“You don’t have anything,” I said. After all, I had the tapes with the security footage. Sherman wanted to argue but narrowed his eyes at me instead, as if he suspected I was telling the truth. I’d had enough of playing nice. Without wasting time, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and drove him backward so his back hit the diner wall. He squirmed in my grip, gasping. The motion had winded him, and he wasn’t strong enough to do anything.
“You told the cop you were being intimidated, well now it's true. I don’t like it when people lie about me, Sherman.”
At the mention of his name, his eyes widened. He understood that I knew who he was.
“You leave Tanya alone. If you hurt her, I’ll come back here, and I’m not going to stop until you’re wheelchair bound and eating through a straw. Do you understand?”
Sherman nodded. He whimpered like a pussy, and I dropped him. He crumpled to the floor, and I had to hold back not to kick him in the gut while he was down. Who said I wasn’t the forgiving sort? I turned and started walking away.
“You may have muscle,” he called after me with a hoarse voice, “but I can run to the cops with information about you, and they’ll come after you.”
Right, keep threatening me with the police. I clenched my fists and kept walking. The idea wasn’t to beat him up completely with the cops involved now. I took a deep breath and got on my bike, driving into the dark of night and feeling like this was far from over.
CHAPTER 17
One day off wasn’t enough. I wanted a whole week to myself—enough time to sleep and recover, and to moon over Saxon. I hadn’t been able to get him off my mind since he’d dropped me off, not only because the night with him had been incredible, but also because he’d suggested he wanted to see me again. He wanted to see me.
Until then, I’d still been unsure and wondered if he was just going to throw me away. He was a badass biker, after all, the sort who had a bad reputation, and I doubted he generally committed to any kind of woman.
Until now, I hoped.
When I woke up, I’d had one message on my phone. I’d hoped it was from Saxon, but it had been from Kenneth instead. Great, just what I needed. My boss hounding me after treating me the way he did. I wasn’t in the mood for it. Having a day off was so that I could escape work, not so that it could come after me.
Look after yourself, you’re getting involved with a man that’s trouble.
I was getting annoyed with Kenneth. Annoyed and creeped out. He was getting too personal and involved in my life. I didn’t want my boss close to me in that way—in any way—and I didn’t want him to keep tabs on me when I wasn’t at work. The only thing he was supposed to worry about was my shifts and my pay, and if I deserved the money with the amount of work I put in.
I made myself macaroni and cheese and sat down in front of the television. I hadn’t watched a show in months. Margo was out at her job as a nanny, looking after someone else’s kids, and I had the place to myself.
I flipped through the channels until I found a romantic movie and settled back, getting lost in the love that I was starting to be able to relate to again. When I watched the characters, it wasn’t tall dark and handsome on the screen, or blondie with the long legs whom I saw. I saw Saxon, with his cocky smirk and his tattoos, and I saw myself, doing things with a man I’d never thought I would do with anyone. I saw the couple we could be, the things he could say to me.
There was a knock on the door around three. I was still in pajamas, wearing short shorts and a tank top. I looked in the mirror that hung next to the door and tried to smooth my hair down where it frizzed at the top. It didn’t really help, but Saxon had seen me naked and frazzled. I was sure he wouldn’t mind.
I opened the door with a smile, but it faded again when I saw two officers standing at my door instead of the biker I was hoping for.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“We’d like to ask you a couple of questions, Miss Winters,” one of the officers said. She was tall and wide, big-boned rather than fat, and she had a look on her face that told me she wasn’t here to play games. I felt intimidated by her and stepped aside so they could walk into the apartment.
She walked in first, and her partner followed. He looked friendlier and smiled at me before he walked in. The woman looked around the apartment, but there wasn’t much to see. Margo and I kept it very simple, no pictures and ornaments to dust. Just the things we needed.
I sat down on the couch where I’d been sitting before they came, perched on the edge with my hands clasped in my lap. I was nervous, even though I had no reason to be. Police made me uncomfortable. To me, they meant trouble. Every time they were around, it was because something bad had happened. There were some people you just didn’t want to have a run in with, no matter who you were.
“You work for Mr. Kenneth Sherman, don’t you?” the woman asked me, finally coming to sit down opposite me. The man pulled out a notepad and a pen, clicking it so that the nub was out. He held it over the page and looked at me, waiting for me to answer.
“Yes,” I said. The officer scribbled it down.
“Are you going to write everything down?” I asked.
“Just to keep track of our investigation,” he said. He sounded kind, but I frowned.
“Investigation?”
“We’ve received reports of a theft at the diner where you work, and we’re trying to piece together what happened.”
“A theft? What was stolen?” I found it strange that Kenneth hadn’t let me know that there had been a break-in. He could have said something in his message this morning.
