by Brook Wilder
I pushed myself off the couch slowly, my body already mourning what it would be missing tonight. “He’s my partner. I have to get along with him.”
“Not if I kill him.”
Picking up my shirt, I slid it over my head, smoothing back my hair the best I could. “Then I would have to fill out paperwork and I hate filling out paperwork.”
Seth groaned as his arm snagged me around the waist and pulled me against his warm body, to the chest I had yet to explore. “Tell them you are sick,” he murmured against my neck, pressing a kiss right above my collarbone. “Tell them you’re busy.”
I forced myself to push him away. “I wish I could, but this is my job, Seth.”
He blew out a breath, already reaching for his shirt. “Fine, then let me drive you to your car.”
***
I reached the office exactly twenty minutes later, hoping they wouldn’t notice the ever-present flush on my skin. Seth had kissed the hell out of me in the parking lot and if I knew I wouldn’t get fired for not showing up to a called meeting, I would have begged him to take me back to his house.
I was in deep, deep trouble.
Pushing open the door, I stepped inside, finding Jon waiting. “Sorry,” I said breathlessly as I looked around. “Where is everyone?”
“Don’t be mad,” he said as he approached me. “But it’s just us here.”
“Just us?” I asked, still confused. “Did you lie about the meeting?”
“Hear me out, Alisha,” he started as my anger rose. “I’m sorry about tonight. I really am, but that fucker, he makes me do things I wouldn’t normally do. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
I was already on my way to the door, not believing this. He had faked a meeting just to get me here alone? I didn’t know when the light flipped for Jon, but I wanted him to flip it back. I couldn’t work with someone I couldn’t trust. “I’m leaving.”
Jon grabbed my arm and turned me around to face him. “I love you,” he blurted out, his eyes pleading. “I’ve loved you for a long time, Alisha, and I can take care of you like no one else can if you just give me a chance.”
I carefully removed his hand from my arm, knowing I needed to choose my words. “While I’m flattered, Jon, I don’t like you like that. You are my partner, my friend, but nothing more.”
His nostrils flared, anger in his expression. “You smell like him. That’s where you were, wasn’t it?”
“That is none of your business. What I do outside of my job is my own business, not yours, not the office.”
Something predatory shone in his eyes. “He’s our primary suspect and you are fucking him.”
I wanted to slap him. “I getting evidence from him, more than I can say about your work right now.”
I thought he was going to say something else, but Jon took a step backwards instead, running a hand over his hair. “I’m sorry. I just, he gets me worked up. I’ve been sniffing out the Aztecas’ hideouts while you were…busy. I missed them by two minutes.”
Despite my anger at him, I forced myself to remain neutral. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I got some intel tonight. There are two strongholds we will hit tomorrow and take a dent out of them.”
Jon’s eyes were sorrowful as he looked at me. “Let me buy you a cup of coffee, Alisha. It’s the least I can do.”
I shook my head slowly. “Why don’t we just go home and start fresh in the morning? It’s been a long day and we both have said things.”
“You’re right,” he answered. “I’m sorry.”
“Good night, Jon,” I said, turning toward the door. I wanted out of here in a bad way, afraid for the first time of my own partner. How far would he go with this? It was like one minute he was the guy I met at the academy, and then the next, a total stranger.
“You know he will never leave his club.”
I stiffened but didn’t turn around, forcing my hand to turn the doorknob.
“He will always choose the club, Alisha. No matter what.”
I did step out then, not even looking back once until I was safely in the car with the doors locked. Jon didn’t know what he was talking about. I had been the one to leave, not Seth. I had left my club, him, everything, to chase this dream of being an agent, someone who could track down my sister’s killer legally.
But as I pulled away, heading toward my parents’ house, I couldn’t help but wonder if Seth would leave the club if I asked him to. I wouldn’t, of course, but the nagging thought still swam in my brain. Seth loved the Jesters and I had once as well.
I had been strong enough to leave, but I didn’t know if he would if the chance came up.
Chapter 12
Seth
I draped my arms over the handlebars of my bike as I watched the road, anxious to see Alisha’s car. The sun was starting to set low in the sky, framing the mountains in the distance and giving one of those spectacular sunsets Texas was famous for.
It was a perfect evening to ride. Rex and Kris had both asked me if I wanted to ride in the opposite direction, to celebrate one of the members’ birthdays at a little dive bar outside of Castillo, but I had declined, ignoring their looks of curiosity and concern.
