“What are you doing here?” Ash hadn’t spoken to Mack since the day he’d called to tell her Charlie was okay and in California. That wasn’t to say he hadn’t wanted to. He ached to hear her voice...and even more so to touch her. But that was all the more reason not to, in his mind. He had to put that distance between them once again that he’d struggled so hard in the past to attain, before the thoughts and dreams of her drove him insane.

Wiping hair out of her face she said, “Charlie asked me to come.” She turned over and started to struggle to her feet. The pervert in him was tempted to stand back and watch her. She was wearing shorts...jean shorts...and her ass and legs looked phenomenal. The part of him that was still decent, however, couldn’t do it. He put his hand out to her and tried to ignore the feelings that simple touch sent through him, as he pulled her to her feet. She smiled at him once she was up...and again, those damned feelings. “Thank you. That was quite the greeting.”

Her pretty eyes were locked into his and it took him way too long to realize he was still holding her hand. He let go of it at last and said, “Sorry...I was just, surprised. Why did Charlie ask you to come?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t seen her yet. Do you know where she is?”

“You came all this way without knowing why?”

“Well, yeah, I told Charlie she could call me if she needed anything, and she did. I wasn’t going to quiz her on the phone about what she wanted. Besides, she’s technically my boss these days.”

Ash rolled his eyes and said, “Don’t remind her of that, please. She already thinks she’s queen of the world. But I was looking for her too, so you can come with me if you want and we’ll see if we can find her.” Ash wouldn’t admit it, but he didn’t like the idea of Mack at the party any more than he did Charlie. It was worse, actually. With Charlie he had a reason and a right to tell the brothers and the fighters to keep their hands off...but Mack was not his to protect. He led her down the hallway to the back of the great room where some of the guys were playing pool. Tex was there, parked in his wheelchair, rooting his MMA buddies on. Ash introduced Mack to Jacob Wright and his brother Eli, who was an attorney and not a fighter, but was in a relationship with one of the fighters, a huge Hulk-looking guy named Lance. Once those introductions were made, he turned back to Tex and said, “Tex, how are you?”

The fighter, young and strong and spry only a few weeks before, held a shaky hand out in Ash’s direction. As Ash took it, he watched the young man struggle to form his words and say, “Doing good, Ash, how the hell are you?” It was painful to see him in this condition and it refueled Ash’s anger and his desire to find who had done this to him. Wolf had a few leads, and he’d already told them they’d be having church first thing on Monday morning to talk about them. Ash couldn’t wait to get the bastards.

“I’m hanging in there, Tex.”

“Who’s the pretty lady?” Tex’s words were said slowly and deliberate and his limbs were shaky, but his eyes were still capable of filling with lust when he looked at a beautiful woman. Ash smiled and said:

“This is an old friend of mine, Mackenzie. Mack, this is Tex, he’s a fighter.”

Tex lifted his right hand again and it shook until Mack took it. “A famous MMA fighter,” he told her with a wink.

“Well then, it’s a pleasure,” she said, smiling too.

“You’re just friends, huh?” Tex said. Ash suddenly found that despite his fondness for the young fighter and the kid’s current condition, another irrational wave of jealousy was building in his core.

“Yeah, but she lives back east...” Tex wasn’t listening to him. He was looking at Mack again.

“You play pool?”

Mack blushed slightly at the battered fighter’s flirtatious tone. “I do, but I’m looking for someone right now. Maybe later?”

A few of the unattached men behind Ash echoed Tex’s agreement to Mack’s words. Without thinking about it, Ash spun around and glared at them all, stifling the growl that seemed to be building in his chest. He realized that if he’d been an animal, he might have even pissed a circle around her. They fell silent and went back to their game. Ash turned back to Mack and said, “We’d better go find Charlie. It was good to see you, Tex. We’ll talk soon, okay?”

“Yep,” Tex said before turning to Mack again and with another wink saying, “And I’ll see you here later, right?”

Mack blushed again. Was she really flirting with a twenty-year-old in a wheelchair? “Sure,” she said, furthering Ash’s annoyance. With a sigh he hoped no one heard, he headed on toward the exit door. He could feel Mack following him as he stepped through it. The early afternoon sun was bright and there was a slight breeze...it was a beautiful day...but all Ash really saw were the fifty or so men hanging around playing horseshoes, drinking beer, and waiting for the meat to come off the barbecue. Making a snap decision that he knew would at least dissuade a few of them, he took Mack’s hand and led her through the crowd toward Wolf’s house and the trailers beyond. Mack seemed surprised, but Ash played it off like he was just leading her through. Once they were past the leers of the single men, he let go of her hand, but kept walking. She followed him to Bruf’s and Sabrina’s trailer and waited at the bottom of the steps as he knocked.

Charlie pulled open the door, holding the small baby boy, Mason, on her hip. “Hey,” she said to Ash, flatly. But her blue eyes landed on Mack behind him and her face lit up. “Hey, Mack! You came.”

