Ryker: MC Romance

by Percy Preston

  Damn did I ever want to get involved with her.

  I couldn’t help myself. I want to know more about Anna. I needed to know what kind of woman was brave enough to defend herself against the likes of the Hell Riders. Even more importantly, what was she doing in that alley dressed like that in the first place.

  Her run-in with the Hell Riders didn’t seem like an accident to me. After what they told me about Lucifer, it was time for the Black Souls to get ready for a fight. I knew it was dangerous to be chasing after a girl who was a cop. For all I knew, she was working to try and lock us up. With all the police activity that has been seen around the city lately, nothing would surprise me.

  She seemed sweet and innocent, like she had no idea just how dangerous biker culture really was. From the moment I saw her in that alley, I longed to protect her and keep her safe.

  At the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking that I had to be careful around her. What kind of woman would hop on the back of a bike with a total stranger right after being attacked? Granted, I did come to her rescue, but still. If she hadn’t mentioned she was a cop, I probably wouldn’t have questioned her motives. But that one major detail of her life, had me worried she was after a lot more than good company for the evening.

  Nothing would surprise me anymore. If she was after information, it wouldn’t be the first time a cop tried to bleed me dry. But now I was smarter and wiser and I wouldn't let that happen this time.

  I knew I should stay away, I wanted to see her again. I missed that beautiful smile of hers, and the way it brightened her eyes. She talked about her daughter with such pride and purpose. After one short evening with her, I discovered I admired her.

  If Lucifer, or any of the guys for that matter, found out I had a thing for a woman on the police force, there’d be hell to pay. It would be best just to tell Lucifer about her. But I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear the truth I was still desperate to deny.

  He was still waiting for an update on my trip into Tijuana. He wasn’t going to be happy when I told him I thought we needed to increase manpower around here. The Hell Riders were going to strike at any second. I could feel it. They had the upper hand.

  Until they made their first move, Lucifer would never strike first. That wasn’t his style.

  I dropped on the couch as soon as I got home. I was tired and desperate for sleep but it just wouldn’t come. There was too much on my mind.

  After fifteen minutes with my head in my hands, I rushed right back out of the front door. I got on my bike, and drove to Lucifer’s house. I was tired of waiting for the right time. We had to deal with this now, before it was too late.

  The cool night air calmed me down while I was on my bike, but as soon as I rang Lucifer’s doorbell, my heart thumped loudly in my chest. I waited on his porch, pacing until the door finally swung open. Judging from the look on his face, he wasn’t happy.

  He looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept in days. He couldn’t keep this up any more than I could. We had to devise a plan. Fast.

  Waiting around wasn’t working. It was time we struck first, and gave our enemies a taste of their own medicine. We needed to show them what it was really like messing with the Black Souls MC.

  “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you.” Lucifer’s tone was angry and anxious. “I need to know what’s going on.”

  “I’m here now. Let’s talk,” I said. He held the door open for me, and waved me in. After he shut the door behind me, he went to the fridge and grabbed a couple of cold ones.

  “How bad is it?” he asked, handing me a beer.

  I dropped onto the couch and took a long pull of the beer before I let my head fall back with a sigh. “It’s worse than we thought. The Hell Riders are the ones that you need to be worried about. No surprise there really. But, they’re spreading rumors about you all over Tijuana. They're telling any biker who would listen that it’s you that needs taking down. They’re rounding up lone bikers to fight their fight for them. I have a feeling things are about to get uglier.”

  He let out a low growl and ran his fingers through his beard as he plopped down next to me. “I need you to walk me through exactly what you heard. I can’t make a move until I’m sure that this isn’t going to blow up in our faces.”

  I rehashed every painstaking detail of the past night. His expression grew more glum the longer I talked. I could physically feel how angry he was, and how he fought the impulse to gather our forces and drive to where the Hell Riders were hiding out.

  “You think they got someone on the inside?” Lucifer asked after several minutes of silence.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do we have a mole? We thought the stolen guns were an inside job, but we never found any evidence to support that theory. We have a problem here, but now I’m starting to wonder if I need to start tearing the club apart to find out who it is. Nothing pisses me off more than a traitor. Why else would the Hell Riders think it's safe to move into our territory unless someone was feeding them information about us. I built a community of trust after what happened to Reaper, and I refuse to let them take all of that away from us.” He slammed his beer bottle down on the coffee table.

  I didn’t know how to calm him down. He had every right to be upset. The walls were closing in on him, and everything he did to protect us was at risk of being destroyed. He had finally found love with Francesca, and started to build a life with her. This new threat put a strain on all of that.

  But it wasn’t just him. We were all in danger, and there was just no telling how much time we really had to fix this. If Lucifer was right and we were dealing with a mole. we’d find them and make them pay.

  It made my skin crawl, and my blood boil just thinking about it.

  Something had to change, otherwise each and every member of the Black Souls was going to suffer. I couldn’t let that happen. The club changed my life. It changed all of our lives, and we had to do whatever it took to protect it.

