Tempting Trouble (Highway Reapers Motorcycle Club Book 1) by Sophia Hampton Page B

told her that she’d gotten a text, and she feared that her time was running out.
     
    Pulling out the cell phone with limited minutes and even more limited texts, she touched the screen to find out what Bruce had to say now. There wasn’t anyone else who’d texted her but him since she was fresh from the joint and not many people had her phone number.
     
    Time is up. I placed a tracker in your jacket just in case you got lucky and didn’t tell me, but we’re on our way over to the apartment where you’re staying. A little birdy told me you may have gotten lucky. Bruce
     
    She had to tell Tyson what was going on because he was leading them back to the house and was going to walk into a trap.
     
    “Let’s sit down on this bench.” Ella had to get this out because she knew one thing: this wouldn’t be something she could explain after the fact. It was either now or never. She was happy that she didn’t bring the little jacket that she’d unknowingly been wearing as a tracking device, but it was right inside Tyson’s apartment, and Bruce and whoever else knew right where to go.
     
    He looked tired and worn out, but it appeared he was going to oblige her request to sit down outside in the park. Leading them to a seat that wasn’t visible from the street, he turned toward her and she loved how he gave her his full attention. It made her feel like he thought what she had to say mattered.
     
    “There are some things that I didn’t tell you, and I have to come clean today.” She was happy that it was coming out better than the jumbled mess it felt like inside.
     
    “Sure, Ella. What is it?”
     
    She took a few deep breaths and wasn’t sure she wanted this to come out of her mouth. This could be the end of something she truly thought was special. Maybe she could just get him to run away with her, and they could figure the rest out on the way.
     
    “Let’s just leave the area… right now.” She knew he was going to have to have a comeback to that, but a deep belly laugh wasn’t what she was expecting.
     
    “Honey. I get that you are afraid for me, but I’ll be fine. They don’t know where I am, and there is no way they can get to me until I show myself to them.”
     
    “This area isn’t the most secure. What if someone has spotted you and followed you to your home? What if they are waiting for you when you get back?”
     
    “That’s a lot of what if’s and if that happened, I’d have to take my chances. It’s not going to happen. I have a grid that’s pretty impenetrable. I’m good, honestly.”
     
    “This is going to come as a surprise to you but do you remember when I told you I was in prison?”
     
    “Yes. How could I forget that?”
     
    “It was because I was buying coke from a dealer on Main Street but we got busted by the cops. The guy planted the rest of the drugs that he had on me, and I got charged with a felony drug conviction of possession with the intent to sell.”
     
    He didn’t say anything; he just nodded, watched her, and listened to her tell her story, never rushing her or acting like he didn’t have the time to hear it.
     
    “The group that was responsible was the Highway Reapers.” She looked at him to see if anything was getting through, and the slightly widened eyes and soft nose flare told her he was getting a glimpse of the writing on the wall. He let go of her hand and sat back away from her just a little bit. For some reason that hurt, but she could understand it.
     
    “Go on,” he said, but this wasn’t the helpful voice of her lover; he sounded more like the battle lines had been drawn, and she was on the wrong side of them.
     
    “A little more than 48 hours ago a friend of mine had asked me to go to lunch, and I was leery. I had already been in jail for something I didn’t do, but I couldn’t find a job, and I thought I could listen to his speech and maybe get a free meal out of it.”
     
    He was watching her so intently she could imagine