Under Fire (Winged Enemy MC Romance) (5 page)

“It’s good to see you again, Jed. It’s been a long time.”

The voice hit me like a physical blow. It was a woman’s voice.

The biker reached up and took off the helmet. Long black hair fell down in waves as she shook it out. She tucked the helmet under her arm and combed the hair into a less unruly mess.

She was gorgeous. I had never seen a woman biker, and I had just assumed that if there were any they would be as beat up and ragged as most of the men were. That was certainly not the case here. This woman could have graced the covers of fashion magazines if she wanted to. Even the way she rocked the leather jacket she was wearing screamed chic.

I disliked her instantly.
And it’s not completely because of the way her voice sounded when she spoke Jed’s name
. There were times when you could tell there was history between two people just by the first moment that they came in contact with each other, and the signs were all over this setup.

My hands still held onto Jed’s shoulders, and I could feel as they alternatively tightened and relaxed. I wish I could have seen his face as he looked on this mystery woman.

“Leslie,” he said through what sounded like gritted teeth. “Meet Kat. Kat, this is Leslie.”

A broad grin cracked across her face. “Leslie, it’s a pleasure to meet you. And you don’t have to say anything right now if you can’t manage it, I know that Nightshade herself is quite the pleasure.”

My face burned. This woman’s first impression of me was that I must be some bimbo who rode along with Jed and came fiercely on the back of his bike. The fact that it was true made it that much more embarrassing.

This is so brutal. Who the hell is this woman? And why does she know how great of a ride Nightshade really is?
It made me wonder how many woman Jed had taken on the back of his black bike.

“I’m fine, really. It’s great to meet you, Kat.” I had to say something, but after a wan greeting I was at a loss at what else to say.

She had stopped paying attention to me anyway, eyes clearly locked on Jed’s face.

“You’re looking well.” At least Jed didn’t sound completely enthused to see this woman, whoever she was. “Did you have to come far?”

“I’ve been floating around here and there,” she said. “Just so happened that it was closer than I’ve been since I left.”

“Well, it’s good that you’ve come. There’s a spot if you want it, we could use the hands.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those words, Jed.” A soft silence rose between them.

Wait. Did he just offer her a spot in the club? Just like that?
It was unbelievable, he just let the first woman he came across on the road into the club. I tried to bury the resentment and frustration at this gorgeous woman coming into my turf. A woman with obvious history with Jed.

I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what. I needed to interject myself in the conversation some way, let them know that I was here, was relevant. For all that my arms and knees wrapped around Jed, I was a world away to the two bikers.

I opened my mouth to speak, when Jed’s cell went off from his belt. It was the ringtone he used for Nathan.

“Let me get this,” he said to her. “Hello? Patty? You’re sure? We’ll meet you there.”

He hung up and replaced the phone in its holster. He looked back over his shoulder at me.

“We found Patrick.”

Patrick had gone missing a few days before. It was assumed by most of the club members that he had gone riding off to one of his many mistresses in the neighboring towns. Jed said that sometimes he wasn’t seen for weeks at a time, but he always turned up eventually. It was a bit of an ongoing joke that the club’s secretary was the most unreliable one of the lot; but he had earned his spot with the brass through years of loyalty and a quick mind.

We only had to ride for a few minutes before we got to the scene. Nathan was already there, as well as a few other members in their colors. The men stood at the side of the road staring into the ditch.

Nightshade rumbled to a stop alongside the other bikes. Kat rolled in just beside us.

Long skid marks scraped deep gouges into the pavement of the road in mostly straight lines towards the ditch. At the bottom of the gully laid the remains of Patrick’s mangled bike and even more torn up body.

Despite the scenes I had seen both in training and in the field as an agent, bile rose to the back of my throat when I peered around Jed’s shoulder. This wasn’t a fresh accident. Patrick’s body had been there for at least a couple days, bloating under the sun, picked at by scavengers. It was not a pretty sight.

“Ah, fuck. That’s Patrick Jenkins?” Kat stood at Jed’s other elbow, close to his side. They even looked like a natural pair. I fought down the anger. She obviously knew the members of the club fairly well, the other men didn’t even question her presence.

“Yes, he disappeared a few days ago. We didn’t think much of it, you know Patrick.” Jed joined the other men in silent observation, as though they expected the dead man to jump to his feet and salute.

Buzzards crowed overhead, displeased at being disturbed from their feast. One of the bikers absentmindedly took his gun and shot it in the middle of the flock. A bird tumbled out of the sky and the rest bolted.

“What are you thinking, Nathan?” Jed asked.

The older man shifted to his right foot. “I think it’s pretty obvious. Patty had a little too much to drink, and instead of taking it easy and sleeping it off, thought he’d go up north and visit that cute little thing at the gas station there that he had a thing with. Wasn’t paying attention, something happened, he went down bad.”

Jed nodded but kept staring at his friend’s decomposing body. I had seen him like this before, twice. Once was after a number of his friends died in the attack on the Devil’s Roost that I had almost died in as well, and the next was after the big ambush by the Las Cruces.

Nathan looked over at him. I could tell that the same thought crossed his mind. “You think it’s foul play.” He made it a statement.

With his fingers tapping on his chin, Jed nodded. “It has to be. You knew Patty. We all did. He would be safer on his bike when he was drunk than he would in his own bed. Nothing would make him go down unless he didn’t have a choice.”

“Come on Jed!” Nathan said. “You saw the marks on the road. It looks like a classic case of Nathan caring more about his drink and his women than caring for his bike. The skid marks are exactly what you’d expect to see if a tire blew going too fast. There’s nothing you can do at that point. Anyone would be lucky to escape with their lives in that situation, and as much as it pains me, Patty just wasn’t lucky enough. Not that day.”

