The Sinner’s Tribe Motorcycle Club, Books 1-3 (108 page)

Zane met her in the hallway at the foot of the stairs. He'd been out all day at the clubhouse dealing with the situation with T-Rex. Evie's gaze skittered from the tips of his heavy, dust-covered biker boots, to his low-riding jeans, snug in all the right places, and then over his muscle-hugging T-shirt to his tanned, frowning face. Memories of what they'd done last night sent a wave of heat through her body and her cheeks flushed.

“You're showing a lot of skin.” His frown became a scowl as his gaze swept over her body. “Do you know what it does to a man when he gets a glimpse of something he's not supposed to see?”

“Does that mean you like it?”

Zane splayed his hand under the back panel of the dress, his fingers skimming the edge of her panties as he pulled her against him. “It means I only got two hands, and there's a lot of brothers who won't be able to take their eyes off you since you're showing more skin than dress.” He pulled his hand from beneath her dress, and slapped her ass. “Go change.”

Evie cried out in surprise. The slap was more of a sting than true pain, but the responding throb in her sex shocked her, made her wonder what would happen if he slapped her again. But the sudden thrill quickly turned to indignation.

“Seriously?” Evie glared at him, her mouth agape. “You're ordering me to go and change my clothes? I've seen some of the clothes the old ladies are wearing. I look like a nun compared to them.”

“You got a habit upstairs, I'll be a happy man.”

“I'm not changing, Zane.” She leaned against the wall, folded her arms over her chest. “Even if we were together, which we're not, I wouldn't let you tell me what to wear. I went through that with Mark. He was insecure right from the start because he never felt he could measure up to you and Jagger. When he lost his job, he started drinking again and that just made it worse. And when we had to rely on my income, he couldn't deal with it. He started following me around, trying to cut me off from my friends, checking my phone, and showing up at work. He threw out some of my clothes, called me a slut…”

“Jesus Christ. Once we get T-Rex, I'm fucking going after him.” Zane leaned one elbow beside her and traced the cutout on the left side of her dress with his free hand, his finger warm against her skin. “What if I ask real nice?”

Evie bit back a smile at his sudden change in demeanor. “Jagger saw my dress. He didn't have a problem.”

“Because you aren't his.” He slid his hand beneath the front panel of her dress, his finger dipping down to her mound, sending a sizzle of erotic sensation straight to her clit. “You're mine.”

Flustered by his possessiveness given that she'd pretty much booted him out of her room last night, she had no idea what to say. And when he pulled her in close and lowered his face until their noses were almost touching, she wanted nothing more than to run her tongue over his lips and forget about speech all together.

“You showing something that belongs to me makes it my problem,” he murmured.

“I don't belong to you, Zane.”

“Last night.” He feathered kisses along her jaw, following her jugular to the hollow at the base of her throat. “Says you do.” His hands slid down to her ass and his fingers dug into her cheeks. “Way I feel now, thinking of the brothers lookin' at you, touching you, and you showing off what you shared with me last night, says you do.”

Desire pulsed through her, a deep throb that intensified with every second. “It was just sex.”

“You and me, sweetheart … it's never
just
anything.”

“C'mon you two. Jagger's about to give a speech.” Sparky's voice pulled Evie out of the moment and she clasped Zane's hand.

“Looks like I win by default,” Evie said. “I wouldn't want to disrespect Jagger by missing his speech.”

He stared at her for a long moment, and then he dropped her hand and slid his arm around her waist. “It's gonna be a long fucking night.”

They made their way into the shop, now emptied of bikes and filled with bikers. Zane introduced her to Cade, the club treasurer, a blond, blue-eyed, drop-dead gorgeous biker with a cheeky smile, and his old lady, Dawn, who could have passed for his sister. After chatting with them and meeting a few more bikers, she spotted Tank sipping a beer at the far edge of the garage and excused herself to join him.

“You're looking kinda down.” Relieved to be away from the crowd, she eased herself up on the bench beside him, her feet dangling off the floor.

“Missing T-Rex.”

