Wild Child: A Skull Kings MC Novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

be sick.”
    Gabriel hurried forward. He grabbed my arms to hold me steady, even though I was okay on my own. There was a soft look of concern on his face, as if at that very moment, nothing else existed in the world but me.
    “Take a few deep breaths. Like this.”
    I mimicked the shape of his pursed lips and inhaled, exhaled, inhaled along with him. His eyes were concentrated on mine for a few moments. Then, they lowered to my mouth.
    I reminded myself to keep breathing.
    Suddenly, the door opened loudly behind us, issuing music into the alleyway.
    “What’s going on—”
    The pallor of Gabriel’s face made me turn to look. The bartender from earlier stood there, one hand still holding the door open. The other rose steadily to her mouth as she stared toward the dumpster. It had taken her much less time to realize what was hidden in the trash.
    “Is that—”
    “Yeah,” Gabriel said.
    She let the door swing shut behind her. “Did you guys find her like that?”
    Gabriel ran his hands through his hair. “Fuck, Sarah. Of course we did.”
    Sarah walked over to join us in the middle of the alley. The perfume she wore smelled strongly of sandalwood. Her slim arms crossed over her chest. “What should we do?”
    “Give me a minute,” Gabriel muttered. He backed away slowly, covering his mouth as he eyed the sky, deep in thought. “Okay, you said she came back here with a customer. Did you happen to see what the customer looked like?”
    “It was a chick,” Sarah said. “White. Young, kind of like your friend here. Peroxide blonde. Honestly, a little generic looking.” She shrugged helplessly.
    “That’s okay,” Gabriel said. “I think we have a...” His voice dropped away as he scanned the walls. I followed his gaze to a security camera mounted just a few feet away from us. “Yes! We have a camera there. We can check the footage and see if we can get a good look at—”
    “Why?” Sarah asked suddenly. “What’s going on?”
    “It’s none of your business—”
    “Sure it is.” She smirked. “I’m a witness. The police will be interested in talking to me.”
    Gabriel groaned. “Just give us a few minutes with security to look at the tape, okay? Then we’ll worry about the cops and everything else.”
    Sarah lowered her head, gazing at Gabriel through her eyelashes. “It’s going to look suspicious if we’re standing around talking like this, and the tape is time-stamped. I’m going to call the police right now. You should have enough time to review the tape before they get here.”
    “Awesome. Come on,” Gabriel said.
    Sarah caught my wrist just as I began to walk away. “Rude of him not to introduce us. I’m Sarah.”
    I returned her warm smile. “Lisbeth.”
    There was no use lying about my name, now.
    * * *
    G abriel and I stood behind his colleague, Omar. We were in the office, and Omar sat at a cluttered desk to fast forward through the footage from the outside surveillance camera.
    “Wait!” Gabriel said, clamping his hand onto Omar’s large shoulder. “There.”
    The footage stopped and resumed at normal speed. A door swung open in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and I recognized Gloria in her cowboy hat and braids as she entered the frame. A small figured followed close behind her.
    Gabriel and I leaned forward.
    “It’s kind of grainy,” Omar remarked.
    “Looks young, white, and blonde, just like Sarah told us,” Gabriel said, sounding a little disappointed.
    “And tattooed,” Omar said, noting her heavily inked arms.
    I remained silent. My stomach felt like it had collapsed on itself. I pressed my lips together and kept watching the tape.
    “Are they arguing? They’re arguing, right?” Gabriel continued.
    In the footage, Gloria gestured wildly with her hands. The young woman in front of her was also moving her hands, but with much less enthusiasm. Gloria shrugged and shook her head, stepping close to the other woman, who backed off. Then, the woman