“Personal files. From the office. The robbery took place about a week ago.” The woman looked at me with a dark expression, her eyes empty and lifeless. I wondered if she ever smiled, or if she had a family that she used the same look on instead of being warm with them. I tried to think back to a week ago, trying to remember if there had been anything happening that I hadn’t noticed at the time. Nothing came to mind.
Kenneth hadn’t said anything then either or in the week after.
“We’re interviewing all the employees,” the man said, as if he was trying to reassure me.
“Have you noticed anything strange lately, Miss Winters? Any suspicious characters or activity that was out of place?”
Saxon, obviously. He was about the most suspicious character who had been in the diner since I’d started working there. And I’d seen all kinds come in through that door. But I wasn’t going to tell them that. I shook my head.
“I haven’t really noticed anything, no,” I said. “I know that my boss was under a lot of stress lately.” That was one way to explain his bizarre advances toward me. I didn’t want to say anything about it to the cops now though. If I went into it, they were going to ask me more questions, and I was going to have to mention Saxon. I doubted that he would want any kind of run in with the police.
In the back of my mind, I heard Margo telling me that I had to be careful. And maybe, she was right, if I already felt like I couldn’t protect myself for the sake of someone else. But the fact was that I wanted to do this for him because I liked him.
“Why is it only being investigated now, if it happened a week ago?” I asked.
“The files were reported missing this morning,” the man answered. That explained Kenneth’s silence, for the most part. The woman glared at him, as if he was giving too much information, and he snapped his mouth shut.
They asked me a couple more questions, all to which my answers were pretty standard. Finally, they got up and walked to the door.
“We’ll be in touch, Miss Winters,” the woman said to me. She sounded unhappy about it, as if being in touch was something she didn’t want to do. Coincidentally, it wasn’t something I wanted, either. I nodded.
“Whatever you need,” I said and opened the door.
“Thank you for your time,” the man said and walked out last. I closed the door behind them and leaned against it, blowing out a
breath that billowed my cheeks. I didn’t have anything to hide, but that woman officer had made me nervous, looking at me as if I did. Maybe she looked at everyone like that.
My phone beeped on the coffee table, and I picked it up. Maybe it would be Saxon this time. It wasn’t. It was another message from Kenneth.
Are you okay? I haven’t heard from you since your last shift.
I ignored the message. There was no way I was going to answer him. I was okay, no thanks to him, and it was none of his business where I went and what I did after I left my shift. His messages were starting to border inappropriate. I clicked the television back on and leaned back against the couch pillows. I found another movie, but my concentration was scattered. Kenneth was really starting to bug me. And the police showing up? How weird.
I picked up my phone and dialed Reggie’s number.
“Did the police come to question you?” I asked.
“What?”
“The police. They came to question me about a robbery at the diner.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, as if Reggie was thinking. “I don’t know anything about a robbery. Kenneth hasn’t said anything. Really, Tanya, the police?”
“Are you at work?” I asked.
“Yeah, working until seven. Do you think they’ll only come after I get home?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Just let me know when they do, okay? I want to know what they asked you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I hung up and put the phone next to me on the couch. There weren’t that many of us working at the diner. They should have already interviewed Reggie, or been at the diner at least if the robbery was reported.
None of it made sense, and it was all very suspicious.
When Margo came home, I told her about the visit with the police and my suspicions. She listened to the whole story before she nodded slowly.
“I get what you’re saying, but the police know what they’re doing. I don’t think you need to worry about it too much. And maybe they weren’t at the diner because Kenneth reported it before the others arrived.”
“Maybe…” I said, but I didn’t really believe it.
“Don’t stress about it, Tanya. Just, you know, let the police handle it.” She got up and yawned. “Anyway, I’m going to go to bed. I need an early night after today with the brats.”
I wished her goodnight and got up to go to my room. I had to get to bed early, too, if I was going to be back at the diner early in the morning, and I still had studying to do for an upcoming exam. I sat down at my desk when my phone went off again. I wasn’t even going to hope for Saxon this time.
When I looked at my phone, it was Kenneth again. I rolled my eyes, hating that I’d been right.
You don’t have to come in tomorrow. You deserve a good rest.
What? Kenneth never gave me two days off in a row. In fact, he fought with me about taking time off at all. Something was up. First, the police came here and not anywhere else, then Kenneth messaging me all the time, and now another day off?
Maybe I had to call Saxon about it.
CHAPTER 18
The meeting at the pub was a real fuckup. Skinner was getting itchy about those damn tapes. I thought it would be enough to get them from Tanya, but I’d had to tell him about the cops pulling me to the side and questioning me.
