When I woke up, I was alone.

I reached for my silenced phone to check the time and there were two missed calls from my Dad. It was 8:33. Where was Rider?

I got up and went to the bathroom.

When I got back, he still wasn’t here, so I decided to listen to my voicemails.

There were a few more angry voicemails from my mother from before I’d spoken to her, so I erased them. And then I got two voicemails from my Dad.

“Jenna, call me, please.” Was the first one.

The second one was a longer one. And it had been left a half hour before.

“We’ve seen the news and … call us as soon as possible. Your mother is out of her mind with worry, as am I. I need to leave for Nevada for a business trip. Please call me as soon as you can, so I’ll know you’re all right.”

I called him back immediately, feeling guilty. They’d seen the news; Jet’s murder would’ve been on the news!

My father answered on the first ring.

“Jenna,” he breathed.

“Sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to make you guys worry!” I said quickly.

He took a big breath.

“What are they saying on the news?” I asked, figuring that might be a good way to approach things, rather than answering blindly.

“A thirty-year-old woman was found murdered at the gates of Dominion Moving and Storage in Sioux Falls yesterday. The news didn’t identify her, but went on to talk about how the location isn’t just the moving and storage company, that it’s also the headquarters for the Dominion Brotherhood Motorcycle Club. Where are you, Jenna?”

“I’m … uh… at that same Dominion Moving and Storage location,” I said.

“Excuse me?” My father’s voice went hard.

“I’m safe, inside the gates. The place is locked down like a fortress. I wasn’t here when Jet was found. And she was hurt elsewhere and dropped here. I’m safe, Dad.”

“And what is it you’re doing there?”

“Well…” I swallowed. Shit. I really should’ve gotten myself caffeinated before this conversation. And thought about how I’d handle this conversation.

The bedroom door opened, and Rider was coming in, wearing a blue t-shirt and faded blue jeans with his black motorcycle boots. Gray wool beanie on his head. Smiling. A black coffee mug with the MC’s logo on it in his hand. He jerked his chin up when he saw me on the phone. I was chewing my lip, a look of uncertainty on my face.

He passed me the cup of coffee.

“Jenna?” Dad pushed.

“Thank you,” I mouthed. He leaned over and kissed my lips just briefly. “Morning, gorgeous.” He didn’t mouth that, so I winced.

“Who was that?” Dad asked.

“Well Dad, that was Rider. My new … boyfriend.”

Rider’s lips turned up slightly. His eyes sparkled.

“And he has you there, why? Your mother said he wouldn’t give a straight answer, said something about your safety, and then we see the news, and Jenna, we saw it last night, so it was a long night here and you didn’t answer your cell phone.”

I winced. Rider gave me a questioning chin jerk.

“Help?” I mouthed.

“Put it on speaker,” Rider commanded.

I did, wincing and feeling panicky.

“I put you on hands-free, Dad.”

“Mr. Murdoch?” Rider asked.

Just like that. I mouthed help and he helped. I could fall in love with this man.  

“Yes?”

“Dad saw the news,” I said quickly, “Jet’s murder was on the news and they were worried about me. All night.” I made a face of horror.

“Mr. Murdoch, my apologies,” Rider said, putting a hand on my back and rubbing it, soothingly. “We have had some difficulties with a rival club and they’ve gotten violent.  Jenna’s safe and will continue to be safe.”

“Well, Rider, since we’ve never met, you can imagine how I felt hearing the news after Jenna’s mother told me that Jenna was with a Dominion Brotherhood member who spoke of her being in danger, up in the same city as a murder that appeared to be connected to the Dominion Brotherhood.”

“I’m so sorry, Dad. I didn’t think,” I said.

“No, it doesn’t seem like you did,” my father said, sharply.

Rider’s body jerked back and then his eyes were angry.

“Sir, Jenna’s under 24-hour guard. She and others who are deemed at risk are all safe and will continue to be safe. I’ll give you my number so that you can check-in direct with me any time.”

“Rider, no offense, but nothing you’ve said has made me feel any less concerned.”

“Well, sir, would it help if I put you in touch with the lead investigator on the murder? I’ll get you his contact details. Our club is working closely with the police not only to get whoever did this behind bars, but also to ensure that no one else gets hurt. The rival club threatened my sister and Jenna directly and this was why I put her under protection.”

The phone was silent a moment.

“I see. All right,” Dad said, finally.

“I’ll send you my contact details and I’ll get you the name of the homicide detective.  I’m happy to check in daily until this is over, should that put you more at ease.”

