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wasn’t naïve enough to believe it didn’t have something to do with this money. I unrolled the stack and fanned it out in front of me. All one hundred dollar bills.
    I felt a little dirty counting it while still not knowing if my brother was safe. But I had to see how much was there.
    Nine thousand seven hundred dollars. Oh shit.
    The money brought with it a mixed bag of emotions. I’m not ashamed to admit that at first, it was a wave of relief. All of my problems were gone thanks to the tightly rolled bundle of bills. But that immediately gave way to concern… concern about where, and more importantly how, he got it. That concern quickly morphed into dread when I considered the note.
    One thing was for certain. Somebody down at that bar would know what was going on with my brother. If had to take a guess, it would be the one with the blue eyes. The one who’d been fucking me every night in my dreams… Damn him for getting Jared into this and damn me for letting it happen.

    I waited until late in the afternoon to make my way down there. I had a funny feeling I wouldn’t find him at bar before five.
    In the meantime, I swung by the bank and got a safe deposit box. I wasn’t about to keep all that cash at my house, and there was no way I was going to be dumb enough to spend it yet. It was the best place to keep it safe that I could come up with.
    Also, I decided to officially go on vacation. When I went into the bar to tell Todd I wouldn’t be in for at least a few days, he didn’t bat an eye. I just hoped this whole situation would blow over in a few days so I could go back to my normal life…
    “Good,” he’d said. “Get out of here before you work yourself to death. I’ll take care of covering your shifts.”
    I made up some excuse about a family emergency but it didn’t matter. Todd had been begging me to take some vacation anyway. He was one of the good ones.
    This time, as I sat in the parking lot, waiting for him to arrive, I didn’t feel afraid at all. I was pissed. This was probably his fault… whatever was going on. If he wasn’t directly involved with whatever Jared had gotten himself into, he was still a guilty party. I was determined to get any information from him that I could.
    There was only one motorcycle in the parking lot so far. I knew it didn’t belong to him because I saw an older biker sitting on it as I drove in. He probably got there just before I did.
    He wore an impressive beard that had some grey streaks in it. The tattoos on his arms had long since faded by the sun. For an older guy, he clearly stayed fit. Regardless, he’d gotten off the bike and unlocked the front door with a key he had hanging from his neck. There was no one else inside yet.
    Over the next hour, several more motorcycles rolled in. Each guy had the familiar patch on the back, but none of them were the one I was looking for. My nerves were wrecked. I hated waiting for things. Especially when it had to do with information about my brother.
    Just when I was about to bite the bullet and start asking around with some of the other guys, I heard the rumble of another motorcycle.
    Through my rear view mirror, I could see him coming. He rode high on the seat, not bothered by the hot evening air. There was no helmet to keep his dark locks from blowing back in the wind. A dark pair of sunglasses rested on his nose.
    I wanted to hate him. The spreading warmth between my legs wanted otherwise.
    I craned my neck to watch. He made a smooth turn into the lot. I didn’t think he noticed me but I was wrong. Instead of aiming his bike for the end of the line as I expected, he made a sweeping left that brought him directly to my driver’s side window.
    My throat grew tight. The mirrors in my car vibrated from the power of his engine. The prick smiled.
    “Turn it off,” I yelled through my cracked window. “It’s too loud.”
    He took his time, first loosening the bands around his wrists, then shaking out his hair before