Read Online Roll Me Away: A Smokey's Roadhouse Novel by Jessa Jacobs - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jessa Jacobs
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table. Other clubs were having breakfast in the same restaurant, but it didn’t look like they were meeting about club business. Not enough of them, for one thing. We had the back room to ourselves, and someone had pulled all the tables together so we could talk business. Of course, it was all in misdirection and code. I had to stay sharp to keep up.
Sure enough, the whole mission and reason we were here was to boost the bikes. This year it was especially critical, because for some reason I couldn’t make out, cash flow was down. The logistics were complicated. Because anyone besides me who rode a stolen bike back to Rawlins would have left his own bike in Sturgis, the brothers would have to hitch back to get them.
This year, Rooster wanted everyone to try to do it twice. Every one of the young members, that is. That meant Jake, Pug, Snail, Gears, Hoss, and me. And the urgency meant we’d have to be extra careful. It wouldn’t be easy to roll twelve hot bikes through the same corridor of the highway system and expect not to get caught with one of them.
Rooster ended the meeting with a list of the features we were to look for. I wasn’t in a great mood anyway from lack of sleep. This just seemed to be the last straw. Not only was I expected to steal two bikes, ride them to Rawlins, hitchhike back to Sturgis in between, and risk my freedom for a club that didn’t even consider me a full member, but I had to make sure the bikes I stole were equipped with special features? Oh, hell no.
On the other hand, they’d made it plain that this was my initiation. If I pulled this off, I assumed I’d be patched in, and I’d have the rest of the money I needed for the bike I had my eye on.
We left the restaurant in a bunch, but soon spread out in twos and threes to take in the sights and sounds of a tiny town hosting a crowd that dwarfed the population of the entire state. Things would heat up later in the afternoon.
As Sarge and I passed the motel where the girl was staying, I wondered if she was still asleep, or if I’d see her later in the day. With hundreds of thousands of rally-goers in the city, it seemed unlikely. On the other hand, she might come looking for Jake or me at the bar where she’d seen us before. I realized I was kidding myself if I thought she’d be looking for me.
Sarge interrupted my daydreaming when he nudged me and nodded toward a bike parked in the same motel’s lot. I focused and took in the make and model with a quick glance. Working at Carl’s shop had given me a ton of information about various bikes, and I shook my head.
There was no question the Triumph Rocket III Roadster had what the club was looking for. It also had the look of a custom job. Too recognizable. I walked on while Sarge took a closer look.
I hoped these guys weren’t really this clueless. They couldn’t be if they’d been doing this successfully for very long. But casing a bike like that, while wearing club colors, that didn’t make any sense. If that bike went missing later, we’d be the first club the cops came looking for.
And it didn’t matter if we’d stolen that one or not. Any hot bikes in our possession would bring down more scrutiny than we could handle. Not even noon yet, and I was sweating bullets that someone else’s boneheaded mistake would get my ass thrown in jail.
Loitering on the corner and waiting for Sarge, I was startled to hear the girl calling me. “Zach! Zach! Hold up a second.”
I looked around and spotted her on the walkway of the second story of the motel. She waved. Reluctantly, I lifted a hand in acknowledgment. A moment later, she was in front of me, breathless from running down the stairs. Her hair was slightly damp, and gave off a scent of strawberries. With no makeup, she looked impossibly young and good enough to eat. I waited for her to tell me what she wanted.
“Where’s Jake?”
I should have known. She shrank back from me, and I realized I must be scowling. I tried to
Sure enough, the whole mission and reason we were here was to boost the bikes. This year it was especially critical, because for some reason I couldn’t make out, cash flow was down. The logistics were complicated. Because anyone besides me who rode a stolen bike back to Rawlins would have left his own bike in Sturgis, the brothers would have to hitch back to get them.
This year, Rooster wanted everyone to try to do it twice. Every one of the young members, that is. That meant Jake, Pug, Snail, Gears, Hoss, and me. And the urgency meant we’d have to be extra careful. It wouldn’t be easy to roll twelve hot bikes through the same corridor of the highway system and expect not to get caught with one of them.
Rooster ended the meeting with a list of the features we were to look for. I wasn’t in a great mood anyway from lack of sleep. This just seemed to be the last straw. Not only was I expected to steal two bikes, ride them to Rawlins, hitchhike back to Sturgis in between, and risk my freedom for a club that didn’t even consider me a full member, but I had to make sure the bikes I stole were equipped with special features? Oh, hell no.
On the other hand, they’d made it plain that this was my initiation. If I pulled this off, I assumed I’d be patched in, and I’d have the rest of the money I needed for the bike I had my eye on.
We left the restaurant in a bunch, but soon spread out in twos and threes to take in the sights and sounds of a tiny town hosting a crowd that dwarfed the population of the entire state. Things would heat up later in the afternoon.
As Sarge and I passed the motel where the girl was staying, I wondered if she was still asleep, or if I’d see her later in the day. With hundreds of thousands of rally-goers in the city, it seemed unlikely. On the other hand, she might come looking for Jake or me at the bar where she’d seen us before. I realized I was kidding myself if I thought she’d be looking for me.
Sarge interrupted my daydreaming when he nudged me and nodded toward a bike parked in the same motel’s lot. I focused and took in the make and model with a quick glance. Working at Carl’s shop had given me a ton of information about various bikes, and I shook my head.
There was no question the Triumph Rocket III Roadster had what the club was looking for. It also had the look of a custom job. Too recognizable. I walked on while Sarge took a closer look.
I hoped these guys weren’t really this clueless. They couldn’t be if they’d been doing this successfully for very long. But casing a bike like that, while wearing club colors, that didn’t make any sense. If that bike went missing later, we’d be the first club the cops came looking for.
And it didn’t matter if we’d stolen that one or not. Any hot bikes in our possession would bring down more scrutiny than we could handle. Not even noon yet, and I was sweating bullets that someone else’s boneheaded mistake would get my ass thrown in jail.
Loitering on the corner and waiting for Sarge, I was startled to hear the girl calling me. “Zach! Zach! Hold up a second.”
I looked around and spotted her on the walkway of the second story of the motel. She waved. Reluctantly, I lifted a hand in acknowledgment. A moment later, she was in front of me, breathless from running down the stairs. Her hair was slightly damp, and gave off a scent of strawberries. With no makeup, she looked impossibly young and good enough to eat. I waited for her to tell me what she wanted.
“Where’s Jake?”
I should have known. She shrank back from me, and I realized I must be scowling. I tried to
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