“Erm,” she stammered.
“What do you say?” Ranger was looking past Sarah and speaking directly to Snake. Sarah turned her head to the side to look at him, and he caught her eye before looking back at Ranger.
“Sure,” Snake said without missing a beat. “Why not, it’s what we usually do.”
“Come on then, ladies,” Ranger said as he started to walk with Nicole toward the doorway.
Sarah looked nervously up at Snake who was smiling down at her. He looked both amused and thrilled with the situation, but it had been him who had called time on their intimacy, and now her head was spinning.
She pushed passed him slightly, finding herself annoyed with him all over again, but she had to admit it was exciting. One minute they were bickering, and the next they were kissing and had their hands all over each other.
She bit her lip and grinned, and as they reached the doorway, she turned back to see that Snake was doing exactly the same.
The diner was out on the side of the highway, not too far from Tanner’s and opposite an old motel. Sarah remembered the stretch of road well, and she could see that not a whole lot had changed over the years. Tanner’s had once been called Red X, but that had all changed a few years back when something had happened inside the club. She had never known the exact story, but she was sure it had involved a rival gang and someone being murdered. Tanner had been the name of one of The Forsaken Riders who had died in the conflict, and so, in tribute, they had dedicated it to him.
As they took their seats at a booth in the window, Snake waited and let Sarah climb in first before he slipped in next to her. Nicole and Ranger were cuddled up, smooching and holding hands as Ranger whispered sweet nothings in her ear.
“Do you mind,” Sarah said with a roll of her eyes.
Nicole gave her an apologetic look, and Ranger looked across at her with a look she knew all too well. He was about to challenge her and try to wind her up.
“I think you’re jealous,” Ranger said smugly. “Must have been quite some time since you had a man in your life, hey sis?” he said with a wink.
Sarah turned her head to the side and looked out of the window. Her eyes focused on the lights of trucks and cars as they blared past them in the night.
“What’s the matter? Don’t the big bad city boys measure up?” he laughed.
Sarah tensed, and she felt Snake do the same.
She reached down and opened up the menu. She scanned it to try and divert Ranger’s attention, but she could tell he was gunning for her now. He wanted to get a rise out of her as he was so used to getting. He had been doing it to her for years and years, and it was as if he was programmed to keep going until he got it.
Snake’s knee brushed hers accidentally and she felt her legs quiver. Just sitting next to him when he was so off limits was driving her insane. She was sure her brother would be able to see through them both, surely it was written all over them.
She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and tapped her fingernails on the edge of the table.
“Maybe Nicole will tell me a few of your secrets once we’re married,” Ranger teased.
“I don’t understand why the hell you would be interested in knowing any of those,” she said with a laugh. “You’re my brother, surely that’s the last thing you’d want to know.”
Ranger looked at her with exasperation.
“Jesus, Sarah,” he said, “I’m trying to get a rise out you. Where the hell has your sense of humor disappeared to?”
Sarah dipped her head and tried not to let him see her eyes.
Under the table, Snake’s fingertips brushed against her thigh and she had to bite her lip.
God she wanted him.
She wanted to throw everything off the table and let him take her right there and then. She held the menu up and began to fan her face.
“You know I was concentrating on my studies,” she said sternly. “But, that’s all finished with now. Okay? So maybe, I don’t know, I’ll see what’s out there.”
Nicole grinned and clapped her hands together.
“Then we could go on a real double date,” Nicole beamed.
“Yeah, and then Snake, you would be off the hook,” Ranger snorted. “Sorry for making you babysit my kid sister. I can imagine she’s been an absolute delight.”
Ranger was being facetious, and Sarah was determined that she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of winning.
“I don’t mind at all,” Snake said, testing the water. “In fact, I think we get on alright, don’t we, Sarah?”
She looked at him and couldn’t help but smile. He was constantly surprising her. The last thing she had expected was for him to be so open in front of Ranger, but maybe it was his was of seeing where the land lay.
“Well, don’t be getting any fucked up ideas,” Ranger said seriously. “I was only joking.”
Ranger snorted a laugh and then he looked from Sarah to Snake again and again.
“Imagine,” he said. “If you two ended up together.”
Sarah’s face instinctively flamed red, and she couldn’t help but act as guilty as hell. She shot her eyes down at the table and nervously began to fidget with the edge of the menu. Snake leaned back and subconsciously put some distance between him and Sarah, but it was too late.
Ranger had seen enough.
“What… the… fuck…?” he said angrily as he pointed at Sarah and looked at Snake. “What the fuck was that?”
Sarah barely dared look at him, she could already feel the aggression and anger surging out of him, and she was too afraid to face him head on.
“I saw that, did you?” he looked across at Nicole. “Something’s happened with these two… Did you see the way they both just reacted?”
Sarah buried her head in her hands, and just wanted the diner to implode on itself. She wished for this whole dreadful situation to disappear, and for her to wake up and it to all have been a dream.
