Diego: Leatherbacks MC (20 page)

“How long since you talked to him?”

“Not long, just since you brought me here.  I wasn’t using my personal phone.  I have a burner at my house that I use to make the calls.  So, it’s been a bit difficult here.”

“Well, I’d say that cat is out of the bag and you can just use your own phone at this point, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah.  Just one problem with that.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know his number.  It’s in the other phone.”

Dio laughed and rolled toward me, kissing me before getting out of the bed and walking toward the bathroom.  I watched his naked figure retreat across the floor, admiring how muscular and beautiful he was.  He returned in a moment with a glass of water and offered me a drink, which I accepted eagerly.  I had worked up more than a bit of thirst during our session.

“Let’s get some sleep, beautiful.  We have a very busy day tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

He kissed me again and I felt a stir even though it had only been minutes ago that he was inside me.  I knew he felt it too from the way he lingered and the way he looked at me.  Smiling at me, he climbed into bed and I curled up to him, my head beside his on the pillow, my hand resting on his chest.  This was nothing I had expected, but I realized that I no longer had any reservations about giving myself to Dio, heart, mind, body and soul.

The following morning, we arose early and showered together, making love once more beneath the steam that flowed from the large rain showerhead above.  Afterwards we both dressed and made our way to a little known dive called Mollie's where we shared a huge stack of pancakes topped with fresh fruit.  Accompanied by a generous side of bacon, they might have been the most delicious pancakes I had ever tasted, or perhaps it was just that today something was different.

I no longer felt like Dio was my enemy.  He was my lover and my friend and together we had a mission.  Today we would begin a methodical cleansing of the motorcycle club to weed out and rid it of anyone who did not have its best interests at heart.  It wouldn’t be easy and there would be hard feelings from some guys who could play very not nice if they wanted to do so, but Dio would handle that.

For my part, I would be pouring back over the personal books with Dio and Frank to find what they were missing.  There had to be a track back to the missing money.  There had to be a tie back to whoever set my father up to take a fall for who knew what agenda.  Together we would find it.

Walking into the casino that morning, I felt more alive than I had for a very long time.  I felt powerful and happy.  With Dio by my side, I had no doubt that there was nothing impossible for me to achieve.  I could rule the world if I wanted.  Okay, perhaps that was a bit over the top, but I definitely felt an unfamiliar surge of energy that was unmistakable.  I couldn’t wait to get started.

“Hannibal, I’m afraid you are out a bar maid,” Dio told the bar keep as we approached him.

Hannibal looked at me quizzically and back to Dio.

“Why is that?”

“I’m pulling Ana to help me with some things back in the office.”

“Some things, huh?  I suspect she’ll be good at them, then.  Just keep your eye on her, Dio.  She’s a bit uppity, that one.”

“Don’t I know it.  As high strung as they come!”

The two men shared a laugh as I stood looking from one to the other.

“I’m right here, you know?”

That only sent them into another short fit of laughter before Hannibal returned to the bar and Dio continued on to his office with me in tow.  He was still chuckling as we entered his office space.

“I’m glad you boys think I’m such a great source of amusement.”

“Ah, come on, Ana.  You know we adore you.  Are you ready to start pouring through the books?”

“I am looking forward to it.  The quicker we get it done, the quicker we solve two mysteries that are of the utmost importance.”

“That’s my girl.  Okay, here are the general ledgers and these are the petty cash logs.  Frank will be here in about an hour to pitch in.  If you want to just get a feel for things and decide how you want to go about it rather than sinking your heels in just yet, then that is okay too.”

“I’m all in.  I’m not climbing out of these books until I figure out something.  The answers have to be in there.”

“We’ve looked, but if it is, we can’t find it.  I’m hoping that a fresh pair of eyes like yours looking through it might push something to the surface that we haven’t been able to latch onto.  Just be careful.  I’ve told no one but Frank what we are up to and I’d like to keep it that way.  I don’t need anyone knowing that you are privy to this sort of information and neither do you.”

“I’ll keep it under my hat.”

“I bet you look completely adorable in a hat too.”

“Now, Dio, we’re not going to get much done if you are going to compliment me like that while I should be getting to work.”

“Compliments are only the beginning.  I am looking forward to doing incredibly wicked things to you in this office now that you are a part of my team.”

“Is that what I am, Dio?  A part of your team?”

“A part of my team, a part of my family, a part of me.”

I stood looking at him for a moment, a little taken aback by what he was saying.  It was so unlike him, yet I found it sounded like the most wonderful thing I had ever heard.  I knew now that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was falling head over heels in love with Dio.  I wasn’t sure how it had happened, certainly could have never imagined it when I had spent all those months studying him and his club, preparing to bring them down.  Now, it just seemed like the easiest, most natural thing in the world.

“You are a part of me now too, Dio,” I replied finally.

Leaning forward, he pulled me into another kiss.  It was heated but sweet, and I found myself melting into him just like I did every time he touched me.  Whatever was happening between us was magical, beautiful.  It was perfection.

