TRAILING TRISHA - A Black Hounds Motorcycle Club Romance (The Fox and the Hounds Book #2) (10 page)

“It’s a lost art if you ask me,” Dante added. “There’s real value in owning a place, watching the fields grow, and sharing it with the world. Dangerous work? Riding motorcycles can be pretty dangerous too. It’s been a problem in the industry because a buying a motorcycle just isn’t on the radar of some people. They think it’s too dangerous and I can’t blame them. That last statement’s off the record!”

“But the Black Hounds have an outstanding safety record for their vehicles,” Sam interjected. “It’s well above the industry standard, especially for high-performance motorcycles. Your advertisement department has made that clear enough.”

“We make proper education a priority when selling and marketing our products,” Dante answered. “Between a lack of safety training and cheap lines of credits, too many motorcycles fall into the hands of people not ready for them. Some of them don’t know how to wear a helmet properly, assuming they even bother to wear one in the first place. We start young with Luke the Black Hound’s safety tips for children.”

Sam did a double take in mid-bite. “Wait, is that that cartoon dog my kid keeps raving about?”

“The one and only,” Dante chuckled. Appealing to younger had been one of Lucia’s most brilliant if outlandish ideas. Even if the children were too young to be riding motorcycles, they loved that damn cartoon dog named after Cool Hand Luke. The merchandise sales were also significant for the cartoon. “It’s written and storyboarded in American but animated in South Korea. We make a mint in merchandising stuff for younger children. You won’t see Harley Davidson trying to attract women or children.”

“Some purists are concerned with the company’s direction,” Sam replied, his eyes boring into him. “They say you’ve forgotten the roots of the club. Merchandise and quarterly earnings report rule in place of honor and tradition.”

Dante wondered if he was referring to any statements made by Uncle Cass. It would be better not to comment directly on it. “The Black Hounds are a family. And a strong family keeps on growing and keeps on taking care of its members. You don’t need to a Black Hounds motorcycle or a jacket to be a part of the family. We’re an idea that anyone and everybody can be a part of.”

He asked. “And what is that idea, exactly?”

“The same as always… we look after the community we’ve built,” he said, giving Trisha a soft glance. She blushed and drank down her wine. “Except we do it with the craftsmanship of our products and community outreach programs instead of violence and guns.”

Sam seemed satisfied with that answer. He continued to ask about the IPO and potential business partners. Dante had to be careful not to reveal too much. Several of these deals were not supposed to be public knowledge yet.

After a few rounds of drinking and sampling comfort foods, the conversation turned more casual. Sam asked about their relationship. By now, Trisha was experienced enough to enchant him with a retelling of how they met. Dante had to admit she knew how to work a client. The two of them were becoming an unstoppable duo.

When Sam wanted to probe deeper, Dante stopped him. “Like we agreed, no expose on Trisha. Not unless Automaniacs is interested in starting Tractor Thursdays.”

“You’re engaged to a very kind man, Ms. Kaplan,” Sam said, ending the recording program on his. He gestured to a waiter. “Shall we pay?”

Dante laughed and pulled out his wallet. “I got it.”

Trisha joined in on the laughter. “Trust me, he’s not as generous as he looks. For every meal he pays for, he scarfs down twice the food at my place.”

Sam secured his phone in his pocket. “It’s a good thing I can’t cook then.”

Dante glared at his date. “Hey, it’s good pasta!”

Then, he shook hands with Sam and waved him off. After the blogger departed, Dante whispered to his companion. “You did great, Trisha.”

“Not as good as you,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not cut out for this PR gig.”

He comforted her. “It’ll only be until the IPO.”

“Dante, were you serious about us going to Ironville?” she asked with a serious expression on her face. “This schedule’s pretty hectic as it is. But I’d like to visit your hometown.”

He nodded in agreement. “I’d like to but it depends on when all of this is over.”

He and Trisha departed afterwards to continue their busy schedule. Sam remained in contact with him over the next few days to go over some fine details for the final draft. Dante didn’t expect much to come of the interview.

Lucia, however, was upset about Uncle Cass showing up during the Automaniacs interview. There was a war brewing between Uncle Cass and Lucia. If he had to pick a side, he wouldn’t know what to do. The smart money was on Lucia. She was the brains of the company and had the most voting power after him.

Nonetheless, Dante felt sorry for Uncle Cass. He had given up years of his life so his father could be there for him. He couldn’t blame the man for being a part of a company he had laid the foundation for. The outside world had just changed so much during his time in the slammer.

At least, Lucia couldn’t get even more upset at him for the interview. He had followed her game plan to the letter. Trisha had given a stellar performance. It wouldn’t come back to haunt them.

He was wrong.

A week later, he arrived arm-in-arm with Trisha to showcase their newly opened office. “We’ve only opened up a couple of floors. The others need some more furnishing.”