  I sighed, taking a swig of beer and a deep breath before telling Lucifer the rest of the story. He was the one to warn me about the police in the first place, and I couldn’t hide my night out at the bar with Anna from him. Someone was bound to tell him they spotted me at the bar with a beautiful woman anyway.

  “There’s something else.” I started.

  “What else could there possibly be?”

  “I ran into a girl in an alleyway downtown where I’d followed some of the Hell Riders members. They stopped in front of her, taunting her. I was worried they were going to do something to hurt her, so I stopped them. I sent them running, but not before they warned that you needed to watch your back,” I said.

  “Fine, I’ll call a meeting in the morning, and we’re going to make sure that the Black Souls know that none of this shit is going to be tolerated anymore. I’m going to have to push back if I want to keep everyone safe, and I need to know that you’re going to stand by me when I do,” he said.

  “Hell, yeah. You know I will.”

  “That girl. What happened to her?”

  “Her name is Anna. At first I was just trying to be nice, make sure she was safe. She said she was headed to Jackroller Pub and I offered her a ride. Everything seemed innocent at first. I just thought she wanted to thank me for protecting her. But then she told me she’s the new detective down at the police station.” I fumbled over my words, because I knew that Lucifer was about to lose his mind.

  “She’s the what? I told you to lay low. That is not laying low.”

  “I know, man. I didn’t know who she was until we got to the bar.”

  “She obviously wants something out of you. I need you to be more careful, okay? Stay away from anyone who’s a cop. The last thing they need right now is a reason to throw us all in jail,” he shouted, and I knew he was absolutely right.

  “I’ll keep my distance,” I replied.

  “Good. Now get out of here and try to get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

/>   “Same to you. You look like shit.” I swallowed the last of my beer and headed out.

  I was fuming, worried, and feeling like both of us were fools. We underestimated how bad this could really get.

  I raced home, not caring about the speed limit or traffic laws. I couldn't get home fast enough. I was exhausted and craving a woman I could never have.

  I parked my bike in the driveway, and headed inside. I collapsed on the bed and tried to forget everything that happened that day. I tried to put thoughts of Anna out of my mind. She was the first woman in a long time that made me feel anything. and this fucking sucked.

  Lucifer was right. I had to stay away from her. She could cause real trouble for the club if she got too involved in what we did as a club. I fell asleep trying to convince myself that seeing her again was a death sentence. We couldn’t possibly deal with the heat of the police and the Hell Riders on our backs at the same time. I had to choose my battles wisely, and stand with the rest of the club while we found a way out of this.

  I woke after what felt like only a few hours later to a bright light beaming through my bedroom window. I must’ve slept longer than I thought.

  Once my eyes fully adjusted, I realized it was still dark. Something was wrong outside. Do I smell smoke?

  I rushed to my window, and peered out to see a cloud of smoke rising from my bike. It was engulfed in flames. I stared at it, knowing there was no saving it now. I felt the impulse ignite inside of me, ready to start a fight with those motherfuckers.

  The Hell Riders were the ones behind this. I had no doubt. They came after me for what I did to them in that alleyway.

  Fuck. This wasn’t good. If they knew where I lived then that meant they knew where Anna lived too. If they hurt her because of me, I’d kill them all. I no longer cared about Lucifer’s warning to stay away from her. I had to warn her before it was too late.

  8

  Anna

  I spent the entire night tossing and turning thinking about him. I fell asleep at some point, but by the way I was dragging my feet this morning, I felt like I didn’t sleep a wink.

  The way he spoke about the Black Souls, and how they treated each other like family, made the biker club sound welcoming. He spoke about the club with such compassion and conviction, yet I got a sense he held something back. He intrigued me and he made me want to keep digging.

  Harold was going to expect a report the moment I got into the office this morning, and I had yet to figure out what I was going to say to him. He was an intimidating man and he rattled just about every cop in the office. If I didn’t come up with something fast, I would be out of a job before I’d even got started.

  I couldn’t ignore the feeling in my gut that there was something I was missing, a piece of the puzzle that would bring clarity to this case. I suspected that piece had a name. Lucifer.

  I gathered my things and stuffed them into my tote. Hope’s giggles caught my attention and as soon as I turned around, she ran into my arms and gave me a hug. I kissed the top of her head, squeezing her tightly, and I wondered if this was ever going to get easier. I hated having to leave her, even for work. Though I knew she was in good hands. I wanted to be the one that was there for her throughout the day but I had to do my job. I needed to provide for her the way that my parents never provided for me. I knew she would understand why I had to work, but it still didn’t make it any easier.

  She seemed to get along great with Aunt Fern, and that gave me peace of mind for the time being. I had a lot on my mind, and a lot on my plate. I’d come across so much information over the last few days, and I struggled with how best to process it all. I had to actively work to not allow recent events to cloud my judgment. If I screwed up, I could lose my spot at the station. If that happened, I could kiss this career opportunity goodbye.

  I grabbed my coffee cup off of the kitchen island, and headed for the front door. I glanced back to get a good look at my happy daughter one last time before I shut the door behind me.

