Rough Justice (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #1)(106)

*

Stay strong. Stay strong.

Arianne carefully worked the lock on the handcuffs binding her hands behind her back. Bear had tied her to a chair in the center of the dimly lit warehouse, and she had to take care that no one realized she’d grabbed a loose nail when he’d thrown her to the floor.

Jeff was hunched against the wall a few feet away, clearly suffering the effects of withdrawal. “You got anything on you, Ari?” He spoke in a low whisper. “Even a joint? Or a prescription? Painkillers?”

“Unlock these cuffs, and I’ll take care of you the way you took care of me at Bunny’s.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice. Trusting Wheels, desperate to save Jagger, she’d walked right into a trap. Although she’d had her gun ready when she walked into the warehouse, Bear and Jeff had been waiting for her. Taking her by surprise, they’d grabbed her from either side, disarmed her, and thrown her to the floor.

She glanced around, assessing her best route for escape. Light filtered through dirty, broken windows dotted around the perimeter of the ten-thousand-square-foot space. Concrete floor. Boxes and barrels in the corners. Delivery truck in the far corner, back open, crates of guns on the floor. A second door at the back. Her weapon lay on the floor, only a few feet out of reach.

She had to get out before Viper arrived, because she knew what was going to happen. This wasn’t meant to be a family reunion. It was an execution.

A pained expression crossed Jeff’s face. “I’m sorry, Ari. I was tweaking and I couldn’t think straight. I just wanted to go to Bunny’s place to get some meth. It was Axle’s idea to sell you.”

“You could have stopped him. You could have taken the drugs and gone.” She made no effort to hide the bitterness in her tone. “But you couldn’t, could you? Because you didn’t have any money to pay. But you had me.”

“I was trying to save you.” Jeff scraped a hand through his hair and whined. “Viper wants you dead. I figured at least you’d be gone and alive that way. I did it for you and I paid the price. He punished me for it. He beat me so bad, I was coughing up blood, and he cut off my supply. He cares about you more than he cares for me.”

Her lip curled. “He punished you because you tried to sell his property. That’s how he thinks of me. Property. And you’re pathetic. You’ve let the drugs and your need for his approval destroy your life. If you’d come with me that night you picked up the passports instead of going to the Sinner clubhouse, you’d be clean by now, and we’d be in Canada, living a better life.”

“I don’t deserve a better life.” He slid farther down the wall and moaned. “You don’t know what I did, Ari. I’ll never forgive myself, and the drugs are the only thing that takes away the pain. That and Viper’s approval.”

“Well, you’re going about it the wrong way.” The lock released with a soft click, and she stilled. If the cuffs slipped off her wrist, her efforts would be wasted.

The door opened and closed, and the air chilled. She didn’t need to look up to know Viper was in the building. His hulking presence sent a shiver down her spine, and she had to swallow back the bile that rose in her throat when he stalked across the warehouse toward them.

“Shut the f*ck up.” Viper cuffed Jeff on the head. “Don’t get too cozy with your sister. She’s done. And you’re gonna be the one holding her down when I slice up that pretty face as a message to Jagger when I dump her body at his f*cking gate.”

He grabbed Arianne’s hair and yanked her head back. “You disappointed me, girl. Thought you had balls, but it turns out you’re as weak as your brother. A man waves his dick in your direction, and you drop everything and run. Honor. Loyalty. Family. They mean nothing to you. Before you dishonored our club, if I had to choose between you and Jeff, I woulda chosen you ’cause I thought you had a spine of steel like your old man. But now I know you’re just like your whore of a mother, willing to throw everything away for a bit of cock.”

“Fuck you.” She braced herself for a blow, but Viper just laughed.

“Not me. But Bear’s earned a reward, and I gave him my word: You’re his after I’ve marked you until he doesn’t want you anymore.”

Her heartbeat thrashed in her ears, and her defiance trickled away. No one knew she was here. Wheels had betrayed the Sinners. Dawn and Banks would have thought she’d gone. Jeff was totally lost to her. And after last night, Jagger wouldn’t be looking for her.

She had never felt so alone.

*

He ran.

Up the stairs, through the house, and then he was outside. Arianne.

Heart thudding. Lungs burning. Thighs aching. Arianne.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had run—really run. Not the casual jog he took every morning, but a full-out sprint, his feet barely touching the grass as he raced toward his motorcycle.

Even as his mind screamed for him to go faster, and his heart pounded against his ribs, memories assailed him. A barren desert. A helicopter hovering just outside the range of enemy fire. The crack of weapons. Bullets pinging around him. But he wasn’t in Afghanistan now. And he wasn’t carrying an injured man on his shoulders. And the enemy fire … it came from within. But this time he drew strength from the past, from the pain. This time he would not fail.