Unchained: A Biker Erotic Romance (4 page)

It was hard to get the tight leathers on over wet skin, but very shortly the blond hair of the wig was again streaming behind Raina as Neil roared down the highway. A patrol car was pulling into the parking lot as she ran up the back steps of the diner and into the restroom.

A few moments later, she could hear her father’s voice. “Princess, are you in here?”

Stuffing the leathers and wig behind the trash container to hide them, she called back, “Daddy, is that you?”

The door to the restroom opened a crack and she could hear her father’s voice. “Princess, are you in there?”

“Yes,” she called back, trying to make it sound like she was almost crying. “I’ve been trying to call mom for the past hour and can’t get through.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked. There was a great deal of anger in his voice.

“It’s a woman thing,” she replied, again almost crying. “I’m wearing white shorts and... and... and... my period came a day early. I needed mom to bring me some tampons and a change of clothing.”

If Miles had been able to see into the bathroom, he would have seen that his daughter was now holding her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. She knew that he was infamously squeamish about “woman things.” It was his one real weakness.

One of the waitresses stepped up to the door. She could hear her tell Miles, “I’ve got something she could use and she can borrow one of my uniforms to get home. Just see that it gets back here tomorrow.”

Raina could hear her father sputtering and muttering in response. “Good... yeah... that’s good... You take care of it.” There was a pause and then he said, “Here’s a twenty for your effort. Call me if she needs anything else.”

Then he yelled into the restroom, “See you at home, Princess.” Just before he let the door close completely he added very loudly and firmly, “Soon!”

She could hear her father telling the Sheriff and deputies that it was nothing and thanking them for their fast response. The waitress came in carrying an old uniform. “Cut that a little close, didn’t you?” she said as she handed Raina the dress.

Raina looked at her with wide open eyes. The woman’s name tag said, “Lois.” She continued. “I knew you were in trouble when your security tail came in looking for you. He was sure you had gone off with one of the Reapers. I heard him squawking into his cell phone about how you’d given them the slip.”

Raina’s mouth was now as wide open as her eyes. “My dad has me followed?” she finally said.

“You didn’t know, did you?” answered the waitress shaking her head slowly. “Every time you come down here to meet with your girlfriends or whatever, we take a cup of coffee—or two or three—out to the security people parked at the back of the lot. It goes on the company tab. They’re always with you, and they report to the big man himself.”

Lois exhaled slowly, like she was debating whether or not she had said too much. “I asked Mr. Chaplin about it once, and he told me that he had to protect his Little Princess and that I had best keep my nose out of things that don’t concern me,” her face lost all expression and her voice became very flat, “and I can tell you from personal experience, that when Mister Miles Chaplin tells you to keep your nose out of something, you damned well better or it might get cut off.”

She then smiled at Raina and said, “But if anybody asks me, I’ll back your story and say that you suddenly screeched and made a beeline for the ladies room about an hour and a half ago. I might get in trouble eventually, but it’d be worth it to put one over on that old bastard.” Then she was suddenly flustered and said, “Sorry to talk about your dad that way.”

“That’s OK,” Raina answered, “it seems like I’m finding out a lot about him... and myself, lately.”

The waitress stepped closer and said softly, “Remember to rinse out your shorts and undies so they’ll be wet when you get home... just in case anybody checks them.” She nodded at Raina and left the restroom.

***

Next morning, Raina’s father had already left for the office by the time she came downstairs for breakfast. Her mother was very quiet and looked as if something was deeply bothering her.

“Your dad asked me if you called me last night,” she said. She was wringing her hands as she spoke. “Luckily, he didn’t ask if I’d called you. I’ve never been able to lie to him. He can always tell.”

She looked down at Raina. “He also asked me when your menstrual cycle should have started. I told him that you have a very irregular period, just like I do.” She sat down opposite Raina, looked her directly in the eyes, and asked in a fearful voice, “You aren’t pregnant, are you?”

“No,” Raina answered, relief apparent in her voice. Trying to control her laughter, she explained, “No, mom, I’m not pregnant. Mother Nature just delivered her gift a little early this month and I was caught unprepared. Luckily, one of the waitresses at the diner was able to loan me some supplies and a dress to wear home.”

Her mother stood back up. She looked very relieved, but still not happy. “Your father suspects
something
,” she said. “What he suspects and what he can prove are not always the same thing, but he suspects that there’s something between you and one of those Reaper people. I’ve never seen him this upset... well, maybe once or twice before, but you be careful. And don’t tell me anything that you don’t want your father to know. I can’t lie to him.”

She reached out and lightly stroked Raina’s cheek. “He does love you, you know. It’s just that some people don’t really know how to show love.” She sighed deeply and turned to the stove to finish fixing Raina’s breakfast. Raina heard her say softly, “He was once much better at it, back when we were first starting out.” A quiet sob followed those words.

***

There was an awkward tension in the office all day for Raina. She felt like people were watching her every move. Her father came up with some more-obvious-than-usual busywork to keep her out of the morning staff meeting. He’d never done that before. Then there was a mid-morning meeting with his security chief. During that, she was sent to the printers to pick up an order of envelopes and letterheads that were normally delivered. Something was definitely going on.

