Chapter Twenty-Seven Wildcard

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: WILDCARD

"Think Brigit will find out why we're losing our staff?" Trouble asks as I follow him into his office.

"I do," I say without having to think about it. "Might take some time, but I think she'll dig. She thinks she owes the club because we're protecting her and we gave her dad a home again."

"Her dad's Preacher, right? I remember him. Where did he go?"

"Prison. From what he's said, I think Squiggy set him up. He got out not too long ago and lived up at Red Rock Canyon. Viper ran into him and invited him to come visit the club."

"How long ago did he go in?" Trouble asks with a frown.

"Six years ago, why?"

"That fucker Squiggy. He was bragging one night about setting a guy up to go to prison. Claimed he wanted something the guy had and planned on taking it once he was safely in prison."

"Brigit," I breathe out in anger. I suspected that was his game. Knowing I was right doesn't make me feel vindicated. It makes me angry that Squiggy is already dead.

I consider going to my office to get work done and leave Trouble alone, but Brigit calls and asks me to come back to her office. "Did you interview everyone already?"

"No, I will, but we have a problem that needs solving." I nod for her to continue. She relates what she's learned. When I shake my head, Bianca backs away. Brigit steps closer to the woman and draws herself up.

"You told me you protect your employees. Was that a lie?"

Her question jolts me. "No, of course it wasn't. But Max? I know Max. He would hurt no one. She has to be mistaken."

"He said his name was Max, and that he was a member of the Demon Dawgs. That, since he was an owner, he could do whatever he wanted."

I stare at the girl as my mind processes her words. Her description of Max doesn't fit the man I know. Max isn't a member. He's a prospect, so he has no stake in the hotel. Yet. "He's hardly ever here," I protest. "He spends most of his time at the clubhouse with the kids and the Old Ladies."

"He's always here and watching us," Bianca corrects me.

I glance at Trouble, who shrugs. "Can't say I've seen him here. If he's pulling stunts like this, then I imagine he'd stay out of sight of the brothers."

"But this isn't like him," I protest. "There's only one way to know for certain." Pulling out my phone, I send a text to Chill and tell her to bring Max to 1%. She replies that they're on their way.

"If he sees me, he'll kill me," Bianca says, shaking. Brigit puts her arm around the girl to calm her.

"No, he won't. If he did these things, he won't be bothering anyone," I assure her. What I don't say is that he won't be bothering anyone ever again. He'll be too scared, or more likely, too dead.

"You said he watches you. Has he done anything else?" I ask Bianca. The haunted look in her eyes tells me the story. "Son of a bitch!" I explode and punch the wall. "How could this have happened here? Where the fuck was security?"

"He knows the blind-spots," Bianca says.

"Has he hurt you?" Brigit asks.

Bianca shrugs. "He's bruised my breasts by grabbing them and he's grabbed my pussy. I don't think he's raped anyone. At least not that I know of. But it's only a matter of time. I know I'm not the only one he's gone after. He tells us we belong to him. When I fought him off, he laughed and told me they'd have fun breaking me. He said that as bikers, they own us and he can do whatever he wants."

"That's fucking bullshit!" Trouble explodes. "I can't believe Chill heard this and brushed it off. What the fuck is she thinking?"

"I didn't tell Chill everything," Bianca says. "All this started happening after Liz left. I went to the temp who was filling in and made my first complaint. That just made everything worse. He threatened to kill me if I complained again."

"I thought you spoke to Chill?" Brigit asks.

"When I heard she fired the temp, I went to Chill. When Chill didn't believe me, I expected Max to retaliate. However, he said nothing about it. But he's still harassing us."

"We need to talk to the others," Trouble says. "I don't understand how this happened. We also need to fix the holes in our security. This should never have happened. Our employees need to feel safe. Has any other club member bothered you?"

Bianca shakes her head. "Just Max."

"And you say he's targeted other girls?" Brigit asks. When Bianca nods, she glances at me. "There is more going on here than just a horny biker enthralled with a beautiful woman. He's targeting multiple women. He's a psychopath."

