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  His knowing eyes trained on him, Preacher pulled a smoke out from behind his ear and lit it.

  “Deuce,” he said, exhaling. “The feelin’s mutual. Now, I’m gonna tell you what I tell all my boys when they’re actin’ like fools. Go grab a bottle and a bitch and fuck all that poisonous bullshit outta your system. Then you go home to my daughter and my grandbaby and your kids and your boys, and you fix whatever the fuck is broken. And if you don’t, I’m gonna come collect my girls, maybe grab Kami away from that dirty fuckin’ spic she married while I’m at it, but as for the rest of ’em, brother, that’s your problem.”

  “Yeah?” he said dryly. “And while I’m drinkin’ and fuckin’, what the fuck are you gonna be doin’ ’bout Big Jay?”

  Preacher took another drag off his smoke and shook his head. “I’m postin’ the hit tonight. You don’t gotta do a damn thing.”

  • • •

  With her sleeping toddler straddling her hip, Eva attempted navigating through the front of the club toward the back hall, wanting to leave behind the din of several ongoing conversations, the children crying or complaining, men laughing, women giggling. After five days, the constant noise was painfully bouncing around inside her skull, making her head ache for peace and quiet, and making her stomach churn with constant anxiety.

  She’d never before minded lockdowns. In New York, she’d usually spent them in her bedroom, listening to music with Frankie or later, when they were older…

  Her eyes started to burn and her grip tightened on Ivy.

  Frankie.

  Turning away from everyone, she closed her eyes…

  Leaning back against the outside of the Demons’ brownstone, tall and broad, his thickly muscled, heavily tattooed arms folded over his chest, stretching the material of his black T-shirt, his long brown hair pulled tightly back, his head cocked to one side, his dark hungry eyes focused on her, a smile playing on his lips.

  “Baby,” he said in a low, harsh voice as he crooked two fingers. “Come here.”

  A cry bubbled up from her aching heart and lodged painfully in her throat. She covered her mouth with her hand, stifling the loud release of air.

  No. She wasn’t going to think about Frankie. That chapter of her life was over. She’d made sure of that when she’d put a knife through his throat. There hadn’t been any other option. Frankie had been too far gone, causing too much pain to everyone he came into contact with; he’d been a walking time bomb.

  Somehow Eva had managed to overcome the crippling guilt that killing him had caused. She’d pulled herself out of her pain, and taken control of her life again.

  It was Deuce that was refusing to let it go.

  Frankie had done the worst thing he could possibly do to a man like Deuce; a man who would have taken any sort of physical punishment Frankie could have meted out, preferred it actually. But Frankie had known that and instead had rendered Deuce immobile, forced him to watch the woman he loved being fucked by another man, then to take her, leaving him wondering if he was ever going to see her alive again.

  To a man like Deuce, what Frankie had done was a punishment far worse than death.

  It was also something a man like Deuce wasn’t going to forget.

  She’d tried…

  And tried…

  But she couldn’t do it anymore. When it came to Deuce, it felt as if she’d been running in circles her entire life.

  It wasn’t just her anymore; she couldn’t afford to be selfish, to do as she pleased, to let the man in her life do as he pleased. To keep waiting on something that might never happen. She had a daughter who deserved the very best life Eva could give her.

  She was leaving.

  The decision had been made the night Deuce had left for New York. She was going home, back to her father and the Demons, back to what she’d thought she’d left behind for good in exchange for a life of happiness with the man she loved. She hadn’t told anyone yet, hadn’t had a chance to. The very next night the club had gone on lockdown and now she was stuck here.

  “Do you want me to take her for a while?”

  Dorothy appeared beside her and held her arms out. Grateful, Eva smiled as she passed Ivy, who blinked sleepily as she was shifted between them but settled instantly back to sleep on Dorothy’s shoulder.

  “I need something to keep my mind off Jase and Chrissy,” Dorothy whispered, rubbing small circles on Ivy’s back. “She’s out there talking about their upcoming anniversary—”

  Eva stopped listening. Dorothy was a broken record when it came to Jase. Constantly upset yet still holding out hope that Jase would someday leave his wife, when it was clear to everyone except Dorothy that he never ever would.

