Riding the Night
Page 9

“I slept enough.”
He tilted his head to the side, examining her with his intense gaze, then stood, came closer. He reached out and grasped a strand of her hair in his hand. He held it lightly, not demanding, just let it sift through his fingers, his gaze focused on her face. “You look tired.”
She inhaled, let it out on a shiver of awareness. What was it about these guys that got to her, that made her so cognizant of them as men? Her usual wariness was absent when they were around, the blocks she put up nonexistent. She knew AJ, but he’d been gone a long time. She didn’t know Pax at all. And yet she’d let them stay in her house last night.
None of this made sense. She was usually a lot more guarded.
“Who’s hungry?” Pax called from the kitchen.
AJ’s lips curled in a way that made her stomach tumble and made heat flush her skin.
“I’m hungry,” AJ whispered, so only she could hear.
He let go of her hair and walked away.
Her heart was pounding and her palms were sweaty. But it wasn’t from fear.
She took a full minute to get her body and emotions under control, then went into the kitchen to join Pax and AJ.
BY THE END OF THE DAY, THE NEWS FROM THE POLICE STATION wasn’t good. Teresa was strung out and ready to pull every hair out of her head.
Blood samples on Joey’s clothes matched Larks’s blood type, though DNA matching would take a little longer. Since Larks and Joey had been engaged with each other the entire fight, Teresa already knew what it would show—it would be Larks’s DNA on Joey’s clothes. With no murder weapon and no one else in Larks’s proximity, and of course the rest of the Fists loudly pointing to Joey as the one who had stabbed Larks, there were no other suspects. It wasn’t looking good for her brother.
Russ hung out there with them that day, worried as much about Joey as they were.
“You know anything about the Fists?” AJ asked him while they waited in the cafeteria.
Russ shrugged his wide shoulders and chewed the hell out of a toothpick. “Not much. Larks was a dick. I’m glad he’s dead.”
Pax snorted. “Some of them need killing.”
“Yeah well the whole Fists gang needs killing.”
“Who takes over now that Larks is dead?” Pax asked.
“Walter Rinks. He was Larks’s right hand.”
AJ slung his arm over the brown metal chair where Teresa sat. An unconscious gesture, but she felt the heat of his body against her back. “Walter have any reason to want Larks dead?” he asked.
Russ shook his head. “They were tight. Like brothers. Like me and Joey.”
Teresa described the guy who she saw kill Larks. “Does that match Walter Rinks’s description?”
“Not at all. Walter is skinny with long dark hair. No ink on his neck. His tats are on his arms.”
She knew it had been foolish to hope it would be that easy. “What about on our team, Russ?” Teresa asked. “Anyone with a personal grudge against Larks?”
“Nah, honey. Not any more than the usual. We follow Joey and are loyal to him. We defend what’s ours and will retaliate if we’re hit, but we don’t instigate for no reason. Murder isn’t our style.”
She blew out a breath. “Until now. Someone killed Larks and wants the police to think Joey did it.”
IT WAS AFTER NINE WHEN AJ AND PAX FORCED TERESA OUT of the police station and made her go home. Again, they had followed her there, though she honestly didn’t think anyone intended to do her harm. Wouldn’t someone have made a move already if he thought she’d seen who’d killed Larks? Not that she wanted someone to, but she figured if someone had seen her, he would have wanted to get rid of her right away.
She didn’t want to think about the possibility at all. But she of all people knew that being prepared and on your guard was the smart thing to do. So like it or not, she still had bodyguards. And as bodyguards went, they weren’t too much of a hardship to endure.
When they got inside, Teresa tossed her purse on the table near the front door, then collapsed on the sofa and swept her hands through her hair. She was drained, physically and emotionally; she felt powerless to do anything to help her brother and didn’t like being in this position. She’d always been proactive, always known what to do to step in and fix things when something went wrong.
This she couldn’t fix and she hated it. There had to be another way.
Pax flopped down on one side of her and AJ on the other.
