“That’s different. There’s a ton of expensive leather on them, thick rubber soles, and they still cost a little under three hundred dollars. I wear them nearly every day — I don’t have a closet full of them.”
“Do me a favor and don’t get caught up in what I spend on my clothes and shoes, okay? I’m never going to ask you to buy them for me, so it shouldn’t bother you.” She found some socks, slid them on, and changed the conversation as she buckled on the boots. “I was exhausted, now I’m full of energy. How did that happen? Usually after sex I just want to go to sleep.”
“You only had one orgasm. I didn’t wear you out.”
“No one’s going to look at me funny when we walk out, right?”
“I can text someone to tell them to leave you alone, or we can walk out and you can blush and laugh if they tease you.”
Gen looked up from lacing the boots, her voice barely above a whisper as she managed to say, “Tease me?”
“Yes, Beautiful. You’ve won them over, and when they like someone, they cut-up with them and tease them.”
Gen didn’t say anything, just kept looking at him, though in the back of her mind she was trying to figure out how to escape to her car without going through the clubhouse. There was a way, if she could get to the garage and then go out the side door. She wasn’t sure she could find her way through the maze of hallways, though.
Duke shook his head and reached for his phone. “I’ll ask Bash to tell them to leave you alone about it.”
“No, can’t we just go? I have my boots on, we can go through the garage to your bike and go for a ride, right?”
He smiled as he typed on his phone, and then pulled Gen to her feet and into his arms. “No, Beautiful. You have to face them eventually, it may as well be now.”
He walked towards the door but she held onto his arm, and when he stopped and turned to look at her, she asked, “What’s the plan for the evening?”
“I was kind of hoping you’d be okay to hang out here, spend some time with my brothers, and maybe spend the night? I know it isn’t a top of the line mattress with fancy sheets, but I’d like to see you wake up in my bed tomorrow morning, watch you eat breakfast with the rest of us, maybe hang out and just have a lazy morning? You said you don’t have to be anywhere until two tomorrow, right?”
“That’s my first appointment, but I have a few hours of research to do. If Brain can let me borrow a laptop I can log into my computer at the office and still hang out with ya’ll.
He opened the door and walked her through it. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”
Gen followed Duke to one of the sofas and let him pull her down beside him as she nestled into him. He put his feet on a coffee table, but hers wouldn’t reach, so she propped her legs on his thighs. She assumed the kiss to the top of her head meant he approved.
She stayed quiet as she listened to the men talk and cut up, and watched a drinking contest across the room that had something to do with the reality show they were watching.
Brain’s voice came through a speaker in the room, sounding urgent. “McPherson’s pulling in.”
Duke stood and went to the door, pointing at Gen and saying, “Stay put. Don’t get up unless a police officer tells you to, and if they talk to you, follow their instructions. Got it?”
Gen nodded, and Duke was at the door and out of it. The large television showed a close up of him walking towards Mike McPherson — Gen’s ex-boyfriend — and four uniformed officers.
“What can I do for you Detective, Officers?”
“We need to ask you some questions. Either we can come into your clubhouse and ask them, or we’ll be more than happy to escort all of the Rolling Thunder members downtown for questioning.
Duke seemed totally relaxed, but Gen thought she might throw up just watching it play out. “You’re welcome into the front room. Your invitation goes no farther.”
Several members inside had taken their weapons to a safe in a wall, put them in, and returned to their seats. She turned to Bash and quietly said, “I have mine, is that okay?”
He nodded. “You’re legal, they aren’t. No need to sweat anything, Duchess. They won’t even notice you’re here.”
She wanted to argue with him, but didn’t.
The television went back to the reality program, though muted, a few seconds before Duke walked in the door with the officers. As soon as they were in, the officers walked to the men who’d put their guns away, stood them up, leaned them over something, and frisked them.
Gen wanted to be pissed off on their behalf, but tried to fade into the sofa, hoping Mike wouldn’t notice her.
“Most of the members of two of your rivals are out of commission today. A few are in the hospital, refusing to talk about how they got their faces beat in, kidney’s beat to hell and back, ribs cracked, and a variety of assorted broken bones.”
“Yeah,” Duke said. “I heard something about that. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys.”
Mike nodded. “Mind letting us take a look at your hands?”
Duke put his hands in his pocket. “You got a warrant?”
“I was hoping we could do this the easy way.”
“You know how this works, Detective. You play nice with us, we play nice with you. You come in with an invitation and choose to frisk my men? I’m not in a mood to be all sociable and shit.”
“I get a warrant, it’s probably going to be for more than just checking your hands.”
“We don’t have anything to hide, Detective. I keep hoping you’ll figure it out, leave us the hell alone, but I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t personal. Did one of my men do something to piss you off? Because, if so, let’s work that out, make appropriate apologies and put it behind us.”
The door opened and another man in dress pants, dress shirt, and tie walked in. Gen wasn’t sure, but thought he might be a cop, too. Duke’s smile at first made her think she was mistaken, but he held his hand out and said, “Detective Johnson, nice to see you.”
The new detective looked around, as if taking in the mood of the room, and then looked at Mike.
“Something I need to know about?”
