Beyond the Cut (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #2)(40)
After texting the prospect to meet them outside the hotel, they walked down the main street, and then turned up an alley. The air had cooled rapidly since the sun set, and Cade’s skin prickled despite the hoodie he wore over his T-shirt.
Or maybe it wasn’t the cold.
Too late he heeded the warning. Gravel crunched behind them, and two men stepped into the alley from the road ahead.
“Two behind us,” Zane murmured, half turning.
“Son of a bitch.” Cade drew his weapon as the two men in front walked toward them. “It’s Mad Dog. What the f*ck is he doing here? And with Matchstick?”
“Maybe he came to help us load the missing weapons.” Zane drew his weapon and positioned himself to cover Cade’s back.
“Maybe he’s tired of living and came here to find me ’cause I’ll be happy to take care of that problem for him tonight.”
“Jagger gave his word. He’s untouchable.”
Cade’s lips pressed into a thin line, his body tense and thrumming with energy as the enemy approached. “I’m beginning to regret that decision. You shoulda seen what he did to Dawn’s face.”
“I saw what he did to your tat.” He glanced over his shoulder at Cade. “Noted that you weren’t enjoying Demon Spawn’s hospitality.”
“Nope.”
“So … you and Dawn … there’s more than just the usual one-night stand?”
Christ. Of all people to call him out, it had to be Zane. The dark horse. The man who’d been burned by a woman so bad, he kept all women at bay. But what the hell. Even if they made it out of this ambush alive, it wasn’t like Zane was going to tell anyone. The dude had no close friends except Jagger and, except for tonight’s outburst, he rarely talked to the brothers.
“Yeah. Maybe. I dunno. Never met a woman who’s gone through so much shit and come out of it so soft and sweet. But she’s a fighter. No matter what Mad Dog throws at her, she meets it head-on.”
A smile played about Zane’s lips. A f*cking smile. Cade had never seen Zane smile. He looked almost … normal.
“I might just be looking the other way if something happens to Mad Dog. Man’s gotta protect what’s his.”
He almost couldn’t believe the words he’d just heard. Zane? On his side? And because he thought Cade and Dawn were tight?
“You looking the other way now?”
“I am indeed.”
*
Dawn felt like a human sacrifice. Summoned to the Sinner clubhouse to meet Cade when he returned from Whitefish, she had dressed in her favorite red, stretch knit dress, added a pair of killer heels and prepped like she was going out for a night on the town. Sexy and sophisticated, her dress had a fitted bodice with a deep V neckline, an open back with double straps, and a fitted midi-length skirt that hugged her curves. He wanted to see her; then he would see her. And after she told him just what she thought of his evenings full of blood, strippers, sex and sweet butts, she’d take the damn welcome out the door. He’d had one free pass. He didn’t get another.
Yesterday had been a brutal reminder of the violence and misogyny inherent in the one-percenter lifestyle. And yet she couldn’t reconcile the man who had allegedly killed Rusty and spent the night with a Demon Spawn sweet butt with the man who had pushed her children on the swings and done so much to protect her. So she’d come to the clubhouse to assure herself she wasn’t making a mistake, to end it before she became emotionally entangled with the wrong kind of guy. But damned if she wouldn’t give him something to remember her by.
“Smile. You look like you’re at a funeral.” Arianne jabbed her in the side and Dawn shifted along the worn, brown couch.
“I am. My funeral.” She lowered her voice so only Arianne could hear. “How awkward is this going to be? I don’t even know why he asked me to be here. Maybe he just wants to tell me it’s over, which would save me from having to do it. Or maybe he just wants someone to warm his bed now that he’s finished with his Demon Spawn sweet butt. He wasn’t ashamed or even apologetic. He didn’t even bother to answer my text last night until an hour later, and only then to ask what I was wearing. Like he’d done her and was ready for more. I believed him last time about Peelers, but this is too much.”
“What happens on the road…” Arianne turned up the volume of the crime show they’d been watching, sufficiently violent to keep T-Rex and Tank entertained, but not violent enough for Dax or Bandit who were throwing darts at the far side of the living room … at each other.
“Stays on the road,” Tank said with a grin. The heavily built junior patch could have been T-Rex’s dark-haired twin. He had the same build and easygoing nature, although he didn’t seem too bright.
Tanya, the house mama, looked over from her seat beside Dawn and scowled. “Stupid rule. If you ask me, it’s just a license for men to sleep around.” She brushed back her sleek chestnut bob, and Dawn felt a stab of jealousy. Even her stylist, Kitty, couldn’t fight Dawn’s curls, and had suggested wigs as a preferable disguise for her secret before-and after-school visits.
“We all know you’re hot for the new prospect, and you’re wondering if he enjoyed some Demon Spawn hospitality up in Whitefish,” Tank said.
“If I was his old lady and he did, it would be…” Tanya drew her finger across her throat and Dawn laughed.