She unlocked the front door and then stepped inside, closing and bolting it behind her. But as she reached for the light, her skin prickled in warning.
Too late. Maybe she shouldn’t have made that wish the other night.
“Welcome home, love. Come give your old man a kiss.”
Ice flooded her veins and she turned to see Jimmy sprawled on a chair in her darkened living room. “How did you get in here?”
He gestured for her to approach him, scowling when she didn’t move from the door. With his face half in and half out of shadow, his hoodie bunched around his neck, and his all-black attire, he looked every inch the monster she knew he was.
Run. She should run. But dammit, this was her house. Plus she knew he wouldn’t let her get away that easy. There would be some trap lying outside: Brethren hiding in the bushes, a gun in his hand hidden by his side.
“You know me. I can get in anywhere.” He leered and she recoiled at the double entendre, wishing she could erase every minute she had spent in his bed.
“Get out or I’ll call the police.” She pulled her phone from her pocket with one hand and reached into her purse with the other, feeling for her weapon. She’d loaded the gun after Cade dropped her off at work, never thinking she would have to use it so soon.
Jimmy pushed himself out of the chair and ambled toward her, seemingly unaffected by her threat. “I want my fucking money. Then you’re gonna come home where you belong and I’ll teach you again what it means to be mine.” He struck her with his closed fist, sending her flying sideways across the room. The purse fell from her grasp and she landed on her back beside the coffee table.
Stunned, slivers of pain shooting up her back, her face throbbing, she could only watch as he tugged open his belt and closed the distance between them.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out you stole from me? Or that you’ve been parading around town in a Sinner cut? Did you think Shelly-Ann wouldn’t tell me? I’ve put up with your shit far too long.” He whipped off his belt with a crack and Dawn’s breath caught in her throat. Jimmy had left her alone for the better part of three years. Why did he want her back now?
“Time for a reminder about how this relationship works. Then you’ll get that money and come home with me so you can be reminded of it every day.”
“I don’t understand. I thought we were done. You have someone new.” Grimacing at the pain, she pushed herself to sitting and searched for her purse.
Jimmy tugged open his fly and scowled. “I’m sure you’ll understand just fine when it’s my dick inside you instead of that fucking Sinner’s dick. Shelly-Ann saw you playing happy families in the park.” His face twisted and spittle bubbled at the corner of his mouth. “I saw you,” he screamed. “I saw him kiss you. I saw his fucking paws all over you. You’re my old lady. My wife. And you’re a fucking whore and a thief.”
Every alarm bell in her body triggered in warning. He was past the point of restraint, past the point of rational thought. The few times he’d been like this she’d barely managed to get out of their apartment alive.
Dawn rolled, her arm outstretched toward her purse, but Jimmy was on her before her fingers caught the handle. He straddled her hips, his weight pinning her to the floor.
“You got two choices, bitch.” He caged her jaw, forcing her mouth open with his thumb as his fingers pressed against her windpipe, cutting off her air and making it impossible to scream. “You can lie nice and quiet and take what I’m gonna give you, or you can put up a little fight and I’ll whip you and fuck you and beat you and fuck you again.”
Dawn’s heart pounded so hard she thought it would crack a rib. How had she ever looked into those cold, dark eyes and seen a savior? How had she ever thought Jimmy cared? She inched her fingers toward her fallen phone, fighting the darkness threatening her vision.
“Tsk. Tsk.” Jimmy released her and snatched the phone from her grasp. “You thinking of calling for help? Do your new Sinner friends know how you earned your keep for the Brethren, little whore? Does your damn Sinner? I’ll bet he’ll lose interest pretty quick when he finds out just what a skanky bitch you really are, when it’s my cum filling your pussy. Maybe we’ll make some more damn brats. He’s not gonna want you all knocked up. I sure didn’t.”
Dawn sucked in a breath of cool, clean air and tried to stop the trembles racking her body. She closed her hand into a fist and remembered the moment she hit Stan and how she’d imagined he was Jimmy.