“Not touching your case. Got seven men in the hospital with the shit beaten out of them, and another dozen out of commission nearly as bad off. I know the RTMC is responsible, wanted to get a look at their hands but they’re insisting on a warrant.”
Duke flashed the back of his hands to the new detective a few seconds and said, “No problem showing them to someone who’ll work with us, treat us with respect. McPherson’s given us reason not to trust him in the past, and I’d rather make sure all the paperwork is in place before we deal with him.”
The other men held their hands up at this, and Mike turned in a circle, his face growing more and more agitated as he saw no signs of a recent fight on anyone’s hands.
His gaze met Gen’s and he said, “Can’t believe you went from me to a fucking felon. He may not have been convicted, but you know he’s done bad shit.” He stepped closer to her, lowered his voice so the other officers likely couldn’t hear. “If you were as wild in bed with me as you are with Bevering, I might still be in your bed, might not have been forced to find someone who wasn’t a stiff-assed board when I fucked ‘em. You’re a little whore for your biker though, aren’t you?” His voice went even nastier as it rose. “Your loss though, you fucking cunt.”
Gen stood so she didn’t have to look up to him as much, and she threw Duke a look that told him she wanted to handle this. There was no way Mike could know how much more she enjoyed sex with Duke than she had with Mike, unless he’d been listening, and she was willing to bet he didn’t have a warrant. “What can I say, Mike? You just didn’t do it for me, and he does. Maybe if you’d had a little more skill, I’d have been a little more energetic in my appreciation?”
“Don’t give me that shit, he had to fucking teach you how to give him a blow job, which I have to say explains a helluva lot about you,
but don’t tell me he didn’t take advantage of your inexperience. I never made you beg for an orgasm and then not let you have it on purpose. What kind of a bastard does that?”
She flashed another look to Duke and realized he was making a concerted effort to hold onto his control. She could see the wolf looking out his eyes and she hoped he knew what she was up to, but had no way to signal him.
She met Mike’s gaze again and said, “Yeah, when you put it that way, maybe you’re right. Can we not talk about this in a room full of people?” She looked to Duke. “Sorry, but I need to talk to him alone a minute, can we use the kids’ room?”
She nodded towards the room the older kids were in during lockdown, but didn’t wait for permission. The light was off in there now, so it wasn’t obvious the glass allowed you to see into the room. Once they were in, the glass would look black from the inside, so they couldn’t see the main room, but everyone would be able to see them. Also, she knew this room was monitored and hoped Brain knew what she was up to. She pointed Mike into the door and turned to look at the other detective. She mouthed, “One has to know, I know,” and hoped everyone would realize she wanted them to listen to the conversation. In Tennessee, only one party needs to know a conversation is being recorded in order for it to be legal. She’d just told them she knew.
Mike had already turned the light on, and she closed the door as she stepped in. The room was soundproof, to keep the kids from hearing what was going on outside, and the quiet squeezed in on her like a vice.
“I guess we never got closure, but I just couldn’t bear to face you after I walked in on you banging the new rookie. It hurt too bad.”
“I don’t know why your friend Isaac has a squad of goons, but they kicked me out of your house, and Isaac’s partner had a talk with one of the police chiefs. They told me if I came near you they’d knock me back down to a uniform.”
Gen’s brow wrinkled. “Frisco? Or Cam? I didn’t know either of them knew any of the police chiefs?”
Mike shook his head, impatient. “No, Abbott. Not his fucking butt-buddies, his partner at The Billiard Club.”
Gen needed to get them back on target, so she could get him to admit bugging her house. She stepped forward, reached up, let her hand drop.
“I don’t know where to start, Mike. I couldn’t face you back then, and Isaac knew it. Now, with so much time going by? It doesn’t hurt so bad, and I wonder if we might work, now that you know it’s possible for me to go a little wild?”
He looked at her hand, studied her face. “You’d give us another chance?”
“I don’t know. You and I both know I don’t belong here.” She looked down, back up. “I’m in motorcycle boots, for goodness sake!”
“I’ve heard the things you’ve told him, things about your past, your childhood. Stuff you never told me. Why would you tell him all that shit?”
“How did you hear what I told him, Mike? You know that’s a little creepy, right? That the police can just listen into my intimate conversations, listen to me having sex?”
He shook his head. “Wasn’t a police thing. I put audio sensors on your windows, piggybacked your alarm system. I did it Gen, no one else heard anything. It only went to me.”
“How did you do it? Especially my alarm?”
“Isaac changed the alarm code, but I have a friend at the FBI who gave me the override sequence for your system, so I didn’t need to know the new code.”
“He changed the locks. How did you get a key?”
He shrugged. “Camera designed to get a picture of your key when you used it. Simple enough to make a key with a 3-D printer, once you have the image.”
“Just audio? No video?”
He looked down, back up, and even though he denied it, she could see he had video, too. Rage shot through every nerve ending in her body, and as his hand came towards her cheek to caress it, she grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm, swept his foot, and followed him to the ground. She grabbed the hair at the back of his head and bashed his forehead into the floor as he hit, and then pulled it up and did it again.
