Sinner's Steel

by Sarah Castille

  “He wanted to take over from Viper?” Evie’s gaze flicked to Doreen. “Was he crazy?”

  “Go big or go home, that was Axle’s motto.” Doreen sighed. “First night Axle brought me to a Black Jack party, Viper called me to his room. He told Axle women in the club were shared and if he had a problem with that he’d take back the patch. I did what old ladies do, which is what their old men tell them to do. Not that I was complaining. Everyone wants Viper’s attention. If you’re wearing his cut, you get a shitload of respect. So I went with Viper. He wouldn’t join the “no glove no love” party, so nine months later…”

  “Viper’s son?”

  “I told Axle the boy was his and I put Axle’s name on the birth certificate. I fucked up my life but I didn’t want to fuck up his. Viper wouldn’t have given a damn about his son, but Axle did. He wanted kids. He was good with JC. He would have been a good dad. But the minute I found out Axle was dead, I took JC to my mom’s place, and I did what I had to do.”

  “You became Viper’s old lady.”

  Doreen didn’t miss a beat. “You gotta look out for yourself in this life. You gotta be strong. You get caught, you figure your own way out. That’s the biker way. It’s all about self-reliance. It’s all about doing what it takes to survive. It’s a fucking rush, I gotta tell you. Now I got power, respect, and soon I’ll have enough money to get him away from my mom and give him a good life.”

  Evie studied the road ahead. All signs of civilization slowly disappeared until they were deep into the low rolling foothills of the Bridger Mountains. She had no doubt if she drove into the Black Jack clubhouse she wouldn’t survive—at least, not emotionally. So why was she looking in her rearview mirror every five minutes hoping to see the Sinners? Why couldn’t she handle this on her own? Was she that afraid to take a risk?

  She caught a glint of metal on the road ahead, and slowed the vehicle. Doreen stabbed her in the side with the gun. “Keep driving. Whatever it is, go right through it.”

  “Get that thing out of my side.” She’d had enough of Doreen and her rough voice and her harsh words. She’d had enough of driving and worrying about what would happen to Ty. She’d had enough of wondering if she had what it took to cut it in this world. Because dammit, despite her best efforts, she was in this world. She would do what it took to survive, and that meant there was no fucking way she was going to let Doreen take her to Viper.

  Closer now, she could see motorcycles parked across the road, blocking the way. But she didn’t give a damn who they were. All she knew was that she was finished with this bullshit. Doreen might think she was a kitten, but she had claws.

  Evie pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road, and turned off the ignition.

  “What the fuck?” Doreen poked her again. “Start that vehicle up and get going.”

  Evie’s heart pounded in her chest and she dropped her left hand to the driving console and felt for the window button. “Shoot me.”

  Damn, it felt good to take a risk, just like she’d done when she was young. Except Zane had always been there to catch her if she fell.

  “Stop playing games,” Doreen snarled.

  Evie pressed the button and the window rolled down. She reached for the key. “Okay. Okay. I’ll get going. The heat is getting to me. I needed some air.”

  “Now.”

  Swallowing hard, Evie yanked out the key and threw it into the bush. “You aren’t going to shoot me because Viper wants me, and I’ll bet he won’t be happy if you bring me back dead.”

  “You fucking bitch.” Doreen slammed the butt of the gun into Evie’s head. “Yeah, he wants you, all soft and pretty. But you pull this kinda shit and he won’t want you anymore I promise you won’t be wanting what he dishes out to women at the club who he doesn’t want to pet.”

  Dazed, her head throbbing, Evie gripped the steering wheel and tried to regain her focus, but Doreen was already pushing open the door.

  “Climb over the console toward me. Nice and slow. We’re gonna go get that key.” She stepped out of the vehicle and gestured Evie toward her.

  Still stunned from the blow to her head, Evie climbed over the console toward Doreen. In the distance she heard the rumble of an engine, the thud of feet, and then …

  “Evie.”

  She knew that voice. She had heard it in her dreams since she was eight years old.

