Beyond the Cut (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #2)(66)

Banks moved so fast all she caught was a blur at the corner of her eye, before he grabbed the bartender by the throat and yanked him down on the counter. “Don’t much care for your disrespect, beer boy. Maybe you want to rephrase your request.”

The bartender’s face turned red, then purple, and he flailed and struggled in Banks’s powerful grip.

“He can’t talk.” Dawn made no effort to hide her exasperation. “You’re crushing his windpipe. I’m sure he’ll be more polite if you allow him to breathe.”

Banks huffed and released the bartender, shoving him backward from across the bar. “How ’bout you try it from the top?”

The bartender paled and his hand flew to his throat. “Not my rules. No leather. No muscle.”

“Am I the muscle or are you the muscle?” Arianne grinned at Banks. “Since we’re both wearing leather it’s hard to tell.”

“I’ll go in alone,” Dawn said with a bravado she didn’t feel in the least. Cade was in Whitefish, and for once he wouldn’t be around to swoop in and save the day. Tonight was her night, and although she felt apprehensive, she also felt a tingle of anticipation. This was the world she had run from. Now she was back, and this time no one would push her around.

“We’re here if you need us.” Banks folded his arms. “And I’m watching the door.”

The bartender nodded and she followed him down a narrow hallway to a door guarded by two bald, thick-necked bouncers. They moved to let her pass and Dawn stepped into Bunny’s office, a drab room containing only a metal desk, a small window, and three chairs.

Pasty-faced and balding, with rounded shoulders and a visible paunch, the man sitting behind the desk could have blended into any crowd save for his eyes, cold, hard, and obsidian black.

“You.” Bunny leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. His two security guards, tall and heavily built, shifted on either side of his chair.

“Me.”

“What do you want?”

Dawn twisted her hands together. “I’m calling in my mark. There’s a video out there that shows me supposedly buying crack from a PI. Jimmy set it up to take my kids away. I want to find the PI, and I want to know who was behind the camera. I got a copy of the video from my lawyer.” She put a hand into her purse. The security guards moved forward as one. Bunny shook his head.

“You don’t have a mark with me. And if you did, you used it up when you brought Jagger’s old lady here and his goons almost slit my throat.”

“You and Arianne made a deal. That had nothing to do with me. I just made the introduction.”

“I wouldn’t have met with her if not for you. Don’t like to get involved in biker business.” He waved a dismissive hand and picked up his pen.

“But … I…” Her throat tightened and she couldn’t say the words out loud. God, she’d been so naive when she was with Jimmy, so goddamn trusting in a world where everyone was ready to stab you in the back.

“You want a favor from me, Dee, you know the price.” He looked up from his desk. “Been a long time since I saw you dance.”

Bile rose in her throat. She couldn’t do this again. She wouldn’t pay for favors with her body even for the slim chance of getting back her girls. This was a line she wouldn’t cross. There had to be another way, something Bunny might want from her … or from the Sinners.

“I’m not Dee anymore. I’m Dawn and I’m a Sinner old lady.” She spun around to show him her cut. “I don’t dance anymore, but I’m sure the value of having a mark with the Sinners would far outweigh any pleasure my dancing might give.”

“A Sinner mark?” Bunny sat back and stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. “I heard you ran away from the Brethren. Didn’t think you’d ever come back into the game.”

“Neither did I, but I discovered a strength I never knew I had.”

“Sinner strength?” He gestured at her cut.

“My strength.”

Bunny smiled. “I got dealings with the Jacks. Don’t want to get on their bad side.”

“That’s nothing compared with what will happen if you get on the Sinners’ bad side. You got a taste of that last year.” She tapped her throat in the same place Bunny sported a scar from Jagger’s knife. “My old man has a protective streak, same as Jagger’s, and he won’t be happy if he finds out you asked me to dance.”

He raised an appreciative eyebrow. “Maybe the Jacks won’t hear about it.”

“Maybe they won’t.”

“Maybe I’ll look at the tape. Sinners can owe me a favor.” He held out his hand, and Dawn gave him the USB stick she’d picked up from her lawyer’s office on her way to the pool hall.

“Maybe we will, or maybe we’ll come back and slit your throat and finish the job we started last time.”

“Christ.” Bunny chuckled. “You’re almost as bad as Jagger’s old lady.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She turned to leave and the door burst open. Chest heaving, Cade stepped over the bodies of the two guards in the hallway and pointed his gun at Bunny. Gunner, Arianne, and Banks tumbled in after him.