“Took you long enough!” Wes says when Melissa finds him in a booth at the bar.
She bites back the sarcastic response. Play nice, Potter. “Sorry, I got held up.”
Wes makes a noncommittal sound in his throat before he seems to take her in. His expression changes, and his eyes get that lascivious look that makes her skin crawl. “You look pretty, Melissa. Is that for me?” His pupils look like pins, and he’s edgy, looking around the whole time.
She smiles at him, hoping that her face won’t crack. “Who else?” She takes a sip of her beer, trying to wash the bad taste out of her mouth. “So what’s been going on?”
Wes goes back to scanning the room. “Nothing so far, but there are a couple of new faces in here, so I think my information’s good. It’s going to happen tonight; I can feel it.”
Melissa follows his gaze and realizes that he’s right. The place is usually full of regulars, but there are a few guys whom she doesn’t recognize. She keeps praying that Wes is wrong, but she hates to think that he might be right. She makes a point not to look at the corner where Hawk is playing pool and watching over her at the same time. Josh is positioned by the door, and Felicia is roving around the tables, delivering drinks and keeping her eyes open for anything suspicious. At the slightest hint that the deal is going to go down, they’re all ready to spring into action.
“So, can I see what you’ve got so far?” Melissa leans over, trying to get a better look at the notes he’s scribbling.
“You show me yours, I’ll show you mine.” Wes grins widely, and Melissa has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. He swipes at his nose repeatedly, as if he has an itch he can’t scratch.
Prepared for this, she pulls out her iPad and shows him the few notes she’d written up that afternoon with Hawk’s help. There was just enough misdirection in there to make it look like it was legitimate information when, in fact, it was just rubbish. Wes drinks it in, pouring over the iPad, but he starts muttering and cursing as he reads it, touching the screen over and over again to the point where Melissa thinks he might actually damage it.
“How were you born in the 90s and you still can’t figure out how to use an iPad?” She leans over and shows him how to scroll through her fake little document.
“I don’t waste my time with things that I don’t consider important.” Wes’s reply is sniffy, but Melissa knows that it’s just a cover for his embarrassment. Technology was one of the things that he had never mastered, and it irked him when it was pointed out to him, especially when Melissa was the one to do it.
That’s when a thought occurs to her, and it’s a light bulb moment. “So does that mean that you don’t back up your notes?” She keeps the question casual, intent on keeping the intensity out of her gaze.
“For what?” Wes lets out a sound of frustration, as if she’s just asked him yet another stupid question. “I know exactly where they are—right here.” He pats the notebook on the table. “That’s another reason why paper is so much better than switches and keyboards; you know where everything is, and there’s no way it can just disappear on you. Computers are temperamental; paper and pen are not.” He gives her a pompous look, as Melissa processes the information. No backup means no recourse if his notes were to suddenly get lost. But how is she going to get them away from him when he seems to carry them with him wherever he goes. It’s like they’re surgically attached to him.
Melissa is distracted by a flurry of activity at the bar, and she’s not the only one who has noticed. Wes is focused on the three men at the bar with a laser-like gaze. It’s happening. The deal is going down right in front of them, and it’s happening so quickly that there’s not enough time for any of them to do anything about it.
“This is it! This is it!” Wes watches the conversation, and Melissa can almost hear him holding his breath as the men confer before heading out of the door. “Dammit, where are they going? I need to see the actual exchange. I need a picture for the article.” Wes doesn’t bother to keep his voice down, and Melissa doesn’t have time to worry if he’s been overheard. He grabs the bag next to him and his bundle of notes and rushes towards the door after the group of men—with Melissa just a couple of steps behind him.
“There.” He points a finger at the corner of the parking lot where the men are headed. “Oh man, this is it. This is going to be my big break.” Wes is so excited he’s almost hopping from one foot to the other, something that does nothing to keep him off the radar.
“Wes, if you keep jumping around like that someone is going to see you and get suspicious.” Melissa doesn’t add, what said person might to do Wes if they see him. She follows behind him as he creeps up closer to where the drop is happening and lifts his camera, snapping off a few shots as a few boxes are exchanged for a full garbage bag. One of the bikers reaches into the bag and pulls out a wad of cash. Melissa hears Wes let off another click. “We need to get out of here before they see us.” Melissa keeps her voice low, and she starts pulling Wes away from the action. The damage has been done already, but she has no intention of sticking around for the moment when the dealers realize they’re being watched.
