Safe House (4 page)

CHAPTER FOUR

Flint opened his eyes and tried to focus. Shit! Why did he hurt all over like a fucking linebacker had thrown him against a brick wall? He pushed himself upright and breathed deeply to fight back the waves of nausea rolling over him.

He tried to recall the previous day’s events
,
but his memory was a little fuzzy. The crew had ridden over to a neighboring county to discuss setting up a buy with a distributor for a huge shipment of alcohol. Shelby County, where the MC was based, remained one of the few two hundred or so dry counties in the entire United States.

Local politicians refused to approve beer, wine, or liquor licenses to any business inside the county limits. This opened up a golden opportunity for groups like the MC to become modern day bootleggers and make tons of cash
- if they were willing to break the law in the process. The MC considered the rewards to be worth the risk. Over the years, they had grown the business and now kept a steady supply of customers stocked with their favorite alcoholic beverage. The customers never questioned it or even seemed to mind paying the fifty percent mark up. Considering the cost of gas and the fifty mile round trip to the nearest liquor store, the citizens of Shelby County were getting quite a deal. Or so the MC crew members always told them. 

Flint’s arm throbbed. The last thing he remembered clearly was riding alongside Rocco as the group cruised two-by-two back through the valley. Gunshots had come out of nowhere, with the loud booms reverberating off the sides of the mountains. Then a searing white-hot pain had exploded in his upper left arm, tearing through the muscle.

Instinctively, they’d all sped up and kept riding, knowing to stop meant certain death. Flint hadn’t let on to the others that he was hurt until they’d made it safely through to the other side of the valley.

Flint remembered pulling over and arguing with Jesse on the side of the road. Jesse wanted to take him to the hospital. Flint knew that not only would the emergency room personnel be required to report the shooting
,
but there was a chance whoever was after them would show up at the hospital as well. The last thing the MC needed was to be involved in a shootout in a public building where innocent people could be caught in the crossfire.

For once in his life, Jesse had listened to him. Instead of taking him to the hospital, he had called in a big favor and secured the safe house instead.

Everything was a blur after they’d arrived at the cabin. Flint didn’t remember stowing his bike away or even walking inside. Not being able to recall the previous night’s events made him uneasy. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable.

He glanced around the small room for his leather jacket
,
which held his cell phone and his gun. It was missing, along with his shirt. After taking another deep breath, he stood up and waited a moment for the dizziness to pass.

Holding on to the furniture for support, he made his way carefully across the room toward the kitchen. He figured there had to be a phone somewhere in the cabin that he could use to call Jesse and find out what was going on. When he reached the doorway to the kitchen, he stopped in confusion.

“Who are you?” he asked, staring in shock at the full-figured curvy woman in tight jeans and an even tighter white sweater peeking into the refrigerator.

Kendra whirled around and rolled her eyes. “Oh no! Don’t tell me we’re going to go through th
is
again? Oh my God!” She threw up her hands in frustration. “I can’t believe I got myself into this mess! Jeez, you’d think I gave you a date rape drug or something the way you’re acting.” She put her hands on her hips. “Just so you know
,
we’ve been through all this once already in the middle of the night. Here’s the short version this time. I’m Kendra, your nurse for the weekend. Period. The end. Now stop asking the same old questions and wasting my time.” She turned back to the refrigerator and started moving containers around to see what was on the back shelf.

When he didn’t move, she glanced back over her shoulder. “And sit down! If you fall, I’m not sure I can pick you up. I can carry a small calf, but a full-size man, dead weight and passed out on the floor might be another story.”

Flint didn’t argue and instead sank down into a chair at the kitchen table. Little by little, bits and pieces of the previous day’s events were starting to come back to him. He reached up and winced in pain when he touched the thick white bandage covering his wound. Through the thick fog in his brain, he vaguely remembered Kendra being at the cabin the night before. “You patched me up?” he asked.

“Yep! Didn’t want to,” Kendra said. She walked over and pulled out a chair to sit beside him. “I was
persuaded
by your brother, Jesse. Personally
,
I thought you should’ve gone to the emergency room. Cleaning up a bullet wound is not something I do every day.” She put her elbows on the table and leaned closer to peek at the bandage. “Is there any way I can convince you to go see a doctor this morning? Maybe an urgent care facility would be willing to double check your stitches. It would make me feel a whole lot better if you would. My work will probably leave a big old nasty scar.”

