Chapter 3
1971 Words
Chapter Three
AMANDA
Farley’s was definitely an acquired taste. And smell. So this was the best lead I had while I waited for Cade to come up with some more concrete information. And if I was being honest, I didn’t even know where to begin.
I couldn’t very well just go around asking people. I didn’t see the man I was looking for here, but hell, he could have been in before me, or could be planning to come later. There was just no way to know for sure.
I felt powerless to control things, and I hated that. It was a feeling I’d grown accustomed to over the last few weeks, but still something I actively disliked. I just wanted all of this over with.
But for now this was the best I could do, and so I was going to do what I could with what I had. I wasn’t about to give up. I surveyed my surroundings. It was a dire, seedy bar with working girls and the kind of men you don’t bring home to momma. Seems I’d spent a lot of time in places like this recently.
I figured I could try the girls but the tools I had at my disposal weren’t well suited for that. If I explained my situation, why I was looking for Pelton, they might just sell me out to the highest bidder. I couldn’t count on sympathy from fellow women just because I was one.
No, that was too risky and I didn’t want to tip my hand. So that left the fellas. Not a thought I relished, trying to navigate who might have information and who might not, while parrying the various ‘niceties’ I was bound to hear. Never mind the ones who were liable to get handsy, though I’d learned to fight for just that reason. And I also had my gun.
There was a man sitting down the bar from me in a bright Hawaiian shirt. He looked out of place, he wouldn’t know anything. And behind me I’d clocked two bikers as they came in, just silhouettes through the smoke. One was tall, well-built, the other bald and shorter, fatter.
They were an option, I thought to myself. Dunno if they were from Cade’s club or another. Thing is I’d been told Cade was the go-to man for information. So, if he didn’t know — or wasn’t telling me — then what were the chances some other club would know anything? It seemed a slim chance.
I sipped from my glass of whiskey while considering the fact that I couldn’t even trust Cade. Hell, he might be selling me out right now. But this was something I had to do. Hell, it might kill me, but I had to press on.
I could feel eyes on me, and turned around on my stool to see the two bikers looking at me. It was worth a shot, I figured. I looked into the eyes of the tall one. From this distance, I couldn’t make out all that much, but he had striking eyes, the kind that when you catch them you almost can’t look away from.
Come to momma, I thought to myself. I held his eyes for just a little longer, and then returned my attention to my whiskey. But I already knew he was getting up and coming over to me.
I made a show of pulling my hair to one side over one shoulder, and then turned toward him. He was closer now, had a cocky gait to his step, the kind that told me he was a confident man and felt at ease in a town that seemed brimming with bad guys. So he was bad, most likely. Something to keep in mind.
My eyes traveled up his body. Denim and leather, patches, long legs, clearly muscular torso. Broad shoulders. He was lean; veins wriggled up his tattooed forearms. Then he passed under a dim light, and his face lit up. Handsome, younger than I expected, iron jaw and generous lips… and those eyes. Striking. Gray, like a wolf’s, they almost seemed to shine in the night.
The man won the genetic lottery, that was for sure. Probably thought he was God’s gift to women, hence the swagger in his step. I could use that. Show a little resistance, and I’d bet the farm his pride would kick in and he’d give me what I wanted… if he had it.
There was something else about him I noticed, the way he seemed to survey the room as he approached me. Everybody even passing near him had his brief attention, and his eyes snapped to the entrances and exits when they opened and closed.
That was when I realized what it was: he was military. Not a lifer, though. I guessed he had just done a tour, and then when they pulled out he came here. Why here? I saw him nod at someone he knew. Ah, so that was it. He’s from here. This is home. The man came back home and joined the club he was with. I couldn’t see if he was from the same club as Cade, the Demons, or a different one.
He came up next to me and leaned against the bar, his eyes never leaving mine. His lips were curled into a smirk that was more than a little sexy. Definitely arrogant, but hell, he backed it up.
“Not everyday you see a girl like you with a piece like that.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You keep your purse open for easy access. Easy to look into as well.”
“Girl’s gotta protect herself,” I said. “Some eagle eye there.”
He shrugged, sitting down next to me. “Training kicks in.”
“You’re military.”
“Was.”
“What was it like over there?”
“About what you’d expect.”
“Well,” I said, tipping my glass to him. “Thank you for your service.” I drained the rest of the whiskey which seemed to impress him.
“Another?”
I glanced at my phone and then said, “Maybe next time, soldier boy. It’s late.”
His smirk grew wider. “Need to be back home for curfew?”
“Worse. The carriage outside turns back into a pumpkin.”
“Then leave me a slipper.”
I laughed at that, and started to reach for my purse. “It was nice meeting you…?”
“Malachai,” he said.
