“That’s not what I mean. I know someone who might know how to find Jimmy’s private investigator, or the identity of the person who filmed the fake drug deal behind the school. If I could find at least one person who could testify it was all a setup, I would feel better about your promise to get my girls back because then I wouldn’t have to worry about the police or courts taking them away. Ever.”
“The people who were involved in that scam aren’t the kind of people who are going to stand up in court and confess.”
Dawn heaved a sigh, her arousal fading. “I have to try. I can’t live under the shadow of that decision. And I’m not about to do anything stupid. I’m just going to have a conversation, but it isn’t with someone I can see alone.”
Cade’s eyes darkened and his arms came up around her. “Who do you want to see?”
“Bunny.” A shady underworld kingpin and sometime human trafficker, with connections everywhere, Bunny was a man who traded in information. He knew everyone and everything. If you wanted something, he could get it. If you needed information, he knew it. But his services came with a price.
A price Dawn had already paid. Bunny had her mark, and it was time to call it in.
“Son of a bitch.” Cade’s muscles bunched under her hands. “No. Absolutely not. No fucking way are you gonna see that slime-sucking dirt bag. Look what happened to Arianne.”
“He’s not the one who chained her in his basement and tried to sell her into slavery. That was her brother. And that other guy, the ex-Sinner who tried to slit her throat…”
“Axle.”
“Jeff and Axle were the ones who hurt her. Bunny saved her.”
Cade gave an irritated snort. “Only because Jagger beat the shit out of him after you brought Arianne to him to negotiate a deal.”
“He owes me, Cade. Jimmy made me dance. At strip clubs.” Her words came out so fast they ran over one another. This was a part of her life she didn’t want to share, but Cade had opened up about his past and she wanted to do the same. “Bunny had a table at the club where I danced. We had an arrangement Jimmy didn’t know about. So now I can call in a favor. If you don’t come with me, then Arianne will.”
“He saw you naked.”
She knew from his tone of voice exactly where this conversation was going to go. “Yes.”
“No.”
“I was asking for your help. Not your permission.” Dawn glared, although it wasn’t easy to be angry when he was naked, on top of her, and their heated conversation had clearly not diminished his arousal in the least.
“You get neither.”
“Then you don’t get an old lady.” She tilted her hips until he was poised at her entrance. “And you don’t get your sexy times.”
“That was supposed to be my line.”
Dawn eased down the tiniest bit. “Say yes, Cade, or we’re both going to suffer.”
He thrust deep and hard, filling her so completely she almost came right then.
“Yes,” he said.
Dawn leaned up and kissed him. “Yes.”
TWELVE
I will ride until the ride is done, and then I’ll ride again.
SINNER’S TRIBE CREED
Saturday night. Party night.
At least for the brothers without old ladies. For the brother whose impulsive nature had landed him with an old lady who didn’t want to be an old lady at all, the party Jagger had staged for the big announcement of Cade’s new “old man” status was a sedate affair. Sure the sweet butts, lays, house mamas, and hang-arounds had been invited, and as usual they were dressed to undress in skimpy minis and tiny tanks, but it was hands off for Cade and hands on for the unattached brothers in Riders Bar.
Cade had spent last night at the clubhouse, catching up with his executive board work. His aptitude for numbers had made him a natural for the position as treasurer, but he wasn’t looking forward to sharing the news that their finances had taken a massive hit as a result of the war with the Jacks. Unfortunately, the time alone had made him second-guess his plan to make Dawn his pretend old lady.
What the hell had he been thinking, baring his soul to her the other night? No one knew about his parents. Not even Jagger. And he didn’t want her sympathy. He’d dealt with that situation and moved on. After he’d received the letter about his mother’s death, he never returned to his hometown, never contacted his father in jail; hell, he’d never even visited his mother’s grave. Even when his aunt emailed a few years later to tell him his father died of a heart attack in prison he hadn’t gone home for the funeral.