THE BIKERS" BABE.
The Dirty Dozen.
Marla Monroe.
Chapter One.
Oh, h.e.l.l. Tina hated traffic stops. She always got a hard time about riding a bike. There had been nothing but problems the entire trip this time. What had she done to anger the trip G.o.ds? It should have been an uneventful ride from Los Angeles, California to Dal as, Texas. Instead she"d been plagued by pouring rain, a flat tire, and now a traffic stop out in the middle of b.u.mf.u.c.k New Mexico.
"License and registration."
She swal owed down the curse on the tip of her tongue.
"I need to pul over to dig out my registration."
"Got your license?" The highway patrolman seemed bored with his lot in life.
She pul ed out her wal et out of her back pocket and pul ed out her license. He studied it then walked off. He came back a few minutes later with another officer.
"Ma"am, need you to pul over there and get off the bike."
"Wel , d.a.m.n." She drove the bike over to the side of the highway and dismounted. She stood there waiting for what came next. At this point she wasn"t going to be surprised by anything they said.
"Take off your helmet please," the second officer said.
Tina unsnapped the chin strap and pul ed off the helmet. Her shoulder length auburn hair spil ed out when she did. She sat her helmet on the bike and waited. She just wished they would get whatever the hel they were worried about out in the open, so she could get on with her ride.
"Ma"am, do you have any other identification to prove who you are?"
Of al the things they could have said, this wasn"t one she would have thought of. No one had ever questioned who she was before. She sighed and pul ed her wal et back out and searched for her nursing license to hand to the officer. He looked at it and a half grin crawled over his mouth.
"You"re a nurse?"
"Yep. Just got finished working in Los Angeles. I"m on my way to Dal as, Texas."
"Okay, ma"am. Do you mind if we search your saddle bags?" The second officer seemed more serious than the first one.
"No, I don"t mind, but I want to know why first."
"We"re just randomly searching cars today."
"So the fact that I"m a female bike rider doesn"t have anything to do with it?" She was beginning to get angry now.
"Ma"am, we don"t single out anyone. We just randomly pick drivers."
The other officer was having a difficult time to keep from smiling. He obviously knew the other man was p.i.s.sing her off.
"Fine." She walked over and unlocked her bags. Let them paw through her clothes. Hopeful y she"d packed her tampons where they would find them.
"Now stand over there away from the bike," the second officer said motioning further off to the side of the road.
Tina complied, though reluctantly. Aw h.e.l.l, face it. She stomped over to the side of the road and waited with her arms crossed as they sifted through her things. When they seemed to be satisfied, they left it like it was and walked back over to her.
"Okay, ma"am, you"re free to go."
"Where"s my licenses?"
"Sorry, here you go." The first officer smiled and handed both to her.
She replaced them in her wal et and walked over to her bike to repack her things. They"d managed to muss them up pretty wel . Cursing al the time, she became aware of someone else cursing near her. She looked up and the two officers were hara.s.sing a gang of bikers now. She leaned back against her bike and enjoyed the show.
The first one, the one who seemed to be in charge, got up into the officer"s face. One of the others got off his bike and walked over toward the first one, but was held back by another one. She wouldn"t miss this for the world. Would the leader end up in cuffs or would he calm down?
After they exchanged some heated words, the leader of the bike gang pul ed out his wal et and handed the man two things. The officer looked at him then walked over to his car and grabbed his radio, she supposed to check the license. She wished she could hear everything, but the best she could come up with was that the leader was accusing the highway patrolmen of profiling, which was il egal.
When the second man being detained by one of the other officers looked her way, she gave him the thumbs-up. He gave it back to her. She rol ed her hair up and stuck her helmet back on. Then she threw her leg over her bike and started it with a roar. She pul ed off the side of the road and resumed her journey. She wasn"t on any type of time line since she hadn"t signed up for another job yet.
Tina worked as a travel nurse and only worked when she wanted to. When she wasn"t working, she rode around the US, exploring and general y enjoying the freedom of not having anything to tie her down.
