Wet Leather: Adults Only Motorcycle Club Romance: Roadrunners MC Page 9

  The first thought that came in his mind was she’d found a new boyfriend, and he wondered if the man accompanying her was responsible for the bruise on her face or whether it was Matt Mosswood with the heavy fists. It might be neither, and for all he knew she could have just tripped and fell. As far as he could make out while he observed them moving along the street, she wasn’t being coerced and was apparently walking of her own free will. There was no way of knowing for sure what the situation was between her and the man she was with although, as far as he was concerned, that wasn’t really for him to worry about.

  He’d been impressed by the motorbike the man drove out of the lockup garage and decided to find out where they were going when they set off. The early morning traffic made the streets busy, so it wasn’t difficult for him to make sure he wasn’t spotted, and he was definitely glad of that when he saw where he ended up. He was no expert on crime in the city, but his work as a private investigator gave him some knowledge and he knew who the building belonged to.

  He thought about how the Roadrunners weren’t an organization to get on the wrong side of as he kept driving past the property to find a parking spot before getting out of his car to walk back. The beverage stand he stepped up to didn’t give a particularly good view of the gates he’d seen the motorbike passing through, but he had no intention of going any closer. He spent an hour drinking a few coffees, but as far as he could make out there was no sign of Tori Sanders, or the man she traveled with, coming out of the place.

  A few vehicles did drive out of the gates during the hour he was at the coffee stand, but he didn’t really get a good look at who was in them. He suspected that Tori wasn’t one of them, although there was no way of knowing that for certain. When his second coffee was finished, he decided to beat a retreat and made his way to his car to leave.

  When he got to his office, he sat and wrote out a report of what he found out that morning then opened the drawer of his desk to find the notes from the previous day. He looked at Matt Mosswood’s phone number and decided to have a coffee before he made the call. His hangover wasn’t completely gone, but when he sat down and saw the bottle of whisky in the open drawer, he decided to put some in his coffee.

  He sat thinking as he drank and wondered what his client would make of the information he discovered that morning. There was only one way to find out and he picked up the phone on his desk when he finished the coffee.

  “Matt Mosswood,” the voice on the other end of the line said when the call was answered.

  “Hi, Mr. Mosswood, it’s Adrian Bryant here.”

  “Did you find her?” Matt asked brusquely.

  “I have located her,” Adrian told him.

  “Where the fuck is she?” Matt went on.

  “You might want to hear what I have to say first,” Adrian told him.

  “I’ll be right there,” Matt said.

  Adrian frowned as the line went dead. He pulled the handset from his ear to put it down and shrugged.

  “The man’s keen to get his report,” he mumbled under his breath.

  He checked through to make sure all the details were included in it then considered getting himself another cup of coffee. There was an alternative, and he sat staring at the bottle of whisky that was sitting on his desk. In the end the lure of the alcohol won the day and he poured some in his cup. It reminded him of his encounter of the previous evening, and he sat thinking about it while he waited for his client to arrive.

  It was around twenty-five minutes before he did, and the agitation of Matt Mosswood was clear to see straight away. He appeared twitchy from the moment he walked in the door of the office and walked across to sit down.

  “Where is she?” he asked straight away.

  The report was slid across the desk, but Matt ignored it. His pupils were dilated and the constant fidgeting made it fairly obvious that he’d taken something. It made Adrian nervous and he just wanted the man opposite out of his office as fast as possible.

  “The details are in the report,” he said.

  “Just fucking tell me,” Matt let out in a hoarse voice.

  Adrian wasn’t about to argue and just went ahead and did it.

  “I managed to track your girlfriend down using her mobile phone,” he started. “She must have switched it on at some point since she disappeared because the last known location wasn’t your home address.”

  “Where is it?”

  Adrian leaned across the desk to grab the report and opened it up to point out the address.

  “Where is that?” Matt asked again.

  Adrian got his street map out to show the location.

  “It’s an apartment building,” he said.

  “She hasn’t got any friends that live there,” Matt commented as he stared at the map before lifting his head to look across the desk. “Well, no one that I’m aware of. Did you go and make sure she is definitely there?”

  “Yes,” Adrian answered. “I went to the apartment first thing this morning to keep a watch on it.”

  “And is she there?”

  “Yes,” Adrian said. “I saw her coming out of the entrance of the building. There was a bruise on the side of her face that disguised her features a bit, but I got a close enough look and am one hundred percent sure it was her.”

  “Fucking bitch,” Matt cursed and the chair fell over when he sprung to his feet. “Was she on her own?”

