Ride Or Remember

CHAPTER 12

RYDER

“I haven’t seen the little troublemaker in a while,” Logan drawled from beside me as we walked toward the clubhouse of the Iron Haven MC. We had a sit-down scheduled with the Trio brothers. “You finally shake her off?”

Kane barked out a laugh from beside me. “That girl? Not a chance. She’s got more persistence than half the prospects trying to earn a patch.”

I didn’t think she was gone either.

The last time I saw Liora, she planted both hands on my workbench, and looked me dead in the eye.

“I’m not giving up on you, Ryder.”

Then she vanished.

For two damn weeks.

“What’s with that look?” Kane asked, glancing at me. “You miss her or something?”

“f**k off.”

The bastards laughed.

I shifted my attention elsewhere. “You check the perimeter?”

Kane nodded. “Yeah. No rival clubs. No cops. No problems.”

“All except one,” Logan muttered, fighting back a grin.

I followed his gaze.

And there she was.

Liora sat at a table near the far end of the clubhouse bar, a bright smile stretched across her face as she waved enthusiastically in my direction.

My jaw tightened.

“I knew she wasn’t finished causing problems,” Logan said. “Want to go say hi?”

“Are you stupid?” I snapped. “Why the f**k would I go over there? What are we, friends?”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Relax, I was just joking.”

We claimed a booth on the opposite side of the room.

Kane’s phone buzzed, dragging his attention away. Logan grabbed a menu and started debating whether he wanted whiskey or beer first.

Against my better judgment, my gaze drifted back to Liora.

She wasn’t looking at me anymore.

A laptop sat open in front of her while she talked to some guy dressed in a tailored suit. The man leaned closer, saying something that made her laugh.

My grip tightened around my phone.

Who the hell was he?

A boyfriend?

An ex?

Someone trying to get into her bed?

“I think she’s here on business.”

I turned to Logan and shot him a glare. “I didn’t ask.”

“Your eyes did,” he muttered, lowering his gaze back to the menu.

Asshole.

“They're almost here,” Kane announced, dropping his phone onto the table. The movement dragged my attention away from Liora and the bald guy she'd been talking to. “Ran into a small problem on the highway.” He paused before his expression soured. “And why the f**k is that b***h headed this way?”

I looked up.

Liora was already halfway across the clubhouse floor.

The bald guy was nowhere in sight.

“Her name is Liora,” I chastised. “Use it.”

Kane let out a dramatic scoff.

Logan snorted into his fist.

Liora's smile widened.

Damn woman looked entirely too pleased with herself.

“Are you hanging out with your friends?” she asked the moment she reached our table. Her gaze slid to Kane and Logan. “Hello, gentlemen.”

“Hello, Liora,” Logan replied smoothly, putting extra emphasis on her name just to irritate me.

“So,” Liora continued, rocking back on her heels. “Are you guys hanging out? Can I join?”

“No. I've got club business. You should leave.”

The corner of her mouth twitched.

She bit down on her lower lip as if trying and failing not to smile.

“I see you're still committed to playing the role of the big bad wolf, Evans.”

My jaw clenched. “Ryder.”

Her brows lifted innocently.

“My name is Ryder. How difficult is that to remember?”

“Not difficult at all.”

“Then use it.”

She tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. “Well, if you promise to stop glaring at me every time I breathe and quit pushing me away, I'll stop calling you Evans.”

Logan leaned back in his chair, crossing one boot over his knee. “I like her,” he declared. “She's got guts.”

“Shut up.”

“No, seriously,” he continued. “Most people see the President patch on your cut and start sweating. She sees it and starts negotiating.”

Liora beamed. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Stop enabling her,” I growled, turning my glare on Logan.

He immediately raised both hands. “Hey, I’m just enjoying the show.”

“They’re here,” Kane announced, his attention shifting toward the clubhouse entrance. His expression darkened when he looked back at Liora. “Business is about to start b***h. Move along.”

Liora frowned. “My name is Liora.”

“Yeah, and we’ve got club business to discuss,” Kane shot back. “So give us some space.”

Rolling her eyes, she ignored him completely and looked at me instead.

“I’ll be over there.” She pointed toward her table. “Maybe we can grab dinner after your meeting.”

“I’m not having dinner with you.”

Her smile didn’t falter. “I’m not leaving until you agree.”

Logan snorted.

I closed my eyes for a second. “Fine,” I muttered. “Dinner. Now go.”

Her grin widened triumphantly. “I knew you’d come around.”

Before I could take back the words, she winked and walked away, disappearing through the crowd toward her table.

“Unbelievable,” I muttered.

“Admit it,” Logan said. “That was impressive.”

“Shut up.”

A few moments later, Ethan, Caleb, and Noah arrived.

The triplets dropped into the empty seats around the table.

Noah’s gaze drifted toward the far end of the room, towards Liora.

“You know her?” I asked.

His attention snapped back to me immediately, his gray eyes narrowing.

