“I’ve met Allison. She and her old man came into Stud’s garage, wanting to buy a bike. He told them to get the fuck out of his garage. I couldn’t believe that he was turning business away. When he told me why, I understood.” Calder remembered the woman who had turned her nose up at Stud and him when the couple had come into the garage. “He told me how she helped several girls jump Sex Piston on the school bus.”

“She was their lookout.”

“Does she know you’re her sister?” He saw a faint resemblance between the two, but nothing that would make it obvious they were sisters.

“Hell no. You think my father would let anyone know he fucked the town whore? He did me a favor keeping his trap closed. The thought of Allison being my sister makes me want to puke. The only ones I’ve told are Sex Piston and the rest of the crew, and they aren’t any happier about it than I am.

“He came and saw me once when he found out my mom had cancer. I told him not to let the door hit him on the way out. I hate his fucking guts. That’s why I’m telling you. You need to talk to Stud and Sex Piston and find a way to tell Star. If she finds out for herself, Star will hate all of you.”

It was his worst fear, right on top of her finding out. Both his fears were on different sides of the fence, but both had consequences that were going to hurt Star.

He ground his cigarette out on top of the soda can he had left outside last night. “I don’t know what to do.” He looked at her for help, admitting he was at a loss.

“Stud is your brother. You’re close. He’s never turned his back on you. Ask him if Star is yours and go from there. But what you three are doing is plain wrong. Sex Piston loves Star. She considers Star her own kid, so she isn’t going to want to shake the boat and risk losing custody of her. Once Sex Piston sees you’re not going to take her away from her, she’ll be cool with you seeing more of Star.”

“If that’s even going to be an option. What if she hates me?”

“You’re nuts if you believe that. She’s crazy about you. She’ll be hurt and confused at first, but the three of you will be there for her, and she will see that all three of you love her and want what’s best for her. If you wait until she’s older, it’ll be too late.”

“I’ll think it over.”

He sighed. The relationship he and Stud shared had weathered so many storms, but what if him confronting Stud about Star being his child put a wedge between them that couldn’t be overcome?

He had always looked up to Stud. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t wanted his father to know he could ride a bike as good as Stud. Their father had tried to foster a rivalry between them. That was why he had only ridden the bikes when no one was around to see. If the old man had known, he would have pitted them against each other, billing the races as brother against brother.

Stud had been strong enough to make their father back down, while Calder had stayed in the background, letting his brother deal with the demands made on him.

He was in his thirties and still let Stud shoulder the shit that he should, deluding himself that it was for Star’s sake when, in reality, he had been too proud to admit how badly he had screwed up.

“I’m sorry for being an asshole. I don’t blame you for my sore dick,” he sorrowfully tried to make amends with one of the two girls he loved.

She gave him a mischievous look. “Who do you blame?”

“The Last Riders.”

A loud whistle from down below had them both looking over the railing. A group of men below who were going into the hotel’s entrance were staring at them, their eyes trained on Crazy Bitch.

“Sweetie, if you’re needing some company tonight, you don’t have to flash the whole parking lot. Just tell me what room you’re in, and I’ll be right up,” one brazen asshole was stupid enough to shout upward, making the others snicker and catcall with suggestive movements to Crazy Bitch, who wasn’t making a move to step away from the railing.

Crazy Bitch hung dangerously over the railing. “Woohoo! What’s your name?”

“Buck!” The randy bozo proudly looked at his friends as if he had scored a three-point shot.

She turned her head toward Calder, rolling her eyes. “Figures.” She snorted derisively before looking back down at the asswipe.

There was something about this that made Calder feel carefree. It felt like hanging out with a good friend who you didn’t have to be self-conscious around or always be on your toes at their reaction. She had a vicious sense of humor that was fun to watch.

“Yo, Buck, you get an eyeful? I bet that’s the first pussy you’ve seen that’s not in a Playboy magazine.”

Calder winced at the way she was staring contemptuously down at the man below her.

“Tell you what; if your whittle dick can find room 232, I’ll be waiting.”

His amusement vanished when she shouted out their room number.

The man pulled his pants up over his sagging stomach. “I’m on my way, sugar britches!”

“You better hurry and get your jeans on,” Crazy Bitch told Calder. “You’re not going to scare the shit out of them with that dorky thing on.”

“I wasn’t expecting company,” Calder snarled, his appreciation of her sense of humor vanishing when she turned the tables on him.

