“Locke?”
“Mm-hmm. His real name is Danny, but his brothers call him Locke.”
“Oh, my God, I thought you were talking about Lynch!”
“Lynch? No!” She shook her head. “I didn’t even see him.”
I was feeling a mixture of relief and embarrassment as I walked over and sat down next to her on the sofa. “So, he wasn’t the one who found you at the front door?”
“No, silly. That was Locke.” She was practically beaming. “When he came to the door, I told him why I was there and gave him the envelope for Lynch. We got to talking, and then the next thing you know, he’s asking me inside for a drink.”
“I have to admit—I never dreamed you’d be interested in a biker.”
“Me either!”
“So, he’s cute?”
“Girl, cute doesn’t even begin to describe this guy. He’s so freaking hot.”
Haleigh never stopped smiling as she spent the next hour describing every detail of her encounter with Locke at the Ruthless Sinners’ strip club. She went on and on about him possibly calling or texting and how she couldn’t wait to see if he’d asked her out on a date.
My best friend was smitten.
I knew the feeling well. I’d felt the same over Lynch.
Unfortunately for me, there would be no calls or future dates with Lynch. In fact, I wouldn’t be seeing him at all... no matter how much I wanted to.
LYNCH
“We had some trouble last night.”
The brothers were gathered in the kitchen, having breakfast, when Viper asked Shotgun, “What kind of trouble?”
“Candy and Misty were attacked when they got home.” They were two of our best strippers. Both were single and lived in an apartment several miles away from Stilettos. Shotgun’s face was marked with anguish as he continued, “Beat all to hell, and there’s a good chance Misty was raped. They’re both at the hospital now getting checked out.”
“Why am I just hearing about this?”
“Just found out myself, Prez.”
“Fuck.” Fury pulsed through the vein in Viper’s neck. “Any idea who did it?”
“Not yet, but we’re working on it.” Shotgun grimaced. “There’s more.”
“Lisa had a wreck last night. She was on her way home when her car flipped over the median.”
“How is she?”
Lisa was our head bartender and had worked for us for years. We all thought a lot of her, so it pained us to hear Shotgun say, “Not great. Shattered elbow and dislocated jaw, but she survived.” He glanced down at his watch, then said, “She should be going into surgery any minute.”
“No way all this shit is a fucking coincidence.” I could literally feel the tension radiating from Viper’s body as he stepped back and crossed his arms. “Someone’s sending us a message, no doubt about that, but I’ve got no clue who it might be.”
“Yeah, but it’s just a matter of time,” Hawk tried to reassure him. “We’ll find out who and shut ’em down.”
“We’re out of fucking time.” Viper’s tone grew fierce as he roared, “Our girls are off-limits!”
“Shows just how fucked up these guys really are,” Axel replied.
“Well, I’m done with the bullshit.” Viper thought for a moment, then ordered, “I want all the women and children brought in for lockdown, and that includes every woman on our payroll. I want them all under our full supervision, and they don’t go anywhere without a brother on ’em.”
“You got it, Prez.”
“I expect you boys to watch your backs and take no unnecessary risks. Gonna need you to double up on shifts at the club and keep a close watch on things—make sure nothing else goes down. Understood?”
Hawk nodded, then we all immediately headed out to the parking lot.
Once we were outside, I started over to my bike but stopped when I heard Locke call out, “Yo, Lynch. Wait up!”
As he made his way over to me, I asked, “Whatcha need, brother?”
“I have something for ya.”
He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a small white envelope with my name on it. As I took it from his hand, I asked, “What’s this?”
“See for yourself.”
I opened the envelope and found two checks inside with a small handwritten note that simply said Thank You and nothing more. “What the fuck?”
“I don’t know, man.” He gave me a half-hearted shrug. “Haleigh brought it by Stilettos last night.”
“And you didn’t give it back?”
“I didn’t know you wanted me to. Besides, I was just doing what she asked... She said she didn’t feel right keeping your money.”
“Appreciate you getting it to me.”
“No problem.” A smirk crossed Locke’s face. “That Haleigh is something else.”
“You talked to her?”
The morning we’d met, Haleigh seemed pretty standoffish, so I was surprised when he answered, “Yeah, we had a couple of drinks last night, and she ended up giving me her number.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, I’m thinking I might call her when all this bullshit around here settles down.”
“That might take a while.”