BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (12 page)

Chapter 6

"What do you mean, one up two down?" Kim scowled as she looked at the monstrous motorcycle. She'd been mostly joking when she'd suggested Diesel teach her to ride his bike. He'd expressed his frustration at not being able to ride with his shoulder still on the mend, and she'd told him she would at least take him for a ride, if she could drive the thing.

She hadn't expected him to offer her lessons.

But here she was, on the first truly sunny day they'd had all week, with wind whipping around her as Diesel tried to explain how to shift gears. "It's a simple concept, Kim, and you're smart. Look, the first gear is up, and then for every other gear, you kick it down."

It wasn't that the instructions didn't make sense. She could drive a standard just fine, and this wasn't really any different in the overall concept. But Kim couldn't for the life of her imagine balancing the heavy bike at forty miles and hour and changing gears. "Diesel, how much does this bike weigh?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a grand. It's not that heavy. Why?"

Kim gaped at him, her hands on her hips. "Not heavy? Diesel, a thousand pounds is half a ton. Do I look like I can lift a half a ton?"

He stared at her, looking horrified. "Why the hell would you have to lift it? I don't see any reason for it to be on the ground."

She started to argue with him, but they'd both gotten so caught up in the activity that they hadn't been watching traffic and didn't notice the visitor until the car was in the driveway. She heard Diesel curse under his breath a moment before she spotted the driver and had quite an inclination to do the same. "What's she doing here?" Kim asked quietly as Sophia got out of the car.

"I don't know," Diesel muttered back, sounding angry, "but if she pisses me off, I'm having her forcibly removed."

"Don't dismiss her to spare her the gory details," Sophia spat instantly, and Kim stiffened, recognizing this was going to be a confrontation that involved more than just beef between a woman and her ex-husband. "You do realize you're cheating, don't you?"

Diesel laughed, though Kim saw no humor in the statement whatsoever. She raised her chin, prepared to go toe-to-toe with the woman, but Diesel spoke first. "Sweetheart, you hold the record here for spreading your legs outside of our sacred commitment. So, if that's your beef, you can get the hell off my property."

With a smug expression, she purposely came closer, and as she drew near, Kim felt a shiver of disgust. She had been a little jealous and concerned before, but she could see the way Diesel looked at her now and knew there was nothing left between them. In fact, she almost wondered how there had ever been anything, considering the utter animosity. She also knew the woman was walking a fine line, considering the agreement the two of them had supposedly come to for Sophia to keep her distance. How did she manage to justify appearing again after telling Kim that she wanted nothing more to do with Diesel and that Kim could keep him all to herself?

"You should be nicer to me, since I could always contest the divorce and drag it out longer. Especially since my testimony against you would go a long way in court as your
wife
." Kim felt the tingle of alarm building inside, and a sidelong glance at Diesel assured her that he was worried, too.

"That's nice, but I have no aspirations of going to court for anything," Diesel said, calling her bluff. But Kim had a feeling there was something more to it and wasn't ready to blow Sophia off just yet. The woman was a threat, no matter how anyone spun it. With her connections, she could easily take Diesel down, along with the rest of the Shadows.

Her pristinely manicured nails tapped against her bicep, the only sign of irritation as she smirked. "Maybe not, but you know what they say about the best laid plans." She took a deep breath. "It's my understanding that you're in a load of trouble, Diesel. I know what's going on, and you might as well count on meeting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding your way." She turned her eyes to Kim, a sharp look that made Kim nervous. "And you can't escape, either, kiddo. I know this man, and that means you're already up Shit Creek without a paddle and a hole in the boat too big for that tight ass of yours to cover."

Kim didn't turn away from her, meeting her gaze dead-on, but she kept the corner of her eye trained on Diesel, wondering if he knew what she was talking about. Kim had a sneaking suspicion, and though Sophia only hinted at it, she seemed pretty sure of herself. Finally stepping forward, Kim challenged, "You should be sure you have your facts straight before you start making accusations. Sleeping with the enemy can lead to all sorts of false information, and sharing that with the authorities is a federal offense."

"Oh, please!" Sophia laughed derisively. "Let's not even get started on filing false police reports! Honey, I'm so deep in my immunity no cop can touch me with a thirty-foot pole!"

"If you don't get the hell away from here like we agreed, we'll just see how pristine you are," Diesel threatened. "I can have you forcibly removed." It wasn't an empty threat, either. Kim saw him reach for his phone in his pocket.

Sophia narrowed her eyes at each of them. "I'll leave, but you should think about what happened and how you act around me." She pointed a finger at Kim as she opened her car door again. "Maybe you should school him in manners rather than trying to pretend you're enough of a badass to ride." With that, she got in the car and drove off, leaving Kim and Diesel staring after her, feeling a bit nervous.

Chapter 7

Three days of mental torture had Diesel in a foul mood, and he had half a mind to hunt down his ex-wife and put her six feet under. She had enough contacts to blame it on someone else. Hell, he could even stage it as self-defense, as if she attacked him with a weapon. He didn't like the way she'd rode in with complete confidence and laid threats down, not only to him but to Kim as well.

And if he read between the lines, she was threatening the entire club.

He wasn't one to overreact, but there were big fish involved now, and he had to tread lightly to keep everyone safe. If he could play the ignorant fool to the cops, and his brothers in the Shadows corroborated his story, no one would be able to prove it was his gun that had done the worst damage.

Only Kim had kept him riding that thin line between irritated and murderous, but it all went to hell in a handbasket when those damn suits came sniffing around again. They arrived in the afternoon, during another riding lesson. Kim had ridden up and down the street by herself several times now, getting a feel for the bike, and this time, it looked like an escort, the black unmarked following dangerously close behind her as she pulled back into the drive.