“Joey’s attorney said the evidence was circumstantial, since no one witnessed Joey actually stabbing Larks, and they still haven’t found a murder weapon.”
Teresa turned to Pax. “Yes, and I know why. The murderer has run off with the knife he used to kill Larks.”
AJ rubbed her back. “You need to let the police do their job.”
“They’re not going to find the guy. They’re not even going to look for him.”
“You gave them a description of him.”
She laughed. “Right. Like they even believe me. You know as well as I do they think I’m making up the other guy to save my brother. The detective said no one with the tattoos I described came up in their database.”
“You don’t know that’s what they think,” Pax said. “Not every biker has a police record. Obviously that’s why the guy you spotted didn’t pop up in the NCIC. They’ll follow every lead.”
Teresa lifted her chin. “You put too much faith in law enforcement because you’re one of them.”
Pax laughed. “Honey, I’m hardly one hundred percent on the side of truth, justice and the American way. But you have to give them the benefit of the doubt until they do something to f**k things up.”
Her lips lifted. “I know. I just don’t want to do nothing and wait while Joey sits in jail. Not when I could be doing something to help.”
Pax arched a brow. “What do you think you can do to help?”
“I could be out there finding the guy who stabbed Larks.”
“Really. And how are you planning on finding him?”
She looked away for a second, then back at him. “I haven’t figured that out yet. But he’s wandering out there getting away with murder. And I’m the only one who can identify him.”
Pax stood. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Teresa tilted her head back and stared at Pax. “Go? Go where?”
Pax smiled. “For a bike ride.”
“Why?”
“Let’s go find the Fists and see if you can spot your guy.”
She stood. “Really?”
“That’s a good idea,” AJ said, already grabbing his helmet and heading to the door.
“Wait. We’re just going to ride up into their territory?”
AJ shrugged. “I don’t see why not. They rode into yours, didn’t they?”
“Yeah. With a gang. We can’t just—”
AJ put his arm around her. “Yeah, Teresa. We can. Don’t worry. Now, go put on some boots and let’s take a ride.”
She hurried to her room, put her hair in a ponytail, grabbed her boots out of the back of her closet and shoved them on, her heart pumping double time as she did.
She really didn’t ride. Not anymore. But for the second time in twenty-four hours she’d get on a bike again. For Joey, she’d do anything.
AJ and Pax were on their bikes as she closed the front door and headed out to the driveway. Pax had an extra helmet in his hand, so she went over and put it on, forcing her pulse to stop jackhammering.
“You look a little scared. You’ve ridden before, haven’t you?”
She gave him a quick nod, hating the paralyzing fear that always came over her whenever she thought about climbing on a bike again. She was just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. “Of course.”
“She’s been riding for years,” AJ said to Pax. “We used to ride dirt bikes together when we were kids. Then Teresa and Joey both got Harleys.” His gaze slid to hers. “You sell your old bike?”
She climbed on behind Pax and nodded at AJ. “Yeah, I sold it a while back.” There was no need to explain further.
Teresa leaned against Pax as they took off, inhaling the scent of his leather vest. The night was hot. He certainly didn’t need to wear anything but his T-shirt, but as she pressed closer, she felt the telltale bulge of his gun and realized the leather hid the weapon he carried. Since AJ also wore a vest, he must be armed, too, which both comforted and worried her.
The Fists weren’t a huge gang, but their numbers weren’t small, either. And heading into their territory wasn’t just a simple drive-by. Bikers riding into the northern territory who weren’t part of the gang were going to be noticed and watched to see if they were out for a joyride, or something else.
It took only about a half hour to reach the northern part of the city where the Fists territory began. Teresa directed Pax to the gang’s local hangouts, since she’d often listened in when Joey and the guys talked about riding around in the Fists’ area. He’d tried to maintain peace between the gangs, but had finally given up when it became clear that Larks had delusions of becoming huge in the area and he wanted to take over the southern territory. Joey had told Larks to stay the hell out or suffer the consequences.