A couple of the other men nodded. It was a reasonable explanation. Without a forensics team out here to take samples and render their opinions, I couldn’t help either. Dead people and what killed them were not my specialty.

“Hey Jed, relax,” Kat said. “Why don’t you take me to the Roost and show me the renovations. I heard it’s completely revamped now. I knew you’d be making some changes without Frank around to hold you back, but I didn’t think you would mess with the Roost. We had some fun there back in the day.”

The soothing sound of her voice broke into Jed’s gloomy mood. He gave one last hard look at Patrick’s body and then turned away. “It looks great, Kat. Wait until you see it. Nathan, you got this?”

“Go on, we’ll take care of it from here.”

The federal agent in me burned as I saw the bikers start to go about cleaning up the body. It should be reported to the appropriate authorities and taken care of officially, but I didn’t want to take this moment to remind everyone that I wasn’t really one of them. Especially with Kat there, who didn’t know about my secret.

“Let’s go, and you can tell me more about what you’ve been up to all this time.”

I had never felt more excluded, but there was nothing I could do except grit my teeth and bear it. By all appearances Kat was an old friend and I would be nothing more than a jealous, interfering girlfriend if I tried to steal in on their conversation with no grounds to talk from.

At least they had to stop talking and I got Jed back to myself when we climbed back on the bikes. Nightshade sprang to life but even her magical vibrations couldn’t get past my dark mood.

God, I feel like such a fucking ditz. I’m not the type of woman to swoon after a guy and act all jealous around him. But our relationship felt like we were finally getting past the shock of the revelations three weeks ago and then this beautiful woman with black hair comes riding out of the north to put it all in jeopardy.

It was a long ride back to the Devil’s Roost in my current state of mind, but there was nothing I could do about it. I tried not to let my mind fill to the brim with questions about Kat and what her history with Jed and the club was. It was a challenge that I failed to win.

Darkness had started to fall when we parked outside the bar. A long row of motorcycles were parked with pride up the length of the sidewalk as most of the remaining club members gathered for the inaugural reopening night of the Roost. The pale dusky light gave the air an ethereal quality, star winking into existence overhead.

The mood was sombre inside the joint as we walked in the door. Someone had gotten wind of the news about Patrick and spread it around to everyone.

The grief lightened when someone recognized Kat as she trailed into the bar after Jed. “Kat! It’s so great to see you! I knew you would come.” The speaker was a younger man who looked barely out of his teens.

“Oh, Zach, you know that I wouldn’t possibly miss this chance. Now that Frank’s gone, you lot won’t be able to get rid of me no matter how hard you try.”

“Fucking right!” Someone yelled at the back. “As if Jed would let us. He’d take off our heads if we even tried!” A huge round of laughter greeted the remark.

Jesus, is everyone in love with her?

Feeling a little abandoned and left out, I made my way to the bar and took my place behind it. I hadn’t skimped on a few things for myself in the budget. A tall stool sat on this side of the monster slab of a bar since I spent more time talking to the people sitting at the bar than I did actually making drinks. There was a little tablet locked away in a drawer so that I could read or do actual agent work when I had free time.

It was exhausting working undercover. Not only did I have to maintain a persona and never break character, but somehow the agency still expected me to have the time to compose much of the same reports I had handled before this assignment, all while making new ones about activities in the gang and surrounding area.

“Hey Leslie, you alright?” It was Jed. His eyes searched my face and I tried to hide all traces of jealousy and resentment that currently swamped my soul.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I tried to fake a smile, but I wasn’t sure how well I succeeded. “Kat seems like fun, where do you know her from?”

“Oh, we go way back. We, uh, actually used to date, but that’s long over with. I’ll have to tell you the story when we have some time, it’s actually pretty funny.” He smiled but it died away when I didn’t smile back.

“I’m sure it is.”

God, I’m being so passive-aggressive right now and I can’t even help it.
There was nothing I hated more than a woman who couldn’t say what she thought and acted all nice but was secretly angry.
Am I turning into my mom?

“Look, we need to talk later, but can you pour me two beers? I promised Kat that we would catch up a little.”

“Sure.” I poured the beers in efficient, choppy movements. As soon as they were done I slammed them down on the bar in front of him. Beer slopped up and over the sides.

He stared at me for a moment, and I looked back into his eyes. A few moments passed, and then he took the beers. “We will talk,” he said.

I watched him go, retiring to the far corner where he had set Kat up with a table. He had to shoo away other men, since it seemed as though half the bar had followed Kat over to talk with her or maybe just bask in her beautiful presence. It was sickening to see grown men, hardened bikers, act like teenage boys that fawned over the popular girl in school. I may have grown up with some unresolved issues in that department.

After the bikers were chastened by their leader, the atmosphere in the bar regained some of its usual gaiety, albeit muted with the death of their comrade. I wondered if Jed had spread news of Frank’s death yet, but saw no evidence of it. I passed my time serving drinks up to any man who needed a new beer. I found it funny that despite the upgrades and the many new beers available to sample, most of them went right back to drinking the old swill that had been the only option on draught at the Roost before the shooting.

There were a few of the new young men that I hadn’t met before, and they were introduced over the course of the next half an hour. I had seen a couple of them around town before, and now I finally learned their names. Zach was the lad who had spoken to Kat when she came in to the bar, and he was practically a member of the club already. Always underfoot, he knew all of the men and all of their bikes. He had been fixing up motorcycles since he was in diapers, and it was always assumed that he would become a member when he became old enough.