Wet Leather: Adults Only Motorcycle Club Romance: Roadrunners MC Read online

  “Just wait,” he cautioned himself.

  The surge of adrenaline began to kick in as he got dressed and the stimulants brought strength to his body as they flushed through his veins. He looked around the place and shook his head before checking on the rifle and magazines once more. His mind was now completely focused on carrying out his plan; he packed everything he needed in the bag then moved across to the door. He didn’t bother returning the key to reception and just left the room in the condition he found it when he woke up.

  The hire car was parked in front of the door and he found the keys in his pocket as he walked across to it. He was shaking as he got in the vehicle and his knuckles whitened when he gripped the steering wheel and waited for the drug-induced rush of exhilaration to come to a peak then ease off. The clock on the dashboard showed it was four in the afternoon as he turned the key in the ignition to set off.

  He got on to the highway at the front of the motel and followed the signs pointing the way to the city. There were a few wrong turns on the way to familiar surroundings, but when he started to recognize the streets he made his way in the direction of where he wanted to be. The buzz of anticipation began to overwhelm him as the journey came to an end, and a demented grin spread across his face when he parked the car in view of the apartment building. He looked down at the weapon on the passenger seat.

  “No fucking mistakes,” he told himself.

  He reached in the bag to get the box and took more of the pills. He was building himself towards a final push and as the darkness surrounded him he willed the people he wanted to see to come in sight. It was impossible for him to sit still as the drugs raged through his system, and he eventually couldn’t stop himself getting out of the car. The compulsion to take the gun in the building and just start killing people until he got to the two he wanted was strong, but a different idea came to him.

  The darkness gave him cover to walk over to the lockup garage he’d watched Tori and her friend run into the morning of their last meeting. There was no window in the roll-up door, but he noticed that there wasn’t a padlock securing it shut. He frowned as he leaned down and grabbed hold to lift the door up. It was empty inside and his rage grew. There was nothing to take it out on when he walked inside and the thought came to him.

  “They never came fucking back here,” he cursed.

  They’d run from him the morning of the last encounter and stayed away. It was the only explanation he could come up with for the empty, unlocked garage. He suddenly knew there was no point waiting at the building and lashed out. His fist slammed into bricks as he punched the wall, but there was no pain.

  “Fucking coward,” he rasped as he thought about the Roadrunner he wanted to kill. “Not even man enough to face me.”

  He paced from wall to wall as the anger burned in his brain, but the sudden moment of clarity made him come to an abrupt halt. It was the way forward and he wasted no more time in the garage. Walking out of the empty space, he hurried to the hire car and jumped inside. His breathing was rapid as he got the vehicle started and the wheels spun as he raced away from the parking spot.

  It meant he didn’t see the man coming out the entrance of the apartment building and Crash cursed at not moving quicker. He got his phone from his pocket and dialed the number.

  “The fucker was here,” he said when the call was answered.

  “Did you get him?” Six asked.

  “No,” Crash replied. “I missed him at first and it was only when I saw the door to Patch’s garage was rolled up that I realized someone was there. When I got down to street level, I just caught a glimpse of his car speeding off.”

  “No chance to get after him?” Six asked hopefully.

  “I hid my bike in the alley at the rear of Patch’s apartment building,” Crash went on. “I’ll get it now and have a scout around, but I think he’s gone.”

  “Yeah, OK,” Six said. “Let me know if you find anything.”

  The conversation ended and Crash hurried to get to his bike, but he didn’t hold out much hope that he could catch up.

  Matt was unaware of the close call as he drove towards his destination. The sight of the police station unnerved him, but he glanced the other way and saw the light in the window of the office.

  “Got you,” he let out in a hushed voice.

  He kept driving further on to find a quiet parking spot then stopped the vehicle. His mind was focused when he got out and he knew that taking the rifle was too much of a risk. There was no way of really concealing it, and the proximity of the police station meant it might be spotted. He looked around to make sure there was no one around before picking up the rifle and bag with the magazines to put them in the trunk.

  When he closed it, he got the handgun out from under his jacket to make sure it was ready for action. He then tucked it in his belt and made sure it was concealed before setting off on foot. The memory of the siren spooking him came in his mind as he came within sight of the police station, but he wasn’t going to be put off now. He walked straight to the door of the office and opened it to walk inside.

  Alarm bells rang in Adrian Bryant’s head the second he looked up from what he was doing to the sight of Matt Mosswood coming through the door. The appearance of his former client was a bad sign and he tried to retain his composure. That was all the more difficult to do when the blind on the door was pulled down, meaning there was now no view into the office from the outside.

