As one would expect, Bruce was all smiles the next morning. He had made a mistake the night before, but now he had the chance to make up for it. The idea of a date with Melissa drove his imagination wild. He found it impossible to shake off her image of riding her motorcycle. She was unusual; indeed, Melissa was not as girly as most women he had met so far. The native lawyer was beautiful, funny and persistent enough to intrigue him.

Bruce soon discovered that at least one man on the fifth floor of their hotel was happier than him. It was none other than his friend, Matt. The lazy, three knocks on the door was a clear sign that he was feeling a little too relaxed. Matt had black circles under his eyes. The huge smile on his face quickly gave him away.

“Did you come here to brag?” Bruce asked.

“Good morning to you, too.” Matt teased him. “What’s the matter? Am I the only one who had sex last night?”

“Come in, dumbass.” Bruce grumbled. “Why don’t you tell me what happened after I left?”

Matt whistled at the question. “A lot. There was touching.”

“Matt…” Bruce gave an exasperated gasp. “I don’t want to hear about you and the blondie. What did Melissa do? Did she say anything?”

“She said a lot to Jenny. They look pretty close.” Matt remarked. “I couldn’t hear much. The music was too loud and they kept whispering to each other. When you took off, she was kind of shocked. She thought she had said something wrong. She wanted to come here. I said ‘no’ at first, but then, she started screaming at me.”

“I missed all the fun.” Bruce teased him.

“She’s pretty demanding.” Matt spoke his mind. “I don’t get it. Why would she react like that?”

“Women, brother.” Bruce gave him a friendly slap on the face. “I guess I made an impression on her. She can demand all she wants. I’m not going to marry her or anything. She knows I’m just looking to have a good time.”

“I got some bad news, man.” Matt stated, lowering his tone. “I read an article online about last night’s accident. The casino belongs to a Frank Howard. He said one of his employees stole the money and that the money they recovered is 200k short. They’re looking for the guy who stole it.”

“Damn!” Bruce yelled. “I knew taking that money was a shitty call.”

“Dude relax, no one saw us do it.” Matt said, maintaining his composure, unlike Bruce who was starting to panic.

“You were never good with names, were you?” He asked, gasping for breath.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Matt squinted at him.

“Four years ago, someone else tried to steal from him. We were talking about it in the club. Ring a bell?” His voice was bass-deep with a hint of sarcasm in it. It was there that Matt understood what his friend had been trying to say to him.

“Jesus.” He murmured. “Mickey Roller. They killed his whole family and then killed him, too.”

“Exactly!” Bruce cried, unable to hide his concern. “You don’t have any family, but I do. Who knows what that prick is going to do to my little sister if he finds out.”

“We should return it.” It was Matt’s turn to panic; he spoke too fast. “It’s the only way, man.”

“Frank Howard’s an animal.” Bruce groaned. “He’ll kill us anyway.”

“I’m just looking out for you, brother.” Matt muttered, his voice barely audible.

“You should have thought about it when you stole that money!” Bruce yelled at the top of his lungs. “We’re trapped, you asshole! Don’t you get it?!”

“We need to ask the MC for help.” Matt suggested.

“We left the MC two years ago, Matt.” Bruce said with a sigh, trying to calm down. “Besides, who would want to start a war with the most powerful man in the State? Why? Because two former members stole his money? They’ll want a piece of that. We could leave Vegas, but Howard’s got connections. He’ll find us.”

“What can we do?” Matt inquired.

“We got two options. One: Try to pin this on someone else. We can find some local lowlife, dump the cash in his backyard and tip Howard off. Two: Pray he never finds out we stole that money.” Bruce replied, running his hand through his hair.

“I don’t want to go down that road again, Bruce.” Matt said, shaking his head sideways.

“In case you haven’t noticed, you have.” Bruce claimed, his voice calm and steady, looking deep into Matt’s eyes. “We both have. Now, I don’t care who this guy is. We’ll get through this, like we always have.”

“I wish I didn’t hear you say that. Vince used to say those words a lot.” Matt sighed, referring to the middle-aged president of their motorcycle club, Vince Burrows.

“Screw Vince.” Bruce urged. “That’s why we left the MC in the first place. We’d be in prison if we hadn’t.”

“I miss the life sometimes.” Matt confessed. “The money. The girls.”

“What about the feds that come with it?” Bruce got sarcastic. “Do you miss those, too?”

“No.” Matt snorted.

“Don’t worry about Howard. We’ll deal with him, when time comes.” Bruce assured. “Anyway, did Melissa say anything else?”

“Oh, shit!” Matt yelled. “Jenny’s still in my room!”

Not wasting any time, he flipped around and rushed to the door. Matt stormed out of the hotel room, leaving a very amused Bruce. He couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Despite his initial emotional reaction, he was determined to face the danger that possibly lay ahead. Yes, Frank Howard was a dangerous criminal, a local kingpin, but he had faced people like him in the past, while he was still a member of the motorcycle club. Bruce might have to get his hands dirty; still, that prospect did not worry him. He would whatever it took to protect himself, his sister Miranda and Matt.

“Should I call Miranda? No. I’ll upset her for no reason. I still don’t know if Howard knows. Damn it. I wish I had someone in his crew. He’d tell me if they had anything. I wouldn’t be here waiting for someone to take a shot at me. I’d hit him first. Maybe Matt’s right. It’s a long shot, but the Vegas MC charter might help. But I can’t talk to them, either. Someone might tell Howard that me and Matt took that cash. I don’t know if I can trust them.”