“That’d be good, son. You need my help making anything happen with the authorities, you let me know and I’m happy to wade in.”

I was staring at my phone. My mouth had dropped open.

Son? And offering his assistance? To a motorcycle club? My dad had met two men I’d dated and had been indifferent to them both.

Son?

“Dad, I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m good. I told Mom that the salon is in good hands and---”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. Glad you called. Now, I’ve gotta head to the airport or I’ll miss my flight, so I’ll watch for those texts. You need anything done for the salon before you get back, let me know.”

“Uh, okay,” I said.

“You’ll have texts in a few, sir.” Rider said.

“Right. Paul; call me Paul. And Rider?” Dad asked.

“Yes, sir?”

“Take good care of her.”

“You have my word. Myself, my family, and my club are all keeping her safe.”

“Thank you. Bye for now. Bye, honey. Love you.” His voice changed when he started addressing me.

“Uh… love you, too, Dad. Have a safe trip.”

Wow. He didn’t throw I love yous my way, too often. A lump formed in my throat.

“Bye,” Rider said and disconnected the call and gave me a look.

I was wincing.

“I didn’t think,” I defended.

“What’s this?”

“I checked my voicemail and he was worried. They were up all night worrying after seeing the news, and I just dialed out of reflex. I didn’t even think about how I’d have to answer questions. I should’ve known. My Dad never fails to watch the eleven o’clock news.”

“It’s good they’re in the loop.”

“Um, maybe not. Dad was being cool and all, surprisingly cool, that was probably my first ‘Love you’ from him this millennium. But not sure your assurances  will help with my Mom.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep him in the loop.  He can deal with her. You wanna come out and get some breakfast? Some of the women put on a big spread.”

I nodded, feeling a relief I’d never felt before, having someone take my back like this, shielding me from stress with my parents. Could I get used to this? Emotion surged through me.

“Your eye looks a bit sore. But, I thought it’d be worse,” I said.

“You should see the other guy,” he said, with a chuckle.

“Eesh. Have you talked to him?”

“Yeah. He’s acting like nothing happened. Hopin’ I got through.”

“Well, I think you made your point.”

“Been a long time since I decked him. Hopefully it makes him realize how far gone he’s been. I’ve usually got a lot of tolerance for his shit. But, he messed with Jojo and he was messin’ with you and that was not on. Especially not on a day like yesterday.”

“My hero.” I leaned over and puckered my lips. He leaned down to kiss me.

“Sleep okay?” he asked.

“I slept great,” I told him, sipping my coffee. “You?”

“Yeah, me too. Loved waking up to you curled into me. The cute little snorin’ thing you do.”

“The what?”

He snickered. “It wasn’t loud. It was kinda cute.”

“I don’t snore!”

His eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’ll record it tonight.”

“Don’t do that.” I put my hand up.

“How else do I prove it?”

“You don’t. You go on thinking it’s cute, but you don’t mention it ever again, you do not record it, and you never ever tell a soul about it.”

He moved in and kissed me breathless. I went weak in the knees, even though he quickly got me vertical.

“So, what’s on for today?” I asked, what felt like fifteen minutes later, my lips sort of swollen and tingly, my knees wobbly.

“Today, we work more on takin’ those fuckers down.”

“Oh?” I asked.

“Yeah. You and Joelle’ll hang out here and stay safe. We have a billiards room, a TV room. A gym. Between all that, you two should be able to keep busy.”

Fear lanced through me. What if he didn’t stay safe?

“What are you gonna do?”

“Nothin’ for you to worry about,” he said.

I raised my eyebrows.

“No offence, gorgeous, but you want plausible deniability.”

“Yikes. That sounds like…”

“Like we’re going on the offence, yeah. We don’t lay back and take this shit. They broke a cease-fire. Their name is mud. They killed one of our women, ripped a prospect’s ass open, murdered another brother, put my sister in the hospital, took Ella, the list keeps on goin’. Not to mention what Mantiz threatened about you. That alone is enough for me to go to war. And we are declaring war. Let’s go get breakfast so I can get on with this shit today and get back here to you,” he said, like it was just as simple as that.

And I didn’t like being shut down like that, but I didn’t wanna react immediately, after all that was going on. I needed to process things. I was in foreign territory what with being a new member of this biker woman club. I needed my biker broad lessons.

“Gimme a sec to make the bed and get changed,” I grumbled.

