I looked over my shoulder to see Sienna standing in the open doorway. She was dressed this time in a pair of short blue jean shorts that looked strategically shredded and a white tank top. Her thin, small body was slightly curved in all the right places. She wasn’t like Big Sandy and the other ladies with voluptuous tits and asses. She was thin and lean, but no less feminine and beautiful.
“Seems so.” I shrugged, fixing the bedding on the thin, flimsy mattress.
“Big Sandy said you’ll be helping out around here.”
“Yeah. Until I can get some money and my sister back, then I’m out of here.”
“Oh.” I looked up when I heard the disappointment in her voice. “I thought you might be prospecting for the club.”
“Prospecting?” I turned to look over at her.
“It’s like a probation period before you become a member of the club. Virg is a prospect.”
I shook my head, disgusted by the thought. “I don’t want to be a member of any biker club. I’m only here long enough to get Joey back.”
Sienna studied me for a second before she nodded. “I understand, but a piece of advice before you take off to parts unknown. Don’t use the same measuring stick for the Hell’s Artillery that you do for the Celestial Sons. The Sons are good men. They’re honest and very loyal. They don’t want trouble and go out of their way to avoid it for the most part. You can’t compare apples and oranges, Dillon.” She shrugged and pushed off the door jamb. “You never know. You may find something here worth staying for.”
“Rising Star holds nothing but bad memories for me. The sooner I get my sister out of the clutches of the Hell’s Artillery MC, the sooner she and I can get the hell out of here and try to build some semblance of a decent life.”
“What if she doesn’t want out?”
I sat back down on the bed and ran my fingers through my hair. That was what I feared the most. What if Joey was serious when she told me to go? I can’t imagine anyone choosing to stay in that situation, but with the hand that we’d both been dealt as kids, what happened in the Hell’s Artillery clubhouse was just more of the same shit we’d already been through. My sister was probably numb to it all, but that still didn’t make it right.
My eyes met Sienna’s light blues. “I can’t believe she would want to stay there, Sienna. Not with what they did to her.”
“It’s called Stockholm Syndrome, Dillon. If you try to get her out, she may hate you for it.”
“As long as she’s safe, I can live with her hate.”
We were silent for a few minutes as I thought about our words. Joey had been my only foundation for so long that I wasn’t sure I could stand without her. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure if I could handle her hating me, either. But surely, she didn’t really want to stay in that kind of situation. I had to hope she was only staying there to protect me like she always did, just like at the grocery store when I first saw her again. She only ignored me that day to save my life, otherwise she wouldn’t have flashed me our signal for danger.
If she truly wanted to stay there, why did she warn me there was danger and try to protect me from the Artillery by using her own body to do it? She’d protected me the same way she did with Mr. Sinclair… by offering sex in exchange for my safety. I hated the fact that it came so easily to her, like giving up her body meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. But we both knew better. Joey should’ve never learned that was a way to handle life’s complications.
“I better get going. My shift is about to start.”
She turned to leave, but I stopped her. “Sienna, why do you strip?”
She gave me a halfhearted smile. “You’re not the only one trying to survive a past, Dillon. We all have our demons. Plus, the money’s good. It pays my bills and for my schooling. It’s not a bad gig. The Sons are nice and keep the other guys in line. There are worse things that I could be doing than taking off my clothes.”
I nodded. “I get it.”
She gave me a small smile before pausing in the doorway. “Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me.” Then for shits and giggles, she gave her little ass a shake as she walked away. And damn, did it make my dick harden with need.
Chapter Fifteen
It had been a couple weeks since the Celestial Sons MC took me in, and I had to admit it, it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Having a decent roof over my head, food in my belly, and money in my pocket wasn’t something I was used to. They paid me well, and from what I could see, they were nothing like the Artillery at all. The men here treated women like precious gems, always handling them with care and putting their needs above their own.
I found out through the grapevine that Zodiac and Tess were getting married today, so the strip club was closed, leaving me alone to gather my thoughts. They had invited me to the wedding, but I declined. I didn’t know them well enough to join in on something that intimate, and I kinda felt bad for all the hate I was harboring for Zodiac. He really was a decent guy, and a way better man than Beretta could ever be. In fact, all the Sons were good guys, just like Sienna told me.
Without the music in the club and girls dancing, this place felt so empty. I had to get out of here, and honestly, the only place I wanted to be was with my sister. I knew where she was, and I needed to get her my contact information in case she ever needed me. The problem was getting her alone to pass along the information.
Throwing on my hoodie, I locked up the club and hitched a ride on a farm truck to drive me as close to the Artillery compound as I could get. They dropped me off about four blocks away, so I walked the remainder, making sure nobody saw me. The place looked dead, almost as if all the men were gone for the day.
Then I saw a few prospects walking around the fencing area, and my heart sank. So much for things being easy…
Carefully, I moved away from my hiding spot, ready to jump the fence and try to get my number to my sister, but a familiar voice stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Dillie?”