“Just a few more seconds, Melissa I need to get these details down.” Wes opens up his notebook, scribbling frantically as if his life depended on it.
“Wes, come on.” She tugs at the camera strap around his neck, harder this time.
“Alright, alright.” He follows her lead, backing slowly away from the guys making the deal and heading back towards the bar. “Man, this is it. This is gold. The Caged Kings, they think they’re something special, but they’re not. They’re just criminals and—not only that—they’re stupid criminals, and now I’m going to nail their asses to the board.” Wes gets carried away with excitement, and Melissa has to resist the urge to punch him while she frantically tries to figure out what to do now that Wes has everything he needs to go public with the Kings’ story.
“I don’t think so.” A familiar husky voice sends her insides ringing with anticipation. Melissa looks up to find Hawk and Josh both standing just to the side of the entrance to the bar.
Wes looks nervous, edgy even and positions himself so that Melissa is between him and the other men. My hero, Melissa thinks.
“Hey guys, what’s going on?” Wes shoots for casual and fails miserably.
“I don’t know, Wes, why don’t you tell us?” Hawk leans back against the wall, looking the picture of relaxation, but Melissa knows better. He’s poised for action, ready to spring if necessary. “What’re you doing with that?” Hawk nods towards Wes’s camera that looks like it’s something from prehistoric times. No doubt it was an antique bought for him by his rich parents.
“Oh, nothing.” Wes himself seems to realize that this explanation really isn’t going to cut it with Hawk. “You got me!” He holds his hands up. “Photography is kind of a hobby of mine.” He smiles sheepishly. “It’s a little geeky, I know.”
Hawk smiles, but there’s no friendliness there. It’s the way a wolf would smile at a sheep just before he’s about to eat it. “Really, no shit? Can I see it? She looks like a beaut!” Hawk holds his hand out expectantly.
Wes hesitates, looking between the camera and Hawk, weighing his options. “Really? You’re into photography?” Hawk doesn’t say anything, he just remains standing there, waiting for Wes to hand it over. “It probably wouldn’t be all that interesting to you. It’s not even digital, runs on film.”
Hawk lifts an eyebrow. “Old school, I like it. So, can I see?” It’s framed as a question, but it’s most definitely not a request.
“Sure thing.” Wes tries to appear relaxed, as he hands the camera over to Hawk, shuffling forwards to pass it to him before he shuffles back so that he’s behind Melissa again. “So, what do you know about cameras?” He shuffles from foot to foot, unsettled, doing a terrible acting job.
Hawk shrugs and throws Wes that smile again. “Oh, not a whole lot. Just the basics, I guess.” He inspects the camera, seeming genuinely impressed with it. His deft fingers find whatever it was he was looking for at the back, and there’s an audible click as he releases a button. The back flies open and film starts pouring out in a roll. “Like how to get the film out.”
Wes springs forward. “Don’t do that!” Hawk watches, as Wes scrambles with the film on the floor. “You idiot! You’ve ruined it!” The expression on Wes’s face is murderous, but it’s clear that it doesn’t intimidate Hawk, not by a long shot.
“I did, didn’t I?” He crosses his arms over his chest, watching Wes. “What was on it that was so important, anyway?”
Wes hugs the notebook closer to his chest, as if protecting it. “Nothing important. I just don’t get why you had to do that, man.”
“Boy, just tell us what the hell you were doing out here.” The growl in Josh’s voice tells them all just how little patience he has left.
Wes opens his mouth and closes it again, opens it and closes it, doing a pretty good impression of a goldfish. He looks between Josh and Hawk, who are both squaring up, ready for a fight, and there’s no mistaking their body language. “It was her idea. She made me do it!” Wes points at Melissa, shrieking like a girl.
Hawk and Josh raise their eyebrows and look at Melissa. “Wes, they know all about it. They know what you’ve been up to from the beginning because I told them. They know that you work for the Tribune, and they know that you’ve been trying to get enough evidence to…how did you put it? ‘Nail their asses to the wall?’”
