Wrong Place To Fall In Love

I closed my eyes and took him in. The taste of good scotch. The feeling of his body, hard and muscular, pressing against me. His arms, strong and powerful, circling around me. The intoxicating scent that was purely him, musk and spice and the smell of desert sage on his clothes.

He was forceful but gentle. His lips pressed hard against mine in a possessive way I'd never felt before. His arms gripped me to him, and I felt completely safe and surrounded as I opened my mouth to him.

His tongue found mine, and scotch and wine mixed as we kissed long and slow.

Long and slow gradually turned into feverish and intense.

His hands clutched at my lower back... then lower, cupping my ass.

On this particular occasion, I didn't mind. At all.

I luxuriated in the feel of him. The warmth of his skin on mine... those big, strong arms... that massive chest...

...and a firm, thick pressure in his pants, pressed against my belly.

I could feel his cock beneath his jeans.

It was... big. I couldn't tell how big, exactly, but it seemed a good bit more than I'd ever encountered before.

And it was getting larger by the second.

I ground my body against him, wanting to feel the size of it, the hardness of it.

I was rewarded.

I could feel it move with each pulse of his heartbeat, going from off to the side to fully erect, hard and thick against my body.

Jesus I wanted to feel it.

Wanted to feel it in my hand... in my mouth...

...inside me.

But a tiny, soft voice – what little logical thought still remained in my brain – called out from the depths of my consciousness.

No.

You're not here for this.

You're here for Ali.

I almost gave in. I even raised my mouth to his.

But the image of Ali, 26 years old and full of life, swam up in front of my eyes – and I turned away at the last minute.

"No, I can't," I whispered.

He didn't listen. He pressed harder, kissing my neck, biting my ear, wrapping me hard in his arms.

I wanted him – I wanted him so bad – I wanted him to fuck me, to make me forget the pain –

But the pain was why I was here.

I struggled and pushed away. "No!"

********************************************

My name is Fiona Christensen. I'm 27 years old and a former private investigator.

I say 'former' because I left my job the day the Richards, California police department filed my cousin's murder away as a cold case.

Ali was my best friend growing up. She was the wild child, the black sheep of the family. She was into drugs, wild living, and dangerous men – but I loved her no matter what. Even when she was strung out, I sent her money, mostly because I didn't want her selling herself on the street. I worried for years that I was enabling her, that maybe I would be the cause of her death.

Instead, she died from a gunshot wound in a back alley at the age of 26.

The last thing she'd told me before she died was she had a new boyfriend. A member of a local motorcycle club called the Midnight Riders. She wouldn't reveal his name, though – perhaps out of fear, perhaps because she knew they were into some pretty rough stuff.

I told the Richards Police Department. I begged them to follow it up, and then I ripped them a new asshole when they stonewalled me.

Turns out that the Midnight Riders basically own the town of Richards. The Police Department was either on their payroll or didn't have the balls to take them down.

So I turned in my notice, got in my Mustang, and drove north.

I was going to avenge my cousin's murder all on my own.

What I didn't expect was to fall in love with a man who might have known the killer... or maybe even been the killer himself.

I'd gone to Los Angeles at 24 to be an actress, but surprisingly (note the sarcasm) I didn't get my big break in the first six months. After my savings ran out, I started looking around for ways to pay the rent.

All my new actor friends were waiting tables or tending bar. I wanted something a little less mind-numbing, a little less cliché, a little more exciting.

I got it from an ad in the back of the LA Weekly, the local indie paper.

No, not that kind of an ad.

It was for a private detective agency.

I started working for a cranky old-timer named Sid. He looked like a cue ball with coke-bottle thick glasses, and tended to make Yogi Berra-type pronouncements.

"I'd like to give ya a raise, kid, but raises are like raisins – they don't grow on trees."

"I'd do somethin' if I could do somethin', but I can't do nothin', so you go an' do it and quit botherin' me about it."

