Page 5 of Cole

I smiled at her. “Sounds fun.”

It wasn’t the answer she wanted, and her nostrils flared at the chuckles around us.

“What, spoiled little rich girl is looking to be roughed up by a big, tough biker? You think the guys around here will fall for that shit?”

“Let’s wait and see, shall we?” I tossed at her, and looked over her shoulder toward the door, hoping she’d get the message that I was tired of her little game. I wished I could ask her, for research’s sake, what about my outfit screamed rich girl, seeing as I’d gotten every single item of clothing secondhand, but now clearly wasn’t the time.

“Yeah, I suppose so.” She flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. “Just don’t come crying to the ladies when you get used up and spit out.” Then she stomped off as if I had personally offended her with my presence. I had only been at The Clutch for five minutes, and I had already made an enemy. I clearly had a talent for pissing people off, but honestly, I already knew that.

“Don’t worry about Kiki. She likes to run off anyone she perceives as competition before they can get cocky.” Ronnie was drinking her own beer. “You did better than most. You’re a stubborn bitch, aren’t you? It’s ok if you are. Takes one to know one.”

I smiled at her and tapped my glass bottle against hers.

“Cheers to stubborn bitches.”

“Cheers.”

I took a small sip of my drink and wondered how long I would be able to stay before I lost my nerve. At least I had Ronnie to talk to now, so that was something.

But it turned out, I didn’t have to wait long.

A door in the back swung open and framed a man striding in with broad shoulders, dark, shorn hair, and deep blue eyes that cut through the room with precision. I couldn’t pull my gaze away from him. He was a presence that demanded attention.

I felt frozen. He was here. Finally, after weeks of planning, I’d found him.

Cole Bailey, in the flesh.

I’d long toyed with the idea of investigating the local MC, but had only made up my mind to do it a few weeks before, when I’d stumbled upon my parents’ housekeeper, Rosie, crying in the kitchen, watching the news.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, glancing at the headlines. It was a story about a local man who’d gone missing.

“Nothing, it’s nothing for you to worry about.” Rosie had often been the mother figure I’d been missing in my childhood. Always steady, with a kind word, a reassuring pat on the hand, a warm smile. I couldn’t stand to see her upset.

“If you’re worried, I’m worried. Tell me,” I prompted her.

She sighed and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She moved her finger lovingly over the image on the screen of a teenage boy. I’d seen photos of him before. It was her son, Finn. He was the spitting image of his mother.

“That missing man, I’ll bet it was because of Harbor Hounds business. That MC is behind most of the missing or murdered folk that show up in these parts. I know that well enough. Finn’s dad was one of them.”

I stared at Rosie. “I’m so sorry.” I didn’t have much concrete information about the MC, only wild conspiracy theories. Officially, they called themselves a social club, and had a dive bar off the highway, and an auto shop with a great reputation. I also knew that my friend’s older brother was the president of the club.

“Beatie patched in when he was a kid,” Rosie said, lowering herself onto a stool at the kitchen counter. “He was close with Frank, the old Pres, before he went inside.”

I nodded, rubbing her back gently as she spoke.

She shook her head. “What’s past is past, but it’s the future that scares me. Finn is obsessed with joining the MC. He idolizes Cole. He wants to be just like him. I don’t know if I can stop him. Then one day… they’ll be at my door, just like before, but this time, it’ll be my boy’s blood on their hands.”

She sobbed, and I wrapped my arms around her. My heart broke for her fear and pain, her loss. A dangerous MC doing God only knew what dirty and dark business shouldn’t exist in Hade Harbor. This was a small, safe town. It made me angry just to think of it. I’d asked my friend, Marcus, about his older brother before, but he’d always been tight-lipped. There were secrets there, illegal shit. Shit that got someone’s father killed.

“If only someone would bust them. I know they’re dirty, I know it. If only someone would take them down, I wouldn’t have to worry about Finn anymore. The MC would just be gone. In jail, where they belong.”

I’d stroked her back, and let my mind work furiously over her words.

If only someone could blow their story wide open, it would change everything.

Why not me?

Weeks later, I was finally sitting in Cole Bailey’s bar, watching him in person. He wasn’t an easy person to run into.