Ash looked back at Mack and watched her smile at Charlie. “Of course I did. Who’s your cute little friend?”

Charlie looked at the baby with genuine affection. It was one of the few things that convinced Ash she was not simply the self-absorbed teen that he saw her as. Sabrina raved about how good Charlie was with Mason and how most of the time she didn’t even have to ask the girl to look after him, Charlie always volunteered. “This is Mason,” she said. “We were just getting ready to go over to the barbecue. Come on in.”

Ash and Mack followed her into Bruf’s and Sabrina’s trailer. Charlie had moved into her own and she’d spent her first night in it the night before. It was another reason Ash was so exhausted. He’d sat quietly out behind Sabrina’s and Bruf’s trailer most of the night, watching Charlie’s trailer, to make sure no one came or went while his sister was alone. Ash looked at Mason. The little boy had nothing on but a diaper, and he was grinning from ear to ear. He reached out to touch him and the baby screamed as if Ash had pinched him.

“What did you do?” Charlie asked him.

“I didn’t do anything. I just touched him.”

“Well, don’t. I don’t think he likes you.”

Mack had her back to him, but he could see her shoulders shake in a laugh. She cleared her throat and straightened her face before she turned around, but Ash still wrinkled his nose at her. Mack chuckled and as Charlie wrestled the baby into a onesie she said, “So, what did you need to see me about?”

Charlie looked at Ash and then said, “Its business. Maybe we can talk later, when we’re alone?”

“Are you kidding?” Ash said, insulted. “If you mean business as in the family business, you don’t have to worry, I won’t divulge your corporate secrets.” He rolled his eyes and Charlie laughed.

“You say I’m the immature one. I just didn’t want to bore you. Besides, I’ve found out the hard way that if you don’t get to these community barbecue things early, there’s not much left by the time you get there. I’m hungry.”

They waited while Charlie finished getting the baby ready. She popped him back on her hip like she’d been carrying a baby there her entire life. Ash didn’t know whether to be proud, or worried, that she was that comfortable with him. He decided to try for proud. He had enough to worry about. His eyes went to Mack as he had that thought. Worries like how he was going to get through the weekend without touching her...again.

Mack’s first thought was that it had been way too long since she’d been laid. Just watching Ash move, the way the muscles in his arms rippled underneath his white t-shirt every time he moved them, or the slight tic in his jaw when he was trying to keep his temper in check with Charlie, all about drove her crazy. Truth was, it hadn’t been that long since she’d been laid at all. The problem was that the last person she was with was the man she was lusting after as they walked across the little trailer park toward the clubhouse. She’d promised herself the day she left California after crying for hours when he left her, that it was never going to happen again. It had been just as good as she remembered it...if not better...but that was a problem too. It was so good in part thanks to the feelings it stirred up in her, and those were dangerous. Those feelings made her want to break down and tell him the truth about why she’d left him...but she’d made a promise five years ago to never do that, and she couldn’t break it now.

Charlie walked beside Ash, looking so cute with the baby on her hip, chattering away like a normal little sister, and that warmed her heart. The two of them seemed to look for things to fight about, but Mack thought that was because they hadn’t grown up together like normal siblings and they were making up for lost time. She knew that Ash loved his little sister. She could see it in his eyes and the stubborn way he wanted to insist on protecting her whether she wanted him to or not. She wondered how he was dealing with the girl’s staying in her own trailer, surrounded by fifty men in theirs. She was sure he hated it, but touched that he’d allowed it all the same. She was happy for him and Charlie. Mack had never had siblings to worry about, or fight with. Ash and Sledge had been the closest she’d ever come to having brothers as a kid...and now, neither of them wanted anything to do with her.

She tried to think about something else, but his broad shoulders loomed in front of her and the ink sneaking out from underneath his t-shirt on the back of his arm reminded her of that night. She’d traced those tattoos with her fingers and God, were they itching to do it again. She thought about his reaction when the cute young thing in the wheelchair had flirted with her and she wondered if he felt the same way. Did he still want her? Was it a horrible idea for them to simply use each other for sex when she was in town? She snorted at herself and that caused him to turn and look down at her. Jesus, a glimpse of his face practically sent her heart into palpitations. It should be illegal to look that good. It was a horrible idea, she thought, answering her own question. Despite how good he looked, and how good he felt...she couldn’t deny to herself that the main attraction was that he was her Asher. He was the boy she’d loved her entire life, all grown up into a sexy man’s body...with a heart that she’d broken, beating inside. It was all bad, and she resolved to find out what Charlie needed quickly and then promptly put three thousand miles back between them.

When they once again reached the big, open space where they’d walked through the crowd on the way out, Mack finally got a good look at it. It was one hell of a setup with a built-in barbecue pit, a horseshoe pit, a big playground set for the kids with swings and a slide, a small pond on one side, and rows of picnic tables on the other. Folding tables and chairs had been set up too and a few of the tables were covered in food...salads and vegetables and desserts. The man who stood alongside the barbecue pit was pulling off chunks of tri-tip bigger than any she’d ever seen. Mack was usually no huge fan of steak, but the sight and the smell of the meat made her mouth water.

