“That fucking Jason,” Scott sneered into the wind as they bellowed away from the restaurant. He had been watching his mirrors, but it didn’t appear the Angels were giving chase. They probably didn’t want to press him and have him lay the bike down with Jess aboard. But that didn’t mean they weren’t following at a distance or in a car he wouldn’t recognize.

 

“You think he sold us out again?” Jess shouted into his ear.

 

“Count on it! That little prick will do anything to secure his position. He knew I would come to the parley. I was stupid to think I could trust him.”

 

“Maybe he didn’t have a choice.”

 

“He had a choice. Both hands on the table, fingers interlaced, with the thumbs pointed up is a warning. If Val didn’t know about the parley, he wouldn’t have known about that. I looked and Jason didn’t have his hands on the table, the fuck. He tried to spring a trap on us. They came ready for trouble. Otherwise, why were there so many brothers there?”

 

Jess thought it over and had to admit it didn’t look good. “But we got away. That’s all that matters. Would you have shot Val?”

 

“If that is what it took to get you out of there, yes.”

 

“Maybe I should go back.”

 

“Only if you want to. Listen to me, Jess. I heard what you said to your mother. If you want to go back, that’s fine. I won’t try to stop you. But make sure you are going back because you want to. I can take care of myself.”

 

“We should run. Just you and me. We can get away from Detroit. Go somewhere where the Angels won’t find us.”

 

“Where would that be? You said last night there is no place and Val would never give up. Well, if he wouldn’t stop last night, he sure as hell won’t stop now – not after I pulled a gun on him. We’re committed now. I’ll turn in my colors and see if we can walk away, but if not, we are going to have to stand and fight.”

 

Jess was quiet as her chest began to tighten. She was going to lose her family. “Let me talk to Mom. Maybe she can reason with him. But if that doesn’t work, I’ll follow your lead.”

 

Scott had noticed a battered old Ford pickup that seemed to be following a little too tenaciously for his comfort. “Hang on!” he barked as he whacked the throttle open and the big bike surged away. There wasn’t enough traffic on the interstate to lose the car so he kept the throttle pinned open until braking hard and diving off an exit ramp at the last minute.

 

Jess held on tight, terrified the way Scott made the hog leap ahead. She looked behind her, trying to see what had spooked him, but saw nothing. She grit her teeth, her eyes tightly closed as they blew through a red light at the bottom of the exit ramp, barely slowing, the Harley banging and scraping through the turn on the edge of control. They made three more turns in quick succession and then pulled into a laundromat parking lot, the bike throbbing and shaking as they sat idling behind a row of cars.

 

“What?” she asked as soon as she could breathe again.

 

Scott sat quietly, watching, but the truck never appeared. “Maybe nothing,” he finally said. “I thought someone was tailing us.”

 

“How could you tell?”

 

“I couldn’t, for sure.” He waited a moment more and then relaxed. “It was probably nothing. I’m just jumpy, that’s all.”

 

“You should be,” she replied solemnly. “You don’t know what Val is capable of.”

 

Scott put the bike into gear and eased out on the clutch. “He doesn’t know what I’m capable of, either.”

 

***

 

“Oh my God! Jess! Are you okay? Where are you?” Angela asked in way of answer to Jess’s call.

 

“I’m with Scott.”

 

“Jess, are you okay? The whole club is looking for you two!”

 

“Yeah, I know. I need a favor.”

 

“Of course! Anything!”

 

“I need some clothes from my apartment. We left with almost nothing. Can you get them for me?”

 

“Sure! But how am I supposed to get them to you?”

 

“We can meet somewhere. Maybe our old hideout?”

 

“The drug store?”

 

“That’s the place.”

 

“Yeah, I can do it. But, Jess, how am I going to explain this to your mother? It’s not like I can tell her I’m borrowing them to wear. You can’t pour a gallon girl into a quart size pair of pants, you know.”

 

Jess smiled. Angela was five inches shorter and fifty pounds heavier than she was. “Just go early in the morning when Kat will either be passed out or so hung over she won’t care what you are doing. You know where the key is hidden. Just grab some underwear, pants, and shirts. Nothing fancy. Call me when you get them.”

 

“Okay. I’ll try.” There was a pause and Jess could sense Angela was thinking. “Jess, what’s going on? First Val said Scott kidnapped you. Then he said you had some kind of breakdown and were leaving Detroit. Then, when you didn’t return my call…Jessica, tell me what’s going on.”

 

Jess could hear the concern in her friend’s voice. “It’s complicated.”

 

“I’ve got all night.”

 

Jess looked around the small motel room. Scott had left for food and she had decided to take the opportunity to call Angela. “Val and Kat don’t want me in the life anymore.”

 

“Oh. Why? Is it because of…what happened?”

 

“Yeah. But there’s more.”

 

Angela sighed. “There always is. What?”

 

“I…told Scott everything.”

 

“Everything?”

 

“Everything. Things I have never told anyone else.”

 

“Why him? You just met him!”

 

“I know! I don’t understand it. But at the party, the way he tried to defuse the situation with your shoes, then when he couldn’t, the way he took charge.”

 

“Not my finest hour. I’m sorry, Jess. I wish I had never made you go to that party.”

 

“No! You don’t understand. He touched me, somehow. There is something about him, something I can’t put my finger on. I took him to the old Scott mansion, where they found me.”

 

“You took him there? You said you were never going back there!”

 

“I know. But I did. And I took him into the room where I stayed. And something happened. I had to have him.”

 

“You fucked him there?” Angela squawked.