His fake fiancée cooed at the fancy office. “You’ve talked about this for ages but kept it from me until now.”

“There was a mold problem that delayed its opening,” he replied. “Lucia gave the real estate agents hell for it. It knocked a few million off of our lease.”

Trisha pointed to a very angry woman approaching them from the distance with a tablet computer in hand. “Speaking of her…”

Lucia didn’t bother greeting them. Instead, she held up the tablet up against their faces. “What the hell is this?!”

Dante swallowed as he read the words on the screen. “’Black Hounds Buy Bride?’”

Trisha felt her world shatter to pieces as she read the news. “What’s going on?”

The three of them had gathered in Lucia’s office. Normally it would’ve felt as luxurious as it was spacious. Now, it felt like all the walls were crashing upon her.

Lucia let them look at the various news articles about them. Everything from TMZ to People Magazine was dissecting her relationship with Dante. “The media’s raising concerns about the true nature of your relationship. Some of them think it’s an act… which it is.”

Dante rubbed his head and joined in. “What the hell happened?”

His sister answered by playing a sound bit of the private conversation he had with Trisha.

A faint yet familiar voice said. “I’m not cut out for this PR gig.”

Trisha’s heart skipped a beat. That was her voice. Soon, more followed.

“It’ll only be until the IPO.”

“Dante, were you serious about us going to Ironville?”

Lucia continued. “Someone was eavesdropping on you during your little conversation after Sam Maynard left. It’s now all over the internet. How could you be so careless? Damn it, I told you two to always be in character!”

“We didn’t know we were dining in an Orwellian restaurant,” Dante defended. “It couldn’t have been Sam who leaked it. It would be career suicide for him to break our agreement. He doesn’t have anything to gain from it.”

“It’s no smoking gun, Lucia,” Trisha said, trying to deescalate the situation. There was no point in getting upset at each other until they found out what was going on. “The media is always looking for drama. That recording is very vague. They don’t have anything solid. We could say that it was a joke.”

“They don’t need anything solid to put a hole in us,” she replied, likely speaking from experience. “Now, they’ll-“

“Hold on a minute,” Dante said as his phone buzzed. “Just got a text… it’s from Sam.”

Trisha stood up and leaned over the phone. “What’s it say?”

“Sam said he’s sorry about what’s going on and he has no part in this,” he recited. “He’s just as confused as we are. Their article up be up soon and it has nothing to do with this nonsense.”

Lucia narrowed her eyes. “Uncle Cass was there wasn’t he?”

“Why? You think he did it?” Trisha said in shock. She hated to see a family tear itself apart. “He’d sink along with the rest of us. Wasn’t this fake girlfriend thing his idea in the first place?”

Dante agreed. “Let’s not go around pointing fingers. We need a game plan. We might as well call in Uncle Cass in while we’re at it. We’re all in this together.”

Lucia sighed. “You’re right. I’ll think up of a PR statement with our media team. No one talks to the media or even so much as likes a Facebook page until we work out a plan.”

Trisha bit her lower lip before speaking. “What should I do?”

“You don’t worry about a thing,” Dante said, touching her cheek with the back of his hand. She could sense he was just as confused as she was but hid the fact. “I’ll put out this fire. You can stay in my office until then. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Trisha wished she shared his confidence. “Okay…”

“Why don’t you read that Automaniacs article on us?” he asked, trying to defuse the tension. She knew when he was nervous but there was no point in calling him out. Dante would put on a brave face for her even if Armageddon was around the corner. “Make yourself in my office until we figure things out.”

Trisha nodded as she walked to Dante’s office. Due to its relative newness, the biker hadn’t gotten an opportunity to trash it. She would’ve stopped to take in the futuristic looking furnishings if her mind wasn’t going over their meeting with Sam.

He seemed like a kind enough man but looks could be deceiving. Then again, he seemed more interest in the motorcycle company than in her love life. More importantly, the audio quality was faint as if from a distant recording device.

The farm girl used her phone to go to the Automaniacs website. It would help kill time. Using a phone to do… well everything was a bit overwhelming for her. A few months ago, she was using a flip top phone that barely got any reception.

She couldn’t help but browse what the news was saying about her.

Liar.

Cheat.

Whore.

They said all kinds of terrible things about her and Dante. It was to be expected but what hurt the most was that there was a kernel of truth to it. Dante had always protected her from the darker side of the media and now she understood why.

Trisha decided to do something productive with her time. There was no point in reading about the scandal. She didn’t have to wait long for the Automanics article on them to come up.

To her surprise, the editor said the article was an extra-long piece solely on the Black Hounds. There were several sections on topics ranging from the motorcycle club’s origins to Dante himself. One of the sections was called ‘Star Crossed and Motocross Lovers.’ “Oh, crap!”