“You’re awfully bloodthirsty.”
“Bro, I watched my mom get knocked around by fucking assholes my whole life. As soon as I was big enough, I put an end to that shit.” He glances over and smirks. “My therapist is always trying to tell me you can’t solve violence with violence. And in some cases, I actually agree with her.”
“But?”
“This isn’t one of those cases.”
“Your therapist, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m totally fucked in the head, dude.”
No shit. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. You’ve got a tour coming up. You don’t need the bad press.”
“We’ve got a tour coming up. Besides, now that I’m off coke, I need to do something to keep myself entertained.”
“Even more reason I shouldn’t drag you into this.”
“You’re not dragging me into anything. This girl a friend of yours?”
“She’s Mallory’s friend, and she’s been good to her.”
“You fuck her?”
“Jesus Christ, what is it with you? No. Fuck no.”
“Just trying to assess the situation.”
“Not every decision I make has to do with my dick.”
“So wrong, young grasshopper. All of life’s decisions are made by the dick.”
“Maybe for you,” I mutter. “You don’t get it, but when you find the right woman, you will.”
“I don’t need the right woman. I need the right now woman.” He takes one hand off the steering wheel and grabs his junk. “I need to come—hard, fast, and often.”
Why am I even bothering with this conversation? “When you’re with the right person, it’s better than—”
“Bro, what’s better than an orgasm?”
“You’ve never really been in sync with someone so much that giving them pleasure, heightens your own? There’s more to being intimate than rutting like a fucking dog.”
“Intimate?” Andrew scratches his head like it’s the first time he’s ever heard of the concept. “Who wants intimacy? Getting needy with a chick is like handing them a knife to carve out your insides.”
Ah, finally a piece of the Andrew insanity puzzle.
“It shouldn’t feel needy. Just because you’ve been hurt once—”
“Who said anything about being hurt?”
“The whole knife thing?”
“Whatever.” He waves me off.
“Pull in there.” I gesture to a gas station up ahead, eager for this conversation to be over. “That’s where I’m meeting them.”
He guides the truck into the parking lot, and a few minutes later, two bikers rumble in.
I step out and wave. Torrin wasn’t fucking around. He sent his SAA and another brother who easily weighs as much as Andrew and I combined.
“Dude,” Andrew mutters under his breath. “These are biker-bikers. Like outlaw bikers. How do you know them?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
It’s not that I’m ashamed of my MC roots. No, my desire to keep my family ties to myself stems from a need to protect my MC brothers from outsiders. Andrew has a big mouth and blabs everything to everyone. So, no, I’m not eager to tell him about my club family.
“You can still back out,” I remind him.
“No way, bro. I’m all in.”
“Chaser, long time.” Freak walks over to us slowly. His expression remains blank, but his eyes never stop moving. Assessing everything around us, especially Andrew. His extreme caution is how he landed in the role of Sergeant-at-Arms for the Devil Demons. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Andrew. The facility’s tricky to get access to. Andrew can help us with that.”
Andrew sticks his hand out. Both Freak and Frisco give it a withering look before Andrew withdraws. “Okay. No handshakes. That’s cool.”
Freak snorts like a bull. “You trust this guy, Chaser?”
I glance over at Andrew. Jesus Christ, do I really want to put my life and reputation on the line with my club by vouching for this clown?
“Yeah, he’s cool.”
Instead of discussing the details out in the open, the four of us pile into the truck. Apparently terrified of my biker brothers, Andrew miraculously keeps his mouth shut the entire time.
Mallory
“Mallory, I’m back.” Chaser’s soft whisper pulls me from sleep.
“Chaser?” I roll over and barely make out his shadowy form in the dark. “Are you okay?”
“Shh, don’t wake her. Go back to sleep.”
How am I supposed to sleep now?
Carefully, I ease out of bed. Audrey moans softly, and I pause, waiting to see if she needs anything. When she doesn’t make another noise, I tiptoe out of the bedroom.
Chaser’s on the couch with the television on low but doesn’t seem to be watching anything. “Why are you up, little dove?” he whispers.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
I move closer, studying him. He’s changed his clothes, so he must have stopped home. “Where’s Andrew?”
“Home. He dropped me off at the apartment, so I could change and get my bike.”
“What happened?”
He sighs and drops his head, running his hands over the back of his neck. “The less you know the better.”
My gaze zeroes in on his battered knuckles. “Chaser,” I whisper, sitting next to him, taking one of his hands in mine. “What did you do?”