This makes no sense. I've never seen Max hit on any of the women who hang out at the club. I've even considered the possibility that he's gay and just not comfortable telling us yet. Not that anyone would care, but I could understand a prospect not wanting to give club members a reason to boot him.

When the door opens and Chill steps in with Max and Viper, I'm fuming mad. I swing on Max and grab him by the t-shirt, lifting him up and slamming him against the wall.

"What the fuck?" Chill and Viper explode. Each coming to stand on either side of me. Neither dares to interfere since I'm the VP. I outrank them.

"You attacked that girl?" I demand of Max, whose frightened eyes dart around the room.

"What girl? I didn't attack anyone!" Max chokes out.

"Don't fucking play dumb," I snarl.

"Wait," comes a small voice from behind him. "That's not him."

I keep hold of Max but turn my attention to Bianca, who is standing right behind me.

"What?"

"That's not him. He looks like him. But that isn't the same guy. The guy who attacked me was a few years older, and he has blue eyes, not green."

"Wait, I know you," Chill says. "You came to file a complaint against—" She turns slowly and looks at Max. "Max."

"I didn't attack her!" Max protests. "I swear it. You know me. I'd never hurt a woman."

Chill nods. "That's what I said. I thought you were lying. How do we know she isn't?"

"Because I interviewed her and she told me what happened," Brigit says. "She turned in her notice because you didn't believe her. Or protect her. She's not the only one. There are others who claim Max harassed them."

Chill swings to look at Brigit. "I never heard anyone else complain. Just her."

"I told them not to bother going to you after what you said to me," Bianca snaps back.

"Okay, hold on a minute," I say, letting Max slide back to the floor. "Is this the man who accosted you?" I ask Bianca, pointing at Max.

She shakes her head. "They look similar, but that's not him."

"But, he said his name was Max?" Brigit asks. Bianca nods.

"Was he wearing this kutte or one like mine?" I ask.

"Umm, neither, he wore a 1% kutte," Bianca replies, then her eyes go wide. "I'm an idiot. I'm sorry, I didn't put that together until now. If he was a member of the Demon Dawgs, he would have been wearing your kutte." She shifts closer and stares up into Max's face. "You're not him. I got a good look at him when he had me up against the wall with his hand up my skirt."

"What?" shouts Chill and Viper.

"That's why I asked you down here. Some asshole is physically harassing our staff. He told her his name was Max and that he's a member of the Demon Dawgs. Don't know if it is his real name or if he's impersonating our Max."

"He shouldn't be hard to find if he looks like our Max," Chill says. She turns to Bianca. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. Seems like I screwed up when I fired that Clark bitch."

"She wasn't any help," Bianca says. "I went to her first. She told me to suck it up. Told me that the club members could do whatever they wanted because they owned the hotel. I think she told him I complained, because he threatened me afterwards."

"This is no how we do things here," I say. "We need to tighten security and figure out how this guy harassed women without someone seeing him. I don't like it. The employees have to feel safe here." I reiterate. "Do you think you'll stay if we take care of Max?"

Bianca shrugs. "I enjoy working here, so yeah. But I won't lie. I'm scared."

"We'll make sure you're protected. I'll contact Spark and tell him what's going on. He's pulling the feed to see if we can spot this fake Max. We'll also be reviewing all the cameras to eliminate blind spots," Chill says.

"I'll follow up with the other employees who gave notice," Brigit says. "Maybe if they know we're rectifying the situation, they'll stay. But I also want to make sure we aren't overlooking another issue."

"I can spread the word," Bianca offers. "I know who most of the others are. But what about the ones who already left?"

I share a look with Trouble. He looks as surprised as I feel. "What do you mean? The ones who already left? I have eight people who turned in their two-week notice, but they're still working."

"Not them. The ones that stopped coming in," Bianca says. She frowns when we just look at her. "I know of five girls who stopped coming in to work. He harassed them, too."

"We'll talk to them, too," Brigit says, walking Bianca to the door. After she shuts it, she turns to look at me. "What's going on?"

I glance at Trouble and shake my head. "I don't fucking know."