Page 56 of Sold to the Bikers

"What if I was willing to do it?" I pipe up, finally getting a word in.

"The fuck?" Animal whirls to face me. He looks furious, and for the first time I find his scarred expression scary. "I can fucking guarantee you that you're not going anywhere near the fucking Unwanted again. Not our damn girl."

"Agreed," says Quickshot.

Badass just looks at me sternly, as he crosses his arms over his chest and nods.

"But we need to stop them, right? That's the deal. So what are we doing, if you can't do it? Until then, I'm not safe, and Sandra isn't safe."

"No. And that's final." Badass's tone brooks no argument.

"Fine." It's not fine, but what am I supposed to do? Try to fight them? I mean, they're right. It'd be stupid, probably. And Crusher would want to do… things to me. The chills that crawl down my back like an icy spider have me shuddering visibly.

A knock on the door interrupts us. Eagle-eye glances quickly between us, then calls out, "Come in."

The door opens to reveal Crash. He's the guy who replaced Animal at the door when we were showing off for Crusher that one night at the Eagles' Roost. I don't really know him yet, but he seems to hang out a lot with Preacher and Devil.

"What's going on?" asks Eagle-eye.

He nods towards me and my heart drops into my stomach even before he speaks. "I just got back from patrol. The Unwanted have Sandra."

"Sandra? My Sandra?" Terror fills my voice. I can hear it but there's no way I can control it. I push off the couch so suddenly Jupiter gives a little bark of complaint.

Crash nods. “I recognized her from watching her apartment a couple days ago. But it was fucking strange. She walked into their clubhouse with them on her own, not fighting or anything. Like she meant to be there.”

"She what?" I look at him like he's crazy. "It couldn't have been her."

"Swear to fucking God. I'm good at faces, and your sister's hot. Of course I fucking remember her. She walked in like she had business there."

He sounds so sure it rocks my entire world.

What do I really know about why she owes them money? Is it possible that she's fooled me? That she's still dealing with them? Are they fooling her too? There are so many questions and I don't have the answer to any of them.

I drop back onto the couch, and when Jupiter completely fails to read the room and comes running to plot his head back into my lap, I stroke him absentmindedly.

Sandra. What the hell are you doing?

29

QUICKSHOT

"You're not going,and that's fucking final."

Natalie looks up at me with such wounded eyes I almost feel bad for bullying her. Especially when it's all three of us ganging up, but fuck, we're not going to let her hand herself over to that motherfucker. Crusher already has a fucked up hardon for her, and while I hope Natalie’s right, right now it looks like Sandra might be there by choice.

She paces over to a chair in the corner and drops into it with a scowl that could strip paint. What the fuck are we supposed to do?

Badass tries a different tack. "Yeah, like he said. You’re staying here if we have to fucking tie you down to keep you safe."

Nah, that’s the same argument, and she doesn’t look any happier with him.

"Of all freaking people, you have to understand how I feel!" she snaps back at him. What the fuck happened to our shy little baker? "If it was Animal, what the hell would you do? Tell me that."

"I would fucking tear their whole club apart until I found him, and then I'd execute every single motherfucker who dared lay a goddamn hand on him, and you know that. And you know what else? If it was you, I'd do the same damn thing. You're ours now. Fucking ours, and I'm not going to let Crusher or any other one of those fuckers put their hands on you. And that's why you're not fucking leaving."

"So what? You paid for me so I'm just some sort of possession?"

Animal, using the end of my bed for a chair, gets up. He starts out loud and just gets louder as he builds momentum. "It’s not about the fucking money, but yeah. We’ve taken responsibility for you in front of the whole fucking club. If you go in there, what’s that going to fucking accomplish? You got a plan? Going to kick his ass and carry her out while the club explodes behind you? This isn’t a goddamn movie, Natalie. Be fucking smart.” I can’t help the laugh that bursts out of me. Animal spins and pins me with a dark look. “What?”