The backyard was filled with The Last Riders. Jackal sat on the picnic table, drinking the beer Rider had handed him before sitting down beside him.

“How in the fuck did Shade manage to catch her?” Jackal tipped his beer toward Lily who was sitting at a patio table with Shade, Penni, and Train.

Rider chuckled. “He paid for a personality transplant.”

“His doctor should be sued for malpractice.”

“You should have known him before he married Lily.”

“Bad?”

“More like painful. He had to wait a long time before she noticed him.”

“His sister is following in his example.” Jackal watched Penni flirt with Train. As they talked, Penni used any reason to reach out and touch Train.

Jackal wanted to walk across the yard, steal her away, carry her to his room, and spank her ass until she couldn’t sit for a week.

Two problems stopped him: One, he was forced to share a room with Rider. Two, Rider would enjoy it as much he would.

Rider cast him a sidelong look. “Train thinks of Penni as a little sister.”

“You should tell her. She’s making a fool of herself.”

“If you spent any time with Penni, you’d know telling her anything she doesn’t want to hear goes in one ear and out the other.”

“You sure he isn’t interested?”

Rider tilted his head. “I’m sure. Believe me; Penni isn’t the type of woman he goes for.”

“What kind of woman does he go for?” Curious, he turned to look at Rider. If he stared at Penni and Train much longer, he would toss him off the hill the clubhouse was built on.

“Look around. Take your pick.”

Jackal understood what he meant. The Last Riders didn’t lack for female companionship. One or two of the woman had reminded him of how long it had been since he had been laid. When they returned to Queen City, he was going to tell Ice they needed more women, or he was going to become a Last Rider.

A provocative laugh had him changing his mind.

It didn’t matter how many women Ice found to fill his bed. None of them would be her, and Jackal was determined to have her.

She had become an obsession. None of the women in that yard had her bottom lip that seemed to beg to suck his dick. He imagined her kneeling in front of him as he thrust his cock in her wet mouth …

Jackal jerked upright, throwing his empty bottle away in the trash can. “I need another beer.”

“Help yourself.” Rider tugged a sultry woman to him as she passed while Jackal sauntered to the ice chest, taking his time to grab a beer.

“Lily rented the entire series of My Boyfriend is a Zombie. Knox and Diamond are going to come over to watch and so are Rider and Crash. Why don’t you come, and I’ll make a pitcher of Bourbon Sours?”

“Zombie movies give me nightmares.” Train smiled indulgently at Penni’s disappointed expression.

“You’re not afraid of zombie—”

“It’s not the zombies that bother me; it’s Diamond thinking they’re going to take over the world. Knox is a brave man to go home after the nights he works the late shift. He said she’s turned the house into Fort Knox.”

Jackal wanted to vomit when she laughed at Train’s joke. He wondered how fucking funny Penni would find it when he threw him off the hill.

He took a cold beer then leaned against a nearby tree where he was able to listen to their conservation.

He ignored Shade’s occasional stare, becoming more and more irritated as the afternoon slowly progressed.

“Viper said the charcoals are ready. Help me carry the meat out?” Lily stood, reaching out to take Shade’s hand and giving him no choice but to go with her.

So Lily was trying to play matchmaker?

Her attempt was made in vain, though, as Train stood. “I’ll help Viper. I like my steaks rare. If I don’t do it myself, he’ll burn it to a crisp.”

He wanted to shake Penni at her meek reply. “Oh … okay.” Since when had she become meek?

Jackal took another beer out of the ice chest then took the seat Shade had vacated, placing the beer on the table in front of her.

“You’re never going to get him to notice you by kissing his ass.”

“Shut up,” she hissed. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”

“Really? It’s pretty obvious. You licked your lips so often I bet Train couldn’t make up his mind if you were thirsty or about to lick him next.”

Penni started to stand up. “You don’t know me, Train, or women.”

He leaned forward in his chair. “You told me a week ago I had all the women in Henry’s club.”

She paused. “You said that you hadn’t.”

“I lied.” He had never lied to her until now.

“I told Shade you were a jackass. I was wrong; you’re a—”

He lowered his voice when he saw Viper and Train look at them. “Be cool. Do you want Train to see you lose your temper?” He could practically see steam pour out of her. “You’re smart enough to see he likes passive women.”

“That’s bullshit. I haven’t seen that at all.”

“Well, he does; take it from me. I slept in the room next to his.”

Penni’s expression went pale as she sat back down in her seat. “He’s made love to women since I’ve been here?”

Jackal gripped his beer bottle to keep himself from shaking her. “Baby, what I heard coming from his bedroom wasn’t making love, but yes, he has fucked a different one each night I’ve been here.”

He watched as she lifted her beer, drinking it until it was almost empty.

“If you take my advice—”

“Just shut up, please.”