“Next time, be quicker defending my honor.” Her breasts bounced under his T-shirt at her shrug.

Deciding it was better to spank her ass after he got rid of them, he rushed inside their room. He only had enough time to throw his jeans on before he heard the knock on his door.

“She’s fucking crazy,” he said to himself as he tugged his zipper over his pained cock that was protesting having to go back inside his pants.

“How do you think I got my nickname?” she asked, coming into the room. “You want me to open the door for them?”

“No!” Nonplussed at her looking forward to him getting his ass kicked, he went to answer the door. Opening it, he saw the four beefy men’s faces drop when they saw it wasn’t Crazy Bitch who had answered.

“Where’s sugar britches?”

He took a step forward, letting his body fill the doorway. “You got the wrong room.”

“I got the right room.” Belligerently, bozo tried to peer over his shoulder. “Sugar britches, Buck’s here!”

Calder ground his teeth together so hard he would have to make a dentist appointment when he returned to Jamestown… if he lived until then. The men weren’t happy, and they were getting unhappier by the minute when Crazy Bitch didn’t answer.

“You gonna move or what?” Buck asked, his beady eyes narrowing on him.

Calder braced himself for the fight he could see there wasn’t going to be a way out of.

He was about to punch the smart-mouthed fucker when the door across the hall opened and Shade appeared.

“You need some help, Calder?”

The redneck turned at the question, seeing Shade standing shirtless in jeans that he hadn’t bothered to zip, his body heavily covered in tattoos, giving the four men pause.

The door next to Shade’s opened and Razer came out, naked and uncaring.

The redneck’s jaw dropped open in astonishment.

When the door next to his opened, Calder didn’t have to look to know that Stud had joined the party.

Calder grinned wickedly at Buck. “I’m good. They just wanted to introduce themselves in person. Now that they have, they can leave. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Nice meeting you.” The men backed away, leaving them alone in the hall.

Crazy Bitch peeked her head out from over his shoulder. “Leaving so soon…?”

Calder took a step forward, shutting the door on her before she could say something that would escalate in a free-for-all in the hallway.

“Thanks, brothers.”

Calder couldn’t help noticing the myriad of tattoos on Shade’s body. He had several himself, but not nearly as many that covered Shade’s, even dipping below his unbuttoned jeans. No one could miss the ones on his arms and neck, but he hadn’t seen him without his shirt on before.

Shade and Razer gave him a curt nod before going into their respective rooms, leaving him and Stud alone.

“How did you know to come outside?” Calder asked his brother curiously.

“Crazy Bitch sent Sex Piston a text to tell me to get my ass outside. I assume she sent the same text to Beth and Lily. What did you do to piss her off this time?”

Calder thought back, realizing she had given him a warning when she hadn’t liked how he had blamed his sore dick on her.

“Apparently, I apologized too late for something I said.” Next time, he would be faster, or keep his big mouth shut.

“Brother, you’ve been around that crazy bitch long enough to be smart enough to fuck her with one foot on the bed and the other one ready to run.”

Stud didn’t know how true his warning was.

“I’ll let you go back to bed. If I’m not at breakfast, you know she killed me in my sleep.”

“You should be safe. I saw her peeking over your shoulder at Shade. That always puts them in a good mood.”

“Did you know he had that many tattoos?” If Calder didn’t like him, and if Shade hadn’t saved his and Star’s life a couple of hours ago, he would be tempted to throw the dangerous biker off the balcony.

“Jealous?” Stud gave him a commiserating look. “Don’t let it get to you. I use it to my advantage.”

“I don’t want her thinking of anyone but me when I’m fucking her.”

“You could get more tattoos?” Stud suggested. “If it bothers you that bad.”

“I might do that.” He twisted the doorknob to go back inside his room.

“Just so you know, Shade isn’t the only Last Rider who gets them horny.”

Jealous, he turned back to his brother. “Who else do I have to kill?”

“Knox.”

“That’s easy.” He shrugged. “I’ll just work out more if she’s into muscles.” He scoffed at him having to be worried about Knox.

“It’s not the muscles that get their motors running; it’s his tongue ring… and the ones he’s got on his cock.”

Calder’s hand unconsciously went to his still recovering dick as he ran the tip of his tongue over suddenly dry lips. “You know, the more I think about it, I don’t have a reason to be jealous of them. Shade and Knox are happily married men, right?”

“Keep telling yourself that, brother. That’s what I tell myself. It’s a hell of a lot easier than getting your dick pierced… or getting a bad tattoo.”

