“Double fuck,” I muttered to myself, dragging a hand down my face.
Crank laughed next to me. “Took you long enough, brother.”
I snapped my gaze to him and glared, but he only laughed like I was a fucking comedian and he was there to watch the show. I slid off my stool and made for the door before I knocked his teeth out. His laughter echoed out louder behind me.
“Keep on laughing, fuckface!” I shouted back angrily.
Outside I climbed on my bike and shoved my helmet on as I realized what had to be done and what it would do to me. Night was falling. The day had been wasted chasing our asses and coming up with nothing but dead ends. And yet all I cared about right then was seeing her.
I had fallen for untamed pussy, and it was too late to stop it now.
~ 11 ~
I pulled to a stop outside INKslingers for the second time that day, but despite it only being early evening, I found the place closed. I pulled off my helmet, my eyes narrowing as I watched the ATF car that had been tailing me all day pass by and park further down the street.
I shook my head, annoyed that they were still on me, and looked up at the two-story building, noticing the lights were on upstairs, and I frowned. Skull rarely shut up shop before ten each evening. His friends constantly came to get tatted, drink, and talk shit. Some even came to work if he had too many clients already booked in. There was never a need to shut the doors, because there were only three things Skull loved in this life: his business, his friends, and women. And all three came when those doors were open.
I’d gone there to find Nancy, but I feared that something might have happened to her or Skull, because the fact that INKslingers was closed had already set off alarm bells. I pulled out my cell and called Vin, and he picked up before the second ring. I quickly filled him in on the situation and could tell he wasn’t happy either.
“Mason, go get JP and Buddy here right the fuck now!” he barked, and I heard Lex in the background moving around shortly before a door opened and closed. “What are you thinking?” he asked me.
I was glad that he was taking it seriously and not thinking that I was reading too much into the situation.
I looked back up at the light in the top window. “I’m not sure, Prez. But Skull doesn’t close—not this early. Something don’t feel right to me.” I looked over at the ATF agents sitting in their car down the street. “I can’t go in there though. Not without ATF getting involved in our shit if things have gone bad in there. Fuckers followed me from the clubhouse again.”
“And whoever I send will be followed too,” Vin bit out. “Fucking Agent Lear!”
I looked up, relief and shock hitting me in one go. “Guess who just turned up?” I said.
“Santa Claus?” Vin snapped. “I don’t fucking know, Sketch, who?”
“Nancy.” I looked her up and down, checking for any injuries, but she seemed fine.
At least until she passed the ATF car. One of the agents said something to her and she changed, her shoulders slouching and her gaze falling to her feet. The whole scene set my hackles on edge and I lifted my chin and practically snarled. She looked away from the agents and started to walk again, her gaze on the ground as she walked.
I shook my head, hating seeing her like that. Woman like Nancy shouldn’t ever look at the ground when she walked. Her shoulders should always be back, her head held high like the world owed her a fucking favor. And from everything I’d seen of her, that was just how she was normally. Her confidence was what I liked about her, but the way she was walking right then made something click inside me. I was going to put a whole world of pain on whoever had hurt her.
“Something’s wrong, let me call you right back,” I said to Vin, already hanging up without waiting for him to reply, which probably wasn’t a good idea, but at the moment all I cared about was making sure she was okay. I stepped off my bike and walked toward her.
She didn’t see me until I was right in front of her, and she startled as I reached out to touch her. She flinched and stepped away from me, giving a little yelp.
“Nancy, it’s just me,” I said as she sucked in a breath. The day was growing late, and the sun had started to set. Dark shadows were falling as streetlights clicked on all around us. “Easy, babe, you okay?”
She was visibly shaking, but she shook that shit off and lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing in on me. “I’m fine. You just startled me is all.”
I didn’t believe what she was saying for one minute. She looked fucking spooked, despite her assurances that she was okay.
Her gaze skipped to INKslingers. “Why’s he closed?”
I looked over to the dark store window. “Was wondering that myself.”
“Skull asked me to help out tonight. I only left half an hour ago to go home and eat and change clothes,” she said, sounding annoyed, like she’d just wasted her entire evening for nothing. “I hate this town,” she mumbled.
I was about to ask her what she meant when my cell began to vibrate in my pocket and I pulled it out and answered it, knowing it would be Vin and he’d likely be pissed at me for hanging up.
“Did you just fucking hang up on me, motherfucker?” he barked down the line.
I looked at Nancy and rolled my eyes, and despite herself she smirked. The smirk fell as she looked behind her at the ATF car again.