I knew what they were thinking, and I didn’t give a shit. When Alisha had texted me earlier, I was glad to hear from her. She was all I had thought about since she hightailed it out of my house last night. I’d woken up with a massive hard on this morning, itching to bury it inside of Alisha. I had plodded through the day, knowing I couldn’t very well go over to the ATF office and see her, but she had put it all to rest, making plans with me to meet at one of the places we had spent a shitload of time in back in the day.
A place that held a lot of memories for us.
Finally, her car came into view and I climbed off my bike, sliding my ball cap backwards and setting my sunglasses on top of my head. She pulled in next to me and I grinned as she climbed out.
Damn those long legs of hers. She wore a pair of shorts and t-shirt, nothing like the uniform I was used to seeing on her, with her hair down around her shoulders.
She was the embodiment of a fucking wet dream for me.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” she said, grabbing her purse before shutting the door. “I can’t believe this place is still up and running.”
I looked back at the concrete shack behind me, the sound of pulsating music pushing through the speakers mounted on the outside of the building. “It’s still kicking.”
She laughed. “Well then, let’s go in.”
I allowed her to go first, mainly because I wanted to see her ass in those shorts and held the door open, stepping inside the brightly lit building behind her.
“Oh, Dios mio! It cannot be!”
A small, rotund woman hurried toward us, her face all smiles. “Mi pareja favorita! Back at last!”
“Mama Rosa,” Alisha greeted her, stooping down to hug the woman. “It’s been a long time.”
“A long time indeed,” the owner of Mi Hermosa Rosa scolded, wagging a finger at me. “I was certain you would come and show me those babies you have been making!”
I coughed and Alisha’s face burned. “I, um, we aren’t…” she fumbled.
“It’s complicated,” I finished up lamely. Complicated wasn’t even the word, but it was the best one I could come up with.
Mama Rosa eyed the both of us, muttering to herself in Spanish before she waved us on back. “Come, come. I have the perfect table.”
I fell behind Alisha as Mama Rosa led us through the bar area and out the side door, where a cluster of tables sat under the Texas sky. Some of them were occupied already, so Mama Rosa put us in the back, away from the live band performing at the opposite end.
“Sit,” she said. “I bring you drinks.”
We did as she instructed, knowing better than to argue with her. Mama Rosa was a force to be reckoned with when crossed.
“Well, she hasn’t changed,” Alisha remarked with a smirk. “God, this pla
ce! It’s just like it was ten years ago.”
“Yeah I know,” I answered, leaning back in the chair. “I’ve passed by it a time or two and was surprised to see it still standing.”
“You’ve never stopped?”
“It didn’t feel right.” Not without Alisha. She and I had found this little Mexican hovel together on one of our rides back in the day. After that, we came out here often to escape the rest of the club. We sang karaoke together, drank together, and even washed a few dishes in the kitchen together one night when Mama Rosa was shorthanded.
I couldn’t bring myself to visit our place without her. “What was the emergency?”
Alisha looked at me. “What?”
“The emergency,” I repeated. “From last night.” That had pulled her away from me.
A flash of annoyance crossed her expression. “It was something stupid. Jon. He professed his feelings for me.”
“What?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking down at the table. “I told him to back the fuck off of course, but I’m not sure if he got it.”
I clenched my fists under the table, wishing I had punched that fucker last night and put him to sleep. I knew something was up with him and now I knew what it was. “You’ve got to get a new partner.”
Alisha let out a choked laugh. “That’s not how it works, Seth. I can’t just dump Jon without making it weird between us.”
“It’s already weird between you two.”
“Maybe,” she answered. “But he’s my partner and I will have to deal with it for now.”
“If he lays an unwanted hand on you-”
She didn’t let me finish, silencing me with a look. “I said I will handle it. Please, don’t be that way, too.”
“Alright, fine.”
“Thanks,” she muttered as Mama Rosa brought out two beers and her own concoction of cocktails.
Hell, there was a whole tray of them. “Drink, have fun,” she said, sliding it on the tabletop. “I fix you food.”
“Is she trying to kill us?” Alisha laughed and picked up one of the rose-colored shots. “There’s enough alcohol to cause liver failure here.”
I picked up a shot as well, holding it up. “Well, it’s a damn good way to go out.”
Alisha’s eyes sparkled in the low light. She clinked her shot glass against mine. “Yeah, especially with the right drinking partner.”
“I’ve never had another.”
We downed the shot, my groin tightening when Alisha licked her lips. “I’m sorry I left like that,” she said after a moment. “I, this feels like we were never apart.”
“I know,” I admitted, setting my glass aside. It was like we were picking up where we had left off, not only in the easy-going sense, but also in my feelings for Alisha. She had been the brightest part of my life and when she left me to avenge her sister’s death, I had felt like someone had snuffed that light out.
