The kid’s eyes narrow, but there’s just a little tremble of excitement in his hands.
“My son is about your age. He’s been riding for a while now. If you like, I could teach you how to ride.”
“In exchange for what?”
I knew the kids around here were street-smart. “No strings. Maddox will vouch for me being a solid person.”
“Solid or not. You want something.”
Impressive. “I’ll teach you to ride regardless of whether you help me.”
“What is it that you need?”
Let’s not beat around the bush. “Help finding a drug dealer. We have a couple of brothers who are good with computers, but they haven’t been able to find out anything about this drug dealer. It’s like this guy is a ghost.”
The kid’s eyes widen slightly, but he gives no other signs of interest.
Maybe he isn’t interested. Kids are fickle at that age.
Creed isn’t. Everett doesn’t give me the impression that he is either.
“I might be able to help.”
That’s definitely a yes. I pull a card out for the clubhouse, not the shop. It has my personal number on it. “Call me, and we’ll set up a time for those lessons.”
“I don’t have a bike.”
“Figured that. No worries. You can practice on one of Creed’s older ones.” Or one of the ones we keep around the clubhouse to teach the kids to ride. We aren’t going to risk a hundred-thousand-dollar bike just for them to wipe out the first go-around.
“My brother will probably hate the idea.”
Max Rage isn’t too keen on his family being hurt. “Bring him with you. I’ll make sure he isn’t too uncomfortable.”
“Cool.” The kid takes the card from my outstretched fingers.
As we walk away, Fly asks. “You really think the kid is that good?”
“Do you know who Max Rage is, other than being Don Vincenti’s kid?” Like that isn’t enough.
“No.”
“Billionaire tech mogul Massimo Vincenti.”
“Oh. Oh. If Everett gets hurt on one of your bikes, that guy is going to put us back into the dark ages.”
Probably. Life is a series of risks.
Every time I enter Maddox’s office, I’m glad Creed never asked for a pet snake.
“Havoc.” Maddox walks over with a snake wrapped around his neck and down his arms. “Thanks for the assist with Fiona.”
“Anytime. We were just happy to help take down a bunch of human traffickers.”
Maddox strokes the snake. “You said you needed our help.”
“Yes, but please think about it before you react.”
“It’s that bad?”
