Code of Honor

Chapter Fifteen

“Hey, McElroy!” Ramsey called just as Loren and Sky reached the front door on their way out of the Rooster. “Can I talk to you for a minute.”

Loren kept her arm around Sky’s waist and turned, facing Ramsey at the back of the long bar. “Sure, Prez.”

Ramsey grinned, his arm draped over Tricia’s shoulders. Gone was the raging homicidal Valkyrie—now Tricia resembled a well-fed cat, a contented expression on her face as she pressed to his side, one hand clenching his wide leather belt. Luckily, Ramsey had been alone when Loren had led Tricia back to the room he kept in the members-only area. Whatever he’d said—or done—after Loren left the two of them alone had seemed to satisfy his old lady.

Loren kissed Sky and patted her on the ass. “Go ahead, baby. Take off.”

Sky slid her hand behind Loren’s neck, gripped her hair, and kissed her back, plastering her body to Loren’s. Sky’s breath was warm as it curled over Loren’s ear. “I’m staying.”

“Watch yourself,” Loren muttered. “I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time,” Sky said offhandedly, loud enough that Ramsey would hear.

Loren hesitated, a little breathless from the unexpected kiss. Sky managed to keep her off balance, and ordinarily that would be a problem. Hell, it was a problem. But she couldn’t bring herself to mind. Sky had felt too good curled up in her lap in the dark hours of the night. Warm and soft and incongruously fragile, when Loren knew that wasn’t true at all. No matter who Sky was, friend or foe, she was a dangerous, potentially deadly woman. All the same, Sky had been undeniably vulnerable as she’d slept, and she’d let Loren see her that way. The trust she’d put in Loren moved her more than anything had since her mother had reassured her that her family would always believe in her. Since that phone call a lifetime ago, Loren hadn’t let anyone close enough to trust or be trusted.

And as much as she knew they were only playing their parts in the charade her life had become, she wanted the game to go on. She could still feel Sky’s warm breath against her neck, the sensation so exquisite she’d been more satisfied than her casual sexual encounters had ever managed. She’d been naked with women who hadn’t provided the pleasure she’d experienced just drawing Sky’s hair through her fingers. As she’d slowly sifted the deep red strands, feeling Sky’s heart beat against her own, the press of Sky’s fingertips against the bare skin of her throat had eventually become the sole focus of sensation in her body, until those small points of pleasure had magnified and filled her. Until Sky was all she knew. Even now, pleasure coiled deep inside, and she had the urge to bend her head and take another kiss. She didn’t want to walk away, didn’t want to leave Sky alone.

Sky pulled away and sauntered down the length of the bar until she was only a few feet from Ramsey. He watched her approach with predatory interest. She edged a hip onto a bar stool, crossed her legs, and smiled. “I guess you know why I’m here.”

“I heard,” Ramsey said.

“Is today a good time?”

His eyes narrowed, and Tricia suddenly focused on Sky as if sizing her up for dinner. Loren couldn’t figure out what the hell Sky was doing, but antagonizing Ramsey or Tricia was not a good idea. She strode past Sky and blocked her from Ramsey’s line of sight.

“Ready when you are,” Loren said.

Ramsey grunted and disappeared around the corner. Loren caught up to him before the double doors that led to church, the members-only meeting room where they held their tactical gatherings. Quincy was there, and Armeo, both of them looking hungover and as confused as Loren was about the sudden meeting. Ramsey closed the door after she followed him inside.

Loren took her seat in the usual place and Ramsey slumped into his at the head of the big table. “Jesus, what a night.”

Loren waited for Ramsey to confront her about bringing Tricia into the sanctuary, but he ignored her.

“Everything okay with Tricia?” Quincy asked. He was the only one who could broach a personal subject with Ramsey—they’d been friends since they were kids and now Quincy was Ramsey’s VP. Quincy’s number one job was to have Ramsey’s back in all things.

Ramsey smiled wryly. “Still got my balls.”

Everyone laughed and the tension in the air lessened.