Since her return, that flame had grown higher, thinking about her all the time and not delving into the club business like I used to.
This was about to get complicated.
***
After two hours of Mama Rosa’s delicious traditional Mexican fare and a tray full of her special concoctions, I helped Alisha to the door, my head fuzzy from the alcohol.
“Come back and see me,” Mama Rosa called after us. “Don’t wait so long next time.”
Alisha’s arm wrapped around my waist. “We won’t, we promise.”
“And make some babies!”
I chuckled, unable to help myself as I pushed open the door to the still night. “She’s adamant about that one.”
“I think she pictures us having sex so that she can send some sort of Mexican runes,” Alisha laughed.
The thought of having sex with Alisha was far too much for me to handle. I spun her around, backing her against the building until our bodies were pressed against each other.
“What are you doing Seth?” she asked breathlessly, her hands still at my waist.
I leaned down, nuzzling her neck. “I think Mama Rosa is on to something.”
“Us having babies?”
“No,” I said, my voice rough. As much as I wanted to have babies with this woman, now was not the time to chat about it. “But we could practice.”
Her hands tightened. “Excellent idea.”
Blood rushed through my body at her soft response, my cock butting painfully against my zipper. God, I could take her right here, right now, and not feel ashamed by it. The house seemed too far away at this minute.
“I’m taking you home,” I growled, forcing myself to step away from her before I embarrassed us both.
Her eyes were bright and clear, with a hint of hunger lurking in their depths. “Please, Seth.”
That’s all I needed. I grabbed her hand and turned, the bright lights of a car passing catching my eye. I squinted against the intrusion, opening my mouth to yell at the driver before I saw the glint of metal sticking out of the back window. Instinctively, I pushed Alisha to the ground as gunfire rang out against the still night, and covered her body with mine. Luckily, we were close enough to a low concrete wall to hide behind. Alisha’s breaths came in short gasps beneath me while the ping of the bullets hit dangerously close to us before the tires squealed and the gunfire stopped.
“Get off me!”
My mind was slow to register Alisha was pushing at my chest, and I rolled off her. “What?”
She was already on her feet, running toward her car. “We have to follow them! Come on!”
Surprised at her reaction, I barely got into the passenger side of her car before she was careening down the road, her hands gripping the steering wheel. What had I expected anyway? Alisha was ATF. She probably did this kind of shit every day.
Just in case, I pulled out my backup gun out of the concealed pocket in my vest, resting it on my knee.
“Open the glove compartment, Seth,” Alisha was saying. “My service revolver is in there.”
“I will do the shooting.”
“I’m the only one in this car who has a legal gun. Get the damn thing out.”
I did as she asked, not used to this Alisha. In this mode, she was all business, zero concern for her own safety.
She fucking scared the shit out of me.
After a few moments of driving like a bat out of hell, Alisha slowed up near a copse of trees. “There’s the car.”
I checked my gun. “I’ll go check it out.”
She pulled the car to a stop. “Not without me you aren’t.”
“It’s not safe.”
Alisha made an exasperated sound. “This is my job, Seth.” Without another word, she threw open the door and left me in the car, approaching the other with her gun raised.
I swore and did the same, noting there was no movement in the car itself.
Alisha peered inside the open driver side door before lowering her weapon. “It’s empty.”
I did a quick check of the back seat before doing the same, looking around our surroundings. “I don’t see anyone waiting to ambush us.”
A rumble of thunder caused us both to jump and I tucked the gun back into my vest. “Come on. It’s going to downpour.”
We barely made it to the car before the bottom fell out, drenching the windshield. Alisha busied herself putting her gun back into the glove compartment, her fingers brushing my knee as she did so. “I guess you don’t want to go back and get your bike?”
I chuckled. “Not so much.” I wasn’t worried. Mama Rosa likely had already draped it with a tarp, knowing it was mine.
Alisha took several deep breaths, her hands shaking as she gripped the steering wheel.
My mind went into full panic mode. “Are you shot?”
She slapped my hands away immediately. “No, of course not. I’m fine. I just… need a minute.”
I watched her struggle internally, surprised to see her go from badass ATF to this shaking woman who couldn’t hide that the surprise attack ha
d bothered her. “Do you need me to drive?”
Alisha let out a sound, slamming the car into drive. “No. I have it.”
I didn’t say another word, glancing occasionally over at Alisha as she drove us home. She might have it, but I was worried as hell for her.
Chapter 13
Alisha