Wild Heart (9 page)

“I am surprised he hasn’t peed on your leg already,” Kate laughed.

“That’s disgusting, Kate.”

“Just give it some time and I’m sure he’ll ease up. Maybe go on a date with someone new and let him know that you aren’t playing around,” Kate suggested.

“Well…” Ani’s voice trailed off as excitement began taking over the irritation. “What’s the story with the bikers?” Ani asked.

“Why?” Kate looked at her as if she knew where Ani was going with this conversation.

“I’m just wondering,” Ani tried to be convincing.

“Lawd help me!” Kate leaned forward onto her desk and whispered, “You have it for one of those bikers don’t you?”

“No!” Ani protested, trying to wipe the shit eating grin off of her face. “Ok, I might have met one and he may have piqued my interest.”

“Piqued your interest? Jesus, Ani, you’re gonna start wearing leather under drawers aren’t you? Riding motorcycles and smoking cigarettes too,” Kate smiled proudly over at her.

If there was one thing Kate was not, it was a prude. Kate had been a free spirit since before she and Ani had become friends. She had always lived her life to the fullest, practicing the play first and ask for forgiveness later motto.

“I’ve only talked to him a few times and I don’t even know if he will call me.”

“You gave him your number?” Kate’s face exuded the shock in her voice, “This is not the Ani I used to know. Where is she and what have you done to her?”

“She’s forever locked away in the shy and reserved closet she belongs in,” Ani smiled.

“I like this new Ani. I think she and I could get along great,” Kate’s eyes were devious, “So if he does call are you going to go out with your new sweet meat?”

“I don’t know. Cash wanted to do something this weekend so I’ll have to find an excuse to get out of that.” The guilt of blowing him off began settling in her stomach.

“Tell him that you and I are going out and if you need to back up that story, then just let me know when Knight Rider is going to pick us up,” She smiled playfully as her eyes glanced toward the door and Jill’s head came leaning into the door frame.

“Ani, I’m sorry to interrupt but I have a customer here that I need help with,” Jill smiled apologetically between her and Kate.

“Sure, let’s walk to my office,” Ani stood, “This conversation isn’t over, Kate Benson.”

“I look forward to finishing it,” the devious smile spread across her face once more before turning back to her computer.

As Ani followed Jill over to her office she glanced toward the customer sitting at Jill’s desk. He was dressed in the same ragged leather cut and tattered jeans as the men she’d seen the day of her interview.

As they stepped into her office she closed the door, “What’s wrong, Jill?” Ani could see the concern on Jill’s face, something about this man wasn’t sitting right with her.

“Well, he wants to open an account with over twenty thousand in cash. Of course, that threw up red flags and when I asked him how he’d acquired the money he refused to tell me. If he won’t tell me I can’t fill out the proper regulation paperwork and in turn I cannot open the account,” Jill talked nervously.

“Ok, do you want me to speak with him?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.” A look of relief washed over Jill’s face before she left back toward her desk.

Ani removed the papers and folder from her desk just as Jill came back, showing the man into her office. She stood to shake the man’s hand, but he refused and plopped down sideways into the chair in front of her desk. Trying to hide her own irritation she sat back down and looked the man over. His long hair was peppered with black and gray streaks and his face was worn in the same way as the leather of his jacket. Over the right pocket it read “Renegades” with another rocker on the other side that said “Neanderthals”.
Fucking bikers.

“Sir, Jill tells me that she’s having some problems opening your account. Is there anything I can do to help with that?” Ani smiled nicely toward him.

“Well, you can open the account without asking so many damn questions,” he stared blankly over her desk.

“Unfortunately to open the account I will need to ask a few question. Now, I will try my best to make the process as easy for you as I can; however there is certain information we have to record per government law.” She could see the irritation building further across his face as she explained the process to him.

“Ok fine. Then I want to put this in the account we already have.”

“We can do that. I just need to know the amount and the account name for the deposit ticket,” She said, reaching over and grabbing the ticket from her desk.

“Twenty thousand, five hundred, and four dollars,” he said plainly.

“Sir to deposit that amount of money I will need to ask you where you acquired it from,” she stood her ground. She wasn’t about to let this man come in here with his bad attitude and ugly shoes and keep her from doing her job.

He twisted in the chair until he faced her directly, “That’s none of your damn business.”

“Ok, great. Then I hope you are able to find somewhere to deposit that money. We always like to warn our customers of the dangers of carrying around large amounts of cash,” She sat back in her seat, unimpressed by his demeanor.

“Oh yeah? You know bad things happen to women who don’t do what they are told also,” His words were challenging and held a deeper meaning than what floated at the surface.

“Good thing I carry protection. It helps me feel safe,” she challenged. How dare this man come into her office and throw idle threats toward her. She wasn’t backing down.

She could see Jill and Kate out of the corner of her eye, standing at the corner of the large glass window of her office. They stared at her and the biker facing off across the desk. Ani didn’t break eye contact with the man as Kate knocked lightly on her office door and peaked her head in.

“Everything ok in here?” she said in almost a whisper.

“Yes, everything is fine. I was actually showing this nice gentleman out.” Ani stood, waiting on the man to get up from the chair.

