The prospect tried and failed to hide his laughter. “That’s fucking awesome. Says it all. I hope your old lady doesn’t find out. Might make her worried you’ll go back to doing whatever it was you did to earn that name.”
“I’m done with that shit,” Cade said. “No more boozing and babes for me. I’m gonna be a one-woman man.” He just had to convince Dawn to keep his cut.
“So what are you still doing here when Mad Dog’s outta jail? Shouldn’t you be protecting your old lady?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Cade shot out of his chair and grabbed the prospect’s shirt, yanking him forward. “We were just talking to Wolf, making plans for the patch-over this morning. He didn’t say anything.”
“Maybe he didn’t know.” Sweat beaded on the prospect’s forehead. “I got a line into the sheriff’s office, and a hookup to a police scanner. They released Mad Dog at noon. He got some big-shot lawyer from New York handling his case. I just found out about it, but I figured you already knew.”
“Christ.” He released the prospect and called Dawn. When he left early this morning she was getting ready to take the girls to the park. When she didn’t answer, he sent her a text telling her to get the girls, pack some bags, and meet him at home. There was a safe house above Sparky’s shop. He’d take them there until after the election.
If there was an election. Because he’d had it with all the crap. After Dawn and the girls were safe, he was going hunting.
*
Dawn wheeled Maia’s princess suitcase into the hallway. She’d packed as quickly as she could after receiving Cade’s message, but dammit, she didn’t want to run again—not even to a Sinner safe house. She’d been running away since her family died. First from her uncle, and then from the streets, and now from Jimmy all over again. She wanted to stand up to him the way she had when he broke into her house. But this time, she wouldn’t make any mistakes.
Her phone rang and Doug started speaking after she said hello, his words clipped and his voice unusually abrupt.
“Jimmy’s out of jail. There was nothing I could do. The lawyer he hired is a big-time criminal attorney and he had the sheriff’s head spinning with all the things he said had gone wrong with the arrest. Where are you?”
“I’m at home. I know about Jimmy. But it’s okay. I’m going—”
“Get out of the house, Dawn. Get out now. Get on the bus and come to the police station. I’m just outside of town. I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes. I can get you into a safe house and from there we can arrange for witness protection.”
“Cade is coming. He’s taking me—”
“Don’t make this mistake again.” Doug’s voice rose to a shout. “He can’t save you. When Jimmy dumped the body at your house, you came to me. In your heart you knew I could protect you. Cade is a biker through and through. He’s going to use you the way Jimmy did. He’s playing off your fears with false promises. He doesn’t care for you the way I do. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Bile rose in her throat. She had done nothing to encourage Doug beyond friendship, and she couldn’t understand why he didn’t get the message. And Cade … Doug was wrong about him. She trusted him, and she trusted herself enough now to know she wasn’t making the same mistake she’d made with Jimmy.
“I’ve made my choice. I love him. And Conundrum is my home. I’m a Sinner now, Doug. I’ve found myself and I’ve found my place. I’m not going to let Jimmy take it away.”
I love him. The rightness of the words rippled softly through her body, warming her from her fingers to her toes. Why had she been such a fool? Last night, with Jimmy in jail and their deal effectively done, she had actually considered giving back her cut. Now she wished he would hurry so she could wear it for him, tell him that she loved him, and then spend a lifetime showing him just how much.
“You aren’t thinking straight. I’m on my way.” Doug hung up before she had a chance to say anything else, and Dawn’s heart squeezed in her chest. He had been a good friend to her but he had pushed this protection thing just a little bit too far. She wondered again about his sister, and what had happened to her that had made him so determined to run roughshod over Dawn’s life.
Dawn turned on the television and settled the girls on the couch as she packed up the rest of their bags. A BREAKING NEWS banner flashed on the screen, and the familiar face of Ella Masters, Conundrum’s up-and-coming news reporter, appeared on the screen. Standing under an umbrella, her sleek brown bob irritatingly unaffected by the humidity, she gestured behind her to a sea of police cars and an east-end alley closed off with police tape and announced that Bernie DeMarco, otherwise known as Wolf, president of the outlaw motorcycle club the Devil’s Brethren, had been found dead less than an hour ago.