Hidden Secrets (Satan's Prophets MC) (16 page)

Jaz, Renee and Lori were banging on Mick’s motel room door at eleven sharp in the morning. When he opened the door with bloodshot eyes and still half asleep, Jaz should have known…nope. They barged right in and got the shock of their lives. All they caught was a flash of red hair, before the girl in his bed pulled the covers up over her head. The girls were speechless and looked away, all in different directions.

Mick threw his arm around the shoulders that were the closest to him and quickly ushered them out of the room. Closing the door behind him, he realized he was standing there with only his boxers on—thanking the good Lord his morning boner was already taken care of.

Lori was feasting her eyes on his chest, while Renee was mesmerized by the tattoo on his upper left pectoral. It was a ferocious looking tiger with its paws raised and claws out, ready to strike.

And Jaz was admonishing him with a twinkle in her eyes. “Mick, shame on you.” She pointed a finger at him. “And in front of my friends, yet,” she went on, having fun teasing him.

“Shame on me?” He went on to lecture the girls. “You girls should know better than to barge into a man’s room uninvited. What do ya’s want at this unholy hour of the morning?”

“The day is half gone already and we came to take you fishing with us. We have a really good spot to show you,” Jaz said impatiently.

“All right,” he said, rubbing his hand over the morning scruff on his face.  “Come back in an hour and I’ll be ready to go.”

“You were right. This is a perfect spot for fishing. How did you ever find it?”

Jaz pointed over to Renee who was having a tough time getting a worm on her hook.

Mick knew from the squeamish look on her face that she didn’t like touching worms. He walked over to her and took the worm out of her hand. “Here, let me.”

Renee tried not to look at him because if she was honest with herself, he was definitely some hot looking eye candy. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone. When Mick’s hand brushed hers, taking the worm and hook from her, she felt a warm rush come over her body.

Mick wondered why the girls hadn’t caught any fish yet. They had been there for over two hours. He caught seven trout, but threw them back because they were too small to keep. Besides, he was waiting for a whopper they could all share for supper that night. When Mick caught a thirteen inch Rock Bass, he looked around for the net and asked where it was? Jaz looked back at him like he was crazy and told him they just catch the fish and throw them back.

Mick was incredulous. “You are kidding me, right?”

With her big, blue eyes opened up wide, Renee answered, “No, why would we want to keep them? Ew, they’re disgusting, slimy things.”

Mick had to laugh. He couldn’t believe he was out here wasting his time with these silly girls for nothing when he needed to be out looking for a job. He had some of his savings left, but it wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Hey, let’s head on back. I have some stuff I need to do,” he complained to the girls’.

“Oh really,” Jaz said with a smirk, “like what?”

“Like getting a job somewhere, first of all.” He looked back at her with a lifted brow.

Jaz thought long and hard and then an idea popped into her mind. “I bet Danny could use some help at The Den. The manager is off on vacation and Danny was complaining the last time I was there, he’s plumb worn out.” Of course Jaz wondered where Joe was. She hadn’t seen him since that fateful night, but if anyone knew why he left, they weren’t saying. She thought maybe JD had something to do with it, but wasn’t sure. She was pissed. She never had the chance to give him a good punch in his face. If it wasn’t for Joe, JD would probably still be here—but then again, who knew? He said he wasn’t the hang around type. Maybe he would’ve grown tired of her and moved on anyway.

“Of course,” Lori looked at Mick trying hard not to giggle, “if it goes against your morals to work in a place like that, I’m sure we’ll all understand.”

Lori was giggling out loud now and was surprised to see Renee frowning. Hmm, she wondered, what’s up with that? Maybe anti-man Renee was changing her opinion of men?

Danny was only too happy to hire Mick. Jaz telling him how close she and Mick were, since years ago and that he paid for her college was enough for Danny to hire him immediately. Danny had him take over running the bar business so he could spend more time at the books. After Joe got beat up badly that night, he was in no physical shape to take the second set of books he faked with him. When Danny found them, he didn’t know what to do so he kept quiet. He knew Satan’s Prophets MC held a big percentage in the club and he didn’t want to fuck with them. He also knew first hand that it could be a deadly mistake. He needed to think of how to handle the situation without incriminating himself or worse—ending up dead.

Jaz had just finished dancing and was on her way back from changing out of her outfit. She wished Susanna could have been here tonight to give her the usual moral support but somehow, she had managed to make it through on her own. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was walking, when a man called out to her. Turning her head to look at him, she realized it was a man she had seen hanging around the club from time to time, usually talking with the dancers.

“Hey, little lady,” he smiled at her, “you look like you could use a drink. How about having one with me?” He walked over closer and gave Jaz an introduction. “My name’s Thomas and you are Lacey. I saw your name on the billing.”

Jaz was surprised he knew her stage name. Looking him over up close, Jaz thought he wasn’t bad looking, with his thick brown hair neatly slicked back and his face clean shaven. She must have a thing for brown hair, she figured when a picture of JD popped into her mind. Closing her eyes, she gave her head a little shake to erase his image from her brain. At least this guy was dressed in a tailored shirt and dress pants, not a tee shirt and grimy jeans.
Now here’s a true gentleman
, Jaz thought. If she was ever going to get over JD, she guessed she had to start somewhere and this guy was as good as any. She allowed him to lead her to a table and she sat down.

Thomas was really hoping to draw this one into his business venture. The men seemed to really like her when she was on stage and Thomas knew, it was that innocent look she had about her that appealed to them.
Funny thing
, he thought to himself,
how we men like innocent when we’re thinking of doing the down and dirty with them
.

After talking to him for a few minutes, Jaz was starting to have doubts and wondered what the hell she was doing. Getting a good look at this guy’s face, there was something about it that screamed at her to be wary. She didn’t like the way his eyes seemed to be raping her. When he started talking about her going into a little business venture with him, Jaz finally got his meaning. She couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy. She felt like clubbing him in the head, but instead she got up and just about ran over to the bar where Mick was.

Mick really enjoyed working behind the bar at The Den. He liked talking with the customers and meeting new people. Plus, this bar was more upscale than a lot of bars he’d been in. The booze was top shelf and although Danny hinted about watering it down, Mick wouldn’t. He believed in giving the customer what they paid for. Besides, he’d seen many a bar fight start over watered down drinks. He didn’t want that bullshit here.

When Mick noticed Jaz weaving her way through the crowd rather quickly, he wondered what the fuck was wrong now. By the time she reached the bar, he noticed her red face and pinched mouth. Grabbing her face in his hand, he studied it and asked, “Jaz, what’s wrong? Did someone upset you?”

Jaz didn’t want to cause any problems for Mick on his first night. She knew he needed this job so instead of complaining about that jerk, she told Mick she was just tired.

“Can you take me home now? I just want to get out of here,” Jaz pleaded.

Not really believing her, Mick looked around the bar, but didn’t see anything that looked suspicious. He had an idea of what had happened and if he was right, he’d have to talk to Danny about girls and the back rooms.

“Sure. Let me get Danny out here to cover for me and we’re outta here.” Ten minutes later, Mick hustled Jaz out of the bar.