Evie drove up to the Sinner clubhouse and parked outside. She hadn’t been back for over a week, and she hoped the impromptu visit didn’t ruffle any feathers. Although Zane had come by Connie’s place several times to visit Ty, her son wanted to spend more time with his dad. Since they were passing by the clubhouse on their way home from a day in the mountains, she’d agreed to a brief stop to see if he was around when she couldn’t get in touch by phone.
She waved to Shooter and Tank, tinkering with their bikes out front, and turned off the Sinner SUV Zane had insisted she keep as a matter of safety. The raid on the Black Jack clubhouse had been delayed because of the increased presence of the ATF in Conundrum, drawn by the spate of fires and the explosion at the coffee shop. For now, everyone had to lay low, although Zane had gone scouting around the Black Jack clubhouse, this time with executive board approval, to try and figure out if they could try to get T-Rex out with a two-or three-man operation.
“Can I get out, mom?” Ty didn’t wait for her answer, but pushed open the door. Connie jumped out after him and they headed over to talk to Tank who they hadn’t seen since returning to the safe house.
Shortly after moving in with Connie and trying to get back to her regular life, Evie received her first lesson about keeping the police out of biker business. The morning after contacting the police to report her car stolen, she’d awoken to find her vehicle burned out and wrapped around a street light beside Connie’s driveway with the Black Jack initials spray painted on the remains. The Sinners had arrived with a flatbed truck to take it away and Connie, Ty, and Evie were moved back to the safe house above Sparky’s shop.
Concerned about Evie’s biker clients ratting her out to the Jacks, Jagger had convinced her to hold back on reopening her business in a new location. As a result, she’d kept herself busy painting Sinner bikes, talking to insurance adjusters, and trying to find a new home for her business from inside Sparky’s shop. With too much time on her hands, and after hitting her quota of video games with Ty, she’d gone through her scrapbooks and reminisced about the time she and Zane had spent together.
They didn’t talk now, except about Ty, and she missed him so much she ached. Although she was still wary about the life he led, now that she’d had some time to think, she was beginning to warm to the idea that the Sinners weren’t all bad. But she’d hurt Zane by walking away and she didn’t know how to mend the rift between them.
“He’s not here.” Ty ran toward her as she rounded the vehicle, Tank in tow. “Tank says he’s gone away.”
Usually the first with a smile, Tank shifted his feet and looked away. “Club business. Doesn’t get shared with old ladies or civilians.” He held out his hand to Ty and raised an inquiring eyebrow. “You wanna shoot some hoops before you head out? I gotta escort a lady to a car, then I can meet you out back.”
Evie nodded at Ty’s silent query and watched him race across the lawn.
“How do the old ladies do it?” she asked Connie. “If club business isn’t shared with old ladies, then they never know what’s going to happen when the brothers go out. Maybe they’re just going for a drink, or maybe it’s a shootout, or a suicidal raid on the Black Jack clubhouse. I couldn’t deal with that uncertainty. I’d be an emotional wreck. And what if someone came after me or Ty when we were alone? I’m not like Arianne. I couldn’t stab or shoot anyone.”
“Um … hello.” Connie waved a hand in front of Evie’s face. “You stabbed Vipe when he was…” She choked on her words. “Hurting Bill. And if you’d had a knife when you found out Jagger was the one who beat the shit out of Zane, I have no doubt you would have used it. You didn’t faint or collapse on the floor weeping like some kinda drama queen.”
Connie brushed back her hair. She’d worn a tank top and a cute pair of very short shorts to go hiking in the unseasonably warm weather and Tank hadn’t given her a second look. Evie wondered if he’d bowed out because of Sparky.
“I’ve never been the drama queen type.”
Connie laughed. “It sounds like you’re not worried anymore about the red patches on his cut.”
“I don’t think he does that part of it for kicks. At heart, he’s still the same Zane.”
“I don’t think any of them like that part.” Connie tugged at her top when Tank waved from the porch. “Far as I can tell, they’re pretty decent guys, except for Shaggy, Shooter, and a couple of the others who are certifiably wacko.”
Tank and Hacker emerged from the clubhouse holding a blond woman between them.
“Who’s that?” Connie gave her a nudge. “She looks spitting mad.”
“Get your fucking paws off me,” the woman snarled as they drew near. “Your damn pathetic clubhouse is in the middle of fucking nowhere. It’s not like I can run away.”
Evie sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s Doreen, the woman from the dungeon. They must be letting her go.”