The door flew open behind her, and she heard Duke saying, “It’s me, Gen,” as he pulled her off.
Gen turned and pressed her face to his chest, her arms around his neck. “God, Duke. You have to know I didn’t mean what I told him, I just needed to get him to talk.”
“I know, Beautiful.”
“I love my boots! I belong here. It doesn’t make sense, but I do!”
His arm caressed her back and he spoke into her ear. “Shhh, Beautiful. I know. It was an act, you don’t have to convince me, and I’m a little surprised he fell for it, but then I guess I know you better than he does. However, you just attacked a cop on camera, and if we’re going to use the confession you got out of him without facing your own charges, we need to deal with this. Brain’s coming out, I need the two of you to work together to make this work so we can use the video, okay?”
Gen took a deep breath, pushed all emotion to the side, and put her hand on Duke’s chest to push him away. She met his gaze and could tell he was a little alarmed she’d pulled herself together in a split second, but she couldn’t deal with his feelings right now.
“I’m sorry, Detective?” she said to the other plainclothes officer. “I didn’t get your name.”
He’d been talking to Mike, quietly, and he turned to her with a tight smile. “Johnson, ma’am. It’s Detective Johnson.”
“I’m assuming you heard as well as saw everything? I’m also assuming the RTMC can make a copy of the video available. I’d like to press charges and have Mike McPherson arrested for taking illegal audio and video inside my home without my knowledge. He admitted to the audio, but once you go in with a warrant I feel sure you’ll find video as well. Should any of this audio or video ever be shown to anyone outside of the immediate investigation, I’ll sue the CPD for millions. I may anyway, since his access to law enforcement knowledge is what made his activities possible.”
Mike looked at her and said, “Yeah, and I want her arrested for assaulting an officer.”
“No, Mike, sorry,” Gen told him. “That won’t fly. You may have walked into the clubhouse on official business, but your invitation as a police officer only allowed you into the first room. You came into this room as my ex-boyfriend, and you were very clear you hadn’t put surveillance on me as an officer, but as my ex. So, if you want to have me arrested for taking you to the ground and bashing you into it as your ex-girlfriend, that’s fine, but you weren’t in this room on official police business, and I wasn’t speaking to you as an officer, but as an asshole who’s been stalking me. I didn’t assault Detective McPherson, I gave Mike McPherson an idea of just how much he pissed me off.”
She’d been edging closer and closer to him as she talked, and Detective Johnson stepped between them. He smiled at Gen, then turned to Mike and said, “She has a point, McPherson, and I’m not gonna make that call. My bet is you’ll be strongly encouraged by the brass to leave her the fuck alone because our lawyers are gonna have a hard time getting the CPD out of this one without you making it worse. I need you to come with me, we’re going to take our leave, now.”
Mike tried to yank his arm out of Detective Johnson’s hand, but didn’t manage. He glared at the other detective, who lowered his voice to say, “Don’t make me cuff you and perp walk you out of here. I’m trying to let you keep a little dignity, but make no mistake about it, I’m taking you in and reporting every bit of this.”
“Check her over, I’ll bet money she has a nine mil on her hip. Possession of a weapon while assaulting a police officer? You know it’s all about perception. Help me out here, Johnson.”
Detective Johnson looked at Gen in question, and she gave him a direct look and confidently said, “I’m legally armed, Detective, but I never pulled my weapon. Would you like to see my concealed carry permit?” It was in Duke’s room, so she hoped he didn’t, but it wouldn’t take long to get it.
The de
tective just shook his head and said, “No, ma’am, but I have a feeling he didn’t do you any favors by announcing to the club you’re carrying. You’re welcome to come with me, we can walk you to your car and see you safely off the compound on our way out.”
“She has privileges,” Duke told him. “Every man here is aware she’s carrying, and good with it, but even if we weren’t, she wouldn’t be harmed. I’d pay the fine and she’d be banned for however long we voted, but she’d come to no physical harm.”
At this, Mike spoke up. “You’d pay her fine?” He sounded doubtful.
Before Duke could answer, Brain stepped forward with a jump drive and offered it to Detective Johnson. “Here’s the video up until a micro-second before Gen took him down. I have the rest if you want it, but I’m hoping this’ll be all you need.”
The detective nodded. “Let’s start with this. Don’t erase the rest, in case my bosses want to see it, but I’m betting they’ll prefer to go the plausible deniability route and never see the rest.”
Duke stepped away from Gen and shook the detective’s hand, as well as each of the four uniformed officers, and thanked them for their time and professionalism.
When the door closed behind them, Brain said, “Okay, give us the parking lot on the main TV in here, please.”
Gen assumed he was talking to whoever he left in the control room, and looked towards the TV to see the feed come on.
“Well,” Detective Johnson was saying to Mike, “at least now we know why you’ve had such a hard-on to take down Bevering. You’ve really stepped in it this time. We’ll leave your car here, you’re riding back with me.”
“I have him on tape admitting to being a pimp! Talking about how it worked in Atlanta, how they were going about it a little different here, more high class but basically the same. It isn’t just speculation anymore! I have proof!”
“Yeah, proof we can’t use, you stupid fuck.”
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