Diesel knew he needed to show respect to the authorities, but he expected the same concern in return, and he voiced it as they casually stepped out of the car and idly strolled toward where he sat in front of his garage, nursing a long-neck. "Gentlemen, I would have expected the two of you to show a little motorcycle courtesy. You should know better than to ride that close to the back wheel. If you ever clip one, you'll have a lot more trouble than being suspended from the force."

The driver held up his hands in surrender. "My apologies, my friend. It was an oversight. I'll be more careful going forward."

"Thanks," Diesel groused. "And for the record, we are
not
friends." He stood and walked over to Kim as she swung off the bike and locked down the kickstand. He kissed her quickly and told her, "Good job."

She beamed under his praise, but he could feel her tension as she eyed the two detectives. Following her gaze, Diesel asked impatiently, "If you have business here, get to it, or get off my property. I've taken issue with people thinking they can just loiter around here."

The taller one tucked his fingers into the back of his pants, a calculated move that lifted his blazer and showed his shoulder holster. "I'm not going to mince words with you. We need to get a full statement from you, now that you're healing up and everything. We didn't want to push while you were in the hospital, on meds and fresh from the brawl." Diesel could have laughed him right across the American border for that bullshit, but he remained quiet. "But it's been a little over a week, and we can't do our job without an official signed statement from you."

Diesel crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at them. "If you think I'm inviting you into my house for this chit-chat, you're a bigger fool than I am." He motioned toward the garage. "I can grab a couple chairs and bring them out and talk to you right here."

But the shorter guy shook his head, his brow heavy like some Neanderthal. "I'm afraid that won't be sufficient. We're going to have to ask you to come down to the station to give your statement." He glanced at Kim. "If your girlfriend here has anything to say, she's welcome to join you. Otherwise, we'll just be working with you for now, trying to clear up any...misunderstandings."

Misunderstandings.
More like tips from a certain ex-wife? Or maybe accusations from the Skeletons or even the Pagodi family regarding Felix. Diesel didn't know for sure, but he certainly had no machinations of making it easy to entrap him. At the same time, he didn't want Kim involved in any way, so he had to make a decision. Which card did he play today?

Taking a deep breath, he said, "Alright, detectives. I'll come down to the station and see what I can tell you. I can't promise it'll help, since I didn't see anything. But you'll have to wait out here and let me make sure my girlfriend is comfortable here at my house, waiting for me. And I'll be following you in my car, not riding in yours. I have no intention of spending the night in your facilities." He turned deliberately to Kim and said, "I'll be home by dinner."

She nodded, still silent and wide-eyed, and he kissed her. "Come on, let's get you settled." He hurried her inside, hitting the button to close the garage in case the detectives got any ideas to snoop around, and he kept an eye on the window so the cops were in sight the whole time. "Don't worry, Kim. This is all going to blow over," he told her, as much to convince himself as to convince her. "The police are the least of our worries."

Kim didn't seem very accepting of that. "What if Sophia..."

"I doubt it," he cut her off before she could finish the statement. "Whatever Sophia knows, she's not saying because it would implicate the whole club. If she did that, she would be as good as dead. I won't rule out the mob, though. It could very well be them leaning on the police force." More likely, these detectives were just hungry for a big bust. The mob liked to take care of things on their own. "I'm going to go play the ignorant fool, and I'll come home."

Resigned, she nodded again. "Okay. Be careful." She gave him a quick peck and asked, "Are they going to question me?"

He shook his head. "What good would it do?" But he knew. Anything he'd told her was fair game, and if she didn't divulge that information, she was an accessory. Diesel had put her in danger by sharing information she should never have had. Now, it was his responsibility to fix that.

He drove to the station and let the two men lead him into an interview room, complete with two-way mirror. He purposely sat with his back to it, deciding there was no reason anyone outside needed to observe him, considering that there had been no Miranda rights, no mention of being a suspect or person of interest, nothing that would warrant such treatment. They were supposedly looking for a statement, and that's what he would give – the same statement of obliviousness he'd given in the hospital.

They sat across from him and just stared for a moment before the taller one said, "It's my understanding that you haven't been completely honest with us. It seems you might have seen who shot you and fired back."

Diesel rolled his eyes, though he didn't like where this was going. "Who told you that? I was too dazed from being hit to even search for the shooter. I had drawn my gun, but only in self-defense, and I dropped it. And considering I never got it back, I'm assuming either you guys collected it as evidence or someone else grabbed it. I haven't gotten it back."

The tall one eyed him with a false confidence he recognized from years of facing down cowards that were all show. "We have a reliable source..."

"Who, Sophia?" Diesel stopped him.

Neither man spoke, and finally, the shorter one leaned forward on his elbows on the table. "Listen, your wife..."

"
Ex
-wife," he corrected, losing his patience and leaning forward the same way, only with a more intimidating look that he leveled on both men. "Sophia wasn't there, and she's not a real witness, so you can't lay that on the table. It's just hearsay. And the only thing she's reliable for is a little physical pleasure. Unfortunately, as her husband, I wasn't the benefactor of those favors, but I can guarantee she was no more reliable for anything else, either, especially the truth. So, if that's all you have to go on, the word of a woman always looking to better her own interests, I'll be leaving now."

When there was no protest from either, and he saw jaws clenching, Diesel pushed to his feet and left the room, not waiting for an escort out of the station. He certainly wasn't in the clear, and because he had opened his big mouth to Kim, neither was she. But now, he had time to put together a plan that would hopefully take both of them out of the line of fire, literally.