...or something: Ronacks Motorcycle Club (11 page)

"You're Gary?" She held out her hand. "I'm Bree."

He shook her hand firmly. "Nice to meet you, and good luck."

"Thanks." She clutched her bag at her side and walked around the building and through the front door.

She stood still to get her bearings and peer around the bar. Never having been in one before, the place looked exactly like she expected.

The smoke from outside wafted through the back door and smelled up the place. Two women wearing bikini tops and skimpy shorts helped the customers. An older woman stood behind the bar talking to two older men seated on the stools.

She walked past the tables and to the bar and waited away from the conversation for the older woman to notice her.

The wait only lasted a few seconds and the woman smiled and approached her. "What can I get you, hon?"

"A job." Bree grinned. "I'm new in town, and my last job was waitressing. I love the customers and the busy work. When I was asking around town, everyone I met mentioned Pine Bar and Grill was the place to go, so here I am looking for a job."

"Uh huh." The woman eyed Bree's body up and down, openly studying and ogling her choice of skimpy outfit for a job interview.

If female bodies brought in the business, Bree left nothing to chance by wearing a tight tank, ripped down the center showing a demi push-up bra that took her from a size D to a DD. She'd left her legs bare with a skimpy pair of shorts and put on a pair of black pumps high enough to break an ankle if she moved too fast.

"My name's Patty. My husband, John, and I own the place." Patty motioned Bree to sit at the counter. "Tell me about your last place of employment."

"I waitressed at Golden Cup, a sixteen table bar, in western Washington on the coast for almost two years." She folded her hands on her lap. "Then the place closed. Not because of business, but the owner got cancer."

Patty clucked her tongue. "Bad news."

"Yes. It devastated all the employees. Mrs. Harrison was very much loved, and we thought the world of her." Bree inhaled and lifted her shoulders.

Patty filled up a glass with ice and water and put the drink in front of Bree. "Married? Got a kid?"

"No, on both questions." She looked Patty in the eye.

Finally, she could speak the truth. After last night and her decision to work outside the club, she had no one.

"How old are you?" Patty tilted her head. "You don't look very old, but your eyes..."

"Excuse me?" Bree lifted her brows. "I mean, I'm twenty-one. What about my eyes?"

Patty frowned and clicked her tongue. "I've met a lot of people tending bar during my lifetime, and you remind me of someone else. I'd recognize an old soul when I see one."

Bree relaxed. "I've heard that before. Not sure I understand what it means, but if it's a good thing, I'll take it."

"It is, honey." Patty smiled and planted her hands on the counter. "You said you're new in town. Where are you staying?"

"Right now, a motel over in Idaho. I'd love to find a job here in Haugan and find a place to rent. Especially, before winter and driving over the pass gets questionable."

"Well, we have a trial period for any of our employees. At any time if we find your work performance or ethics unsatisfactory, we can let you go instantly. After two weeks, you get one warning to fix the grievance to continue working for us. Stay on a full year and we'll pay your medical insurance if you can work a forty-hour week. You won't find those benefits at any other bar in a hundred-mile radius. We treat our employees well for dedication and hard work." Patty leaned her round hip on the counter behind the bar. "I don't mind taking you on, but I'd prefer someone who lived closer to Haugan and not an hour away. If you can manage to get a room at the motel in town by the end of the week or if you want to stay upstairs, we have rooms for rent, and you can start this afternoon. We charge a hundred and seventy-five dollars a week and trust me, honey, with your looks and the amount of tips you'll bring in, you won't have any problem swinging rent."

"I would love to have the room upstairs and the job," said Bree.

"Don't get too excited yet." Patty laughed. "The place is quiet now, but by four o'clock this afternoon this place is packed until two o'clock in the morning."

"That sounds perfect. I look forward to working." Bree stood from the stool.

"Okay." Patty thrust her hand over the counter. "Let me call John and have him show you upstairs and he can give you the paperwork to fill out. Think you can jump on board for tonight's shift?"

"Absolutely." Bree shook her hand. "Thank you so much. I won't let you down."

