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“Nothing much. He came in here swinging his dick around, ordering me to pack my things and come stay at his place. For my safety, or so he says. I’m not too keen on being treated like his possession, and he really pissed me off. So let’s go out. I need to drink and dance my ass off.” I shrugged like it was nothing for me to suddenly want to go to her hangout. Biker bars weren’t my scene, but all I needed was a place to unwind the knots Maddox had left me in.
“He wants you to stay with him? Just like that? Damn. Seven years later and he’s still head over heels for you.” With a glance at the time on her phone, Rumer added, “What the hell? It’s still early enough. Let’s do it.”
I knew I could count on my sister to come through. Maddox’s games had left me infuriated and wanting to hit back at him any way I could. No doubt he’d learn from one of his sources that I’d been seen at the MC bar. The man would learn one way or another that I wouldn’t bend to his will.
While dusting dark shadow on my eyes, I thought about what Rumer had said. Maddox still head over heels for me? Sure didn’t look that way to me. The Maddox I knew had always been a hotheaded ass, but something had changed. Maybe it was the hard set to his shoulders or the muscles that tensed in his jaw when he looked at me. Maybe it was that dark spark in his eyes that shone just for me.
Muttering a few expletives beneath my breath, I ran a brush through my hair and slipped into jeans and a halter top. Hoping I wouldn’t be searched at the door, I tucked a blade into each of my cute little ankle boots.
An hour later Rumer and I strolled into a loud, rowdy bar owned and operated by the Crypt Keepers. We couldn’t have been more different, me with my all black hair and attire, her with those brilliant blonde locks and vivid scarlet dress. Heads turned as we walked through the door. To my relief, nobody searched me for weapons.
Rumer led the way through the mass of sweaty bodies to the bar. The place was littered with bikers, as expected. Most of them were occupied drinking, playing pool or darts, and feeling up the women happily hanging off them. There were only a handful of men that didn’t wear a patch marking them as part of this club or the Sanguine Dragons, another city MC the Crypt Keepers had an alliance with. The place seemed pretty exclusive.
As we approached the bar, several men seated there turned to whistle and wolf call. Dear God, was this a joke? Why did that have to be a thing? It stopped when the spiky haired man from the photo Rumer had sent me sauntered over and slung his arm around her. How many men did she have on the go?
“Hey, babe. I was hoping to see you tonight. Your body is banging in that dress.” He pressed a sloppy kiss to the side of Rumer’s face while giving me the side eye. “Who’s your friend?”
I immediately hated him. His vibes oozed creep. Rumer really needed to improve her standards.
“This is my sister, Maven,” she said, accepting his next nasty kiss on the lips. “We’re just here for a few drinks. It won’t be an all-nighter this time. Maven, this is Axle.”
I squeezed out a tight smile that was little more than a grimace and turned to the bartender. Already I questioned my reasons for coming here. I wanted to unwind a little, in a place that held the promise of danger but wouldn’t have a Hale brother skulking around. If I had to watch my sister suck face with this dude, I’d eventually snap and rip his lips off.
“Maybe I can change your mind about that,” Axle said, licking the side of Rumer’s glittery face.
My temper may have started rising with Maddox but this idiot was going to make me boil over. The patch on his vest marked him as a prospect. How mad would the Crypt Keepers be if I kicked his ass?
Needing to excuse myself from their touchy feely display, I passed my sister the cocktail she’d ordered and headed for the dance floor. I glanced back to find Axle snagging a free chair at a table, pulling her onto his lap. Guess I was on my own. Just as well. That’s how it had been for seven years. Why change now?
My glass of vodka and Sprite wasn’t fancy by any means, but it would get the job done. I slipped onto the dance floor, feeling the classic rock booming through the speakers. “Barracuda” by Heart played at top volume, drawing many of the club sweet butts to the dance floor. A handful of men kept it from being ladies only.
I was more than happy to occupy my own little space on the dance floor, drink in hand as I shook my ass to the music. Already I felt the burden of seeing Maddox again begin to lift. Did he believe that he could lock me away in his house and protect me from the world? Was it guilt that spurred his twisted thoughts? Or merely the desire to make me sorry that I left him.
The joke was on Maddox. There had never been a time when I wasn’t sorry.
An unexpected hand on my hip made me whirl around, fist raised to clock the touchy stranger. The biker smirked at my fist. He wore a patch that marked him as a Sanguine Dragon. I got the feeling he’d have looked incredibly young if it wasn’t for the thick beard. A mohawk showed off a tattoo of a dragon down one side of his head.
“You’re new here. I definitely would have noticed if you’d been around before. Don’t tell me you’re here with one of these jackasses.” Taking his hand from my hip, he nodded toward the bar filled with bikers.
Deciding that he wasn’t a threat, I dropped my fist and kept dancing. “Nope. I came with my sister. I plan to leave with her too.”
He raised both hands, pretending to be harmless. “All right. Message received loud and clear. I hope it’s cool if I dance with you anyway. I’ll keep my hands to myself. My name is Cade. Some of these idiots call me Cash. You can call me whatever you want.”
I gave Cade a studious onceover and nodded. “Okay, you can dance with me. No funny stuff. I’m not afraid to cut you.”
A hint of a smile quirked my lips, enough to make him wonder if I was joking or not. Only one way to find out.
Ignoring the goofy grin he shot me, I sipped my drink and kept dancing. Cade kept his distance, dancing close enough to make me keenly aware of his presence, but not so close that I felt an infringement on my personal space. As the music flowed from one fast paced rock song to another, I lost myself in those few brief seconds where nothing mattered but me and the melody.
Try as I might, my thoughts refused to let go of Maddox for more than a minute. My mind insisted on replaying the conversation from earlier. All that did was fire me up as I went over all the things I should have said. Not that I’d been thinking clearly. Not once he touched me. The teasing rat bastard.
The more I thought about Maddox the more I wanted to strike back at him. I’d barely had the chance to get a grip on being back home and already he made me wish I’d run in the opposite direction. This was my city too, and if I chose to stay it wouldn’t be on Maddox’s terms.
The music changed and “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails spilled from the speakers. A sex charged energy took over the dance floor. In no time almost every woman had a man grinding on her. I caught Cade’s eye, and he winked. Would it be a bad idea to take him home and ride him until sunrise? After the way Maddox left me hanging, it was damn tempting.
Flirting with the idea of leaving with the hot biker, I danced closer. Cade kept his hands to himself, like he’d promised, until I brazenly rubbed my ass against him. The open invitation was more than enough. Cade placed a hand on my waist, holding me close as he pressed against me from behind.
My hand tightened on my glass as the first thought to flit through my mind was what Maddox would do to him if he found out. My next thought involved violent expletives mentally directed at Mads. Things had changed. I wasn’t his anymore.