“Making out with the boss.  I hope that isn’t the new protocol for getting a bit of a bump in pay around here because I just don’t really fancy him that much.”

We jumped apart like two school children caught kissing on the playground as Scouser let out a little laugh.  He waltzed into the room and took a seat at the table where some of the books were already spread out.

“Oh, don’t let me stop the two of you.  Feel free to strip down and just go at it atop the books if ya like.  I’ll be happy to film it and post it up on some of them social media sites you Yanks are so stuck into all the time.  I bet I could be the next internet porn sensation with the likes of you two on film.”

“You’re such an ass, Frank.”

“Ain’t I just that though?  If you children are done with your neckin’, I suppose we could get started on these books.”

“Let’s do it,” Dio replied as the three of us sat down and began the process of catching ourselves a thief.

“Okay, I think we know who to start with now,” Dio said as he closed the last of the books we had just finished combing through.  It was the same name on every entry that tied to a fake job application like my father’s.

“Seems so,” Frank said with a dark scowl.  “Question is whether he is the top or just a bottom feeder.”

“That’s what we are going to have to figure out.  If we take him out and there is someone above him, we tip their hand and shoot ourselves in the foot.”

“More like in the back,” Frank added.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked.

“Good question, Ana.  We have to come up with a way to flush out the guilty parties.  We’ll have to do a little bit of recon.  At least we now know where to start,” Dio told me.

“I think you should just let me have a few hours with the bastard.  I’ll get you all the information you want from the little shyte.”

“Believe me, Frank, I’d love to get my hands on the little bastard too, but I just can’t afford to risk him not talking.  I have a hard time believing he’s the top of the food chain.  He’s always been a follower.”

“Aye.  He followed the wrong mate this time though.”

“That he did.”

“Do you think he’s the one who took out Micah and Backbone?”

“That’s my guess.  Micah, Backbone, your father and all of the others they loaned money to, but the question is why he would have been told to do that.  Perhaps Backbone was getting too close and Micah was just too much of a loose cannon, but the ones who were loaned money would have posed no threat that I can see.  From their perspective, they asked the club for a loan, got one and then paid it back.  Business concluded.”

“Unless one of them somehow figured out that the money wasn’t going back into the club.”

Dio and Frank looked at me as if it had never occurred to them that someone from the outside might have been able to breach their brotherhood and find out information that revealed something even they hadn’t been aware of.  It was obviously an unsettling idea for them, but it didn’t mean it didn’t happen.

“I guess anything is possible at this point.  Let’s go home and we’ll finish sorting all of this out in the morning.”

“Sounds good to me.  I’m completely knackered and bloody cross eyed from looking at those books,” Frank added.

The three of us parted ways, Dio taking me back to his house where I had been staying since it had become obvious that something wasn’t right and I might be in danger in my own house.  Tucked into bed, I cradled my head in his arm and stroked my fingers idly across his chest.  I could tell he was still very tense.

“Put me back out on the floor, Dio.”

“No.”

“It’s the smart thing to do.  Tell me who to talk to and let me be your eyes and ears.”

“It might put you in danger.  You know what happened with Micah.”

“That was different.  Micah couldn’t take no for an answer.  It wasn’t about me knowing anything or asking questions, it was about being refused.”

“Do you think he is the only one here like that?”

“Dio, you need my help.  I can find out things that you can’t.  The moment you ask, people are up in arms, but I’m new, don’t know any better they’ll think.”

“I won’t risk you, Ana.”

“You’ll be right there.  So will Frank.  As long as I’m in the casino and stay within sight, I will be fine.”

“No.”

I sighed and lay my head back down on his shoulder, eventually drifting off to sleep in his arms.  I awoke early the next morning to find him up, standing at the window and looking out.

“What are you doing up?”

“I couldn’t sleep.  I’m just eaten up with all of this happening right under my nose and not even having realized it.”

I watched as his hand drifted to the tattoo of the dollar sign on his chest and rubbed it with two fingers.  It wasn’t the first time I had seen him do it and I suddenly realized that perhaps that tattoo wasn’t as trite as I had once thought.  Perhaps there was a much more significant meaning behind it than I had considered, but I wouldn’t ask.  It was something he would tell me if he felt I needed to know.

“How could you have known?”

“Usually, when something like this goes down in an organization, there are signs or slip ups.  You see things going oddly or they ask someone they shouldn’t to join up and that person rats on them.”

“That makes sense.  It sounds like perhaps it is something that was developed by a small group that hasn’t reached out to others yet.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.  So, I need to watch and see who clusters with our little friend who we’ll be keeping an eye on.”

“Makes sense.”

“I’m going to put you back out on the floor, but you’ll not be serving tables.  You’ll just be out there as my girl.  No one will touch you.”

“Are you sure that is such a good idea to affiliate me with you so closely?”

“I don’t care if it is a good idea or not.  It’s the only way I’m willing to let you mingle among people.  If they know you are off limits but trusted by me, you’ll be safer asking questions.”

“I guess it will have to do.”

“It will.”