Ride Everlasting (Demon Riders MC Book 3) (8 page)

Dane doesn’t respond. Instead he pulls her towards him, planting a hard kiss on her lips that makes her melt against him and leaves her knees trembling for minutes afterwards.  “Elyse, it looks like that notebook of Lance’s was a little heavy for him.”  Dane nods towards the book that Lance had dropped and that’s now lying open on the ground.   “We’re going to have a little talk with our newest employee.”

Elyse looks at Rick, wondering what they’re up to, but Rick just nods at her to do as Dane has said. 

“Don’t touch my stuff, bitch!”  Lance steps forward, as if to guard his notebook and camera, but he backs away again as soon as Dane raises a threatening fist.

“You really don’t get how this works, do you man?”  Dane shakes his head and looks at Rick chuckling.  “And I thought these college guys were meant to be smart!”

Elyse grabs the notebook—and the camera as well for good measure—before Lance has time to come up with a response or decide if he’s willing for Dane to go for him again.  She takes a step towards Dane, wondering if she should stop him from what she is almost certain will be more than a friendly chat.  She wonders if she could even if she wanted to.

“Don’t worry, doll. We’ve got this.”  Rick settles a comforting hand on her shoulder before he and Dane each take hold of Lance’s upper arms and hustle him around to the back of the bar.

Elyse chews her bottom lip and takes a step as if to go after them, but a friendly face in front of her stops her in her tracks.  “Let them handle this, Elyse.”  Suzi crosses her arms in front of her chest, creating a barrier between Elyse and the direction the three men had disappeared to.  “They won’t do any permanent damage. They’re not stupid.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Elyse takes another look over Suzi’s shoulder before she decides that her friend is right. Rick and Dane may be quick to anger, but they’re not idiots.  They both know where the limits are of what they can and can’t do, at least Elyse has to hope that they do.

“Why don’t we head into the bar and get you a drink.  You look like you could use one.”  Suzi leads Elyse gently towards the entrance of the bar.  “And while we’re at it, let’s get rid of that.”  She nods towards the notebook that Elyse is still clutching in her hand.

Elyse hesitates before she follows Suzi.  “The way we rushed out of there must have stirred up some attention.”  She leaves the rest implied.  Elyse wants to know if there are going to be some angry Riders, looking for answers when she walks in.

Suzi waves away Elyse’s concern.  “These guys are used to a little action. They won’t think anything of it.”

Elyse nods, knowing that Suzi wouldn’t lie to her about something like that, but she still can’t bring herself to go inside.  She wants to know what’s going on between Dane and Lance.  “I think I’ll stay out here for a while.”  She leans against the wall, waiting, still debating whether she should intervene.

“Suit yourself.”  Suzi crosses her arms and leans against the wall, mimicking Elyse’s posture.  Elyse throws her a questioning look.  “What?  If you’re staying, then so am I.”  She shrugs.  “There’s no point in beating yourself up, Elyse.  After what that piece of crap wanted to put the club through and after everything he just said to you, I think he deserves a helluva lot more than just a broken nose.”

Elyse smiles at this protective side of Suzi that’s coming out.   “So, what are we going to do about this?”  She holds up the notebook. 

Suzi reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a flip lighter.  “Do you want to do the honors or shall I?”

Elyse had thought that when Suzi had suggested they get rid of the notebook that she’d meant shredding it.  But there was something poetic about setting it on fire.  Lance had always been proud of being old school.  It seemed only fitting that it shouldn’t be a piece of technology that destroys his work, but something much more primal.

“I’ll do it.”  She holds out her hand for Suzi’s lighter, flipping it open with a flick of her wrists.  Before she has time to question, yet again, if she’s doing the right thing or not, she holds the lighter to the corner of Lance’s notebook and watches as it catches light.  She throws the book on the floor, the flames engulfing it as she and Suzi stare at the fire, almost hypnotized by it.  It’s a matter of only a few minutes before the book is completely destroyed.  Suzi stomps on the embers for good measure, nodding in satisfaction. 

