I leveled my gaze at Merci. “I’m not mad at you. I just want to live to see my thirty-fourth birthday.”
“When’s your birthday?” she chirped.
“Next month. July 24.”
“Why wouldn’t you make it to your birthday?”
Her innocent tone surprised me. Like she hadn’t considered the consequences if I crossed the line she danced so close to. I rubbed my short beard. “Because you’re temptation wrapped in sin, tied in a death-wish bow.”
“I’m throwing you a birthday party,” Merci declared.
“Yeah?”
“And you can unwrap me as your present,” she said with a giggle.
I groaned and covered my face. The bell on the McDonald’s door rang, and Coast strolled in, a smug look on his face as he took in my exasperated expression.
I stood, every muscle in my body tense. “She’s your problem now,” I grumbled, pushing past him. I handed him a wad of cash. “Buy her a goddamn apple pie and get her back safe. And if she gets handsy, tie her fucking hands behind her back.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that,” Merci said with a grin. She started dancing in her chair, singing a song about whips, chains, and being tied to things.
Coast chuckled as I stomped away. I fired up my bike, chancing one last glance at Merci through the brightly lit windows.
Over the years, she’d always been just Merrick’s sister to me. A clever, smart-mouthed girl who was barely around because she was too busy studying.
But now I was looking at the woman she’d become in the years since she’d left for college and become a doctor. I couldn’t stop thinking about how her body had felt beneath mine in the field. The way my heart had thundered in my chest when she stroked my thigh on the back of my bike.
Resisting Merci would be the death of me.
Chapter Five
My stomach rolled as my eyes scraped open. The pounding in my head reminded me I’d drunk entirely too much the night before. I strolled down to the bar in pajama shorts and a tank top, in desperate need of hydration, carbs, and a shower. The guys paused their conversation as I approached—the same faces as the first few mornings, but with one new addition who looked like he was deciding whose throat to slit first.
“The fuck is she doing here?” Merrick asked, glaring at Thane, Reaper, and Hatchet. “You let one of the guys fuck my sister?”
Thane chuckled. “Calm your tits.”
I rolled my eyes as I cracked open a Red Bull and reached for a bottle of water from below the bar. “First of all, I’m a grown-ass woman. I’ll fuck who I want. Second, I live here now.”
“What?” Merrick rumbled, his deep voice echoing off the walls.
Enjoying his bewilderment, I grinned. Razzing my brother was one of my favorite activities.
“Care to explain?” he asked, his eyes wild and promising blood.
“Nope,” I said, popping the P. I sipped my drink and winked at Thane. He enjoyed my brandof chaos.
“Stop torturing your brother,” Reaper said with a laugh. “His mind is going to the worst possible scenario here.”
I slid onto a barstool. “I know. It’s fun to see those old, rusty wheels turning.” I chugged my water, watching as he tried to figure out why I was strolling around the clubhouse in pajamas.
“What makes you think living in the clubhouse is a good idea? Why aren’t you in your townhouse?”
I chucked the empty plastic vessel at his head, and he caught it easily. He continued to stare at me as he tossed it into the trash without looking.
“Luca cheated. I moved out. I didn’t want to bother you and Kenna, so I moved in here.”
“He what?” Merrick roared. He slammed his fists onto the bar. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
