“There must not be a worse fate.” She laughed. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“We’ll be here.”
Clutch had circled the car and rolled to a stop beside Rafe, making a clucking noise. “Now those tires are what we professionals in the mechanic business call ‘fucked.’”
“I’d call that an appropriate term. Can you help her out?” asked Max.
“I can do that. For right now, we need to get the car to a safe place. Slashed tires are like a call to action—if the car is left like this, it’ll be stripped in no time. I’ll head back and get the tow truck and come back for it. I can park it in my garage.”
“Nobody will fuck with it there.”
Rafe inclined his head to agree with Max. “They’d be stupid to try.”
“No. And tomorrow we can figure out what to do that will get her back on the road. I might be able to find her some cheap retreads.”
“Thanks,” Rafe said, slapping him on the back as Max grunted in appreciation.
Simone came down to where they were standing. “I’m told it isn’t right to assume things about a person, but at this moment, without any evidence, I’m inclined to think I know who did this.”
“Pretty much everyone would make that same assumption.” Max glared into the darkness for a moment.
“You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes.” Rafe shrugged. “Well, let’s not worry about him for the moment. Let me make some introductions. We have here Clutch, Slash, and Choirboy. Slash and Choirboy did the Brad delivery the other day, and Clutch is our mechanic.”
“And I know you, Max,” said Simone with a soft smile and a wink that made Rafe’s chest constrict and seemed to cause a similar reaction in his friend. Then she turned to the new-to-her members of the club. “It’s nice to meet you all.” She seemed sincere. “Your names are so unusual.” She chuckled. “What a surprise. Then I must be Waitress, or Bar Maid.”
“No, you can be Simone. Give me your keys.” Rafe held out his hand.
When she handed them to him, he tossed them to Clutch. “Here.” Then he looked at Simone. “Clutch will get your car to a safe place for the night, and we’ll get you some tires tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
Clutch turned to one of the other guys. “Hang around here and keep an eye on the car until I get back with the tow truck.”
“I can do that,” said Slash. He got off his bike to go stand in the shadows, and Clutch saluted Simone, then revved his engine and disappeared into the dark.
“I’ll stay with Slash,” said Choirboy. “Vanessa will be pissed if I let anything happen to him.”
“I don’t need you guarding me, Jake. I’m the enforcer, and you just diddle with code.”
“I’m a maestro with it, though probably not quite Hacker’s caliber.” He winked at Simone in a friendly, not flirtatious, way before looking at Max. “Better than Ace, though.”
Max just rolled his eyes as Slash and Choirboy moved toward her car.
“Now, if you’ll hop on behind me, I’ll get you safely home.” Rafe twisted slightly to offer his seat.
“You can ride with me if you’d prefer,” said Max.
She gave his and then Max’s motorcycle a hard look. “I’ve never been on one of those before.”
Rafe grinned. “Good. Then there isn’t a chance you’ve forgotten anything about riding on the back.”
“Smartass.”
“Hell, you get the easy part. Get on the seat behind me, put your arms around me, and off we go.”
“Or me,” grumbled Max, but he was farther from Simone. It was logical for her to pick Rafe, and he was counting on that.
“Now I see why you’re both so eager to help me. I wouldn’t go out with you guys, and now you have a situation where I have to wrap my arms around you, or I fall off onto the street.”