Not Acceptable Red Eyes MC Romance Series - Book #3) Page 4

  6

  Anne

  I almost wanted to laugh when Donald came running into the back room, his metaphorical tail between his legs. “There are two really scary men out there,” he hissed at me. “We should call the cops.”

  I’d been watching them from afar, and I knew that the one tattooed man looked pretty pissed. And fidgety, on edge. Like he was just waiting for a reason to fight. But I really didn’t think we needed to call the cops, not yet. Donald just didn’t know how to handle situations like this. He was only really good at working with the ladies.

  “Why are you being such a pussy?” I couldn’t help taunting. “They just want their prescription filled.”

  Donald gave me a look. “If you want to risk your life for whatever it is these guys want, be my guest,” he said. “I’m staying in the back.”

  I sighed and rolled my eyes. “What happened?” I asked.

  Donald held out the slightly crumpled prescription form. “This is what they’re looking for,” he said. “But we don’t carry that here, and I can’t find the prescription out there. Looks like the doctor didn’t call it in. And when I told them that we wouldn’t have it for them until tomorrow, the guy started to flip out.”

  “I’m sure we can figure this out,” I said. “Stay back here if you want, though.”

  I headed out to the counter, eyeing the two guys. They were pretty big dudes; not fat but heavy with muscle. And tattooed all down their arms. They were twins, but I could tell that personality-wise, they were far from the same.

  The twin who was freaking out was full of chaotic energy. It fizzed out of him. It seemed like he couldn’t even hold still. He had a scowl on his face, and he alternated between folding his arms across his chest and drumming his fingers against the countertop as he shifted from foot to foot. I could see why Donald had been worried about what he might do. If the guy wanted to, I was sure that he could turn around and knock over half the shelves in the place. He certainly had the muscles.

  And he seemed unpredictable too. An enraged bear of a man. If I couldn’t find a way to fix this situation, I had to wonder if he would come at me, fists swinging. I’d be no match for him. Donald wouldn’t either.

  But there was his brother, next to him. I had a feeling his brother would keep anything terrible from happening.

  Because the other man had the same kind of energy, you could see it in his eyes. But it was more controlled. Pointed. He knew what he wanted, and he was going to get it, but his first reaction wasn’t just to fight. There was something dangerous about him, though, something that I couldn’t put my finger on.

  It was surprisingly sexy.

  I tried to push that thought away. The last thing I needed was to start thinking my clients were sexy. Who was I? Donald? I remembered what Lina had said about how I just needed to meet more guys. Maybe she was right. It had been a long time since I’d really looked at a guy like I was looking at this one.

  I cleared my throat, hoping they hadn’t noticed me staring. But they seemed to be caught up in an argument of their own, the quieter brother trying to calm his frenzied other half. They both turned to look at me now, though.

  I knew that a lot of these situations could be calmed down just by listening to what the other side had to say. That was all most people really wanted when they were upset. So even though I had heard some of what was going on, based on what Donald had told me, I decided to ask them. “How can I help you, boys?”

  “My name is Landon, and this is my brother Braxton,” the subdued one said, putting a hand on his brother’s arm to hush him. Landon, I thought, foolishly glad to have a name for him.

  I had to admit; I liked having Landon’s attention on me, his green eyes locked on mine. (And how strange was it that we both had green eyes? If I were Lina, I would probably think that somehow we were made for each other.)

  “I need you to fill my prescription,” Braxton interrupted before his brother could say anything else. “I’m not dealing with my fucking problem of a nose anymore. You need to do it today. Now.”

  Landon gave him an unimpressed look. “Sorry… Anne,” he said, glancing down at my name tag. “I don’t mean to sound threatening. But this has been an ongoing problem for about a week now. We went to the doctor on Friday and got this all checked out, but by the time he wrote the prescription, you guys were closed for the weekend.”

  “Sorry about that,” I said, trying to use my cheerfulness to combat Braxton’s anger. “If you guys can bear with me for a moment, I actually just want to double-check in the back room again. Some of the prescriptions that come in late on Friday or over the weekend are still getting filled back there to go out today, so there’s a possibility we’ve got yours and it just hasn’t made it out to the racks yet.”

  “Don’t you think your colleague should have checked that?” Braxton asked with a sneer.

  Landon gave him a look. “She’s helping us,” he reminded his brother in an undertone. “Let her do her job.” He gave me an apologetic smile.

  I felt surprisingly flushed as I headed into the back room, and I had to pause for a moment to take a deep breath.

  “They gone yet?” Donald asked, startling me.

  “Not yet,” I said, hurrying over to the prescriptions that I’d been filling. “I was thinking that maybe I have the prescription back here still, so that’s the first thing to check. If not, I’ll give a call to the doctor and see if there’s something that we can do to speed up the process, or something else that we can prescribe.”

  Donald rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m just glad you’re dealing with them,” he said. “Those dudes look like they could squash me like a bug.”

  “They probably could,” I teased, smirking at him. “Ah-hah!” I said, grabbing the bottle that I had just finished labeling earlier. “Here it is.”

