“You old crow, you aren’t strong enough to pick up that burger, let alone that shotgun.” Curt eyed the woman as if he didn’t take Mag seriously.

“Try me, you little pissant. I’ll wrap that barrel around your motherfu—”

“Calm down, Mag. Remember your blood pressure.” Jo jerked out from under Curt’s arm, using her elbow to jab him in his ribs.

“Go sit back down.” Mick reached over the bar to catch Mag’s arm when her hand came dangerously close to hitting Curt. “You ordered your burgers well-done. They’ll be done in a minute.”

“If I knew it was going to take this long, I would have ordered it rare.”

“Like the taste of burned food, huh? You’re going to get a lot of it when you get to hell, you son of Satan!”

“You keep running that trap of yours, when you finally die, I’m going to be the first one to piss on your grave.”

“I don’t have to worry about that; you won’t be able to find my tombstone. You’d have to be able to read to do that.”

Jo used her elbow to jab Curt again. “Just go, Curt.”

Curt wasn’t about to be interrupted from arguing with Mag.

“You self-righteous hag, I can read better than you! What grade did you get to before dropping out? Fifth? I’m college educated, and I’m smart enough to know how you bought that house you’re living in by selling liquor and that stank-ass pussy of yours.”

Jo was reaching for her beer bottle to brain the man she hated more than anyone else in the world, but before she could, Rider stood, and Mick came around the counter.

“Curt, Cash isn’t going to be happy you’re bad-mouthing his grandmother. I would watch your step before you can’t remove your foot out of your ass, where Cash is going to shove it when he finds out.”

The menacing bully hiked his jeans up his sagging belly. “Me and Cash are friends.”

“Cash and I are friends, and I know better than bad-mouthing Mag.”

“You and I are two different kettles of fish. I didn’t have to pay for Jo’s company. She gave it to me for free.”

Fury blinded her. Rage she had never believed herself capable of had her nail’s coming out to scratch the smug smile off his ugly face. Her nails only found air, though, as Rider had already used Curt’s T-shirt to jerk him toward him.

As he heaved him over the counter, Jo was watched in amazement as Curt landed on the other side.

“Rider, I’ll handle this.” Mick tried to stop a coldly furious Rider she had never seen before. The sexy Rider from last night, and the charming one who had been casually flirting with her like a schoolboy, was replaced by a vengeful biker who didn’t need the club’s jacket to instill fear.

Jo stood on her tiptoes to look over the bar, seeing Curt staring up at the ceiling in a daze. Justin and Tanner came running over to look, too.

Mag’s laughter only made the situation worse.

Rachel and Cash would kill her if anything happened to the woman while she had promised to take care of her. There was no way Rider would be able to fight off three men.

Her hand went to her radio to get Knox to come to the bar, but before she could press the button, Rider and Mick went behind the counter.

Rider callously yanked Curt to his feet, pinning his arm behind his back and almost planting his ruddy face against the hot grill.

When Justin and Tanner tried to come around the counter, Mick lifted his shotgun out from its hiding spot. The sound of cocking the rifle stopped Curt’s cousins in their tracks.

“Hold on, boys. This is between Rider and Curt. He doesn’t need your help.”

“Shh …” Jo unsuccessfully tried to get Mag to stop laughing.

“That boy has more balls than I gave him credit for,” she heckled.

“Mag, please … you’re just making it worse.” Jo tried again to shush the woman.

“How am I making it worse?” Mag gave her a gleeful smirk. “Go ahead and fry that son of a bitch, Rider. I like my meat with a little pink showing.”

“Go sit back down, Tanner and Justin. Curt doesn’t need your help, do you?” Rider coldheartedly held his captive over the burgers that were sizzling under his nose, lowering Curt’s face another centimeter toward the grill as loose tendrils of his hair curled at the heat.

“Go sit down!” Curt screamed out when Rider twisted his arm behind him higher.

The two men reluctantly returned to their table. The rest of the bar watched, but made no move to stop or interfere.

They weren’t the only ones afraid to interfere. She was, too. Other than flipping Curt over the counter and holding the man over the grill, Rider didn’t exhibit any anger. She had heard of stone-cold killers, but she had never expected to meet one.

The handsome-faced, laidback man who she had seen driving around town with women, cutting up, often acting like a clown when his friends were near, wasn’t the man she was fearfully staring at now, about to maim a man without getting grease splatter on his shirt.

“Mick is going to fix your food to go, which I’m going to pay for you and your family. You are then going to leave without another word to either of those women. Do you understand me?” Rider unemotionally waited for his answer.