“Aberdeen boys are goin’ home soon. You want one of them to fetch you some of your stuff?”

“Is that an option?” I asked, perking up.

“Yeah. Get Pippa to pack you a bag. I’ll get someone to run it back.”

I reached for my phone, so I could text Pippa.

“Oh. I need your other number,” I said. “So I can text you Dad’s contact details.”

“The burner numbers never get shared outside brothers. And I never use it for long anyway. I’ll get a new phone today. I’ll text your dad from your phone and send a prospect out for a new phone I can put my SIM card into. You need me, you text or call my regular number.”

He started to make the bed, so I dropped my phone and helped him.

My mind was reeling.

“Do me a favor?”

I looked at him.

“When a prospect tells ya my phone is up again, send me that pic of you with your tongue inside that sexy donut again?”

I tilted my head.

“Lost it when I trashed my phone. It’s gonna be my screensaver.”

My face split into a smile.

And then I went to get dressed, in yoga pants and a t-shirt, figuring I’d find that gym he was talking about. He pulled out a business card with the Sioux Falls police logo on it, so he could text my father.

***

Breakfast consisted of a mountain of fried food and a good number of people, including all the Valentine boys.  Spencer had an ugly shiner and his jaw looked a little swollen on one side, but he was acting like nothing had happened. He’d even been trying to tease his sister, but she was subdued, not paying much attention to anyone.

After breakfast, the bikers all disappeared to go to ‘church’, their name for a club members meeting.

About an hour later, doing yoga, and in the middle of downward facing dog, I felt hands on my hips and some hardness pressed up against my butt. I jolted.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

I breathed relief and stood up. His mouth went against the back of my ear.

“Puttin’ on quite a show, aren’t ya?”

“Hm?” I asked and saw that a bunch of men were walking by the area, which was in an open bit of warehouse space. This place had rooms, halls, open spaces, a combination of them, using a lot of modular walls and dividers. I guess my workout had coincided with the end of biker ‘church’ and they’d passed by on their way wherever they were going and saw me.

“Turn around and kiss me.”

“I’m all sweaty,” I told him.

“Mm hm. I like it.” He sucked on my neck at the side.

I twisted so that we were face to face and put my arms around his neck and got up on tiptoes to give him a hot and heavy one.

He made a growly sound. “Mm. Good.”

“Is that enough of a show that I’m yours for your biker buddies?” I teased, nibbling on his jawline.

“You’re figuring me out already?”

“It’s kind of obvious,” I said.

He slapped my butt. “Need to get you yoga pants with Property of Rider on your ass so anyone who finds their eyes heading in that direction will know their eyes don’t belong there.”

“All right, but I get to start putting “Property of Jenna” on you, too.”

“Deal,” He kissed me again. “I’ll tattoo it on my chest. Gotta go, gorgeous. Be a good girl. Go find my sister when you’re done here and hang with her? Try to get her smilin’?”

“Will do,” I said.

He squeezed my butt again and then he left.

I found my way back to our room (asking directions when I got lost) and took a shower and changed and then banged on Jojo’s door. She and I headed to a TV room. Bronto hung out with us, being a gopher, rather than a bodyguard, since we were inside the compound.

I spent the rest of the day with Jojo. And not doing much, because she was not up for it. She was in her head mostly.

The TV room had windows, at least, but our view was of a parking lot and the gates around the place. She gave short answers and mostly stared at the screen, so we didn’t have much conversation.  I got the impression that if I hadn’t been there, she’d be in bed, under the covers, crying. Or staring into space the same way she was staring at the TV, that’s to say not absorbing what was happening in front of her eyes, because she was in her head.

I would’ve liked to have played foosball or ping pong or something, and suggested it when Jojo shrugged with just one shoulder and continued to stare at the TV. We watched Finding Dory and then all the Twilight movies, and I was more than ready to stretch again when Rider turned up, five minutes before the end of the third movie.

Bronto had gone out and gotten burgers for us at around six. I had no idea where Rider was or what he’d been doing, but it was a long day and I was overjoyed to see him when he finally walked into the TV room.

My heart skipped a beat at his angry-looking expression as he walked in. But, then he brightened when our eyes met, and he moved in. I got to my feet and he bent and lifted me up and kissed me, holding me in his arms. Swoon.

“Rough day?” I asked.

“Mm hm.” He squeezed me and buried his mouth into my neck.

Jojo took his arrival as a cue to go to bed.

“I’m tired. See you guys tomorrow,” she said.