  Lost to her own thoughts, she watched as Ripper came through the swinging kitchen doors and hooked a left toward them. She braced herself for his usual death glare.

  “Yo,” he said, passing by her and a still chattering Dorothy.

  Her eyes widened in surprise. It wasn’t friendly but…it wasn’t horrible either.

  Was he finally ready to forgive her for being married to the man who’d hurt him? She hoped so. It devastated her seeing his scars, what Frankie had so callously done to him.

  My god, how had she not realized what her own husband had been capable of until it was too late?

  Eva shook her head, still trying to clear Frankie from her thoughts, when the kitchen doors swung open again and Danny walked out, headed in the opposite direction.

  “Hey you,” she called out and Danny spun around, a startled look on her face.

  “Uh, hey,” Danny stammered, her cheeks pink.

  Studying her, she noted that the girl wasn’t just flushed but sweaty…and disheveled. Really disheveled. As in her pink tank top was on inside out and her jeans skirt was partially unzipped.

  Drawing her brows together, Eva glanced over her shoulder to the end of the hall where Ripper had paused to talk to Mick and Bucket and then she looked back at Danny. Her heart did a nosedive down into her stomach.

  Danny and…

  Oh my god, she couldn’t even think it, it was just too bizarre. Bizarre and…Deuce was going to flip his shit. All she could envision was bullets and blood and bodies piled sky-high.

  Okay.

  Okay.

  Okay, okay, okay…she had to think about this…about what she going to do about this.

  Yeah, right. What the fuck was she supposed to do about this?

  One thing was for sure, she couldn’t leave Danny with only her brother and father in the middle of whatever mess she’d gotten herself into with Ripper.

  God, how had that happened?

  And what the fuck was Ripper thinking?

  If Deuce ever found out, he would kill him. Kill. Him.

  For the second time in the span of only a few minutes, her heart dropped.

  Ripper wanted to die. He’d finally lost his very last shred of give-a-damn and jumped off the cliff of no return. She’d seen it coming, everyone had seen it coming, but everyone had been holding out hope that after enough time had passed he’d eventually pull himself together.

  Instead, the opposite had happened. He’d grown worse over time, bitter and cold.

  What was Danny doing with a man like him? An angry, broken, older man, who was in all probability using her to get himself killed.

  She squeezed her eyes shut.

  She wasn’t in any position to judge Danny. She’d made her share of mistakes over the years, some far worse than anything Danny would ever do.

  And Danny was legally allowed to have sex with whomever she wanted.

  But Danny was still a teenager, a deadly combination of immaturity and feelings. A big, fat, messy bank vault full of female emotion that you needed a jackhammer just to breach the surface of.

  Who obviously wasn’t thinking clearly. Or at all.

  “Shut up, bitch!” Cox roared, startling everyone as he appeared at the end of the hallway.

  “Never!” Kami screeched, her heels
clicking heavily on the cement floor as she marched after him. The second Kami caught sight of Ripper, Eva cringed, knowing exactly what was coming next.

  “Ripper,” Kami purred, headed his way. “Hey, baby.”

  “Stay back!” he yelled. “I refuse to get shot because of your crazy ass!”

  She grinned. “You did prefer my ass, didn’t you, baby?”

  Behind Cox, Danny made a small choking noise and Eva watched Ripper’s gaze shoot to her, his jaw clenching.

  “Ripper!” Cox bellowed. “I’m gonna fuckin’ bury you!”

  Sighing, Ripper grabbed his gun from the back of his leathers and waved it around in the air. “Either of you take another step in my direction and I’m cappin’ you in the knee.”

  “You want me on my knees?” Kami said silkily. “You got it.”

  “Kami!” Eva hissed, grabbing her best friend’s arm before she could get any closer to Ripper. “Stop it!”

  “Christ,” Ripper muttered. “You touch me, Kami, I’m gonna put a bullet in each of those bony knees.”

  Ignoring Eva, uncaring that Ripper had no problem shooting her and Cox was ten seconds from strangling her, Kami continued smiling sensually at Ripper.