“I’m not trying to be mean.” Well, he was, but it was for her own good, which wasn’t strictly true, either. He had told her for his own good, wanting to further his own chances in getting her in bed. “I can tell you how to have Train eating out of your hand.”

Penni arched an eyebrow. “How?”

“Make him jealous. Men like him eat that shit up.”

Jackal saw the wheels turning behind her eyes. He knew he had hit pay dirt when she began surveying the men around the yard, trying to decide whom she could use to make Train jealous. He put a stop to that thought before it could get started.

“It can’t be another Last Rider.”

She glanced back to him. “Why not?”

“The men are used to sharing women in the club. It doesn’t cause fights.”

Her cheeks were flushed, but she didn’t look away.

His dick went hard. Train couldn’t handle a woman like Penni.

Once she was in his bed, he would use his body to fulfill any fantasy she could dream up. He had a few of his own that nearly had him scooting his chair forward so no one could see the hard ridge of his cock under his jeans.

He wanted to kick Colton’s ass for talking him into getting his dick pierced. He was so hard he felt like spikes had been driven into his dick.

“Who, then? I could pretend I have a boyfriend back in Queen City.”

“That’s not going to make him jealous. He has to have it under his nose. Use me.”

“You?” She burst out laughing.

“What’s wrong me?” Jackal asked.

“Well, let’s see. To make Train believe it, Shade will have to believe it, too. That’s not going to happen. My brother knows I hate you.”

“Convince him. Tell him we realized we were attracted to each other when I tried to get you away from Hennessy. It’ll work. We spent a week together. Tell him that you wanted to tell him when we got back to Queen City, and I didn’t want to wait. That I wanted to face his anger while I was here.”

“He’ll kill you.”

“Not if you convince him not to.”

He could tell she was tempted. Her eyes went to Train who was talking to a vivacious woman called Raci. Rider had introduced him when she had pounced on Jackal while he lay sleeping in his bedroom, believing it to be Rider.

“What’s in it for you?” Suspiciously, she looked at him over the rim of her beer.

“Other than making your dreams of true love come true?”

“Please … There’s no such thing as true love.”

“You don’t believe in true love?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Your parents didn’t have a good marriage?”

“Their second one. Their first ones ended up in divorce.”

“So, if they have a good marriage—”

“You asked me if I believe in true love, and I don’t. True love doesn’t exist, just like there isn’t Superman and no Santa Claus. True love is a fable made of make believe dreams about someone who doesn’t exist. I want a man made of blood and flesh who loves me as much as I love him. The universe only gives us one soul. I don’t want to remember what it felt like before him, and I don’t ever want to know what it would feel like without him.”

“You believe Train is your soul mate?” Jackal saw the uncertainly in her eyes, giving him hope his plan would work. He needed more time to make Penni realize he was the man for her.

“I think so …”

“You’re not sure? Not that I believe in soul mates, but wouldn’t you know?”

“Not necessarily. I’ll know when I make love to him.”

Over his dead body. Not his own—Train’s.

“We going to do this?” Jackal asked as he watched Shade and Lily make their plates. Then he diverted his attention to where Train was carrying two plates before setting them down on the picnic table as Raci brought their drinks.

“You never told me what’s in it for you.” Penni pointed her empty beer bottle at him.

“I need your help with Viper. If you can convince Viper not to kill Hennessy, we’ll call it even.”

“Viper won’t kill Hennessy.”

Jackal rolled his eyes. “Hennessy is lucky he’s still alive. You’re probably the only one who can change Viper’s mind.”

“I don’t like Hennessy, but I don’t want to see any man killed. I’ll call Knox and tell him I want to charge him for kidnapping. He’ll be safe in prison.”

This was not going the way he wanted.

“Do you want Train or not? I think he and Raci make a cute couple, don’t you?”

“No. Okay, it’s a deal, but no funny stuff.”

“Like what?” Jackal laid his hand down on top of hers. Penni started to pull her hand back, but Jackal nodded at Shade and Lily who were getting closer to them.

“Like no touching.”

“There has to be some touching, or Shade and Train won’t believe it.”

“Okay, some touching, but nothing too sexual.”

“I thought the idea was to make Train jealous, not turn me into a fucking pussy.”

“Okay, we’ll play it by ear,” Penni conceded as Shade and Lily came to a stop at their table.

Jackal looked up at Shade, confident he hadn’t missed their linked hands.

“You going to go fix yourself a plate?” Shade asked as he placed their plates on the table then sat down with Lily at the picnic table.

Jackal had to give Shade credit. He had seen their hands, his frown saying he wasn’t happy, but he wouldn’t start an argument in front of Lily.

Not about to hide her confusion, Lily asked, “Did I miss something?”

Penni sprung to her feet. “Jackal wants to talk to you. Wow, I’m starved.” She disappeared, leaving Jackal to face the couple alone.

Jackal tried to think of a simple way to tell Shade without getting his nose broken again.

“Your sister likes me.”