Jase (Kings of Korruption MC Book 3) (16 page)

“
Yeah,” I reply, raising my brow at him. He shrugs like he’s
bored and walks away.

“
Bryce can be a little… difficult, but he’s a good kid. He’s
not used to me going on a date.”

I lean in,
kissing her on the cheek. “It’s fine. He seems cool.” Remembering
the flowers in my hand, I hold them out to her, suddenly feeling a
little foolish. “These are for you.”

Her cheeks
turn a gorgeous shade of pink as she smiles, causing her eyes to
shine happily at me. My chest aches as she reaches for them. “Thank
you,” she whispers.

I reach out
and wrap my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her closer
and ghosting my lips over hers. “You’re welcome,” I whisper back
before I cover her mouth with mine.

She moans
softly, her knees bending as she leans into me, holding the flowers
out to the side. When I finally break our kiss and look down at
her, she blinks up. “You’re lethal.”

“
And you’re beautiful.” Her pink flush gets even
deeper.

I wait by the
door while she puts her flowers in water, goes over things one last
time with the babysitter, and then we’re off to the restaurant. I’d
looked into where to take her, but finally settled on The Angry
Pelican. It’s a popular little bar and grill right downtown, with a
nice patio that overlooks the water. It’s perfect for a first date,
and close to where I want to take her next.

“
This place is awesome,” Ellen says as she glances around. The
patio is busy, but not crowded, and the sun is still shining high
in the sky, warming us against the breeze coming off the river.
“Have you been here before?” she asks.

I shake my
head. “Never.”

“
How’d you find it?”

“
Actually, Charlie recommended it. Her and Ryk come here
sometimes. She said that you’d love it.”

“
You got dating advice from Charlie?”

I smirk and I
know that my cheeks are turning pink. “I did. I had no clue where
to take you. I’ve never been on a date before.”

She’s just
taking a sip of her drink and spits it all over the table. “What?”
she chokes, wiping the water off her chin with a linen napkin.
“That can’t be true.”

“
El, I won’t lie. I’ve been with a lot of women, but I didn’t
date a single one of them. I wanted one thing from them, and one
thing only.”

Ellen slaps
her hands over her ears. “Okay! I don’t want to hear the details.”
She lowers her hands, reaching out to place her hand on my arm.
“I’m honored to be your first date.”

The waitress
appears with our food and we dig in. The food is delicious. Charlie
was right about this place. We chat as we eat, Ellen talking a
little about her job, and telling me some funny stories about some
of the people she works with. I tell her a little about building
choppers, and how I want to start a business doing just that.

She seems
genuinely interested, and when I tell her about the chopper I just
sold, she looks at me with an expression I’ve never before seen
aimed at me… pride. Ellen’s proud of me, and impressed that I can
build a motorcycle from scratch.

After the
waitress takes our plates and leaves me with the bill, Ellen takes
my hand. “This has been an amazing date, Jase. Thank you for being
a pushy bastard and not taking no for an answer.”

I grin back at
her. “My pleasure, but the fun’s not over yet.”

Ellen

“Where are we
going?” I ask, looking around at all the beautiful old stone
buildings. This is a very historic part of the city, and not
somewhere you would normally see a biker out for an evening stroll
with his lady.

“
Almost there,” he says, squeezing my hand and smiling. I love
his smile. I’ve spent a little time around the Kings, and one thing
I’ve noticed is that these guys don’t do a whole lot of smiling.
Jase smiles all the time, and it’s blinding.

Up ahead is a
small gathering of people, standing on the sidewalk out in front of
one of the old buildings. “Are we protesting something,” I
tease.

He laughs.
“No. Charlie had some other advice, other than restaurants.”

“
Sounds like I need to start dating Charlie.”

“
I don’t share, but I’m always in favor of a little
girl-on-girl action if that’s what you’re thinking.”

I roll my
eyes. “So what did Charlie suggest?”

“
Well, she didn’t actually suggest it, but she did kinda give
me the idea.” We come up and stand behind the group and stop. “She
told me that you love the show Ghost Adventures. I figured that if
you like the show so much, it might be fun to try out the Haunted
Walk of Ottawa.”

My eyes widen.
“Really? I’ve always wanted to do this!” I jump up, wrapping my
arms around his neck and give him a tight squeeze. He hugs me back
just as tight.

“
Good to hear,” he says, setting me back on my feet. “Just
remember that when you need someone to hold onto whenever you get
scared.”

“
Pfft,” I scoff. “I don’t scare easily. Besides, I don’t
believe in ghosts.”

“
You don’t?”

“
Nope. I watch that show for an entirely different
reason.”

“
Oh yeah?” he drawls. “What’s that?”

“
Zak Bagans.”

“
Who the fuck is Zak Bagans?”

“
He’s the host of Ghost Adventures, and he’s one of the
hottest men alive.”

A woman in her
early twenties who’s standing behind Jase, leans around him and
smiles at me. “Damn right,” she says. “I’ve been in love with that
man since the very first episode.”

I return her
smile before I look back to Jase. His eyes move from me to my new
friend, and back again before he finally shakes his head. “Zak
sounds like a pussy,” he declares.

The other
woman and I both throw our heads back and laugh, exchanging
memories of our favorite episodes of Ghost Adventures. While we
talk, Jase quietly takes my hand and listens to the two of us, a
smile playing across his lips.

Once the tour
starts, we follow along behind everyone, listening to our tour
guide tell the different paranormal stories behind some of the
larger buildings in the area. Our guide is a young, college-aged
guy who can tell a hell of a ghost story, appearing to creep Jase
out.