I mostly did surveillance on celebrity cheaters, providing photographs and videos for multimillion dollar divorces. I even got to use my acting chops a couple of times on the job, though those occasions were few and far between.

The work was usually boring. Lots of stakeouts, which might sound cool to the uninitiated, but it basically equated to hanging outside apartments in my car for twelve hours at a time, eating lots of junk food, and almost bursting from not being able to pee.

But I learned mental discipline. And I learned even more from Sid. All of that would stand me in good stead when I went to search for my cousin's murderer.

Ali died a month after I turned 26. A year later, the detective on the case finally admitted they were filing it away.

I told Sid my plans that afternoon. He was supportive – though in a typically Sid-like fashion.

"Kid, yer dumb as rocks, but yer one up on 'em, cuz most of them guys are dumb as shit. But they're mean as junkyard dogs, so just make sure ya don't get killed. If ya get yer man, come back to see me, ya always got a job here."

For Sid, that was actually really touching.

"Thanks," I said.

"Call me if you need anything. Anything at all." He paused, then added, "'Cept for money. A penny saved is a penny I ain't gonna loan ya."

I grinned. Pure Sid.

"Gotcha."

"And take yer .38. Always keep it on ya so you always got it on ya."

"Already ahead of you, Sid," I said, yanking up my shirt to show it tucked in the back of my jeans.

That was the last thing I said as I left the shop.

Richards, California. Town of roughly 100,000, a couple hours north of LA.

I rolled into town around 6PM. First I stashed my stuff in a no-tell motel for the night and got a bite to eat at a chain restaurant. Then I started driving around the wrong side of the tracks, looking for motorcycles.

I found them, all right – although I didn't hit the mother lode until after midnight.

The main attraction seemed to be a strip club called the Seven Veils. Boxy brick building all by itself on a corner in an industrial section of the city. Lots of motorcycles out front, and a good number of dudes with leather kuttes. For those of you who don't know, a kutte is basically a 'cut-off' – a leather or denim jacket with the sleeves cut off.

Not all of them sported the Midnight Riders insignia – a skull with two pistols behind it, with a Bowie knife piercing the top of its head – but enough did for me to take notice.

I watched for hours until the place shut down at two in the morning. Then I followed at a safe distance as a dozen Midnight Riders made their way to a dive bar called the Roadhouse, out on a deserted stretch of highway. Two AM was supposed to be last call – but apparently this one wasn't 'technically' in business after 2. Either that or they just didn't give a shit, because the bikers whooped it up inside for a good couple of hours. They were still going hard when I finally decided to turn in. After all, I had to apply for a job the next day.

After sleeping until 10AM, I backtracked to the Seven Veils and waited out front for a sign of life. The first employee didn't roll in until 11. He was a big, ugly, bald bruiser in a wife beater and jeans.

"Hey," I said as I walked up.

He eyed me like I was a puddle of vomit in the street. "What do you want?"

"A job."

Now he looked me up and down like he was inspecting a slab of meat. "You get paid on tips only. $10 to the DJ, $10 per bouncer, $40 house fees – per shift."

It took me a second to register what he was talking about. "No – not as a dancer. A serving job."

He laughed, a sound utterly without humor. "Strip or fuck off, bitch."

I wanted to plant my foot in his crotch at about 60 miles per hour, but I needed an insider's vantage point of the motorcycle club.

"You don't have any serving jobs?"

"Strip or fuck OFF, bitch," he repeated.

Now I wanted to smash his teeth in with the barrel of my .38 – but I kept cool and just walked away.

I don't judge any woman who wants to earn a living taking her clothes off, but it wasn't for me.

Especially not with a fucktard like that for a boss.

I wondered if my refusal to be a stripper meant I was less than 100% committed to finding Ali's killer... but I told myself that it was the first place I'd looked. And that there was no guarantee it was a good recon spot, anyway.

Plus, I still had options.

The options quickly ran out. When I went by the Roadhouse, an even uglier dude with a foot-long beard and a bandana around his head told me that there weren't any jobs – but he'd be happy to fuck me in the bathroom.

