Beyond the Cut (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #2)(15)

Cade snorted a laugh. “I didn’t know ‘good time’ was in your vocabulary.”

Reserved and fiercely private, Zane was the least fun guy Cade had ever known. He rarely drank or socialized at club functions, and Cade could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen Zane with a woman.

“That’s ’cause my idea of a good time doesn’t involve hot tubs, booze, and multiple women in my bed,” Zane shot back.

Cade couldn’t refute that statement, but right now there was only one woman he wanted in his bed, and he’d put her in danger. “What about Dawn? Mad Dog threatened to drag her back to his clubhouse. He’s using their kids as leverage.”

Zane gave a derisory snort. “She’s a civilian. If she needs help, she can call the police.”

“Zane’s right,” Jagger said. “We can’t get involved in a marital dispute between a Brethren member and his old lady, especially if we’re negotiating terms of a patch-over. If you want to get involved in their affairs, you’ll have to do it without your cut.”

Without my cut? Cade barely processed the rest of Jagger’s words. He hadn’t gone anywhere without his colors since the day he first put them on. Hell, sometimes he slept in them. Jagger might as well ask him to cut off his right arm. His colors were everything—a symbol of a new life where he wasn’t burdened by the past, where the only person he had to look out for was himself, and where his brothers had his back. His cut was his creed: freedom, loyalty, and brotherhood.

Life.

*

“One thousand dollars?” Dawn stared at Shelly-Ann aghast. “I don’t have one thousand dollars just sitting around the house. I’ve given you the money for this week. I have the girls for six hours.”

Maia and Tia clung to her, their fingers digging through her clothes. Tia’s soft whimpers sliced through a heart. Her girls weren’t stupid. They knew exactly what was going on and it twisted her heart that they understood blackmail at the tender age of seven.

“You got three hours with them unless you come up with the cash,” Shelly-Ann rasped from the window of her vehicle. She looked worse than she sounded today, her face pale and sallow, dark circles under her eyes, and her nose rimmed red. “You found a way to give me what I wanted before; you’ll do it again.”

Dawn pushed the girls behind her and out of sight of Shelly-Ann. “I have nothing left and you know it. I’m working three jobs. I sold my car. I’m renting my house. I buy nothing. I go nowhere. What do you need more money for?”

Shelly-Ann pressed her lips together. “Kids are expensive.”

“Not that expensive.” Taking a chance, Dawn leaned in and lowered her voice. “You’re in some kind of trouble, aren’t you? Don’t involve my girls, Shelly-Ann. They’re just children. It isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t f*cking fair,” Shelly-Ann spat out. “Thought you’d already figured that one out.”

“I’ll give you what I’ve got.” Dawn pulled out her purse and gave Shelly-Ann her tip money and pay from Banks Bar. “There’s six hundred there. I can ask my landlord for a month grace on my rent. But I can’t do it again next week.”

“Then you won’t see your kids next week.” Shelly-Ann snatched the money and stuffed it in her purse. “You’re lucky I got a massage and hair appointment booked for this afternoon. You got your six hours but you owe me. Next week I won’t let them outta the car till you make it good.”

Dawn sagged against a tree as soon as Shelly-Ann’s vehicle peeled out of the parking lot. For the longest time, Shelly-Ann had been content with the money Dawn and Jimmy paid her, but in the last few weeks her demands had increased, and Dawn had nothing left to give. What was going on? Between her and Jimmy, they had to be giving Shelly-Ann at least five thousand dollars a month.

“Mom. There’s a biker staring at us?” Maia tugged on Dawn’s arm and pointed across the playground to a lone biker in the parking lot. From this distance, Dawn couldn’t see the patch on his cut, but he didn’t look like any of the members of the Devil’s Brethren she knew. Still, given what Cade had said about Jimmy coming for her, she couldn’t take any chances.

“Let’s go to the concession stand.” Feigning calm, she slowed the swing and helped Tia down. She tried to make the most of every minute of her Sunday access visits with the girls. Now that the weather was warmer, they could venture outside again, and the park was their favorite place to play.

“He’s getting off his bike.” Tia’s voice dropped to a whisper and she plastered herself against Dawn’s side.

“What if it’s Jimmy?” Maia’s small face paled. “What if he wants to hurt us or take us away?”

“I won’t let that happen.” She gave Tia a squeeze and reached for Maia’s hand, wondering if they believed her. After all, she had effectively let Jimmy take them away last year, albeit through the courts, and she hadn’t been able to stop him from hitting Tia …

Stop. She slammed a mental wall down, blocking out all the feelings of despair, frustration, and self-doubt that had plagued her since she lost custody of the girls. That road led right back to Jimmy and a loss of the self-worth that she had rebuilt, brick by brick, over the three years since she left him. No one could have foreseen how he would use the courts against her, or that he had the wherewithal to fabricate evidence and pay off a judge. If she couldn’t stay strong and believe in herself, she would never get them back.