  Considering the agitation his client was now showing, Adrian hesitated to say anything more. He’d written everything in the report, though, so he knew that all he could do was tell the truth.

  “No, she wasn’t alone,” he said. “There was a man with her.”

  “Fuck,” Matt screeched in a high pitched voice. “I knew that bitch was cheating on me.” He paced furiously to and fro in front of the desk as his next question came out. “Do you know who the man is?”

  Adrian’s nerves grew as he shook his head.

  “I don’t know who he is, but you should know who he probably works for.”

  “What do you mean?” Matt asked as he stopped moving.

  “He and Tori took off on a motorbike,” Adrian went on. “I decided to follow to see where they went.”

  “And?” Matt barked.

  “They ended up going into a building owned by the Roadrunners,” Adrian answered.

  The frown creased Matt’s forehead as he took in the information.

  “The fucking biker gang?” he let out in an incredulous voice.

  “Yes, the biker gang,” Adrian confirmed. “I don’t know what your girlfriend is up to or why she is with a Roadrunner gang member, but you need to be careful.”

  “Bitch!” yelled Matt and he kicked out aggressively to make the desk rattle.

  “I’m just passing on the information like you paid me to do,” Adrian said and held up his hands. “I’m not looking for any trouble.”

  Matt ignored the man sitting at the desk as he started to relentlessly pace again. Adrian’s nerves were getting stretched by what he was seeing, and he knew he needed to be prepared in case things went crazy. He slowly reached out and picked up the bottle of whisky to return it to the drawer. Carefully pushing papers aside to reveal the gun, he wrapped his fingers around the butt. The thought of using it wasn’t really something he wanted to contemplate, but the increasingly disturbed state of his client was a concern. There was a sense that the man he was watching was on the cusp of exploding to rage.

  “Take me to the address,” Matt suddenly let out in a loud voice.

  “Not my job,” Adrian answered as calmly as he could. “I told you already that I would find your girlfriend and give you the details. That’s the end of my job and I’m not planning to get involved with anything else.”

  Matt’s eyes blazed as he stared across the table and Adrian gripped the butt of the gun tighter.

  “Fucking prick,” Matt cursed as he picked up the report.

  He turned to walk across the room and slammed the door shut wh
en he left. Adrian glanced down to see how white his knuckles were and he let out a slow breath as he loosened his grip on the weapon. His hand was shaking when he picked up the whisky and he simply loosened the cap to swig straight out of the bottle.

  “Crazy son of a bitch,” he said afterwards then drank some more of the strong alcohol before wiping his hand across his mouth.

  There was no doubt in his mind how Tori got the bruise on her face now, and he wondered if that was the reason she left Matt. It wouldn’t have surprised him if that was the case, but it wasn’t his concern and he wasn’t about to get involved. His job was over when he found her then passed on the information of where she was.

  What that meant for her he didn’t know, and it wasn’t something he even wanted to think about. From what he just witnessed, he suspected that Matt Mosswood was the kind of arrogant, unbalanced fucker that wouldn’t back down in the face of anyone or anything.

  That didn’t bode well for Tori Sanders.

  Chapter 10

  Tori’s gaze went to the door of the room when it opened and she saw the men walking inside the room.

  “Did your job go OK?” she asked when Patch came across to her.

  “Everything was fine,” he replied.

  She was aware of the way he was staring at her face and suddenly cottoned on to what his interest was. Her hand came up to the bruise that was now partially concealed by makeup.

  “Carrie did some work on me,” she said.

  “So I can see,” he replied. “I take it you two have been getting along?”

  “I like her,” Tori said. “She’s been nice and not asked too many questions.”

  The sound of Carrie’s voice came across the room to them.

  “I’ll see you two soon… and do try to be good.”

  Tori glanced to see the girl she was talking about walk out of the room with Crash. Six wasn’t far behind them and it left her alone with Patch.

  “So… what now?” she asked nervously when she brought her attention to him.

  “We get out of here,” he replied.

  Tori was going to ask where to, but Patch was already on the move towards the door and she simply followed after him. They walked to the door that led out to the parking lot and across to the motorbike.

  “Carrie told me that jeans or camouflage pants were better,” she commented.

  She was aware of Patch’s gaze dropping to her legs, and she tugged at the hem of her skirt.

  “She’s right,” he said and Tori saw the grin on his face when he looked up at her.

  “It’s not funny,” she complained.

  “Yeah, I know,” he said, but still laughed.

  “Shut up!” Tori exclaimed, but a rueful smile spread across her face.