  I had one hell of a day planned, and every time I stepped outside of the house, I wondered if I was going to get the chance to return. Agreeing to work on a case involving biker clubs, made this job dangerous. And meeting Ryker made it all the more complicated.

  At least I had an agenda now. Find out everything I could about Lucifer, and gain a clear understanding of why the Hell Riders MC were moving into town. If what Ryker told me was true, they had no business being here.

  Blindly trusting him could be a huge mistake. For all I knew, he was playing me for a fool. Harold did say these bikers could smell a cop or an attorney from a mile away, so I may have been too quick to believe Ryker’s story. Right now, I had to focus on the facts. That was all that mattered.

  I walked down the front steps of my building, and I looked up to see a face I didn’t expect to see any time soon. Ryker. His dark brown hair was tasseled and the brown eyes were no longer the amber color of whiskey. They looked dark and haunted. He was also missing that big grin of his that lit up the entire room.

  He was angry, and I braced myself for what he was going to say. I knew it was a mistake to tell him I was a cop. Had I been busted so quickly?

  For reasons I couldn’t explain, I had an urge to hug him. But I resisted. Spending one evening in a bar talking with this guy didn’t mean I knew him. He could be just as much trouble as those Hell Riders I ran into.

  My shoulders sank. I knew that wasn’t true. My gut told me Ryker was okay. I appreciated everything he did for me. I felt like I owed him, and that meant giving him the best council I could if that was what he was after.

  “Ryker,” I said, inching closer to him.

  “Hi, Anna.”

  “What brings you back here so early?” I asked, hoping he would just come right out and say it. Maybe this had nothing to do with me being a cop. Maybe he was here to tell me he wanted nothing to do with me.

  I knew as well as anyone that all the time we spent together last night was a mistake. We were on opposite sides of this case and getting involved with each was more than a little complicated. What the hell, Anna? You’re not involved.

  “You should know that you’re wasting your time coming after the Black Souls. We are not the problem. If the chief wants to fix the biker issue in Coronado, then go after the Hell Riders. It’s them that you should be focused on taking down, not us. They’re dangerous. And just so you know exactly how dangerous they are, the Hell Riders that attacked you last night came to my house and set my bike on fire.” The anger in his voice increased with every word he spoke.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to play coy. But I knew that he could see right through me.

  His expression remained hard, and he let out a long sighed. “Oh, Anna. I don’t know what it is about you that made me care enough to come down here, but I know that you’re fishing. I knew that the moment you asked me about Lucifer. Me being here talking to you right now is risky. I shouldn’t have come. But I’m not going to stand by and watch the Black Souls go down for the things we haven’t done. The chief has been trying to put us away for a long time. He has some kind of vendetta out for us. All we’ve ever done was protect ourselves. You can’t see that now, but I promise, you will soon.”

  “What are you asking me to do?” There was no use trying to deny his accusations. He wouldn’t believe me anyway. But I didn’t understand why he even came to me with this in the first place. If he knew what I was after, why not just stay clear of me?

  “I’m afraid things are about to get ugly. With everything you told me last night, about you moving into town, and trying to start a new life for you and your daughter, you need to be careful. You have no idea what you’re up against here.” When those words left his lips, the hardened look on his face softened.

  “Why, Ryker? Why come all this way to warn me if you’re so convinced that I’m out to get you?”

  “I don’t know. As much as I don’t want to admit it,
I enjoyed our talk last night. I know you’re not a bad person, and you seem like you want to do the right thing here, so I’m asking you to think carefully before you make any sudden moves. Whatever you and the rest of the police do, could result in the destruction of all of us. I just need you to be careful. If you ever need any help, don’t be afraid to reach out. Please. I can help you if you get into more trouble.”

  The fact that he even felt the need to offer his protection scared me. There was more to this and he knew more than he was letting on. Even though I wanted to, I didn’t push him any further. If I did, he would probably shut me out for good.

  He was conflicted, and I could tell he didn’t know whether to trust me or not. He looked like he really cared about what happened to me, despite the wall that my job and his position in the Black Souls put between us.

  I wanted to know more, and I planned on finding out the truth regardless of his warnings. I wasn’t about to put anyone behind bars that didn’t deserve it, and I needed to make sure I was after the right guys here.

  “I’ll be careful. Something tells me, I need to tell you the same thing. I don’t know what’s going on, but I trust that you’re looking out for me. I can’t say I understand why, but I promise I’ll take what you said into consideration. I’m here to go after the bad guys. If you and your friends aren’t causing trouble, then you should be fine. Like you said, the Hell Riders are bad news, but I still have to figure out where the rest of you fall. I appreciate you offering your help, but I’ll be fine. I’ll see you around,” I said, walking away from him before he could say anything more.

  I needed time to think, and process everything he said. The more he told me, the more I felt like I was being backed into a corner. I hated not being able to work my way out of a situation, especially one that I was supposed to have full control over in the first place. If Harold wanted to investigate these bikers, they were going to have to have solid evidence before arrests could be made. Right now, they had nothing. And from the looks of it, the only bikers that needed to go down were the ones that were out on the streets assaulting civilians, and burning other people’s bikes. And that was the doing of the Hell Riders.