Rake's Redemption (Wind Dragons Motorcycle Club) (25 page)

Everything about him is just right.

He walks over to us and stops next to Talon. His eyes. They’re a bright hazel. And surrounded by thick, dark lashes. Mesmerizing.

“Wh-who are you?” I hear Anna ask, sounding equally as dazed.

Yeah, the man was a god.

“Anna, meet Ranger.”

He’s no Rake, but if I wasn’t with Rake . . . well.

I’d like to have a Ranger.

T
HAT’S
the guy who kidnapped you?” I whisper when we’re sort of alone. “What the hell were you complaining about? He can kidnap me any time he wants!”

“I didn’t see him!” she growls, grabbing my arm and pulling me farther into the corner of the room. “He knocked me out.” Her eyes narrow on Ranger. “And he’s going down. We can’t lose this game. Do you think Talon bought the whole ‘This is our first time’ bullshit?”

I nod. “Totally.”

She smiles evilly. “Excellent. I’m going to beat Ranger at beer pong, then I’m going to challenge him. Hand-to-hand combat. To the death.”

I roll my eyes and pat her shoulder. “Let’s just stick to the beer pong, honey.”

“Fine,” she replies, drawing the word out in a sulk. “Let’s do this.”

I block out Talon’s instructions—Anna and I are no strangers to this game. We played it all the time in high school, and
we’re good. Really good. I haven’t played since college, but hey, I have no doubt we’re going to give them a good game.

“You going to stare at me like that all night?” I hear Ranger say to Anna.

Fuck.

His voice is deep and sexy too.

“Yes,” Anna tells me, flashing him her dirtiest look. “Yes, I am. You kidnapping bastard.”

“On Talon’s orders,” he says, tilting his head to the side. “Why are you mad at me and not him?”

“He didn’t hit me and knock me out!” Anna practically yells, her fists clenching at her sides. I pull at her shirt, silently telling her to calm the fuck down.

“How else was I supposed to kidnap you?” he asks, shaking his head. “I had a job to do, and I got it done. You need to let that shit go.”

I’ve never seen Anna’s jaw so tight.

“Can we play?” I ask, trying to ease the tension, looking from face to face. “I’m thirsty.”

Laughter.

“You better be thirsty,” Talon calls out. “That’s a lot of beer, Bails.”

I stretch my neck from side to side, then pick up one of the balls. “If you’re so sure of yourself, why don’t we make this game a little more interesting?”

Talon studies me, seemingly intrigued. “What do you have that I want? Besides the obvious. . . .”

“How about if we win, you owe us one favor, and vice versa,” I say, the only thing that comes to mind.

Talon and Ranger share a look. “Like a marker, you mean?”

I shrug. “Yeah, I guess. But only we can give it to you. Not the Wind Dragons. And nothing sexual, of course, and within reason.”

“Deal,” Talon says, licking his lips. “Now let’s have some fun. Ladies first.”

I go first.

I get the ball in the cup.

Anna cheers, jumping up and down before hugging me.

Talon grins and shakes his head

Ranger goes next and misses.

Anna cheers again, smirking at him before taking her own turn.

She gets it in.

Ranger drinks, a scowl on his too-handsome-for-his-own-good face.

Talon gets his next shot, so Anna drinks.

My turn again, I throw the ball and get it in.

Again.

The men both study us, realizing that this isn’t just beginners’ luck and that they’ve both been played.

Talon throws his head back and laughs, his body shaking with the effort. “Fuck, what did I tell you, Ranger? Never underestimate the Wind Dragon women; they’re all fuckin’ vipers.”

Ranger scoffs, not as impressed as Talon with the situation. “We’ll see about that.”

We win, of course.

We end up drinking a few of the cups in the game, then more, just because.

We dance, we sing, we laugh.

The men aren’t so bad, and give us a wide berth for the most
part, although I do notice a few shady-looking characters. I don’t know what Talon’s rules are for his members using drugs, but I’d have to say that a few of the men are definitely on something. The women stay out of our way. We don’t get introduced to any of them, which makes me think that there are no old ladies here.

Between all the drinking, laughing with Anna and Talon, and the people-watching, we forget one thing.

The time.

And that’s when everything goes to shit.

*   *   *

“Where the hell have the two of you been?” Rake yells, coming out of the clubhouse. He looks a mixture of furious and relieved, but I think we’ll be seeing more of the former when he hears what we’ve been up to tonight. I pay the taxi driver and get out. We had to leave Anna’s car at the Wild Men clubhouse because neither of us was sober enough to drive. Talon tried to get us to let one of his men give us a ride, as some of them hadn’t been drinking, but we knew that would only make things worse.

Yeah, we’re so fucked.

“Arrow’s out fuckin’ looking for you, Anna, because neither of you answered your phones,” he growls, pulling his own phone out of his pocket and sending a quick text message, probably telling Arrow that Anna was now here safe and sound.

“We’re sorry,” Anna says, stumbling a little. “We lost track of time.”

Shit.

“You’re drunk?” Rake seethes, eyeing both me and his sister with distaste. “Where the fuck have you been? We were worried,
and the two of you were just out drinking, ignoring your fuckin’ phones?”

I watch the taxi drive away, then turn to him. “My phone died,” I tell him, pulling it out of my pocket and jiggling it around. “I’m sorry. We really did just lose track of what time it was. We had no idea it had gotten so late.”

Rake pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes momentarily, before exhaling slowly. “You weren’t at the place you said you were going to be. Arrow went there.”

I want to look at Anna, but I don’t dare. I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this one without the truth coming out and Rake and Arrow both exploding at us. I feel a lot of
I told you so
coming from me and heading right in Anna’s direction.