“No one’s coming to help you, love. Not the police. Not the Sinners. And definitely not that fucking prick who can’t keep his dick out of other people’s business.” He threw her phone against the wall, grinning when it slid to the floor with a sharp crack. “Cheap. Like you.”
“Jimmy. Please. Stop.”
Without hesitation, he shoved up her top. Dawn shivered as the cool air slid over her heated skin. The urge to hit, slap, punch, and fight him away was almost overwhelming, but experience had taught her if she used her hands against him, he would either pin them above her head or bind her wrists, and right now she needed her hands free to get her gun.
“Fuck, I missed these tits.” He gave her breast a vicious squeeze through her satin bra. “Did you know I picked you up off the streets just ’cause you had the nicest tits I’d ever seen? Whore tits.”
Bile rose in her throat as he pawed at her breasts. Her purse lay discarded, open, and within reach. While Jimmy was distracted, she slid her fingers inside, barely daring to breathe until she felt cold steel. When he moved to shove up her bra, she yanked out the gun and held it with two hands, pointing the barrel at Jimmy’s chest.
“Off.”
Jimmy froze and then he smirked. “You playing that game again? You think I don’t know it’s not loaded? You don’t have what it takes. You never did. That’s why you never fit in with the Brethren. And deep down you’ll never shoot me. I’m the man who saved you from the streets, gave you a home, a life, a job, discipline, two sniveling brats, and all the fucking you couldn’t handle.”
“Last time. Off.” She felt different holding a loaded gun. Resolved. And Jimmy could clearly see the difference.
He sighed and pushed himself up, his belt still dangling from his grip. “Okay. I’m off. Now give me the gun before someone gets hurt.”
Dawn scrambled to her feet. “Out.”
Too late she saw the danger. His hand shot out and he cracked his belt, whipping it across her bare arm. The violent sting of leather on her exposed skin made her gasp and she lost her grip on the gun.
Crack. He struck again, this time whipping the belt over her wrist. Pain fuzzed her brain and her hand wavered.
“Stop, Jimmy. Stop. I dropped the gun.”
But Jimmy never stopped. No matter how hard she begged, he never stopped until he was sated or she was unconscious, or both. He yanked a blade from beneath his cut and raised his arm to whip her again. “Gonna mark you, bitch. Gonna carve my initials into those pretty cheeks so no one will ever mess with my property again.”
Heart pounding, she ran at him, using momentum to knock him off his feet. Jimmy stumbled over the coffee table, falling heavily to the ground. The belt fell from one hand and the blade fell from the other.
“Jesus Christ. You’re gonna be sorry for that.”
Dawn threw herself forward and grabbed the knife. Acting purely on instinct, she stabbed the blade into his thigh.
Jimmy screamed. The world slowed. She released the blade and backed away as Jimmy’s face twisted into a mask of horror.
“Fucking bitch. You stabbed me.” He grabbed his leg with one hand and pulled his phone out of his cut with the other.
“Drop it.” Dawn grabbed her gun from the floor and pointed it at Jimmy. “It is loaded. If you look closely, you’ll see the magazine.”
He stared at her for a long second, and then he placed the phone on the floor. “Christ. The Sinners have turned you. Little Dee carrying a loaded gun. Have they made you into a killer, too?
Are you ready to pull that trigger?”
“You want to take that risk? Look what I just did to your leg. You think I won’t do that to your head after everything you did to me? Throw the phone to me.”
“Crazy bitch. You want me to bleed out all over your floor?” With a snarl, he threw the phone and Dawn kicked it away.
Sweat beaded her forehead as she contemplated the wounded man in front of her. She hated Jimmy, had imagined having him at her mercy countless times, although in every scenario he died and she lived with her girls happily ever after. But now that the moment was here, she knew she would never be able to live with herself if he died because of her. He needed medical attention but no way could she call the Brethren and tell them she’d stabbed one of their brothers.
As if he sensed her confusion, Jimmy softened his voice and tilted his head to the side. “I need your help or I’m gonna bleed to death. How many years were we together? You gonna let the father of your children die?”