  “Good,” Donald said, looking relieved. But he made no move to leave the back room anytime soon. I shook my head and went back out to the two waiting men.

  “You’re in luck,” I told them. “Looks like we’ve got it here after all.”

  Braxton snatched the bottle out of my hand and stormed out before I could say anything else.

  “I’m really sorry about the mix-up,” I told Landon sincerely.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it,” Landon said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry for the way my brother acted. I know it’s not your fault.”

  “Are you guys from around here?” I asked. I wasn’t sure why I blurted the question out. I didn’t usually chat with our customers, not even when they were attractive. I didn’t usually think our customers were attractive, though, I supposed.

  “We’re new to town,” Landon told me. He lingered for a moment. “Thanks for your help. I’m sure we’ll be back.”

  “I hope so.” It was another of those random things that I blurted out, and this time, my embarrassment was almost enough for me to want to clap my hand over my mouth. But I didn’t want him to know how flustered he got me.

  “See you around,” Landon said, grinning at me as though he knew exactly what he was doing to me. He waved and headed out to where he brother was waiting on the sidewalk.

  Lordy. I didn’t know where the hell that had come from.

  It had to just be all the conversations I’d been having with Lina lately. She was so sure that she needed to find her soul mate now. That was the only thing that had put it into my head.

  I mean, okay, Landon was physically attractive as well. With those piercing eyes and that raw muscle. And that undertone of danger that I really should be old enough to know not to go for. But I couldn’t help myself. I wanted him.

  I shook my head, trying to forget about him. I didn’t need a guy in my life. They always caused more trouble and heartbreak than they were worth.

  Donald came out of the back room. “Are the bash brothers gone?” he asked.

  I rolled my eyes at him, putting my crisp, professional persona back together. “Yeah, they’re gone,” I said. “
Change your panties and get back to work.”

  7

  Landon

  On Tuesday afternoon, we went over to Neil’s for his informal get-together with the other guys from the MC. We were a little late after getting lost on the way over, but we finally made it. “I still don’t know how the hell it’s possible to get lost in Sarasota,” Braxton grumbled as we walked up to the front door.

  “Well, we’re here now,” I said, shaking my head. I was frustrated, too, but you didn’t see me throwing a pouty fit. “Just forget about it.”

  “Hey, glad you guys could make it,” Neil said, grinning at us. “Forgot to tell you about that roadwork they’ve got going on. Been driving me crazy for weeks now. Can’t get hardly anywhere from here with that shit.”

  “Yeah, we got a little turned around,” I admitted. “But no big deal.”

  “Well, come on back, all the guys are already here,” Neil said, leading us through the house. Sure enough, the guys were lounging on the deck, beers in hand, joking and laughing with one another. They all looked up when Neil led us out.

  “Who’re these guys?” one of the them asked, sounding curious.

  “These are Braxton and Landon,” Neil said, gesturing at the two of us.

  “New members? That never happens,” one of the other guys said.

  Neil laughed. “Not exactly new members. They’re from the Las Cruces chapter of Red Eyes. They needed a change of scenery.”

  “Got the police after you or something?”

  “Nah, just came for the beaches and babes,” Braxton said, and everyone laughed.

  “That’s Jason over there, and Michael, and Vic,” Neil said, pointing to each of the guys.

  “Used to be more of us, but Sarasota’s not a very big place,” Jason said, rolling his eyes.

  “Used to be more in our chapter, too, but lately everyone’s finding wives and quitting the business,” Braxton said, his tone making it very clear what he thought about that. There was more laughter.

  Neil got us set up with beers. I listened as Braxton chatted with the rest of the guys. He was good at it. Oh, I could chat with them as well, but it worked better if I listened, sized them up, and left the chatting to Braxton. Hopefully, just from listening to them chat, I could start to figure out the group dynamics and figure out who was causing problems in the chapter.

  Jason approached me a little while later, though, while Braxton and some of the other guys were doing a beer run for Neil. I had been surprised to see, as the night wore on, that Jason and I were pretty similar. He generally stayed pretty quiet, watching and listening while the other guys were rowdier.

  “So how are you liking Sarasota?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Weather’s been great and the beaches are nice,” I said. “Can’t complain.”

  “Good, I’m glad to hear that,” Jason said, grinning at me. “Get those vacation days in while you can, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” I said. We weren’t just here for a vacation, but he didn’t know that.

  Or did he? “But you guys aren’t just here for a vacation, are you?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?” I asked in surprise. As far as I knew, Neil hadn’t told anyone that we were here to look into the MC’s business to see if someone was skimming money off the club’s profits. He had just told them that we were here for a change of scenery. That was it.

  From the way he and Ray had both talked about it, I had thought that Neil was the only person who knew that there was any money disappearing. Seemed like he thought that if everyone knew about it, they would start to question Neil’s authority.

  But Jason acted like he knew all of that. “You’re here to help out the MC. To figure out what’s going on. Aren’t you?” When I didn’t answer him, Jason shrugged. “I’ve had this feeling that something was wrong. Whatever you’re planning, I’d like to help. Just let me know. This MC is my whole world. My family. I’d do anything for them.”