I left even faster than I did at the strip club.

I reassessed my game plan.

I could try to get a bartending job. Not to brag, but I'm not hard on the eyes, especially in a low-cut t-shirt. But then my nights would be tied up, and I needed to be free to do recon.

Office job? No go. I could type about ten words per minute, if that. And a private investigator job was out of the question. Not if I wanted to infiltrate a gang.

I had about five grand saved, but it wouldn't last forever – and I would look reaallly suspicious if I were just hanging around with nothing to do all day except shadow bikers. So I settled for the standby of every young woman who comes to a new town with stars in her eyes, then abruptly falls hard onto reality, the most unforgiving surface of all.

I got a waitressing job.

"Charlie's" was a greasy-spoon diner on the wrong side of the tracks. I figured they probably saw every disreputable type come in there, so why not? What better way to find out about the seedy underbelly of a town than to serve them breakfast and lunch?

Turns out I was more right than I knew.

I started the day after I applied. My coworkers were older women, sassy types who flirted with the regulars. The customers cut a broad swath: truckers, lots of blue collar workers, and a handful of seedier types who looked like they might be working off some sort of chemical bender.

I mostly kept to myself. I didn't give a damn about tips; I was there to earn a few bucks and keep my eyes open.

They were open wide when he walked in.

It was Wednesday morning, 7 AM, and I was half-dead from staking out the Seven Veils the night before.

Suddenly in walked two of the most incredibly attractive men I'd ever seen in my life.

One was young, probably mid-twenties. Long, blond hair to his shoulders, clean-cut face with incredible cheekbones, six foot one, body like a college football running back. He had dead eyes and a humorless face.

He was hot enough, though his cold exterior made him off-putting. But the second guy...

...daaaaaaaamn.

He was older, probably early thirties. Short haircut, neatly trimmed beard in a Hollywoodian style. (Not Hollywood; Hollywoodian. It's a thing, go look it up. And look at George Clooney or Ryan Gosling instead of the other dudes on Google Images.)

Full sleeves of tats down his arms, done in basic black – some menacing, all surprisingly artistic. Six foot two or three. He had piercing blue eyes, dark brown hair, suntanned skin, broad shoulders, a muscular frame, and a face that could have been selling Armani suits in a GQ spread. He looked like Gerard Butler in the movie 300 – Leonidas, king of the Spartans.

And just like Leonidas in that movie, he walked with authority. He exuded power – but quietly. The barest hint of swagger, but nothing ostentatious. The way a man would walk into a room if he knew he owned it, and everyone in it, but didn't need to prove it to anybody.

Which was odd, because this wasn't much of a royal court, and they weren't dressed particularly well. The blond 20-something wore blue mechanic's coveralls that were obviously from the beginning of the shift, because they didn't have a trace of oil or grime on them – yet. The 30-something dude was dressed in navy pants and a navy shirt, like he was management at the same place. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing off his tats and his muscular forearms. Both of their uniforms sported patches that said, "Pollari's Body Shop."

He caught my eye as he strolled past, and there was a twinkle there. His eyes crinkled in a friendly manner as he smiled, and he even swiveled his head a little as he walked past me to take me in.

As for me, I couldn't take my eyes off him. I was used to seeing pretty boys all the time in LA. It took me a little by surprise to see a hot-as-hell, grown-ass man.

Then he was past, and he and the mechanic sat in a far booth. Vera, one of the older waitresses, went over to take their orders. The blond Viking was still cold and aloof, but the brown-haired guy was courteous, if not exactly talkative. Once their orders were in, they hunched over the table and talked in whispers, as though they were planning something momentous.

I kept my eyes on them, especially on Mr. Spartan – mostly because I couldn't tear them away. The leader (that's how I thought of the older guy, and that's how the younger guy treated him) was just too damn hot, and the rest of my existence just too damn boring, to do anything else.

