Rush - Blue Devils MC Book 2 (Book 1 Included FREE for a short time only!) (28 page)

Chapter 11

~ Ella ~

As the recorder ran, Ella smiled and nodded. She was giving off every sign that she was ready to throw Brock to the ground and fuck him, and she knew it. She wanted to. After Lain had ordered her into the clubhouse like a master orders his dog around, she’d sorta lost it. She was pissed and irrational.

A part of her told her that after all, this was why she was here. Dan would’ve been happy with a story about Lain, but Brock was really the reason she’d been sent to this hellhole. So flirting and getting him to open up was all part of the job description. When he’d come over and started pestering her about doing a photoshoot, she’d jumped on the opportunity. Finally, here was a chance to do the reporting she’d been sent there to do.

Lain had been
pissed
- she could see it instantly. He hadn’t liked her taking pictures of Brock, asking him questions. Which just made her lay on the charm more. If he was going to act like a jackass and then expect her to roll over and play dead, he obviously hadn’t met Ella Anderson. She’d show him what he was missing.

Finally, Brock seemed to have run out of self-aggrandizing statements to make, and Ella jumped in before he could think of something else to say. “Lain,” she called out. “Would you mind taking me back to the motel? I forgot my notebook there.” She shut off the recorder and turned to Brock. “Thank you so much for your kindness in letting me bother you to do this interview,” she said sweetly. He puffed up with pride. She was obviously hitting the right tone with him. Placate his outrageous ego and everything would be fine.

“Let’s go,” Lain said at her elbow. His voice told her all that she needed to know - he was pissed at her. Jealous. She smiled brightly at him. “Sounds good!” she said cheerfully. She wanted to slap him.

They walked over to Lain’s bike and climbed on. Once she had her bag stowed away and her helmet in place, they roared back to El Rancho.

With any luck, she’d be able to lose him. Somehow, some way…

“Hey, I’m gonna use your bathroom real quick,” Lain tossed out as he headed towards it.
Perfect!
She waited until the door closed behind him and then quickly shot out of the front door, pulling it closed behind her quietly.

She was so pissed at him, she relished the thought of the look he’d have on his face when he came back out of the bathroom to find the motel room empty. Too bad she couldn’t be there to enjoy it.

The library was only a block away and she sped-walk as quickly as she could in the heat. The heat waves were dancing off the street, distorting the view everywhere she looked. It gave the town the peculiar look of being part of a fun house, minus any clowns. Which was good, because they’d probably be creepy
It-
style clowns if Brock had anything to do with it.

Finally, she pulled open the front door of the library and stepped into the cool interior. She sucked in a deep breath of relief. It felt
heavenly
in there, and she wanted to just sit and enjoy the coolness, but she knew she didn’t have long. Lain had most likely already come out of the bathroom and would start hunting for her any place within walking distance. The library was a logical choice. She had to hurry.

She walked up to the counter, tense, nervous, awkward.

I make one godawful spy
.

“Hi!” she said, way too cheerfully to the two men behind the counter. One of them nodded in return, so she decided to focus her attention on him.

“Do you have the
Copper Town News
on microfilm that I can look at? I did some research online but they only post their top stories there without a subscription.”

“What are you looking for in particular?” the man asked. His eyes seemed abnormally large behind his thick glasses.

“Anything to do with the Blue Devils,” she said. “Do you have any stats on the death rate in Copper Lode, specifically of deaths caused by the Blue Devils?” The other librarian, who had yet to say a word, walked off with books in his hands.

What an unfriendly library
.

She knew she was treading on thin ice, asking such blunt questions, but she only had four and a half days left in this trip. She didn’t have time to play patty-cake. She needed answers, preferably yesterday.

“Oh, well…” the librarian trailed off. “I do have microfilm of
Copper Town News
but I don’t know how to locate specific topics like that. Microfilm is better suited for looking up by dates, not by topic. You can’t exactly Google search a microfilm canister.”

She nodded impatiently. “I understand that, so maybe could you pull out the last year of articles? I can scan through from there.”

“Or not,” Lain’s voice hissed in her ear. The second librarian reappeared and the two of them watched quietly as she was hauled none-too-gently back out the door. The second librarian gave an apologetic smile as the doors closed behind them.

Traitor
.

~ Lain ~

“Goddamn you!!” Lain hissed in Ella’s ear as he pulled her along, back to the motel. “If Brock had
any
idea what you did in there today, there’d be hell to pay! You better be damn happy that those guys know me better than Brock and chose to call me instead of him. You can’t just waltz into a snake pit and think you’re gonna come out the other side unscathed!”