Ranger wasn’t happy in the slightest.
And the tension was building around them.
When Sarah finally got the nerve to look at him, she gasped at how furious he looked. His entire face was turning red, his eyes were bulging, and he was pumping his fists in and out as if he was gunning for a fight.
“Ranger,” Snake said sternly as he rose to his feet. “Don’t do this, man…”
Ranger stood up too and the two men squared up to each other. Nicole reached out and shook Sarah by the arm, urging her to do something, and to stop whatever was about to unfold.
“Stop it!” Sarah shouted as she snapped herself out of her denial. “Just stop it, both of you, this is silly. Nothing has even happened!”
She knew from how loyal Ranger, Snake and the rest of the bikers were, there was no way Snake would ever lie to her brother, but she still had the power and the license to bend the truth a little. Especially if it stopped them from laying into each other and causing a full scale fight inside the diner.
Ranger shoved Snake in the chest, and Sarah jumped in between them.
“Are you kidding me!” she shouted as she pushed Ranger further away, shoving her palms into his chest. “What are you doing, he’s your best friend?”
Ranger breathed in and out heavily and then he shook his head and rolled out his shoulders. Snake was still glaring at him, and he was clearly ready to go if it was needed of him. But there was so much history between them, it was clear that truly neither of them wanted to hurt the other.
Ranger sighed and shook his head.
“Sorry, man,” he said as he scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t know what came over me there.”
Snake crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged.
“It’s fine,” he said. “Sometimes tensions run a little high. We’ve got a lot going on.”
Ranger and he stared at each other and they both nodded in agreement. Nicole sank back down into the leather seats of the booth and sighed, and Sarah’s heart was still almost explod
ing out of her chest.
“Jeez,” she said. “I don’t know what the fuck to do with the pair of you…” she said as she trailed off. “But all I know is, suddenly, I’m not at all hungry.”
She blew a kiss in Nicole’s direction and then she shot angry glances back at Ranger and Snake, before she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.
She knew Snake would want to run after her, but after what had just happened, his better judgement would surely take over. If he chased Sarah out of the diner, it was going to cause a whole world of trouble.
As she marched back toward the center of town, she was sure she could hear them all calling after her. But her mind was made up, she wanted to get home, crawl into bed, rest, and then see how she felt in the morning.
She had only come back to Slate Springs for her brother and Nicole’s wedding, and now, if it just so happened that she had met someone she liked, why would her brother want to stand in her way?
She was so angry with him, and yet she didn’t even know what Snake felt.
Maybe he truly did want to back off.
She pouted as she walked on in the dark.
She was angry at them all, but she knew to listen to her gut. It was rarely ever wrong… And something important had happened that night. She and Snake had bonded, and now she could only see things progressing from there.
She smiled as she wrapped her arms around herself and headed for home. She was sure that coming back to town wasn’t all going to be in vain. She felt it in her bones… Maybe her fate had been there all along…
9.
Her dreams were filled with more deep and dark encounters, and when she awoke, she was drenched in sweat, and her heart was racing. She knew now who had visited her in her dreams the night before.
It had been Snake without a doubt.
Her dream had almost foreshadowed their experience in The Bleeding Bullet.
The smoke, the red, the heat…
It had all built up to that moment when Snake had slipped his hand into hers and pulled her into the crowd.
She could still taste him on her lips, and feel the sensation of his hands.
She closed her eyes and tried to find his face, but her lust for him was so strong, it was as if the finer features kept getting lost.
She sat up and looked around her bedroom. She could see that it was still the middle of the night and she was still fully clothed.
When she had gotten home from her angry walk back from the diner, she had been so weary, she had just thrown herself down on the bed. She hadn’t even removed her shoes or any of her make-up.
She stood and walked toward the adjoining bathroom and turned on the shower. She had no idea what time it was, but she was so hot and felt so grimy, she knew she had to get clean.
She didn’t want to wash the scent of Snake away from her, but at the same time, she felt as if the whole evening had been tainted by her jackass brother and his foolish behavior.
When she had finished showering, she pulled on her silk robe and let her long, blonde hair hang over her shoulder. It was soaking wet and dripped water on the floor as she sat at her dressing table and began to apply some moisturizer and lip balm. She looked dewy and radiant, and even though she had been so tired and worn out when she had dragged herself out of bed, now she felt revived and wide awake.
She crossed back over the room to her bed and picked up her cellphone from the nightstand. When she pressed it to make it come to life, she could see that she had a whole host of text messages and missed calls. Nicole and Ranger had both been trying to get hold of her, but it was the number that she didn’t recognize that really grabbed her attention.
She sat down on the bed and opened up the message…
I feel terrible about earlier, you know I would have wanted to come after you. Are you all right? Can I come and see you?
There was no indication as to who it may have been from, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out it had been Snake who had sent it. She smiled and felt warm inside.
