Tempting Country (Ruthless Sinners MC 6)

“So soon?”

“Afraid so.” There was no missing the disappointment in his eyes when I said, “I really need to get back and take care of this before a real problem arises.”

“I understand.” He stepped over to me and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly. “I can’t tell you how much it meant to have you here with me today. I enjoyed it so much.”

“I enjoyed it, too.” I gave him a quick squeeze back, then said, “I’ll try to get back soon.”

“I really hope you will.”

He walked me outside to my car, then waited as I got inside. I was looking at him as I started my car, and for a brief moment, I didn’t see the man who made dead bodies disappear. I simply saw my father—and only my father, and that was something I hadn’t seen in years. It felt good to see him like that, which made it difficult to leave. Sadly, I didn’t have a choice. I had to get back to Langford Manor and figure out what the hell was going on with Drake Coburn.

By the time I finally returned to the office, Braylon, Timms, and Duggar were done looking through the security feed. I hoped that meant they’d figured out what Drake was up to, so I asked, “Find anything?”

“Hard to say.” Braylon pulled up the surveillance footage, then pointed at Drake’s red pickup truck. “Looks like he walked around to the gym. Never looked inside but seemed to just casually walk around. Then, he made his way into the school. He wandered down one hall and had just made his way to the other when I found him.”

“Did he look inside any of the rooms?”

“Nope. Just stuck his head through the door like he was searching for you.”

“This makes no sense.” I’d always been very careful not to mention where I lived. I certainly wouldn’t have told Drake. “I don’t even know how he found his way here. I never told him where I lived.”

“He must’ve followed you home.” Timms’ brows furrowed as he asked, “Who is this guy anyway?”

“That’s just it. He’s nobody. Just a guy from one of my classes. He’s been trying to get me to go out with him for months, but I’ve made it clear that I’m not interested.”

“Apparently, he didn’t take the hint.”

“Obviously not.” I let out a deep breath. “This is bad.”

“It certainly isn’t good.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

“Riggs is looking into him. He’ll be able to tell us if there’s anything we need to be concerned about. Hopefully, he’s just a fucking nutjob who doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”

Seven

Country

“I talked to Gus this morning.” Viper sat down next to me and Hawk at the kitchen table. “He seemed to agree with you about Kiersten’s pot. Said it was the best he’d ever come across.”

“Told ya,” Hawk replied. “The shit we tried the other night was pretty damn good. Best I’ve ever had. This girl really seems to know her stuff.”

“She damn well better.” Viper leaned back in his chair as he said, “We’ll be putting a lot on the line if we go into business with her, especially if we bring both the Carolina chapters into it.”

“I think they’ll be impressed with what she has to offer. They shouldn’t have any problem moving it.” The intense expression on Viper’s face started to fade when Hawk said, “Hell, I’d be surprised if they didn’t want more than the twenty pounds they agreed to.”

Viper had good reason to be relieved. A pound of marijuana typically brought anywhere between two and three grand, but Kiersten had the potential of making even more—which meant we, along with our North and South Carolina chapters, stood to make anywhere between fifty and sixty grand a month. That, along with what we pulled from the two strip clubs and our nightly coke sales meant we would be eating high on the hog. Viper almost smiled as he said, “Guess we’ll see about that.”

“So, we’re doing this?” I asked.

“It’s definitely looking that way.” Viper stood, then let out a deep breath. “Axel and I need to get with Menace, crunch some bottom-line numbers, and then we’ll need to take a vote on it. I’ll call church as soon as we get everything sorted.”

“Sounds good.”

“I best get to it. You boys try and stay out of trouble.”

“We’ll do our best,” Hawk answered.

When Viper walked out of the kitchen, I quickly got up and followed him out into the hall. “Hey, Prez ... You got a minute?”

“Yeah, what’s on your mind?”

“Need to talk to you about something.”

“All right.” He opened the door to his office and said, “Come on in and tell me what’s going on.”

Dread washed over me as I followed him inside and over to his desk. Once we were both seated, I said, “I should’ve come to you days ago, but with everything that’s been happening—”