When we reach
the final building, Jase is gripping my hand tightly. I’ve heard
horror stories about this place in particular. It’s creepy and
dark, and the air is significantly colder inside. Serving as a
maximum security prison for almost one hundred years, these stone
walls contain memories only found in nightmares.

The guide
outlines the story for us as we move down the thin, dark corridors.
Many areas don’t even have windows to allow outside light, and I
can’t imagine the terror of having to live within these walls when
it was an active prison.

He tells us
stories of death row inmates and prisoners in solitary confinement,
stripped naked and chained to the cold stones inside the cells.
Each story makes my heart race, and I can’t shake the feeling that
we’re being watched. Jase seems swept up in the stories too,
looking into the cells and commenting on things between the guides’
stories.

At one point,
the guide opens a large iron door that leads into total blackness,
telling us to follow him. He holds his small lantern up in front,
and people join a chain as we stumble through the dark narrow
hallway, gripping tightly to the back of the person in front of us.
Jase is behind me, his hands tight on my shoulders.

“
You really like this shit?” he whispers.

“
I love it. Best date ever.”

“
Fuck,” he mutters as he shuffles along behind me.

I giggle
softly and listen as we approach the gallows of the prison. The
guide indicates the large, closed, iron trap doors, and above them
hang three nooses. He explains that these very same steps that we
stand on are the final steps that over three hundred people had
used on their way to be executed.

In the middle
of his speech, a large bang rings through the gallows, and several
of us scream. The middle noose in the row of three is slowly
swinging above a now open trap door.

“
That’s it,” Jase declares. “I’m outta here.” He grabs my hand
and starts towards the tour guide, dragging me along behind him. I
follow willingly, trying not to laugh. “Is this tour almost over?”
he asks.

“
Yes, sir. This is the final stop. We will be heading to the
courtyard now.”

“
Good,” Jase mumbles and I lose it. Laughter bubbles up and I
try my best to keep it quiet. “Laugh it up, lady,” he says. “That
shit is just not natural, and you’re one very sick woman if this is
the type of stuff you’re into.”

I laugh all
the way outside, and all the way to his bike. Every time I think of
his face when he declared that he was done, I laugh even more, and
this goes on, all the way back to my house.

Just outside
my door, I’m still grinning when Jase laughs. “You’re an evil
woman, you know that?” Before I can answer, his mouth is on mine,
and suddenly I can’t even remember what we were talking about.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Jase

I
turn the
wrench one last time and step back to admire my handiwork. This
chopper is even more amazing than the last one, and I couldn’t be
prouder. I just wish that Gunner could have seen the finished
product. He’d have liked this one.

With one final
glance, I move to the sink and start washing up, getting as much
grease as possible out of the calluses on my hands. I need to look
good tonight, and that means I can’t be looking like a goddamn
grease monkey.

I haven’t laid
eyes on Ellen since our date last Saturday night. We’ve both been
busy with work, and she’s had her son to take care of. We’ve talked
on the phone though, every night before she goes to bed. Hearing
her sleep laced voice right before I head to bed myself, helps me
sleep soundly, but I can only imagine what it would be like to hear
that voice next to me every night.

This weekend,
I’m hoping to get that chance. Bryce is going to his father’s for
the first time, for the whole weekend. I know that Ellen is
worried, and that she’ll be freaking out, but I have nothing but
time to help take her mind off that.

“
Holy fuck, Jase.”

Ryker’s voice
startles the shit out of me, and I curse myself for going on that
damn haunted walk the other night. I’ve been a jumpy mess ever
since, and if I don’t calm down soon, I’ll have to start shopping
in the ladies’ department.

I turn and
watch as Ryker rounds the chopper, his hand gliding along the
chrome reverently. “This is incredible, man. Each one gets better
and better.”

“
Thanks,’ I reply, wondering what the hell he’s still doing
here. Usually on Fridays, he heads home shortly after
lunch.

“
I wanted to talk to you about something.” He looks around at
the littered garage floor, taking in the piles of tools organized
in milk crates, and the shelves I’d built with scrap wood. My work
space is small and cramped, but I do what I can with what I
have.

“
Now that we’ve given over our weed business, we’re gonna have
to find some new, cleaner ways to make some serious profit for this
club. We do all right with our strip clubs and night clubs, and of
course our garage, but I want more.” He waves his hand around the
room. “This isn’t good enough for you, man. You need
more.”

I shrug.
“It’ll do for now.”

“
But you can’t do shit here. Listen, there’s a garage for sale
just outside the city, about a twenty-minute drive from here. It’s
been empty for a couple years now, and they’re desperate to sell. I
put in an offer, and today they accepted it.”

I frown. “An
offer… for the garage? Why?”

“
It’s all yours, buddy. Build it up and make it successful.
Hire some mechanics and body guys. Sell custom choppers for
thousands of dollars. I know Gunner was skeptical, but I have
plenty of faith in you.”

I stare at
him, my eyes wide. “This is crazy! Are you sure? Do you think we
can make this work?”

“
I think you can,” he replies. He turns and walks towards the
door. “Anyways, I’ll take you by it on Monday, but for now, I’m
outta here. Charlie’s got the weekend off, told me she has some
good news.”

I can’t
believe he’s being so casual about this. The man just told me he’s
gonna make my dream come true, like some kind of messy-haired,
tattooed Santa Claus, and now he’s off to screw his woman like it’s
no big deal.