Torched_ Afterburn - Shay Mara Page 0,16

a little less temperamental.”

Backed into a corner, she gave in. “I’ll ask Mike to reinstate the license.”

“And?”

“And there won’t be a criminal investigation.”

“And?”

She sighed and pulled out a checkbook from her purse. “Will three thousand cover the window?”

“Twenty.”

She glared at me with disgust. “Are you out of your mind? I don’t even have that much. Three thousand is being generous.”

“I got into your emails, what makes you think I didn’t check your bank accounts while I was at it? That’s only a third of your savings, I think I’m the one being generous here.”

“Ten,” she countered.

“You’re in no position to negotiate,” I pointed out. “I can make the videos go viral in five minutes. Twenty thousand in cash delivered to the clubhouse by the end of the day or the price goes up and I start leaking them one-by-one. You’ll also stop talking shit about your daughter all around town and stay out of her life if that’s what she wants. Same goes for Gellar. Don’t play with me, Jan. I’m a patient woman, but if you keep pushing your luck I’ll fucking bury you.”

Her eyes started watering. “Fine,” she finally mustered out.

I stepped to the side, smiled, and waved toward the street. “Have a nice day, Councilwoman. Pleasure doing business with you.”

She clutched her purse and raced down the stairs so fast I thought she’d face-plant.

I probably should have felt bad for extorting her, there was nothing wrong with whatever floated her kinky boat, but I’d had enough experience with hypocrites to know you had to cut them down to size to accomplish anything. It wasn’t about money; it was about coming to a preemptive understanding before she tried to pull this kind of shit again.

Feeling pretty damn good about putting the bitch in her place, I strolled across the street and headed for my bike. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and with Torch busy working away in the salvage yard, I had every intention of enjoying some time on two wheels.

Unfortunately, timing didn’t seem to be on my side this fine afternoon. As I stood next to my Harley and geared up, I spotted a disheveled and barely recognizable Nadia—a former club crawler who’d gotten herself kicked out after pissing off Torch one too many times—walking nervously toward me. There was hesitation in her steps and she kept alternating between staring at me and looking over her shoulder like she was weary of wayward Serpents roaming around.

Despite Torch’s assertion that Nadia had deserved excommunication for disrespecting me and not telling the club about a new drug hitting the streets when she started using it, I felt more bad for her than anything. Aside from her shooting me some nasty looks the few times we’d crossed paths at the clubhouse—which I chalked up to her feeling tossed aside—I couldn’t remember a single time we’d ever actually interacted. Torch had been completely upfront about their past arrangement and it hadn’t fazed me at all, so I had a feeling he’d been running on heightened emotions and acting like his usual, overprotective self when he’d made the call to boot her. I certainly hadn’t asked him to. Personally, Nadia struck me more as a butthurt woman than a hateful bitch, but the decision to welcome or ban someone from the clubhouse wasn’t mine to make. So, while I sometimes wondered what had happened to her after leaving the only life she’d known for years, I hadn’t brought it up.

Based on outward appearances, time hadn’t been treating her all that well, she looked completely beaten down. She was a naturally pretty girl but today her caramel hair was a mess, her eyes looked tired and red, and her clothes hung from a shrinking frame. I put my helmet back down on the seat and waited to see what she would do.

“Hi,” she croaked, her voice shaky. “I’m sorry to bother you. I know you’re probably not supposed to talk to me.”

I studied her face and caught myself scowling, more out of concern than anything. She looked like she needed a hug and a proper meal. “You’re not bothering me. What’s going on, Nadia? ”

“You remember my name?” she asked.

“I have a pretty good memory.”

Her eyes dropped to the ground. “I just wanted to say that I’m… I’m really sorry.”

“For what?”

“For almost getting you killed and Torch hurt. If I’d told them about the drugs, none of that stuff would’ve happened to you guys.”

“Nad—”

“I might’ve called you a bitch and a