*
Dawn felt like a human sacrifice. Summoned to the Sinner clubhouse to meet Cade when he returned from Whitefish, she had dressed in her favorite red, stretch knit dress, added a pair of killer heels and prepped like she was going out for a night on the town. Sexy and sophisticated, her dress had a fitted bodice with a deep V neckline, an open back with double straps, and a fitted midi-length skirt that hugged her curves. He wanted to see her; then he would see her. And after she told him just what she thought of his evenings full of blood, strippers, sex and sweet butts, she’d take the damn welcome out the door. He’d had one free pass. He didn’t get another.
Yesterday had been a brutal reminder of the violence and misogyny inherent in the one-percenter lifestyle. And yet she couldn’t reconcile the man who had allegedly killed Rusty and spent the night with a Demon Spawn sweet butt with the man who had pushed her children on the swings and done so much to protect her. So she’d come to the clubhouse to assure herself she wasn’t making a mistake, to end it before she became emotionally entangled with the wrong kind of guy. But damned if she wouldn’t give him something to remember her by.
“Smile. You look like you’re at a funeral.” Arianne jabbed her in the side and Dawn shifted along the worn, brown couch.
“I am. My funeral.” She lowered her voice so only Arianne could hear. “How awkward is this going to be? I don’t even know why he asked me to be here. Maybe he just wants to tell me it’s over, which would save me from having to do it. Or maybe he just wants someone to warm his bed now that he’s finished with his Demon Spawn sweet butt. He wasn’t ashamed or even apologetic. He didn’t even bother to answer my text last night until an hour later, and only then to ask what I was wearing. Like he’d done her and was ready for more. I believed him last time about Peelers, but this is too much.”
“What happens on the road…” Arianne turned up the volume of the crime show they’d been watching, sufficiently violent to keep T-Rex and Tank entertained, but not violent enough for Dax or Bandit who were throwing darts at the far side of the living room … at each other.
“Stays on the road,” Tank said with a grin. The heavily built junior patch could have been T-Rex’s dark-haired twin. He had the same build and easygoing nature, although he didn’t seem too bright.
Tanya, the house mama, looked over from her seat beside Dawn and scowled. “Stupid rule. If you ask me, it’s just a license for men to sleep around.” She brushed back her sleek chestnut bob, and Dawn felt a stab of jealousy. Even her stylist, Kitty, couldn’t fight Dawn’s curls, and had suggested wigs as a preferable disguise for her secret before-and after-school visits.
“We all know you’re hot for the new prospect, and you’re wondering if he enjoyed some Demon Spawn hospitality up in Whitefish,” Tank said.
“If I was his old lady and he did, it would be…” Tanya drew her finger across her throat and Dawn laughed.
“I’m with you there, except I told Cade I would use a gun on certain delicate parts of his anatomy.”
“You can hurt a man worse by breaking his heart,” T-Rex said. “We’re not made of stone. Take Zane, for example. He was hurt so bad, he can’t even look at a woman.”
“He doesn’t have a heart.” Tank snorted a laugh. “It was ripped out, rubbed in salt, stomped on…”
Laughter rang out around them as the brothers shared their impressions of Zane muttering about the inconstancy of women.
“We need to get him out to a strip bar,” Tank said. “He doesn’t even go to Peelers and Cade’s got a table—”
T-Rex cut him off with a sharp, indiscreet jab to the ribs, but Dawn forced a laugh.
“I know about Peelers. And was thinking I might get some of the ladies to join me over at Lucky Larry’s on Thursday nights. They have free booze and male strippers, and for an extra twenty dollars we get a private dance.”
“I’m in.” Arianne licked her lips and grinned. “I wonder what Jagger will do.”
But her smile faded when Cade staggered into the room, his face bruised and bloody, and his shirt torn.
“What happened to you?” she said.
“Ambush. But we managed to take a prisoner. Zane’s locking him up downstairs.” His gaze flicked to Dawn and his mouth tightened. Aside from the fact he’d been badly beaten, Dawn could tell right away he’d overheard the conversation, and he wasn’t pleased. The cords in his neck were standing in sharp relief, and he looked like he wanted to punch someone.
She hoped it wasn’t her.
“You’re here.” His voice cracked and in that moment she knew this wasn’t meant to be a good-bye. But knowing where he’d spent the night, she wasn’t about to jump into his arms.
“You summoned me so nicely, I couldn’t say no.”