“Where the hell have you been?” Ranger glared at Sarah as she slinked back toward the bar.

Snake had hung back and waited for her to get there first, and now that she had navigated her way through the crowd alone, she knew she was no longer intimidated by what The Bleeding Bullet had to offer. In fact, she liked that place more than she ever could have prepared for.

“The restroom,” she said moodily, as she shot her brother a look of death. “Was he supposed to follow me in there too?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

Ranger scowled back before he wrapped his arm around Nicole’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Snake said, as he came up behind Sarah and leaned against the counter.

“What’s the plan?” Sarah asked Nicole.

She barely dared move with Snake right close to her, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to look at him without giving the game away. Her whole face would express how much she desired him.

One connection of their eyes, and it would all be over.

She took a deep breath and waited for Nicole to respond, hoping she would suggest they got the hell out of there.

“Well, I think this hanging out in bars and drinking has maybe lost its appeal,” Nicole said with a shrug. “Why don’t we go to the diner or something and have something to eat?”

Sarah nodded her head as she slipped her purse strap higher up her arm, and still tried to keep her eyes away from Snake.

“Is it okay if the boys come?” Nicole mouthed as she wrapped her arms further around Ranger and pulled him in tight.

Sarah’s heart started to race and she felt a whoosh of blood in her ears. The idea of Snake going with them was wonderful, but then she had her brother to worry about.

Would he be able to tell they had just spent the past fifteen minutes all over each other?

She tried not to blush.

“Erm,” she stammered.

“What do you say?” Ranger was looking past Sarah and speaking directly to Snake. Sarah turned her head to the side to look at him, and he caught her eye before looking back at Ranger.

“Sure,” Snake said without missing a beat. “Why not, it’s what we usually do.”

“Come on then, ladies,” Ranger said as he started to walk with Nicole toward the doorway.

Sarah looked nervously up at Snake who was smiling down at her. He looked both amused and thrilled with the situation, but it had been him who had called time on their intimacy, and now her head was spinning.

She pushed passed him slightly, finding herself annoyed with him all over again, but she had to admit it was exciting. One minute they were bickering, and the next they were kissing and had their hands all over each other.

She bit her lip and grinned, and as they reached the doorway, she turned back to see that Snake was doing exactly the same.

 

The diner was out on the side of the highway, not too far from Tanner’s and opposite an old motel. Sarah remembered the stretch of road well, and she could see that not a whole lot had changed over the years. Tanner’s had once been called Red X, but that had all changed a few years back when something had happened inside the club. She had never known the exact story, but she was sure it had involved a rival gang and someone being murdered. Tanner had been the name of one of The Forsaken Riders who had died in the conflict, and so, in tribute, they had dedicated it to him.

As they took their seats at a booth in the window, Snake waited and let Sarah climb in first before he slipped in next to her. Nicole and Ranger were cuddled up, smooching and holding hands as Ranger whispered sweet nothings in her ear.

“Do you mind,” Sarah said with a roll of her eyes.

Nicole gave her an apologetic look, and Ranger looked across at her with a look she knew all too well. He was about to challenge her and try to wind her up.

“I think you’re jealous,” Ranger said smugly. “Must have been quite some time since you had a man in your life, hey sis?” he said with a wink.

Sarah turned her head to the side and looked out of the window. Her eyes focused on the lights of trucks and cars as they blared past them in the night.

“What’s the matter? Don’t the big bad city boys measure up?” he laughed.

Sarah tensed, and she felt Snake do the same.

She reached down and opened up the menu. She scanned it to try and divert Ranger’s attention, but she could tell he was gunning for her now. He wanted to get a rise out of her as he was so used to getting. He had been doing it to her for years and years, and it was as if he was programmed to keep going until he got it.

Snake’s knee brushed hers accidentally and she felt her legs quiver. Just sitting next to him when he was so off limits was driving her insane. She was sure her brother would be able to see through them both, surely it was written all over them.

She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and tapped her fingernails on the edge of the table.

“Maybe Nicole will tell me a few of your secrets once we’re married,” Ranger teased.

“I don’t understand why the hell you would be interested in knowing any of those,” she said with a laugh. “You’re my brother, surely that’s the last thing you’d want to know.”

Ranger looked at her with exasperation.

“Jesus, Sarah,” he said, “I’m trying to get a rise out you. Where the hell has your sense of humor disappeared to?”

Sarah dipped her head and tried not to let him see her eyes.

Under the table, Snake’s fingertips brushed against her thigh and she had to bite her lip.

God she wanted him.

She wanted to throw everything off the table and let him take her right there and then. She held the menu up and began to fan her face.

