Devil’s Vengeance (Devil’s Disciples MC #6)

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

MARIAH

A few days was all I needed to fall back into my routine and stop jumping every time I walked to my car at the end of the day. I even went back to my weekend shifts, since Regina needed those off to take care of her sick husband. The weekends were busier, which meant more people, but it actually worked for me. I was too busy to stress over it, and Saturday came and went without issue. I expected the same for Sunday.

Since Sunday mornings were usually quiet, I left the desk to deal with the pile of returns we’d accumulated from the day before. I smiled when a few of my favorites popped up in the pile. You might not think a tiny town like ours would have much of a fan base for smutty dark romance, but you’d be surprised. There was even a book club I went to once a month to discuss new releases. I always went out of my way to order the new releases I knew the club would love so they could get it when it first released.

The romance section was close to the computers, so I could see someone new came inside. There were a couple of regulars each week, a teen whose mom monitored his home computer and liked his privacy, and an old man I had to walk through emailing his grandkids every weekend. I was expecting one of them. I wasn’t expecting who actually sat down behind one of the computers.

He looked exactly like I remembered him. Short dirty blonde hair, baby blue eyes. Without the leather vest, he’d look like any other guy. Not too tall, but not short either. Built like an athlete without being overly wide. He wasn’t terrifying, like some of the crew I’d seen when we were rescued. He had one of those boy next door kind of faces. There was a light amount of stubble on his jaw, which added just a hint of ruggedness, but no obvious tattoos or anything. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was just your average cute guy with an affinity for leather.

“Chase?”

His head snapped up and for a second, he looked fierce, like he was ready to start a fight. That’s when I noticed the bruising. It covered half his face, like he’d gotten into a fist fight and lost. I wasn’t stupid enough to ask about it. When his eyes landed on me, he frowned, looking around like he’d expected someone else. His posture stayed tense, even when he realized it was just me. There was nothing on his face that showed that he recognized me. Which was fair. He’d been shot and injured and fighting for his life and everyone else’s in that truck the last time we met. Didn’t mean it didn’t sting a little.

“Yeah?”

“I, uh…” I hesitated, glancing around, but it was just us. Oh good. I didn't need the entire world knowing what happened. It was hard enough explaining it to my family and friends. “My name is Mariah. I was in the group that was in the truck that was almost trafficked? You saved my life.”

His eyes narrowed for a second before he shook his head. “No, I didn’t. Lacey did all the work. If you want to thank someone, you should be thanking her.”

“I wanted to,” I admitted. “She was gone from the hospital before I got the chance and the only strip club in town got burnt down, so I wasn’t even sure where to look.” I pressed my lips together tightly and shrugged. “The only real information I knew was the connection to your club, and I didn’t think it was safe to knock on the front door. No offense.”

He didn’t respond beyond a nod, showing he understood my hesitation. His gaze flicked to the screen again and back to me. He obviously had his own stuff to do. I’d been trying to figure out how to thank him and the stripper, Lacey, properly for weeks, and now that I’d gotten the opportunity to talk to him, I wasn’t really doing it any justice. I forced a smile that felt more like a grimace and gestured with a wave of my hand over my shoulder.

“Well, I’ve got to get back to work. Thanks again for your help. If you wouldn’t mind passing the message on to Lacey? I don’t even want to imagine where I’d be without you two there.”

I repressed a shudder just thinking about it.

“No problem,” he said distractedly, his eyes moving back to the computer screen again. I took that for the dismissal it was and walked away, disappointed. Maybe I’d been reading too many romance novels because I had high hopes that would’ve had a different outcome. Maybe not a date, though one could hope considering how good looking he was, but at least something more than a barely there acknowledgement and the overall feeling that I was bothering him.

Settling myself back behind the circulation desk, I forced myself to shake off the disappointment. A man’s attention didn’t make or break me. I wasn’t going to wallow just because the hero worship I had for the guy didn't pan out. Maybe I needed to consider dating again. Take my mind off everything. It was better than pining for something that would obviously never happen.

My resolve to get over the little crush I had was seriously put to the test that week. Chase showed up regularly, usually in the morning right after we opened. He stayed glued to the computer, his fingers flying like he was working on something important. Not that I had a clue what it was. He had like a sixth sense and seemed to know whenever I or anyone else got too close to him. He’d minimize his screens and wait until people left him alone before getting back to work.

“Who is that?” Regina asked. She was sitting beside me, going through the books she’d picked for story time for the elementary kids. I felt my cheeks turn pink when I realized she noticed me watching him. I couldn’t help it. From my seat, I literally had a direct view of him.

“No one,” I murmured, ducking my gaze back to the computer screen in front of me. I needed to order a few of the newer kids books and there was a request to order a new series from one of the high schoolers. Nothing like that would happen if I couldn’t focus on my work.