She"d decided on Dal as since she hadn"t actual y worked there before. It sounded like a good large city to get lost in for a couple of days.
Her stomach rumbled. She decided to pul off at the next truck stop and grab a bite to eat. Breakfast had been a long five hours ago. It was after noon and most of the places should be cleared out by now. She took the next exit that promised food and gas.
As truck stops went, it appeared to be a large one, and had a diner. She ga.s.sed up, then washed her hands and grabbed a seat near the back so she could watch people come and go. She loved to people watch. There were al sorts of strange characters that stopped at truck stops. She guessed she could be cla.s.sified as one of them.
Not long after she"d given her order, the roar of bikes drew her attention, and the same gang that had been stopped behind her pul ed in and parked next to her bike. They didn"t seem to pay her bike any attention, so she ignored them and sipped her diet cola. She needed to decide where she wanted to work next. Dal as wasn"t out of the question, but she thought maybe a smal er city for a change.
Right, you"ll be bored inside for hours at a smaller emergency room. Go for Dallas.
She sighed and figured she"d look around at the city first, then decide. Her agent was always trying to get her to Dal as or New York. The money was good in those two places. But then, the money had been good in Los Angeles as wel . She"d just gotten tired of it and wanted something different.
The bikers walked into the diner. The waitress hurriedly moved several tables together to accommodate them. They smiled and thanked her. Then they took their seats. The leader didn"t sit at the head of the table as she"d expected. He sat near the middle along with the guy who"d started to walk up next to him and had been detained. The second guy looked up and met her gaze. He smiled and got up.
s.h.i.t, he was going to come over to where she was. Why had she stared at him?
"Hi, seems like we have a lot in common." He held out his hand. "My name"s Zack."
"Nice to meet you, Zack. I"m Tina. What do we have in common?"
"You ride a bike, I ride a bike. You got pul ed over by the Highway Patrol, and so did we." Zack took a seat without asking her.
"So, where are you headed?"
"Texas," she said, being deliberately vague.
"Texas is a big state," he said.
Before she could answer, the leader walked up. He smiled and held out his hand.
"Hi, I"m Cole."
"This is Tina, she"s headed to the big state of Texas." Zack introduced her to Cole.
"Pleased to meet you. Whereabouts in Texas? We"re headed to Dal as."
"Real y? Huh. So am I."
"There"s strength in numbers, why not ride with us?" Zack asked.
Cole watched her face careful y. She wondered what he was thinking. Did he like the fact that Zack had invited her to ride with them, or was he going to rip him a new one when they got back to their table?
"Thanks for asking, but I like to keep to myself." She smiled, looking up at them.
"Understand." Cole nudged Zack. "I ordered for you. Coffee is going to get cold.
"Good to meet you," Zack said and fol owed Cole back to their table.
The waitress dropped off her plate of food and a fresh diet cola on her way to the bikers" table. Tina dug in. She was starved, but continued to think about the two men.
Zack seemed to be in tight with Cole so she figured they were leader and his first. Zack was tal , about six feet five inches of solid muscle if the way his T-shirt caressed his upper body was any indication. Then there was the way his jeans fit his tight a.s.s and equal y muscular legs. Not to mention the generous package between his legs. What she wouldn"t give to sample that.
He had shoulder-length, rich brown hair the color of mink. His eyes fascinated her with their green and brown flakes with hints of gold in them. She could probably stare at him al day. He had a smal scar at the corner of his left eye that only added character to his otherwise handsome face.
Then there was the leader, Cole. Talk, dark, and handsome fit him to a tee. He was a couple of inches tal er than Zack, with a narrow waist that tapered from his wide chest and broad shoulders. He had long, black hair, darker than anything she"d ever seen. It was so black that it had blue highlights. It fel between his shoulders, and he had it pul ed back at the nape of his neck.
