I grab as much of my stolen inventory as I can carry. Merc and Scar grab what they can as well.
On my way out, Jasper’s hand grabs my shoulder and spins me around. He jerks his chin at the soaked workbench.
“You seem to have some hostility stored up. Do you want the honors?”
“Fuck yes I do.” I manage to pull my lighter out with one hand, roll it down the leg of my jeans and touch the flame to the top of the gasoline-soaked workbench. The fire crawls down the table, lighting up everything in its path. The flames are spreading up the hanging bikes to the ceiling by the time we clear the door. I hesitate on the other side of the door, watching with satisfaction as the entire room is engulfed in flames.
Jasper grabs my shoulder again. “We gotta go, brother.”
I look around to make sure Onyx made it out. I see him running for the back fence, wearing his stuffed duffel like a backpack. Our club brothers are taking two hostages, the one I took down and the one who gave Scar another scar. Fuckers.
The rest of us haul ass for the fence, fighting our way through the Hyenas Striker told us were outside. We make it over the back fence, leaving a trail of maimed Hyenas in our wake, just as their backup comes roaring through the front gate. They’re too late and they know it.
As a group, they don’t bother chasing us. Their main concern is putting out the fire and trying to salvage what they can. I’m swinging my leg over my bike when one hapless fool comes over the fence after us.
“Nora’s ours, Rager! That property cut don’t mean shit! Stripe’s comin’ for his bride, and there ain’t a wall high enough for you to hide her behind!”
I don’t remember getting back off the bike, but I’m on him within seconds, all fists and fury. In the background, I canhear my brothers shouting my name. Then a huge arm closes around my chest, and Merc hauls me backward off the man as he walks by, without even breaking his stride.
“Not now, brother,” he says in my ear. “You’ll get your shot. Right now, we ride.”
I curse under my breath but follow him back to my bike. On the journey back, my knuckles and the cut over my eye are both bleeding, but I can’t stop thinking of how those ignorant fucks think the woman wearing my cut is still going to be Stripe’s bride. I’ve never lost control that way before tonight. One word from a nobody, and my control evaporated in an instant. That should worry me more than it does.
When we get back, the clubhouse smells like biscuits. I follow the delicious aroma to the kitchen. Of course, my old lady is at the counter with her hands patting out dough on the counter. There are two full pans cooling on the far end of the counter and a third she’s filling as she cuts them. She must have come straight here from Striker’s little office once we were safely on our way.
She looks up when I enter and her eyes land on the blood on my face. She sets her biscuit cutter aside. I watch her glance back up at the wound on my forehead as she steps over to wash her hands.
“I’m glad you made it home, babe.”
“We all made it home.” Scar comes into the kitchen, grabs an ice pack out of the freezer and starts to stomp off. Then he turns, grabs a fistful of biscuits, murmuring, “Thanks, Miss Nora. Warm bread is like a little taste of home on the road, ya know?”
She smiles at him. “I do know. I’ve made enough for everyone, and it’s best eaten straight from the oven.”
He gives her a little salute and heads out towards the bar area.
I grab two biscuits off the pan, stack them bottoms-together and take a bite like it’s a sandwich. “You’re right about them being better warm.”
Nora walks up to me, takes my right hand in both of hers and turns it over, examining the split skin. I realize there’s dust from the road sticking to the blood. She doesn’t say anything at first. She just steers me to the sink and turns on the cold water.
“What happened to your hands and forehead?”
“I got into a wrangle with an outsider, who might be their cartel connection. That’s how I got this,” I say, pointing to my forehead.
“What about your knuckles? Was that the potential cartel guy too?”
I shake my head. “One of the Hyenas mouthed off on the way out. He said Stripe’s comin’ for his bride.”
She freezes for a second, before speaking. “I already told you everything about the arranged marriage, Jinx. The ring. All of it. That’s the whole reason I ran. I am not going back to him.”
“I need you to understand that in their world, you’re not just a runaway club princess. You’re stolen property. And Stripe’s the kind that comes to collect.”
She turns back to the counter. “Do you think I don’t know that? It’s been on my mind, along with you being out in theirterritory where they can get to you and them spying on me with their drones. It’s like I can’t win, no matter what I do. And that’s why I went from making one pan of biscuits to a dozen. More stress equals more biscuits. You can probably do the math on exactly how scared I am.”
“I’ve got a good grasp of the biscuit math.” I shut the water off and wrap my hand in the dish towel lying nearby. “Hey. Look at me.” When she does, I explain calmly. “Sneakin’ a drone over a wall is one thing, but them layin’ their hands on you is different. There are dozens of men in this compound who’d die before they let that happen, and I’m first in line.”
“That’s what scares me,” she says quietly. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt or killed because of me, least of all you.”
My chest aches for her because she’s afraid of losing all the people she’s gotten close to at our clubhouse. I reach out and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