Wes’s laugh is forced. “Right, and you believe her? She’ll lie to get what she wants; she can’t be trusted. Come on, guys. You know me! We’ve been working side by side. What do you really know about her?” Wes virtually spits the words out.
“We know that she wouldn’t rat her friends out like you just did. That’s all we need to know.” Josh shrugs his shoulders, and Melissa feels pride surge through her. Wes was right; they didn’t really have many reasons to believe her over him, but the fact that they did made her feel hugely proud.
Wes advances towards Melissa, spitting mad. “You little bitch! I should have known you were just their puppet. Is that how it works? You just side with whomever you’re fucking at the time. I knew you were a whore, but I’d never seen you act like one until now.”
Melissa stands stiff as a board, speechless at the vitriol of the words that Wes is pouring out at her. He takes another step towards her, and from her training, she knows that she should kick out and disable him, but she’s so shocked that anyone could hate her so much that she’s unable to move. She doesn’t have to because—all of a sudden—Hawk is standing between the two of them, looking at Wes as if he’s going to kill him.
“I suggest you take that back, Wes. Now.” He clenches and unclenches his fists, a signal that Melissa recognizes as meaning that he’s on an emotional knife edge.
“Or what? You gonna hit me, Ownes? I’m not like all your little friends. I’m important. Anything happens to me and I’ll send you to jail so fast your head will spin. You willing to risk all that for her?” Wes’s lip curls, and Melissa feels like he’d slapped her.
Hawk takes a moment, looking as if he’s weighing it up and then pulls back his fist and punches Wes squarely in the nose, knocking him to the ground. “Yeah, I think I will.”
Melissa knows that she shouldn’t enjoy the fact that Hawk has resorted to violence quite as much as she does, but she just can’t seem to help it. There’s something about seeing a scumbag like Wes brought down that makes her feel as if all is right in the world.
“You asshole.” Wes’s words come out in a lisp, as he cups his hands over his face. “You broke my fuckin’ nose!”
Hawk looks down at him without the slightest hint of remorse. “You’re lucky that’s the only thing I’ve broken…so far.”
“Right, you’re the big bad Hawk Ownes! I guess we’ll see how bad you are when you’re sitting in a jail cell for assault—on top of all the other charges I plan on sending you down for.” Wes struggles to his feet, his eyes flashing with anger, and Melissa hears the ring of truth in his words.
She puts her hand on Hawk’s shoulder, so that he faces her. “Hawk, he’s right. This can’t end well for you or the club. His parents are serious players.” She keeps her voice low, but she can tell from the smirk on Wes’s bloody face that he has a pretty good idea of what she’s said.
Hawk doesn’t respond. Instead he pulls her towards him, planting a hard kiss on her lips that makes her melt against him and leaves her knees trembling for minutes afterwards. “Melissa, it looks like that notebook of Wes’s was a little heavy for him.” Hawk nods towards the book that Wes had dropped and that’s now lying open on the ground. “We’re going to have a little talk with our newest employee.”
Melissa looks at Josh, wondering what they’re up to, but Josh just nods at her to do as Hawk has said.
“Don’t touch my stuff, bitch!” Wes steps forward, as if to guard his notebook and camera, but he backs away again as soon as Hawk raises a threatening fist.
“You really don’t get how this works, do you man?” Hawk shakes his head and looks at Josh chuckling. “And I thought these college guys were meant to be smart!”
Melissa grabs the notebook—and the camera as well for good measure—before Wes has time to come up with a response or decide if he’s willing for Hawk to go for him again. She takes a step towards Hawk, wondering if she should stop him from what she is almost certain will be more than a friendly chat. She wonders if she could even if she wanted to.
“Don’t worry, doll. We’ve got this.” Josh settles a comforting hand on her shoulder before he and Hawk each take hold of Wes’s upper arms and hustle him around to the back of the bar.
Melissa chews her bottom lip and takes a step as if to go after them, but a friendly face in front of her stops her in her tracks. “Let them handle this, Melissa.” Felicia crosses her arms in front of her chest, creating a barrier between Melissa and the direction the three men had disappeared to. “They won’t do any permanent damage. They’re not stupid.”