“Mhmm… Well, I’ve got story time in a minute. You remember the electrician is coming today, right?”

I nodded. “Yep. I’ve got the paperwork for the job and I’ll keep an eye on things. Enjoy your time with the littles.”

Regina loved doing story time. It reminded her of when her kids were younger. Now she had two teens at home and she said they were less cute and inquisitive at that age. The littles always made her smile.

She waved and stepped around the desk right as the group of elementary students were marched inside by their teacher in a single file, albeit slightly off kilter line. Regina greeted them with a smile, reminding them of the rules to stay quiet, and offered everyone an opportunity to wash their hands first before leading them to the kid’s section. A woman with light brown hair followed in behind them, watching them with a small smile. She stopped at the desk and watched them go, snickering when a few tried to wander off and were scolded by their teacher. She turned to me with a smile.

“Hi. I’m Sam with Smart Energy Electric. I’m here to install a security system?”

“That’s right,” I said cheerily. The extra layer of security would be nice, and I knew it’d make Regina feel better. “I’m Mariah, one of the librarians here. You spoke with Regina, but she’s doing story time right now, so I volunteered to show you to wherever you need to go.”

Sam offered me her hand, her grip firm and professional. She had on a company polo with jeans and had a bag with her, so she was obviously well prepared. I showed her around the desk, pointing out possible locations that were close by but wouldn’t be accidentally bumped when going from sitting to standing often. Some of the littles weren’t tall enough to see over the desk yet, so we had to stand and lean over to help them check out their books.

“You don’t want it too far. You want to be able to push it without anyone noticing. But you shouldn’t worry about accidentally pressing them. The one I brought is a little inset. Bumping it won’t set it off.”

“Oh, good.” I’d thought it’d be a hassle constantly worrying about bumping the thing. But she showed me the little button she was going to install and yeah, it’d be hard to push that on accident. I gave up my desk so she could work, sticking close in case she needed anything without hovering. It only took her about an hour to do it, which surprised me. I thought it’d take longer.

Once she was packing up, I came back to join her, gesturing towards the computers in the back. “I don’t suppose you know anything about computers? A few of ours keep causing trouble.”

She wrinkled her nose apologetically. “Not a ton, honestly. I can take a look, but–” She glanced toward where I’d gestured and did a double take, frowning. “What’s he doing here?”

I turned to see who she was referring to. The only person still at the computers was Chase. “Do you know him?”

She blinked a few times before looking at me again. “Huh? Oh, yeah. He’s…” She hesitated, pressing her lips together. “He’s friends with my boyfriend.”

To anyone who didn’t know the connections Chase had, they probably wouldn’t question it. Even though Chase had never come in wearing his vest with the crew logo on the back, I still knew which crew he was on.

“Is your boyfriend in the crew?”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You know? Oh. Did you see his cut or something?”

I shook my head slowly. “No. I mean, I’ve seen it, but that’s not why I know.” I bit my lip, considering any way to avoid having this conversation again, but she looked at me expectantly, and I was the idiot who brought it up. “I was, uh… part of the group of women who were almost trafficked. Chase and Lacey saved us.”

“Oh!” She grimaced at the too loud noise, ducking her head a little. “Sorry. I was just surprised. I heard what happened, Lacey told me about it, but I didn’t realize… Why would they take a librarian?”

I blew out a heavy breath, biting back a scowl. “Bad date gone wrong?”

Technically, it was a blind date. That was the last time my sister was ever allowed to set me up with anyone. She said she knew him from work, but considering the kind of work he was into, it was either a front or she was lying. She had yet to fess up to how she truly knew the guy, but I got the feeling it wasn’t work related.

Sam winced. “Yikes. That seems like an understatement. But you’re alright now?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It was scary, but aside from a few bruises, they didn’t touch me. I asked Chase to thank Lacey for me, but I’ve been wanting to thank her in person. You don’t think you could ask her to meet me here, would you?”

Sam pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Uh… Kinda find it hard to imagine Lacey going to the library. She’s barely got time to relax as it is. She owns her own club now and between that and her family, she’s busy.”

I tried not to let the disappointment show on my face. Why was it so hard to thank these people properly?

“But if you want, I can bring you to the clubhouse tonight? There’s always a party on the weekends and Lacey has tonight off. She actually gets along with the sweetbutts, so she doesn’t mind going as much as the rest of the old ladies do.”

Thanks to a wide variety of romance novels in my history, I knew what she meant by that. Sweetbutts were the hang arounds of the club, looking for a good time with a biker but not girlfriends or wives. Those were the old ladies. The name was unflattering, but the distinction was important. Anyone could have a sweetbutt if they were interested, but no one could touch another man’s old lady.

“Sure. That sounds great.”