“Yes,” Curt choked out.

Rider released Curt’s arm, allowing him to rise.

Jo read the hatred on Curt’s face at his humiliation, and Rider’s inflexible expression. While Rider might not have any visible expression, his body was taut and ready for any move Curt might make.

Curt was the first to move his gaze away. “I lost my temper. I’m sorry.”

Jo didn’t believe his apology for a second, and neither did Rider.

“That’s not the only thing you lost. Send Tanner to get your paycheck on Monday. You’re fired.”

“You can’t fire me. Jewell’s the manager. What I do on my off time isn’t reason to fire me. I’m a good worker. I’ll sue.”

“Jewell may be the manager, but I’m one of the owners, and I say you’re fired. You want to sue, go ahead. You won’t win. Look over your contract. In the fine print, you’ll see that The Last Riders have the right to end your employment at any time. I’ll clean out your locker and give the contents to Tanner when he picks up your paycheck.”

Shoving Rider aside to go around the counter, Curt threatened, “You’ll be calling me Tuesday to apologize, and I’ll be back at work by Wednesday. No one treats me this way and gets away with it—no one.” With the counter safely between them, Curt’s bravado had returned.

“Mick, pack their food to go. They’ll be leaving.”

“I don’t want the fucking food. It’s slop anyway. Tanner, Justin, let’s go. We’ll eat at the diner. You’ll be calling me, Rider; you’ll see.”

“I won’t.”

Jo shakily sat back down on her stool as Rider took his, and Curt’s minions flanked each side of his back as they moved toward the door.

“Let the door hit your ass on the way out!” Mag cackled.

“You prune-faced bitch, you’re going to get what’s coming to you, too!” Curt snarled, ducking when a beer bottle came sailing through the air, breaking on the wall an inch from his head.

Jo grabbed her beer bottle when Mag would have thrown hers, too.

The three cousins took off at a run when Rider stood up at Curt’s insult. Jo grabbed the back of his belt, yanking his ass back down while also shoving Mag’s burger closer to her.

“Both of you eat. Forget about them.” Her fingers trembled as she forced herself to take a bite of the cold burger.

Mick took the burgers off the grill, throwing the charred meat into the trash before coming to stand in front of them. “He means it, Rider. Curt is a vindictive son of a bitch.”

“I’m not worried about Curt.”

“You should be,” Jo seconded Mick’s opinion at Rider’s unconcern. “When I didn’t give him a tow the other day, he had his cousins egg my house.”

Rider turned his head sharply to look at her. “Why didn’t you file a report with Knox?”

“Believing it and proving it are two different things.”

“Next time something like that happens, I want to know. That’s how Curt is getting off scot-free, because no one files a police report.”

Jo opened the bag of chips that came with her burger. “Really?” She raised a sardonic eyebrow at him. “I reported that he and his friends raped me when I came back to town. Nothing was done. I reported when he ran me off the road and totaled my car. Nothing was done. I reported my house being broken into three times and that Curt had a pair of my panties hanging from his rearview mirror. You want to know what was done about that?” Jo asked rhetorically, not giving him time to answer. “Nothing. Every time I try to bring charges against Curt, one of his cousins working for the state police or one working at the courthouse stops the investigation.”

“Give me another beer, Mick.” Mag’s appetite hadn’t been affected by Curt’s behavior or Jo’s angry outburst. “I told you to borrow my handgun. One bullet is all it would take. That dumpling is filled with so much hard air it would take a week for the stench to clear.”

“I don’t want to kill him. I want him behind bars where he deserves to be.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that your house has been broken into three times?”

Jo could tell that Mick’s feeling had been hurt because she hadn’t confided in him.

“You worry about me enough as it is. I just installed cameras. If they do it again, I’ll have a tape to prove it.”

“You don’t have a tape of them egging your house?” Rider shoved his food away.

“No, I only had enough money to buy cameras for the inside. They hadn’t done anything to the outside before. I think they were worried a customer would drive onto the lot and see them. Curt must have been so mad when I refused the tow that his anger got the best of him, and he didn’t care if his cousins were caught.”

“He’s escalating, thinking he’s untouchable. In the morning, Train and I will come by to install a new security system.”

“No, thanks. I’ll buy the cameras when I get paid.” Jo quickly refused his offer.

“I wasn’t offering,” Rider stated firmly. “You want Curt behind bars, this is the way to do it. I’ll wire it so that Knox can see and dispatch a car before you’d have to call.”

Jo bit her bottom lip. She really didn’t want Knox capable of seeing the comings and goings at her junkyard, but it would make it easier to catch Curt and his cousins.