Patty laughed. "Girl, are you sure you're not from around here?"

"No." Bree pressed her hand to her stomach. "Positive."

"Hm. Even your smile looks familiar." Patty's lips pursed and then she shrugged. "I'm usually good with faces, and it'll come to me who you remind me of. Maybe it's some movie star or television show I've watched. Though Lord knows, I don't get much time to squander my days away watching shows anymore."

Bree let the older woman's mystery go unsolved and followed her directions on where to find John in his office in the back. She wanted to skip in celebration and forced herself to walk calmly on her high heels. Her plan worked out perfectly.

She got the job, and there was nothing Battery could do to stop her. Working at the bar would be better than the carnival, better pay than the diner, and for the first time, she was grateful to have something to keep her busy and her mind off everything she wanted with Battery and Ronacks Motorcycle Club.

M
el sat on the ground, cradling his head, letting the blood from his nose drip onto the grass. Battery struggled against Rod, Grady, and LeWorth holding him back from punching the prospect again. The rage in him over finding Bree missing exploded and he wanted to beat the living shit out of Mel.

"You were responsible for her." Battery threw his arm, breaking away from Rod and quickly found himself pinned between Grady and LeWorth.

"I know, Prez," Mel, said, holding his nose. "I tried following her, but she's nowhere."

"She's fucking somewhere, and when I find her—"

"Found her," shouted Duke, jogging toward the group in the yard.

Battery flung himself out of the others' hold. "Where?"

"At Pine." Duke looked at him for his next order.

"Jesus Christ," bellowed Battery.

The Pine Bar and Grill was the last place she should go. He stalked to his motorcycle before it was too late.

Rod and LeWorth followed suit and got on their bikes. He nodded at each one of them to ride out and started his bike. If it took the whole club to bring back Bree, he'd call in everyone.

As it was, the first step Bree made inside Pine Bar and Grill altered the course of her life, again. He couldn't risk anymore changes.

Twenty minutes later, he cut his speed in half and entered the one-street town with one gas station, one family restaurant, and one bar—Pines Bar and Grill, one shitty single-level motel, one laundromat, one antique store, and one school set back from the road.

The savory scent of hickory filled the air, and he turned at the end of the block and parked beside the grill behind the bar. He waited for Rod and LeWorth and forced himself to calm down. The bigger the scene, the worse it would be on Bree. Though at the moment, he'd like to spank her ass for pulling such a stupid stunt. She had no idea what she'd done.

Rod climbed off his bike. "I'll take the front."

"I'll stay out here," said LeWorth.

Battery nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He wanted in and out without any troubles and had to go in the bar under control. And, right now, he was anything but in control of himself.

The bar wasn't one of the businesses under their watch. Ronacks Motorcycle Club had no agreement or push when it came to dealing with them. Though at one time, a different owner, a different time, the Pines Bar and Grill was the clubs' livelihood.

That all ended before Battery became president.

He glanced at the cook at the grill and walked through the back door. Knowing his way around, he cut through the kitchen and behind the bar without anyone stopping him. He stood letting his eyes adjust to the dim lights. After seven o'clock, the place was packed.

It took him several seconds to find Bree, and when he had, fear replaced his anger. He had to get her out of here without drawing attention to her. He swallowed over the tightness in his chest. She'd already done a good job at making a statement wearing her bikini top and a pair of cutoffs he banned her from wearing around the club.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the president of Ronacks Motorcycle Club standing behind my counter, eyeing one of my waitresses." An older lady with gray hair stood beside him frowning at his patch on his vest. She obviously wasn't happy about a biker showing up in her establishment.

"Name's Battery," he said, lifting his chin. "I'll be out of here in no time."

"I'm Patty." Patty turned her back to the crowd at the bar and said, "The way you're looking at Bree makes me think she belongs to the club and the lies she gave to obtain the job came from her need to leave one of the members. Or, you."

"It'd be me." He kept his eyes focused on Bree, who had yet to see him.

