Tempting Trouble (Highway Reapers Motorcycle Club Book 1) (5 page)

She didn’t understand where this was going, but if it was something he felt he needed to tell her, she would listen.

“When I introduced myself to you earlier, I didn’t know we’d end up here.”

“So you were giving me a phony name just in case I tried to chase you later?” Ella tried to lighten the mood like he did, but it didn’t work as well as when he did it. He continued to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes like the other smiles he’d granted her.

“Something like that. How about we start again?” He pulled away from her a little to offer his hand. “Ella, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Tyson.”

Her stomach dropped, and she felt a little nauseated. What were the chances she would meet a man named Tyson when she went to one of the four places that the man regularly hung out. Bruce had told her that the man was rarely at the first bar she went to, and she’d been glad. She just wanted a quick drink until she’d seen this yummy specimen sitting at the bar. Drawn to him, she wanted to see if his inside was as inviting as the outside. Unbelievably it was, and she had made an offer she never had before. She’d felt bold and sexy when he accepted and seemed to think her luck was turning for the better.

“Tyson is not the most unusual name, but you don’t hear it very often,” she said wondering how she was going to find out if the man that she slept with was the man she was looking for.

“I guess not. Besides me and Mike Tyson, there aren’t that many of us around.”

“Oh, so Tyson is your last name?” Ella asked and prayed that it was, because then she wouldn’t have to think about what she’d been paid to do. If it was for another man, she promised she would do it and feel no remorse.

“Nah, I was just saying that was the only other Tyson I knew of. My last name is Adler.” He hopped up off the bed and walked out the room. “Come on let’s get you fed.”

She watched his retreating back and a phrase her mother used to say popped into her head. Speak of the devil… and the devil appears. That phrase scared her then as much as it did now, maybe even more so.

CHAPTER FOUR

Tyson couldn’t believe the beautiful and lusty Ella had just fallen into his lap, but it encouraged him to find out more about her and to put his plan together so he could get the money for the Reapers. He watched her look around his kitchen for plates and cups to eat the pizza that had just arrived, and he was fascinated by the way she moved. She was very efficient with her movements as if she didn’t want to waste time or energy, and she didn’t ask many questions. Actually, since they’d left the bedroom, she hadn’t said much at all.

“Do you need any help?” he asked as he opened up the pizza boxes and let the pies cool down.

“No, you have everything organized pretty well, so things are easy to find.” She would barely look at him, and what she was doing didn’t require as much focus and effort as she was putting into it. He intended to stop her frantic motions when she placed the plates on the table.

“Ella?” He was trying not to startle her, but his voice came out a bit more loud and gruff than he’d wanted it to, and he looked at her to see what she would do.

She stopped for a second and just looked down at him. He couldn’t tell what was going on with her. Maybe it was buyer’s remorse, but whatever it was, he wished she’d either tell him about it or let it go. She was making him anxious just watching her anxiety.

“Yeah?” She sounded like she had been running a race which was almost impossible in the little kitchen he had.

“What’s going on? You are acting funny.”

She seemed like a woman who liked her information straight forward, and he liked it the same way. That was how she came across at least.

“I don’t know. Just nervous but I’m going to calm down now and just enjoy the time we are spending together.”

“What I said about round two doesn’t have to be. If you’d rather we just eat and go to sleep or I can take you home. I don’t want you to feel like you owe me something. If this isn’t mutual on both of our parts then we can end it here.” He was a man who loved women, and he respected their decisions even if it meant he wasn’t going to be able to dip his cock into the sweetest, juiciest pussy he’d had in a good long while. It would hurt, but knowing she wasn’t into it would disturb him more.

She smiled at him and made him think that he wouldn’t have to worry about it. For some reason, it appeared that a large weight had been lifted from her shoulders. He didn’t know what she’d been worried about or what made her stop worrying, but for now he’d just take the smile for what it was: a pussy pass for the evening.

She put a few pieces of pizza on her plate, and he poured the lemon lime soda into both of their glasses. They enjoyed a few bites before she started asking questions.

“So what do you do when you are flirting with women at your local bar?”

He watched her dig into her pizza and was shocked at how fast she could put it away. When she suggested he buy three extra-large pizzas, he wondered what he was going to do with all of the left overs, but watching her enjoy her meal, he had begun to doubt that he’d bought enough. Tyson really didn’t know how to answer her question, but for some reason wanted to share his story with her.

“Actually I’m trying to win some money. It’s a long story, and I probably shouldn’t be sharing it with someone I’m trying to impress, but I’m hoping that the luck you’ve brought with you will extend to the luck I need at this particular point in my life.”

She didn’t reply, but her eyes looked interested, and she nodded in appropriate spots.

“I owe some people a lot of money, and I haven’t been the smartest in how I went about borrowing it or returning it. I’m hoping they won’t start looking for me until Tuesday night.”

“That’s three days from now,” she piped in but continued to eat and watch him talk like he was an action packed film.

“Right. There is something going down that I hope will be able to get the money that I owe and clear me from my present situation.”

“How much do you owe?” She was full of questions, and he had to give it to her. She didn’t scare easily… maybe because she had just gotten out of prison. It probably would take a lot to scare him too if he’d seen the inside of a cell for any length of time.

He cleared his throat because it was hard for him to even come to terms with the number himself. Placing his pizza on the plate, he prepared to watch her run out the door. “I owe about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

Her eyes widened, and she froze right where she sat which was remarkable because she hadn’t stopped eating since her butt touched the seat. He waited to see what she would do with the information as the seconds seemed to turn to hours. When she broke eye contact and started fidgeting in her seat, he knew she was going to at least say something.

“That’s a lot of money. What in the world did you need that for?” And just like that she went back to inhaling the pizza like there wasn’t a prolonged moment of silence that almost choked him.