  I stared at him, trying to figure out how he could possibly know that something was going on. But then again, Neil wouldn’t be the only person with access to the books. I didn’t know what their roles in the club were, but there had to be a treasurer, and it wouldn’t be Neil. Neil was their president, and it would cause too many complications if he was the one handling the books as well. Things just weren’t done like that.

  So maybe Jason was the treasurer. Maybe he had realized there was a problem even before Neil had.

  Even if Jason wasn’t the one handling the books, he might have found out in other ways. There was bound to be talk, if there were rumors that some of the businesses weren’t paying their dues. Or he might have overheard one of the phone conversations that Neil had with Ray. There were a dozen ways he might have known.

  It didn’t make him the rat. It didn’t mean that he was trying to cover his tracks. It just meant that he was smart and that he figured things out to a certain extent. And he was offering to help.

  I grinned at him, but I didn’t take him up on that offer to help. There was a possibility that he was involved in all of this, and I didn’t want to compromise our business here. “You may not believe me, but I really am just looking forward to not being in New Mexico for a while,” I told him. “It’s so dry there. You get out of a pool in the middle of the summer in hundred-degree heat and start shivering because all the water’s evaporating off you so fast.”

  “And here, you suffocate in the humidity,” Jason said ruefully, shaking his head. “Plus, I hear you guys have sunshine out there, like, year-round. That’s got to be awesome for riding bikes.”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty sweet,” I agreed, laughing.

  Braxton and the rest of the boys came back, joining us on the deck, and it got loud again as more beers and food were consumed.

  We finally left a few hours later. Braxton grinned at me as we got back to our house. “I like these guys,” he said. He held up his hands. “And I know, one of them may be a rat. But it’s just nice, you know? They’re all about the same age, other than Neil, and they’re all single.”

  I laughed. “You looking for new wingmen?” I asked.

  “Nah, you’ll always be my main winger,” Braxton said. “But you know, I was just getting tired of everyone in Las Cruces finding females. Long-term females. What a waste of time.”

  I laughed and nodded. But even as I was nodding, I pictured Anne in my head. Anne from the pharmacy.

  I didn’t know what it was about her that was so appealing to me. She was pretty, that was for sure, with those bright eyes of hers and her braids. She had a sweet, heart-shaped face and pale, milky skin. But she looked like one of those good girls, the girl next door. That wasn’t my usual type.

  Of course, she didn’t act like the sweet girl next door. That was part of it. Where Donald had disappeared into the back room to get away from us, she’d acted like she wasn’t scared, her head held high. I liked that in a woman. She was strikingly confident. It intrigued me.

  There had to be more to it than that, though. There were plenty of confident women out there in the world, but I never felt the need to take them on dates. There had to be something else. I couldn’t put my finger on it, though.

  Whatever it was, one thing was for sure: I had to find a way to see her again. But how? It wasn’t like I could just show up at the pharmacy without needing something. I didn’t want to be one of those creepy guys who dogged a woman at her place of work trying to get her number or get her to agree to go out on a date. That just wasn’t my style.

  I couldn’t exactly talk to Braxton about it. Get him to play wingman for me. Get him to pretend he needed more of his meds. First of all, that would mean going to another doctor and getting them to call in a request with the pharmacy. But second of all, that would mean that I had to tell Braxton.

  He would tease me mercilessly. Oh, sure, if he’d been in a right state of mind the other day, he probably would have thought that Anne was sexy. Although those mom jeans of hers hadn’t b
een doing anything to really show off her body. But Braxton knew me well enough that he would be able to tell I wasn’t just thinking about fucking her. And I didn’t want him to know that I felt some deeper sense of attraction to her.

  I’d have to think about it, if I wanted to see her. And part of me was sure that I shouldn’t. Who knew how long we would even be in Sarasota anyway? No sense getting tangled up in something with some woman. Wouldn’t hurt to go home with her for a night, though. Would it?

  8

  Anne

  On Thursday, Lina and I finally went to the gym like we’d been threatening to do. “Jesus, this place is huge,” Lina whispered to me as the guy from the desk gave us a tour. And it sure was massive. They had an Olympic-size swimming pool and another half-size diving pool. Plus two weight rooms, a number of classrooms for yoga, Pilates, and whatever else, rooms full of treadmills, stair climbers, ellipticals, and other workout machines, multiple climbing walls. Anything that you could ever want in a gym.

  “That’s where the real workout comes in,” I joked. “When you get lost and have to find your way back to the entrance. You’ll walk miles and miles.”

  The guy from the desk overheard me and gave me a smile. “Sometimes I think we should install panic buttons outside each room,” he told me conspiratorially. “You know, just for all the poor souls who do get lost here and need someone to come rescue them.”

  I giggled. “I’d leave a trail of bread crumbs, but I guess that would be insensitive to the people trying to lose weight here.”

  Craig grinned again. “Well, hopefully my tour has at least sort of oriented you to the layout. If you ever have any questions, though, you know where to find me. Eventually, at least.” He winked at me. “I hope you two enjoy yourselves.”