“You know I was concentrating on my studies,” she said sternly. “But, that’s all finished with now. Okay? So maybe, I don’t know, I’ll see what’s out there.”

Nicole grinned and clapped her hands together.

“Then we could go on a real double date,” Nicole beamed.

“Yeah, and then Snake, you would be off the hook,” Ranger snorted. “Sorry for making you babysit my kid sister. I can imagine she’s been an absolute delight.”

Ranger was being facetious, and Sarah was determined that she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of winning.

“I don’t mind at all,” Snake said, testing the water. “In fact, I think we get on alright, don’t we, Sarah?”

She looked at him and couldn’t help but smile. He was constantly surprising her. The last thing she had expected was for him to be so open in front of Ranger, but maybe it was his was of seeing where the land lay.

“Well, don’t be getting any fucked up ideas,” Ranger said seriously. “I was only joking.”

Ranger snorted a laugh and then he looked from Sarah to Snake again and again.

“Imagine,” he said. “If you two ended up together.”

Sarah’s face instinctively flamed red, and she couldn’t help but act as guilty as hell. She shot her eyes down at the table and nervously began to fidget with the edge of the menu. Snake leaned back and subconsciously put some distance between him and Sarah, but it was too late.

Ranger had seen enough.

“What… the… fuck…?” he said angrily as he pointed at Sarah and looked at Snake. “What the fuck was that?”

Sarah barely dared look at him, she could already feel the aggression and anger surging out of him, and she was too afraid to face him head on.

“I saw that, did you?” he looked across at Nicole. “Something’s happened with these two… Did you see the way they both just reacted?”

Sarah buried her head in her hands, and just wanted the diner to implode on itself. She wished for this whole dreadful situation to disappear, and for her to wake up and it to all have been a dream.

Ranger wasn’t happy in the slightest.

And the tension was building around them.

When Sarah finally got the nerve to look at him, she gasped at how furious he looked. His entire face was turning red, his eyes were bulging, and he was pumping his fists in and out as if he was gunning for a fight.

“Ranger,” Snake said sternly as he rose to his feet. “Don’t do this, man…”

Ranger stood up too and the two men squared up to each other. Nicole reached out and shook Sarah by the arm, urging her to do something, and to stop whatever was about to unfold.

“Stop it!” Sarah shouted as she snapped herself out of her denial. “Just stop it, both of you, this is silly. Nothing has even happened!”

She knew from how loyal Ranger, Snake and the rest of the bikers were, there was no way Snake would ever lie to her brother, but she still had the power and the license to bend the truth a little. Especially if it stopped them from laying into each other and causing a full scale fight inside the diner.

Ranger shoved Snake in the chest, and Sarah jumped in between them.

“Are you kidding me!” she shouted as she pushed Ranger further away, shoving her palms into his chest. “What are you doing, he’s your best friend?”

Ranger breathed in and out heavily and then he shook his head and rolled out his shoulders. Snake was still glaring at him, and he was clearly ready to go if it was needed of him. But there was so much history between them, it was clear that truly neither of them wanted to hurt the other.

Ranger sighed and shook his head.

“Sorry, man,” he said as he scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t know what came over me there.”

Snake crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Sometimes tensions run a little high. We’ve got a lot going on.”

Ranger and he stared at each other and they both nodded in agreement. Nicole sank back down into the leather seats of the booth and sighed, and Sarah’s heart was still almost exploding out of her chest.

“Jeez,” she said. “I don’t know what the fuck to do with the pair of you…” she said as she trailed off. “But all I know is, suddenly, I’m not at all hungry.”

She blew a kiss in Nicole’s direction and then she shot angry glances back at Ranger and Snake, before she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

She knew Snake would want to run after her, but after what had just happened, his better judgement would surely take over.  If he chased Sarah out of the diner, it was going to cause a whole world of trouble.

As she marched back toward the center of town, she was sure she could hear them all calling after her. But her mind was made up, she wanted to get home, crawl into bed, rest, and then see how she felt in the morning.

She had only come back to Slate Springs for her brother and Nicole’s wedding, and now, if it just so happened that she had met someone she liked, why would her brother want to stand in her way?

She was so angry with him, and yet she didn’t even know what Snake felt.

Maybe he truly did want to back off.

She pouted as she walked on in the dark.

She was angry at them all, but she knew to listen to her gut. It was rarely ever wrong… And something important had happened that night. She and Snake had bonded, and now she could only see things progressing from there.

She smiled as she wrapped her arms around herself and headed for home. She was sure that coming back to town wasn’t all going to be in vain. She felt it in her bones… Maybe her fate had been there all along…