“One thing is for sure—it won’t be as painful.”

Opening the door, he saw Crazy Bitch lying on the bed, watching a movie. Shutting and locking the door behind him, he started to sweat when he saw it was a porno.

Switching from his jeans back to shorts, he carefully lay down on the bed next to her, trying not to flinch when she cuddled up to him. The low moans from the television made him nervous.

“You didn’t forget that Dr. Price said I couldn’t have sex for a week, did you?”

“Hot thang…”

He swallowed hard when she glanced up with eyes that had turned slumberous with passion.

“He said you couldn’t have sex for a whole week. Me?” She lifted one of his hands, sliding it underneath her T-shirt to her already hard nipple. “I can have all the sex I want.”

* * *

“Holy Moses! How did I not know this was in Kentucky?” Crazy Bitch stared up in awe at the castle.

Calder grinned as he got off his bike. “Probably because, when you go to Lexington, you take the interstate. I only knew about it because I took the back way a few times. We lucked out; they had a cancellation.”

He unstrapped the small duffle bag that he had tied to the back of the bike. Stud had taken their suitcases with them in his van. Both he and Crazy Bitch had only kept a change of clothes for the next day.

After checking in, they scouted around the lobby, hoping something would lead to the next clue. Deciding to go to their room to drop the bag off, they went up the stairs.

As they were going up the steps, Calder recognized the man and woman coming down.

“Rider.” Calder held out his hand to shake The Last Rider’s hand.

“Calder, Crazy Bitch.”

He didn’t miss the appraising look that Crazy Bitch gave the biker, or the hostile one she gave the other woman.

Last night, when he had watched her give Shade the once-over, he had thought it was about time she had some of her own medicine.

He turned his eyes to the sexy woman by Rider’s side, about to introduce himself, when Crazy Bitch took his arm, going up another step.

“Later.”

“That wasn’t polite,” he mumbled as they continued up the stairs.

“I didn’t like the way you were looking at Jewel.”

“I don’t look the way you look at Shade, Knox, or Rider.”

Crazy Bitch didn’t say anything until they reached their room.

“I didn’t like the way you looked at Jewel, so I said something. If you don’t like the way I look at other men, say something. I’m not a fucking mind reader.”

Tossing his bag onto the bed, he angrily stalked to where she was standing by the door. “I don’t like it.”

“Then I won’t do it anymore. Satisfied?”

He placed his hands on the door, caging her in. “When I’m with you, I’m never satisfied. I always want more. I’m not even satisfied when I’m done fucking you. I’m not satisfied when you come on my tongue and don’t beg me for more. I’m not satisfied that, if I walked away from you, you wouldn’t give a flying fuck. You know what would satisfy me? You quit playing around with me like you’re expecting me to fuck up and give you an excuse to stop seeing me.”

“You are going to fuck up—that’s what men do!”

“Woman, you act like you’re made out of armor. The problem is, it may be protecting you, but it’s keeping me away.” He traced the line of her stubborn jaw with his thumb. “You don’t have to protect yourself from me. I’m so crazy about you that I’m jealous over every man you look at.”

“I don’t want you jealous.”

“What do you want?”

Her eyes shifted sideways. “I want you to say you like me.”

Calder was stunned at her simple request. She wanted what no one had given her before. His heart ached that the only thing she wanted didn’t cost a dime, yet to her, it was as valuable as gold.

“Anna-Kate, I like you a lot. In fact, I like you so much I’m falling in love with you.”

“You are?” The woman whom he had considered to be hard as stone gave him an uncertain smile.

“A hundred percent.”

“You can’t go any higher than a hundred percent.”

“No, you can’t. I guess that settles it then. I’m definitely in love with you.”

She gave a smile so radiant he had to blink to make sure he was seeing it. It was like a flower that had unfurled in the sunlight, trying to catch the first rays of the morning. There was also wariness, but a gradual openness that let him catch sight of the gentle soul she kept guarded within her. As if one careless step would trample the budding love she was feeling for him.

He embraced her so gently he heard her breath hitch in her throat.

“Do you know how long I’ve been in love with you?” she asked.

“How long?” he asked huskily.

“When I looked over the edge on Black Mountain and you pulled me back. I’ve never had anyone do that for me.”

He frowned. “What, keep you from falling off a mountain?”

“Usually, people want to throw me off them, not hold me back.”

“That’s what makes me different. I would have gone over the cliff with you before I would have ever let you fall.”