Ruger sat at the large table in the center of the room at the rear of the clubhouse. The one set aside for club business. Sadist sat to his right, quiet and almost sullen, while Tuck leaned back in his seat, almost sprawled in his chair on the other side of Sadist. The three of them waited as the rest of the guys trailed in and sat down. Once everyone who was appearing was there, Crash stood and closed the door, locking it against intrusions.

Tuck scanned the faces around the table, making sure everyone’s attention was on him. “When’s the last time the room was swept?” He looked at Gizmo.

“I checked it this morning. We’re clean,” the younger man, and the club tech wizard, said with a nod.

“Good.” Tuck looked around as if gauging the mood of the room. “We’ve got some things we need to address, both new stuff and some already in the works.” He looked at Sadist. “Tell them.”

The vice president took a deep breath and began to speak. His usually happy, teasing manner gone, he looked much like he had a couple nights before when they’d been questioning the girls. “We’ve got a couple things that need attention.” His eyes scanned the room and stopped on one man. “Lurch, you and Mac are the point of contact for the coyote. We’ve got a shipment scheduled to be delivered tonight. Should be two. Get them to the safe house and taken care of. Take a couple more men if you need to. I need to feel out the new girls and see if any of them want to disappear. Any that do, we can drop off with the illegals to get them clear.” Sadist checked the paper in front of him then looked up again. “Watt, you and Crash are on the haul from Green Valley to Phoenix on Wednesday. I want no less than a half dozen on that ride. Make it look like a pleasure trip, get the shit delivered, and the cash back here. You know the drill.”

“I do,” Watt said with a nod.

“Good.” Sadist nodded then looked at Gizmo. “I want you to check over all the equipment before they leave. Check the truck and bikes before they head out tonight and again on Wednesday. Also, scan all the businesses this week. I want to be sure the only bugs in place are ours.”

“Got it,” the kid said. Gizmo had not yet hit twenty-five, but unless he tried to look older, most people guessed his age somewhere near seventeen.

“That’s it for this week. We’ve got several things coming up in the next couple weeks, though. A few bigger, most about the same size,” Sadist said, giving the meeting back to Tuck.

“All right, any more business concerns that need to be addressed?” Tuck looked at the group for input.

“I’m sure you’re aware of the loaner Ruger got for his girl, and I have no problem with it,” Mac said, holding his hands open in front of him. “I’d like to know what we know about this girl? Especially if he’s getting this serious about her. Is she gonna be a danger to us?”

Ruger resisted the urge to growl. Whenever any member got serious about a girl, the club had her checked out. He knew that, but he didn’t like anyone talking about Krissi like this. “Honestly, I don’t know a whole lot about her myself, but I’ve got no reason to think she’s anything but what she appears. A woman struggling to make a better life for herself.” He stopped and took a deep breath, fighting the urge to defend her without reason.

Tuck turned to Lurch. “Run a check on her, see what pops.”

“I’m gonna need her full name. DOB would be even better.”

“Krystal Montoya. That’s Krystal with a K. I’ve seen her driver’s license, but I can’t remember more. I’m not sure how I’ll get what you need, but I’ll figure it out.” Ruger wanted to say no, but he knew they needed the information.

“Get a pic of her driver’s license. Tell her it’s for insurance for the loaner,” Mac put in. “It’s not entirely untrue. We copy the license of everyone we loan our cars out to.”

Ruger looked at him a moment. “I can do that. I’ll snap a pic with my phone when I see her tonight.”

“Just be careful until we have the report back, all right?” Tuck said. “For all we know she could be a plant from another club trying to find out what we’ve got going on and how they can take over our operation.” Grumbles spread around the room, but Ruger ignored them. He’d been careful about what he’d said to her and would be until he had no doubts about her loyalty, no matter what Lurch’s check said. There was a little chatter as Tuck checked with the rest of the men and called the meeting to a close. Crash unlocked the door, and the men went about their business. Ruger went back to the bar to make sure things were ready for the evening.

