Jeff pointed to his vehicle at the far end of the lot. “He’s in there. You can talk to him, but don’t kill him. I need those weapons.”
“I don’t kill people, Jeff.” She spat out her words. “But I need my passports so he needs to know I mean business. They weren’t yours to give. I should never have let you pick them up. If Banks hadn’t offered to pay me double time to work that night because he was short-staffed, I would have gone myself, but I thought we could use that extra bit of cash. And I trusted you.”
“I’m sorry, Ari. I was desperate. You know what Viper’s like. You saw what he did to me. And now this guy wants to kill me. What was I supposed to do?”
What was she supposed to do?
Arianne took one last look at the door leading back to the club and felt a cold fist close over her heart. Jagger hadn’t come looking for her after all. Maybe he’d decided she wasn’t worth the effort. Her hand flew to her cheek, where the brick had sliced through her skin. How could she have misjudged Jagger so badly? God, she’d been seconds away from agreeing to stay, from telling him how much she cared about him. And then he’d turned around and accused her of betraying him. So much anger. He’d never intended to let her go. He was Viper all over again.
Time to go. And this time it would be forever.
She stalked across the parking lot, but as she neared Jeff’s vehicle, he shouted and raced past her, reaching for the driver’s side door.
“Quick—get in the car. Someone’s coming.”
She caught movement in the shadows and then a flash of blond hair under the parking lot light near the door she had just come through. Her mouth went dry when she saw the lean figure wearing a biker cut. No front patches. Wheels?
Arianne froze, but Wheels made no move toward her. Instead, he nodded and faded back into the darkness.
Well, if Wheels was here, Jagger wouldn’t be far behind. She jumped into the passenger seat, and Jeff slid behind the wheel. Moments later, they peeled out of the parking lot and headed down the highway.
She didn’t recognize the hulking figure in the backseat until it was too late.
NINETEEN
No member will disgrace the club by being a pussy.
“Where the fuck is she?”
T-Rex and Wheels paled under Jagger’s relentless verbal abuse. “Two prospects and a full-patch brother should have been able to keep one woman in sight. How the fuck did she get out?”
“There’s a hidden exit through the storage room,” Wheels said, his voice wavering. “Leads to a secluded area of the parking lot. I was doing circuits of the building and musta been around the front when she came out. There’s no way anyone could have known there was an exit back there, and we’d already checked that the windows in the restrooms were secure.”
“There is a way we could have known about the secret exit.” He grabbed Wheels by the collar and shoved him against the brick wall where only an hour earlier he’d held Arianne. “You could have fucking asked.”
“I did ask.” T-Rex put a firm hand on Jagger’s wrist. “The owner assured me there was no way out from the bathroom corridor. I’ve dealt with him.”
Slightly mollified, Jagger released the trembling Wheels. “Go pull the security tapes. We have to find out who has her. Zane lost Viper on the road, so it might be the Jacks caught her outside. Or it might be her brother came after all, and they’re gone.”
After they had departed, Jagger slumped against the wall. He doubted Viper had snatched her. What would be the point? He hadn’t been able to keep her before, and nothing had changed. And if he wanted her dead, she would be lying in the parking lot. It had to be Jeff. So why was he wasting time and energy looking for a woman who didn’t want to stay? And wasn’t this the best result? She would find the happiness she wanted? safe from Viper and from him.
Cade clapped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
“What if she doesn’t want to be found?” He pushed himself to stand. “She came here to meet her brother and leave with him. I made it easy for her to do just that. My guess is they’re long gone.”
Probably the best result for him, too. If tonight was any evidence, he had lost his objectivity, and his emotional involvement had almost compromised the club. The old ways were the best ways. No attachments. No strings.
No Arianne.
*
“I have died and gone to heaven.”
Arianne stilled when a knife slid across her throat. She knew the voice coming from the backseat. Remembered the cool feel of a blade on her skin. She glanced up in the rear view mirror, and her mouth went dry.
“Axle.” She lowered the .22, still in her grasp, down by her side, praying Axle wouldn’t notice.
“The one and only. Still alive and kicking after Jagger and his boys got a blowtorch and burned my Sinner’s Tribe tat off my shoulder blade. Lucky for me, I didn’t get the full version across my back, or I would have died in that fucking clubhouse basement.”