His eyes didn’t leave hers as he stood, taking a few steps toward the door and then hesitating as he stood next to Kate. “Better get yourself some real protection. Wouldn’t want a pretty girl like you getting hurt, Ms. Forrest.” He turned back enough to give her a look that shot shivers up her spine.

“I’m sorry, but was that a threat?” Kate’s voice was angry and protective.

“No, ma’am. More like a warning.” With that, he turned and left from the bank.

Ani sat frozen as the vibrations of the motorcycles rumbled throughout the building. She could hear them as they drove around the building and faded off in the distance.

“Ani, you ok?” Kate’s voice was filled with concern as she took in the look on Ani’s face.

“Of course,” her voice sounded more confident than she felt, “Just a grumpy customer.”

“Ok, if you say so,” Kate eyed her one last time. “Do you want your door open or closed?”

“Oh, you can leave it open. Thanks, Kate.”

Ani sat at her desk contemplating whether she should call Cash, she didn’t want to use him but something about the weighted message in the man’s words made her stomach turn in knots. She opened her desk drawer and removed her cell, turning on the screen she noticed a missed call. She opened the screen, there was a number she didn’t recognize and a new voicemail. She was hesitant as she called her voicemail, until a deep Irish accent came through the speaker.

“It’s Knox. Gonna ride out to my cabin tonight. Was gonna see if you wanted to come.” She latched onto each of his heavy breaths until the speaker went quiet. Excitement and adrenaline flowed through her body, it was everything she could do to not start shaking. Quickly she pulled up her e-mail and typed a message to Kate.

Recipient: Kate Benson

Subject: Tonight

Message: We have had contact with Knight Rider. You game for tonight?

Ani leaned back in her chair, she wasn’t sure how Knox would react to her inviting people along, but he couldn’t expect her to saddle up on the back of his bike and ride off into the sunset when she didn’t really know him. A sudden vibration from her phone caused her to jump, looking down she saw Cash’s name come across her caller ID. Might as well break it to him now before things went any further. She hit the answer button, not really knowing what she was going to say.

“Hey, Cash,” she answered.

“Hello, Princess. How’s work?” his voice was sweet as he spoke to her.

“It’s alright,” her answer was short. Damn it. This was going to be harder than she thought.

“So, did you think any further about my offer for dinner?”

“I did. However, Kate and I had a long chat this afternoon and we’ve finally made up.” Ani jumped as the door to her office came flying open and Kate came running in, silently apologizing when she noticed Ani on the phone.

Ani held her hand up covering the receiver and mouthed Cash’s name, laughing quietly as Kate pretended to fall asleep.

“Well, that’s good you girls have finally called a truce. I was beginning to think I’d have to lock you both in a closet until you became friends again.” She smiled as he chuckled. What made this so hard was that deep down she knew that Cash would do anything for her. Even if he hadn’t known how to deal with it when they were younger, she knew he had always wanted what was best.

“Yeah, so we decided to take a little trip for the weekend to sort of get away and rekindle,” Ani looked up so see Kate making romantic faces at her and mouthing, “
Oh yeah!”
A quick hush toward Kate and Ani was devoting her attention back to Cash.

“That’s ok. I know you girls have a lot to catch up on. I can’t say I am not disappointed; I was hoping to pick up where we left off last weekend,” his voice was deep and lustful as he spoke, “But we have plenty of time for that.”

“Yeah, maybe next weekend we can get together.”

Shit. You weren’t supposed to keep playing with his head, asshole.
Without thought Ani brought her hand up slapping herself in the forehead, holding her phone up and shaking it with anger.

“Sound good. I’ll give you a shout over the weekend,” he said flatly.

“Ok. I’ll talk to you later,” she grimaced at the disappointment in his voice and hung up the phone. She wasn’t trying to, but she had hurt his feelings.

“Ok, so I want to know the plans for tonight,” Kate pulled her from her self-loathing.

“I haven’t gotten that far yet. I got a voicemail from him, but I didn’t get a chance to call him beck yet,” Ani answered nervously.

“What are you waiting for? The spider webs to start growing in your lady parts? Come on, blow the dust off it and call him back.”

“You are just as crude as you used to be,” Ani rolled her eyes as she hit Knox’s number on her phone and called him back.

“I was beginning to worry you were going to stand me up,” his voice came through the speaker.

“Sorry, I’ve been working all day. Just got your message,” she tried to sound smooth but she was nervous as hell and Kate’s prying eyes weren’t helping.

“So, you wanna come tonight?”

“I’d love to. Under one condition,” Ani smiled up at Kate.
 

CHAPTER SEVEN

BIKER BITCHES

“Kate! I am not wearing this!” Ani shouted from Kate’s spare bedroom.

“Don’t be a pussy!” Kate shouted back down the hallway.

You have got to be kidding me
. Ani held the short, tight, black skirt up in front of her. At first she’d thought it was a tube top until Kate had clarified it was actually a mini skirt.
Mini is an understatement
.

“Kate, I know you said blow the dust off, but I don’t want the entire world to see my goods.” She brought the skirt into Kate’s bedroom, “Hey! Why do you get to wear pants and I don’t?”

“Because I can get laid with the push of a call button. You on the other hand haven’t been laid in what? Five, six years?” Kate waited for her answer.