Rake's Redemption (Wind Dragons MC #4)(63)

Ranger drinks, a scowl on his too-handsome-for-his-own-good face.

Talon gets his next shot, so Anna drinks.

My turn again, I throw the ball and get it in.

Again.

The men both study us, realizing that this isn’t just beginners’ luck and that they’ve both been played.

Talon throws his head back and laughs, his body shaking with the effort. “Fuck, what did I tell you, Ranger? Never underestimate the Wind Dragon women; they’re all f*ckin’ vipers.”

Ranger scoffs, not as impressed as Talon with the situation. “We’ll see about that.”

We win, of course.

We end up drinking a few of the cups in the game, then more, just because.

We dance, we sing, we laugh.

The men aren’t so bad, and give us a wide berth for the most part, although I do notice a few shady-looking characters. I don’t know what Talon’s rules are for his members using drugs, but I’d have to say that a few of the men are definitely on something. The women stay out of our way. We don’t get introduced to any of them, which makes me think that there are no old ladies here.

Between all the drinking, laughing with Anna and Talon, and the people-watching, we forget one thing.

The time.

And that’s when everything goes to shit.

*

“Where the hell have the two of you been?” Rake yells, coming out of the clubhouse. He looks a mixture of furious and relieved, but I think we’ll be seeing more of the former when he hears what we’ve been up to tonight. I pay the taxi driver and get out. We had to leave Anna’s car at the Wild Men clubhouse because neither of us was sober enough to drive. Talon tried to get us to let one of his men give us a ride, as some of them hadn’t been drinking, but we knew that would only make things worse.

Yeah, we’re so f*cked.

“Arrow’s out f*ckin’ looking for you, Anna, because neither of you answered your phones,” he growls, pulling his own phone out of his pocket and sending a quick text message, probably telling Arrow that Anna was now here safe and sound.

“We’re sorry,” Anna says, stumbling a little. “We lost track of time.”

Shit.

“You’re drunk?” Rake seethes, eyeing both me and his sister with distaste. “Where the f*ck have you been? We were worried, and the two of you were just out drinking, ignoring your f*ckin’ phones?”

I watch the taxi drive away, then turn to him. “My phone died,” I tell him, pulling it out of my pocket and jiggling it around. “I’m sorry. We really did just lose track of what time it was. We had no idea it had gotten so late.”

Rake pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes momentarily, before exhaling slowly. “You weren’t at the place you said you were going to be. Arrow went there.”

I want to look at Anna, but I don’t dare. I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this one without the truth coming out and Rake and Arrow both exploding at us. I feel a lot of I told you so coming from me and heading right in Anna’s direction.

“It’s my fault,” Anna blurts out, making me glance at her face. “I told Bailey if she didn’t come with me I was going to go alone, and I knew she wouldn’t let me do that.”

Rake’s eyes narrow on his baby sister. “Tell me. Now.”

Anna looks down at her feet, cringing. “It was Talon’s birthday.”

Rake’s expression hardens at the mere mention of Talon’s name.

“So we went to wish him a happy birthday and give him his present,” she continues, shuffling her weight on each foot. “We were safe there; nothing happened to us. We just had a few drinks and forgot that we weren’t supposed to be there in the first place.”

A muscle ticks in Rake’s jaw as he processes this information. “Please, Anna, please f*ckin’ tell me you didn’t put yourself and my f*ckin’ woman in danger by taking her to the f*ckin’ Wild Men MC, the same f*ckin’ MC that broke into our clubhouse and killed Mary. The same MC that our piece-of-shit father led, you know, the father who didn’t give two shits about us but raised Talon, a man you now seem to worship for some motherf*ckin’ reason I’ll never understand. There’s shit you don’t even know too—just trust me when I say that his clubhouse isn’t a safe place to be, not like ours. Their MC is so different from ours, and you need to remember that. Never once did I think that you’d be stupid enough to go there.”

My eyes widen at all that information. Someone named Mary died? Because of the Wild Men? They broke into the Wind Dragons clubhouse? I rub my forehead, seriously not knowing what to do right now. I don’t want to get involved in a sibling argument, but at the same time I can’t let Anna take all the heat for this.

I step closer to Rake and put my hand on his arm. “Can we talk about this tomorrow? When everyone has calmed down?”

Rake looks down at my hand, then his gaze moves to my face. “Go and wait in my room, Bailey. I’ll deal with you later.”

My eyes narrow at his tone, but I know Anna and I have f*cked up. We put ourselves in danger, and I know just how much Rake loves his sister.

“Arrow will handle her,” I say quietly. “She doesn’t need to get it from you too.”

“Get inside, Anna,” he tells her, just sounding tired now. “Arrow is on his way. You can tell him this f*ckin’ story and see how he reacts.” He then looks down at me. “Are you mine?”