* * *

Krissi slogged up the stairs, her purse and backpack over the same shoulder and her keys in her hand. She didn’t want to have to stand outside her door digging for keys if it could be avoided. At the door, she looked around, making sure there was no one lurking nearby, unlocked the door, and hurried inside. After locking the door behind her, Krissi hung her purse on the doorknob and went to the couch. Well, bed folded to use as a couch. Dropping her backpack next to her laptop on the coffee table, she collapsed on the futon and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Except for the drive home, she’d spent the last six hours on her feet, and now they ached. All of her hurt, though some of her twinges and pains were from something far more pleasurable than working all day. Smiling at the memory of what she’d done with Ruger the night before, and again that morning, she sat up and opened her bag. She needed to get her homework done before he called. With a deep breath, she pulled out her notebooks, opened the computer, and got to work.

* * *

Krissi’s phone rang at 11:15, making her jump. She’d turned it facedown when she’d started this essay, and between research and writing the cursed thing, she’d lost track of time.

“Hey.” She couldn’t keep the smile off her face once she saw Ruger’s name on the screen.

“Hey yourself. I take it this means you’re still up. Can I come over?”

“Yeah, I could stop for the night. Come on over.” She needed at least a little sleep tonight, and she would get some with him there, eventually.

“Great. I’ll be there in ten or fifteen minutes.”

“See you then.” Krissi hung up, closed her computer, and put the notebooks back in her bag for class the next day, and then quickly started straightening the barely more than one room apartment. It wasn’t bad. Mostly just as they’d left it that morning. In the kitchen, she washed the dishes from the night before and put them away. Glancing down, she realized she was still wearing her work clothes, and it occurred to her she should change, but into what? Should she put on something nice for Ruger or something comfortable to sit around in? Before she could decide, a knock sounded on her door. With a deep breath, she gave up the idea of changing and went to let him in. She opened the door and found him standing there, plastic bags dangling from one hand and a scowl on his face.

“You didn’t even check to be sure it was me again, did you?”

She gave him a vaguely sheepish smile but didn’t answer as she stepped aside to let him in. He stepped inside, moved to the small kitchen to one side of the entrance, and lifted the bags to the counter.

“I thought you might be hungry. And even if you’re not, I am, so I brought enough for us both.”

Krissi laughed and gave her head a slight shake. “You don’t have to feed me all the time. I get enough to eat.”

“But I like feeding you.” He pulled her up against his side with one arm and dropped a kiss on her mouth before turning back to the bags.

With a sigh, she gave in. “All right, what did you bring?”

He opened one bag, started pulling out boxes and setting them on the counter. “I wasn’t sure what you would like so I got a little bit of everything.”

Krissi opened a couple boxes then stopped. “This is a ton of food. There’s no way we can eat it all.”

“Yeah, eat what you want then we’ll have the rest as leftovers.”

She pulled a pair of plates from the cabinet, handed him one, and helped herself, filling her plate before taking it to the coffee table.

“How was your day?” Ruger sat beside her, setting his plate not far from hers on the short table.

“All right.”

“Is your boss always like that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Standing around watching you, scowling.”

“No, not always. Most of the time he’s not too bad when he’s even there. He isn’t usually. Normally he comes in once or twice a day to check on things, but something happened. I’m not sure what. And he was there all day long, watching everyone like a hawk.” She rolled her eyes. “It made for a long day, but this too shall pass. Whatever caused it will blow over, and things will go back to normal.” She shifted her butt, getting more comfortable. “How was your day? What did you do?”

“After I brought you the car, we had a meeting, then I covered the bar at Drifters until I decided it was a waste of time and money to stay open.”

“Anything important?”

“Yeah, but it’s club business, so I can’t share. Mac did remind me that I need to get a copy of your driver’s license, though.”

“Copy of my license?” She frowned, wondering why he would need it and why this Mac was asking about it.

“For the car. It’s standard. We get a copy of a license every time we loan a car. It’s an insurance thing.”

“Oh. But I don’t have a copier. How—?”

“We’ve got a copier at the shop if you want to stop by and let them run a copy. Or I can just take a picture of it, and we can print it out.”

“That would be easiest.” She leaned over and dug through her backpack for her wallet. After pulling it free, she slid it across the table. “Here.”

He took several pictures of the front then flipped it over and did the same of the back before pushing it in her direction. “Just in case one is too blurry to read.” He stuck his phone back in his pocket and continued eating. “After the meeting, I went to the bar. I spent a couple hours in my office then worked the bar most of the evening.”

“Do you work the bar often?”

“Not normally, but I had a bartender quit a couple weeks ago. We’re shorthanded until I can replace him, so I’m covering his hours.”

“On top of doing all the management?”

“Those are the perks of owning your own business,” Ruger said with a shrug.