“Hell yeah! Only we can’t let Tank know. He’d go ape-shit.”
“You think my new husband wouldn’t?” Katie said, laughing. Annie remembered first time this girl had beat her, and laughed. She’d been sixteen and she’d won. She could remember that ten bikers and one older woman had shown up. Annie remembered Trick now. He’d yelled at the two younger women. Only he’d been particularly hard on Katie. Annie suspected that his feelings even then hadn’t been brotherly.
“Maybe not.” She said, giggling.
“Yeah right.” Katie said her eyes crossing, because they both knew that he’d be just as nuts as Tank would be if he knew. Annie was excited, she’d been looking for a partner to run that race with for years. It really did surprise her that she’d never thought to ask Katie.
“I still don’t know why I never thought of asking you.” Annie told Katie.
“I didn’t think to ask you either, not until tonight. I was thinking about the race, and suddenly it was like bam, ask Annie.”
“Ask Annie what?” Trick said, he’d walked up behind them without either of them noticing.
“Umm…if she thought you’d ever be ready to leave.” Katie told him, thinking fast.
“Ha, I’m ready woman. Let’s get outta here, so I can tie you up.” Trick said, making Katie blush. He began leading her away, calling out loudly.
“We’re outta here, people!” Katie stopped him, turning she ran back over, hugging Annie.
Whispering into her ear. “Practice, we only have a week.”
“You too.” She called after Katie as she ran back to her husband. Trick scooped her up and began carrying her to his bike.
Charity sat down beside Annie, and they watched her brother roar away with Katie clinging to him.
“So, did you agree to do it?” Charity asked, looking at her intently.
“Yeah,” Annie said, hesitantly. The other woman’s face split into a huge grin.
“Perfect, maybe Katie’s idea will distract my brother.”
“Distract him from what?” Annie asked.
“My leaving to take a job in the Blue Bandit’s territory.” Charity replied.
“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on it, sweetie. It may distract him for a little bit, but then he will be all over finding you.” Annie told her, wincing in sympathy.
“Well, if it distracts him just long enough for me to get over to their territory. Then I can disappear. I’m actually quite good at it. I was always the one who planned the exit. That’s how we always got away with the crazy stunts we pulled. She was the one who thought of the ideas, and I was the one who made it work. I’m the one who’s going to tell you how to get away from Tank too, you know.”
Looking at the younger woman in a new light, she wasn’t surprised. Katie was a fly by the seat of her pants kinda girl. Whereas this girl was a plan it out to the last second type. Yep, she’d bet those two had been hell on wheels when they were younger.
“I was wondering how we were going to get away without either of them noticing.” Annie watched as the other woman’s face turned from an almost wide eyed innocence to a shockingly devious expression.
“I’ll take care of everything. Just be aware you’re going to be bait. They’re going to be so distracted with stopping the two of you they won’t realize I’m gone until it’s too late.” Annie smiled, damn, she thought, it was a good thing that this girl was on her side, otherwise she’d never be able to have fun.
“I’m okay with that.” Annie looked up seeing Tank headed her way, she stood and turned back to look at the other woman. Whispering, “Let me know what you come up with.” Then she turned, walking to Tank.
“Hey, sweetheart, you having a good time still?” Tank asked, looking at her.
“Yeah, everything okay?” Annie asked.
“Yeah, we always have fighting when there’s a bon-fire. The men get a little riled, and they’re drunk, so they get stupid. Nothing to worry about.”
“Okay. Dance with me.” Annie said, her blood was still pumping with excitement. She wanted to burn off some of her energy before she dragged Tank back to the house to have her way with him.
“Sure.” Tank didn’t know what had caused Annie to be so keyed up, but he liked it. She seemed to vibrate with excitement. He hoped it was because she was here with him and she loved it. He wasn’t letting her get away from him, but he wanted her to want to stay.