Bree wasn't the only one who could lie her way out of a tight spot. There was no way Patty would allow him to drag Bree out of the bar without calling the cops unless she believed they were together. The owner had nothing on him, considering Ronacks cut all ties with the business years ago before Patty took over as the new owner.

"I'm sure if you dug a little deeper on the application she filled out, you'd find out her social security number is fake. Bree's eighteen years old and not legal to serve beer in your establishment," he lied. "I don't think either one of us wants trouble, but I need her to leave with me, and I have no problem calling the cops and informing them that you've hired someone under the legal age of nineteen to serve alcohol."

Patty's mouth tightened. "She's taken one of the rooms upstairs."

"I'll send in one of my men to gather her things after I get her out of here." He finally broke his gaze from Bree and looked at Patty. "She won't be stepping foot in here again. I'll make sure of that."

Patty nodded.

Battery wasted no time and stalked across the room and intercepted Bree as she turned to wait on another table.

She gasped at the sight of his chest in front of her and slowly raised her gaze to meet his eyes. "Don't do this, Battery."

"Let's go home," he said, ignoring the desperation in her eyes.

"If you care even a bit about me, you'll leave me alone and let me move on," she whispered. "Please."

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "It's because I care that you need to leave with me right now, without making a scene."

She tucked her chin down in compliance. He grabbed her hand, led her across the room, behind the bar, through the kitchen, and out the back door.

Bree stopped walking. He turned to her, prepared to haul her over his shoulder and put her on the back of his bike before anyone took notice.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

He gritted his teeth and looked up into the sky. The last place he wanted to talk through their problems at was outside the bar. He never planned for Bree to fight him every step, and he got sloppy.

"You're going to have to trust me that you belong at home." He tugged her to his motorcycle.

"I don't understand." She held the helmet he thrust into her hands. "You don't want me the same way I want you, and yet you put limits on what I can do. That's not right, Battery. You can't have me one way and not the other. It's unfair to me."

"Right now, I don’t care what is fair. It's the way it needs to be." He pushed the helmet higher, nudging her to get ready to ride. "You won't understand because it's none of your business."

"Is it the club?" She slid the chin strap through the D-ring. "Is something going on with Ronacks?"

"Yeah." He left her believing the MC needed her home because she cared about everyone and sat the bike. "Get on."

She climbed on behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and he held up one finger to LeWorth and made a circle in the air to roll on out. Then, he pulled out of the parking lot. Turning at the front of the building, he pulled up to the sidewalk beside Rod.

"Get ahold of the lady behind the bar named Patty. She'll let you get Bree's things from upstairs. Then get back to the house. Make sure nobody is following you." He waited for Rod to okay his command and pulled away from the curb, getting back into traffic.

For the first several miles, he watched his side mirror more than the road. He'd grown up here, knew the land by heart, and understood the dangers that could sneak in and hurt Bree. Unsettled over Bree leaving, he took the long way home, backtracking before he felt comfortable making the turn toward the house.

He pulled into the yard and spotted Rod, LeWorth, and the rest of the Ronacks' members. His pulse remained fast, though his breathing came easier with his club surrounding Bree. She was safe again.

A
fish jumped beyond the surface of the pond, rippling the water. Bree sat at the end of the dock, her toes barely in the water. The crickets stopped chirping, and she looked behind her finding Raelyn walking toward her.

Bree waited until Raelyn sat down beside her before she spoke. "He sent you out here to check on me."

It wasn't a question. She'd had years of Battery's overprotective tendencies thrust upon her for no reason other than he wanted to keep her to himself. Though the last week even made his normal strict rules look like fun. She could only go to the pond, around the yard, and she had to stay out of the trees and could no longer drive her car without him in the vehicle with her.

"Are you okay?" Raelyn leaned back on her hands. "Duke said you're miserable being back here."

"I'm miserable because Battery is being a complete asshole." She sighed. "I was only gone for a day. Not even a complete day. He's essentially grounded me as if he's forgotten that I'm an adult, and I could walk away if that's what I wanted to do. I'm pretty sure that validates my reasons for being miserable."