“If the Blue Devils is
just
a motorcycle club, as everyone is so innocently claiming, then why the hell is it such a problem to ask questions?!” Ella demanded obstinately. She was pulling against his grip, trying to escape, but he didn’t give a flying fuck what she wanted.

When he’d walked out of the bathroom and found her gone, the first thought that popped into his head was that she’d been kidnapped. He’d been goddamned terrified. He finally decided to start walking up and down the streets to check in on the businesses as he went, to see if they’d seen anything, when his cell phone went off. Dave, the librarian and an old friend of his, had called him and said that there was some girl down at the library, asking all sorts of questions about the Blue Devils.

Goddamn motherfucking son-of-a-bitch
.

What possessed Ella to think that she could pull a stunt like this? People didn’t sneeze in Copper Lode without asking the Blue Devils if they could first. Did she honestly think that she could march into the library and start asking questions about the death rate caused by Blue Devil members, and
not
get some kickback?

He grabbed her helmet and buckled it under her chin, then strapped his own on. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him. He ignored her. He had to do something with her that didn’t involve the Blue Devils, or the microfilm machine at the library. He had to hide her dumb ass far, far away from Brock.

He swung his leg over onto the bike.

“Get on!” he yelled at her. After a moment’s hesitation, she swung her leg over and settled in behind him. She didn’t snuggle up against him though; she held herself away from him like someone had shoved a stick up her ass. He started his Harley and roared out of the parking lot. He didn’t have time for her snotty attitude. She could hold on or fall off. He wasn’t going to continue to protect her.

As he went around a corner, she grabbed him and held on tight.

That’s better
.

Unable to think of a better place to take her, he decided to drive them to his apartment but he impulsively hung a left at the stop sign and roared out of the town instead. He wanted to clear his head. He had to figure out a way to convince her to stop being an idiot.

Or at least to hide it better.

After a decently long ride through the countryside, he turned back and made his way to his place. The ride had worked its magic, as it always did, and he felt calmer. Not happy - that’d take a lot more than a ride around Copper Lode - but not quite as willing to strangle Ella, which was a goddamn improvement.

They tore through Old Town and up to his apartment. He lived in a shithole and he hated to bring Ella to it, but where else was he supposed to hide a nosy, pain-in-the-ass reporter?

He pulled to a stop and turned off his engine. In the silence, Ella asked, “Where are we?”

He was startled for a moment and then realized that of course she wouldn’t know where he lived. “Home sweet home,” he said sarcastically. He unlocked the front door and they walked in. It was a disaster. He hadn’t exactly expected to bring home a chick that evening. He rarely brought sheep back to his apartment - he usually just used the rooms at the clubhouse to fuck ‘em. Somehow, he couldn’t imagine Ella agreeing to that.

He looked around, tempted for a moment to clean up, but he knew his place would need more than a rearranging of pillows on the couch so he decided to pass on it. What-fucking-ever. She could live with it.

“Wanna beer?” he asked as he headed into the kitchen.

“Sure,” she said, following behind him. Her lack of enthusiasm was obvious in her voice, and Lain paused.

He was being a dick and she didn’t deserve it.

Goddammit
.

Ella was only doing her job - she was sent to Copper Lode to be a reporter. It was Brock who deserved to be pistol-whipped for his part in all of this. He was the dumbass who fucking invited a reporter to hang out with an outlaw motorcycle gang the week before the biggest illegal gun deal Blue Devils had ever put together went down.

He had to stop being angry with Ella for Brock’s mistake, although dear God, it’d be a hell of a lot easier if she’d just be more…pliant. Stupid. Malleable.

Less…Ella.

Swearing a blue streak that would turn even the heads of his fellow Blue Devils, Lain turned and headed to the door.

“C’mon, let’s go,” he tossed over his shoulder, and walked out to his bike. He unlocked their helmets from the bike and tossed hers to her.

“Where are we going?” she asked, confusion bright in her eyes. He didn’t answer but just swung onto the bike. She mounted behind him and they took off.

They pulled into the grocery store parking lot and he switched the motor off, the abrupt silence deafening in its own way. Ignoring her questions, he dragged her into the store and down to the meat department. Picking out two marbled and stupidly expensive steaks, he then moved onto the produce department. Realizing questions weren’t getting her anywhere, Ella started helping him pick out produce, and they finally decided on fresh green beans with garlic and onions and baby red potatoes.

Instead of going home though, Lain headed to the liquor store. When they walked into the pleasantly freezing store, he heard Ella heave a big sigh of happiness. He couldn’t help but silently agree. He grew up in Copper Lode and still found the summers oppressively, stupidly, horribly hot.

