Rough Justice (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #1)(79)
“Get changed.”
Arianne startled at his harsh tone. What the hell was going on with him? Did he think she was going to meet Jeff, do the exchange, and take off right away? Despite his change in demeanor, her heart still ached at the thought of leaving him. But she needed to see Jeff one last time. She needed to assure herself she had done everything she could to help him and that he was committed to staying with Viper. Only then would she truly be free to decide what to do.
“Maybe she shouldn’t go in with a gun,” Cade said. “She might get stopped and draw attention to herself. Plus, I’d feel safer being in an enclosed space if Arianne was armed with something less dangerous, like a blade.”
“If I threw a blade at you, Cade, I guarantee I wouldn’t miss,” she said in exasperation.
“No blades,” Jagger snapped, without even a glimmer of humor in his tone. “Especially if you’re planning to throw them at Cade.” He motioned for T-Rex and Wheels, who had been waiting patiently near the bikes, to check the perimeter.
“I wouldn’t be throwing it at Cade.” Arianne pressed her lips together and glared, but Jagger was distracted, checking out their secluded corner for a possible ambush.
Arianne unfastened her jacket, shivering as cool air blew through her fine silk shirt, and then tugged off her leather trousers, handing them to Jagger to put in his pack. True to form, Jagger had pawed through the duffel bag she’d packed at her apartment after giving her standard jeans and T-shirt attire a thumbs-down, given they were trying to attract as little attention as possible in the strip club.
“This.” He’d tossed a black skirt and a slinky gold top, cut low and draping down the back, on the bed, then walked out of the room.
So she’d worn them. Not simply to avoid another confrontation so near the end of their time together, but also because he had been uncharacteristically subdued, almost angry when he returned from his meeting with Zane.
She traded her biker boots for a pair of stilettos from Jagger’s bag and then watched as he paced around the parking lot, his muscular body fading in and out of the shadows. How could she let him go? How could she leave Conundrum when her heart was here? What if everything she had been looking for was standing in front of her, wearing a Sinner cut and an angry scowl? In her heart, she knew Jeff had made his choice. And she had made her choice, too. She just hadn’t been able to accept it. Maybe now was the time.
“Jagger. I need to talk to you before we go in. I need to tell you something.”
He held out his hand. “Give me your phone.”
Without thinking, Arianne handed over her phone, fully expecting him to add more numbers to her address book in case of an emergency. Instead, he tucked the phone in his pocket and gestured for Cade and T-Rex to precede them into the club.
“Hey, I need that.” She reached for his pocket, and Jagger slapped her hand away.
“So you can text your brother and tell him how many of us are here?”
Confused by his angry, accusatory tone, Arianne let her hand drop and gave him a puzzled frown. “What are you talking about? I came here to talk to him, and I agreed to you joining me solely on the condition that you stayed in the background so he wouldn’t get scared away. We aren’t a threat to you. I thought if he still wanted to go, we’d make a plan to leave, but not tonight, and—”
He drew her into the shadows beneath the west wall of the nightclub, his expression dark, almost primal with emotion. “It’s so damn easy for you to walk away, isn’t it? You got what you wanted from me—safety, protection, someone to watch your back. You know all about the club. All about me. You had your bit of fun, and now you’re just going to turn and leave. Back to the Jacks, Arianne? With information that could destroy the Sinners? Will Viper give you a blood patch for taking out Cole?”
Stunned, Arianne took a step back, hitting the cold brick wall with a soft thud. “What are you talking about? I haven’t betrayed you. I didn’t kill Cole. I’m not going back to Viper. And no, it’s not easy to walk away. I’ve been second-guessing my decision ever since … ever since…” Ever since I realized how much I care about you. But his fury tangled her tongue, and the words wouldn’t come out.
Jagger closed the distance between them and caged her against the wall, his body quivering with pent-up emotion, eyes ablaze. “Then make another choice.” His voice cracked, pain and desperation slivering through the anger.
Arianne’s chin shot up. “I need to see Jeff first. I promised myself I would get away the first time mom wasn’t there to protect us. Every day I woke up and made the same promise. Every job I took, everything I have done since I was nine years old has brought me here. Being with you made me look at things in a different way. It made me take off the blinders. Now part of me desperately wants to stay, but another part of me is afraid that if I don’t go, he’ll destroy me and Jeff, too.”
“You don’t think I can protect you.” A statement, not a question, and uttered with such venom, she flinched.
“I don’t want to be ‘protected.’” Her voice quivered with emotion. “I don’t want to live in a safe house and have a posse of Sinners following me everywhere I go. That isn’t freedom. Freedom is never having to worry about Viper. Freedom is walking down the street and not needing to carry a gun. Freedom is being able to live where I want, and go where I want, and do what I want without being afraid someone will take it away from me.”