Flint leaned back in his chair. “I can’t do that.”

“No surprise there,” Kendra muttered. “Thought it couldn’t hurt to ask.” She let out a tired breath and stood back up. “Do you want some coffee, Flint? The cabin doesn’t have any creamer so it has to be black.”

Flint nodded and gave her a small smile. “Thanks. The stronger, the better.”

Kendra poured him a steaming cup and placed it in front of him. He watched as she moved around the kitchen, gathering ingredients. Then she cracked a few eggs into a bowl and starting beating them. “Don’t worry, the eggs are still good,” she explained as if he might be worried she would feed him rotten eggs. “I couldn’t find much to work with in the pantry except
for
a block of cheese and a jar of mushrooms for an omelette. Do you feel up to eating a few bites? Pain medicine can make you feel pretty crappy on an empty stomach.” She chatted on nervously while she dumped the mushrooms and chunks of cheese into the eggs.

It suddenly occurred to Flint that she might be afraid of him. He wondered how Jesse had convinced her into staying the night. His brother wasn’t past using strong-arm tactics to get what he wanted or needed.

“So do you want to try to eat something?” Kendra asked again. She threw a quick glance at him before looking away quickly.

To Flint’s surprise, he was hungry and beginning to feel a little better with the exception of the burning, throbbing pain in his arm. “Yeah, I can eat,” he mumbled.

“Really?” She suddenly smiled at him; a genuine smile that lit up her whole face and caught him by surprise. “That’s good. I hated pumping you full of all of that medicine on an empty stomach. I can’t take the stuff myself. After breakfast I’ll give you a couple more pain pills. After all, it’s not like we’re going to run short or anything.”

He caught the hint of sarcasm in her voice. “What do you mean?” he asked, afraid of the answer.

“Your pals left behind bags and bags full of prescription bottles for you.”

He closed his eyes and groaned inwardly at her comment. The club shouldn’t have involved her. No matter how badly hurt he was, there was no excuse for dragging an innocent woman into their problems.

Even worse, what made them think she could be trusted? Jesse had better have a good explanation for bringing her into the situation.

The sooner he got the hell out of there and back to town, the better.

“Where’s my bike?” he asked casually. “I hope it’s not outside in the sleet.”

Kendra poured the omelette mixture into the hot pan and swirled it around before answering. “
It's in the back
. It’s covered and should be fine.” She shot him a curious glance. “You aren’t thinking of leaving, are you?”

“Yeah, I need to get back to town. My crew needs me.”

She flipped the omelette over then slid it onto a plate. “Here you go.” She handed it to him along with a fork. She looked at him
for
a long moment. “Before you get any bright ideas, I’m going to go ahead and tell you that I’ve hidden your keys.” He started to protest, but she held up a hand to stop him. “I don’t want to hear it. I risked my vet license to help you. I also pumped you full of narcotics to take away your pain. I’m not letting you roar out of here on your bike with all those drugs that weren’t prescribed to you floating around in your system. Besides, how are you going to handle a bike with your arm in that condition? Not to mention the sleet. I’m sure the roads are slippery this morning.”

Flint was surprised, shocked really. He wasn’t used to being told no, especially after rejoining the Steel Infidels. Most people went to great lengths not to cross the MC. Maybe she didn’t realize what he was capable of. He slowly placed his fork beside his plate and fixed her with a cool stare, hoping to intimidate her into backing down.

It didn’t work.

She didn’t even break his gaze. Instead
,
all she did was look back at him with those big, brown eyes and blink with those long eyelashes of hers.

Well hell! This might be harder than he thought.

“I’ll be fine driving,” he said. He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “And I’m not going to take any more of the pain pills, so…”

“So nothing. Wait until they start wearing off and we’ll talk about this again. You probably don’t remember, but I gave you the last one three hours ago. You’re going to be hurting very soon, but hey, it’s up to you, tough guy. Can’t say I didn’t warn you. Either way, you’re not getting your keys back until I feel like giving them to you.”

Kendra turned and went back to making another omelette. Flint smothered a grin at her unexpected sauciness and took the opportunity to admire her ample backside while her head was turned away from him.

He didn’t understand all the details yet of exactly who she was and why she was there. The only thing he knew was that the weekend sure as hell wouldn’t be boring.

