Free Ridden (MC Club Biker Urban Alpha Male Erotic Romance) by Billie Kasper Page B

exit ramp.
     
    I didn’t do what he said.
     
    I waited three minutes to call the cops.

 
    Investigation
     
    Two State Police showed up an hour later. One was the usual boat of lard highway cop, complete with a stupid broad-rimmed hat and sunglasses. The other, however…
     
    Tall, blonde with close-cropped, gelled hair, and shoulders that seemed to go on for days. His partner was dressed like a slob but this blonde Adonis was clad in a perfectly pressed uniform, complete with a dark tie.
     
    “Hope? Hope Powell?” the blonde cop said as his partner took a look at the body in the parking lot.
     
    “That’s me,” I said, blushing as I realized that he was looking at my cleavage. I didn’t have a shirt to change into and part of me wanted to see if Slade was right about selling more stuff by showing off a little…
     
    “Are you all right?”
     
    “I… I think I am. It just all happened so quickly.”
     
    “I understand,” the cop said. He removed his sunglasses and offered me his hand. “I’m Officer James McGinn, State Highway Patrol. I’d like to ask you a few questions, if that’s all right.”
     
    “Oh, yeah, of course.”
     
    “So, you got a good look at the perpetrator, correct?”
     
    I nodded slowly, picking my words carefully.
     
    “I guess I did but I don’t remember too well… He was, you know… The usual biker type. Leather jacket. Jeans. Or were his pants leather too? I can’t remember.”
     
    McGinn laughed. “I understand. Did he buy anything here?”
     
    I nodded.
     
    “Yeah… A pack of cigarettes, some snacks, which he didn’t take with him… And a teddy bear.”
     
    Officer McGinn didn’t seem at all surprised by that last detail.
     
    “And, how did he pay?”
     
    “By card.”
     
    “Do you mind if I check your sales records?”
     
    Shit. Of course, they would get his name off the card. I had no choice but to let McGinn lead over my counter and play around with my register, pulling up the most recent sale. He was dangerously close to me, close enough that I could feel his warmth on my bared chest and smell his cologne—a seductive combination of sandalwood and something sweet which I couldn’t place.
     
    I watched him purse his lips as he worked and I couldn’t help but imagine kissing those lips. What would it be like to have my tongue between those soft, focused lips?
     
    “Hope? Hope?” McGinn said, jerking me out of my reverie.
     
    “Oh, yeah?”
     
    “Thanks, that should be all. I got the name from the card. It’s just as I suspected. It was Michael O’Connor.”
     
    “Oh… Do you know him?”
     
    “Sure do. He’s a member of the Black Widows—they’re a local bike club. They usually stick to low-level stuff, like drug dealing and extortion, but recently, there’ve been rumblings that they’re looking to make a play for more power in the area. The gun in a teddy bear—that’s their signature.”
     
    “Oh… So, was this, like… Gang warfare?”
     
    Officer McGinn grinned.
     
    “Actually, no. The victim, Clarence Boyle, he was an IG too. A real scum bag too. Sex offender, not allowed within five-hundred feet of a school. He ran a child pornography ring for a few years in Germany before joining up with the IGs. They’ve been trying to put him away for years but nothing would stick. Looks like O’Connor did our job for us.”
     
    So that was it.
     
    That’s why the man had to die.
     
    I knew, I just knew from Slade’s body language, from the way he approached Boyle, that this was a bad man, that this was justice. And here was my proof.
     
    “Actually, Ms. Powell, I do have one more question for you.”
     
    Again, I was snapped out my reverie.
     
    “Sure, what is it?”
     
    “What’s your phone number?”
     
    I blushed. Why would he want my number? Why would he need to call me? Was he hitting on me? Not that I was complaining… I definitely wouldn’t mind going out with this cute cop, and maybe doing more