The Sinner’s Tribe Motorcycle Club, Books 1-3 (22 page)

“I can't believe we've been friends for so long and there's so much about your life you've never told me.” Arianne raised her voice over the music. “I would never have asked you to help me if I knew you'd be going back to something you left behind.”

“And right there is the reason I didn't,” Dawn said in a quiet tone. “Yeah, you grew up in the Black Jack clubhouse, but you got a soft heart. Same as Jeff when he's not high or tweaking on drugs. That time he came to help you look after my girls when I was stuck at work, and he let them dress him up and pretend to be their daddy—” Her voice caught and she looked away. Dawn's twin girls were the joy and sorrow of her life, and she rarely talked about them.

Pool cues clacked behind them. Someone laughed. The music segued into AC/DC's “Overdose.” Arianne inhaled the thick acrid smoke and coughed. “Jeff changed. Viper changed him. I'm not sure I really know him anymore.”

“And I'm not sure I know you anymore.” Dawn fiddled with her watch. “From what you said on the phone, it sounds like you've broken all your dating rules with Jagger, and you guys are—”

“Nothing.”

“Seriously?” Dawn raised her eyebrow. “You told me it was the best sex you ever had.”

“It was the most intense sex I've ever had. With the most intense man I've ever met. He seems to think his ‘blood price' claim means he owns me body and soul. He said he'd never let me leave Conundrum.”

Dawn twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Maybe that's his way of saying he doesn't
want
you to leave. Most bikers I know aren't good with expressing emotion.”

Arianne snorted. “What's so hard about saying, ‘Hey, we had great sex. I like you. Don't leave'? Why all the drama and scowling and stomping around growling ‘mine'?”

“I don't know.” Dawn's lips curled in a smile. “What's so hard about saying, ‘Hey, we had great sex. I like you. I'll stay'?”

“Because I don't know if I can stay.”

“Do you want to stay?”

“I want the option.” Arianne twisted her mother's ring around her finger. “Before I arranged to buy the passports, I had no option. I ran because the alternative was unbearable, but I always knew he would find me and bring me back. But once I have the passport, I'll know that if I leave, it will be forever. I want that choice. A real choice. Then I'll be able to think clearly. I won't be afraid to make the wrong choice, because I'll know I have an out if I do.”

Dawn's face softened. “You must really like him. A few weeks ago, you wouldn't even have talked about options. You were going. End of story.”

Arianne's cheeks flushed. “I feel like I know him, understand him. He's Viper, but with heart, soul, and the kind of body you just want to lick all over.”

The bartender returned with a pretty, red-headed waitress who promised to keep Wheels and T-Rex entertained and well supplied with drinks. After she reached the prospects' table, the bartender motioned to them to follow, and they quickly rounded the bar, then walked single file down a narrow hallway to a small room at the end of the corridor.

The infamous Bunny—a pasty-faced, middle-aged man with a good-sized paunch and a receding hairline—gestured them inside from behind a wooden desk. If not for the two burly bodyguards standing on either side of him, the Beretta on the table, and the coldest, darkest eyes Arianne had ever seen outside the Black Jack clubhouse, he could have been anyone's dad.

Bunny's gaze flicked from Dawn to Arianne and then back to Dawn. “You.”

“Me.”

“You back in the game?”

Dawn lifted a cool shoulder. “Just helping out a friend. My girl's looking to buy some guns for a customer of yours. Jeff Wilder.”

Arianne poked Dawn in the side and glared. “You know Bunny? Why didn't you tell me you knew him?”

Bunny leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head, his gaze raking over Arianne's body, leaving a bitter tang in her mouth. “'Cause she doesn't want to know me. Bad things happen to people who know me. Like that piece of scum, Jeff. How are you involved with him?”

“He's my brother.”

Dawn hissed a warning a second too late. Bunny's ears perked up and his brow furrowed. “Viper's daughter. Interesting. Never knew he had a daughter. I've had enough problems dealing with your brother. Not so sure I want to double my risk and deal with you, too. What's it worth to you?”