She took a step forward and then caught herself. He wasn’t bleeding that badly, which meant she hadn’t hit any major veins or arteries, and he wasn’t screaming the way he had years ago when he’d taken a shot in the leg that had hit a bone. Her stomach knotted at the idea of someone in pain—even him—but she knew better than to trust him. 911 wasn’t an option unless she wanted to go to jail for stabbing him and carrying what she was damn sure was a stolen gun.
Jimmy groaned and clutched his leg. “I know you’re pissed at me, but I promise things will be different this time. I’m gonna be president of the Brethren. I won’t have to do things I don’t wanna do and I won’t be answering to no one. We’ll get a big house with a yard for the girls. We’ll be a family, just like you always wanted.”
* * *
Cade’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and for a moment he considered not answering it. Gunner was waiting for him outside the clubhouse, and he was just about to bail on him for the very first time. He’d promised Gunner weeks ago he would go with him to a party tonight. At the time, he’d been more than happy to accept the invitation, envisioning a night in a hot tub with a girl tucked under each arm, an endless supply of champagne, and a room with a bed big enough for three. But now there was only one woman he wanted, and she kept him plenty busy in bed.
Well, at least she had until he lost it outside Bunny’s pool hall. She hadn’t spoken to him since their encounter in the alley. But he couldn’t let her put herself in danger, especially after she’d just made a narrow escape from Bunny. Sure, she said it all went fine. But who knew what went on behind closed doors?
With an irritated growl, he checked the screen. Arianne?
“Is Dawn with you?” She sounded breathless, anxious. He could hear people talking, glassware clinking, and the faint sound of the Kongos’ “Come with Me Now” playing in the background.
“No.” His skin prickled. “Haven’t seen her since I dropped her off at work.”
“She didn’t call after her shift to let me know she was home and she’s not answering her phone. I thought maybe she was with you.”
“Maybe the bus broke down.”
“I called the bus company,” she snapped. “The busses are all running on time. I’m worried, Cade. It’s not like her to forget to call.”
That warning prickle returned, but worse, and his heart raced like he was running a damn marathon. Cade closed his eyes and tried to pull it together. But he couldn’t shake the damn past: memories of his mother’s face covered in bruises, her body limp on the floor, her arm in a cast, bandages on her head; the nights he spent sitting with her in the hospital. Abusive guys like Mad Dog—like his dad—never let go and they never gave up.
“Gunner and I were about to head over that way for a party. We can swing by her place.”
“Hurry, Cade. Something’s wrong.”
SEVENTEEN
I may not always agree with my brother, but he is always my brother.
SINNER’S TRIBE CREED
A family.
Yes, she’d always wanted a family like she’d had before the car crash, but when she imagined a family it was much like what she’d had at the zoo: her children playing in the sunshine, and a partner who made her laugh, someone who respected her need for independence, but was there when she needed him.
“You don’t know what a family is.”
A shadow crossed his face so quickly she wondered if she’d imagined it, but when he spoke, his voice was gentle, the same voice he’d used when he coaxed her off the streets with promises of a better life, the voice he used on the good days just before everything turned bad.
“I’ve got a gun in my cut, love. If I wanted to kill you I would’ve done it already. But I want you back. I miss you … and the girls. A president needs a family so the old boys think he’s stable and … settled. And … the money. It doesn’t all belong to me.”
As if she would ever believe him. The red wheal on her hand from his belt and years of hospital visits had taught her that the soft words were usually followed by a hard beating, and she hadn’t missed the hesitation before he mentioned the girls. He didn’t want them. Never had. And he was crazy if he thought she had any money.
“Slide your weapon across the floor to me. And your belt. When I’ve got them, I’ll call Wolf and he can send someone to pick you up.”
Jimmy’s smile didn’t reach his ears. “That’s my girl.”
A loud thud on the door startled them both. Jimmy froze and drew his weapon. Resting against the wall directly across from her in the living room, he was in clear sight of the door.
“Who the fuck is that?”
“Dawn!”