Evie wasn't surprised. In the short time she'd been around the Sinners, Tank and T-Rex were always together. “Yeah, I was surprised the Sinners were having a party when T-Rex was still … with Viper.”

He shrugged. “It's Jagger's way of boosting morale before the big raid. We're goin' in to get him, and he says not all of us are gonna come out in one piece.”

Evie caught her breath. “Jagger's sending you on a suicide mission?”

“We gotta get T-Rex. We don't leave brothers behind. And while we're there, we're gonna take down the Jacks. They're outta control. One-percenters like us don't got many rules, but we got some and the Jacks are breaking them all. No one is safe—old ladies, kids, even civilians.”

“Is everyone going on the raid?”

Tank gave her a sympathetic look. “Every brother who can ride. Even the family men. We're all in or we're all dead, the way things are going now. Zane's on point. That means he's going in first, taking the biggest risk. He says it's 'cause he owes T-Rex a debt and if someone's gotta die—”

“No one is dying on my watch.” Jagger came up behind Evie and rested his hand on her shoulder. “And this isn't going be some haphazard raid. Everything will be planned with military precision. Nothing will be left to chance.”

“Except we don't know if T-Rex is alive or dead.” Tank's voice wavered. “Or even if he's in the Black Jack clubhouse.”

“We got some good intel on that this afternoon, brother.” Jagger made a fist and bumped knuckles with Tank. “We all care about T-Rex and we're gonna bring him back. But maybe I'll save all that for my speech. I'm going to get an update from Shaggy, and then we'll toast T-Rex.”

Sparky and Shooter waved them over to the makeshift bar after Jagger left, and soon had Evie laughing about how the club picked biker road names from events that happened when each biker was a prospect. Road Kill, Rubber, Sweet Cheeks, and Hard On had suffered the most from the Sinners' collective sense of humor. Executive board members were allowed to use first names when they were elected and Jagger, Zane, Dax, and Cade had taken that option.

“What's Zane's road name?” She hadn't even thought to ask, just as she hadn't thought to ask Viper's real name. Evie made a mental note to ask Arianne, not that she planned to see Viper again, but she still couldn't understand why she had seen a different side of the man, one that no one else had seen, and why that man had disappeared the night she met him at Riverside Bar.

“Tracker. 'Cause he can hunt down anything or anyone that's gone missing.” Gunner, a giant of a man and well-suited to his role as club enforcer, shoved four Tequila Slammers across the bar, and Evie grimaced. Nothing went to her head faster than the fizzy combination of tequila and soda. Exactly what she needed tonight.

They did two slammers each and then Tank raised his third glass.

“Here's to T-Rex.” Tank covered the drink with his hand, slammed it on the counter, then shot it back with one gulp. Beside him, Sparky did the same, and then Shooter followed suit.

Evie covered her glass, but before she could slam the drink on the counter, a warm, broad hand covered hers, and Zane came up behind her. “I think you've had enough.”

Oh did he now? Evie pressed her lips together and glanced over at Tank with his wide eyes and vigorously shaking head. How utterly humiliating. As if she didn't know how much she could drink.

“Okay.” She looked back over her shoulder and forced a smile for the dark, glowering man behind her, arm tensed for the moment he removed his hand.

Zane grunted his approval and slid his hand up her arm to her shoulder, his touch sending a sensual prickle over her skin. “Maybe we should—”

Slam.
She banged the glass on the counter, waited two seconds until it fizzed, and then shot it back. If she'd learned anything during her marriage to Mark, it was how to set boundaries. Although Mark was controlling, he was at heart an insecure man. Zane, on the other hand, was utterly dominant and if she didn't draw her line in the sand now, he would walk all over her when it came to decisions about Ty. “Thanks, Gunner. I'll have another.”

She turned and met Zane's gaze, lifting her chin the tiniest bit just to let him know his dark scowl didn't affect her, but deep inside, fear curled in her belly. Not because she was afraid of him—for all the darkness in him, and the fear and respect he engendered in his brothers, he was still her Zane—but because she didn't know if she'd pushed him too far. Was this the moment he would walk away?

Silence. No one moved. No one spoke. Clearly she had crossed some hidden line.

