Sophie pushed open the swinging door between the bakery’s kitchen and the shop and froze.

At the front by the register, Bella and Axel were leaning towards each other over the display case, eyes intense, and whispering fiercely. Axel had a hand outstretched, cupping Bella’s face.

Suddenly their whispering stopped and both sets of eyes turned to her. Axel quickly dropped his hand and they straightened. Even from where she stood, Sophie could see the color in Bella’s cheeks.

Interesting.

In the three weeks since Bella started helping out, Axel stopped by more often. Even on his days off he’d show up in his casual clothes, which he had never done before. Sophie had to admit that the man looked good in either a uniform or jeans and a worn T-shirt. And when the day was colder, he would wear a black leather jacket and look like he would fit right in with the DAMC. She could picture the two brothers sitting side by side on their Harley’s.

Though, Sophie doubted it would ever happen.

However, Axel’s excuse for his daily appearance was that he was now hopelessly addicted to her cupcakes. And it didn’t matter if they were red velvet or not.

She unfroze herself and moved forward.

“You didn’t make red velvet cupcakes,” he teased her as she neared.

“No.” She hadn’t because she wanted to find out if he was addicted to something other than that excuse. Or more like someone. She wasn’t sure if it was her presence bringing him in, since Zak had been thrown to the curb which she was sure Bella told him.

She had a thought after seeing what she just witnessed. Maybe now it was Bella’s presence that drew him.

Hmm.

“You guys grew up together, right?”

Axel’s gaze flicked to Bella then landed back on her. “Not really.”

Bella stepped back from the counter and busied herself by assembling pastry boxes. “Ax wasn’t allowed to hang out with us biker kids. We were a bad influence.”

“But you knew each other,” Sophie prodded.

“We went to school together and we’re sort of related,” Axel answered.

“Sort of?”

He continued, “The Doc/Bear connection. Not by blood, though,” he added quickly.

“No, not by blood,” Bella clarified a little too quickly, too. “Why?”

“Nothing. Just wondering. I find this whole DAMC family tree interesting.”

“Things been quiet?” Axel asked Sophie. She knew what he was really asking. If Zak had made himself scarce.

He had, surprisingly.

Though, it kind of hurt that he gave up so easily.

What the hell was she thinking! She kicked his ass out of her place, out of her life for a good reason. She didn’t want anything do with any crazy biker beefs where people actually died. Not to mention, went to prison for life. All because they fought over some town. There were plenty of other towns in Pennsylvania she was sure weren’t “claimed territory” by some other club.

She just had to stop thinking about bikers, beefs, and men with tattoos wearing grimy leather vests. Especially ones who gave her multiple orgasms. Or more like one biker in particular.

She ground the heel of her palm into her right eye.

Axel wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her hand away, looking concerned. “You okay?”

“Yes, fine.”

His lips flattened. He didn’t believe her. “It’s for the best, Sophie. Take my word for it.”

She snorted. “Right, says the man who has no problem cutting his blood brother out of his life.”

Axel frowned. “You don’t understand. I’m a cop. I can’t have anything to do with an outlaw biker club. Blood or not.”

That’s when Bella broke in, color high in her cheeks. “What the fuck, Axel? You know better than that. The club hasn’t been a one percenter in a long time. Shit’s different now. Has been. And if you can’t be seen around DAMC, then what are you doing here? I’m one hundred percent DAMC. You know that.”

Axel raised his palms up. “Hey, I’m just here for the cupcakes.”

“Right,” Bella scoffed. “You keep telling yourself that.”

“And Dad wants me to keep an eye on Sophie.”

Sophie’s brows knitted. “Why?”

Axel lifted a shoulder. “I guess he wants to make sure things stay quiet around here.”

“Things are quiet. If that’s why you’re always stopping by, then don’t bother.”

“Sophie...” he started.

“No, Axel. I don’t need you ‘taking care’ of me, either.”

“I’m not. I really love your cupcakes.”

“So you keep saying.”

“It’s true.”

Bella reached into the display case, snagged a Tiramisu cupcake and shoved it towards Axel. “There you go. Here’s a fucking cupcake. Take it and go.”

“Bella...”

“Bye,” she said with a raise of her eyebrows, which clearly meant “get gone.”

Axel looked at the cupcake in his hand. “Am I going to like this one?”

Bella blew out an impatient breath. “How the fuck would I know? Bye,” she repeated.

Axel’s lips flattened out. “Fine. I’ll stop back in during first shift tomorrow.”

“Can’t wait,” Bella said and turned her back to him.

Axel looked toward Sophie, dug into the front pocket of his jeans and threw a crumpled five-dollar bill onto the counter by the register. “Thanks.”

“You get two for five,” Sophie said.

“I’ll pick the second one up tomorrow.”

She gave him a sharp nod, and he turned and left, looking a bit put out.

Sophie moved behind the display case and leaned against the counter watching Bella’s stiff, jerky movements as she assembled more boxes.

“You don’t have to do that. You’re not a paid employee.”

Bella’s chest heaved as she took a deep breath. She turned and leaned a hip against the counter, mirroring Sophie. “I know. I just want to help out because I appreciate you doing this. You could’ve kicked me out when you did Z. Rid yourself of all of us. You know,” Bella dragged a hand through her long, thick dark hair, “you’re still at risk with me being here if the Warriors want retribution for whatever they’re looking for retribution for. Which... who knows what it’s about this time. One could’ve gotten a hangnail and it would be DAMC’s fault. This whole life can be fucked sometimes.”