“So what time is it? Fucking eight o’clock in the morning? Fucking militia.” Ramsey rubbed his face, his palm producing a scratching sound as it rubbed over the bristles covering his heavy jaw. “Some broad who says she’s in charge of the gun deal wants a look at the exchange point.”

Loren’s antenna went up and she stiffened. “Wait a minute. Somebody we don’t know? How do we know she’s even with the militia?”

“We don’t,” Ramsey said. “That’s what I told her. Said I didn’t know what she was talking about.”

“What did she say?” Quincy asked.

“She gave me enough details to prove she was the real deal.”

“You sure she couldn’t have gotten the info from some kind of surveillance?” Loren asked. “Or a snitch?”

Sometimes an undercover operative’s best defense was misdirection. She’d hardly raise the possibility of a snitch if she was one.

Ramsey shook his head. “She knew about your meeting with Graves the other night. Who was there, location—too many details she could only have gotten if she was on the inside.”

“So what’d you tell her?” Armeo asked.

“That I’d have to get back to her.” Ramsey looked at Loren. “We need to bump up the timetable. Get the money and get clear of this bunch. They’re loose cannons.”

Loren almost smiled but managed to shrug with a straight face. “I’ll do what I can, but like I said, big shipments like this have to be moved carefully. Something tips off the feds, or even the locals, a lot of people could go down.”

“Work your magic, McElroy.”

“Do what I can.”

“In the meantime, I told her we’d send someone to rendezvous with her. Discuss the exchange. Map it out.”

“I can do that,” Loren said before Ramsey suggested anyone else. If there was a new player, she wanted to know who it was, and another meeting could be her way in. “Tell them I want to meet on their ground first. That I need to be sure who I’m dealing with before I provide any details.”

Ramsey’s eyebrows went up. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking a new player at this point doesn’t feel right. We wanted a look at them, this is our chance.”

Ramsey looked at Quincy and Armeo. They both nodded.

“Quincy and Armeo will provide backup. All of you, stay available.”

“Sure,” Loren said.

“What about the redhead?” Ramsey winced. “Jesus, what is it with the broads these days—now we have to negotiate with them? Whatever happened to the days when all they did was suck dick?”

Quincy and Armeo laughed. Ramsey looked at her.

“What’s the story? You find out anything when you weren’t busy extending a little hospitality?”

Loren’s stomach tightened. “She checks out. The New Year’s run is coming up, and you know national always wants more dues this time of year to finance the council’s flight to Reno.”

“Yeah, while the rest of us freeze our nuts off riding there,” Quincy complained.

“Right,” Loren said. “I think the leadership wants to be sure we’re sending in our fair share.”

“You get any vibes she’s here looking for anything else?”

“Nope.” Loren knew how things looked—she and Sky had set it up that way. “We haven’t exactly been talking a lot of business, though.”

Quincy snorted. “Hard to talk when her tongue’s down your throat.”

Loren grinned.

“Keep working on her,” Ramsey said. “I don’t want it to look like we’re nervous, so do whatever you have to do to make it look like your interest is…personal.”

“No problem,” Loren said.

“Yeah, I’ll bet it’s not,” Armeo muttered. “I get wood just watching her sip a beer. Wouldn’t mind her lips around—”

“Fuck you, Armeo,” Loren said.

Armeo made sucking sounds and laughed.

“If I get wind of any problem,” Loren said to Ramsey, “you’ll be the first to know.”

Ramsey studied her silently and finally nodded.

*

The brunette Loren had called Tricia stalked over to Sky like a lioness patrolling her hunting territory. “So, who are you?”

Sky smiled and held out her hand. “They call me Red. Name’s Lisa.”

Tricia gave her a surprisingly strong handshake. Her dark eyes, shrewd and appraising, dropped to Sky’s chest and then lower in the same way most of the men’s usually did, but she wasn’t getting a sexual vibe from her. She was being sized up as potential competition, so Sky relaxed and let Ramsey’s old lady take a good long look. When Tricia’s gaze returned to hers, Sky said, “I think I have to get myself a gun.”