Taking her into his arms, he pulled her out near the fire where the music was pumping. He placed his hands on her hips, and groaned as they began to move together to the music. It was little more than swaying to the beat, but with her body making him mad by rubbing against him. It was torture, but he would take it for as long as she wanted, if it made her happy. She was so beautiful, he thought looking at her hair flowing around her and her hips swinging to the beat. He wondered how long she’d make him wait before she’d let him take her home and fuck her.
Chapter 13
Annie paused as she heard someone talking in the downstairs. Damn, Tank was home. He was supposed to be at the club by now, and she needed to leave in twenty minutes or she was going to be late. Then she heard him coming up the stairs. She stashed her racing gloves and her helmet in her bag thrusting it under the bed, and lay down jerking her book off the night stand. Tank entered the room less than a second later. Damn, that had been close.
“Hey, sweetheart, I have to run over to the club for an hour or so, something is going on. Sorry, I know we were supposed to have a quiet night in.” Tank looked agonized, he must think she was going to be mad. Only she was really screaming inside her head for him to get the hell out. He was crossing to the bed.
“It’s okay, babe. Just go handle whatever has come up, and I will just read.” Yeah, right. More like she’d be out the door, and headed to Devil’s Run in seconds. Charity had set up a conference call to discuss the problem with the accounts that she’d purposely created over the last week to distract them. She’d done a fake account that she’d put the figures into wrong so that they’d have to go line by line in order to fix it. She already had the corrected file, and the numbers where fine. It was just a way to get Bone to call Tank in to help them.
“You’re amazing.” Tank said, leaning down to kiss her, making her feel a bit guilty.
“Thanks” She replied, accepting his kiss. He groaned pulling away.
“I wish I could stay here and make love to you, but I have to go.”
Yes, yes, go, she thought. She needed him to leave so that she could get out of here too. Tank turned leaving the room with a quick see you later. Annie was up off the bed in seconds after she heard the front door close behind him. Grabbing her bag from beneath the bed, she began grabbing the rest of the stuff she’d need. She was out the door two minutes later, she roared down the road headed to the meet in Tank’s truck. She need to get there so that she could change. Fuck, she was going to be cutting it close, she thought pushing the peddle down.
Annie roared around the corner her mind on the next turn. Katie was keeping the pack off her for this last bit of the run. Katie was better at the turns and twists at the end of the track than Annie was. She’d already seen the leader careen around the next turn. Annie didn’t know what the hell the bitch was thinking. She’d left her partner back four turns ago, and it didn’t make much sense. The woman couldn’t win a team race alone. Of course, Danica had never been a very bright one.
Annie took the next curve, feeling the sliding of the tires. Damn, she gripped the steering wheel. Thankfully, she made it around without a problem. Only half a mile to go. Checking the mirror she saw that Katie was still moving in close behind her. She watched as the younger woman moved into the path of the car behind her, Danica’s partner. Damn, Katie was damned good. No way would she have been able to pull off that move on that corner. Looking ahead knowing that another curve was coming, she gripped the wheel, again.
Tank roared up behind Trick and Duck. Molly was standing beside the starting line with a smile on her face.
Bone, Tiny, and Dog pulled up behind him. Getting off the bike his heart was pounding like he was having a heart attack. They’d realized when Trick had called about thirty minutes after they’d started the accounting screaming that Racheal had been distracting him. He’d been asked to help her move some boxes at her place since Tiny wasn’t home. Only Tiny had shown up and asked her why she hadn’t just waited for him to get home. She known he was on his way home before she’d called Trick. Tiny had gone out to talk to a contact about Louie, who they were still searching for.
Tank had been upset that he wouldn’t be able to go spend time with Annie. He’d called to let her know only to find she wasn’t there. By the time they gotten it out of Racheal, after discovering that Molly and Terry where gone as well as Katie and Annie, they’d already been an hour behind the women. Bone stormed towards Molly and Terry, followed by the rest of them. Tank and Bone were a few feet away when Molly spoke.
“You know, I really expected you to arrive sooner. They’ve been on the track for like thirty minutes.”
“Yeah, you guys must be getting slower in your old age.” Terry called out to them.
