Jerry Langton Three-Book Biker Bundle Read Online Free

Gagliano was a beat late. Tyler’s body bounced off the concrete ledge but eventually disappeared under the black water with a cascade of bubbles. Gagliano wiped his hands together triumphantly and said, “That’s that.”
    â€œWhat about the knapsack and the garbage bag?” Ned asked.
    â€œAw fuck,” Gagliano replied. “I fuckin’ forgot. Good thing you were here. C’mon, follow me.”
    They went back to the car, and Gagliano drove Ned home. “Don’t forget your package,” Gagliano said, holding up the knapsack.
    â€œWhat the fuck? I thought you were going to take care of it.”
    â€œUh uh, it’s yours; I’ll throw the garbage bag in a dumpster, but the knapsack is all yours,” he laughed. “We’ll take care of it tomorrow—right now, I’m going to sleep; see you in the morning.”
    Ned didn’t have a lot of choice; he grabbed the knapsack and carried it into the house. It was close to four a.m., and he was dead tired. Kelli wasn’t there, but that didn’t really surprise him. Whenever they argued, she would stay over at her friend Mallory’s.
    He went downstairs and opened up the freezer. Kelli’s uncle had given them his old freezer when he got a new one. But Ned wasn’t really into buying great quantities of frozen meat, so it was usually empty or close to it. He opened the door and threw the knapsack in. He turned to go upstairs, but changed his mind and lay down on an old couch next to the freezer. It was too short for him—he was six-foot-one—and it had a broken spring. But it beat the floor, and he wasn’t leaving the basement as long as the knapsack was still there.
    As tired as he was, Ned just couldn’t sleep. The cops had never come to his house before, but he couldn’t stop thinking that he had been seen. Gagliano was so calm, so sure of himself that he seemed sure they’d never get caught. Maybe, Ned thought to himself, Gagliano was more sloppy and foolish than confident. Ned knew that he’d been to jail at least a couple of times before, so he couldn’t be all that smart. And, if he was so confident he wasn’t going to be caught, why did he make him take the knapsack?
    All those thoughts and more kept tumbling around in Ned’s head all night and well into the morning. Although he never really fell completely asleep, he was about halfway there most of the time. He rose twice to check on the knapsack. Although he was relieved to see it was there both times, he also wished it wasn’t there, that it had all never happened. The third time he woke up, he didn’t even get close to sleep again.
    From about 9:10 until 10:15, he did nothing but stare at the freezer. The doorbell knocked him out of his trance. He raced to the basement’s front window and looked outside. He could see Gagliano’s car and boots.
    Ned ran up the stairs and to the front door. He looked out the window to see if Gagliano was alone. He was. He saw Ned and waved goofily. Ned opened the door and Gagliano walked in. “Nice place here, a little feminine, but not too bad,” he said. Ned ignored him. Gagliano waited. “So, no coffee? No eggs? Not even a hello?” he complained. Then he sat on Ned’s couch and looked him up and down. “You look like a huge pile of shit—rough night?”
    â€œRough night? You try . . . ” Ned realized what he was saying was ridiculous. He could tell from Gagliano’s face, demeanor, and conversation that sleeping next to a severed head and hands was not a huge deal for him—or anything new. Ned forced out a laugh. “I didn’t get a ton of sleep; fuckin’ couch down the basement.”
    â€œShe sent you down the basement?”
    Ned wondered how to answer that. A number of bikers had shown disgust at how pussy-whipped they thought he was. He knew Gagliano had done some research on him and