He even caught me checking him out a couple of times. Every single time, I quickly turned away like I was back in 7th grade and the popular boy had caught me staring. I even blushed a little, but I think having my back turned hid that.

I tried to keep my mind on other things, but there weren't any Midnight Riders club members to spy on, and any other lowlifes in the joint were spectacularly uninteresting.

Especially the one who was currently irritating me the most.

"Hey sugar tits," he drawled, "gimme some damn coffee."

As the new girl, I had to work the counter. The counter was usually single men, the tips were crap, and you tended to draw the most charming elements of the human species. This particular Neanderthal was an overweight trucker with greasy hair and a nose redder than Rudolph's, probably from rotgut whiskey. He smelled like he hadn't had a shower in weeks. His baseball cap sported the silhouette of one of those mudflap stripper girls next to the words I'D RATHER BE FUCKIN'.

I walked over and grabbed the coffee pot off the burner. "My name's not Sugar Tits. Anything else?"

"Yeah," he leered as he chewed with his mouth open. "Where's a good place to get me some strange?"

For any of you not conversant in Lowlife, he was inquiring where he could hire a female companion by the hour.

"I wouldn't know," I said.

I could feel his gaze roving up and down me like something cold and slimy. "I'm thinkin' I could maybe get it right here."

I gave him the same look I'd give a dog licking its own butt. "You'd be wrong."

"Don't be like that – I know you like what you see," he said, some of his over-easy eggs dribbling out onto his beard.

I'd like to cold-cock you with this coffee pot, I wanted to say. I'd LOVE to see THAT.

But I didn't make any comment, just finished filling his cup. I was about to move on when he grabbed my wrist in his ham-sized fist.

"I'd show you a good time," he grinned.

I got perilously close to slamming him upside the head with the pot, just like in my fantasy, but instead I used my Krav Maga training. Krav Maga is a martial art invented for the Israeli army and Mossad (Israel's equivalent of the CIA), and it was designed to be fast and lethal. The national training center is in LA. Once I decided on a part-time gig as a private investigator, I took classes for two years... just in case.

Never actually used it on the PI job – but it came in handy here.

The problem with trying to get out of the trucker's grip was that he was as big as an ox, and I was small – especially compared to him. My arm wasn't going to be able to overcome his gorilla-like grip. But when I put my arm against my body and used my upper torso as leverage, I was able to break against his fingers – which were much weaker. Especially when I dipped down and used the counter as an obstacle against him. His forearm couldn't go lower than the counter, but I could.

I braced my arm against my body, dipped, and spun. Came out of his grasp like a newly caught fish slipping out of a greasy hand.

"No thanks," I said, and moved past.

I'd apparently bruised his ego.

"You uppity little bitch," he snarled, and stood up on the other side of the counter. "Think you're hot shit? You're ugly as fuck, you stupid – "

And then he called me the See You Next Tuesday word.

I spun around, about to douse him with 150 degree liquid, job or no job –

But King Leonidas was already there.

I hadn't seen him walk up, but as soon as I turned around, he was standing behind the trucker.

He didn't put a hand on the Neanderthal, but his presence was overpowering. Like the Grim Reaper had suddenly decided to make an appearance.

"That's it, friend. Time to go," he said.

Damn, that voice.

Low, rumbling, powerful. Authority personified.

The voice of a king.

Sexy as hell.

The trucker turned in surprise, then scowled in contempt. He was a good hundred pounds heavier, if an inch or two shorter. "Get the fuck outta my face, asswipe."

The entire diner went quiet. I mean, silent. A pin drop would have sounded like a crowbar on china.

Over at the booth, the blond mechanic got up from his seat.

Leonidas put up a hand without looking behind him. Be cool.

The blond guy stood but didn't move from his spot... though he focused on the trucker like a Secret Service agent watching a jittery meth head at a presidential rally.

"I don't want any trouble," I said aloud. My voice was calm, though adrenaline was pumping through my veins.

