Sinner's Steel (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #3)(46)
“No.”
“I’ll get my grandma to whip me up a pair. She’ll be overjoyed to see me since I haven’t visited her in six months. By the way, did I mention I’m taking you and Ty to stay with my grandma in Joliet? You’ll love her, but she’s got a sewing addiction. So bring an extra suitcase ’cause you won’t need to buy clothes for you or Ty for the next few years.”
*
Evie hit the ground running when they arrived at her house. She paid Moira and sent her home, then tugged the suitcases out from under the bed and threw in her clothes and supplies. Connie raced to Ty’s room and filled a bag with toys and clothes.
“What’s going on?” Ty stood in the doorway, his forehead creased in confusion.
“We’re going on a little holiday.” Evie tore a dress off its hanger. “Connie has invited us to spend some time with her grandmother in Joliet. She says there are lots of kids there to play with.”
“What about your work?”
Evie paused, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to worry him either. “I’m taking some time off.”
Before he could answer, the front door banged open. “Evie. Thank f*ck.” Jagger stalked across the room and pulled her into a warm hug. “When I got Tank’s message … Christ. We thought you’d been bur—”
“I’m okay,” she said quickly, mindful of Ty in the hallway behind her.
“Jacks are on the move.” Jagger heaved in a breath. “Shooter spotted three of them heading this way.”
“No.” Evie took a step back. “Viper said I had a day. He was going to…” She stumbled over her words. “Take me, and then T-Rex offered himself in my place. He thought Viper would trade to get his old lady back.”
“Well from the looks of it, he’s coming for you now,” Jagger said. “Zane stopped at the clubhouse to pick up a cage. He’ll be here any minute to take you and Ty to our safe house. I’ll make sure Connie gets home. Shooter and Tank are gonna try to intercept them and Cade is coming with some brothers.”
She stuffed clothes in her suitcase, glanced down the hall to make sure Ty was out of earshot. “I don’t want this, Jagger.” Her voice wavered. “I don’t want to be part of this world. And I don’t understand why Viper is doing this. I ended it with him last night. Doesn’t he realize if he wants me, hurting me and my friends and forcing me to go with him is entirely the wrong thing to do?”
“You’re thinking about him like he’s a normal man, a civilian.” Jagger pulled the curtains on her windows. “He might want you, but it’s in his nature to be cruel and violent. He might have been able to hide it, even enjoy playing the game, but there was only one way the game was going to end, and it was with you in his bed even if he had to hurt you to get you there. He’s a man who takes what he wants, and from the moment you caught his interest, he was never going to leave you alone.”
“Everything was fine until you and Zane showed up at the shop. Before that, he was a different man.” She zipped the case closed and grabbed her coat.
Jagger gave her a tight smile. “When we showed up, we just added politics to the mix. He wants you even more now because a Sinner wants you. And I wouldn’t put it past him to use you as a pawn in the bigger game. The Sinners and the Jacks have been warring over dominance in the state for years. He might not want to use you, but he will. He might not want to hurt you or break you, but he won’t be able to stop himself. He is who he is, Evie. He loved his daughter, Arianne, but he was prepared to kill her when he found out she was with me.”
“You think he would kill me?” She stared at him aghast.
“I think he would break you,” Jagger said. “And if he does, death would be a mercy.”
THIRTEEN
Just getting your repair started can be the hardest part of the whole job.
—SINNER’S TRIBE MOTORCYCLE REPAIR MANUAL
“Evie!” Zane bolted from the Sinner SUV and crossed the lawn to Evie. Ripping the suitcase from her hand, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. Relief flooded him, becoming a shuddery ache as she melted into his body. She was okay. His Evie was alive. Even when he’d received the text from Tank, he hadn’t believed it. He had to see her for himself. Hold her. Assure himself it wasn’t all a dream.
“Zane, I can’t breathe.” She pushed gently at his shoulders and he loosened his hold, but he couldn’t let her go.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I’m okay.”
He tried to release her. But no. His arms weren’t cooperating. He wanted her here against his chest, feeling her heartbeat forever.
“Baby, you’ve got to let me go.”
Baby. She’d started using that term of endearment her last year of high school, when Zane would meet her after work, dirty from a day hauling lumber and framing buildings, when he looked nothing like a baby and more like the kind of man who shouldn’t be spending time with a girl like her. But he loved the term of endearment. Loved that it was only for him.
With a sigh he released her. Still unable to speak, he lifted Ty in his arms, and grabbed Evie’s hand, half dragging, half pulling her to the vehicle parked outside her house. The boy weighed almost nothing, and he wondered if Evie had been feeding him right. How much were eight-year-old boys supposed to weigh? Maybe he would ask Dax. With five boys under his belt, Dax would know everything about raising a son. Less, though, about relationship troubles he and Sandy had been happily married since they graduated from high school.