I somehow managed to plaster a smile on my face and reply, “Nothing.”
I refused to confide to Shelly about Dev. I hadn’t even told her I’d walked in on Richie talking to the Iron Horsemen president a few days ago. If Shelly was warning me away from the Blue Angels, I didn’t want to give her more to worry about when I mentioned the Iron Horsemen.
The less she knew the better.
When we closed the bar for the night and I flipped the sign to readClosed, Shelly said, “You should go home early. Ditch out.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you’ve been working like a maniac and I owe you from when you closed by yourself the other night.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone here. Richie hasn’t made an appearance tonight. I don’t know if he will.”
“Mark will come.”
Mark didn’t look like much, but he was proficient in Krav Maga and had his concealed carry permit. It wasn’t what I would’ve expected from a spectacle-wearing computer programmer, but he was an alpha male, through and through.
“Okay, if you’re sure,” I said, glad that I was leaving Dive Bar for the night.
Shelly called to me, “Hey, I want to go wedding dress shopping this weekend. You in?”
I grinned. “Damn right.”
We hugged goodbye. I headed to the back exit and opened the door into the spring evening and smacked right into my missing boss.
“Ow,” I mumbled, rubbing my shoulder and glaring at him. “Where the hell have you been? And why are you skulking around? You know Dev is looking for you, don’t you?”
He ran a hand through his greasy black hair. “Did Dev come to the bar?”
“Yep. What sort of shit did you get into, Richie?”
He played dumb. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, why is there a biker club president walking in and out of Dive Bar like he owns the place?”
“I don’t have time to explain,” he evaded. “Wait here. I need a—just promise me you won’t leave right away.”
I paused, considering. Then I said, “I’ll be in my truck.”
“Give me five minutes. I left something in the office.”
Before I could reply, he dashed through the doorway and disappeared. I found my keys at the bottom of my purse and unlocked the truck. I got the engine going so as soon as Richie and I parted ways, I could go home.
Richie came out of the bar and ran to the passenger side. He scrambled into the truck, ducking down, keeping out of sight.
“Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?” I demanded.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I got into bad shit with the Iron Horsemen. I’m leaving town. I have to get out of here or they’ll kill me.”
Fear skated down my spine.
“But—but what about the bar?” I faltered.
“Don’t worry about the bar,” he growled. “You need to get the hell out of town for a little while. Lay low. Shit’s about to go down and you don’t want to be anywhere near it.”
“What kind of shit?”
He shook his head. “The kind of shit where people die.”