Mack heard the sound of music, or something like a guitar being tuned, and she realized there was a small, wooden stage beyond the playground and one of those portable dance floors had been put in around it. She had to give it to the Westside Skulls, when they threw a party, they did it right. The guy on stage had long hair that hung loose around his shoulders and his arms were covered in tattoos. He wore a vest like the one Ash and his brothers wore too, but she was too far away to read what it said.

When they got to where the crowd was, Ash wandered off to where a group of what must have been more MMA fighters sat, shooting the shit. For the most part Mack realized that she could easily tell them apart, even in a group of extraordinarily large, muscular men. The fighters had lots of ink like the bikers, and some of them had long hair too, albeit it if they did, theirs was swept back into ponytails at the back of their necks where the bikers often just let theirs hang free. But all of the bikers wore their vests with their colors on them, even the old men who looked like they hadn’t been on a Harley in twenty years. And none of the fighters had facial hair whereas most of the bikers did. She supposed that might just be asking for trouble...walking into a ring or a cage or whatever they fought in with something loose that the other guy could grab onto and pull. She couldn’t help but wonder, though, if so many bikers mixed with so many fighters wasn’t a recipe for disaster sometime in the future. The egos alone had to be enough to fill twenty rooms.

“Hey, Mack, I’m going to take the baby to Sabrina and then we can talk,” Charlie told her. Mack nodded. She was anxious to hear what Charlie had to say. Charlie picked up the baby’s tiny brown arm and waved it at Mack, telling him to say, “Bye, bye.” Mack smiled and waved back...and she was still smiling when suddenly she realized the cloud that she thought had covered the sun was no cloud at all, it was Sledge.

“You’re back,” he said, almost in a growl.

“Yep. Charlie invited me.” She saw Sledge’s eyes flit over to where Ash was. Her eyes went with his and for a second she smiled again. Ash was telling a story of some kind and his face was bright and animated and he was using his hands. He looked more relaxed than she’d seen him...in five years. It was nice, seeing him happy in his element. The smile fell again when she realized she was staring and Sledge hadn’t missed it.

“He knows you’re here?”

“Yes.”

“You planning on seducing him again?”

“Excuse me?”

“Come on, I know you two spent the night together last time. He was a fucking mess the next day. Was it not enough for you to break his heart once...? Are you that fucking attention-seeking?”

Mack felt the lump rise in her throat. She wasn’t about to cry in front of him, though. She swallowed it and looked directly up into Sledge’s face with her shoulders squared and said, “Is your life so pathetic again that you have to live through Ash’s?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to take them back. She was mad as hell at Sledge for treating her so poorly...even if he did think he was protecting Ash, she had been his friend too. More than that...she’d been like his sister, and now all she saw was loathing and disrespect when she looked into his eyes. But she honest to God hadn’t meant to use the ammunition that she knew would hurt him the most. His hard eyes changed, saddening slightly at her mean words, but he caught himself quickly and narrowed them on her before she said, “I’m sorry, Steve...”

“It’s Sledge, and I don’t want your apologies. Just stay away from me while you’re here and remember...I won’t allow you to hurt him again.”

Mack had a retort on the tip of her tongue, again, but she decided enough was enough. Sledge would hate her no matter what she said, even if she told the truth. She had hurt his brother, and Sledge was the kind of loyal that would forgive a slight against himself, before he would against someone he loved. She was just going to have to make a point of staying away from them all. If Charlie wanted to see her from now on, she was going to have to agree to meet Mack somewhere else...neutral territory.

“Well, hello, beautiful.” The southern accent sounded familiar and when Mack turned toward the voice she felt the blood drain from her face. It was the flirty young guy from inside the clubhouse...only the scarring and bruising on his face was gone and he was standing upright, dressed completely different and smiling at her with a mouthful of teeth. She was sure that only minutes ago, at least one in front had been missing. She furrowed her brow and said:

“Tex?”

The cute young fighter grinned and stuck out his right hand. “No, ma’am, I’m Tensee...the good-looking twin.”

“Oh! I thought I was losing my mind.” She took his hand and shook it. “I’m sorry. Nice to meet you, Tensee, I’m Mackenzie. My friends call me Mack.”

Tensee’s smile went from friendly to seductive and he said, “Well then, I think I’ll call you Mack, since I’d love to be one of your friends.” Mack felt herself blush. “What say you and me go inside and get us a drink to toast our new friendship?” Mack looked over toward Ash again. He was still in the midst of the story he was telling and now there was some girl with a barely-there skirt and a tank top that showed off her double-D-sized tits standing way too close to him for Mack’s comfort. Making a decision that if hot MMA fighters and alcohol was what it would take to get her through the day...she was going to go for it. She slid her arm through Tensee’s and said, “Let’s do that, new friend.”