Solid black eyes gave him a dangerous look, as did the slight crook of his nose where it had been broken at some point in his life. Like Zack, it only gave his face character. The man, in a word, was beautiful. She hadn"t had time to check out his fifth appendage, but she could dream that he had a c.o.c.k the size of a horse and leave it at that.
She had a hard time not looking their way. She made herself concentrate on eating. Once her food was gone, she had to wait on the waitress for the check. Her eyes strayed their way constantly. The entire group didn"t look like any biker gang she"d ever seen before outside of a weekend businessman"s club. These men just didn"t look the type to be weekenders.
Final y, the waitress brought her check. She peeled off her payment and left a generous tip before walking over to the register to pay. She could feel eyes on her back. Her neck burned, and that was saying something, since she was used to being stared at. Normal y it didn"t faze her, but today, with these men, it got her hot. She liked that she"d garnered their attention.
Tina picked up some bottled water, a few snacks, and headed back to her bike. She"d just loaded up and was about to rol her hair up into her helmet when Cole and Zack approached her again.
"Look, I know you don"t know us from Adam, but there"s a serial kil er on this road preying on women at truck stops and rest stops. That was the real reason behind the f.u.c.king traffic stop. It real y would be safer for you to ride with us. We won"t bother you. I promise." Zack seemed sincere.
"Why haven"t I heard about this so-cal ed serial kil er before now?" She held her helmet in front of her.
"It just hit the papers today. Have you read the headlines?" Cole asked.
"Haven"t looked at a paper since I got on the road. Do you have one?"
"Yeah, hold on." Zack walked over to his bike and unlocked the saddlebag. He pul ed out a paper then locked it back.
"Here you go." He handed it to her.
Tina unfolded the paper and sighed. There in the headlines was the article about a serial kil er on the loose preying on women in the general area where she was going to be riding. She wasn"t crazy. She knew better than to think it couldn"t happen to her. Being in such good shape with a black belt in karate wouldn"t help her either. Nothing ever went like you planned. With the way her luck had been running this trip, she"d land right in his hands. f.u.c.k!
"I believe you about the serial kil er now, but I"m not sure about riding with you guys. Seems like I"m outnumbered. There are, what, eight of you?" she asked.
"Yeah, but we"re al gentlemen for the most part. We can get a bit rowdy from time to time, but we aren"t a typical biker gang." Cole settled his hands on his hips.
The rest of the gang began walking out of the truck stop, talking. They didn"t pay her any mind but continued to their bikes. She wasn"t sure what to do.
Better the devil you sort of know to the one you don"t know at all? Tina sighed and nodded.
"Fine. I"l ride with you as long as you al behave and leave me alone. I"m not a roadie or a biker babe."
"Understood. We"l be ready to head out in a few minutes." Cole walked away to confer with his friends. She guessed it was a nicer word than gang.
Zack, on the other hand, stuck around. He seemed comfortable just looking at her.
"What? Do I have something on my face?"
"Nope, you"re real y pretty. I love your hair and wonder what it would feel like splayed across my-chest." He hesitated at the word chest, making her think he was thinking a whole different part of his anatomy.
"You"re tel ing me you"l be on your best behavior one minute and talking dirty to me the next? What am I supposed to think of that?"
"That I want you, but I"l behave as long as you want me to."
"You"re an arrogant b.a.s.t.a.r.d, aren"t you," she said, smiling because she couldn"t help it.
"I"ve been cal ed one before," he said.
"So, if I were to take you up on your, um, unofficial offer, what could I expect? Wham, bam, thank you, ma"am?"
"Ah, hel no. I"d lick you from one end of your body to the next then start over again. Cole would settle between your legs while I sucked your t.i.ts."
"Whoa, there. I thought we were talking about you. Where does Cole come into this?"
"He"s my partner in crime. We share."
"So, you"re, like, bis.e.xual?"
"f.u.c.k! No, we"re not. We"re al hetero. But we like to share our women."
"I guess I don"t get it."
"Give us a test drive and you"l get it just fine." He smiled and winked before walking away.