Jagger dropped his hand and signaled their intention to Zane and Cade, who would know to provide cover if this turned into a shoot-out. But he was banking on Road Kill not risking their lives to defend Leo or the few Jacks he’d brought with him.
“Come, Vexy.” Leo snapped his fingers in a pathetic imitation of Viper then fired a warning shot that zinged over her shoulder and shattered the window behind her.
“You’re not Viper. Don’t even try to pretend.” She pulled the trigger. Jagger did the same. The two shots followed each other in a double thunderclap. Leo screamed and fell to his knees, one hand on his shoulder and one on his thigh.
No one moved.
Arianne glared at the stunned bikers. “Anyone else want to ruin our party?”
SEVENTEEN
Only old ladies and brothers can babysit your colors.
“So, this is your apartment. It’s not how I pictured it.” Jagger paced around Arianne’s living room, his concession to stop at her apartment on the way back to the clubhouse clearly not sitting easily with him. “I thought it would be more girly. Not all this beige furniture and brown tables and landscapes on the walls.”
“Girly?” Arianne’s voice shook as adrenaline continued to pound through her body. Not just from the anger and frustration at finding herself in the same situation over and over again—guns and violence and crazy bikers—but also at the thrill of finally having stood up to Leo.
She kicked off her shoes and unzipped the riding leathers Jagger had brought for her. “Notice what I’m wearing? You brought these to the bar for me. Why would you think I’m girly?”
He crossed the room in two long strides and helped her undo the snap on her leather trousers. “’Cause I know what’s underneath. Hard on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside.” He slid the trousers down over her hips and steadied her while she kicked them away.
Arianne looked down at him crouched in front of her, his mouth level with the juncture of her thighs. A wave of longing suffused her body, and with it a burst of anger. Tonight was a perfect example of why she needed to get out of Conundrum. She couldn’t even go to a birthday party with her friends without some idiot bikers shooting the place up and threatening to drag her back to Viper. But Jagger was making it so damn hard to leave. He’d as good as encouraged her to shoot Leo, stood by her side as she got the revenge she had dreamed about for eleven years, and then praised her for her accuracy.
Why? Why was he doing this to her? Why had he made her fall for him just as the rest of her life was falling into place?
“You keep lookin’ at me like that, and we’ll never make it back to the clubhouse.”
“Stop it.” She stepped away. “Don’t say things that make me want you. I’m already confused. I hate being part of this violent world, and yet it allowed me to get back at Leo for what he did. And if I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do that much. When I’m with you, I almost like being a biker and having biker skills. And yet, this is the life I don’t want to lead. The life that took my mother. The life that’s taking Jeff. The kind of life where you have a party, and your friends almost wind up dead.”
Jagger stood, his face smoothing into an expressionless mask. “This is your life, Arianne. You were born for this. I don’t know any other woman who could have earned the respect of the Road Kill president the way you did tonight.”
“He dropped a bandanna on the table.” Her words came out in a monotone sigh.
“It was as far as he could go. Hell, don’t you appreciate what he was saying with that gesture or what it cost him? You’re a woman. He gave you the kind of respect he would give another man.”
Her pulse quickened and she glared. “So what? I’m supposed to be grateful that he respects me? In the civilian world, women get that kind of respect every day, and they don’t have to shoot someone to earn it.”
Jagger took a step toward her and she backed away. Not because she was afraid, but because she didn’t know what she would do if he touched her. She was too wound up after the shoot-out. Too angry. Too excited. And too goddamned confused.
“You won’t be happy in the civilian world.” He kept coming, forcing her to back across the living room and through her bedroom door. Why wouldn’t he respect her space? Her need to be alone? Why wouldn’t he just go so she could start forgetting about him and move on with her life?
“You can’t carry a gun in your purse or strapped to your leg in their world. You can’t speed down the highway at one hundred miles per hour. You will struggle just as hard to earn respect from men when you try to get a job in a mechanic’s shop. But this world, you know. You have power here. The kind of power Viper fears and can’t control.”
She forced a laugh when her legs hit the wall. “Viper’s not afraid of me.”