“Please,” the word springs from my mouth. “I have money. I can pay you.”
Ky actually laughs. “I don’t need your money.”
“Then there must be something. Something I can trade or give you?”
His humor dies, and the cold, calculating man from earlier reappears.
Ky is skin-tinglingly silent for way too long. I wait on pins and needles for a response, and finally, he gives me one. “You don’t have a goddamn thing I need.” With that, he slams my car door shut. Conversation over. I watch him head back into the bar, boots kicking up dirt as he strides away. He walks with so much confidence and authority. So much hostility, too.
My last resort disappears into the bar called The Lion’s Den, which is aptly named since it feels like I just narrowly escaped from one.
2
Ky
“Scared, okay . . . I’m scared.”
Those fucking words. I can’t get them out of my head. Or her. I can’t get her out of my fucking head either. Those wide, earnest eyes, long blonde hair more beautiful than spun gold, and her body. Goddamn, just as perfect as fucking perfect could be. I’d never laid eyes on anyone so angelic. Almost like a living work of art. A doll or Disney princess come to life.
Snow White, I dubbed her in my head — purer than the freshly fallen snow. A wide-eyed doe in a lair of wolves. And if anyone was going to devour her, it was going to be me. The Alpha.
Kira Kendrick clearly had no idea what she was walking into. It was written all over her gorgeous face.
My estranged father’s stepdaughter. My stepsister, if you really want to get down to the nitty-gritty. She’s no more family to me than a field mouse in the basement, though.
I haven’t spoken to Gerard “Gambit” Parish in over two years. Ever since he walked away from me and our club for a woman no one knew. He just turned on a dime one day, renouncing his presidency and all ties to the Baum Squad Mafia. An MC club my great-grandfather, Alfred Baum, helped found. This club is a family tradition, and he just turned his back on it, and me, for an expensive piece of fucking ass.
My father became a stranger virtually overnight, leaving me to fend for myself and take care of a club way before my time. But I did it. I stepped up and kept it going. Filling his shoes better than I thought I was even capable of. This club is my life, the members my brothers. I could never do what he did. Just walk away. What kind of leader, friend, father, does that? Not me. Not ever. Not for no one.
“You gonna bet, Slash, or just sit there with your thumb up your ass?” Bone heckles me from across the poker table.
“Leave him alone. The Prez has got a lot on his mind.” Vet takes it upon himself to speak for me.
“Hell yeah, he does, and those thoughts are in the form of a hot, blonde piece of ass that strolled into the Den today. Did you see how short that skirt was? She looked like a damn virginal tennis player.”
“Fuckable from every angle,” Breaker adds.
“Enough.” I slam down the poker chip. Everyone jumps, including me. Where the fuck did that outburst come from? I’ve heard these guys talk like this my whole life. It never bothered me before, but the idea that any of these motherfuckers wanted to put their hands on Kira makes me a stark-raving lunatic.What gives?I couldn’t give two shits about that girl. She doesn’t even deserve to share the same oxygen as me.
“Testy, testy,” Fender mocks. “None of us would ever touch your girl.”
“She’s not my fucking girl,” I hiss. “Don’t be fucking ridiculous.”
“Oh, no? You’ve been walking into walls and daydreaming since she left. I think someone’s gotta crush.”
“The only thing I’m going to crush is your face if you don’t shut the fuck up. She dragged in bad memories as soon as she walked through the door. That’s what’s bugging me. I should've just let you guys have her.”
“That’s not your style, Prez. We all knew it. We were just having a bit of fun.” Vet shuffles the cards like a pro. These poker games are a weekly tradition. Run by my father in the past, and now by me.
“What’d she want anyway?” The cards fly from one of his hands to the other like an accordion.
I hesitate to answer. “Help.”
“And you said . . . no?” He deals.
“You know who the fuck she is. I hate him and anyone associated with him.”
The table goes silent.
