Jill and Tanya swooped in on Arianne as they traipsed outside. Women were few and far between at the club, and they tended to stick together. He rounded the corner and caught up to Zane as he mused over what the females might be talking about. Arianne didn’t seem the type who would be into the usual girly stuff.
Zane looked over at Arianne and twisted his lips to the side. “Smart.”
“Very.”
“Don’t know if we would have survived that punch,” Zane said quietly.
Jagger’s throat constricted. “I would have found another way.”
“You always do, but this time you had help.”
They walked through the overgrown grass, skirting around bushes badly in need of pruning, until they reached the vast expanse of the back lawn. Jagger filled his lungs with fresh air and exhaled his tension. He only ever felt relaxed outdoors, and at this property there was more than enough space for his rapidly expanding club.
“Got word back from our men on the street early this morning,” Zane said. “Rumors are goin’ around that we snatched Viper’s daughter in retaliation for the fire. It’s given us some serious street cred. We might be able to secure a coupla contracts we couldn’t get before, make some of the gangs think twice before messing with us.”
Jagger bristled. “She’s not a prisoner this time.”
“No one knows that but us.”
They stopped in the middle of the lawn and Zane looked over at Wheels, dutifully polishing the bikes at the side of the house. “Might as well have some fun with this.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I’m in that kind of mood.” Zane waved at Wheels and yelled. “Prospect. Under that tree. Now.”
Ever the obedient prospect, Wheels jumped up and ran toward the large fir tree at the edge of the forest, about twenty yards away.
“You got a nasty streak, Zane.” Jagger fought back a smile as he glanced over at the shivering prospect. “Think he’ll piss himself?”
“Nah. I’m beginning to think a lot of his bumbling around is an act. When the chips are down, he outperforms even some of the senior patch. He’s got balls; he just doesn’t want anyone to know.”
“What do you want me to do?” Wheels’ quavering voice betrayed his anxiety.
Zane raised his weapon and pointed it at the trembling prospect. “Stay still. Arianne and I are having a shoot-out, and we need a target.”
Jill and Tanya shrieked, but Arianne only rolled her eyes. Jagger chuckled. Although he could never fully participate in the high jinks, he enjoyed prospect hazing as much as his men did.
Zane grabbed a stick and threw it on the ground as a marker. Arianne stepped behind it and made a show of positioning her weapon. Jagger almost felt sorry for Wheels, but the kid would be asked to do worse things than act as a living target during his prospect year. And he should know by now that Jagger wouldn’t let anyone hurt him.
“Smile, Wheels.” Arianne pointed her gun at Wheels, and he squeezed his eyes shut and let out a thin whine.
“Wait.” Arianne dropped her gun. “He’s too white. The glare is throwing me off. You want to draw some circles on his face, or should we use a target instead?”
Everyone laughed. Gunner led a shaken Wheels away, and Arianne and Zane took turns shooting a makeshift target Sparky quickly fashioned from an old dartboard. Jagger leaned against a tree, entranced by Arianne and her ability to shoot. Most of the old ladies in the club knew how to use a gun, but none could handle a weapon with such ease, or skill. She radiated confidence and calm as she squeezed the trigger again and again, hitting the target every time.
Jagger wondered if he could make the shower any colder than it had been this morning. And when she walked over to him, all sexy confidence and cheeky smiles after Zane had offered a stilted apology, he wondered if a man could die from being too hard.
“Good shooting.” He drew her around the west corner of the house, out of sight of his brothers, desperate to touch her but painfully aware that a show of affection would be inappropriate, especially if he wanted to foster the rumors she was there against her will.
“I held back. Didn’t want to show Zane up.” She looked up at him from beneath her lashes, her eyes glittering with satisfaction. Before he could stop himself, he cupped her jaw and traced the curve of her plump lips with his thumb. “Never seen you smile like this.”
Her smile broadened and his heart surged in response.
“Bikers are a discriminatory bunch,” she said. “Nothing I like better than to show them how wrong they are when it comes to their attitudes about women.”
His fingers tightened, the pressure forcing her to open her mouth, and he eased his thumb inside, stroking over the softness of her tongue.
Dominant, yes. Possessive, definitely. And yet he wasn’t trying to take away from what she’d accomplished. Far from it. Her power drew him in, intoxicated him; he wanted it as he wanted her.
Arianne met his gaze, her green eyes heated, intense. She licked his thumb, working it with long strokes of her little pink tongue until all his blood had rushed to his groin and he was so hard, he had to grit his teeth against the pain.