  “I need you to do another job,” Matt said as he moved across the room to sit at the chair beside the desk.

  His intense, unwavering stare was unsettling to the point of being scary, and the only thing on Adrian’s mind was to get the man opposite out of his office as quickly as possible. He didn’t want to say no outright in case it triggered an outburst, so he kept his voice calm as he tried to be diplomatic.

  “I’d like to help,” he started. “But I have a lot of work on just now, so…”

  Matt ignored the words as he went on.

  “I want you to find Tori Sanders.”

  “You know where she is,” Adrian pointed out. “I located her and told you where.”

  “She’s not there now,” Matt replied and the agitation began to show in his voice. “You found her quickly before. I need you to do it again.”

  Adrian’s nerves flared and he glanced down to see that the top drawer of his desk was shut. That meant the gun inside was out of reach. He suspected any sudden movements wouldn’t go down well, and at first couldn’t think of a reason to reach out and open the drawer. It left him having to try and talk his way out of trouble.

  “Like I say,” he said. “I’m extremely busy at the moment and not in a position to take on any more jobs.” He got to his feet to signal the meeting was over. “I’m sorry I can’t be of…”

  “Sit down.”

  The command was barked out in an aggressive voice and it was more than just nervousness that Adrian was experiencing now.

  “Look I…” he started.

  He was startled by the noise of the chair falling over as Matt leapt to his feet. Before he could make a move, he was staring down the barrel of a gun and knew he was in trouble.

  “I won’t fucking tell you again,” Matt growled.

  There was no missing the menace in the warning and there was nothing Adrian could do but comply with the order. He glanced at the drawer of his desk again, but knew he couldn’t just open it without a reason.

  “Come on,” he said in a cajoling voice that was tinged with fear. “It doesn’t have to be this way. I have a bottle of whisky, so let’s just have a drink together and discuss what you want.”

  He reached towards the metal handle on the front of the drawer.

  “You touch that and I’ll blow your fucking head off,” Matt snapped.

  Adrian drew his hand to his side straight away. Matt walked around the desk and kept his gun pointed at the sitting man as he opened the drawer. He saw the bottle of whisky, but rummaged around until hi
s hand touched on the butt of a gun. His anger welled up when he brought it out.

  “Is this what you wanted?” he said as he brandished the weapon.

  “Of course not,” Adrian said. “I…”

  His words became a grunt of pain when the butt of his own gun cracked on the side of his skull to send him crashing to the floor.

  “Do you think I’m a fucking idiot?” Matt challenged.

  “No,” Adrian let out hastily.

  He put fingers to his head and saw them come away red with blood. It made him grimace and he closed his eyes for a second as he tried to cope with the dull, thudding ache in his head.

  “Then why try to fool me with some bullshit story about sharing a drink when your real intention was to get your gun?”

  “I… I wasn’t trying to do that,” Adrian blurted out when he opened his eyes to look up.

  “LIAR!” Matt shouted.

  Adrian froze as the barrel of a gun touched on his head. He held his breath as the terror flared and could hear the ragged gasps of the man looming over him. The threat of death was close and he sent up a short prayer that he would get out of the situation alive. He let out a desperate sigh when the metal pressing on his forehead was pulled away.

  “Get up on the chair,” Matt told him and took a couple of steps away.

  The pain erupted in Adrian’s head as he stood and he clenched his teeth when he sat down. A wet trail trickled down his cheek and he wiped it away then looked at the blood on his palm.

  “How did you do it?” Matt asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Matt said and lifted his arm in a threatening manner. “How did you find Tori?”

  Adrian raised his hands to protect himself as he leaned away from his tormentor, but the blow he expected didn’t come when he spoke rapidly.

  “Her phone,” he let out. “I told you already and wrote it in the report I gave you. I have software that can show the location.”

  “Then do it,” Matt snarled.

  “I need to use my PC,” Adrian said.

  He kept his arms up as he slowly spun his seat around and rolled to the computer station behind his desk. It was only when he got to it that he lowered his hands to switch the PC on.

  “If she hasn’t used her phone since the last occasion I checked, it will just show the location you already have,” Adrian pointed out.

  There was no response and he glanced towards Matt to see he was being watched intently. The fear that he might not get out of the situation alive flared in his mind again and he sent up another prayer. The ache in his head grew worse and his hands shook as he waited for the screen to come to life.

  “What’s the number?” he asked.

  “I fucking gave it to you before,” Matt replied.

  “I don’t have the notes,” Adrian said. “You need to give it to me.”

  “Fucking idiot,” Matt cursed.