“It’s my fault,” Anna blurts out, making me glance at her face. “I told Bailey if she didn’t come with me I was going to go alone, and I knew she wouldn’t let me do that.”

Rake’s eyes narrow on his baby sister. “Tell me. Now.”

Anna looks down at her feet, cringing. “It was Talon’s birthday.”

Rake’s expression hardens at the mere mention of Talon’s name.

“So we went to wish him a happy birthday and give him his present,” she continues, shuffling her weight on each foot. “We were safe there; nothing happened to us. We just had a few drinks and forgot that we weren’t supposed to be there in the first place.”

A muscle ticks in Rake’s jaw as he processes this information. “Please, Anna, please fuckin’ tell me you didn’t put yourself and my fuckin’ woman in danger by taking her to the fuckin’ Wild Men MC, the same fuckin’ MC that broke
into our clubhouse and killed Mary. The same MC that our piece-of-shit father led, you know, the father who didn’t give two shits about us but raised Talon, a man you now seem to worship for some motherfuckin’ reason I’ll never understand. There’s shit you don’t even know too—just trust me when I say that his clubhouse isn’t a safe place to be, not like ours. Their MC is so different from ours, and you need to remember that. Never once did I think that you’d be stupid enough to go there.”

My eyes widen at all that information. Someone named Mary died? Because of the Wild Men? They broke into the Wind Dragons clubhouse? I rub my forehead, seriously not knowing what to do right now. I don’t want to get involved in a sibling argument, but at the same time I can’t let Anna take all the heat for this.

I step closer to Rake and put my hand on his arm. “Can we talk about this tomorrow? When everyone has calmed down?”

Rake looks down at my hand, then his gaze moves to my face. “Go and wait in my room, Bailey. I’ll deal with you later.”

My eyes narrow at his tone, but I know Anna and I have fucked up. We put ourselves in danger, and I know just how much Rake loves his sister.

“Arrow will handle her,” I say quietly. “She doesn’t need to get it from you too.”

“Get inside, Anna,” he tells her, just sounding tired now. “Arrow is on his way. You can tell him this fuckin’ story and see how he reacts.” He then looks down at me. “Are you mine?”

“Rake, I—”

“Are you fuckin’ mine?” he asks, enunciating every word.

“Yes,” I whisper. I was. All his. In every way.

“Then fuckin’ act like it,” he replies, turning and walking away.

Ouch.

I watch Rake disappear, then turn to Anna. “How’s Arrow going to react?”

Anna closes the space between us, standing next to me with our arms touching. “He’s going to be really angry because he’ll think I put our safety in jeopardy. Here’s the thing though, you were there—we weren’t in danger at all, because Talon would have protected us from harm the way any of the Wind Dragons would have.”

“I know,” I admit, wrapping my arm around her. “We just see it as going to visit a friend. But the men see it as a betrayal, I think. You’re Arrow’s old lady; I’m pretty sure we crossed some kind of boundary today.”

“We did,” she whispers glumly. “I just didn’t want to let Talon down. It was his birthday, how could I have said no? We shouldn’t have gotten drunk.”

“We shouldn’t have done a lot of things tonight,” I reply, laying my head on her shoulder. “But now we have to suck it up and feel their wrath.”

“I’m sorry I made you come, Bailey.”

“If I didn’t I would have been worrying about you all night, so I’m not. And I saw for myself just how much Talon cares for you, like you’re his sister,” I say, taking her hand and pulling her toward the door. “Let’s go inside before we get into more trouble.”

She cracks a smile. “Maybe I should wait out here so Arrow can yell at me away from everyone.”

“Nah.” I giggle. “Let Rake hear it so he doesn’t decide to yell at you too.”

She giggles a little too, then sobers. “Thanks for being my partner in crime tonight.”

“Any time, babe. Any time.”

“I heard them fuckin’ thanking each other for being partners in crime,” I tell Sin and Arrow, running my hand through my hair in frustration.

I turn my head to look in Arrow’s direction. “If Anna wasn’t my sister, I’d be telling you to control your fuckin’ woman right now.”

Sin sighs and crosses his arms over his chest. “Arrow, control your fuckin’ woman. This Wild Men shit has to fuckin’ stop. I know she thinks of Talon as family, but this is crossing a line.”

“Don’t I fuckin’ know it,” Arrow says gruffly, his eyes hard as stone.

“I’ll get Faye to talk to them,” Sin says distractedly. “I’ll handle Talon. Looks like the bastard needs to be put in his place.”

Arrow steps forward. “I want Talon.”

Sin studies him for a second before replying. “Fine.” He then looks to me. “Handle your woman. Yeah, this was Anna’s idea, but she went along with it.”

I bite my tongue and just nod, agreeing with his comment. “Yes, Prez.”

I walk to my bedroom, feeling tired, frustrated, but more than anything, relieved.

Bailey is okay.

My sister is okay.

The night could have gone in a completely different direction. If anything had happened to either of them, I don’t know what I would have done. I’d be in prison though; that’s for damn certain. I try to let Anna have her time with Talon—I know she sees him as extended family of some kind, even though I don’t get it. He’s not our blood, and he’s not a brother, so to me, he’s no one. And if he puts anyone I love in danger again, I will fuckin’ end him.

Everything with Bailey has been going well; it was only a matter of time before we hit a bump in the road, and in terms of bumps, I’d take it. They both came home safely. Bailey had Anna’s back, and even though their plan was stupid and selfish, they’re both safe. As much as I want to wrap Bailey in my arms and hold her, I need to let her know she fucked up.

I’ll just have to hold her when she’s fast asleep.

After I’ve made her understand that she can’t just do as she pleases anymore.