Tank stared at the women, a roaring in his ears. What the hell? Annie was driving the Devil’s Run. More than one person had died at Devil’s Run. Dear God, what if Annie died. He’d lose his shit in a big way.
“Molly, this is a dangerous race. They could be killed!” Bone roared.
“Yep, they could. But I have to ask you Bone. If it was one of your boys would you demand that they not run it?” Molly demanded, glaring at him.
“It’s different.” Bone roared.
“It’s not, Bone. Having a pussy doesn’t make you too stupid to make your own decisions. They are good, Bone. Neither one of them is stupid. They’ll be fine.” Bone grabbed her and jerked her into his arms, kissing her. Dog held Terry as Tank turned to see Sal and Aunt Mae pulling up in Sal’s truck. His ears were still ringing, and he felt like he was going to be sick. If anything happened to Annie, he wasn’t going to be okay.
Mae walked over to the small group. Laying a hand just below his shoulder, his heart slowed a bit when he met her eyes. She had always been able to calm him with just a look.
“I know my girl, boys. She can handle this, and if she asked your girl to do it son, then she knows your girl can handle it, too. Let’s move to the finish and watch our girls win this thing.” Mae began ushering him towards the truck. Pointedly ignoring Trick’s reply that his wife would not be running this race at all if she hadn’t taught the girl to be a hellion. Everyone piled into the back and Sal drove them all over to the finish about half a mile away. There were a couple hundred people who’d come out to watch gathered around a screen that showed the progress of the drivers. There were drones that followed the drivers in the lead positions. If the technology wasn’t so damned expensive they’d most likely be watching these races from their homes.
Instead, they huddled around the video screen, watching. Tank stood beside Trick watching the red corvette that Annie drove, having learned that information from Molly, on the ride to the finish line. He watched as it careened around the corners. Fuck, fuck her tires were sliding on that turn. He held his breath and prayed. When she made it safely around, he almost sighed in relief. He watched as the track twisted again, and Katie pulled some maneuver that took his stomach into his throat. Trick had probably just about had a heart attack, he thought, looking at him. The man was green, and his fists were clenched at his sides. If that had been Annie Tank didn’t know that he would have remained standing. They were nearing the finish line, only four more turns and they were on the straight away.
“Why the hell they call this the Devil’s Run I’ll never know, other than you have to have a deal with the Devil in order to survive it.” Bone grumbled, watching the screen.
“Hell, don’t you know your own clubs history, boy!” Duck demanded.
“What the hell are you talking about now, Duck?” Bone asked
“It’s called the Devil’s Run because that’s how it started. Every man in the club would run it every year. Well, until Colter died running it. That’s where it got its name from. Torque used to have prospects run it before they were allowed in. If they were too chicken shit to run it, or they didn’t handle their bike well, then they didn’t need to be a Red Devil.” Duck told them, but Tank didn’t’ care. He was too busy praying, praying that Annie made it around that last curve she was about to take. It was the worst.
“Fuck, that’s crazy.” Dog growled, and watching Annie take that curve Tank couldn’t agree more. At least in a cage you’d have a chance, but on a bike. You’d be dead for sure.
Annie knew that there was only one more turn, but it was the most dangerous. Looking behind her to check on Katie she was surprised to see that somehow Danica’s partner had bypassed the other woman. How had that happened? She wondered, but the turn was coming too fast for her to worry about it. She turned back. She’d just have to trust Katie to get around her on the straight away. She took the curve, which twisted first left, then right, then left again. Her heart pounded and she knew that if she was off by even an inch she was toast. This curve was the worst, and it was why nobody ever did this race lightly. You had to be the best, or you could end up dead.
Annie took the first left, again feeling the car trying to fishtail, shit. Only as she took the right, did she realize that it was a good thing that the tires had slid, otherwise she’d have clipped the cliff face. Damn, that had been lucky, she thought, coming out of the last turn. She was on the straight away, and she glanced ahead seeing that Danica had already crossed the finish line. She looked behind her again, and what she saw made her heart almost stop.
