Cupcake Explosion (Cupcakes 4)

“Ready?” I asked Carmen.

“As I’ll ever be.”

WE COULD HEAR the music as we walked down the street, but when we opened the door, it was like being blasted in the face with heavy metal.

I tried to look cool, like a woman on a night out with her friend, maybe looking to get lucky.

I blanched for a minute, when the memory of another night at another bar hit me, and how angry Cade was at me for pretending to pimp myself out for information. I knew he wouldn’t be any happier about it now, but I meant what I’d said earlier. I’d rather have him with me and pissed, than never get him back.

We strode to the bar first, cause that’s what people normally did upon entering a bar, and ordered a couple beers.

While the bartender was tapping the keg for our drinks, I turned and leaned against the bar and looked around casually. Carmen was chattering in my ear to keep up pretense, and I mostly tuned her out, although it sounded like she was reciting her to-do list for the week.

My scan of the place confirmed the place was seedy, that the bikers were Diablos, and that Carmen and I had not entered undetected.

A tall white biker with a bald head and handsome face was watching me watch him, and I hoped the name on his patch was Cueball. I shot him a friendly smile, then turned back around to face the bar and wait.

A few seconds later, the bartender placed our beers in front of us, his gaze going over my shoulder, and I heard, “What you doin’ here, pretty lady?”

I turned my head to the right and looked the biker over.

Yup, his name was Cueball.

“Just havin’ a drink with my friend,” I replied.

Cueball looked past me to Carmen, who lifted her beer in greeting.

“Haven’t seen you in here before,” Cueball said.

“Nope, it’s our first time. We’re staying in town and thought we’d check it out,” I lied, hoping there was actually a hotel somewhere nearby.

“Well, if you ladies are looking for a good time, my brothers and I can show it to you.”

Gag.

I batted my eyelashes and smiled again.

“We’ll keep that in mind,” I said, and luckily, he nodded and wandered back over to his friends.

“He’s cute, but a little scary,” Carmen whispered.

I agreed, but I guess the same thing could be said about Cade. Hell, if I wasn’t with Cade and I didn’t know that guy had something to do with his disappearance, I’d probably think he was hot.

“Let’s go closer, over by the darts or pool table, see if we can hear anything?” I suggested.

When she nodded, I led the way.

Carmen and I took a high-top table in the back corner and talked about nothing as we listened to the conversations happening around us. After about an hour of what could only be described as come hither looks from Cueball, and just your basic bar room chatter, I started to lose hope that we’d learn anything more that night.

Maybe we needed to come back when the towing company was open and talk to the people there . . .

Or, we could hang around and follow the bikers back to their compound and hope Cade was being kept inside . . .

Finally, I could take Cueball up on his offer, go back to the compound with him, and hope I could keep him off me and distracted until I found Cade . . .

I quickly eliminated the final option, and I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow, so . . . option two it was.

I told Carmen my plan, and she agreed.