The Sinner’s Tribe Motorcycle Club, Books 1-3 (46 page)

“Your choice. But you've got a history of making bad choices, so you might want to rethink that attitude. You chose to piss Jimmy off, and look where it got you. No kids. I got my own problems to deal with, and looking after your brats is draining me dry. You know where I'll be on Sunday. And I know where Jimmy will be if you don't show up with the extra cash.”

Heart aching, Dawn bent down to hug her girls. She assured them Sunday wasn't too far away, and that one day they would be a family again—a promise she'd been making every week, because she was damn well going to make it happen no matter what it took. No one was going to keep her away from her girls, and especially not Jimmy and his deadbeat sister.

After Shelly-Ann led her sobbing daughters back to the car, Dawn slumped against a streetlamp. Shelly-Ann had been right about one thing. She definitely had made some bad choices in her life, and the worst one was accepting Jimmy's offer to save her from the streets. In her sixteen-year-old na
ï
vet
é
, she had mistaken his interest for kindness and his possessiveness for love.

“You okay?” Cade gently brushed her hair back from her face, and her skin tingled at his touch. Focused on dealing with Shelly-Ann, she'd totally forgotten about him. And Cade wasn't an easy man to forget. Not with those faded jeans, tight in all the right places, those washboard abs, a body that moved with easy grace both in and out of bed …

Take me, baby. Deep inside. I want you to feel what I feel. Like there's nothing in the world but us.

What was supposed to be a one-night stand with Cade just over a year ago had turned into two nights, and in those two nights he had ruined her for other men forever. Too bad he was a biker, the kind of man she'd promised herself she'd never fall for again.

“I'm fine. Sorry you had to hear that.”

“My fault. Shoulda been more discreet. Not really one of my strongest traits.”

Dawn gave him a dry smile. “As I recall, your strongest traits involve a bed.”

She bit her lip as soon as the words left her mouth. What was she thinking? Flirting with him was a one-way street to disaster. And yet her subconscious was in the driver's seat and heading straight for “Route 69.”

“Apparently not strong enough, since you dumped me.” His blue eyes glittered, and she hit the mental brakes. No need to worry; it seemed she was traveling alone. Served her right. After all,
she
had walked away. Not him.

A flush stole across her cheeks. “We only slept together twice, so technically I didn't dump you. It was more like a permanent good-bye.”

“Never had a woman refuse to see me again.” Sardonic amusement laced Cade's tone. “Interesting experience. Not one I'm keen to repeat.”

She wrapped her arms around herself to beat back the chill of the wind. “Well, as long as you're wearing that cut, you have nothing to worry about from me. As you can see, my life has already been totally messed up by a biker. I'm not interested in getting involved with another one.”

“That why you walked away?” He stroked his thumb over the apple of her cheek, and warmth pooled in the pit of her stomach. “'Cause I'm a biker? We're not all the same.”

“You're an
outlaw
biker, not just a biker. Isn't that what the one-percenter patch on your cut means? Mayhem and violence are how you live ‘The Life' and it's a life I never want to be part of again. In simple terms, outlaws are bad and civilians are good.”

His face softened. “What about Arianne?”

Damn. Caught out
. Her bestie was the daughter of Viper, president of the Sinners' biggest rival MC, the Black Jacks. And although Arianne had spent a lifetime trying to get out of Conundrum and away from her father, she'd fallen in love with the Sinner president, Jagger, and returned to her outlaw biker roots. “I guess there a few exceptions.”

The rumble of a motorcycle pulled her attention away from Cade and his gentle touch. Turning, she caught a glimpse of a Harley Classic motorcycle pulling to a stop beside Shelly-Ann's car.

No.

No way.

Dawn sucked in a sharp breath. What was Jimmy doing here? And by
here
, she didn't just mean in Conundrum or in front of a Sinner who, by all rights, could shoot him dead on sight for daring to enter the town, but
here
near her girls.

Jimmy hated his children. He blamed them for everything that had gone wrong in their relationship—in other words, Dawn had finally mustered the courage to leave after he took out his anger on Tia. Malicious and bitter, he had waged the custody battle not because he wanted their girls, but simply because he didn't want Dawn to have them.