Braced for his reaction, Evie expected a growl or even a shout, perhaps even the sight of his back as he walked away. So when he grabbed her hair, yanked her head back, and sealed his lips over hers in a fierce, possessive kiss, she gave in without a fight, her arms twining around his neck as he ravaged her mouth.

“Well … that was … unexpected,” she said when he gave her a moment to catch her breath. “Maybe I should have another drink.”

He drew her to the side of the bar, away from the curious stares of his brothers. His hands slid over her bare skin, exposed by the cutouts in the dress, and then he yanked her against him and pressed his lips to her ear. “Don't push me, sweetheart.”

“I already pushed you.”

“And I'm still here,” he said quietly, giving her the reassurance she needed, although she had no idea how he understood her so well.

“Maybe we can be friends again.” She pressed herself against him, breathing in his scent of leather and liquor, and the faintest hint of smoke. He snorted a laugh. “Friends don't fuck like we did last night.”

Crude. But true. In fact, she'd never had a boyfriend who'd made her come the way Zane had last night. And he was right; it wasn't just sex. They had a connection. Whether it was from their shared past, their child, or something deeper, she didn't know.

He kissed the rise of her breasts above the thin strip of fabric, his hands encircling her waist, fingers trailing up and down the small of her back. “And they don't fuck the way I'm gonna fuck you now.”

“Maybe I don't want to fuck in the middle of Sparky's garage while the Sinners party around us.”

Just saying the word
fuck
sent a naughty thrill through her body. And the thought of
fucking
Zane right here, right now made her mouth water. How long had it been since she'd taken a risk? How many years since she'd felt that rush of adrenaline she'd shared only with Zane?

“I can smell sex on you, Evie,” he murmured as he licked along the shell of her ear. “If I slid my hand into your panties, I'd find you wet and ready for me.”

His dirty talk made her pussy wet, her nipples hard, and sent desire through her like a crashing wave. Her hips swayed, grinding ever so lightly against his rigid shaft, and she gripped his forearm when he slid one hand beneath the front panel of her dress, and into her panties, his fingers resting just above her clit. The world faded away, the bikers laughing and talking around them, the music pulsating through her body, the clink of glasses as Gunner poured drinks. There was just her and Zane and an ache only he could take away.

“That makes you hot.” With his free hand he caressed her thigh, just at the hem of her dress, lifting it slowly, exposing her creamy skin to his ardent caress.

“Yes,” she whispered. There was no point denying the potent chemistry between them. Plain and simple, Zane made her burn.

“I make you hot.” Passion and raw hunger blazed in his eyes, and something darker, deeper, something that curled warm in her belly, spreading out to her fingers and toes.

“Scorching.” She rocked against him.

“Tell me you want me.” His hand snaked up her back, fisted her hair. She gasped at the sharp pain, felt a rush of heat between her legs.

“I want you, Zane.” And she did. She wanted this, the thrill, the risk, the rush.

She wanted him.

*   *   *

Fuck she was sexy, with her lush lips, pink and glistening, wanting him to fill her sweet mouth. She labored her breaths, teasing him with the view of her breasts rising and falling, taut nipples just waiting to be pinched. The act of claiming her, knowing his brothers were watching, curious about the first woman Zane had ever brought to a club function was unexpectedly, inexplicably erotic and he'd never gotten so hard so fast in his life.

Consumed with desire, he released her and led her out of the shop and into the hallway leading outside. With a low growl, he shoved her up against the wall between the stairwell and the washroom, then yanked her dress up over her hips.

“Zane!”

Heedless of her cry, he pushed her silky panties aside and pressed a finger into her wet heat, angling his body to keep that particular intimacy hidden from anyone who might be watching.

“You're so fucking wet.”

“And you're so fucking sexy.” She rocked her hips against his finger.

Christ, was there anything hotter than his woman needing him? Zane's blood pooled in his groin. He would give her what she wanted and more. When he'd first arrived at the shop this evening, he'd been off-kilter, still thrown by her withdrawal the night before and the mess he'd made of the morning with Ty. But now, with Evie willing and responsive to his touch, he felt grounded. In control.