“Well it started off with a few thousand dollars that I knew I could pay back. I was lucky and winning at whatever I put my money on, but slowly I started losing. Not all at once, because sometimes I would win, but more times I’d lose. I had this big plan to get out of the hustle and have a motorcycle repair shop, because it was something that I could do and make money legally. I was tired of roughing people up for not having the good sense to make a deal with loan sharks. Unfortunately I fell into the same trap.” Confession must be good for the soul because, it seemed like the more he shared with her the more the big ball of stress that had been in his stomach since he realized how much money he owed and how much he didn’t have was slowly unfurling.

“What do you do for a living, Sonny? I mean Tyson. It’s going to be hard to remember to call you Tyson since my mind wants to say the name you told me first.” She was honest with him, and that was what he enjoyed the most about her… well it was a tie for the thing he enjoyed the most.

“That’s the funny part. I worked with a motorcycle club, The Highway Reapers. I did odd jobs for them mostly collecting money from people who didn’t want to repay their loans.” It looked like she lost all the color in her face, and he wondered if she was afraid of motorcycle clubs. Most of them had a bad reputation, but they weren’t that bad while you were in them at least.

“You worked with the group of men you borrowed money from?”

“I did for a while, but when I got good at gambling I was very lucky, and thought I’d have a job working the poker table and the horses full time.”

“People really gamble full time?” She reached in for the last piece of the second pizza and started in on it immediately.

“I thought I could. The money was coming in buckets and, I think I got a bit full of myself. When the streak was over, instead of stopping, I kept betting higher thinking I could get my money back the next time.”

“The next time what?” She was good at asking questions that didn’t sound like she was condemning you; she was just trying to figure out why you’d do such a thing.

“The next time I played poker or bet a horse. It’s something that’s hard to explain, but you feel like the next time you do something, it’s going to be the time that saves you.”

“It took you being two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the hole to realize that you should probably slow down a little?” She looked like she was amazed by the number, but then again so was he.

“I didn’t actually borrow that much, but when you get money from loan sharks you’d be surprised at how fast it all accumulates. There are fees for being late and fees for requesting more money. I’ve probably gotten one hundred and seventy five thousand from them, and while that is no small amount of change, every day the price gets bigger.”

“That seems unfair. Can they do that?”

“Honey, it’s an illegal way you’re getting money from people who got the money that they are loaning you in illegal ways. This is not protected by the FDIC. When you deal with men like them, you take your chances, because they aren’t sending you letters with return envelopes when you don’t get their money to them on time; they are coming to get you for a private conversation.”

“What do these conversations entail?” She was halfway through the last pizza when she seemed to be running out of steam. He’d kept her glass full of beverage as a way to keep his hands busy because god knew he’d lost his appetite when this whole conversation started.

He didn’t want to scare her, but he’d started this in honesty, and for whatever reason he wanted to complete it the same way. There was something about her that made him want to be up front with her. She should be a therapist, because he felt comfortable telling her things that he really didn’t need to tell anyone, but here he was watching her big green eyes widen and narrow based on the portion of the tale he’d reached. It was awesome watching her think, and she asked questions so he knew she was listening intently.

“They don’t really talk with their mouths, because you both know what is being done here. You have reneged on a deal of some sort, and if you don’t have the money to pay up they are going to beat you up.”

“How does that get them their money back?”

“It doesn’t, but it makes the person more motivated to find ways to pay back the loan.”

“Has anyone ever been killed if they don’t bring back the money?” she asked, and he could tell she wanted to hear the fairy tale that no they just beat you up again and again until you finally gave them what they wanted, but it wasn’t the truth.

“Yes if it goes on long enough or if they just want to make a point, they will end your life.” He told her and watched the panic set in her eyes. For whatever reason, she was really invested in this, and he hoped it was because she felt sorry for him and wanted him to be around.

“What stage are you in for this beat down, and are they looking for you?” She looked so concerned that he thought of changing the subject and moving on, but it was a big topic to just drop and say “Would you like something else to eat.” He’d have to finish what he started.

“I’m sure they’re looking for me. I would be such a good person to make a lesson out of because I used to be a member of the club. They know I don’t have any family, and I’ve managed to allude them for quite a while so knowing what I know about them, I’m on the hit list.”

She picked up a pizza crust and nibbled on it, and he could tell that it wasn’t because she was hungry. He’d seen her eat when she was hungry, and it wasn’t nibbling. This was either comfort eating or just something to do while you listened to how deep someone else’s shit got.

“Why are you walking around when they could get to you at any time?” She seemed concerned, but also like she was wondering how he continued to live his life with a big bounty on his head.

“They could but I know their routines… hell I created most of them. I know how they’ll try to find me and when the most likely times are. It’s not a perfect plan, but if I can get it to work the way I think it will I should be able to get their money for them in the next day or so. Then when they find me, I’ll give them their money, and all will be settled.”

“How do you know they won’t increase the price or just kill you anyway?” The concern in her eyes felt good for some reason. Maybe because there hadn’t been anyone who had worried over him for many years.

“I don’t. That’s the nature of the game. Sometimes you don’t know all the facts or have all the rules but you play the game and hope for the best.” He could tell she thought this was bull shit, but it was what he knew to be true. The worry he’d seen in her eyes had grown to anxiety and looked like it was going to bubble over into panic. He knew that a trouble shared was a trouble halved, but he didn’t want to share the stressed out feelings he’d been dealing with. He probably should have kept his mouth shut, but up until now, she looked interested. Maybe a change of topic and mood was in order, because whether these were his last few days on earth or not she’d brightened them and he wanted her to have a few good memories too.

He offered her his hand. “Let’s move this party to the couch.”