“Sorry, man. We were just ... we were just playin’.”
“Her fuckin’ lip is bleedin’, does that sound like playing to you, Adan?”
Adan shakes his head. “Nah, boss, it doesn’t.”
“Sure as shit doesn’t,” Remy agrees.
“It was an accident, we were just messin’ with her. We weren’t goin’ to hurt her.”
“You owe her an apology,” Riggs orders, his voice a low whip. “Get on the ground, on your knees, and tell her how fuckin’ sorry you are.”
The men hesitate.
“I said fuckin’ now,” Riggs snarls and even my eyes widen as I take a step back.
He’s terrifying.
The men do as they’re told, getting on their knees. They look to me and all of them apologize.
I’m shaking. I didn’t realize I was shaking.
“Three seconds to get up and get the fuck out of here before I pull this trigger,” Riggs warns.
The men stand, and all of them scamper off without looking back.
I stare at the three bikers in front of me. It’s in this moment I truly see them for what they are. Dangerous. I haven’t seen this side to them, and now I have, I can see why people give them a wide berth.
“You good?” Riggs asks me, eyes scanning my face.
“Yeah,” I say. “I ... yeah.”
“You’re bleedin’, I’ll walk you back to make sure you get home safe. Adan, Remy, go and make sure them fuckers left.”
The two men disappear.
Riggs walks me back to the café.
“I have a first-aid kit in here,” I say. “I’ll go get the key.”
I rush off.
My heart is pounding.
What the hell just happened?
“YOU OPENED THIS JOINT all on your own?” Riggs asks, looking around as I open the first-aid kit. My mouth kind of hurts, but mostly my pride is blown out.
“Yeah,” I say, and watch as Riggs turns and takes over grabbing what he needs from the first-aid kit.
“It’s pretty impressive.”
I beam. “I know, it took everything for me to bring it to life, but I knew what I wanted, and I went for it.”
“Takes a lot at your age.”
“Yeah,” I say, looking around Wildflowers with pride.
Riggs leans forward and uses a saltwater gauze to wipe my lip. I try to do anything but make eye contact with him, because my heart is racing, and if he sees what he’s doing to me, he might just get up and run out of here.
It must be the adrenaline that’s making me act this way.
What happened out there was pretty intense. I need to come up with something real quick before he sees the affect he’s having on me.
“What made you become a biker?”
He pauses, and then shrugs. “I just liked the life. I joined the Soul Dividers when I was about eighteen. Stayed there for a good ten years, and then they wanted to open another chapter, so I took over. I’m President of this chapter, but we have eight other chapters spread out of the United States.”
“Eight?” I say, with wide eyes. “Why so many?”
“Big club, that’s how it works.”
“So you’re not even the top dog?”
He grins. “No, I’m not.”
“Why did you pick this tiny little town to bring your chapter to?”
He swabs at my lip, and god, it’s hard to stay in the moment and not get lost thinking about his touch.
“I don’t do cities. The other chapters all run in big cities, a few are in smaller ones, but that ain’t the life I want. I saw this garage, knew it was a good place for me, so we set it up.”
I laugh. “Lucky me.”
He keeps the grin.
“I had other reasons to disappear.”
“Let me guess,” I say, waving a finger. “A wife?”
He meets my eyes. “Yep.”
I blink. “Wait, seriously? You have a wife.”
“I did. Got a restrainin’ order against her and disappeared. So far, she doesn’t know where I am. Part of the reason I picked this place. She’d never step foot in a town like this, let alone come lookin’ for me here.”
“Yeesh, she must have been a piece of work if a biker got a restraining order out against her and left.”
“That don’t even cut it. Bitch is fuckin’ crazy. She burned down my house. With me in it.”
“Wait,” I say, half laughing, half gasping. “Are you serious?”
“Fuckin’ yeah, I’m serious. She thought I was cheatin’ on her. I’m not a fuckin’ cheater, but she was convinced of it. Lost her god damned marbles and I told her it was over. Guess she figured that if she couldn’t have me, nobody could, so she fuckin’ drugged me and, when I fell asleep, she lit the house on fire.”
My eyes are wide. “She actually tried to kill you then?”
“Yep.”
“Holy shit! How did you get out?”
“Adan happened to come past, he needed somethin’ and saw the house up in flames. He got me out, and after a few tests, we figured it out. She denied it of course, then did a runner. Don’t know if they found her or not. I spoke to my President and took a bunch of the guys and left to start my own chapter. Here I am.”
“You haven’t heard from her since?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, not a word, but I changed my number. She could find me if she wanted, I’m sure of it. No doubt she’s tormenting someone else by now.”
“That’s a lot. What about a divorce, or settling the house? How will all that go if you never speak to her again?”
“The house burned to the ground, payout was split between us for that. As for the divorce, I have no fuckin’ idea how I’ll do that.”
“Wow, that’s something else,” I say, pursing my lips. “You sure know how to pick them, huh?”
He grunts. “Yeah, apparently. Look at you.”
“Hey, we’re not anything so I don’t count. I’m just your neighbor.”
“A neighbor determined to get me out.”
“This café is everything to me, you making noise and carrying on all the time, not to mention all the illegal shit I know you’re doing, makes it hard for me to run the kind of business I want.”
“Here’s the thing,” he says, dropping the gauze once he’s done cleaning my face, “you don’t own the world.”
My mouth drops open. “I know that!”
“Do you? Because you seem to think you own the fuckin’ town, but I paid good money for that garage, that house, and my club ain’t goin’ anywhere.”
“You mean your club paid good money for it?”
He stands. “We’re done here.”
“Yeah, we are.”
He turns and leaves, and I know I should yell out a thank you. I know I should be letting him know that I’m grateful he helped me tonight, but I’m pissed off. We take one step forward and a hundred steps back.
Oh, well.
Maybe I’m not ready to stop playing yet anyway.
8