Rough Ride (Men of Valor MC)

I was calling bullshit. He had to be a criminal if he was passing out that kind of money to strangers. He was a thief. Maybe he fancied himself a Robin Hood, but stealing was stealing in the eyes of the law.

"Who just gives away that kind of money?" I blurted out. I was out of line, but something about this guy got my heart pumping and apparently, my mouth wagging.

The biker turned to me, his emerald green stare eliciting gooseflesh to appear all over my entire body. Eyes that conveyed so much that it was easy to get lost in them and forget why you were angry or calling him out in the first place. I swallowed hard.

"You should google me, too." he said. "Along with the club. You might be able to tone down your prejudice after you do. Good day to you, Lala. Good day to your friend." He tipped an imaginary hat and bowed to me in goodbye.

"Has the guy who attacked been charged?" Isla asked. Good thinking. I felt both relief and discomfort when he redirected his attention back to her. I really needed to put a sock in it and get to work on the pile.

"He's bleeding on the sidewalk somewhere. The guys are taking care of him," he added nonchalantly.

"See, you are a criminal!" I said, feeling vindicated in my assumption. Isla looked at me like I’d lost my head and she wasn’t too far off with her assumption. What was this guy doing to me? I was acting a fool.Malcolm left Isla's side and walked closer to me, taking only two steps in the small room before dominating it and towering me. "Let me ask you this: what would you do to rapists and child predators if you could do anything you wanted to, outside the law?"

"They deserve to die," I blurted out, not thinking again. I'd seen the horrible trauma that evil men inflicted on women and children. I’d made it my life’s work to protect the vulnerable. Maybe that’s why I was so suspicious of Malcolm.

“Sometimes, just dying isn’t enough. I want them to endure the same pain and torture they forced upon others.” It was the truth, just not something I ever expressed out loud before. I couldn’t believe I said it in front of Isla. I hoped I still had my job by the time this man walked out the door.

"Well, sweetheart, seems like you and me are cut from the same cloth," he said. He crossed his impressive arms making his t-shirt seem even tighter against his massive chest. "I just made sure he'd think twice before touching another girl against her will ever again. I know you're young and may not have learned this yet, but the system isn’t set up for marginalized people. They fall through the cracks. I want to change that, and I'll use any means at my disposal until the system stops screwing over young kids before they even make it out of high school. Hope that's ok with you—what did you say your name was?"

“I didn’t. It’s Claire,” I offered my hand out to shake. My face burned with embarrassment and I knew it was red without looking in the mirror.

His words washed over me and spiked both annoyance and ire. I knew he was right, only a year on the job, I was still a newbie. I'd seen some shit, some of it atrocious, but probably nothing close to what Malcolm and Isla had seen through the years. Still, standing there while having this man talk down to me made me livid. I had an opinion, I wasn’t going to let him bulldoze me.

"Violence doesn't solve anything in the end. Now the police are going to charge you with assault, and throw you in jail. Pray tell, how does that help anyone?" I couldn’t stop. The biggest man I’d ever met in my life and I couldn’t stop myself from trying to get a rise out of him. Maybe I had a death wish.

"Don't worry about the cops, Claire," he said, a sly smile plastered all over his smug face. “I have that angle covered.”

He licked his lips slowly and I could feel heat zing all the way to my tailbone. I had no idea if we were fighting or flirting. All I knew was that the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end and I hadn’t felt this exhilarated since taking a Zumba class.

"Do you want to bring this girl back to meet us," Isla said, squeezing herself between us. She was making a physical barrier between us to cut the thick tension.

"Right, I'll be back," he said, waving me off. He walked out of the room and while I was flooded with relief, I also wanted him to come back and taunt me some more.