She recognized Cade’s voice and her lips quivered with a smile. “Maybe it’s the mailman.”
“It’s Cade. Open the door.”
“I knew it.” Jimmy’s harsh voice echoed in the tiny room. “You are fucking that Sinner. You betraying little bitch. That’s why you wouldn’t come back. You were spreading your legs like the whore you really are. Open the damn door. I’m gonna blow so many holes in him you won’t be able to find his dick.”
Dawn glanced around the room, assessing potential places to hide. The kitchen lay behind her, visible through the opening at the breakfast bar, but accessible only if she could make the ten feet to the door. The small hallway leading to the bathroom and the bedrooms was directly across from the front door and also in Jimmy’s line of fire. If Jimmy started shooting, her best bet for cover was the couch beside her.
Jimmy put a finger to his lips. His black eyes gleamed and she knew right away if she’d gone to help him he would have found a way to hurt her. Drawing in a ragged breath, she threw herself behind the couch and screamed. “Jimmy’s here. He’s down but armed and at nine o’clock from the door.”
Silence.
And then the door splintered and Jimmy fired.
* * *
“You can’t kill him.”
Plastered against the walls on either side of the front door, Gunner and Cade shared a glance.
“He just fired at us.” Cade kept his voice to a low murmur. “We have to defend ourselves. My old lady is a hostage inside. Of course we can kill him.”
“Jagger says no.” Gunner lowered his phone. “He gave his word to Wolf that we wouldn’t touch Mad Dog. He wants us to go in, rescue her, and get out before the cops show up.”
“Do you hear sirens?” Cade checked his magazine. “The cops aren’t coming. No one heard the shot. There’s no one on the street and I didn’t see any lights go on. Not even a dog barked.”
Gunner twisted his lips to the side. “How ’bout we do as Jagger said and try and get her out without killing him?”
“He’s a threat to my old lady. I have a right to defend her and Wolf’s not gonna be able to say dick about it. No one fucks with a biker’s old lady.” Cade peered around the corner and a bullet zinged past his head, embedding itself in the wall behind him.
“Fuck.” Gunner sighed. “Where is she?”
“She’s behind the couch in the middle of the room, directly across from him and slightly to the right of the door, maybe twenty feet away. There’s a small hallway between the living room and us. She’s got her gun.”
“I’ll distract him and you get her out.” Gunner took a step toward the entrance.
“You get her out and I’ll kill him.”
“Jesus, Cade.” Gunner exhaled an exasperated sigh. “He’s down and injured, and we’ve got a clear run to Dawn and out again. We won’t be able to spin this in a way that justifies taking him out. The Brethren election is only a week away. We’ll patch them over and then we’ll go after him together. We’ve come this far. Why risk it all now? If Wolf calls Jagger out for breaking his word, we’ll be done for.”
Sirens wailed in the distance. Maybe the neighbors were more vigilant than he thought. And although he wanted Mad Dog dead so badly he could taste it, Gunner had a good point. Could he put the club at risk over a matter of seven days? But how could he let Mad Dog live after what he’d done? Never had he been so conflicted about his duty to the club. Never had he questioned the creed.
Sensing his hesitation, Gunner checked the magazine in his semi-automatic and raised his weapon. “She’s your girl. I’ll cover. You rescue. And by the way, you’re gonna owe me big time if the twins ditch us tonight.”
“Get over it. You love shooting things.”
“This ain’t the weapon I was planning on shooting tonight, brother.”
Brother.
He couldn’t let his brothers down. I will follow the creed before I follow my heart.
Cade tensed, adrenaline pounding through his veins as he mentally prepared himself to go in, grab Dawn, and get out with succumbing to the almost overwhelming desire to get rid of Mad Dog for once and for all. “If your aim is a little off and you hit Mad Dog by mistake…”
“I don’t make mistakes.” Gunner stepped into the doorway and fired, his bullets thudding into the wall above Mad Dog’s head. Cade dived past him and landed behind the couch beside Dawn. Although pale, she appeared remarkably together given the circumstances.
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