CHAPTER FIVE

After breakfast, Kendra ushered Flint back to the couch to check his wound for infection and to change the bandage. They’d settled into an uneasy truce. Kendra suspected it wouldn’t last long. Flint didn’t strike her as the type of man who would be happy hanging out doing nothing for the weekend, especially once he found out about the trouble at his brother’s tattoo parlor.

Trying to keep him in the cabin was going to be a bitch. Considering his injury, she thought he would be conked out on the couch all weekend. The fact that he wanted to leave so soon undermined her chance of getting the money for the clinic
,
and th
at
was a big problem. She’d made a deal with Jesse to stay and take care of him until Monday morning
,
and by God she meant to keep it
-
one way or the other.

If it ended up being a battle of wills between her and Flint, she didn’t have any doubt as to who would come out the victor. Mr. Motorcycle Man didn’t have any idea how determined she could be when she set her mind to something. If push came to shove, she could always knock him out with pills.

A desperate action like that would be underhanded and low, her conscience argued. Then again, it would be better than letting an impaired man drive, her sensible side countered back. And if he left, the Steel Infidels wouldn’t have any reason to give her the donation for the clinic.

Not only was she fighting an inner battle with herself, she was also finding it almost impossible to concentrate on wrapping Flint’s bandage while he was watching her face so intently.

“Worried about my skills?” she teased. “If you’re not, you should be. I tried very hard to explain to your brother that I’m not qualified to treat you.”

Flint grinned.
He was such a mix of angel and devil when he flashed that white-hot smile.
“I’m not worried, darling,” he replied, letting the endearment slip off his lips as smooth as butter.

Kendra’s eyebrows shot up and she laughed. Aha! So he thought he could charm her into giving him back his keys. Oh yes. She’d met men like Flint before; the kind of men who women fantasized about when they were all alone. The type of man who merely needed to smile to have a girl reaching around to unhook her bra. Kendra didn’t doubt that Flint could have a woman unzipping her jeans before she even realized she’d fallen underneath his spell. If she wasn’t real careful, it could happen to her too.

It had been a long time since she’d dated anyone special. Sure there had been a casual date here and there, always ending with a quick kiss goodnight and a pissed-off guy standing on her front porch with a closed door in his face.

Casual sex wasn’t something she messed around with. To her, it wasn’t worth the time or effort to fall into bed with a man she barely knew or even liked. And if they weren’t willing to take the time to woo her
,
and they usually weren’t, then so be it. Like her grandmother always said, “there are much worst things than being alone.” After watching some of her girlfriends get cheated on or in miserable marriages, Kendra knew this to be true.

And after all, she had the animals to keep her company and she was plenty busy enough at the clinic. Most nights she was so tired she hit the bed right after taking a shower. Lonely wasn’t a word in her vocabulary, which meant the sexy man flirting with her wouldn’t get under her skin, no matter how much she might be physically attracted to him.

“The wound looks good,” she said. “You’re healing nicely and faster than expected. These stitches are a little crooked though.”

“Does that mean I’m free to go, Doc?” he asked, flexing his arm.

“Nope,” she replied firmly. “Not yet.”

“What does your husband think about you staying here with me?”

Kendra laughed. “Lucky for you, I don’t have a husband. If there was, I don’t think he would be pleased, do you?”

Flint gave her another rakish grin. “Probably not. If you were my wife, I wouldn’t let you out of my sight.”

Kendra rolled her eyes at him. “There you go again. Have you heard from Jesse?”

“I left him a message. I’m sure he’ll call me back as soon as he can.”

Kendra taped a new bandage to his arm and started to stand up. Flint grabbed her hand, keeping her on eye level with him.

“I need to ask you something,” he said, suddenly serious. “Did I kiss you last night or was that an erotic dream?”

Kendra’s face burned with both shock and humiliation. She couldn’t have been more mortified that Flint remembered their kiss. And even worse, her reaction to him. She had been so sure he wouldn’t remember it. God! This was so embarrassing.

At first she thought about lying. Then she decided brushing it off would be the best thing to do.

“Yes, you did,” she answered. “But you were whacked out of your head, so it’s fine.” Kendra waved her hand as if it didn’t mean anything. “No big deal. It’s okay. I’m sure you thought I was someone else.”