Around noon, her phone chirped and the text said, “Safe?”

She immediately texted back, “NO
.”

A glimmer of what was happening occurred when Delores, in the cubicle just outside Raina’s office, began transcribing notes from the morning meeting. All meetings were recorded and transcribed because of some sort of federal law. That didn’t mean that the transcriptions didn’t occasionally disappear, but if called to testify in court, Delores could show from her log that the required transcription had taken place.

The only problem was that Delores was very hard of hearing and had to remove her hearing aids to use the headphones. That meant that she turned the volume on the recorder up so high that the person in the next cubicle—or the office across the aisle—could almost hear what she was transcribing.

Raina listened carefully. There was something about “until we can prove something.” And then something about “have the Sheriff and our extra security standing by.” She thought she heard “next week,” but wasn’t sure she’d heard that properly.

The one thing that she could hear very clearly at one point was her father’s voice. He must have been yelling in the meeting as he said, “It has to be quick and decisive and it has to hold up in court. I’ve got the judges lined up on our side. I’ll call in my chips with the governor himself if I have to, but I want that son of a bitch in jail and all of that low-life scum out of this county forever.”

So that’s what was going on. Her father was preparing to go after the Crossed Reapers with every legal and political favor he could call in. This was all-out war, and in Porter her father would always win. She had to warn Neil. He and the Reapers needed to get out while they could. But if she was being followed, how could she get away? With her dad’s resources and connections, he could even be monitoring her phone calls. How could she warn Neil?

That’s when she remembered Lois’ uniform dress sitting in the seat of her car. “I have to run a personal errand,” she announced to the office manager. “I had to borrow something yesterday at the diner that I promised to return, so I have to run down there for a few minutes. I’ll be right back.”

To Raina’s great relief, Lois was behind the counter when she entered. Raina handed her the dress and then sat down to order a cup of coffee. When it arrived, she turned her placemat around. On it she had written, “Can they hear us?”

Lois shook her head, “No.”

“What happened to the leathers and wig that I left in the bathroom?” she asked.

“They’re here behind the counter,” answered Lois.

Raina spoke quietly, “Now all I have to do is figure out how to get them back to my car without my shadow telling dad.”

Lois smiled and said loud enough for everyone at the counter to hear, “You know, we have a special today on day-old donuts. Wouldn’t it be a great surprise for the office if the boss’ daughter brought back a couple of bags to put in the break room. Special price, and I can even put the bags in a box of some sort to make them easier to carry.”

“That’s a great idea,” answered Raina, realizing what Lois intended. She then held up her cell phone and said, “Could I borrow your cell phone for just a moment. For some reason mine doesn’t seem to work in here.”

“I’ve never had that problem,” answered Lois, handing Raina her phone.

Raina immediately texted Neil. “Dad suspicious. planning something major nxt wk arrest you & rest of Reapers. need 2 talk. pick up blond 10:30 end of alley 2 blocks N my hse. will stay nite at club. can get back in nxt am after d gone 2 wrk.”

“U sure?”

“Yes. Must go.”

By the time Raina had finished texting, Lois had placed a large cardboard box with three bags of donuts on the counter. Beneath the bags were the folded leathers and the blonde wig. Raina handed her a fifty and said, “Keep the change.”

Lois answered, “Good luck,” and Raina carried her purchase out to the car.

When she got back to the office, she left the box in the car and carried the three bags of donuts into the break room. “Donuts in the break room,” she announced cheerily as she set the bags on one of the counters. She almost laughed as she heard the news being passed down the cubicles in the office and then on out into the garage and service area. Those donuts would be gone in minutes.

When she got back to her office, her father followed her in. “I know there’s something going on between you and this Neil Gunn person,” he said as he laid a printout on her desk. It was an aerial photograph of Neil standing next to the jeep talking with her.

“Security plane was on its way up north to photograph damage when they saw you and all those bikes. They took that picture and called me immediately.”

He slammed his hand down on top of the picture. “You lied to me, and that can only mean one thing. You have something going with this man. I don’t know what kind of control he has over you, but if you let him, or if I can’t stop him, he will drag you down to his level.”

Raina felt a fury rising up inside her, but she answered calmly. “Yes, I lied to you. I talked to Neil Gunn rather than try to run over a couple of dozen motorcycles like you would’ve done. He was actually very polite, but he seemed to be upset about the way your security people were treating the Reapers. After we talked for a while, he went back to town and so did I. You had enough on your plate with the storm damage, so I didn’t tell you about it. I didn’t think it was important.”

“You don’t decide what is important or how much I can handle on my plate, young lady,” he scolded. “You are the Little Princess, I am the
King.
I make those decisions.”

Raina looked him directly in the eyes and said very calmly, “Long live the king.”

She didn’t know why she said it. She wasn’t sure what she meant by it. But she knew that those words somehow marked a point from which she could never return. Somehow, in some way, those words announced to her father, like nothing else she had ever said, that she was no longer his Little Princess... and neither of them were sure where to go from there.