 

“No. But I was going to. Every other man I have been with would have taken me right there. Scott, he wanted me, I could tell, but he was holding back. It was like he was concerned about me or something, like he was thinking about the future and not just the right now.”

 

“So you didn’t fuck him?” Jess could hear the confusion in Angela’s voice.

 

“No. Having him ask to see me again even before we were even undressed, it kind of snapped me out of it. But I couldn’t forget how he made me feel, like I was important, like I mattered. Like there was more to me than my tits and ass.”

 

“Oh my god! Are you saying you’re in love? Jesus, Jess, you seriously need to get laid!”

 

Jess laughed. “No! And I don’t think he is either. But he made me feel…special. Special in a way I have never really felt before.”

 

“So you decided to throw everything away and run off with your future husband?”

 

“No! You’re such a bitch!”

 

“I am, aren’t I?” Angela giggled. “So have you fucked him or haven’t you? I have to believe you have or you wouldn’t still be there. So come on, spill it. What’s he like? Is he hung like a horse?”

 

“He’s the perfect size. Big enough, but not so big to hurt. And he knows how to use it, too. We just finished fucking our brains out when we found out Val was coming for us.”

 

“Wait? You fucked before you ran off?”

 

“Yes. Yesterday afternoon, at home.”

 

“Now it’s beginning to make sense. Jesus, he must have really curled your toes!”

 

Jess sighed in exasperation. “He did. But it’s more than that. It’s…something more than sex. Not love exactly, but something. It’s like a connection. It’s like he gets me. I can’t explain it.”

 

“Do you get him?” Angela teased.

 

Jess grinned. “Yes. There is something about him, something I’ve never felt before.”

 

“It wouldn’t be that he is the most fucking gorgeous man to ever walk the earth, would it? How about that Georgia drawl? Goddamn! I heard one of the others talking and just listening to them made my panties wet. Sounds like what I heard about southern guys is true.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“That they are all hung like bulls and they know how to treat a lady right, both in and out of the sack.”

 

Jess couldn’t help but giggle. “That’s Scott alright.”

 

“Okay. I guess I can see why you ran off. But seriously, you need to come home, Jess. If the club catches you, it is going to go hard on you and Scott. You know the code.”

 

“I know, but so does Scott. He didn’t back down today.”

 

“Back down?” Angela asked.

 

“Yeah. Val wanted to bring me in and I didn’t want to go. Scott pulled a gun on him and stood off nine other Angels.”

 

“Holy shit! Are you serious?”

 

“Completely.”

 

“Jess, this is bad some bad juju. You’ve got to come in. Talk to your mom. She can talk to Val. But you know Val won’t let this stand. You know that!”

 

“I know. That’s why I need the clothes. It may be a while before I can come back home. I don’t have much money, and I can’t ask Scott to pay for my clothes.”

 

There was a long pause before Angela spoke again. “Jess, I’m worried about you, okay? This shit is getting out of hand.”

 

“I know! But I don’t know what else to do. I have to play this out, Angela. I can’t go back to the way it was. I can’t! I have to see this through or I’ll die. It’s not about Scott, not completely. It’s about me. I need something more than burgers and fries. I can’t live like that anymore!”

 

Angela was quiet a moment. “I understand. I’ll do what I can. And, Jess…”

 

“What?”

 

“I’m proud of you. I thought I had lost you forever,” Angela said softly.

 

Jess heard Angela’s voice break and though she fought it, she couldn’t stop the tears and began to sob softly. “I thought I had lost myself.”

 

Angela sniffed and laughed wetly. “I take it back. Dragging your skinny ass to that party was the best thing I ever did.”

 

Jess wiped her own eyes. “Yes. I think it probably was.”

 

“You call me if you need anything, understand?”

 

“Thank you, Angela. You’re a good friend.”

 

“Yes I am. So if you get tired of Scott, I get first dibs, agreed? I’ll show him what a real woman can do.”

 

Jess barked out a laugh, the thought of Angela with her hands on her hips, shaking her ass as she spoke, clearing away the tears. “First dibs, promise. I have to go. The food is here.”

 

“Okay. Have something long and hard later for dessert for me, okay?” Angela purred into her ear.

 

Jess giggled at her friend’s lunacy. “Count on it.”

 

“Who was that?” Scott asked as Jess tossed her phone into the bed and he sat a sack with grease spots on the side on the table.

 

“Angela.”

 

“What did she want?”

 

“I asked her to get me some clothes from the apartment.”

 

“You didn’t tell her where we are, did you?”

 

Jess grinned at the slight panic in Scott’s voice. “No, of course not. We are going to meet at our super-secret, girls only, club house.”

 

He began to pull the tacos from the bag. “Where’s that?”

 

“If I told you where it is, it wouldn’t be super-secret would it?”

 

“No. I guess not. But if you don’t tell me, how are you going to get there? I’m the only one with wheels.”

 

Jess made dramatic thinking sounds for a moment, then bit into her taco and chewed slowly before swallowing and washing it down with a swig of beer. “Okay. You have me there. I will have to swear you to secrecy, though. There is a ritual that you have to perform before I can tell.”

 

“Oh? Hand on heart, promise not to tell? Something like that?”

 

“We’ll do it later tonight, after we go to bed.”

 

“I think I’m liking this ritual better already.”

 

“You should,” she purred. “But it’s not your hand on my heart I want.”

 

“No? What do you want, then?”

 

Jess smiled, thoroughly enjoying the verbal fencing. “I think you’ll figure it out.”

 

Scott smiled. Yes, I think I can, he thought.