  Taking advantage of the distraction, she brought up her knees and slammed Doreen in the chest, knocking her to the ground. Doreen stumbled back, falling to the ground. Evie dove after her and grabbed the gun. She pointed it at Doreen, lying sprawled in the dirt and smiled at Zane and Jagger as they jogged to a stop.

  “I want to deliver her to Viper. All wrapped up in a pretty bow.”

  * * *

  “No.”

  Zane hugged Evie to him and glared at Doreen, now securely trussed in the back of the 300C and out of earshot. After what Doreen had pulled, he could think of a dozen other things to do with her rather than drive her back to the Black Jack clubhouse, and none of them involved leaving her unharmed.

  He tightened his arms, pulling Evie into his chest. He couldn’t think about what would have happened if they hadn’t been on the road, planning the raid on the Black Jacks clubhouse. Of course if they hadn’t been on the road, they would have been at the clubhouse, and Doreen wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take his Evie captive.

  “It’s our best chance.” Evie looked up at him from the circle of his arms. Zane hadn’t let her go since he’d rescued her from Doreen. Okay. Maybe not rescued. Evie had been doing fine on her own. More than fine. In fact, she’d reminded him of Arianne when she delivered a couple of kicks to Doreen’s stomach, stomped on her hand and threatened to blow off her head before Jagger had taken away her gun. Maybe she’d been hanging around the club too much.

  But at least she was talking to him now, holding him, letting him hold her … He startled when he caught the tail end of Evie’s sentence and realized she’d been laying out a plan.

  “I’ll put on your bandanna and sunglasses and drive up to the gate with Doreen,” she continued. “They aren’t going to feel threatened by a woman. They’ll have to open the gates to let her in, which means the electric current will go off. I’ll stall them as long as I can. You can cut through the wires at the back and go with Cade to get T-Rex, since you know the layout best. No need for sniper guns or people getting hurt.”

  “I like it,” said Jagger, leaning against the vehicle beside them. “Except for the part about not getting to shoot any Jacks.”

  Betrayer. Zane weighed the likelihood of another disciplinary session against the pleasure he would get from punching Jagger in the face to stop him from moving forward with Evie’s ridiculous plan.

  “I don’t like it,” Zane said. “So it’s not happening.”

  “Baby, relax.” Evie nuzzled his neck. “I’m okay. Better than okay. I nailed that bitch and it felt so damn good. I want to do this.”

  He growled low in his throat, feathered kisses along her jaw. “Wouldn’t have happened if I was there. Won’t happen again.”

  “But if it does, I can take care of myself.” She leaned up and nipped his earlobe. “And you know what?” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “It makes me hot.”

  “How hot?”

  Evie pressed her lips to his ear and murmured. “So hot I want you to strip off my clothes, spread me out on the hood of the 300C, and then lick me until I scream. Then I want you to flip me over and fuck me hard, one hand in my hair pulling me back, one hand on my hip, holding me tight, as my nails scratch the paint and my hips smack against the grill, and the whole car shakes from the force of your thrusts as you hammer in to me with all the brothers watching.” Then she ground her hips against his hardened length. “That hot.”

  He slid his hands down her back, cupped her ass and lifted her against him. “You talk dirty like that to me, sweetheart, prepare to have your wish come true.” He carried her away from
the brothers to the front of the vehicle and settled her on the hood. Then he eased himself between her parted legs, held her face between his hands and kissed her hard. “You’re on the vehicle. What comes next?”

  Evie’s eyes sparkled with the challenge, and she licked her lips. “You strip me.”

  He slid his hands under her shirt. Although he had no intention of letting his brothers see what was for his eyes alone, he wanted to know just how far she would take this. Pretty far, he guessed, because in this moment she reminded him of the Evie he had left behind—the risk taker—confident, wild, fun and free.

  “I do this, that mean we’re good again?” He smoothed his hands over her warm skin. “Can you deal with Jagger occasionally taking out his frustrations on me when I bend the rules?”

