Page 1 of Her Dirty Biker
Chapter one
Willow
The first thing you learn working night shift at Widow’s Peak Casino is to shut the hell up and listen.
Doesn’t matter if the floor is sticky with spilled whiskey or if some guy with a comb-over and bad breath calls you “sweetheart” like it’s your name. Doesn’t matter if your heels ache or your smile feels like it's been stapled on. Doesn’t matter if you want to crawl out of your skin from the noise, the smoke, the constant feeling of being watched.
You listen.
You smile, nod, serve, and listen. But be careful what you hear, it might save your life or destroy it.
The poker room is thick with tension tonight. You can feel it even before you open the swinging double doors and step onto the floor. It hits you like humidity, like something in the air is coiled too tight, ready to snap.
The overhead lights are dimmed low, casting a golden haze over the felt tables and glittering chips. The room smells likesweat and bourbon, with a hint of expensive cologne and desperation. Laughter barks from the corner, low and mean, followed by the sharp clatter of chips and ice in glasses. I count five poker tables in play, all packed with high rollers, locals with too much money, and bikers in leather cuts that look like they could kill a man with one hand.
Probably because they could.
I smooth my hands down the sides of my tight black uniform dress and head toward the bar with my tray. I smile, but I don’t mean it.
Behind the bar, Felix gives me a nod and lines up drinks without a word. He’s been here forever, knows the drill. Knows not to ask questions. I load up my tray and head back out.
That’s when I see him.
Diesel.
I don’t know his real name. I’m not even sure I want to. There’s something about him that makes my skin tingle and my stomach flip, like I’ve just stepped off the edge of something dangerous.
He’s leaning against the far wall near the back poker table, arms crossed, black cut stretched over broad shoulders. His eyes are hidden behind dark lashes, fixed on the game, or maybe the men around it, but I feel them sweep over me the second I walk by like a pulse under my skin.
Tall. Built. Silent. He looks like trouble wrapped in leather and muscle, with that dark, scruffy jaw and lips that never smile. Not really.
I pretend not to notice him. Which means I think about him for the next twenty minutes straight.
The poker tables are chaos in slow motion. Voices rise, chips clack, cards snap on felt. I wind through the players, refilling tumblers and brushing off hands that linger too long. It’s all part of the job—smile, flirt, disappear.
I’m halfway past the corner table when I hear it.
“…Savage Kings are blind to it. The shipment hits the clubhouse on Monday. All we have to do is make our move.”
My spine stiffens. I keep walking.
It was a whisper—low, tight, meant to stay private. But I’m good at this. I’ve learned how to pick out the essential words.
Shipment. Clubhouse. Savage Kings.
I slide a glance back, careful, casual. The speaker is a man with greasy blond hair and a goatee that appears to have been drawn on with a Sharpie. His patch says he’s part of the Sons of Decimation.
I know that name. Everyone in Jackson Ridge does, even if they don’t say it out loud.
He’s leaned in close to another guy, this one in a tailored navy suit that doesn’t belong in this room. The suit is too clean, too stiff. He wears danger like an overly sprayed cologne. His gaze flicks to me mid-sentence.
I lower my eyes. Keep walking. Pretend I didn’t hear a thing.
Back behind the bar, I dump my tray and grip the edge of the counter. My heart hammers in my chest, and I feel sweat bead beneath my dress. I don’t know much about biker politics. I don’t even really know who the Savage Kings are beyond whispers, but I know enough to understand that I heard something I shouldn’t have.
Something that could get me hurt. Something that could get someone killed.
I force myself to keep moving, to keep working, but my hands shake every time I reach for a glass. I don’t want to tell anyone. Who would I even tell? I’m new to the casino and to town.