“Then why are you a part of it?” Sophie asked gently.

“Because it’s my life. I don’t know any different. It’s my family. Always have been. I’m not going to desert my family when things get rough. I’m not going to do what Mitch and Axel did to Z. It’s wrong.”

Sophie pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. She agreed. But then, isn’t that what she did to Zak also? Things got rough, and she kicked him out of her life.

“So what do you think of me, then?”

The blood drained from Bella’s face at Sophie’s question. “I didn’t mean... Sophie, it’s not the same. You didn’t choose this. He sort of forced it on you. I don’t blame you for doing what you did.”

Her words did not make Sophie feel any better, though they should.

“He’s a good guy, Sophie. He really is. He’s always wanted what was best for the club, what was best for all of us. He sees better things for the club’s future. As Ace always says, Zak’s been progressive.”

Sophie chewed on her bottom lip. “He’s a misogynist.”

Bella laughed, and Sophie was shocked at the beautiful tone of it. It brightened the whole shop. She couldn’t help but smile at the sound.

“It’s true!” Sophie insisted.

“No shit. Aren’t they all? But let me tell you something, Soph, all you have to do is get them wrapped around your little finger and they sing like a canary. They’re not supposed to talk club business with their ol’ ladies. But you think that Ace doesn’t have pillow talk with Janice? You think Pierce doesn’t talk things out with his woman? They need us. We give them a different perspective and they’ll die before they admit it but they respect our opinions. Now... the house mouse or the sweet butt or the fuck... Hell, the strippers, the sweeties... the list goes on. They don’t get told shit. A good man will respect his ol’ lady. And don’t be put off by the name either. Believe it or not, it’s really a term of endearment. The rest of them... all those others hang out at the club, put out, clean up, do whatever they’re told, just with the hopes of becoming an ol’ lady. Sometimes it happens, most times it doesn’t. They come and they go like the tides.”

“Damn. I don’t even know where to begin with my questions,” Sophie mumbled.

Bella threw her head back and laughed again. And, once again, it pulled a smile from Sophie.

“Like house mouse. What the hell is that?”

“Something you’ll never be. The only thing Z has wanted from you was to be his ol’ lady.”

“Why?”

Bella shook her head. “You’d have to ask him. He’s hurting, Sophie. I know he is. He’s stuck on you. I want to ask you to give him a chance, but I’ll understand if you won’t. Why the Warriors want to take him down or out, I don’t know. But, I do have to say it’s not only him. While he was away, they would show up, pull some stuff and then ride off back to wherever they go.”

While he was away. A nice way of putting his prison term.

Bella continued, “They shot at Diesel a few times. For a while there, they were determined to take out our enforcer, our club’s Sergeant at Arms. I seriously thought I’d lose my cousin to a bullet. But, there’s no way D or any of them will live their lives in fear. Though, I heard rumors Diesel took care of that particular threat.” She raised her palms up. “Not sure how. Don’t want to know, either. Especially when we got Axel sniffing around here.”

“Something between you and Axel?”

“Nope,” Bella answered way too quickly.

“Was something ever between you and Axel?” she asked, rephrasing the question.

“I’ll say this. I had it rough for a while. I won’t go into details right now, but let’s just say Axel knows more about it then a lot of the members do.”

“Why does he know more?”

Bella hesitated, then looked Sophie straight in the eye. “He’s a first responder. And I don’t want to talk about that part of my life any further. It’s not because it’s you, it’d be the same for anyone.”

Sophie nodded. She wouldn’t pry. If Bella ever wanted to talk about it, Sophie would listen. Bella was turning into a good friend and she wanted to be there for her.

“So back to Z,” Bella said. “If it wasn’t for the stuff that went down, would you give him a shot?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure being a biker’s ol’ lady is for me. Hell, I’ve never been on the back of a motorcycle.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Weather warms up and your ass would be affixed to the back of his. Clubs aren’t all bad, Sophie. We give back to the community when we can. It’s one way we’re accepted so we’re not run out of town. The cops harass us sometimes. Sometimes we deserve it, sometimes we don’t. Some of the town folk don’t like the strip club, but hey,” she shrugged, “it makes good money, so apparently someone from this town is showing up to tuck wrinkled dollar bills into G-strings. Dawg does his best to make sure his girls aren’t selling themselves. That will get him shut down quicker than anything. And he makes sure they stay clean. No drugs. No prostituting. He takes care of them, believe it or not. The rest of the businesses, well, they’re all respectable. Pierce isn’t running guns out of the gun shop. Ace isn’t accepting stolen goods in the pawn shop. The garage isn’t a chop shop. And Crow’s ink shop is licensed like it should be. Plus, Hawk and I make sure there aren’t any minors sneaking into the bar. Everything’s on the up and up.”

“Quite an enterprise.”

“Yes, it is. Like I said, we live good. We party, we drink, we laugh, we love. And we do it hard. Nothing’s done half-assed. So, think about that when you’re thinking about Z.”

“Who said I’m thinking about Zak?”

Bella just gave her a smile and went back to assembling pastry boxes.

Shit.