Flint studied her face carefully for a moment then shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t have thought you were someone else.”

“Oh? And why’s that?”

“Because there is no one else.”

Before Kendra could reply, Flint’s phone rang in his pocket
,
effectively cutting off their conversation.

“Jesse?” Flint answered. “What’s going on? Is everybody okay?”

Kendra grabbed her overnight bag from the table and headed for the bathroom to give Flint some privacy for his call.

****

Flint waited until Kendra was in the bathroom and out of hearing range. “Jesus Christ, Jesse!” he said tersely into the phone. “What the hell were you thinking bringing Dr. Shaw into this? We don’t even know her!”

“Calm down, Flint,” Jesse answered. “Look, we didn’t have a choice. You were unconscious and bleeding all over the place. What were we supposed to do? Tom wrapped your arm up the best he could but we didn’t know how to get the bullet out. We’re not a bunch of fucking nurses! What if we had nicked a
n
artery? We couldn’t get the bleeding to stop and calling Dr. Shaw was the best idea we could come up with. You don’t realize how bad it was yesterday. You weren’t even conscious half the time. And don’t forget, you’re the one who insisted on not going to the hospital in the first goddamn place!”

Flint ran a restless hand through his hair. “I know, alright. I know. You don’t have to remind me. But come on, she’s a well-known veterinarian in town. Bardsville only has two vets, so you can bet everybody in the whole damn county knows her. Besides maybe the mayor, would there have been anybody with a higher profile you could have chosen to involve in our mess? And now that she knows about the safe house, you can bet it’s not safe any longer. ”

“She’s cool, okay? Trust me. I can read people. After all, she fixed you up and then agreed to stay. How bad could she be?”

Flint snorted. “She told me how you tricked her. The only thing I don’t get is how you convinced her to stay. I can tell by the way she looks at me that she thinks I’m a lowlife criminal. She might even be afraid of me. I make her very nervous.”

“Nervous? Really?” Jesse seemed surprised. “She didn’t strike me as the nervous type at all. Just the opposite in fact. What the hell did you do to her?”

“Me? Nothing!”

“I can tell you Dr. Shaw wasn’t the least bit intimidated by me and the crew, so you must be doing something weird to freak her out.”

Flint started to argue and decided to drop it. “So how did you convince her to stay?” he asked again.

“I offered to donate the proceeds from the charity run in the spring to the wildlife clinic. She wasn’t real keen on hanging around until I made it worth her while. If you take the time to think about it, you’ll see it’s a good deal all the way around. By giving Dr. Shaw the donation this year, we’re basically buying her help and her silence in the future. Understand?”

Jesse was right. The plan was a smart one. His older brother was president of the motorcycle club for a reason. “Yeah, I get it,” Flint said after a moment “That was a smart move. You want to tell me what I’m supposed to do here all weekend though? I need to get back to town and she hid my damn keys.”

Jesse burst out laughing. “She’s afraid of you, huh? Sounds like Dr. Shaw has your number, little brother. From what I’ve seen, you should be afraid of her. Seriously, you need to sit your damn ass in a chair and stay put. At least for a couple of days until we can figure all this out. I have enough on my plate right now without worrying about you. At least the Liberators don’t know about the safe house.”

“Did they do something else? What’s going on?” Flint knew his brother well enough to know he was keeping something from him.

“They tossed a Molotov cocktail through the tattoo shop window. The good news is they’re idiots and the bottle didn’t break on impact so there wasn’t a firebomb. The bad news is the front window was smashed and the cops were there all last night asking too many questions.”

“Fuck! Is Sam okay?”

“Yeah, he was in the back office with a customer when it came through the window. There’s some damage to clean up, but nothing we can’t handle without you. So I’m telling you to stay put. I’m not asking. Not as your brother, but as president of the MC. Do not leave the cabin until I okay it. You hear me?”

“I hear you,” Flint finally muttered.

“Good. By the way, how is your arm feeling this morning?”

“Hurts like a motherfucker. Thanks for asking,” Flint added sarcastically.

“I figured. Don’t fuck this up with Dr. Shaw. We need her on our side, so play nice. I’ll call you soon.”

“You do that,” Flint answered before hanging up.

Don’t fuck it up with Dr. Shaw.

He frowned.
The warning had come a little too late.