“Once you’re gone, I’ll release him. Now fuck off before I change my mind.”
He gives Nora a look that’s filled with loathing, but there’s also something else there. He’s definitely scared of me, because I have my boot across his friend’s throat. But he’s scared of her too. Or maybe scared of what she’s worth to somebody. Before I can work it all out in my head, he says it out loud.
“You’ve got no idea what you’re getting yourself mixed up in, Rager. That’s the Prez’s daughter. That’s Coal’s little girl right there. He just wants her back home where she’s safe. Your interference just triggered a club war.”
“We’re already at war, dumbass. It started before Sturgis, when your club broke into a Sons-owned business and stole from us.” I wave one hand towards the vehicle that’s crashed against the guardrail. “This is nothing compared to you assholes stealing from us and tagging our building with your shitty graffiti. Go away before your friend here stops breathin’.”
Although the prospect looks like he’s about to be sick, he starts to back away. When he gets a few yards away, I remove my boot from the remaining prospect’s neck. Jerking my chin towards his bike, I tell him, “This is your one chance. Get the hell outta here while you can.”
He doesn’t wait even a second before stumbling off.
I stand there for a second staring at Nora. She’s Coal’s daughter. He’s the president of the Hyenas MC.
“Nora, it’s nice to see you again. I wish it were under better circumstances.” I don’t recognize the gentlemanly words coming out of my own fuckin’ mouth right now.
“It’s good to see you too, Jake, or should I say, Jinx.”
Her calling me by my club name answers one of my questions. I’m guessing somewhere between us getting together and me waking up alone, she figured out who I was and hot-tailed it outta Dodge. If that’s the reason, then it makes me feel a bit better that it was nothing I did that scared her away.
“You know they’re gonna call in reinforcements. Your car is undrivable. Do you have a plan for staying safe?” I ask.
“I was trying to get across the county line. I knew I had to ditch my phone and my car but that’s as far as I got.”
“Do you have money? Any place you can go?”
She sighs, wrapping her arms around her belly. “I’ve got a couple of grand and nowhere to go that my father wouldn’t feel extremely comfortable smashing through the door.”
“Then come back with me. I’ll keep you safe.”
She glances down the road, at the prospects who are on their phones, likely reporting it to their chain of command. “I can keep you safe, darlin’. You don’t have to pay me with money, sex, or any damn thing else.”
I hear her boots walking towards me and see the relief on her face. She’s desperate to get away from her father. I don’t know why but I’m damn sure gonna find out. And I’ll do everything in my power to protect her.
“Is this a yes?” I ask.
She nods, tearing up. “Yeah, I’m in danger, Jinx. Anything you could do for me right now, I’d be eternally grateful,” she says back.
I have so many questions and exactly no time to ask them. I gesture to my bike.
“Come on. Get on behind me. I’ll help you.” When she’s close, I lift her onto the seat of my bike. “Put your feet on the pegs.” Getting on in front of her, I say, “Wrap your arms around my waist.”
She slides her arms around me, almost shyly. Glancing over my shoulder, I tell her quietly, “Hold on like your life depends on it. I don’t plan to do any stunt driving unless I have to. Do you understand?”
Nodding, she looks back at the prospects who are now filming us with their cell phones. They’re brazen as fuck, standing there. I want another go at them so badly it makes my fuckin’ chest hurt.
That’s when I understand that gettin’ on this bike while the prospects capture it on video is more than just running away from home. It’ll be picking a side in her old man’s mind. Getting on my bike is telling everyone that his daughter climbed onto the back of a Sons of Rage club officer’s bike of her own free will. There’s no walking this back, not ever, not for her or for me.
I worry that she’ll chicken out. But she doesn’t. She holds strong, hanging onto me, trusting me, maybe even realizing she made a gigantic mistake by leaving me. I’m already working out how to get her somewhere safe, how to buy her a way out that isn’t this.
When I ease out onto the road, I feel her rest her cheek between my shoulder blades, right against the Sons of Rage patch, against the thing that represents her father’s swornenemy. Before I pick up speed, I ask, “Are you ready to leave the Hyenas’ world and enter the world of the Sons of Rage?”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here before the Hyenas swarm us,” she replies quietly.
I twist the throttle and we pick up speed. She glances to the side when we pass the prospects. They still have their phones up and flip her the bird. She’s considered a turncoat now, a club princess who betrayed her own father to jump onto the back of my bike.
I feel the responsibility I’ve just taken on. It rests heavy on my shoulders. I’ve got Coal’s daughter wrapped around me, and I don’t have any more of a plan than she did. My plan is to get to the clubhouse and protect her. That’s it for now, but is it gonna be enough?
Chapter 7