“Funny. I was about to ask you the same thing. She seemed pretty comfortable standing at your table.”

“Just someone trying to try her luck at getting laid.” Kane chimed in. “Maybe if she is willing to follow the right procedure, we might make her a sweet butt.”

I drummed my fingers against the tabletop.

“Can we focus on why we’re here?”

The amusement vanished from everyone's faces.

Business mode.

Ethan nodded first. “We have a land deal.”

That got my attention.

“What kind of deal?”

“There’s a large property on the outskirts of the city. Prime location. Plenty of development potential.” Ethan folded his arms. “The problem is the owner.”

“Problem how?” Kane asked.

Caleb exchanged a look with his brothers. “We’re not exactly on good terms.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Noah muttered.

Ethan ignored him.

“She won’t negotiate with us. Won’t return our calls. Won’t even sit down for a meeting.”

“So you want the Reapers involved,” I said.

Ethan nodded.

“We want you to help secure the deal. In return, you get a percentage of the profits.”

Kane glanced at me.

I studied the three brothers carefully. Land deals could mean money, but they could also mean trouble.

“Tell me everything,” I said finally. “Start with the owner.”

“The owner's an old woman,” Noah said. “Terminal cancer. She's liquidating her assets while she still can.”

I stared at him.

They couldn't be serious.

“Do I look like the kind of man who buys property out of sympathy?”

Ethan let out a short laugh.

“Sympathy? Come on, Ryder. The Trio brothers don't do sympathy and everybody knows it.”

Fair point.

I leaned back in my chair, my attention drifting toward the far side of the clubhouse.

Liora's table was empty.

My eyes narrowed.

Where the hell did she go?

Has she left?

Why do I even care?

“What makes this land worth the trouble?” I asked, dragging my attention back to the meeting.

Ethan folded his hands on the table. “We received reliable intel that the city government already purchased the properties surrounding hers.”

“And?”

“They aren't buying them for redevelopment.”

Now he had my attention.

“They plan to build a massive technology district. Smart infrastructure. AI research facilities. Private investors are already circling the project.”

Logan whistled.

“Shit.”

“Exactly,” Ethan replied. “If the project goes through, property values in that area will explode.”

Interesting.

Very interesting.

“I'll verify the information myself,” I said. “The project, the permits, the valuation. If the numbers make sense, we'll continue talking.”

Ethan shrugged. “Fair.”

“What cut are you offering?” Logan asked.

“Forty-sixty.”

I laughed.

A genuine laugh.

“Get the hell out of here.”

Caleb frowned immediately.

Ethan's jaw tightened.

“Thirty-five, sixty-five.”

“Thirty,” I said. “Seventy.”

Caleb slammed a hand onto the table.

“Now you're the one being ridiculous.”

“Am I?”

The room grew quiet.

Years of running the Reapers had taught me something important.

The first person to lose their temper usually lost the negotiation.

“That's my offer,” I said. “Take it or leave it.”

Caleb looked ready to argue.

Ethan stopped him with a look. “Let's not blow this up before we've even started.”

“Do I seem upset?” I asked calmly. “If you're not interested, that's fine,” I continued. “We'll shake hands and walk away. No hard feelings.”

Silence.

Then Noah sighed dramatically.

“How about we all stop acting like we're about to start a war?”

He snapped his fingers at a passing waitress.“Drinks.”

The waitress hurried over.

One by one, orders were placed.

Beer.

Whiskey.

Bourbon.

As she walked away, Noah leaned back in his chair.

“See? Much better.”

“You do realize that drinks is not going to make him change his mind right?” Logan drawled out, his eyes on high alert, “unless the change of decision is coming from your side.”

Our drinks arrived, a bottle of whiskey for the trio brothers and three glass of mixture for me, Kane and Logan.

I dropped the glass with no intention of drinking. I won’t be stupid to drink an open drink.

Kane sniffed around his drink, then dropped it on the table, while Logan just placed his on his thigh.

Ethan glanced at the three of us and chuckled. “Surely you don’t think I poisoned them, do you?”

Logan gave them a response, but my gaze already drifted past them to Liora who suddenly walked out of the corner, hurrying towards us, screaming.

“Don’t drink it!”

Arching a brow, I blinked slowly at her. “I thought you left?”

She shook her head. “I went to take a piss, however before you three showed up, these men were already here talking to the barman about slipping something into the drinks of Raven club president and his crew. I didn’t make much sense of it until they served you three that drink.”

Ethan slowly stood to his feet. “Who the f**k is this b***h?”

Why the f**k does everyone have a problem with calling her name.

I slowly reached for my glass, ready to haul it at him if he calls her b***h one more time.

“Did you just accuse my brother of posoining the drinks?” Caleb growled.

“That wasn’t an accusation. I know what I saw.” She argued, glaring hard at him.

Before I could react to the drama going on, Ethan snatched the bottle off the table and smashed it across Liora’s head, then loud gunshots followed.