“Jimmy! Get away from them.” Heedless of the danger, she pushed past Cade and stepped into the street. Jimmy's presence here was nothing short of brazen, and tantamount to suicide. But then he'd always been an adrenaline junkie, a quality she'd admired until she discovered he got his kicks by listening to her scream.

Jimmy scowled when he spotted her, and she felt the familiar surge of adrenaline that accompanied the fear of knowing she'd displeased him. Once that scowl would have sent her running in the other direction. But she wasn't going to let him near her children ever again.

And besides, for the first time ever, she had backup. Not that she expected Cade to intervene in what was essentially a marital dispute, but Jimmy was a member of the Devil's Brethren, and he was on Sinner's Tribe territory. There was no way Cade would let that pass.

“What the fuck?” Clearly audible over the dwindling traffic, Cade's angry shout chilled Dawn's blood. She held her breath in anticipation of the moment Jimmy heeded the outraged biker only a few steps behind her and ran for cover.

Unfortunately, Jimmy didn't oblige. Instead he crooked his finger and motioned her forward, sending a shiver down her spine with a simple gesture that carried with it the memory of years of pain.

Dark where Cade was fair, slender where Cade was broad, Jimmy had a lean, wolfish face with razor-sharp cheekbones and a cruel slash of a mouth framed in a prickly goatee. When she first met him she'd thought him darkly handsome, but now, knowing just how vicious and brutal he could be, his cruel features were the stuff of nightmares, not dreams.

“That's your Jimmy?” Cade's voice dropped to a low, threatening growl. “Mad Dog, VP of the Devil's Brethren MC? What the hell is he doing in Conundrum?”

“Yep. That's Jimmy.” Dawn's pulse kicked up a notch as she took full advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself in the form of a Brethren's mortal enemy, with absolutely no qualms about what she was about to unleash. If Cade were even half as passionate about the club as he was about sex, Jimmy would soon sport as many bruises as she had on the many occasions he'd raised his fists to her. “He's never dared come into Conundrum before. Looks like he's decided to stick to the Sinners.”

“Jesus. Fucking. Christ.”

Dawn's mouth watered in anticipation.
Oh yeah
. Jimmy was about to pay for his crimes. His presence was a challenge to Sinner dominance in Conundrum, and no one challenged the Sinners without paying a price.

“You were an old lady in the Devil's Brethren?”

“Biggest mistake of my life.” She hadn't realized just how big until she'd become pregnant with the twins at the age of nineteen. Only then did the blinders come off. Although the Brethren were hard, ruthless, violent men, they had bylaws and a constitution, rules and a creed. Jimmy followed the rules only to the extent he was forced to do so, and he lacked the fierce protectiveness most bikers had toward their property: bikes, weapons, clubhouse, women, and children—born or unborn.

Jimmy's dark eyes finally flicked from Dawn to Cade and back to Dawn. She trembled under his silent censure, wondering if he'd seen Cade's hand on her cheek and just how bad her punishment would be if he had. Jimmy's justice was swift and brutal, and she'd quickly learned that the price for breaking his rules was not worth even the smallest amount of defiance.

Cade took a small step forward, interposing his body between her and Jimmy. He seemed unaware of his subtly protective gesture, but Jimmy had seen it, and from the ferocity of his scowl he wasn't pleased. Of course, his displeasure was only the tip of the iceberg. She'd been caught breaking the deal. Now she would have to pay.

*   *   *

Cade didn't think of himself as a violent man. However, the string of blood patches lining the bottom of his cut said otherwise: One patch for every life taken. A skull and crossbones for his tenth kill. And a Master of Mayhem patch telling the world he'd made violations for his club.

Violations he'd willingly make again.

The Sinners had given him the brotherhood and camaraderie he missed after leaving the army, and a way of life that made him look forward to every day when, for the longest time, he thought of nothing but ending it all.

And right now, his club's dominance was being threatened by a member of the Devil's Brethren who dared step foot in Sinner's Tribe territory; a biker who had stared at Dawn as if he owned her and Cade was the one in the wrong.

He wants to stick it to the Sinners.