“So, what’s your favorite mixed drink?” he asked, carrying their grocery sacks as they wandered around the store. Leaving meat out in the black leather bag of a Harley parked in the sun in July in Arizona was a guaranteed episode of food poisoning. The clerk gave him the stink eye, probably not appreciating his cut, Roger, or the grocery sacks, but Lain ignored him. There were bennies to being a Blue Devil, and doing whatever the hell you wanted in Copper Lode was definitely at the top of that list.

“Long Island Iced Tea,” she said and then laughed. “So cliché, especially for someone who’s from New York, but hell, I happen to like that one.” She grinned at him. He felt his toes tingle, and other places too. He ignored it.

“Fair enough,” he said. “How the hell do you make it?” The sheep he fucked at the clubhouse all did shots of tequila in an attempt to get blitzed as quickly as possible, and his girlfriend from high school liked wine coolers. He’d only heard of Long Island Iced Teas in passing, and had certainly never mixed one.

“Vodka, gin, rum, tequila, Triple Sec, and lemon juice, topped with cola,” she answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Cola? You mean like a Coke or something?” he asked, confused. He’d heard it referred to as Coca-Cola, of course, but just cola?

“Well, yeah, Coke is fine. Or Pepsi. Why, what do you call cola?”

“Soda. Usually I’ll call it a Coke or a Pepsi, but if I want a generic term, I use ‘soda.’” They stared at each other, smiling, for a moment. He had no idea why this struck him as being so…lovable, but it did. Her green eyes were intoxicating all on their own. He felt stupidly happy.

“All right, let’s round up the ingredients then,” he finally said. He started hunting for the vodka, smiling as he went.

Chapter 12

~ Lain ~

“So after that, my mother never let me ‘borrow’ her sheets without asking
why
first,” Lain finished, and Ella bust out laughing.

“You sound like you may have been more than just a handful as a child - more like an armful,” she said, her words slurring just slightly. Her New York accent had grown on him but a drunk New York accent was even more delightful. His eyes swept over her gaping blouse, allowing him a generous view of her generous tits. He felt his dick stir in his pants. He hadn’t tried this hard to win over a girl since prom.

“You never told me how you got stuck babysitting me,” she said out of the blue. Her green eyes were dancing with mischief. “Did you draw the short straw? Or did you and Dumbo arm wrestle and he won?”

Lain bust out laughing - he couldn’t help it. Dumbo was a nice guy and all, but he was 20 years older and at least 50 pounds lighter. There was a good chance Ella could beat him in an arm wrestling match.

“Or…” he said, drawing it out, “Brock is the president and I’m his veep. If anyone’s gonna get ‘stuck’ babysitting you, it was gonna be me. Although if I’d known it’d be this much fun, I would’ve been happy to take Dumbo on.”

“What is Brock doing this week?” she asked. She was more serious than she had been a moment before, and Lain felt his stomach drop with dread. “Why is he foisting me off onto you?”

Foist
.
Who the fuck says ‘foist’ when they’re drunk?
Her head was listing a little to the side and he knew she had long passed buzzed and was now happily ensconced in Drunk Land. How she was concentrating enough to question him like this was beyond him. Hopefully if he answered her, she wouldn’t remember the answers tomorrow anyway.

“Brock had some things come up this week.”

“What kind of things?” she persisted. Lain shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

“Club business. It was supposed to happen in a couple of weeks but it got moved up, so he’s been concentrating on making it happen quickly.”

She opened her mouth to ask another question and in desperation, Lain leaned forward and kissed her. It was instinctual -
anything
to stop her questions that he could not answer - but it quickly became so much more. She sucked in her breath sharply, surprised, and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside her mouth. Warm, wet, sweet from the liquor…Ella. It was her breath, her scent, her amazing personality, her fucking amazing body…he couldn’t get enough.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the bedroom. She stumbled for a moment and grabbed his arm for stability. She smiled up at him, happy and sexy and drunk and he just couldn’t wait another moment. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her, laughing at her protests, to his bed.

“You’ll hurt your back!” she half yelled but he could tell it was all for show. The laughter was spilling out of her and he felt a lightness inside that almost felt foreign. She was so goddamned beautiful and sexy and happy, it was hard to remember what the fuck he was always so worried about.

He feinted a drop and she squealed in surprise and clung tighter to his neck.

There, that was better
.

He grinned. Being around Ella made him…happy. God-fucking-damn happy. He almost didn’t know what to do with himself.

Almost.