Page 64 of The Heiress

I felt him laughing more than I heard it. My ears were still adjusting to the quiet. “How would you like me to describe your first ride?” He removed his helmet and climbed off the bike, helping me with the same process.

“Just like that. I’ve had my first ride. I have now experienced riding on a motorcycle.”

Jace couldn’t stop chuckling. “You’re going to fit in so well…”

“Don’t be funny. I’m nervous, remember?” Now that my body was done vibrating and freaking out, it had resumed vibrating and freaking out for other reasons.

“Nothing to be nervous about. Todd and the chubbies won’t be here for hours. It’s just the brothers getting drunk and having fun.”

“Chubbies?”

Home Run sauntered over from his bike. “Don’t call them that to their faces. But...behind their backs we refer to them as chubbies because they’ve gotten rather round,” he mimicked a large belly with his hands, “and the older guys are always a little over excited for anything remotely violent or illegal.”

So chubby...like when a guy gets a little hard at the sight or sound of anything even remotely arousing. “Got it.”

Home Run kept grinning as he stretched and looked around. Storm and Riddick also joined us. The house was two stories, but the first story was open concrete on one side and a small room on the other. On the concrete side were tables and chairs for eating and a buffet of food along the wall. Houses out here were built this way so that during the rainy season when everything flooded it wouldn’t impact the house above. We were between the pine forests and the cypress sloughs, so after days of rain it would run like a river over the land, but quickly drain. It meant I needed to keep my eyes open while we were outside because the area was also wilderness. There could be anything from small gators to deadly snakes hanging out in the grasses.

I wasn’t surprised to see an older Jeep parked beside the house next to the first floor room. It was probably what the owner drove when the land flooded. Off in the distance the bonfire was getting started with lots of hoots and hollering from guys entirely too excited to be playing with fire.

“I better get over there before Hawk lights up his jeans again,” Riddick grumbled, jogging off.

Judging by the number of bikes, there had to be fifty people there already, but it was hard to tell from this distance. Jace took my hand. “Let’s get a drink.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk, Mr. Malone?” I curled my fingers around his.

“Naw. I was hoping you’d get me drunk.” He winked.

“Oh well then, let’s get two!” The makeshift bar had a lot of everything. Beer, wine, and every kind of liquor I could imagine. “Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen Goldschläger in years…”

“Yeah, a couple of the guys have a soft spot for it.” He reached behind the bar and pulled out a nicer bottle of bourbon. “I’m going to sip on some Jeffersons.”

I selected a cold can of the same beer I had at the clubhouse. We found seats near the fire and didn’t mingle. The guys came to us. It felt like being royalty with the peasants begging for a moment of Jace’s time. There were as many women as there were men. Some were dressed in jeans like me, others were much more scantily clad. A boxing ring was set up and the crowd began to gather over there while a few more walked down to a shooting range for a drinking game that involved target practice. It seemed like a terrible idea to me, but what did I know?

I snuggled into Jace, enjoying the fire. It was nice to be outside and away from the feeling of being trapped and under guard.

“How are you doing?” Jace asked.

“I honestly don’t know how to answer that anymore. I’m...here. I’m not upset but I’m not comfortable.” Stars began poking through the evening clouds and twinkling above.

“I got a message from Dombrowski.”

I sat up. “And?”

“Definitely the Feyereisen crew that hit the house.”

I shivered even though I wasn’t cold.

“They have a legitimate company called Dragon Security, but it’s almost entirely a front. The shit the crew pulls is illegal as fuck. Also cocky as fuck, because they rolled up on Dombrowski’s operation thinking they’d be successful. Morons.”

I wondered how much Jace contributed to that success. Or not.

Jace rubbed my arms. “They think they’ll have the mole traced down in another day. Two at the most. Apparently they have two suspects and it's a matter of getting them caught out at this point.”

“Any word on what they wanted?”

His frown said more than his words. “It was an elimination job. They didn’t come with restraints or any other way to remove you from the property. But they did come with heavy firepower. The security at the house was just better than them.”

I didn’t quite believe that, but until I could say otherwise there was no point in voicing my doubt. “I don’t want to live like this.”

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