Sinner's Steel (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #3)(18)
Evie leaned out and waved the bikers over to the house. Yeah, the blond guy was cute, but she wasn’t looking for a man. She hadn’t had a serious relationship since Mark, and Viper was just … an interesting distraction. Especially now that she’d seen Zane. She brought her fingers to her cheek, remembering the heat of his breath, and how she had almost let him kiss her.
Zane.
The intense connection and chemistry that had first drawn them together hadn’t changed. But she had. She was finally in control of her life. No longer at the mercy of her mother’s emotional abuse, or longing for a father who was rarely home, she had embraced normal to the extent she knew what normal was. She made her own choices, cleaned up her own messes, and occasionally let her wild side out to play. And that most definitely wasn’t going to be with the man who had left her alone and pregnant, wishing on a promise he didn’t keep.
She let Connie fuss over the bikers while she called to check up on Ty and chatted with him about his game. By the time she made it outside, Connie had everything ready: coffee, sandwiches, and cookies. She introduced Evie to the bikers, dark-haired Tank and his companion, T-Rex.
“Much obliged for the snack.” Tank stood to make room as Evie joined them on the porch.
“Thank Connie, not me. She’s the one who felt sorry for you standing out in the rain.”
Tank leaned back and stretched out his long legs, the patio chair creaking beneath his weight as they chatted about the town and the club. He was a bear of a man, but all muscle and no flab, with a cheeky smile and a dry sense of humor. She could see why Connie was practically drooling over him. T-Rex had a similar build to Tank, but without the bulk. He was fun and easygoing and she was surprised to hear he didn’t have a girlfriend. Connie gave her a nudge when T-Rex made the big reveal, but he was too nice, even though he was an outlaw, and Evie had never been attracted to the “nice” guys.
Still, she’d never thought outlaw bikers could be such fun, and when Connie switched their coffee for beer, and the conversation turned flirtatious, she felt the stress of the last two days sliding away. Between the jokes and the laughter, they all turned a blind eye to the fact the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. And when T-Rex put a hand on Evie’s knee as he leaned over to get another beer, she wondered if she’d been too hasty dismissing the nice guys. Maybe that’s what she needed in her life. Someone relaxed and even-tempered, without a hint of Zane’s dark, brooding, passionate depths, or Viper’s feral power.
And just as Zane’s face flickered through her mind, there he was. How he had managed to drive down her street and climb the steps without any of them noticing was beyond her, save as a testament to just how much fun they’d been having.
“Jesus f*cking Christ,” he snapped by way of greeting. “What the hell is going on?”
SIX
Think before you act. If you do impulsive, stupid things, you will break parts.
—SINNER’S TRIBE MOTORCYCLE REPAIR MANUAL
Evie gently removed T-Rex’s hand from her leg and stood to greet her guests. But Zane clearly wasn’t interested in hellos. His gaze locked on T-Rex and his lips peeled back in a snarl.
“What the f*ck are you doing touching her?”
Zane’s companion, a young, slightly crazed-looking biker with a thin, angular face and a dark, pointed goatee joined him on the porch, and pulled a gun from his cut.
“You want me to take someone out?” He waved the gun vaguely over their small group and Connie screamed.
“Dammit, Shooter. Put that away. We’re in a residential area and if someone calls the f*cking cops, I’m not bailing you out.” Zane slapped Shooter’s wrist and the aptly-named Shooter tucked the gun away with a mumbled apology.
T-Rex and Tank scrambled to their feet. T-Rex hung his head like a kid who’d just been called to the principal’s office, and Tank followed suit.
“It was … uh … rainin’,” Tank said. “And the ladies offered us a snack and a chance to dry off.”
Zane’s lips pressed into a thin, tight line. Evie knew that look, just as she knew the throb of the pulse in his neck. She’d seen that look back in their school days when he found out someone had hurt her, or worse, asked her out. Alarmed by his anger, Evie took a step toward him.
“Don’t.” He raised his hand and she froze, stunned by his command and his authoritative tone. So unlike the Zane she remembered. Like Jagger? he radiated power, but without Jagger’s softer edge.
“How the f*ck can you watch the street if you’re gabbing with a coupla chicks?” Zane’s hands curled into fists. “Shooter and I drove around the block, parked our bikes out front, walked right onto the porch, and you two idiots didn’t even bat an eye.”
“Sorry, man.” T-Rex held up his hands palm forward in a placating gesture. Evie gave him credit for remaining cool in a crisis. Zane had been frightening in his anger as a teenager, but now that he was a man, his intensity had ratcheted up to a whole new level.
“Sorry doesn’t cut it if someone gets killed.” Zane’s voice rose to a shout.
Worried that the confrontation would escalate out of control, Evie covered his hand with her own, startling when a zing of white lightning shot straight to her core.
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “We’re okay. No one came down the street except you.”