“Night,” I said.

She waved and wandered out.

“How is she?” he asked, setting me on my feet.

“Not good. She was very quiet all day. I tried to be good company, but…” I shrugged. “She’s gonna need time for healing.”

“Thanks, gorgeous. You have some food?”

“Yeah, Bronto got us burgers. You?”

“Yep. Grabbed some pizza from that place I told ya about. Dug in when we got back. Starved. Still more than half left; it’s in our room.”

“Cool. Late night snack.”

“Mm hm.”

“What’s up for the rest of the evening?” I asked.

“Just you ‘n me, gorgeous girl.”

“Sounds good,” I said, “Can we get outta here? Go for a ride?”

“’Fraid not. Some wheels are in motion and it ain’t safe outside these walls tonight.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t ask.”

I grimaced. He took my hand and led me back to our room, which was a good long walk through a bunch of hallways. This place was humungous.

His phone was ringing before we got to our room.

“Shit, one sec,” he said and opened the door and let me go ahead. He stayed in the hall.

I scrunched my face up at that and then decided to take a shower.

He wasn’t back when I was done. I peeked out into the hallway, but it was empty, so I shut the door and waited on the bed.

He wasn’t back an hour later when I decided to eat a piece of that cold pizza out of boredom. It was pretty damn good pizza.

He also wasn’t back an hour or so after that when I was tired of staring at the ceiling and fell asleep.  I couldn’t get signal on my phone for some reason.

I woke up not knowing what time it was. The light was on and I was disoriented. I looked at my phone. It was 4:45 AM. Had he been gone all that time? Where the heck was he?

I got up, went and had a pee, brushed my teeth, and threw on yoga pants, flip flops, and my Property of Rider hoodie. (I’d done a load of wash that day, in between Twilight movies). I needed coffee. I’d fallen asleep before eleven and I wasn’t someone who needed eight hours, usually.

I often went to bed late and still woke at dawn without an alarm. Unless I’d tied one on the night before, in which case I usually set two alarms.  That day, we’d done nothing much of anything, so I was awake and feeling well-rested, and ready for coffee.

The previous day, Jojo and I had gone from our rooms to the kitchen twice, so I was fairly sure I could find my way.

I wandered out. The hallways were quiet.

And I made a wrong turn. The door numbers were getting higher than I’d recalled seeing earlier, so I tried to find my way back.

Every time we’d left, we’d gone from rooms in the low 400s to lower numbers. I was now in a hallway with rooms in the 500s. And I could hear music. Since I was lost, I figured I’d might as well find the source of the music and get directions back to room 424, our room … or directions to the kitchen, which was in the 100s section.

The music got louder, and then I found myself in an area where the hallway opened up into a big open warehouse-like area with a bar and a bunch of La-Z-Boy chairs, a pool table, and a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. This was like a dive bar in the middle of a warehouse. The area was littered with people. Partying people.  Half a dozen men, three women. The air was thick with cigarette smoke and the scent of pot.

I spotted another man. My man. Rider was standing off on the other side of the open area where it branched into another hallway and he was standing there talking to a girl with long blonde hair. No. Not just a girl. That Gia / Gianna girl. She had her back against the wall, looking up at him, her lip pouty. He was speaking to her, his body language… I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked relaxed.

Others all had their eyes on me, the party crasher. I felt the vibe change. The music volume went down and I heard, “Ride.”

The voice? It was a prospect, the one who’d commented that he should put me in a photo shoot with his vintage bike. Rider looked over his shoulder and then his eyes landed on me.

If I could shoot daggers out of my eyes at him, I would’ve.

I felt my face get hot.

What on Earth?

“Hey, baby. What’re you doin’?” Rider asked, making his way toward me.

It felt like steam was coming out of my ears. My nostrils. Even my toes.

I didn’t know whether I wanted to scream, cry, or gouge his eyes out with my nails.

I spun around dramatically, and marched out of there.

Back the way I came. I think. This place was confusing.

He caught up to me in no time. “Wrong way, beautiful.”

Of course.

I spun and changed directions.

“Hey,” he grabbed for my hand. I smacked his hand.

“Jenna.”

“You!” I hissed, for lack of a better reply and he blinked.

The numbers were getting lower again. Good. Okay. I found our door and opened it. He was in behind me.

“Jenna? What’s wrong?”

“Are you effing kidding me?” I hissed.

He blinked, and his head jerked back.

“I… I… I can’t even believe you have to ask me this!”