  Evie mocked a frown. “If you put yourself in that position again, you’ll get no loving for all the nights you’re hurting. So before you make any stupid decisions, like putting your life at risk, just think about that.” She covered his hands with hers and pushed her shirt up to the bottom of her bra, baring her midriff.

  A dark possessive growl left his lips and he tugged her shirt down. “Not here. Otherwise, I’ll have to kill all the brothers for looking at you and then we’ll never save T-Rex.”

  “Too bad.” She slid closer until the curve of her sex pressed up against his cock, now straining beneath his fly. “I always wanted to be fucked on a car.”

  “Behave.” He gave her a mock slap on the ass. Her eyes widened and her lips parted forming a silent oh. Zane filed that reaction away for later.

  Jagger rounded the vehicle and cleared his throat, intruding on their moment. “All ready to drop off the parcel? Hacker and Tank will be here soon with the trucks.”

  “Actually, I’d rather wrap her around a street light,” Evie said. “Just like Viper did to my car.”

  Jagger handed her Sparky’s red bandanna. “You’ll have to settle for this. It’s as close as we’ll get to a bow.”

  Evie laughed and twisted it between her hands. She seemed to have forgiven Jagger, which was a relief since Zane harbored no ill will toward him. He’d put Jagger in that position knowing the consequences, and in the end the sacrifice was worth it for the knowledge they’d gained about the Black Jack compound.

  Sweat trickled down Zane’s back and it wasn’t just from the heat. How could he stop this? He’d almost lost Evie again. His heart couldn’t handle anymore.

  “It’ll be fine.” Evie gave Zane’s arm a squeeze. “I know that look on your face and I know what you’re thinking. But I’m not going into the clubhouse. I’ll drop Doreen off and once they open the gate I’ll drive away.”

  “We’ll be covering her from the hill,” Jagger said. “Even if Doreen tells them who she is, they won’t be able to catch her, and you and Cade should have just enough time to get through the fence.”

  Why did Jagger keep pretending he was on board with this plan? No way would he have agreed to allow Arianne to drive a vehicle right up to Viper’s door. Not that he could have stopped her … just as it seemed he wouldn’t be able to stop Evie unless he wanted to throw her over his shoulder, caveman style. The thought held some appeal.

  He heard the rumble of trucks in the distance. Jagger looked up and smiled. “Trucks are here. Let’s roll.”

  Let’s roll? Zane released Evie and cut Jagger off from his bike, making one last effort to head off imminent disaster. “When did we start involving women and kids in club business?”

  “Evie wants to do this, brother.” Jagger put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “And since she’s not your old lady, I gotta respect her wishes.”

  Evie’s eyes sparkled and she flashed Zane a grin. “I know you’ll be there to catch me. You always are.”

  Christ. How could he refuse her when she looked at him like that? The answer came in a heartbeat: he never could.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Sometimes, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, things just won’t go according to plan.

  —SINNER’S TRIBE MOTORCYCLE REPAIR MANUAL

  “I got a text from Hacker. The electric current is off.” Zane grabbed a pair of wire cutters and joined Cade at the fence.

  “How long you figure we got?” Cade worked efficiently cutting from the bottom, while Zane worked from the top.

  “Depends how long Evie can keep them talking.”

  Cade stopped to wipe his brow. “She’s one hell of a woman. I can see why you couldn’t forget her all those years. She’s got the kind of inner strength that makes for a good old lady.”

  “Yeah.” But did he want her as an old lady if it meant she was at risk of being kidnapped, hurt or even killed? She had a nice normal civilian life in her little white house with the white picket fence on the shady street with kids playing outside, people walking their dogs …

  Something niggled at the back of Zane’s mind. “Where are the dogs? They’ve got four dogs. Big ones. They were here every time I came to do surveillance.”

  “Maybe they took them when they got the tip about the ATF.”

  Zane stood and scanned the clubhouse grounds. “And the guards? Usually they had at least five guards patrolling the fence. Benson said they’d left the guards behind.” The skin on the back of his neck prickled and he looked over at the shed where he’d seen the Jacks’ heavy artillery. “Gimme your binoculars.”