Elyse’s head whips up at the sound of footsteps crunching against the gravel.  She sees Rick appear first from around the side of the building, followed by a dejected looking Lance who is holding his right hand as if it were injured, and finally Dane brings up the rear.  His face had been a thundercloud when they’d disappeared, but now it was relaxed, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

The three men take a look at the ashes on the ground, and they all seem understand what they’re seeing.  Lance gives Elyse a murderous stare, and she braces herself for the onslaught of insults that she’s expecting to flow from his mouth, but he doesn’t open his mouth.  Instead, he looks between Dane and Rick and then back down at the floor, cowed by whatever they’ve said to him.

“What happened?”  Elyse’s eyes are trained on Lance’s injured hand, and the words are out of her mouth before she asks herself if she really wants to know or not.

“Lance decided that it would be in his best interest not to write the article after all.”  Dane shrugs his shoulders wearily, as if tonight were no different from any other night of the week. 

“A decision that was made a whole lot easier when it became clear that he didn’t have any actual evidence to use to implicate the Demons in his little story.”  Rick plants his hands on his hips, looking formidable. Elyse gulps in spite of herself.

She waits for Lance to speak up, to threaten them, to tell them that his family will have them all hung, drawn, and quartered.  But he remains silent, looking at the floor, holding his hand to his chest as if it were a baby.

“Oh, by the way, Lance, you’re fired.”   Rick throws the comment over his shoulder, and Lance’s head droops a little more.  “And if I see you in my shop again, it’ll be more than just your hand that you’ll have to worry about.”

Lance nods quickly, his gaze never flicking up from the floor.  Elyse is shocked beyond belief.  Whatever Rick and Dane had said to Lance, it must have put the fear of God into him—and then some.

“I think it’s time you left, don’t you, Lance?”  Dane’s fingers thrum over his folded arms.

For the first time, Lance looks up.  “I can’t drive with this.”  He motions towards his hand.

“Then you walk.”  Dane says the words slowly, as if he were speaking to an idiot.  “I thought you were anti-technology, seems like walking would be right up your street.”

Lance stutters, struggling to get his words out.  “But…but it’s miles to the hospital.”  The panic causes his voice to rise.  “What if…what if I faint from the pain?  It’d be days before anyone would find me.”

Elyse rolls her eyes at the fact that even now, after everything, Lance is still playing the role of the drama queen.

“Faint from the pain?”  Dane is completely unmoved.  “Your wrist isn’t even broken, you pussy, it’s sprained at the most.  That’s what happens when you try to punch someone without knowing what the hell you’re doing.” 

Elyse’s eyes widen at the image of Lance trying to fight Dane.  She should have known that he and Rick wouldn’t just break his wrist for fun. He’d provoked them, and he could have been walking away with something much worse than just a sprain and some wounded pride.

“Get lost, Lance.  And remember what we said.”  There’s no mistaking the threat in Dane’s voice.

Lance ducks his head again, deferentially.  Clearly, he wasn’t going to be forgetting whatever Rick and Dane had drilled into him anytime soon.  Slowly, he starts walking towards the open road, but he jumps as Dane’s voice pierces the silence of the night.

“Lance!  Aren’t you forgetting something?”  Dane looks at him meaningfully, the anger in his eyes more powerful than any punch most men could throw.

Lance’s eyes flick between Dane and Elyse, seemingly weighing up his options.  But it only takes a slight shift in Dane’s position to make up his mind for him.  “I’m sorry, Elyse. I didn’t mean any of the things I said about you.”  The words come out grudgingly, and he doesn’t meet her eyes, but that doesn’t take any of the sweetness out of the knowledge that he’s been taken down a few pegs.

“And?”  Dane gestures with his arms that Lance should continue.

Elyse watches as Lance takes a deep breath and then looks at her directly.  “And I’m an asshole.”

Dane smiles broadly, giving the smaller man a patronizing slap on the back, which, judging from Lance’s expression is a little harder than it probably needs to be.  “Good job, man.  Good job.”  His features turn serious again.  “Now get the hell out of here and make sure I never see you again.”

Lance doesn’t wait to be told twice. Instead, he shuffles off towards the road.  Elyse watches his retreating back, absently wondering if they’ve just made an enemy that one day might come back to bite them on the ass.

