Road Tripped (Satan's Devils MC Utah #1) - Manda Mellett Page 0,14

I won’t be anything like that.

The thought that they could even think I’m another version of Stormy forces me to deny it in the only way I know how. “If you want someone to partner up with Road to see what he’s made of, then I’m up for it.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I want to grab them back. What the hell am I thinking?

I glare at Stormy, Just one fucking word, you wanker.

I might not have insulted him out loud, but he gets my meaning. I get his middle finger back.

Pip’s eye’s go first to Stormy, then back to me. He rolls his eyes. “Okay. Looks like we’ll have to move this to the ring later so Swift and Stormy can get their fists on each other.”

I see money changing hands between Honor and Duty and wonder which one has my back. Cowboy also hands Duty something. It doesn’t take a genius to work out they’re betting on the outcome of the upcoming match.

My thoughts are confirmed when Snatcher barks a laugh. “I’ll have fifty on Swift.”

At least someone is in my corner.

Pip shakes his head and picks up the gavel. “Let’s wrap this up. My proposal is that we keep Road close for a few days. Incommunicado, right? No word gets back to Drummer, or only that which is carefully managed.” He thinks for a second. “Gears will have his phone and I’ll use it to send some texts to keep Drummer off the scent. We’ll see what Road is made of, whether he’ll fit in or not. If he looks likely, he’ll get to work with Swift. Swift, what I want from you is for you to assess whether he can transfer in and keep his patch or come on board and start from the bottom as a prospect, okay?”

I nod.

“If he’s not up to muster?” Thor asks.

“Then he’ll leave to go back to Tucson,” Pip declares. “Unfortunately, he won’t make it safely back.”

4

Road…

When Pip told the prospect to take me to the waiting room, I half envisaged it was a euphemism such as the term ‘storeroom’ we use in Tucson. It’s a place where activities such as questioning are undertaken, and Blade’s allowed to let his dark side out to play, eliciting responses by way of his unique methods of torture.

Relief floods through me when I find the room is exactly what the name would suggest, but not one normally found in a motorcycle club, one percenter or not. There’s a two-person couch and several comfortable high-back chairs surrounding a low coffee table. A magazine rack holds an assortment of periodicals and leaning against one wall is a hot drink dispenser. There is also a water cooler. The room’s clean, painted in a non-descript cream colour, and there are prints of landscape paintings on the wall.

I help myself to a plastic cup of water, then turn to the prospect. It’s not hard to miss he has a gun in a shoulder holster, and from the way he’s standing, upright and on guard, I don’t doubt his ability to draw and use it should he need to. I dismiss my first impulse to overpower him, run out to my bike and take off for the hills. Having assessed him, in my weakened condition and unarmed state, I doubt I could take him.

I turn and look out of the window instead. There, tauntingly close, just the other side of the glass, I can see my Harley.

What the fuck is going on here? I again look around me, but there’s nothing to give any clues.

That woman, she must be some kind of tech expert to have hacked into my medical records so fast. Yet everyone knows Utah doesn’t have anyone with such skills. Maybe she’s a new employee? Or, perhaps they hide her as no one would want to admit to relying on a woman. It still seems odd she was seated around that table and not dismissed from the room when Pip was asking me questions.

She was pretty enough, enough to draw my attention to her certainly. Not an airhead either, nor afraid to speak up in the roomful of men. There was some edginess to her, and the hardened look on her face makes me wonder if part of her services are provided on her back. If so, I suspect she’d garner a lot of interest. Pip, himself, seemed quite tolerant of her, perhaps she’s his? Though, I didn’t get that vibe. She’s