“Malachai,” I said, taking his outstretched hand. “I’m Amanda.” I gestured at the patches on his kutte. “You’re part of the…?”
“Steel Infidels,” he said.
“Man, boy scouts sure do have funny names these days.”
MALACHAI
Damn, this girl. She was something else. I wanted her.
“It ain’t boy scouts, Amanda.”
“So a motorcycle gang, then?” she said, a challenging look in her eye.
“Ain’t a gang, either. It’s just a club.”
“I see. Well, see you.”
I shook my head, chuckling, and watched as she left some money on the bar and then walked away, casting a smoky-eyed look at me.
This girl… this girl was trouble.
Damn it, I was about to get myself into something here, wasn’t I? I didn’t know if she was related somehow to Mrs. Salman’s kid, but she being here, in this town looking like that and carrying a gun in her purse, I knew she was gonna be trouble.
I couldn’t leave it too late. I started to follow her out. I wasn’t letting this one go. “See, Rafe,” I hissed at him as I passed our table. “This is why I don’t f**k around. She’s trouble, man.”
“The good kind,” he said, laughing.
“We’ll see.”
I caught up to her at the door and held it open for her.
“I’m not the kind of girl who needs a chaperone,” she said.
“But you look the kind of girl who needs some good company.”
“Oh?” she stopped in the street, turning toward me. God, she was beautiful. I wanted nothing more than to crush my lips against hers. “What makes you say that?”
“All alone,” I said, “In a new town in a place like this?”
“Who says I’m new in town?”
“It’s that eagle eye.” I stepped closer to her, close enough that I could smell her perfume. That, and a touch of a long day beneath it. That smell… it drove me wild. Blood surged south into my manhood. Now… now I was thinking with the wrong head.
“I’m just passing through,” she said. I could tell she was disarmed by my proximity to her. I was well over six feet and she was about average height. I made her feel small, I knew that.
“You pass through Steelbarrow, you pass through,” I said. “Nobody stops. You’re here for a reason.”
“And if I am?” she asked, looking up into my eyes. Her lips were slightly parted, and she was breathing a little quicker.
Was this a play? Was this an act? All that edge dissolving before my eyes? I thought about it for a split second but realized that no, it wasn’t. The simple truth of it was that she was attracted to me, she wanted me, and she didn’t expect to find a man like me in a place like that.
Or anywhere, really.
“Maybe I can help you.”
“You seem like you want to help yourself.”
“Maybe we can help each other,” I said, bringing my face a little closer to hers.
“Shepherd Cade,” she said. She had moved her head closer to mine, close enough I could feel the warmth of her breath.
“What about him?”
“Is he trustworthy?”
“Sure, he’s generally good for his word.”
“And you?” she asked.
I leaned closer to her, ran a hand down her arm before finding her hip and gripping onto it. “I’m trustworthy.”
“Sure you are,” she said, her eyes looking down at my lips.
I kissed her then, and wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into me. She seemed surprise by that, half-gasped, half-kissed me back, and then her hands were at the back of my head and she was pulling me harder into the kiss.
And what a kiss it was. My whole body felt alive. Electricity thrilled through me. I held her tight against me, tighter than I’d ever held any woman. No doubt she could feel my hardness pressed up against her, and she ran a hand down my neck, down in between our bodies, and squeezed my hardness.
Our kiss broke, and I what I saw in her eyes was conflict. She pulled back, separated from me. My c**k bulged through my jeans. She looked at it for a moment before looking back up into my eyes.
“You want more than just a taste,” I told her. My voice was low, filled with lust.
“Maybe I didn’t like the free sample.” But her eyes flicked down my body to my crotch, and then back up again.
She started to walk down the street. I made to follow her but she spun around on the spot, shaking her head and tutting and patting her purse.
I grinned at her, and held up my arms and took a step back. Fair enough. Can’t blame a girl if she doesn’t want a man following her.
“Catch you next time,” I said.
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
I watched her round the corner at the end of the street, and then went back into the bar.
“Well?” Rafe asked expectantly.
“Reckon she played me, man.”
“Why’s that? What did she want?”
“Well, she wanted my c**k, that was for sure,” I said. “But there’s something that matters more to her. Something real important. She asked me if Cade was trustworthy.”
Rafe grunted. “What did you say.”
“I told her the truth. For the most part, he is.”
“So, what, you just let her walk away?”
“Christ, Rafe, she has a gun in her purse. She did everything but point it at me.”
“f*****g p***y,” he said.
I didn’t even know what to say, so I laughed.
The night came to an end and I went home and the only thing I could think about was Amanda.
That kiss. The way her lips tasted, the way she smelled. That proximity.
Fuck. I knew I wasn’t going to get any sleep. I was hard as an iron bar just thinking about her.
I wanted her and I might have just let her slip through my fingers.
- Writer