  “Let’s do something about it,” Patch said when he mounted the bike.

  “Like what?” she asked, but he just motioned his head for her to get on.

  She hitched the hem of her skirt up to do it and leaned forward to wrap her arms around him when he got the engine running. The gates were opened as they approached them and the motorcycle quickly picked up speed once Patch opened the throttle. Fifteen minutes later they approached a small open air market in a park and he found a parking space.

  “Let’s get you kitted out,” he said after they got off.

  They passed plenty of clothes stalls as they walked around, and Tori eventually stopped when she spotted a pair of faded jeans with distressing around the thighs.

  “What about these?” she asked when she checked the size.

  “You want to buy a pair of jeans with holes in them?” Patch commented.

  “It’s the style granddad,” she joked and saw him roll his eyes as he shook his head.

  “Try them on,” he told her.

  “Umm… where?” she asked and frowned as she looked around.

  “Come behind the counter,” the stall owner said when she heard what they were talking about.

  Tori stepped behind it and kicked off her shoes. She bent down to put the jeans on then pulled them up under her skirt and didn’t bother doing up the buttons.

  “Well?” she asked when she stepped out from behind the counter.

  “They’re nice,” Patch replied. “Do they fit OK?”

  “They’re fine,” she replied.

  Patch looked at the stall owner.

  “How much?” he asked.

  “You can treat your girlfriend to those pretty jeans for twenty dollars,” the woman replied.

  “Ten,” Patch replied as he started to haggle and the price was eventually settled at sixteen dollars.

  It was him that paid while Tori loosened her skirt to take it off. She quickly did up the crotch buttons of the jeans and asked the woman for a bag to put her skirt in.

  “Sixteen dollars for jeans with holes in them,” Patch lamented with a shake of his head.

  “Shut up,” Tori told him as she linked an arm through his. “And thank you for paying.”

  “Don’t mention it,” he replied.

  They continued to wander through the market and Tori bought some t-shirts and underwear. Her own stuff was still in the apartment she’d shared with Matt, but she wasn’t planning to go and get it. As far as she was concerned, he could throw out the lot of it and she wouldn’t care. The was just as well because what she didn’t know was that her boyfriend already destroyed most of her clothes in a fit of rage.

  She and Patch spent an hour or so browsing the stalls and she found it nice to be with a man she could actually relax with for a change. It was amazing to think that, considering he was a biker gang member, but it was true. When the shopping expedition was over, they made their way to the motorbike.

  “That’s better,” Tori said when she got on.

  “You’re ready for a proper ride then,” he said.

  “What?” she asked, but didn’t get a reply as he set off.

  Thirty minutes later she understood what he was talking about when they got to quieter highways at the edge of the city. She clung on tightly when Patch accelerated and the exhilaration of the ride left her almost breathless.

  “That’s something else,” she said when they eventually came to a stop to fill up the tank.

  “Yeah,” he replied. “I think a bike like this is wasted on busy city streets, but it really comes to life on the open road.”

  Patch paid for the gas and they continued their journey only a few more miles down the highway before turning off it. They eventually ended up in the parking lot of a small bar. Tori saw the bank machine when she dismounted and walked across to check how much money was in her account. Her last job ended a month or so before and she was starting to run low, but she wasn’t quite broke.

  “I’ll treat you,” she said and showed Patch the money when he came up beside her.

  They walked away from the machine to the door of the bar and went inside. A look around as they moved across to the long counter showed the place was fairly empty and that suited them fine.

  “Two beers,” Tori told the woman behind the counter and waited until they were served before going on. “Do you serve meals here?”

  “I can do you a burger and fries if you want.”

  Tori looked at Patch and he nodded his head, so she ordered a couple of meals. They picked up their beers and walked across to a table to sit down.

  “Have you been in this place before?” Tori asked.

  “Nope,” Patch replied. “I just got off the highway to find someplace and this was the first one I saw. Thanks for the beer.”

  “Thanks for the jeans,” she replied.

  “The ride here was more comfortable then,” he said with a grin.

  “Just a bit,” she replied.

  They continued to chat about nothing in particular until the burgers were served then sat in silence for a while as they ate. Patch bought another couple of beers afterwards, and it was only then that Tori said what was really on her mind.

  “What are we going to do?”


  “About what?” Patch asked.

  “Don’t be funny,” she went on. “You know what I’m talking about.”

  Patch shrugged his shoulders as he sipped from the bottle in his hand.

  “You’re asking me as if I should know,” he said when he finished drinking. “It’s not really me that’s changing my life.”