Riding Danger (2 page)

CHAPTER THREE

Blaine knew exactly who that man looking over at him was. He might not have known him personally, but he knew quite a few men just like him. He approached at his own pace, keeping his gaze steady. He didn’t believe in looking away when the other person looking back at him was one who would sooner shank him than say hello.

Blaine already knew, before he even sat down, exactly what he was getting into. He was okay with that. He hadn’t come in here looking for a job, but that was what he was landing.

He could live with that.

Or so he told himself. But a tiny voice in the back of his head asked,
Are you sure you can live with this?

He dismissed that voice. His other options were ridiculously slim.

Greg Pasquale was a tall and stocky man with a hard face pocked with small acne scars and a graven line between his eyebrows. He looked Blaine up and down and said, “Sit.”

That rankled. Blaine was not a dog, and he didn’t like being talked to like one either. He knew men like this one. If he just sat, he would be labeled as soft. If he didn’t, he would be labeled as difficult. There was only one answer. “I’d rather stand. I was sitting all day.”

“On the prison bus?”

“Yes.” No need to lie.

“Is that where you learned to fight like that?”

“No, fighting like that is what got me sent to prison.”

“I see, do you want a beer?”

He shrugged. “If I do, I can buy it.”

“You’re a careful bastard aren’t you?”

“I try to be, it helps keep me alive most days.”

Greg laughed. “That is does, that it does. I’m Greg, this is my place. What do you think of it?”

“It has nice scenery.”

Greg laughed again, “Yes, it does. Very good scenery. I make sure of that. Was Marie good to you?”

“Marie?”

“The bartender?”

“Yes, why?”

“Just checking. You have to keep up with your customer service teams you know.”

“I can see that.”

“Tell me about yourself. What was your name again?”

“Blaine.” He didn’t give his last name. It wouldn’t matter anyway, not to a man like Greg. He could tell just by looking at Greg that he had done a hard run and that he could hold his own in a fight.

“Blaine, I could use a man like you around. Do you want to know why?”

“I’m sure I already do.”

“I’m sure you do, too.”

“Where are you staying?” Greg asked.

“I just got into town.”

“I gathered that. I take it you weren’t planning on sticking around.”

“I didn’t really have any plans.”

“I’m only going to ask you once. What did you do to land in prison?”

“I killed a man.”

Blaine knew that it would not be a deterrent for getting a job with Greg. If anything, it would make him even more eager to have him on his team. Greg drank a last shot, stood, and said, “Let’s go get something to eat.”

The heavy guy that had come to fetch him made a move to go with them, but Greg held up a hand to keep him in place. It took Blaine all of about ten seconds to figure out what that guy’s job was. It was clear in the way he kept watching Greg, like a dog trying to figure out his owner’s next move.

CHAPTER FOUR

It wasn’t often that Felicity Pasquale stopped by any of her father’s businesses, and she never stepped foot in the bar. Greg Pasquale was, as he put it, raising his daughter to be a lady, and he didn’t hire ladies—but that day she saw her father, as he headed toward a little diner with a gorgeous man in tow.

Hey, it’s the guy from the desert! Oh crap, did I blow right past one of Daddy’s employees? Had his bike or car broken down or something? Worse, what if he had seen me?

Felicity was twenty-one, but she was sheltered beyond belief, and she knew it. She had gone to an all-girls school, attended college online, and now she worked for her father, if what she did could be called work. Basically, her entire job was to make sure the maid kept the house up, the gardener kept the lawn up, and the old man that kept up their pool kept the thing from turning green. Plus, she helped check over the lists of rental property every month, so her father would know who had paid their rent and who had not.

Felicity knew it was make-work, but she had no idea how to do anything else. It wasn’t that she wasn’t smart enough or ambitious enough. Trying to get away from her father’s overprotective grasp was like trying to hold water in a sieve.

There were plenty of days when she took off and headed to the city on the other side of the desert. She didn’t tell anyone, and she always took the turnoff that would take her in a loop around the bar where her father spent most of his time during the day. So far, she had not been caught.

She never did anything there, not really. She would explore the stores that they didn’t have in her own town, and she would eat at a restaurant she had never tried before. Today she tried Indian food. She had had to brush her teeth and shower well after she had gotten home to cover the spicy odor.

She had come back out to pick up some of the gelato her father was so fond of, and normally she would have left him alone while he was doing whatever it was he did but…but that guy was so damn cute. And if he had seen her, she had to make sure he knew not to tell.

She sat in her car, debating.
Maybe I shouldn’t bother, maybe popping up will just make the whole situation worse.

Felicity opened her car door, got out, and walked across the baking asphalt to the diner. As soon as she opened the door, the smell of fried meat and onions hit her dead in the face and she grimaced.
How can anyone eat all that heavy greasy stuff when it is sweltering outside?

Blaine saw the look on Greg’s face. He was pissed, so he followed the direction of his gaze to see the beautiful blonde who he had spotted in the desert walking toward them. He thought,
Why is he pissed at her? Does she work at the bar or something? Is she one of his girls? She doesn’t look like she would be. There is something fresh and innocent about her, something fragile and soft. Too soft, she would get eaten alive in that bar.

“Felicity, what are you doing here?”

“Hi Daddy, I saw you coming in here. I thought I’d stop in and ask if you wanted anything besides gelato from the grocery.”

Daddy? This is his daughter?
Greg gave her a smile, and she smiled back, but as soon as his lips formed that upward curve, he said, “No. Go on, go home. I have business to discuss, and I won’t be home until after dinner; so, Marie should only make enough of whatever it is she’s cooking for you.”

