Page 3 of Smoke

“What are you doing here, Tenley?” Oriana, my VP’s woman, glares at our unexpected visitor.

I also stare at the woman who has just burst into my office without fear. Shocking the fuck out of us by saying that she’s Oriana’s sister.

Coming into the domain of a motorcycle club like the Young Outlaws would usually scare the shit out of the most street-wise person in town, whereas this blonde bombshell doesn’t seem to be phased in the slightest.

With her white blonde, wavy hair that falls way past her shoulders, prominent cheeks and sharp jawbone, she gives you the impression that there is a harshness about her. The natural pout of her lips softens her face a little,although as they’re painted red, they also scream cocky diva. Which grates on me big time but is also kinda hot.

The petrol-blue dress she’s wearing clings to her bombshell curves and brings out the blue of her eyes. It stops halfway down her creamy white thighs. Her eyes are more baby blue than Oriana’s cerulean, yet equally stunning. The matching unbuttoned single-breasted jacket and black patent heels, that must be at least four inches high, accentuate her confident posture and stunning legs. She’s hardly uttered a word, but if her stance and general aura are anything to go by, she is every inch woman, and one hundred percent trouble.

“What the fuck?” I bark out at her before turning my attention to Oriana. “She’s your sister?”

“Half-sister,” Oriana clarifies. “That I haven’t heard from in over three years,” she gripes out.

“Ah, yeah. Sorry sis,” Blondie turns her attention to her. “I’ve been kinda busy.”

“So busy that you couldn’t even come to our father’s funeral?” Oriana bites back, her eyes stormy with emotion.

“Well, I have my reasons.” Her pouty lips stretch out into a forced smile. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here.” Tenley brushes off Oriana and turns her attention to me. “Hi, I’m Tenley Quinn and you must be Ronan Hale, the president of this club.”

“It’s Smoke.” How the fuck does she know my real name, and why does her name ring a bell? Then it hits me.

“Fucking hell. You’re the news reporter that’s been blowing up the landline.” It had started with emails,then letters. More recently, she had been calling the clubhouse phone multiple times, leaving messages, trying all kinds of tricks to get to speak to me. So far, I’ve managed to avoid her constant stalker tendencies. However, I guess she has an unwavering determination to get what she wants.

From what I’ve can make out from the garbled messages passed on to me, apparently, the newspaper she works for wants to do an exposé on life within a 1% motorcycle club.

“How the fuck did you slip past our guy at the gatehouse?” I step forward to capture Tenley’s wrist and force her towards me. For a second, she loses her balance at my pull on her, but she soon regains it. “Have you got anything to do with this?” I hold up a photograph in front of her.

“Hey,” she violently shakes her arm free from my grasp and despite the fact she is annoying the fuck out of me, she’s Oriana’s family, and I don’t want to hurt her, so I release my hold.

“Just a second.” Her hand moves to the top of the black Coach bag that’s hooked over her arm. Mine slides to the gun that’s against my back, tucked into the waistband of my pants. Only when she brings out a pair of black-rimmed eyeglasses do I let out a sigh of relief and relax a little. The last thing I want is to have a dead reporter on my hands or have to justify my actions to Oriana for killing her sister, although, as yet, that’s still a possibility.

As soon as she has the spectacles on her face, she takes the photo from me and glances down at it. Her gazeflicks over to Oriana and Stone, and then back down to the image. “Cute kid,” is all she responds with.

The photograph, which had been inside an unmarked envelope, had been pushed under the door of Stone and Oriana’s cabin, which sits on YOMC secure land, not far from the clubhouse. The picture is of Stone, Oriana and Sasha, Stone’s niece, having breakfast and looking every bit the perfect family unit. It’s been taken through the window, which can only mean that someone has managed to bypass the security or we have a mole within our family.

At this moment, though, Tenley is suspect number one.

“I don’t know anything about this.” Her gaze flicks back to her sister, and concern flashes across her face. “Are you in danger, Oriana?”

“Not while she’s with me, she ain’t,” Stone speaks up for the first time. “You trying to tell us that you, the paparazzi, aren’t the one who’s been sticking your nose into our business? If that’s the case, how did you know that Oriana was here, that we were together and Smokes’ real name? Some of our brothers aren’t even privy to that information.”

“Look.” Tenley drops the photo onto the surface of the desk and holds her hands up in surrender. “I admit I’ve been watching the club, that I’ve done my research mainly on Ronan… I mean, Smoke here, and yes, much to my surprise, I found my sister was working for the VP as a nanny, but until that picture, I had no idea that you were hooking up.”

“And you really expect us to believe that?” I snicker.

“I believe her,” Oriana comes to her defence. “What?” she questions when we both look at her with raised brows. “Tenley is a lot of things, except one thing, she isn’t a liar. In fact, if anything, she’s brutally honest.”

“If that’s the case, don’t fuck with my patience. Tell me how the hell you got by our guy at the gate,” I push.

“Well, let me put it this way,” she taps her finger against her plump bottom lip before responding. “Your guy won’t be giving the sweetbutts much action for a few days. His balls will most definitely be blue, but for a different reason.”

“Tenley,” Oriana berates her sibling.

“What?” Tenley tries to look all innocent. However, I’m far from convinced once she explains further. “So, yeah. My knee might have made contact with his groin when he misread my friendly demeanour for something… well, more flirtatious and grabbed my ass.”

“Oh my god, Tenley,” Oriana snaps with a harshness that I’ve not seen from her before. Her Nostrils flare, her eyes hard and narrowing into slits as she looks back at Tenley with utter contempt. “You’ve not changed one bit, have you? Still pushing your luck, I see. Will you ever learn?”

“Well, the position of Daddy’s perfect little girl was already taken by you, wasn’t it, sis?”

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