Dammit. Had she imagined seeing the Fists logo on that vest?
She tried to train her vision on where she’d last seen him, but he’d been swallowed up by the throng of people and she had customers clamoring for drinks. So she turned her attention back to the bar, and that’s when she saw them come through the front door.
Fists. A dozen of them at least, pushing through with a group of other bikers, their insignias easy to spot on the backs of their leather vests.
They were here! Her heart climbed up into her throat and her palms began to sweat as she struggled to fill drink orders and keep her eye on the group of Fists at the same time.
They didn’t stop at her bar, which was probably a good thing because she didn’t want to risk being recognized. It was also a bad thing because they’d moved clear to the other side of the room, where there was an exit door. What if they just came in and left right away?
She leaned over and whispered to Claudia, the woman tending bar next to her, “I’ll be back in a sec.”
Claudia nodded and didn’t even look up from her task of popping the tops off four bottles of beer. Teresa bowed up from behind the bar as unobtrusively as possible and made a circle around the dance floor. She knew the Fists—they wouldn’t be out on the dance floor. They’d be belly up where the beer and whiskey were plentiful, so she wound her way to the bar at the back of the club. No sign of them there, so she had to fight her way through the crowd to reach the bar located opposite the one she worked and near the other door.
That’s when she spotted them, all huddled together like a group of cattle, throwing back shots like they were dying of thirst, and following those up by guzzling down their beers.
She stayed in the background and studied their faces, tattoos and necks. Dammit, none of them was the guy she was looking for. But wherever the Fists were, she knew he’d be close by. He had to be.
So when they started to head out the door, panic set in. She waited until the last one was out and the door closed, then rushed to the bar where Sandy was working.
“I have an emergency. I need to head out.”
“One of your fellas?” Sandy asked, clearly concerned.
Teresa hated lying to her, but she nodded. “Yeah.”
Sandy laid her hand on top of Teresa’s. “I hope he’s okay. You go on. We’ll manage.”
Guilt slammed into her stomach, but she pushed it aside, sprang through the door and headed for her bike. Fortunately she had a good spot, and she climbed on, jumped on the throttle and headed out into the street in search of the Fists. They could still be on foot, or maybe they’d wandered into another bar. In this crowd of bikers she might not—
There they were, pulling out from one of the side streets and heading out of town. Grateful to have spotted them, she inhaled a deep breath and willed herself to relax. Now all she had to do was lay back a little, let a few bikers get between them and her, see if they picked up more Fists and figure out where they were going. She thanked the half million bikers at this event because it made it easier for her to blend in as she followed.
After about twenty minutes of heading up into the hills, the Fists pulled into what looked like a small, well-hidden campground in the middle of forest. Teresa stayed back at the entrance since you had to pay to enter. Instead, she rode just ahead, where she pulled into a lot—more of a scenic overview, really—that overlooked the camping area and the hills. She climbed off her bike and wandered around, trying to look like a tourist, even took out her cell phone and pretended to be taking night shots—of what, she had no idea since her cell would take crappy shots at night, but the overview was well lit and the craggy rocks rising up on the other side were spectacular for photos, so it would appear like she had a good reason for being there. And she wasn’t alone, lots of other people were enjoying the view despite the late hour. She meandered over to the edge of the lot and peered down at the campsite.
Unfortunately, it was dark and she couldn’t see a damn thing other than a few campfires and some lanterns. She had no way of knowing where the Fists had set up camp or even if they were actually camped there.
She blew out a breath of frustration and resigned herself to the fact she was going to have to call in reinforcements. Pax and AJ weren’t going to be happy that she hadn’t stayed put at the bar, but what was she supposed to have done? Let the Fists walk out of there and chance never figuring out where they’d gone?
She punched in AJ’s number.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, SHE ISN’T IN THERE?” PAX SHOT a glare at AJ as he exited the bar and rounded toward his bike.
“She’s not at the bar. The owner said she took off because one of us had an emergency of some sort.”
Pax crossed his arms. “That makes no f**king sense. So why the hell did she leave the bar?”
AJ shook his head. “No clue. Her bike isn’t parked where she left it when we were here earlier, so she’s obviously taken off.”
“Son of a bitch.”
AJ knew exactly how Pax felt. He was worried about Teresa. She should have known better than to leave by herself. And what reason could she have had for doing that? “You don’t suppose the Fists found her and hauled her out of there, do you?” he asked.
“No. She’d have put up a fight in front of a lot of witnesses. There’s no way she’d have let that happen without causing enough of a fuss that others would have put a stop to it.”
AJ nodded. “You’re right. So why else would she leave?”
His phone vibrated and he pulled it out of his chaps, relieved when he saw Teresa’s number come up. “Where the hell are you?”
“I knew you were going to be mad at me. I found the Fists.”
He wasn’t mad. He was relieved she was okay. “Where are you? Where are they?”
She told him what had happened and her location.
“Don’t move, and for God’s sake, don’t attempt to contact them until we get there.”
AJ closed the phone and shoved it back into his jacket pocket.
“What?” Pax asked. “She okay?”
“Yeah. She’s fine. A dozen or so Fists showed up in the bar. When they left, she followed them to a campground about thirty minutes from here.”
“Oh.”
“That’s all you have to say is oh?”
“Well, I don’t really like her going off on her own, but it was a smart move on her part.”