“Back it up, gorgeous. Explain.”

“Me? Me explain?”

“Jenna, calm down.”

“Calm? Calm isn’t anywhere in sight, Rider Valentine! You leave me alone all day yesterday and then all night without telling me you’re even leaving, and I wake up and go looking for the kitchen and find you in the equivalent of a bar, talking up that girl? At almost five o’clock in the morning?”

“Whoa. Wait a second…”

“A girl that I know for a fact that you’ve had sex with!”

He clenched his teeth and leveled a glare at me. He took a deep breath.

“So, what? The thrill is gone? I agree to be with you and a day later you’re chatting up some girl at five o’clock in the morning after leaving me alone all day and all night?”

“Slow your fuckin’ roll there, baby. You’ve got it wrong.”

“You left me here. All day. Am I right?”

“Yeah. And that’s because we’re in a war with people who wanna rape you and kill you.”

“And then you tell me it’s just us tonight and then you leave me. You don’t tell me where you’re going. You’re just gone. And hours and friggin’ hours later I find you with a girl you’ve had sex with.”

“Who told you I fucked her? Who’s been shooting their mouth off?”

“Wh-what? That’s what matters here? Who told me?”

“Club whores aren’t supposed to shoot their mouths off to the women.”

“Club whores? Nice. Really nice.”

“Settle down and let me talk to you.”

“No. I’m going.” I started zipping up my bag. “I’m done with this shit.”

“Jenna.”

“No Rider. It wasn’t a club whore. You people really don’t think much of women, do you? It was your sister that told me. And not to rat you out, she told me the other day about Gianna the poor biker bunny who wants nothing more than to be a bike’s old lady, and no one takes her seriously. They just use her for sex. Move.”

He was standing against it the door, looking at me with irritation.

“You’re going nowhere.”

“Right. My safety. Thanks so much for giving a shit. Just get me another room. I’m not staying here with you. We’re done.”

“Jenna, listen to me...”

“No. I’m done listening to your bullshit.”

“Fuck,” he bit off. “Sit the fuck down and listen to me, goddamn it!”

I glared. “Or you find another room. Does Gianna have a room here? Does she like hate fucking?”

“I just got back half an hour ago. I thought we were in for the night, but there was an emergency. A brother needed some cover with a situation, so we had to roll out fast. My phone was dead. No one else had your number. I figured I’d be back before you woke up. Shit got twisted and we were longer than I figured we’d be.”

I folded my arms across my chest.

“I got back here, heard Gia was here, and she’s persona non-grata right now, since we don’t want to put anyone at risk with someone who might be a double agent, so I had to ream out the brother who brought her and find out what she was up to. I came here, opened the door, which you forgot to lock when you went to bed…” He let that hang.

“I didn’t know I was gonna be alone all night!” I hollered. “You were supposed to be here. And aren’t I supposed to be safe here?”

His nostrils flared. His voice went lower, gruffer. “I saw you sleepin’, then decided to go deal with the fact that she was here, spoke to her for like five minutes, gettin’ her side of the tale between her and Kailey, and that’s when you were there, tryin’ to strike me dead with lasers from your eyes. Now we’re here. And yeah, it’s safe, and next time I’ll tell you if I gotta go, but just sayin’… lock the door. I don’t want my girl sleepin’ somewhere vulnerable unless I’m there to watch over her.”

That last comment was trying to penetrate my shield, but I fought it off and kept glaring.

“So, no. You’re not going anywhere.” He took a step forward.

The wind was out of my sails a bit, so I felt my posture loosen.

“Don’t assume, Jenna. Not cool.”

“It’s also not cool to feel abandoned and then see you chatting up a beautiful girl that I know you’ve had sex with.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Did you just roll your eyes at me?” I demanded.

He smirked. “You’re really fuckin’ riled, aren’t ya? Fuck, but you’re beautiful when you’re angry.” He took another step toward me.

I shoved him with both hands. He went back on a foot and then laughed at me and advanced and then I found myself pinned to the bed, beneath him.

“Maybe I should fuck the angry right outta you.”

I gasped in shock.

“And when you’re possessive. Makes me really fuckin’ hard.”

“You’re kidding me right now, right?” I snapped. “I can’t believe---”

He cut me off with a kiss. He was hungrily ravishing my mouth.

And for some reason, I started kissing him back. With some sort of unleashed anger slash passion.

And then my shirt was going up and over my head and then it was gone. And then I pulled his t-shirt over his head.

