Remembering how many cases I solved off of a single feeling, a single hunch that pointed me in the right direction, I knew I was right. Deep down, I knew that my judgment wasn’t clouded to the point where I would side with a criminal blindly without knowing the whole truth. Though, if it did turn out that Moves was involved in things I couldn’t wrap my head around, it would be interesting trying to part from it all. I truly felt like I’d gotten to know them all, like I’d had an introduction into their world, and like Mona, I didn’t want to leave.
I wished I could’ve told Mona that I was having feelings about Moves, but I wanted to be sure before I dropped that kind of information on her. She had enough to think about as it was, and the last thing I wanted to do was ruin this moment for her.
I packed away all the case files that were taking up space on the coffee table, trying to relax, and head to bed a little early because I knew that a new day would mean I’d have to continue finding ways to get closer to the Outlaw Souls to gather more information. At least now I had Mona on her way to start dating one of them, so that would at least give me an excuse to hang around without it being too suspicious.
I wondered if I would even run into Moves, if he’d had the same idea as me, and tag along to look out for his friend, even though I was pretty sure that Hawk was capable of taking care of himself. He seemed to be the kind to really take care of them all, to watch out for them when things got hard, and I could tell all of that from the way he helped me, a total stranger on the night we first met. He’d been unlike any guy I’d ever been interested in before, and it made me think that I’d been missing out on what it would be like to find that kind of passionate love that everyone always talked about.
Mona had been talking my ear off about it ever since she convinced me to start dating again, but I never thought that I would’ve ended up having feelings for a biker, no matter how conflicted they currently made me. There was just no denying that there was a spark between Moves and me. I didn’t think I would be able to let it go until I was certain that there was nothing more between us than a bit of a connection that could go one of two ways. Either he was a genuine guy who had no criminal record, or he was someone I had to watch my back around, leaving me more terrified than I was when I first agreed to take this case. I sighed, realizing that once the sun came up, Mona and I would be preparing to head out, and the need to run into Moves again would be clear, but I couldn’t tell her that just yet.
I had to be the supportive friend and hang back to make sure that no harm came her way. That was what I promised, and that’s exactly what I planned to do.
Twenty-One
Moves
I was riding through a pretty dark part of town, the kind that no one from the Outlaw Souls would ever dare to pass through knowing that Las Balas was roaming around. I felt secure enough to make the drive because I knew that I would be able to shoot myself out of a bad situation if need be, but I was following a hunch that made the need to find out the truth only continue to overwhelm me.
I’d found some evidence that led me to believe that the Las Balas shop had closed, and that they’d had to move to another location to keep their shop open and away from the eyes of the LPPD. If that were the case, then I could only imagine they were the ones framing us and getting Chalupa arrested for grand theft auto when he was nowhere near that car to begin with. It didn’t take much for the police to catch on, especially when it came to trying to put people like us behind bars. They were constantly looking for any reason to convict us bikers because they just didn’t like having us on the streets.
I didn’t care much about what they had planned, because my main focus had shifted from solely making sure that Chalupa was going to pull through this to finding out if Las Balas was really involved. It could mark the beginning of a war between us gangs, and I was prepared for it to come to that if it was going to finally settle the animosity that had been growing between us for a very long time. I wondered why they would try to do this now, and what their reasons were for framing us when up until recently we were all coexisting quite normally. We stayed out of each other’s hair, making sure not to ruffle anyone’s feathers while we were just passing through.
I felt the sun beat down on my skin, heating up the leather of my jacket while I revved my engine loudly, letting them know that I was present, and part of the Outlaw Souls. They weren’t going to touch me if I didn’t pose an immediate threat, and that was exactly what I was counting on. I had to get closer to their operations, and this time I opted to do it alone. I didn’t want to peel Hawk away from eating with his girl because it was the happiest he’d been in a very long time, and I’d promised to stop in on my way home to let him know if I found anything else that would point us straight to the people behind this.
I pulled my bike out of sight, knowing that I would have to make the rest of the journey on foot if I was going to break into the Las Balas shop to find out why they were really closed. It wasn’t long ago that we were all down at the Blue Dog celebrating the fact that we were rid of the threats presented by Las Balas for the time being, finally able to move on with our lives before being dragged into even more trouble.
That didn’t last very long, because here we were again, in the hot seat, trying to find answers that were unfortunately very well hidden. I made sure to stay out of sight using as many back entrances as I could, sneaking through the area as stealthily as possible. There were a few people out roaming the streets, but they didn’t seem to be from Las Balas, because I would’ve been able to tell. They just looked like a bunch of crackheads or prostitutes, out roaming around with no real place to go.
I knew they weren’t going to be much of a problem, so I didn’t pay them any attention as I tried to figure out how to break the lock on the front of the shop door. I fiddled with it for a few moments, reaching for a loose pipe that was stuck into one of the back dumpsters to help me get it to budge. It took me a little while, but it eventually gave way, and I slid inside before anyone else could see me. I thought for a moment about shooting the lock loose, but I didn’t want to bring too much attention to my whereabouts, especially because I could hold off a few rival gang members, but I would be as good as dead if the entirety of Las Balas showed up.