“What do you want?”

“You. On your knees. Between my legs to start. Dee can stay and watch. She likes that kind of thing.”

Dawn bristled. “Fuck you, Bunny.”

He cocked his head to the side and leered. “You want in on the action, Dee, just say the word. I'll take you both at the same time.”

Arianne's throat burned. “How about we stick with cash?”

“Got enough cash. Don't got enough pussy. Maybe if I had enough pussy, I'd remember if I had any weapons lying around.”

Vile, disgusting, lecherous bastard
. But she'd known men like him—the Jacks seemed to attract the lowest of the low—and she knew how to handle his unwanted advances, his pathetic attempts to shock her. At heart, men like Bunny wanted a challenge. She only had to threaten him to gain his respect.

Steeling herself to keep her face impassive and her voice calm, she said, “Maybe Viper would like to know that you're supplying Jeff under the table.”

His face hardened, but she caught a glimmer of interest in his eyes. “He tell you that?”

She bit back a smile. “Jeff does what Viper tells him to do. Only thing he does on his own is drugs, and they're always in short supply. Since you're the man who can get anything, I figured he'd go to you.”

Bunny scowled. “Maybe you'd like to use that smart mouth to pay off the five grand your brother owes me so I don't break his legs next time I see him. Once he and I are square, then we can talk weapons.”

“Gimme a couple of hours on your tables, and I'll have your money.”

Bunny cocked his head to the side, considering. “You shoot pool?”

“Viper might have taught me a thing or two.”

“Still want that fucking honey sweet mouth of yours, so how about you play my boy Peter? You win, I give you the contact details of someone who can supply your brother. Guaranteed. You lose, and you spend the rest of the night with those sweet lips wrapped around my dick.”

Arianne looked over at Dawn and got a vehement head shake despite the fact that Dawn had seen her play. Arianne had no idea how good Peter was, but as she'd told Jagger, when Viper taught a lesson, you never forgot it.

“I've been saving this mouth for someone special.” She licked her lips for effect. “So if I win, Jeff's debt is erased
and
you give me the details.”

Bunny huffed. “Definitely Viper's daughter. We got a deal. But I have to warn you, my boy's been playing since he was five years old.”

Arianne laughed. “Then he started three years too late.”

“Nononononononono.”

Arianne ignored Dawn's moan and kept her focus on the striped ball on the pool table in front of her. Bunny hadn't lied. His son, Peter, was good. Damn good. But he'd missed a shot early on, and now she had control of the table. She took her shot, and the ball bounced off the bumper, knocking two striped balls into their pockets before spinning into the corner. Peter exhaled an irritated breath and headed over to his table at the back of their section, calling for his friends to pour him a drink.

“What's wrong?” Arianne chalked the cue as she considered the table. She was up by two now with only two to go, but if she missed, she just might be handing the game to Peter, who was now glowering at her from the corner.

“It's Cade.”

Arianne's hand clenched around the cue. Had the Sinners come for her? Jagger had let her go out with Dawn after she'd swallowed her pride and asked permission. Even teenagers were allowed to stay out until midnight, and she still had her chaperones leaning against the wall, sweating because she'd refused to leave when they asked.

She lowered her voice, although Peter and his friends were far enough away, there was little chance they could overhear. “Is he alone?”

“So far. I think he's scouting. Damn. I thought I'd never see him again. I mean, that night we had together after the bar fight was hot, but I'm not looking for anything more than a one-night stand. Don't need another man in my life bossing me around.”

Arianne glanced up just as Cade spotted them. “You could have done a lot worse for a one-night stand. He's pretty damn easy on the eyes. I mean, if he wasn't a biker, he could have been a movie star or a model—the angry, sullen type.”

Cade barked a few words into his phone and headed toward them, quickly eating up the distance with easy strides of his long, lean legs. T-Rex detached himself from the wall and walked over to greet him.

“Awkward.” Dawn moaned again. “What am I going to say to him? I kinda ran out that night when he was asleep.”

Arianne bit back a laugh before leaning over the table. “Tell him you had to get to work.”