Larks had suffered all right, but it hadn’t been at Joey’s hands, or the hands of any of the other Thorns. And now it was up to Teresa to find the man who did it, so her brother could get out of jail.
The problem was, none of the Fists were at any of their typical hangouts. They rode around to the bars, the bowling alley and the pizza place Teresa knew they frequented, and there wasn’t a single bike—or biker—around. It was like they were hiding out. Or simply not there.
After an hour and multiple trips, Teresa tapped Pax on the shoulder. “Give it up. They’re not here.”
Pax nodded and led them out toward the highway and south, back to Teresa’s place. She realized as Pax pulled the bike into her driveway that she’d been so preoccupied with finding the guy who stabbed Larks, had been so worried about Joey, that she hadn’t once thought about being on a bike again.
One test passed with flying colors, at least.
They went inside. Teresa pulled a few beers out of the refrigerator and brought them into the living room, stopping for just a moment before she stepped fully into the room, still taken aback at the sheer size of the two men who stood there.
A normal woman would have died to be in the same room with these two men.
A normal woman would have.
She craved that feeling, wanted it more than anything. All it took was some determination and she’d have it.
She relaxed her shoulders and brought the beers in, handed them off and took a seat on the chair across from the sofa. Putting herself in between them was just too much. She was already aware of herself as a woman whenever she was with them, and she wasn’t ready. Or maybe being with them made her feel more ready than she had been in years, and diving into that scared her.
Coward.
“So the Fists were nowhere to be found,” AJ said, his gaze fixed on Teresa. “Maybe they were out riding.”
“If they were riding in their own territory I would think we’d have run into them,” Teresa said. “I think they were somewhere else.”
“Or in hiding,” Pax said.
Teresa screwed the top off her bottle of beer and took a long swallow, letting the cool liquid coat her parched throat. She leaned back and kicked off her boots, pulling her feet underneath her. “Why would they be hiding?”
“To protect the guy who killed Larks.”
She hadn’t thought about that. “You might be right.”
AJ leaned forward. “What about Joey’s guys? They might know.”
“They might.” She pulled out her phone. “I’ll call Russ and see if he knows anything.”
She dialed the number. After a few rings, Russ answered, the sound of loud music in the background. Teresa had to yell for Russ to hear her. Obviously, he was in a bar. But not her bar, since it was still closed. She grimaced at the thought of all that lost revenue and waited while Russ stepped outside, away from the noise. She could tell from the sound of his voice he wasn’t happy to hear she had been on a ride up north. Then again, all the guys were protective of her.
Russ had no idea where the Fists could be, but he spent some time spewing invectives about his dislike of the gang and pointed the blame at them for Joey being in jail. Teresa didn’t disagree.
“He couldn’t shed any light on where the Fists might be,” she said as she slid her phone onto the coffee table.
“They can’t hide forever. Once they surface, we can go looking for the guy who stabbed Larks. If they’re protecting him, we’ll uncover him.” AJ leaned back against the sofa and propped his feet on the coffee table.
While AJ and Pax sat quietly drinking their beers, Teresa studied them side by side. AJ, with his dark good looks and smoky gray eyes, had always made her heart tumble. He had that sexy, bad-boy quality about him that would make any woman look twice. Pax had dirty blond hair that he wore short and spiked, a dark goatee lining his jaw, his body all lean muscle, the kind of body a woman would want to run her hands all over. The two men were a study in contrasts—so different and yet so similar. Both screaming masculine and sexy, commanding a woman’s attention in ways that were elemental and yet inexplicable.
And she suddenly pictured herself between those two men, their hands gliding over her na**d body, their lips pressed against her skin. Being sandwiched between them, touching them in turn, allowed access to their bodies, sliding down to worship their cocks—first one, then the other. They stood still and allowed her to touch, to taste, and only when she’d satisfied her curiosity did they pull her up and turn her face to each of them and kiss her. She wondered about their mouths, their tongues, the different tastes and textures, what it would be like to have that sensation of both of them kissing her, both of them doing . . . everything to her, with her.