall, and the sound of feet and searching could be heard on the other side of the closed wall/door.

  Muttering and cursing could be heard as two sets of steps left the next room and Stevie let out the breath she’d been holding.

  Lonnie dropped the hand with the gun pointed at the door, and set the weapon on the desk next to the keyboard. He pulled out his cell and texted Leech while Stevie went to the fridge and got two cans of soda.

  She watched the monitor and saw the three men had been satisfied that they had the place to themselves and Leon began to use the crowbar on the front footboards of the small stage that she’d performed on for the past year, and it sickened her to see him pulling the little platform apart while the largest of the three men reached down and began pulling brick sized packages from the gaping hole.

  The three men began hauling their find out to the van, and Stevie hoped they’d hurry up and leave. This was almost as bad as having her home broken into and the feeling of being violated made her tremble with hatred. The sexual assault hadn’t bothered her much, because her assailant’s excitement had barely been felt, his dick was so small that she hadn’t been penetrated, and he’d ejaculated almost immediately when he touched her flesh with his. She was so filled with rage right now that she couldn’t sit still. The loss of choice had frightened her at the time, and now the only thing holding her back from running out there with Lonnie’s gun and shooting all three men was fear they might shoot her first, plus common sense.

  Lonnie began cussing under his breath as the men finished clearing the bricks out, and they watched as Leon came back into the bar and began smashing bottles of liquor on the floor of the bar and lit a lighter, setting the tequila that was puddled on the wooden bar itself.

  If they stayed in the secret room, they would die. The storage closet was directly behind the bar and the hungry fire that was spread wherever the bastard had slung the bottles.