Toni lifted her face out of her hands, stared hopelessly at Susie’s profile, and then hid behind her hands again.
“Hey,” Susie said, calmer. “Was it at least good?”
Fuck, it wasfantastic. Her groan must have said it all, though, because Susie started laughing again.
Sitting up, Toni threw her head back against the headrest. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I just had sex with a man whose name I don’t even know against atow truckon the side of the road—where who knows who passed us or what they saw! Hell, I didn’t even hearyoupull up. How much did you see?”
Susie did not look away from the road as she said, “Enough.”
Toni closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “Great.”
“Wait, you don’t know who he is?”
Sitting up, Toni turned towards her friend. “Should I? He’s part of the club, right?”
Susie nodded, but there was a tightness to her expression now and her lips were pointed down in a frown. “Yeah. That’s Ranger.”
She said the name like Toni should know it. Most recently, she was familiar with Maddox Bane, or Bones. While she was not defending Jett Deininger, she had been approached about it. She could have argued that it wasn’t a conflict of interest—she’d never represented Bones and the times she had represented club members weren’t substantially related to the current attempted murder case—but she had not felt right taking the case, given certain assumptions she’d made during her time defending Steel about how the club operated. Which also gave more substance to those rumors she heard about.
But a member named Ranger? She was not familiar with him, that she knew of. Other than biblically, now, it would seem.
Susie shifted in her seat. The car was dark, but between the headlights and the moon, Toni could clearly make out her friend’s discomfort. “Ranger and Ghost co-managed Demon on the Rocks,” she explained slowly. Like she was trying to lead Toni somewhere.
Everyone in town knew about Demon on the Rocks. Beyond that it had been a safe place for women to drink and know they were protected, regardless of who they came with, it was also where a recent bombing had taken place. Where four members of the community, including Jett Deininger’s wife, had died.
Toni recognized Ghost’s name, but in name only. When Steel had been arrested and held at the town jail over the weekend, she recalled him telling her that the club’s enforcer, Ghost, was on his way. But she still didn’t know Ranger’s name.
“You’re going to have to give me more than that, Suz,” Toni told her. “Did Ranger have something to do with the bombing?”
She hadn’t been paying close attention to the case, which wasn’t much of a case because the perpetrator or perpetrators had never been caught to her knowledge.
“No, no, of course not. Ranger’s a solid man, a good man. But I also know something’s changed about him since then. He’s barely been around recently, but to my knowledge he wasn’t injured in the explosion. Ghost and he used to be tied at the hip. I can’t remember the last time I saw the two of them apart. Not just at the bar, but around town, events, and such. One of the women who died, Monica, she used to be one of the club bunnies. They called them ‘Honeys’, but that’s what they were.” Susie shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe she and Ranger were something more. I just know he’s not the same.”
Toni recalled the haunted look in those ice-blue eyes. Noticyeyes. They weren’t cold or absent. If anything, they were too expressive, too open to the pain coursing through him.
Was Susie right? Was he mourning the loss of someone he loved?
Pulling into her drive, the gravel crunched under the tires. Her outside lights were on, as they always were, but her parents’ place was dark. Seeing their car as Susie’s car passed themodified garage, Toni guessed they turned in already. Her dad worked early hours, so it wasn’t that surprising.
Susie pulled into Toni’s usual spot to the left of her front stairs. “Congrats on your first Girls’ Night. You nailed it.”
Toni lifted both eyebrows. “What are you talking about? I didn’t even get to go.”
“Honey, you had a crazy experience, fucked a hot guy, and possibly lost your panties along the way. Other than the lack of wine, you nailed it.”
Toni snorted. “Oh, trust me. There’s about to be plenty of wine. I’m going to down an entire bottle, soak in the bath, and then spend the rest of the night figuring out how I am supposed to get my car fixed in the morning.”
Susie raised an eyebrow. “Wow, how naïve you are.”
“What?” Toni blinked, confused.
“If you think for one second that Ranger’s just going to leave your car down there, then you don’t know these bikers at all. They’re rough around the edges, and some might be a tad unhinged, but they’ve got hearts of gold. Ranger will get your car to the auto shop. And don’t be surprised if he or a prospect isn’t here first thing in the morning to pick you up to take you to work.”
Toni just stared at her. “That’s insane. I literally just pulled a fuck-and-run on him. Why would he still help me out?”
“One, because it’s the right thing to do. Two, because I have a feeling he’ll want to see you again. And three, because it’s the right thing to do.”
“You said that twice.”