  “You’re so fuckin’ crazy, bitch!” Cox yelled, yanking Kami out of Eva’s grip and pinning her up against the wall.

  “And you’re a fucking whore!” she screamed.

  “I smiled at her, bitch! That’s all I fuckin’ did! For fuck’s sake, you insane fuckin’ whore, I fuckin’ married you! I haven’t been inside another bitch in forever!”

  Kami brought her knee up straight into Cox’s balls and he went down like a sack of potatoes, cupping himself and groaning. Hands on her hips, Kami glared down at him. “Do you want a medal, Cox-sucker?” she hissed. “I already know you haven’t touched another woman! I have you followed!”

  “You…crazy…bitch,” Cox gasped. “As soon…as I can…I’m gonna…fuck…you…to death!”

  Kami snorted. “Promises, promises.”

  “Did you two forget to take your meds today?” ZZ asked, poking his head around the corner.

  “SHUT UP!” they yelled simultaneously.

  Spinning on her heel, Kami stormed off, leaving Cox in a fetal position on the floor.

  “I hate lockdown,” Dorothy muttered.

  “Me too,” Cox said with a groan.

  ZZ burst out laughing. “Dude,” he called out. “You brought this shit on yourself. You marry crazy, crazy is what you’re gonna get.”

  Ripper nearly knocked over Dorothy as he stormed past them, cursing as he headed in the direction Danny had since disappeared. She supposed now that Danny had just crudely found out about Ripper and Kami, he had some damage control to contend with.

  Frowning, Eva stared down the hallway after him. No, she couldn’t leave. Not in the eye of a major shit storm. If she went home now, who would be here to buffer between Danny and Deuce when the shit hit the fan? Cage? No. Cage loved his sister but he was about as articulate with emotional confrontations as his father and preferred using his fists when things got heated. Deuce and Cage would only end up beating the hell out of each other, and Ripper would still end up dead, and Danny…

  Who would be here to pick up the pieces of Danny’s broken heart if Ripper ended up breaking it?

  She was going to have to shelve her own problems for a while and make sure the family she loved—but was eventually going to have to leave—stayed together after she was gone.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Ripper jumped over Cox and took off down the hallway after Danny. Motherfucking crazy, ass-less Kami. Always running her mouth. Using him to try and make Cox jealous over something that happened ten years ago. And it worked. Every damn time. If that was his bitch using another dude to make him jealous, always kneeing him in the junk when she was pissed off, he’d slap the fucking shit out of her.

  He found Danny fumbling with the key to her room. One glance at him stalking her way and she amped up her fumbling.

  “Danny!” he growled, increasing his pace. “Fuckin’ wait!”

  He caught up just as she turned the key. Grabbing her arm, he yanked her down the back hallway and into a dark corner, unseen by the cameras mounted on the walls.

  “I know what you’re thinkin’,” he whispered, “but it ain’t like that. Me and Kami—”

  “Shut up!” she hissed. “I heard exactly what you did with Kami!”

  His grip tightened on her arm, squeezing the limb. “Don’t do this,” he gritted out. “Not now, not here in the fuckin’ club. What happened with Kami was ten years ago, Danny. What the fuck were you doin’ ten years ago?”

  Her cheeks turning pink, she glanced down, refusing to make eye contact.

  “Yeah, baby,” he whispered. “So cut me some fuckin’ slack.”

  “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I guess I wasn’t thinking. I thought—”

  He cut her off with a kiss he knew he shouldn’t be risking, not with so many people cooped up inside the club. But, shit, he didn’t want her hating on him and with Danny, it seemed need was always overpowering sense.

  Her free arm slid around his waist under his T-shirt and her nails scraped lightly over his skin. He closed his eyes and kissed her harder.

  “We should go to my room,” she whispered, moaning softly as his lips descended down her neck and his hands up her ribcage. “Or back in the pantry.”

  They should. They should at least get the fuck out of the hallway. But he couldn’t wait that long. The dim lighting, his size compared to her, all convinced his lust-addled brain that if someone happened to come down this hall within the next five minutes, unable to see Danny’s face, whoever it was would just think he was fucking a club slut and leave him the hell alone. It wasn’t the first time he’d fucked a bitch in the hallway.