Well, fuck that. No damn member of the Brethren would intrude on his territory, whether it was his town, nestled at the foot of Montana's Bridger Mountains, or a beautiful green-eyed blonde with a dry wit, a sharp tongue, and the sexiest body he'd ever had the pleasure to fuck.

Time had not diminished his desire in the least. When he'd seen Dawn standing under the tree, dark blond waves blowing gently around her heartbreakingly, beautiful face, lush curves filling out a slender frame, he almost crashed his bike. No one had ever affected him the way Dawn did, and over the last year he'd made the effort to find out.

“He's their father.” A statement. Not a question. Although he had questions for Dawn. Like, what the fuck was she doing with such a loser? When did they split? And was it before she and Cade got together? Not that he had any issues with martial infidelity—he'd fucked plenty of married women, most of them better lays than the inexperienced hang-arounds at the club who were desperate to get into his bed—but he hadn't pegged Dawn as an old lady. And Arianne would have told him if she was still involved with the Brethren.

“Yeah, but we're not together anymore.”

“I can't stand by and let one of the Brethren ride around my town like he's got the fucking right to be here. It's like a slap in the face.”

Too bad Mad Dog was already rolling his throttle, preparing to flee. Except for the monthly fight matches at the clubhouse, Cade rarely got a chance to fight—properly fight—and he'd always been a brawler, taking out the stress of living in an abusive household on anyone who rubbed him the wrong way. Even after he'd joined the army he'd been disciplined countless times for scrapping.

“You have to do what you have to do.” Dawn seemed surprisingly unconcerned that Cade was about to hunt down the father of her children. Her ex. Whatever had happened between them must have been bad.

Real bad.

Mad Dog accelerated into the traffic and Cade threw himself on his bike.

“I'm gonna take care of him.” And not just for the club. He was more than happy to serve up a little justice. Sinner style.

Moments later he was off, mindful of the mothers and children crossing the street, not as mindful of the red lights or stop signs. He was an outlaw, after all, and the sheriff's department in Conundrum knew better than to interfere with Sinner business. Until last year, the Sinners had Sheriff Morton on their payroll, but after the sheriff had been picked up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) for selling confiscated weapons, a new sheriff arrived with a new deputy in tow and they weren't amenable to engaging in business with outlaws. In other words, they couldn't be bought.

Unlike Mad Dog's fucking sister. What the hell was going on there? Why did Dawn have to pay to see her kids? And how the heck did they wind up with their aunt? How was it he knew so little about her and yet she was the one woman he hadn't been able to get out of his mind?

He thought he'd had Dawn all figured out their first night together. Smart, savvy, and sexy, she knew what she wanted and she took no prisoners. He'd imagined nights of sweaty fucking, his cock buried inside her pussy, her generous breasts filling his palms, the sweet sound of surrender as he gave her the kind of pleasure only a man with his experience could give. And then, when he tired of her, or when she became clingy and demanding of his time, the inevitable good-bye. His first clue things weren't going to go as planned was when he woke up in bed alone after their first night together, the second, when it happened again.

But not this time. After he dealt with Mad Dog, he'd pull out all the stops and get her back in his bed. Then he'd fuck her until they were so exhausted neither of them could run away. She wanted him. He knew it from the way she licked her lips when she looked at him, and how her cheeks flushed when he touched her, the way her mouth parted, inviting him in …

Fuck me, Cade.

Sweeter words he'd never heard.

Shaking off the memory of Dawn moaning beneath him, Cade pursued Mad Dog through residential areas and then north on the interstate toward the airport. What the fuck? The Devil's Brethren had moved south of Conundrum after the turf war. If Mad Dog had any sense, he'd head to the Brethren clubhouse where Cade couldn't touch him.

But that was the problem with the Brethren. Whether it was stupidity or arrogance, they just couldn't accept Sinner dominance of the state. Even after the hellish battle in which the Brethren president, JC, was killed and his brothers were stomped, beaten, and chain-whipped to a pulp, their patches and bikes confiscated, legs and arms broken to prevent them from riding, they'd simply regrouped under a new leader, JC's brother, Wolf. No matter what the Sinners did to them, the Brethren just kept coming back. Like the roaches they were.