She looked at the time he had sent it, and it had been only half an hour after she had stormed out of the diner. She checked the time and it was now almost 2:30 in the morning.
She walked to her window and looked outside. The moon was full and high in the sky, and it was illuminating her neighborhood and making it feel as if it weren’t as isolating as it would have normally. It was almost as if people were up and about still, and the sun was on its way.
She opened up a blank message and started to type a reply…
Please don’t worry, I know that all got very difficult very fast. I’m at home, and I assume you’ll be fast asleep by now? Let’s talk in the morning… S x
She pressed send, and then sighed as she lay down on her bed and held her phone against her chest. Her head was a mess, and she didn’t know whether she was coming or going, but what she did know was she wanted to see him again… And soon.
Suddenly, her cellphone started to vibrate in her hands, and when she turned it over, she could see that the unknown number was calling her. She couldn’t help but smile, and as she raised the phone to her ear, she could already feel her spine tingling with anticipation.
“Sarah,” Snake’s voice came through from the other end.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“I’m just around the corner,” he said gruffly. “Can you come down?”
Sarah looked around her room, and at herself in the mirror. Her hair was soaking wet still and she was dressed in her underwear and a silk robe. The last thing she wanted to do was pull on her jeans and go out into the cold desert night.
“No,” she said. “But you can come here. I’ll meet you at my backdoor in three minutes.”
She ended the call before he had a chance to protest and then she giggled to herself.
She was a full grown woman, and she was about to sneak her brother’s best friend into her parents’ house.
“This is wild,” she whispered as she looked in the mirror and adjusted her robe just to ensure it wasn’t going to fall open by accident.
As she tiptoed down the hallway, she could see her parents’ door closed firmly right at the very end. She went in the opposite direction and made her way down the stairs, careful to avoid the floorboards she knew would creak if she stepped on them in the wrong way.
By the time she shuffled into the kitchen, she could see the darkened outline of Snake outside the back door. He had his hands pressed against the doorframe, and his whole body was so big and muscular it was blocking out the entire glass pane.
“Hi,” she smiled as she stopped in front of it.
“Hi,” he said as his eyes traveled up and met hers.
There was so much sexual tension between them that she almost didn’t dare open the door. She wanted him in there with her so badly, but she knew that as soon as they had crossed this line, there would be no going back.
Snake would not lie to Ranger.
They were either going to have to risk his reaction, or they were going to have to pray he never found out.
“I’m sorry,” he said as she opened the door and he stood there in front of her, looking more handsome than he had ever done. “About earlier. I should have followed you.”
“You couldn’t have,” she whispered as she took his hand and led him inside. “Ranger was out of control.”
“And he had every right to be,” Snake said as he ran his hand through his hair.
“No he doesn’t,” she said sternly. “He has no right at all.”
“You’re his sister,” Snake said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. “He’ll just want to protect you. It’s only natural.”
“And do I need protecting from you?” she asked cockily.
Snake shrugged.
“I think he’d want to protect you from anyone,” he said.
“But, do I need protecting from you…?” she asked again to emphasize her point.
Snake traced a fingertip down th
e side of her face and looked at her deep in the eyes.
“You don’t need protecting from me,” he whispered. “I would only ever do right by you.”
She could see and feel his sincerity. And she had known it was there from the moment they had really started speaking and spending time with each other.
“I’ve liked you for a long time,” he said. “But, somehow, that makes this feel even harder. As if I should stay away…”
“No,” she said. “You don’t need to feel that way… Why would you?”
Snake shrugged.
“We haven’t seen each other in years,” she smiled as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Us coming back together now is completely different.”
He smiled. “Ranger won’t be happy about this,” he whispered. “I don’t know what I’m going to do…”
“We’ll figure it out,” she said as she let him nudge her back against the kitchen counter.
Their lips met again, and his kiss was so deep and sensual that it made her moan and writhe against him. He really was an incredible man, one who she had never seen coming, and yet one she already felt as if she couldn’t live without.
Snake lifted her legs and her butt, and placed her on the edge of the counter as he pressed his groin against hers. She moaned and gasped. His power was so strong and present, and she was desperate for him to unleash it, but at the same time, she knew they were in her parents’ house and that potentially they could come downstairs at any moment.
Snake looked deep into her eyes.
“It’s been years since I’ve been here,” he whispered. “I wonder if your folks would recognize me…”
Sarah had to try not to laugh.
“I doubt it,” she said. “I didn’t… There’s no way they would.”
She bit her lip and pressed her forehead against his. She wanted to reach out and take hold of his hand and lead him up to her bedroom, but she was suddenly nervous. She knew that if she did, there would be no turning back, and she didn’t want to put Snake in a position he didn’t want to be in.
He was in a gang with her brother.
To go against his wishes was surely going to cause a whole load of trouble, and there would be repercussions?
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