“It was Sunday morning.”

“Church?”

Dawn snorted. “Not if I want to go up in flames. I mean, seriously, the things we did … That man is kink on a stick.”

“Jogging?”

“With these?” She cupped her breasts. “I'd probably fall over or knock myself out.”

“Not a problem I can sympathize with.” Arianne mentally calculated angles and trajectories as Dawn fidgeted beside the table. If she wanted to win the game, she would need to keep control right until the end.

Dawn twisted her lips to the side and leaned against the table. “I was a coward and now I gotta pay the price. Just never thought I'd see him again.”

“You talking or are you playing?” Peter shouted. He drained his glass and scowled. Tall and thin where Bunny was short and round, he had the same cold eyes and giant hook of a nose as his father. His posse of inebriated friends laughed.

“She knows she's gonna lose,” one of them shouted. “She's trying to distract you with that sweet ass so she can play with your balls.”

More laughter. Snickers. Arianne focused on the table and ignored the immature comments. “I don't know why you're complaining,” she whispered to Dawn. “You had a good time. He had a good time. No strings attached. You're both adults.”

“I'm not complaining. I'm embarrassed.” Dawn plastered a smile on her face just as Cade reached their corner. “I've never had to face down a one-night stand who wanted more than one night.”

Cade stopped in front of them, giving Dawn a curt, cold nod of greeting before turning to Arianne. “Jagger's looking for you.”

She made her shot, sinking the ball in the corner pocket. “Here I am. But you'll have to excuse me, 'cause I'm in the middle of a game.”

“He doesn't like you being here.”

Arianne sidestepped him and considered the table, pulling her cloak of false bravado tight around her. She'd managed to hold her own with Bunny; she could handle Cade. “Then he shouldn't have said I could come.”

Cade grunted. “You belong to the club. Club protects you. But we can't do that if you put yourself in danger.”

“Only danger I'm facing is losing the game because you won't stop talking.” She took another shot, slamming the ball into the side pocket, and Peter shouted a curse. Cade's head jerked around and he glared.

“You with him?”

“Seriously?” Arianne rolled her eyes. “I like 'em sweet but I don't like 'em young.”

Cade gave a warning grunt. “Better watch that mouth around Jagger. He's fucking pissed, and Wheels and T-Rex are gonna suffer the most for not getting you back to the clubhouse on time.”

“Jagger likes my mouth.” Arianne met his gaze, her tension easing when she saw amusement flicker in his eyes. “And no one told me I had a curfew. To be fair, though, they might have suggested at one point that it would be a good idea to leave. And I might have suggested that the way club politics works is that you do what the president's blood price wants you to do 'cause if the blood price is happy, the president will be happy, and if he's happy, you might get home without any broken limbs.”

Cade gave her a bemused smile. “Christ. Don't know how he manages you, but I'm gonna wait right here until he comes. This is gonna be a show I don't want to miss.”

He turned to talk to Dawn, and Arianne walked to the far end of the table and bent low to eye the ball. A draft of cool air brushed her hair. The cacophony of voices and the clack of billiard balls quieted and the first few notes of AC/DC's “Hells Bells” filled the hall. She didn't need to hear the soft rattle of his belt chain to know he was there. His presence radiated through the entire hall.

Jagger.

A thrill of fear shot through her blood. Pulse racing, she focused on the table, trying to ignore the thud of footsteps, the hushed murmur of an intimidated crowd, and the soft creak of riding leathers. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her cue and slid it into position between her first two knuckles.

His steps didn't hesitate when he reached the table, and even though she had only to lift her head to meet his gaze, Arianne kept her focus on the ball. This game was too important for distractions. And Jagger was the biggest distraction of all.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of leather and the glitter of the chain that hung off his belt. Her body trembled as he neared her, so hot, sweat beaded on her brow.

And then his hand was on her ass.

Broad and warm, his palm cupped her right cheek, fingers splayed over the sensitive crease between her thigh and buttock, thumb brushing over the rise. No words. No greeting. No permission.