Felicity was used to her father’s terse commands. She gave the man sitting with him one last look. His clothes were old—almost falling apart. His face was slightly gray beneath the new tan—a tan acquired from walking in the desert—and his eyes had a wary, watchful look.

She thought,
I know exactly what he is. He’s a former convict looking for a job. Daddy is always hiring ex-cons. I’m interrupting his job interview. He is so hot though! And not just that— he has the look of a guy who will not take any shit but will not start it either. That’s a good thing and so rare.
Her belly filled with butterflies.

“It was nice to meet you.” She was hoping to catch his name, but all he did was nod his head and turn his eyes back to the menu. Disappointed and relived all at once, she left the diner, stepping back out onto the scalding streets.

The bar lay across the street, and she gave it a disapproving look. She knew it helped provide her with the lifestyle she had grown up with, but she couldn’t help but think that the place looked ugly. It had a rundown air to it.
Why does Daddy love that place so very much anyway?

In the diner, Greg said, “Stay away from my daughter. Do you understand?”

He did. “I don’t really like daughter-types.”

“That’s good, real good.”

Blaine knew that Greg was annoyed because he wanted to talk shop and Felicity had interrupted that.
So, he doesn’t let his daughter know any of his business. How much longer can he keep that up? She’s an adult, sooner or later something is bound to happen to let her in on it.

He knew he should pay attention, but he couldn’t seem to be able to do it. All he kept thinking of was china-blue eyes and a pretty, rosy, little mouth that seemed to beg for a kiss.

CHAPTER FIVE

Blaine had to stop in at Greg’s house because he was under orders to do so. He had been working for him for two weeks now and things had rapidly progressed for him. His jobs entailed everything from roughing some middle management level dealers that owed a little too much on their bills to collecting money from the various establishments that Greg
protected
.

As the weeks went by Blaine was both shocked and sickened by the amount of pies that man had his fingers in. There was a judge that was in his pocket, plenty of cops whose wives had nice cars thanks to Greg’s generosity, and a few doctors who sewed up the guys and took care of more than one of Greg’s girls.

Not all of Greg’s girls worked in the clubs he owned, either. Many of them plied their trade out on the street, and Blaine already knew just how little Greg cared for those women. He had picked up two from jail the day before. They had been strung out, emaciated, and exhausted under the garish makeup.

It had not shocked him when they crowed about how good Greg was to them, saying they hadn’t been in jail more than a few hours. It was sad to him. They focused on nothing more than that they were out, their ride had a gram for each of them in his pocket, alongside fresh packs of condoms, and they got fed at a drooping little burger joint before heading back to the corner they worked.

Blaine was already sick of Greg Pasquale. He knew this was not going to be a job he kept. As soon as he had enough cash, he was breaking out of here—getting away and starting over somewhere clean, somewhere that he could be a different person. He wanted to be someplace where people did not look at him and automatically assume he was a con willing to break a few heads for enough coin to buy whatever he needed.

Greg’s house was over four thousand square feet and located in the middle of the best neighborhood in the city. He wasn’t surprised to see Bennie out there, riding a giant and very expensive lawnmower across the grass.

What did surprise him was Felicity opening the door. She wore a long, white dress that had a Fifties vibe to it. It had a sweetheart neckline and a flared out skirt and was something he would have expected to see on that TV show Mad Men or something like it.

“Well, hello. You’re the new guy right?”

She was even more beautiful close-up. She had a brilliant smile, full of white teeth, and a sweet, open expression on her face. She was leaning against the door frame in an unintentionally sexy pose that was making his heart do backflips in his chest. If that had been the only muscle reacting to her, then everything might’ve been okay; but, it wasn’t.

The only thing he could do was ignore her attempt at conversation. He simply said, “I’m here to see your father.”

“I know that. Why else would you be here?” Her eyes raked up and down his body, taking in the smooth, lean muscle of his arms which were showing plainly under the new, clean t-shirt that he wore. “You don’t have any.”

The sentence confused him. “I don’t have any what?”

“Tattoos. The other guys are covered in them. Were you in prison? Most of the guys who Daddy hires get their tattoos in prison. Or, as soon as they start making money they go over to see Falcon. Everyone has tattoos, even my dad.”

He had to ask, he could not help it. “Do you?”

“If I do, they aren’t where you can see them.”

Is she flirting with me?
Before he could say or do anything else, Bennie clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder and said with forced cheerfulness, “Don’t keep the man out here talking, Felicity. You know how much your dad hates it when people are late.”

Felicity stepped backwards, opening the door wider so that the two men could pass by her. Before they got halfway down the hall, Bennie whispered in a low voice, “Whatever you do, do it with somebody else. The boss will have your head on a platter and your nuts in a jar if he catches you fucking with his daughter.”

“Hey man, all I did was knock on the fucking door.”

Bennie’s hands fell away from his shoulder, and all of his false good cheer fell away with it. “You’re a hard case, hmm? Don’t think I haven’t been watching you. I can see what you’re trying to do already man. I got you pegged.”

Great, that was just what he needed. If Bennie had been in prison, he would have been the block bitch. Of course he thought that Blaine was trying to get ahead by being a suck up. The man had probably never made his bones.

“Go peg somebody else.”

The two men stood there, glaring at each other. Blaine was not about to back down. He knew if he did, he would get zero respect from this man. Seconds passed by. Blaine counted off the time with the ticks of his heartbeat. The tension mounted, but finally Bennie said, “I’m just trying to help you out, man. There’s been a few guys who tried to get around that girl that got gone. Are we clear?”

“Crystal.” He was being incredibly clear. Fuck around with Felicity, find yourself floating face up in the nearest river or face down in the nearby sand bed. No woman was worth that.