"No trouble, miss," the king said, though he didn't take his eyes off the trucker. "But nobody disrespects a lady like that in my presence."

Okay, I'm a modern woman, with modern sensibilities. I don't think anybody's ever called me a lady unless they were twelve years old or younger. And then it was, Hey lady, you dropped somethin'!

Half of me – the feminist half – was like, Don't call me 'lady,' and I can take care of myself.

The other half was like, Swoon!

The king took no notice. He just stood there, expressionless, staring at the trucker. Without looking, he pulled a fat wad of bills wrapped in a rubber band out of his pocket, stripped off two twenties, and set them on the counter.

"There," he said, cool as ice. "You're all paid for. Time to move on."

"Fuck you, jack," the trucker spat. "I'll leave when I wanna fuckin' leave."

"You'll leave now," the king said, and put one hand on the trucker's arm.

That did it.

The trucker reared his arm back and swung –

The king sidestepped easily and punched the trucker right in his oversized gut.

Mr. Neanderthal doubled over. From the way his eyes bugged out, it seemed like his eggs over easy were about to come up.

But that wasn't the end of it. Oh no.

The tattooed king grabbed the trucker by his greasy hair, spun him around, and SLAMMED his head down on the counter – once, twice, three times.

BAM, BAM, BAM!

Dude's baseball cap came off in his plate of eggs.

The king grabbed the hat, wrenched the trucker around, and frog-marched him out of the diner's front door. As a final send-off, Leonidas kicked the trucker right in the ass and sent him sprawling onto the asphalt parking lot. For good measure, he flicked the eggy baseball cap on top of the trucker's body.

"Don't come back," the king ordered, then turned around and headed inside to raucous applause from everyone inside – except me and the blond Viking.

Leonidas nodded to the diners, accepting their show of approval but tacitly letting them know Show's over. Everybody turned back to their bacon and eggs, their mood much improved.

He walked over to the counter, grabbed a couple of napkins out of the dispenser, and wiped his hands like he'd touched something distasteful. Which he had.

"Thank you," I said coolly. "But I could have handled it."

He looked up at me and grinned. The crinkle at the corner of his eyes – the slight smirk in his lips – the twinkle of those baby blues –

Damn if it didn't make me weak-kneed.

"I'm sure you could have," he said, not mocking me, just agreeing.

"You overpaid," I said, sliding his two twenties towards him across the counter.

"Keep it," he said, still smiling merrily, and turned to the door. By now the stone-faced blond guy had walked up.

"It's too much," I called after him.

"Not for having to put up with assholes," he said, throwing me one last smile over his shoulder –

And a wink.

My heart skipped a beat.

And then he and his right-hand man were gone.

As they walked across the parking lot, the trucker scrabbled away from them across the asphalt like a rat afraid of a wolf.

I watched them go, waaaay more turned on than was appropriate.

"Damn, honey," sassy 50-year-old Vera said at my elbow. "When life goes handin' you chocolate, don't go makin' lemonade."

I frowned at her. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means, when Jack Pollari steps up like a white knight, don't go throwin' it back in his face."

"Who the hell's Jack Pollari?" I asked.

Another waitress named Rose shook her head as she walked past. "Dumb as a thumb."

I scowled at the comment and looked back at Vera. "What was that all about?"

Vera sighed. "The guy who just stepped up for you was Jack Pollari."

"So?"

Vera leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "So he's probably the most powerful man in this town."

I did a double-take at the two figures crossing the street. They were walking towards a parking lot and one-story building filled with mechanic's bays. All around the parking lot was a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Not coincidentally, the sign out front said "Pollari's Body Shop."

"That guy?" I scoffed. "That guy's a mechanic."

Vera's lowered voice dropped to a whisper. "That guy's the head of the Midnight Riders motorcycle gang, and you'd be wise not to cross him."

Holy shit.

Jackpot.

Fate – or maybe Ali, lending a helping hand – had put me in exactly the right place at the right time.

Now all I had to do was figure out how to use it to my advantage.