  He gave the number and Adrian typed in the digits as they were spoken. He pressed the key to get the software running and held his breath as he waited. The map that eventually showed on the screen certainly wasn’t the same as before, and it was the clear the location of the yellow blip wasn’t in the city.

  “She must have used her phone,” Adrian said almost to himself.

  “What?” Matt demanded.

  “The last known location of Tori’s phone doesn’t show as in the city,” Adrian replied.

  “Where the hell is she?” Matt hissed.

  Adrian leaned forward to look closer at the screen then used the mouse to click on the icon that zoomed out the map.

  “It’s Bandon,” he said. “It’s a coastal resort north of here.”

  “Print out that screen,” Matt told him.

  Adrian leaned forward to do it and the cold metal of the gun barrel touched on his forehead as the whirring sound of the printer came to life.

  “Don’t kill me,” he begged as the panicked fear gripped hold of his mind.

  The slightly manic laugh was the last sound he heard as the barrel was pulled away and the gun butt crashed hard on the nape of his neck. His view of the PC became blurry as the blackness washed over him and he was sent sprawling to the floor when the chair was tipped over. A kick to the head knocked him unconscious and Matt took out his frustrations on the man at his feet. His breath rasped out when he stopped kicking.

  “You lucky fuck,” he growled.

  It was the fact that there was a police station directly across the street that stopped him pulling the trigger. Neither of the weapons was fitted with a silencer, and that meant a gunshot would likely be heard. He couldn’t risk being stopped by the cops and it was only this that saved Adrian Bryant’s life.

  Matt needed something to tie up the private investigator and went to the desk to search through the drawers. A roll of duct tape was stored in the bottom one and he quickly went about securing Adrian’s wrists together behind his back. He then bound his ankles together and finished by placing a length of duct tape over the unconscious man’s mouth.

  A grin spread across his face when he was finished and he aimed another vicious kick at Adrian’s head before searching for the keys to the place. When he found them, he went to retrieve the print out of the map then moved across to the door. He switched off the lights before walking outside and locking the place up. When he saw the open drain on the walk to the hire car, he dropped the office keys in it.

  “Sleep well, Adrian,” he let out under his breath and laughed.

  When he was sitting in the driver seat of the vehicle, he studied the map although it showed only a small area and he wasn’t really sure where Bandon was. He set off to find an internet shop and paid for thirty minutes before sitting at a computer. Typing the name of the place in a search engine, he browsed for a map and brought it up on screen.

  “Just over eight hundred kilometers,” he said quietly when he saw the distance.

  He quickly worked out that he could get there in around seven to eight hours. A glance at his watch showed that it was now just before eight o’clock in the evening and that meant if he left straight away he could arrive by four in the morning at the latest. That would give him the darkness of night for cover, but also meant that Tori and the Roadrunner would likely be sleeping and unaware of his approach. There was no doubt in his mind that they were still together and his jaw tightened at the thought of it.

  “Fucking whore,” he cursed under his breath.

  He checked the route he needed to take then left the internet shop straight away. When he returned to the car, he got the bag out of the trunk and sat it on the passenger seat. Opening it up gave him a sight of the assault rifle and an evil smirk spread across his face.

  “Now to settle some scores,” he said then got the vehicle running to set off for Bandon.

  Chapter 15

  The sound of a loud curse came to Tori where she was in the kitchen and a frown creased her brow as she finished pouring herself some milk. She picked up the glass then put the carton in the fridge before making her way to the lounge. Patch was standing with his phone pressed to his ear and the conversation he was having with the person on the other end of the line was obviously about Matt.

  “What was all that about?” she asked when the call ended.

  “That was Six,” Patch replied. “Crash is sure he saw your ex-boyfriend at the apartment.”

  “What happened?” Tori queried nervously.

  “Nothing,” he went on. “It was too late for Crash to do anything when he made it down to the street. He caught no more than a glimpse of a car speeding off, but he’s sure it was Matt. The door of the garage I store my motorbike in was open, so I guess he looked inside at the empty interior and figured out we weren’t home.”

  “Shit,” Tori let out in a hushed voice.

  “At least there’s one good thing,” Patch said.

  “What’s that?”

  “If he’s still looking for us at the apartment, it means he’
s in the city,” Patch went on.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Tori replied in a resigned voice. “I wish it was all just over.”

  “Crash was going to scout around and see if he could spot the car he saw, but he’ll go to the apartment afterwards,” Patch said. “The next time your ex turns up it will be all over hopefully.”

  Tori just nodded her head and said no more as she lifted the glass to take a drink. It was torture hearing bits and pieces about what was happening in the city, but there was nothing they could do but stay out of the way and wait.

  “Are you coming up to bed?” she asked when she finished drinking the milk.