His mouth was on my one boob, his hand on the other, and then the other hand was down the front of my pants. And I wasn’t protesting. I was feeling. I was feeling, and my mouth was in a big O.

“Soakin’ wet,” he said against my mouth and holy crap, that made me wetter. “Knew I saw some promise in you.”

My back arched and then my pants were coming off and then his mouth was right between my legs. I let out a squeal of surprise.

My legs were up and over his shoulders and he was feasting on me.  He had way more than a five o’clock shadow with a two-day growth that felt like sandpaper on my inner thighs. And it was phenomenal.

One of my hands went to the top of my head and I had a fistful of my hair. The other went to the top of his head and I had that fist filled with his hair.

“Rider,” I breathed.

“Mmmmm,” he made noise against my clit and it vibrated straight through to a place that make my soul sing.

“Fuck, you taste good, gorgeous. My bubblegum fucking lollipop.”

“Ah!” I was trembling. I was coming. I was coming this fast! It hit hard and I let out a grunt that didn’t sound at all pretty, but then he stuck his finger or maybe his thumb into my butt just a little and holy crap did that feel good. Primal. Dirty. So effing good.

And then I was dead. Yep, I might’ve died. I couldn’t move. Was I breathing? Yeah, I was breathing. Okay. Phew. Okay.

He rose up and then flipped me over onto my belly.

“Up. Knees, baby.”

“No. You get dead lay Jenna now. Because you’re a jerk. You might’ve just gave me a Top 5 ever orgasm, but I’m angry. So, you can do the rest of the work, too.”

My face was half-smushed into the pillow.

My ass was slapped, hard. I squeaked.

“I said knees. Right now. Up!” His voice was guttural. And I jolted in fear for a second and looked over my shoulder. But then he winked. And I knew it was just a game. And I was so down to play it wasn’t even funny.

I got up on my knees and he entered me doggy style. He started to drill into me hard and fast.

“Rider,” I moaned. Holy crap that felt good.

“Mm, good girl,” he said and grabbed my hips with both hands and started hammering even harder. “Now… you get your reward.” His angle was fan-fricking-tastic.

“Oh my God.” I moaned, and collapsed onto my face. He started going faster, holding my bottom half up, faster and harder.

And then he collapsed on top of me as he let out a husky, masculine groan and kissed the back of my head.

He got up and flicked the light out and got back in beside me.

“Like fightin’ with you, baby.”

I grunted a half-angry sound.

“I was only there five minutes. Honest, beautiful. And Gia doesn’t mean a thing to me. She’s bein’ walked out. She understands. She might be innocent, dunno, don’t care. Not takin’ any chances right now.”

I tensed up a little.

“You mean something to me.”

I loosened.

“And when I say something, I mean something I’ve never felt before.”

Omigod.

“Okay,” I whispered.

He turned me so that we were on our sides, facing one another in the dark.

He kissed my lips. I kissed his, too. I ran my hand up and down his arm, snuggling in to his chest.  He put his arm around me and held me close.

I fell asleep, blissfully sated, naked, tangled up with him.

***

I was woken up by him.

“Jenna. Baby.”

“What time is it?” I rubbed my eyes.

He was leaning over me. “Nine. Gotta go take care of business, beautiful girl. Forgot to charge both my phones. Bronto’s here with you guys today. You need me, he can get word to me. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Okay?”

I was frowning. “You hardly slept, Rider.”

“I’m aware. Thanks for givin’ a shit, though.”

He sounded more than tired.

“What’s going on?” I reached for his hand. 

He gave mine a squeeze and then let go.

“Taking the Jackals down takes work.” He leaned over and grabbed for his Duffle bag. He unzipped it and had a gun in his hand. I gasped.

He stuffed it into the back of his jeans. He put his leather jacket on and zipped it up, then put his gray wool beanie on his head.

He leaned over and kissed me.

“Rider!” I gasped.

“Gotta go, baby.”

“You have a gun.”

He tilted his head at me.

“A gun!” I repeated.

“Yep.”

“Uh, we need to talk,” I said. I was shaking.

“When I get back.”

“When?”

“Tonight, probably. Gotta go. Boys’re waiting.”

I watched him go. I was shaking like a leaf.

***

It was 24 hours later. It was Sunday morning, and I was woken by a text. From Pippa.

Sending to you both J&E. Wedding yesterday was a hoot. Here are pics. The bride was thrilled with the results so no worries. Hope you’re both safe & getting SOME in scary bikerland. Xo. Love yas.

