“How did you wind up here?” Arianne couldn’t hold back her curiosity. What kept the sweet butts coming back, aside from the promise of power and prestige if they were chosen as a biker’s old lady?
Tanya looked past them and down the driveway to where Zane stood, keeping watch. “I was married. My ex was abusive. I ran away but he kept finding me. One night I was at a bar and I saw the Sinners beating up some guy ’cause he’d tried to rough up one of their sweet butts. They were real good to her after, and I decided I wanted some of that. So I started hanging around. Did some things I wasn’t proud of, but generally tried to be helpful, if you know what I mean. Eventually, Jagger said I could stay.”
“I get it.” Arianne said softly. The Jacks had had a revolving door of women that turned so fast, she hadn’t even bothered to learn their names. Had any of them been like Tanya—just needing a safe haven? She hoped not because they would have found themselves in hell.
“Most of the other sweet butts want to be a biker’s old lady.” Tanya gave her a shy smile. “Me? I’m just happy to be safe. No way will my ex be able to touch me now. And the guys here are fun and good to us. Suits me fine.”
“How about you, Jill? Did you—?” She turned to Jill, but cut herself off when Jill’s eyes teared and she looked away.
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” Arianne reached out and squeezed Jill’s hand. Tanya leaned in, scooting closer.
“She just can’t talk about it. Jagger found her beat up in an alley outside a bar one night. Took her to the hospital, but she wouldn’t go in ’cause she had no insurance. He got the club doctor to look after her and found out she had no place to go and no one to look after her.” Tanya put an arm around Jill’s shoulders. “So, here she is. Our little stray.”
Jill laughed and wiped away a tear. “I’m not a stray.”
“You looked like one that night he brought you in.” Tanya winked, and the tension between them eased. Arianne smiled. The Jacks’ sweet butts were constantly in-fighting, trying to show each other up. But Tanya and Jill clearly had a close friendship, one that warmed Arianne’s heart.
Gunner showed up with a van full of women, and they all headed inside to join the party. Arianne had never socialized with the Black Jacks, never chatted with the house mamas or sweet butts, never been accepted as a member of the club. But the Sinner’s Tribe welcomed her as one of their own. Gunner introduced her around as the “girl who saved Bandit’s ass,” T-Rex kept her glass refilled, and Wheels shadowed her wherever she went.
Not that she needed a minder. As far as the Sinners were concerned, she belonged to Jagger, and that was enough to ensure they kept their distance. So she wasn’t pinched or petted or stroked. No one joked with her or made suggestive remarks. Wheels even urged her to put on his hoodie when she stripped down to a T-shirt because of the heat. Having had no respect in the Jacks’ clubhouse, she found their deference stifling, and she almost wished someone would slap her ass just so she wouldn’t feel like a pariah.
Still, she’d never really felt like she had a family after her mother died. Certainly not with the Jacks and not with Viper and Jeff. The bonds of brotherhood that held the Sinners together meant they were never alone. They were there for each other through thick and thin. “Club first” meant brothers first.
And that was the problem.
Although the Sinners were a different breed of biker than the Jacks, in their attitude toward women, they were all the same. Women were house mamas, sweet butts, hood rats, lays, or old ladies. Not equals. And when she had imagined her life outside Conundrum, equality had always been part of her dream.
FOURTEEN
Do as you say or walk away.
An angel in the darkness.
Jagger slowed his steps as he approached the clubhouse, his resolve to release Arianne from his claim waning when he saw her on the porch.
Leaning against a pillar at the top of the steps, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, Max’s head in her lap, she hadn’t noticed his approach. From his vantage point in the shadows, he could see her face clearly in the moonlight, soft, unguarded, vulnerable.
Arianne without the armor. So beautiful, he was transfixed, an agony of desire coursing through his body.
Ever alert, Max looked up and Jagger was sure the damn dog smiled when she stroked his head. He couldn’t begrudge Max her touch, but his hackles rose just the same. Until that moment, he had never realized how desperately he longed for that easy intimacy—the unguarded softness she tried so desperately to hide.
Gravel crunched under his feet as he drew near, barely audible as The Sheepdogs’ “Feeling Good” blasted through the windows. The party was going strong. So why was Arianne outside?
Her head lifted and her lips pressed together as he approached. He could almost see the walls slamming into place, her vulnerability hidden behind an iron fortress.
“You’re back.”