Knight (14 page)

“That’s not true.”

“One of us accepted how the world works. The other did everything he could to change it.”

“I did what I thought was right.”

I straightened on his lap, regaining a sense of space, of myself. I unpinned my hair, letting the thick blonde locks fall around us. Wasn’t part of the dance or the recovery from his touch, but it let me have a moment to think so I could keep my heart beating and legs steady.

“And how’d that work out for you?” I asked. “You’re on the run. Living in some hole-in-the-wall apartment on the other side of the river. No friends.”

His fingers brushed through my hair. “A man doesn’t need friendship. He’s got other needs.”

“Like
loyalty
? Honor?”

“You think I’m such a fucking villain.”

“Aren’t you?” The song ended. I didn’t care. His heat passed straight through me, and I rode him into the next track. “You betrayed your brothers. Because of you, the club is in danger.
I’m
in danger.”

Luke laughed. “Princess, you got yourself in trouble. Don’t blame that danger on me.”

“And here I thought you were taking everyone’s burdens to the cross with you.”

“You know who killed Blade Darnell.”

It was getting tricky to focus. I needed to sit, catch my breath, get away from Luke before I needed more than just a quick touch through my leggings. I didn’t slow my movements, and his cock didn’t soften.

“I’m a stripper, not a detective.”

“And I’m a traitor, not an idiot. You’re protecting the one who killed him, and I can only imagine it’s not as a favor to Anathema. You’re watching out for little Rosie, aren’t you?”

“Rose didn’t kill Blade.”

“Someone did, and they did it for her.”

The lie came too fast, and every word of it sliced through my throat. “I don’t know anything. And it’s time you stop looking for more trouble.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“Why would I?”

“Have I ever lied to you?” His hands wove a little too far along my curves. “When have I ever misled you? Hurt you?”

“You haven’t.”

“No. I haven’t.”

“But I decided long ago to never let you close enough to take that chance.”

“Take it now.”

“Tempting.” It was the truth. His heat, strength,
need
wrapped me in the same shell of longing. “But I’m managing enough disasters.”

“Let me help.”

“You can’t help, not when you’re in the middle of it all.” I shifted before his hand brushed my cheek. I didn’t permit men to touch me when I danced. That rule already disintegrated in a moment of recklessness, but I could stop us from going any further. “Unless you want to act as bait for ATF, I don’t need you to rescue me.”

“What if I ask you to save me?”

“Are we still talking business?”

“What if I’m not?”

“Then this dance is over. Don’t make it any harder.”

“Doesn’t have to be.” His touch grazed me far too lightly for a man looking to score. “Could be about something more than loyalty.”

“Nothing’s more important.”

“You’re more important.”

Jesus. I pulled from his lap. His hands circled my wrist.

“Did you send me a message about Anathema’s run?”

I didn’t like the sound of that. The shiver wasn’t part of my dance. “What are you talking about?”

“I got a message from someone in Anathema. Sending me info. Drop off times, runs, jobs, where they’d be.”

“If this is a fucking trick—”

“Was it you?”

“
Me
?” I tugged my wrist. He didn’t let me go. “Why would I send you information about Anathema?”

“Because someone is, and it’s good intel. Can’t figure out if it’s meant to help or trap me, but so far it’s been honest reconnaissance. It’s keeping my men out of harm’s way. Anathema can pass our borders without body bags.”

“What the hell are they doing?”

“Who the fuck knows. It’s just enough of a mystery to keep me looking over my shoulder and double-checking the locks.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because the Valley is about to get dangerous. More than it was before.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I fucking hope so, but I’m not taking the chance. I’m going to make sure you’re safe, and I don’t care how much blood has to spill to do it.”

I held my breath. “What are you planning?”

“I’m reuniting Anathema and The Coup.”

My stomach twisted.

Now he would die. Crushed by Anathema, flayed by The Coup, and crucified by Temple. They’d race to see who got to make the first slice.

Nothing was going to reunite the clubs. Not after the bloodshed and insults, ruined brotherhoods and lost opportunities for something more than a quick fuck in the back of a strip club.

“Luke—”

“Temple’s gonna use Blade’s death as an excuse to destroy the Valley. We have no choice. I gotta bring the clubs together, call a truce, and focus on the real enemy.”

Was he that foolish? “If you do this, you’ll become everyone’s enemy again.”

“Am I yours?”

“Don’t ask me that.”

“I deserve an answer.”

“Do you?”

He moved faster than I expected, tangling one hand in my hair and pressing the other to my cheek.

His kiss came rough, hard, and fast. He asked for my help but silenced my refusal. His promises nipped my lips—a fierce devotion no man, no traitor, should ever have vowed against muted protests and my quiet rage.

I twisted in his grip. He didn’t release me. That was good. My arms would have struck his chest only to wrap around his neck.

He didn’t deserve my kiss. I did nothing to earn the punishment of my own lust.

The pounding, roiling heat in my core might have crippled me. Luke’s solid grip on my hair pulled hard enough to sting, hard enough to keep me grounded in reality, in danger, in the worst possible complication to a life cracking from under me.

I danced in six inch heels without wavering, but one fierce kiss from Luke might have dropped me to my knees.

Luke broke away with a profanity. He swung me onto the couch, and my heart raced, hoping that cut would fall away and the man would settle over me, demanding more than my time, my dance, my unwilling affection.

Instead he stood, tenderly touching where my enthusiasm turned to aggression and his lip puffed from a bite.

“Don’t make yourself a target.” He tossed a wad of hundreds at me. I didn’t degrade myself by reaching for the bundle as it bounced onto the couch beside me. “Too many VIP experiences like this and Temple would think better of killing you.”

Son of a bitch. “Get out of my club.”

And life. And mind.

And heart.