Danica’s partner was coming out of the curve only she was going to clip the cliff. Fuck, Annie thought watching, but there was nothing she could do. She watched in horror as the car slammed into the wall. She hoped that Katie wasn’t too close behind her, or she wasn’t going to make it either. Roaring to a stop at the finish line. Annie jumped out of the car, her heart pounding as she watched the car bounce off the wall, fishtailing. It spun three times, but thank god, it didn’t flip.
Annie knew that the other woman would be okay, thankfully she hadn’t clipped it bad enough to get herself killed. But she didn’t know how close Katie had been the smoke that had been created by the tires prevented her from seeing. Then suddenly Katie’s black mustang burst through the smoke. Annie began jumping up and down. Yes, yes, yes they’d won the Devil’s Run, she thought gleefully.
Annie grinned from ear to ear, and Katie roared over the finish line. She jumped out and ran over to Annie, hugging, they jumped up and down, screaming. They’d won! Danica growled, two more cars made it around the curve and came to a stop taking second place. Danica threw her helmet. Damn she was pissed. Danica’s friend finally got out of the car, and people ran over to check her out.
“How did she get ahead of you?” Annie asked Katie.
“I let her. She was doing some crazy shit, trying to get around me, so when I knew you had enough room, I let her by. I was afraid she’d get us both killed on that last one.” Katie looked over to where Danica was screaming at her friend who was being treated by the doctor.
“Damn, she’s still a bitch, I see.” Annie said, laughing.
“Yeah…oh shit.” That was all the warning Annie had before she was tackled by a mountain.
Tank couldn’t breathe. He was seriously not breathing anymore. Annie had scared ten years off his life, and he would imagine that Katie had taken at least twice that off Trick’s. He jumped over the railing running towards the women. He grabbed Annie, jerking her around. He kissed her, long and deep. When he finally managed to pull away he still felt like a mad man.
“What the hell were you thinking, Annie?” Tank yelled. “You could have been killed.” He didn’t want to admit it, but he was trembling slightly from the stress of watching that race and knowing that if something happened that there wasn’t a damned
thing he could do to save her.
Annie was shocked by Tank’s distress, she was pretty sure he was shaking. She’d known that he wasn’t going to like it, but she’d never thought he’d be this upset. That was when she realized. Although, she was still feeling the high of the race, what she realized in that moment was ever more exhilarating.
“You care about me. Like really, really care about me.” Annie’s face hurt, the grin she wore was so big.
“Have you lost your mind? Of course, I care about you, woman!” Tank roared, shaking her.
“I care about you too. I want to tell you about the drop, and why I have to do it.” Annie whispered into his ear, almost strangled him with her hug.
“Then tell me about the drop, but don’t think I’ve forgotten that you just allowed Katie to convince you to drive that crazy race. Risking both your lives.” Tank grumbled.
“We won though.” Annie said, smiling. “And Katie didn’t convince me. I’ve been wanting to race it for years, but it’s a partner race and I never had anyone good enough to ask. It’s like you with the guns. I need to race, it’s in my blood.”
“No, no, you will not be racing again. EVER.” Tank roared, his heart beating a hundred miles an hour causing that roaring in his ears again.
“I will if I want to, Tank” Annie said, patting his chest, and grinning again. Tank moaned, and buried his face in her hair.
“Please, you can’t. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you, Annie. I wouldn’t survive it.” He clutched her to him and Annie wanted to kiss him from head to toe. He loved her. She knew it, and suddenly she knew that she loved him, too.
“I love you too, Cupcake.” She whispered, feeling his arms tighten around her as he kissed her neck.
“Sweetheart.” He groaned.
“We need to talk about the drop, soon. I have to tell mother that the van’s fixed, so she can set the meet.” Annie sighed, hoping that when she told him who her mother was he wouldn’t hate her.
Tank's Redemption: Red Devils M.C. (Red Devils MC Book 4) Page 10