“You’re a real idiot,” Skinner said. The bar was empty save for Patch, a guy as big as a house with a real patch over his eye. He was Skinner’s security detail, and he didn’t leave, no matter what. I expected him to follow Skinner into the men’s bathroom when he wanted to take a piss.
“I didn’t even threaten the guy yet,” I said. “He pulled the cops in before I got to him. Maybe he was scared.”
“Or maybe you did something to piss him off and get him on your case,” Skinner said. I swallowed. I wasn’t going to tell him about getting Tanya on the back of my bike and stealing her away from that asshole. It was because of her this whole mess started. If I knew what was good for me, I would never see her again.
But I’d never really done what was good for me. I wasn’t a man known to do the right thing.
“I’ll sort it out,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest so I wouldn’t fidget. You didn’t show fear in front of Skinner. “I got ahold of him afterward. If he’s not shit scared of me now, the man’s got a death wish.”
“And what did you think was going to happen if he’d already called in the police, and then you go ahead and beat him up on tape, too?”
I shook my head, annoyed that my boss thought I was dumb that way.
“I didn’t do it in front of the damn cameras, Skinner. How fucking stupid do you think I am?” I was starting to lose my temper, and Patch took a step closer, a warning. I took a deep breath, and Skinner pulled his eyebrows up at me like I was a child who needed to apologize. Not a fuck that was happening. “I didn’t beat him up, either,” I said, my voice more in control this time. “I said I would do it next time.”
Next time he touched Tanya, not next time he caused a problem with me. Shit. My priorities were all backward.
“You make sure you sort this out before it comes around and bites you in the ass,” Skinner said and turned. He walked away from me, Patch flanking him as if he was going to take a bullet for him any second. I took a deep breath and paced the bar. Once, twice, three times, before I felt like I was calm enough to drive into the night and not break something.
I knew what Skinner had meant. Trouble biting me in the ass. It was just a nice way of telling me that if I didn’t sort it out, the gang would sort me out. Usually, members didn’t survive the kind of treatment they had in store for people who went rogue.
I didn’t get around to calling her. I meant to, but I only got home after midnight and calling seemed wrong. I didn’t want to give her the idea that I was like her seedy boss. And I didn’t want to seem desperate, either.
I wasn’t.
The fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about her was just a pain in the ass, a stumbling block for a biker like me who had to put the gang first.
I stripped out of my leathers and fell into the bed, naked. The sheets still smelled like sex. Tanya’s shampoo or perfume or something was on my pillow and the whole room suddenly smelled like her. She’d been everywhere, and my body remembered it. I became hard under the sheet I’d pulled over myself. Hard and edgy.
Shit. I rolled onto my side and buried my face in the pillow, trying to forget about my body and its damn urges. It didn’t help. I got a nose full of her scent and I groaned. How the hell was I going to get this woman out of my mind, out of my life, if every part of me craved her? She was like a magnet, and she was going to be my ruin. Superman’s fucking kryptonite.
I sighed and rolled onto my back again. I rolled around for two minutes before I got up and opened the curtains all the way so moonlight streamed into my room. It softened the hard edges of my minimalistic furniture and glinted off the cd that was on my bedside table. The cd of us fucking.
I looked at it for a moment, entertaining the idea of watching it again. I shook my head and turned my back to it. Dammit. I wasn’t going to do that to her. She wasn’t just a fuck toy. She was a woman. She was different from the other ones. I could just forget about them, ignore their existence and what I’d done to their bodies, and move on with my life. It didn’t feel wrong to perv over videos with them. But Tanya?
She was different. She was classy. And she didn’t belong in a life like this one. I sat on the bed, pushed my hand into my hair. My sex was thick between my legs. I reached back, grabbed a pillow, and buried it in my lap. I found my phone next to the cd on the bedside table and dialed her number. Two in the morning and I was going to phone her because I was going to lose my mind otherwise.
The phone rang long enough that I expected it to roll over to voicemail. On the last ring, she picked up. Her voice was thick with sleep as if I’d woken her, and I liked it. That was a voice I could list
en to all night.
“Sorry, I woke you,” I said. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
There was a moment’s silence. “It’s two in the morning,” she said.
I nodded before saying it out loud. “I know.”
“Did you only get in now?” she asked, and the end of her sentence stretched into a yawn.
“I’ve been home a while. I meant to call earlier but, you know, life gets in the way. I couldn’t even come by the diner.”
“Oh, I wasn’t at the diner. My boss gave me a second day off.”
“Nice of him,” I said, and I really didn’t mean it. I couldn’t stand the bastard, not even just the thought of him.
Filthy Ride: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Iron Bones MC) (Whiskey Bad Boys Book 3) Page 10