CHAPTER NINETEEN

Baja—

Our group takes up two tables at the bar we stop at.

Rock and Evelyn, Trez and Isabella, Lola and Memphis, Utah and Kate, me and Elaina, and Darko and Wildman, who are both riding solo.

We get a few pitchers of beer and order food.

After we eat, Memphis stands, pulls Lola to her feet, and challenges me and Elaina to a game of pool.

I take her hand, grab my beer, and follow them to a pool table in the back of the room.

Memphis racks while I find a cue. "Let's switch things up. I'll play with Elaina, and Lola plays with Baja."

Lola shrugs. "It's your loss, sweetie." She sashays over to me.

"Ladies first," Memphis says to his ol' lady and nods to the table.

Lola breaks and makes two good shots before it's Elaina's turn, and Lola returns to my side.

When Elaina bends over the table, I can't help but take in the curves of her body and that sweet ass of hers. When my eyes lift, I see Memphis watching me with a knowing smile.

I shake my head and turn away.

Elaina makes her shot and moves around to the other side of the table. Memphis gives her a pointer, and Lola leans to my ear.

"She's pretty, isn't she?"

"Sure," I say nonchalantly, like I haven't lied awake, thinking about her body every single minute. She misses, and it's my turn.

The cue ball is boxed in a corner, but it's not a shot I haven't made a thousand times before. I bend and align my cue. Elaina is across the table and bends to pick up the chalk she dropped. I can see right down her shirt, and I scratch, sinking the cue ball.

Frustrated, I return to stand next to Lola, who, rather than being pissed I missed the shot, looks like the Cheshire Cat.

"You've got it bad for her, mister. That's obvious."

I don't say anything, and that just makes her keep digging.

"Oh, my God. You are obsessed with her."

I still say nothing.

"What are you worrying about, honey?"

I give her a look. She should know what I'm worried about.

"Baja—" she starts, but I cut her off with a single word.

"Don't."

Lola moves to take her turn, and Elaina's eyes meet mine. She blows me a kiss, and I wink at her.

Yesterday, Isabella loaned her a black spaghetti-strap top and a tight-fitting leather jacket. She's wearing them today, and she looks hot as hell. She looks like the sexiest, most gorgeous biker chick I've ever seen. No, more than that; she looks like she could fit into this life.

It has me imagining all kinds of things, but something tells me that's just a sweet dream—one I can no longer have.

Memphis and Elaina win the game.

"No fair," Lola complains. "My partner was distracted."

"Sour grapes," Memphis says. "Come here, my tall drink of water."

She walks into his arms, and he pulls her against his body and kisses her.

Elaina walks toward me, flushing at their PDA.

I tug on a lock of her hair. "She's right. I was distracted."

"Oh, you were, huh?" She leans against me, and I dip my head and kiss her mouth.

Trez wanders over and racks another game. "Get a room. All of you."

We break apart and return to the group while Trez and Darko play pool.

After a few minutes, Elaina excuses herself and heads to the restroom.

I chat with Rock but keep one eye on the hallway. Soon, Elaina emerges, but before she gets out of the hallway, a man steps in front of her, blocking her path. She tries to step around him, and he shifts, blocking her again.

I'm out of my chair and stalking across the room before my brothers realize what's happening.

"Come on, pretty girl. I'm not letting you pass until I get a kiss. That's the toll."

My hand clamps on this guy's shoulder, and I jerk him around to face me.

His eyes drop to my MC cut, and his brows lift.

"Oh, you didn't know she was with us? Is that what you're gonna claim?" I flick my gaze over his shoulder. "Go back to the table, sweetheart."

She darts past, and this dude lifts his palms.

"I didn't know. I swear, brother."

"I ain't your brother, fuckwad."

"Sorry."

"This how you treat women? Box them in and force yourself on them?"

By now I feel several of my brothers at my back, a wall of leather and folded arms and puffed chests, ready to rumble for me.

"You want us to take this trash out for you, Baja?" Utah asks.

He's our enforcer, so he has no problem taking on the job.

I turn my head but never take my eyes off this loser. "Nah. I got this son-of-a-bitch." I look to the bartender. "This guy all paid up?"

"No, sir. He's runnin' a tab."

"What's it up to?" I ask.

"Thirty-eight dollars."

I lean and yank this dude's wallet out of his back pocket and find a couple of credit cards and about a hundred bucks in twenties. I slap them on the bar. "Keep the change." Then I grab this guy by the collar and march him down the hall and out the back door. I fling him into the metal garbage dumpster and toss his wallet in with him.

"I ever see you again, you'll need an ambulance."

Then I stalk inside and am met by a round of applause from the people at the bar.

The bartender holds out a bottle of beer to me. "Thanks, man. That guy is a real asshole. Wish I'd had the balls to do that a long time ago."

"Here, here," the crowd yells out.

When I get to the table, Rock's taken care of mine and Elaina's check, and everyone is standing, gathering their jackets.

"Let's roll," Rock says.

I down the beer and wrap an arm around Elaina. "Sorry that had to ruin our day. I won't stand for a man treating you that way."

She's looking at me anew. "You're a badass when you want to be, aren't you?"

"If I have to be, absolutely." I kiss her forehead, and we follow the others out to our bikes.

An hour later, we're at the clubhouse, and we all park our bikes in a line in front. I back mine up to the porch at the far end, and Elaina and I climb off.

"God, I love riding," she says with a big smile.

The other girls hear her and laugh.

"She's hooked," Trez says.

We all trudge up the steps and inside.

Rosie comes running, and Elaina bends to pet her. "Hey, girl. How's my baby?"

I'm standing, smiling down at her, when the whine of ninja bikes roar up the road outside. I—and every other man in the place—freeze, and in a split second, we hear rapid fire, and the windows explode.

It sounds like fully automatic weapons, and I dive over Elaina and Rosie, pushing them to the floor. Every man does the same thing, and some are already pulling their weapons and moving to the windows to return fire.

Thank God the clubhouse is made of thick logs that absorb and deflect many of the shots, but we can hear our bikes taking hellfire.

Utah and Memphis scramble behind the bar and start tossing AR15s from the wooden box we keep under there. I grab one and lean to Elaina.

"Stay down."

She nods, and I move off to one of the windows. We barely get in a couple of rounds before the bikes roar off, and it's over as quickly as it started.

Rock stands. "Everyone okay? Check those around you."

We do a check, and other than some cuts from flying glass, no one is hit.

"Those motherfuckers are dead," Rock roars. "I want their heads!"