“If it happens again, I’ll let you know, and then you can install your security system. I may be blowing it out of proportion. It could have been teenagers out for a good time.”

Rider wasn’t happy with her decision. She could tell he was going to keep arguing unless she distracted him.

“Are you going to ask me to dance, or are we going to sit here all night?” Getting off her stool, Jo cautiously offered her hand.

She hadn’t willing offered her hand to a man since she had been raped, too worried they would misunderstand and take it as an overture she didn’t mean. She was smart enough to know that not all men were like Curt. She just hadn’t been willing to take the chance they were.

Rider looked down at her hand, somehow sensing she didn’t do it often. The inflexible expression that had been on his face since Curt had appeared at their backs lightened, returning to the one she was more familiar with. “You like to dance?”

His fingers tightened on hers when Carter stumbled toward the bar and nearly barreled into them. Helping her dodge him, Rider moved her safely away.

Lowering her eyes to the floor, she felt safe for the first time in so many years she had lost count. It seemed like fear and terror had been trailing behind her like a dark shadow, waiting for the opportunity to strike when she least expected it.

“I do, but I’m afraid I’m not very good at it,” she confessed, dropping his hand to turn toward the small sectioned-off area that Mick had formed into a dance floor.

“You did okay last night when I danced with you.”

“That’s because it was a slow dance.” The song blasting out from the old speakers hanging on the walls was anything but slow. Not knowing what to do, she basically just shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

“Mick, play some slow music!”

She gave Rider a dirty look at his yell that had all the men staring at them. “Where’s your sense of adventure? You could have taught me some moves.”

Sin was in his eyes and in his grin as he took her hands and pulled her closer to his body. Her nipples pebbled when she found herself plastered against Rider’s chest.

Releasing one of her hands, he brought his to her ass as he parted his legs until she was straddling a long thigh wedged between hers.

“Is this adventurous enough for you?” he mocked, watching her reaction.

“Are you making fun of me?” Jo scrunched up her face in a pain-filled mask.

Rider lost his amusement, straightening away from her and dropping his hands from her.

Jo burst out laughing. “Sucker. I was just joking.” She took the step he had put between them, laying her hands on his chest and making sure she gave herself breathing room so she could restore her raging hormones to a manageable level. One that didn’t freak her the hell out.

“Damn, I never expected you to have a sense of humor.” He moved her slowly around the dance floor, keeping the distance she had initiated.

“I guess we both have things to learn about the other.” She mischievously waved toward Mag when she caught sight of her. “You should ask her to dance. She would love it.”

“Is that another attempt at humor?” He stopped moving, staring down at her suspiciously.

“No. Come on; it would make her night,” she urged.

He seemed to be considering it for a second, making her think he was a really nice guy and that she had underestimated him.

“No.”

“Come on; be brave.”

“I’m afraid of her.”

“She wouldn’t hurt you. She’s all talk.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid that mouth of hers would make me want to wring her neck.”

“That’s not nice.”

“It is what it is.”

As a new song started, Jo tried to return to the bar, but Rider didn’t release her, still dancing.

“I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll even give you two options, because I’m a really nice guy.”

Jo continued to dance with him, curious about the deal he was offering.

“I’ll dance with Mag. I’ll even make sure she’s invited to a Last Rider’s party … if you go out with me on another date.”

“What’s the other option?” Jo warily prepared herself. When Rider wanted something, he could be as charming as a snake handler. However, she had to give him the same consideration he had given her when she had asked him to dance with Mag.

His easy smile showed his even, white teeth. “You can give me a good night’s kiss after I help you get Mag back inside her cabin.”

“I’m not crazy about either of those choices.”

“Then I guess Mag isn’t dancing.”

Jo looked to where Mag was talking to Mick at the bar. She hadn’t seen the woman so happy since Jo was a little girl and Mag was running drunks off with her broomstick.

“I’ll go out with you again,” she relented. It would be a gift to Rachel and Cash, too. The woman would quit moaning about being ready to die, at least until after she went to one of The Last Riders’ parties.

“Are you still joking?”

“No, I’m serious. I’ll go out with you again.”

His smile disappeared at her capitulation. “I should have made myself clear before you agreed. I’m not dancing a slow dance with her.”

It was her turn to smile. “I wouldn’t expect you to. She’ll be happy with a fast one.”

“Cool. We’re on the same page. You sure you won’t be jealous?” he teased.

“I don’t think I have anything to be worried about. Mag doesn’t wear perfume. She wears Bengay.”