I put the phone down.

I was glad Kendra’s wedding went well. I’d look at the pictures later.

Rider was asleep beside me. He’d gotten in late. Very late. Like, three o’clock in the morning. I woke when he came in, but said nothing. I was kind of seething. I was kind of freaked out all day. I mean, he left with a gun!

When he came in, he undressed, climbed in with me, spooned me, kissed my bare shoulder (I was sleeping in a tank top and panties), and then he was out like a light.

He’d been gone all day. He’d texted me a few hours after leaving to say his new phone was charged and to text if I needed him.

I didn’t. Instead, I was in my head all day.

Jojo was a bit perkier that day. She was slightly better company. But, I probably wasn’t. I didn’t bring up the gun. I didn’t bring up any of my concerns. Not even Gianna. I tried to keep my shit to myself so maybe she’d be slightly less gloomy.

It was a nice day outside, so we walked around out there and got some air. And then we’d played cards and helped Delia put away all sorts of groceries as well as stocking the numerous bathrooms in the place with supplies. The girl bathrooms had pads and tampons and shower stuff. The men’s washrooms also got stocked with a Costco-sized box of condoms each.

And then I borrowed a vacuum (the cleaning supply room had four of them) and vacuumed our room and then vacuumed some halls. Delia was thrilled about having my help.

Later, Leah came by and hung out with me and Jojo, and I think that perked her up a bit, too. We played some video games and some foosball, and then a few of the other ladies, an older lady named Connie and that Patticakes lady from the day before the funeral came by, and we all sat and watched the Fifty Shades of Grey movie and had a laugh talking about sex. Well, they talked. I laughed.

The older ladies were not at all shy about it and Patticakes talked about how her ‘old man’ liked to have sex with her in a swing that they’d put in their room since he had some medical condition that meant he couldn’t handle any weight on him, but the swing helped because he liked her on top. Luckily for Bronto, he’d been turfed out of the room for the movie and subsequent girl talk.

Ella would love this conversation. My bestie was a bit of a perv. She often made me blush with her sex talk. I’d never considered myself a prude, just considered Ella a little bit oversexed. But, whoa. If I told her about some of what Rider and I had gotten up to, maybe I’d make her blush for a change.

How was I feeling about things?

It hadn’t sat well. The whole Gianna thing. And the whole, being left alone for that length of time, thing. But, things were bad right now. And I hadn’t seen him do anything with that girl. He was just talking to her and he didn’t look guilty when he saw me, didn’t seem like he’d been caught with his hand in any sort of cookie jar.

Yeah, I was making excuses, but I’d decided I had to give things time. We were new. We had to set expectations with one another. And things weren’t exactly normal around us with the MC war, and me being under a deadly threat.

I also wasn’t used to sitting around doing nothing like this. It felt a little bit like a prison. I didn’t want to complain about it, because it was better than being raped and dead, but it wasn’t easy to sit around knowing things were happening outside these walls.

Kendra getting married. Someone else doing her hair. I hadn’t talked to Ella in forever.  There was knowing my salon was ticking along without me, but not knowing what my mother’s revenge would be for my blatant disobedience.  I’d texted my Dad that day to say Hi and let him know I was just checking in. He replied with:

“Good, Ryder messaged me and I called the officer in Sioux Falls. I feel  a bit better after talking to police but won’t rest easy until this is behind us. Let’s have dinner together when you’re back home. I look forward to meeting him.”

“Will do, Dad. Rider, not Ryder. He’s a rider, not a truck. Ha. Love you, talk soon.”

Dad texted me back a happy face.  This was so weird. My father and I did not have a jokey texty relationship. Maybe we could, though.

I’d bet my mother wasn’t going to be looking forward to it. He wasn’t Daniel. He wasn’t country club material. And she’d blame him for all that was amiss right now. Me not there at her beck and call. Me not there for her to torment.

I was not cool with him leaving with a gun and not addressing my concerns about it. I mean, I was obviously flipped out at the sight of it.

I felt my hair being tucked behind my ear.

I looked up from the wall of beautiful chest in front of my eyes and saw he was looking down at me.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” I said.

“Your eyelashes were tickling me. You a million miles away?”

I guess I was blinking against his chest.

“Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. Gimme a kiss.”

I leaned up and kissed him and went to roll away. He caught me and pulled me back and flipped to his back so that I was on top of him.

I put my hands between us and tried to push back.