I started looking around to see if they’d left anything behind that would be of use to me or help point me in the direction of where they’d moved the shop to. When I was with Hawk, I found a flyer that said an old abandoned grocery store building was going up for sale, and I could only imagine that they would move to a place like that, somewhere a lot more inward, hiding in plain sight right under the LPPD’s nose.
They’d left quite a mess behind, like they truly didn’t care about who would find it. I continued looking around, opening up old toolboxes to find torn pieces of clothing, small bags of what appeared to be drugs, and just about everything that made it crystal clear that this was Las Balas’ stomping ground. There was nothing besides that flyer I’d found to suggest that they were still using this place, because it was barely operational at this point. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they kept it this way so they could use it in their little games, playing cat and mouse with the police, pointing them in the direction of their rival gangs so they would never think to look directly at them.
Their tactics had flair, but it wasn’t enough to keep them out of trouble forever. I noticed that the door to the office in the very back of the shop was open, and so I ventured off to see if anything was left behind.
It was eerily quiet as I made my way in, going through the files and ledgers left behind like they weren’t really trying to cover their tracks. The place was crawling with evidence that would point to their criminal activity, but the only way I was going to be able to tie it to Las Balas would be for me to find something more incriminating. Although the fact that they’d managed to move their entire shop was enough of a giveaway that told me they had something to hide. I had to figure out what they were trying to cover up, and so I grabbed everything I could, stuffing it all into the bag I’d brought with me, so I could meet up with Hawk and go over the possible leads.
Once I was done, I managed to slip away undetected, getting onto my bike and driving off in the direction of the Blue Dog so I could have a chat with Hawk before he left to spend the rest of the evening with the woman he was seeing. I sighed, remembering the fact that I couldn’t even recall the last time I’d felt that way about anyone, and it dawned on me that in everything I’d been doing to protect the Outlaw Souls and keep us out of trouble, I haven’t really had much time to date.
I couldn’t help but think about Lacey in that moment, reminiscing about how much we’d connected the first time I laid eyes on her at Lily and Bailey’s. I just knew that there was something different about her, but I never thought that I would find out she was a prosecuting attorney working for the DA. I still had yet to figure out whether or not she was trying to scope us out and collect evidence on us the same way we were trying to get in order to free Chalupa.
It was a long shot to believe that she was only hanging around us for the sake of her friend, but I wanted to believe that because I could feel myself being drawn to her whenever she was in the room. There was no denying that there was a connection between us, a spark that had been there all along, but I just wasn’t sure that getting involved with her would be the best thing for me knowing everything going on.
I had to be fully certain that she didn’t have any involvement in Chalupa’s case, that she wasn’t present to collect evidence, and that there was a part of her that wanted to stick around before I could even see myself with her. But it wasn’t going to stop me from having those feelings when I was around her, of wondering what it would be like to feel her skin on mine, to kiss every inch of her. I wanted that more than anything in the world, and I couldn’t believe how much it was beginning to consume me.
I was struggling to remain focused on the task at hand whenever the thoughts of Lacey would creep back in when I least expected it, and I knew I had to keep my head on straight if Chalupa had any chance at freedom. I worried that things were only going to get worse, that the fact Las Balas had moved their shop meant that they knew that something was going down or that they were the ones that tipped off the cops so that they would arrest Chalupa in the first place. I could feel my blood boil underneath the surface of my skin whenever I thought about it, wishing I knew the truth by now so I could spend more of my time trying to right the wrongs that had been done to the entire Outlaw Souls community, and we’d be able to move forward. I knew that’s what everyone wanted, to feel safe again, to not be on edge, looking over their shoulders any time they traveled outside of our immediate stomping ground.
I wanted to give them that more than anything, to show them that we were strong enough to put forth a united front and take care of our own no matter how difficult things might get. I was going to have to do a much better job of showing them that was a possibility, otherwise I could only imagine they would start to get antsy, to act out of pure impulse, and cause even more problems that we were going to have to fix.
I sighed, riding down to the Blue Dog with the bag slung over my shoulder, a miscellaneous collection of things that could possibly bring us answers if we looked hard enough. It was what I was counting on, because I couldn’t imagine we had much more time before Chalupa was going to have to stand in front of a jury and prove that he was innocent for the crime he certainly didn’t commit, even though they were probably going to convict him anyway due to the fact he was a biker. It was no secret that the LPPD hated us, and the minute they got the chance to take one of us down, they believed they were one step closer to locking us all up and throwing away the key.
It was in that moment that I had to remember that it was quite possible those were the people who Lacey was most loyal to, and it made me start to wonder whether or not I would be able to part with these feelings welling up inside of me, knowing that they could possibly complicate everything.
I arrived at the Blue Dog, seeing Hawk sitting by the bar all alone, and I glanced down at my wristwatch to see that there was still a bit of time before his date was supposed to show up. I tapped him on the shoulder, nodding my head toward the back office of the Blue Dog where we would be able to talk without everyone trying to figure out what was going on. I needed him to know that the situation was far more complicated than we might have initially realized, and that we were going to have to crack down on Las Balas, finding out whatever we could before things got ugly.
“I was wondering if they’d dragged you away never to be seen again,” he said, rather relieved to see that I was alive and okay.
“I expected them to be where they always were, but remember when I found that flyer outside the shop near where Chalupa was picked up by the police? The one that was talking about the property not too far from there that was up for sale?” I asked, hoping that he would remember.