  “We’re running out of time.” Cade pushed back the wire. “If we’re gonna save T-Rex, we have to go. We still have to get through the door.”

  Zane ran his hand through his hair. “Something’s wrong. It’s all too convenient. The Jacks disappearing, the botched ATF raid … Do you think they know we’ve got someone inside the sheriff’s office? Are they playing us?”

  Cade stepped through the fence. “Zane. C’mon man. We got one chance to get…”

  Cade’s voice trailed off when a whistling sound filled the air. And then the world exploded in front of them, grass and dirt flying up on the other side of the fence.

  Ambush. Where the fuck were the scouts?

  Zane flew back, landing hard. He scrambled to his feet and spotted Cade, semiconscious, on the other side of the fence. In the distance, he heard the sound of gunfire.

  Evie! He was supposed to be there to keep her safe. Catch her if she fell.

  But he couldn’t leave Cade.

  Small explosions peppered the ground around the clubhouse. Sons of bitches knew what they were after, and Cade was exposed. Zane pushed himself up and stepped through the fence, then squatted beside Cade.

  “Can you walk, brother?”

  “Must have hit my head.” Cade staggered to his feet. “Everything’s kinda blurry.”

  “We need to get you out of here.” He angled up under Cade’s shoulder and helped him through the fence, then half-walked, half-dragged him away from the range of fire and into a small copse of trees. He settled Cade against a rock and called the clubhouse. After explaining the situation to Shaggy, he gave their location and arranged a pickup for Cade, as well as reinforcements and vans to retrieve damaged bikes.

  Gunshots rang through the forest and adrenaline coursed through his body. “We gotta get moving. You okay?”

  “Just stunned.” Cade put his hand to his head and it came away covered in blood. “Maybe a scrape or two.” He dug his phone from his pocket. “Call Dawn.”

  “Don’t need to call her.” He brushed Cade’s hand away. “We’ll get you to the road for a pickup. You can call her then.”

  “Zane…” Cade’s voice tightened and he keened to the side. “Call her.”

  Zane gritted his teeth and fought back a wave of panic. Cade needed him to be strong, just as he’d been strong for Jagger, and for Evie every time she took a risk. “I don’t have time to be calling old ladies. I gotta get you to the road and go back for…”

  “Evie.” Cade waved him away. “I know it’s killing you to be here. You go. Leave me.”

  “Christ. Get the fuck up. W
e’re less than a quarter mile from the road. We can make it. If I left you behind, Jagger would make that beating I took the other day feel like a hug after he got through with me.” Fear and anger gave him the strength to take Cade’s weight as they made the slow, agonizing walk through the bush to the road.

  “She’ll be alright,” Cade said. “She was in the vehicle, and she stays cool under pressure. The first shot and she would have been out of there.”

  Zane grunted his response. He couldn’t talk. Couldn’t think. His body was wired, primed to find Evie as soon as Cade was safe.

  He could only hope someone had been there to catch her.

  * * *

  Evie startled awake, blinking to clear her vision. She jerked but couldn’t move with the seat belt tight around her. What had happened? One minute she was driving away from the gate after dropping off Doreen, then she heard gunfire, lost control of her vehicle, spun around, and then …

  Ah. The air bag had deployed. No wonder she felt like someone had just punched her in the face.

  Hands shaking, she unclipped the seatbelt and pushed open the door. Her vehicle rested sideways on the road, the passenger door up against a tree. She slid past the air bag and stepped out to check the damage. With the front tire was in pieces—shot out, she guessed—it was no wonder she’d lost control.

  Smoke billowed around her, giving the scene an almost dreamlike quality. She felt light, almost weightless as she wandered down the road, not sure where she should go. Ahead, the club house burned bright, a white truck embedded in one wall, engulfed in flames. The thick, acrid smoke burned her lungs and she coughed, tried to breathe into her sleeve.