“How’re you mad at me already? We’re not even up yet.”

“How am I mad?”

He flipped me over onto my back and pinned me.

His erection was against me. He was in track pants.

“Yeah. Why?” He was grinding against me.

“I saw you leave here with a gun yesterday,” I said, trying to ignore the grinding. And failing.

“Yeah?” He reached down and freed himself from those track pants and was pressed up against my underwear.

I tried to roll him. He didn’t allow it.

“Rider, be serious for a second.”

“Baby, I carry a gun when things are at a level where I could get killed. If it’s me or them, you better believe I’ll take care of me.”

“You just discounted my feelings and ---”

“I had to go. Time is important in this situation. I’m sorry I left with you concerns, but I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t necessary. I can handle a gun. I wouldn’t use it unless I had to use it.”

I pursed my lips.

He kissed them.

I stayed still.

He licked my lower lip.

I tried to jerk my head the other way.

“Let me in, beautiful.” His tongue pushed in and then he was grinding against me with more friction. “Open up.”

His knee nudged my legs open.

“Rider, I’m serious. We need to get a few things straight.”

“Oh yeah, like what?” He kissed my lips again.

“I don’t like being kept in the dark, for one thing.”

He grasped around my knee and wrapped my leg around the back of his leg.

“Rider. Stop for a second.”

“Mm, no way. You’re already wet. I can feel it through your little panties, baby. We’ll talk after, when I’ve got you all sweet and loosened up.”

“No. Now.” I dug my nails into his bicep.

But, he was right. I was wet. Why? How would I ever gain the upper hand in this relationship if he used his penis as a weapon? Maybe I wouldn’t ever have it. Maybe I was okay with that. Surprisingly.

“Usin’ your nails? Even better. Fight me, baby.”

I jolted in surprise. And irritation.

“Get off.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I will. We’ll both get off.”

“Rider! If you don’t get off of me right now, I’m about to lose it. Like, really lose it!”

He stopped and looked down at me. “Maybe we need a safe word. I don’t know if you’re joking right now or not.”

“I’m not joking!”

He rolled off. I sat up.

“I don’t wanna be kept in the dark. I can’t sit here and---”

“You need to be in the dark, Jenna, about some of the shit happening, because that’s just the way it is. All you need to know is that I’m keeping you safe and going after these fuckers for what they’ve pulled. What they’ve done will not stand.”

“But… you could get hurt.”

He stopped and looked at me.

“You could get hurt and I could be Jojo. Or Edge. Gutted. Wrecked. Without you. Yes, this soon, Rider. I’d be such a wreck.”

He climbed back on top of me and put his forehead to mine and let out a slow breath.

“Fuck, baby.”

I scored a point. Good. I let my wall down just enough to get that out and it worked. He was taking me seriously.

“Okay, here’s the thing, babe. I can’t tell you much, because a) I can’t put you at risk and knowledge ain’t always power in my world. Sometimes knowledge can get you in trouble. b) I don’t want you to worry about me. Here’s what you gotta know and I hope it’ll put you at ease. We’re smarter than they are. Way smarter. We’ve got multiple clubs in our corner, helpin’ us. And we’ve got cops helpin’ too. The cops do not want these fuckers to continue to do what they’ve been doin’. They’ve been pissing a lotta people off. Pissin’ on turf that ain’t theirs to piss on. They’ve gotten a lot of the wrong people upset, including The Brotherhood. A lot of the wrongest people around are involved with them and their bullshit. They’re not just small-time outlaws selling drugs, sellin’ tail, or even just runnin’ weapons. They move flesh. For human trafficking rings. They deal in kiddie porn. They killed Lick, put Joelle in the hospital, fucked Scoot up, raped and murdered Jet, and they’ve threatened to hurt you. Of course I have to go after them armed. And I’m not gonna put you at any sort of risk by telling you anything more than I have to. I know time stops when you’re on lockdown and it can be stressful. Today’s for you and me, okay? We’re gettin’ outta here.”

I blinked at him.

“After we fuck,” he added, and then yanked my panties aside and slammed forward until he was rooted in me.

I let out a shuddering breath.

“Use your nails, gorgeous.” I blinked again and dug them into his back. He seemed to really like that.

“And don’t try usin’ that pout too often to manipulate me. It’s good, gorgeous, but if you overuse it, you’ll find yourself with a pink ass from my hand.”

I glared at him and dug my nails in harder. He liked it.  He showed me how much he liked it, by making me come really hard before spilling into me.