“Oh yeah? Why is that?” Tricia said.

“Because I’ve had plenty of mornings when I’ve wanted to blow some bimbo’s tits off, myself.”

Tricia narrowed her eyes and finally grinned. “Ain’t that the truth? Dick or no dick, every damn one of them has a problem keeping their fly zipped.”

“True enough.” Sky gestured to a coffeepot behind the counter. “Make you some coffee?”

“Sure.” Trish settled onto a stool at the end of the bar like a queen.

Sky went around behind, rinsed the pot, and filled the coffeemaker with fresh cold water. She looked around, opened a drawer under the countertop, and found the coffee packets. In a minute, she had the coffee brewing. After rinsing a couple of mugs, she set them on the bar and folded her arms, facing Tricia. Tricia was the club president’s old lady. That made her number one among all the women and more powerful than a lot of the men. If Sky wanted inside the club, she needed to make friends with her. The first step to acceptance was to show her respect for Tricia’s position. “I’ll have that for you in a minute.”

“Appreciate it.” Tricia reached down the bar and took a pack of cigarettes someone had abandoned. She lit one, blew a thin stream of smoke into the dust-filled, gray morning light. “Where you from?”

“Little place south of San Diego.”

“Yeah? What the hell are you doing here?”

“A favor for a friend. Dougie up in Sacramento called me. Said they wanted some numbers crunched. I owed him. Otherwise you couldn’t get me into this frozen hellhole for all the money in China.”

Tricia laughed sharply. “I keep after Ramsey to take me to Palm Springs or Arizona or any damn place as long as it’s warm in the winter, but he won’t do it.”

“Can’t trust the club to anyone else, I guess,” Sky said noncommittally. Tricia was fishing, and she wasn’t going to throw herself onto a hook by criticizing Ramsey.

“Two weeks in the friggin’ middle of January when nothing’s happening. Wouldn’t miss anything.” Tricia ground her cigarette out angrily in an ashtray.

“Gotta be tough sometimes, I guess.” Sky poured the coffee and placed the mug in front of Tricia. “A hell of a lot of fun, though.”

“Yeah, mostly.” Tricia laughed and sipped the coffee. “Thanks.” She lit another cigarette. “So, does Dougie still ride that sweet little Harley Sportster?”

“Last time I saw him,” Sky said, calling up the images in Douglas a.k.a. “Dougie” Holloway’s file, “he was riding a Fat Boy.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot he traded that old bike in.”

“Yeah? He always told me he won the Fat Boy off a Soledad in an all-night poker game.”

Tricia laughed. “Yeah, that sounds like him. Always got a story.”

“Yeah.”

“So how long you gonna be here?”

Sky took a chance. “I was only supposed to be here a day or two, but then…” She nodded toward the door leading to the back rooms. “I kinda like some of the scenery.”

“I take it you don’t mean Ramsey.” Tricia raised a brow.

“Sorry, no.”

“So you swing the other way?”

“Yeah.”

“All the way or, you know, flexible?”

Sky lifted a shoulder. “Meaning no disrespect, but when I’ve got a soft mouth between my legs, I want someone who knows what they’re doing from experience.”

“No disrespect taken.” Tricia laughed. “Good luck. I hear McElroy’s very good at it, but she’s not much for staying around.”

“I’m not looking for a proposal. Just some fun.” Sky glanced to the back of the bar as Loren walked in next to Ramsey. Some people would call Ramsey handsome with his powerful physique and dark, craggy looks, but Loren was just as strong and powerful with the added benefit of being gorgeous. “And that is some fun package.”

“No denying that.” Tricia put out her smoke, stood, and cocked a hip in Ramsey’s direction. She gave Sky a last look. “If you’re still here the end of the week, get Loren to bring you along on the New Year’s run to Reno. I could use some company whose brains are bigger than their boobs for a change.”

“I thought I needed an invitation.”

“Consider yourself invited.”

“In that case,” Sky said with a satisfied smile, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”