  Not by a long shot.

  “No,” he rasped, cupping her ass. “Now…”

  “Ripper…no…”

  He’d already lifted her, was pulling her underwear, still soaked from their last encounter, to the side and pushing inside of her.

  “You can’t say no,” he growled, slapping his hand across her mouth. “It ain’t allowed.”

  “Yes, I can,” she mumbled. “I can say…oh god…oh god…”

  Male arrogance slammed into him like a battering ram and his hand tightened, further muffling her cries and whimpers. He smiled to himself; she couldn’t say no to him any more than he could say no to her.

  “Baby,” he said softly during a series of small, hard, hip thrusts up into her. “Made up my mind. I’m takin’ you home with me. Sick of fuckin’ you with my hand over your mouth. I wanna be goin’ deaf hearin’ you screamin’ my name, yeah?”

  She couldn’t answer but he could feel the curl of her lips underneath his hand and, fuck, if that didn’t turn him on to the point of internal combustion.

  Ripper slammed his hips forward, rolling them as their bodies connected, his cock pulsing against her walls as he ground painfully into her. Eyes wide, she was panting hot, wet breaths against his hand, her heels were digging into the backs of his thighs, her nails piercing the skin on his neck.

  It was so fucking hot, fucking her out in the open where anyone could find them. She was always so fucking hot, just letting him take and take and take from her, from her mouth and her body, from her sweet pussy, he took it all, he took everything, chewed it up, spit it back out, and then took her all over again.

  He. Took. It. All.

  He wasn’t giving it back.

  Danny was his.

  Now he just had to figure out how he was going to convince her father of that.

  • • •

  “Stop looking at me like that,” I whispered, feeling flustered and blushing as I yanked my skirt down.

  Ripper, who hadn’t had to right his clothing because he hadn’t had to do much except unbutton his pants, was grinning down at me, watching me try to re-assemble myself.

  “Shirt’s on inside out.
” He laughed. “Musta been from the pantry.”

  I looked down and, damn it, my tank top was on inside out. Embarrassed, I closed my eyes, thinking about everyone who’d seen me after I’d left the kitchen. Did they know? Had it been obvious what I’d been doing? Had I waited long enough after Ripper had left the kitchen? I didn’t know. Who knew how long Eva and Dorothy had been standing out there.

  “Ripper.”

  I nearly jumped out of my skin but Ripper, upon hearing his name, had gone still, his smile slipping off his face. It took him all of a second to steel his expression and then he was turning around and facing Hawk.

  “Yeah?”

  Hawk’s narrowed eyes landed on me and I swallowed hard. How was one supposed to look nonchalant when they felt like anything but?

  “What’s up?” Hawk asked warily, glancing between the two of us.

  Pulling his cigarettes from his cut, Ripper lit one up and shrugged. “Not a whole fuck of a lot. You?”

  Hawk flexed his jaw, his hard stare now on Ripper.

  He knew.

  He so knew.

  “Just hopin’ you know what you’re doin’, brother.”

  Ripper’s fist clenched around his lit cigarette. Ash and tobacco fell through his fingers, drifting down to his feet. I stared at his hand, in shock that he didn’t seem to care that he was purposely burning himself.

  “How’s D doin’?” Ripper gritted out. “Good? Or is she still throwin’ dishes at your head?”

  My head shot up. D? And throwing dishes? What did Dorothy or dishes have to do with anything?

  Hawk’s response was nearly imperceptible, just a small flinch, a twitch really and an extra blink, something I wouldn’t have even noticed if I hadn’t been staring directly at his face. Something was going on, something involving Dorothy and Hawk.

  The two men said nothing as they continued to stare at each other.

  Then Hawk gave a slight nod. “Fair enough,” he said gruffly. “Ain’t none of my business anyways.”

  As Hawk walked off, Ripper turned to me. “Go to your room, baby. I got this shit.”

  I did as he said, nervous yet confident that Ripper knew what he was talking about, and called Anabeth.