“It’s over, ‘Lyse.  Stop overthinking it.”  Dane’s hands runs up and down her arms, warming her through the way that his presence always does.

“What did you two say to him?  Or do I not want to know?”  Elyse gives Dane a concerned look.

“Well, I sure as hell want to know, so spill.  And don’t leave anything out!”  Suzi pipes up from behind Elyse, looking between the two men, her expression telling them that she’s expecting all the gory details.

“Not much to tell, Suze.”  Rick shrugs, as if he intimidates people every day.  “We just showed him the error of his ways.”  His eyes twinkle at that, and he can’t seem to help but let a smile spread across his face.

“Bullshit.”  Suzi crosses her arms, waiting for them to come up with something better.

“Ask Dane; he did most of the talking.  I was too busy trying to keep a straight face.  The expression on that kid’s face was priceless.  He didn’t know what hit him!”  Rick looks like he’s about to double over with laughter.

Elyse raises a questioning eyebrow at Dane.  “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little curious about how you managed to brainwash him in less than fifteen minutes.”

The corner of Dane’s mouth quirks up.  “I just told him that if he published anything on the Demon Riders or any of us individually, ever, that I would find him and that we’d have a very different conversation.”

Elyse looks doubtfully at him, knowing that there was way more to the story that he was keeping under wraps.  “And when did he try to hit you?”

“About the time that he started ranting about who his family was and what he was going to do to me.”  Dane shakes his head at the memory.  “The guy can’t punch worth a damn.”

Elyse looks at him now, concerned.  She knows exactly who Lance’s parents are and exactly how prominent they are in Portland.  “How do you know he won’t go to the cops, Dane?  Or to his family?  They’re not just empty threats.”

Dane threads his fingers through her hair, looking calmer than Elyse thinks he has any reason to be.  “We reached a little understanding.  I told him if he said anything to anyone, then his little problem would go right on that world wide web that he hates so much.” 

Elyse frowns, confused.  “What problem?”

Dane looks at her as if he thinks she’s joking.  “You really didn’t know?”  Elyse shakes her head, impatient for Dane to drop the bombshell.  “He’s a junkie.”  The disdain in Dane’s voice is clear. 

“Lance?”  Elyse shakes her head; it just wasn’t possible.  “He’s got some problems, but he’s not a drug addict!”

“They don’t all come from the back-streets and pimp themselves out for their next fix, Elyse.  Some of them come from rich families, too.”  Suzi’s voice is full of reproach, and Elyse wonders if they’re ever going to get past that chip on her shoulder that’s the size of Oregon.

“That’s not what I meant.”  Elyse focuses her attention back on Dane. 

“Honestly, I thought you already knew.”  Dane shakes his head, surprised by her naiveté.  Elyse didn’t blame him; she was feeling pretty stupid about it now too.  “You didn’t notice how edgy he always was, how he’d be constantly rubbing his nose, or how his pupils were the size of pinheads?  He’s a cokehead, Elyse.  That night he came to your house, when you’d broken up.  He wasn’t drunk; he was high.”

It takes a few moments for the news to sink into Elyse’s brain.  It wasn’t possible, surely if Lance, someone that she thought she knew, was into drugs she would have noticed. Surely there would have been some sign?  But perhaps there had been.  She starts thinking back over the months that they’d been together, the good times, the bad times, the times when he would get so angry he seemed like a different person, the night that he almost…She shudders, not wanting to go there again. Dane’s arms wrap tighter around her, and she leans into his touch. 

“It’s a lot to process.”  He reads her mind yet again, hearing everything that she’s not saying.

She nods mutely, struggling to put her personal feelings aside and look at the bigger picture.  It’s not hard to understanding now why Lance would have left so quietly, without making one of the scenes that he loves so much.  “His parents are some of the biggest anti-drugs spokespeople in the state.  His mom set up a foundation.”  Elyse shakes her head.  “He knew what the fallout would be for his family if his problem came out.”

Dane shakes his head.  “You can still see the good in him, even though he doesn’t deserve anything close.”  Elyse looks askance at him.  “I don’t think his change of heart had anything to do with not wanting to put his family through the scandal. That’s a little too altruistic for our Lance.  I think he was more worried about what it would do for his career.”