“Thanks for the dance, Princess.”

Bad news came in threes.

First, I got another message from my mystery contact at Anathema.

Then, after a night trailing the highway to verify the information was good, I came home to find that Lyn had returned the money I gave her and included a detailed note of where I could shove it.

Now? Unless a rainbow shot out of my cellphone, Grim wasn’t calling to chat.

I pulled into an alley hidden from the main drag to take the call. I kept my back to a building. Our side of the river wasn’t stable, and I didn’t need to fall onto some gangbanger’s switchblade while I dealt with our business.

I didn’t greet Grim, just assumed the worst. “Tell me how we’re getting fucked this time.”

“Bend over, buddy. They’re already pounding away.”

Fantastic. “What’s happening?”

“Priest.”

Just hearing his name was bad luck. Dealing with his shit was the kind of karma I expected for firing that first shot against Anathema. At least I had five grand in my possession. It’d spring his bail if he got another assault charge, but I’d let his ass rot if it was a woman making the allegation.

“What’d he do?” I asked.

“Where are you?”

Not the answer I wanted. “Grant and Seventh.”

“Get on the 9 and head north. Priest took his guys and decided to take advantage of an opportunity.”

“Christ, what’s he doing?”

Grim grunted. “Didn’t say. Took Bounty and Lash and went for a ride.”

And I knew why. It wasn’t a hit on Anathema. For the first time in a year, I wished it was. Priest aimed for a bigger target.

“Check the printout,” I said. “They’re tracking one of Temple’s supply runs.”

“Fuck me.” Grim jostled his phone and rustled through the intel I printed on Temple. I figured my officers could use the contents of the flash drive to stay out of danger, not start a goddamned street war with it. “There’s a shipment heading north, to Temple’s warehouses outside San Jose.”

“What’s on the truck?”

“Drugs. Up from Mexico.”

“Son of a bitch wants to jack the
drugs
?” I’d crush the phone. “Temple will slice our goddamn heads off to find that shipment. He so much as touches those drugs and we’re fucked.”

“What do we do?”

“I’ll stop them.”

“They’ll be pissed.”

I was used to that. “I don’t care. I’m not igniting this war just yet.”

I ended the call. I’d intercept them, but Christ only knew if I’d let them survive.

I already committed treason. Dissolved a club. Ruined lives. No one would be surprised if I did it again, especially to rid the world of the fucking slime that molded on the dark underbelly of my 1% club.

The worst of the worst settled within my Coup, and I wrangled more crime and sin, danger and treachery than the devil waiting for us after that final slice through our veins.

Priest rallied the most dangerous of his men, the ones I doubted Thorne was sorry to see split from Anathema. Lyn wouldn’t even let her girls dance for them. Evil existed, and it rode restored Harleys, stained cuts with another’s blood, and rutted whatever woman it wanted—whether or not they agreed to serve.

Killing them wouldn’t be treason. It’d be a service. But Thorne wouldn’t accept their heads on any platter unless mine was there as garnish.

I roared out of the town, skipping through the early evening traffic by blowing through two red lights and ducking a cop cruiser just as his lights flashed. He didn’t bother to chase once my bike hit the highway. The engine redlined as I bolted north.

I passed enough cars and trucks heading to the city, but only those with purpose drove this deep into the desert. I blitzed past Sorceress’s charming pinks and purples.

I should have forced Lyn out of town any way I could. Hog-tied, if necessary. She wouldn’t tolerate any bindings, but she’d look damn good wrapped up to tease. If I wasn’t so sure the night would end in a bloodbath, I’d have tested my luck and apologized for the other night.

I needed more than a dance from her.

Like the truth.

Like her honesty.

Like her lips working on more than whatever lies she fed me.

That kiss and touch wouldn’t be our last. Lyn didn’t owe me a fucking thing, but I’d take whatever she wanted to give. She wouldn’t regret it, despite whatever pride buckled her pants tighter than a belt.

I found my men after twenty minutes of riding.

Priest wasn’t subtle, and Temple’s truck wasn’t marked. I cut the throttle and pulled onto the gravel beside the disabled truck. Bounty and Lash just finished kicking their newfound corpse.

My helmet yanked off. Bounty grunted as I approached, as distasteful to him as the blood staining his boot. Lash wasn’t done with the body yet. He wouldn’t be, not until it was properly mutilated.

Priest waited for me, that goddamned sneer his second mistake of the day.

“What the
fuck
are you doing?” I pointed for Lash and Bounty to stash the body behind the truck. Blood spread everywhere. It was a forensic nightmare. “You didn’t tell me you were jacking a truck.”

Priest didn’t apologize. Didn’t give me any respect either, but I knew I’d only get a blade to the gut from him.

“I had a lead,” he said.

“You didn’t have a lead. You found a war. Temple is going to fuck us.”

“They’ll get over it.”

Goddamned asshole. “You
killed
their driver and now what? You want to steal the drugs?”

“Too much for me to snort unless you want to get your nose dirty, Lancelot.”

“I should take you to Temple myself. Buy some more time with your fucking ass.”

Priest grunted as I stalked away, slamming a hand against the truck.

“We’ll say it was Anathema,” he said. “They’ve been grabbing our electronic shipments anyway. Maybe they’ll be good sports and take the blame for this one.”

“Temple sees a cut, they’ll strike. Doesn’t matter what side of the river he’s riding.”

“Good thing we’ll have money then.” Priest spat over the corpse. “Take the drugs, get some green for it. Buy ourselves some fucking protection and Temple won’t touch us.”

Money sounded good.

Real good.

Enough to fortify our damn garage and buy some new weaponry and ammunition. Pixie had barbed wire around its parking lot. Cement bunkers. Surveillance systems. No one could siege a goddamned castle built of Harleys and executioners.