He reached down, fisting himself and a droplet of pre-come beaded on his slit.

“I know you want this.”

I did, but not with an audience. I shook my head again.

“No, I mean it,” I said. “I’m not doing this with a bunch of guys in my living room. When did they get here? I didn’t hear any bikes.”

“Came in a cage,” he replied, squeezing himself hard, sliding his hand up and down. I’d never seen anything sexier in my life. He sucked in a ragged breath and I saw the pulse in his neck beating fast. “Doesn’t matter. Open the f**king condom. I want to feel you slide it on me.”

“No.”

Horse stilled, and something dark and heavy rolled into the room with us.

“No?”

“No,” I repeated, my voice small. “I heard what they said. I didn’t like it and I don’t want to have sex with them around.”

Slowly and deliberately, Horse let go of his c**k and leaned down over me, bracing his hands on either side of my face as he got real close. He held my gaze, eyes cold and hard.

“I f**k when I want and how I want,” he said. I shivered. This was the intimidating man I’d met that first day. I’d forgotten how much he terrified me. “So do my brothers. It’s my job to worry about them, not yours. You worry about taking care of me.”

“No,” I said again, scared but determined. “What we did earlier was incredible, and I’m sorry you didn’t get your turn. But I’m not having sex with an audience. Period. Get off my bed.”

“This is a mistake,” he told me.

“Get off the bed,” I repeated, holding my ground. I reached up and pushed at his chest. He exploded off me at the touch, spinning around to punch the wall. Then he grabbed his jeans, pulling them over his raging c**k commando-style. His cut came next, sliding over his bare torso. He grabbed the saddlebag and stalked out the door, slamming it so hard behind him I heard something crack.

Then I was alone in bed, stunned and covered in unopened condoms.

An hour later, Jeff knocked cautiously at my door.

“Marie, you okay?” he asked, voice quavering a little. “Um, did you know your door is cracked down the middle?”

“Yeah,” I replied softly, sitting in the middle of my bed, knees pulled up to my chest. I’d already gotten dressed and texted Denise, telling her I felt too sick for work. I’d heard Horse’s bike leave, heard Jeff and the guys arguing about something. Heard a truck peel out of the driveway. Now I just sat, trying to process what had happened.

I’d never been with anyone but Gary.

Horse had blown me away, first with his gentleness and then his skill. But he’d followed it up by scaring the crap out of me, not to mention doing some serious damage to the room. Which one was the real man? Would I ever see him again?

Did I want to see him again?

“Marie, can I come in?”

“No,” I said, looking around the room. Horse’s black t-shirt, emblazoned with the Reaper’s symbol, lay crumpled on the floor next to his boxers.

A neat pile of condoms sat on the bedside table.

Jeff didn’t need to see any of it.

“I’m going back to sleep for a while,” I told him after a long pause. “Let’s just leave it at that.”

Chapter Four

Sept. 17—Present Day

I gaped at Horse.

“You’re threatening to kill my brother just so you can sleep with me?”

Mohawk man walked casually over to Horse, draping an arm around his shoulders.

“She’s cute, but not real bright, brother,” he said, glancing toward me with a smirk. “Why don’t you let me take her for a ride, get her trained up for you?”

He gyrated his hips suggestively and the rest of the guys snickered. Horse turned fast, punching him in the stomach. Mohawk man doubled over but managed to stay standing as Horse grabbed my arm and jerked me out the door. He marched me away from the trailer into the orchard until we’d gone a pretty good distance, then pushed me back against one of the trees, leaning into my face and grabbing my shoulders.

“I don’t want to sleep with you,” he said, saying every word slowly and carefully, shaking me a little for emphasis. “I want to f**k you. Sleeping, cuddling, all that other shit is for girlfriends and old ladies. You’ve made it pretty goddamn clear you aren’t interested in any of that, so let’s get this straight. I’m threatening your brother because he stole from the club, which had nothing to do with you. You steal from the club, you pay in blood. You’re his blood. We take you, he pays. Fucking you is just a bonus.”

“So you’re taking me to show that people shouldn’t steal from the club?”

“It’s a f**kin’ miracle, she gets it,” he muttered to no one, throwing up his hands. “Your brother’s lucky, because I wanna stick my dick in you more than I wanna kill him. Otherwise this wouldn’t be worth the trouble. If Jeff-hole gets his shit together and pays back the club I might let you go—after I’m done with you. If he doesn’t, then I’ll find some other use for you. Got it?”

I nodded again.

“No games, no bullshit,” he said. Then he stepped back, running his hand through his hair roughly, pacing away from me. I started to follow him but he turned back around toward me. “You do this, it’s your choice. I’m not raping you. You’re making a decision to pay for your brother’s mistake on your back. You get me?”

Not exactly much of a choice, considering the gun pointed at my brother’s head. I didn’t say it out loud though. If the Reapers were willing to give us an out, I’d take it and call it whatever he wanted.

“I’m serious,” Horse said, glaring at me. “You call it off any time you want. I’m not gonna lock you up and watch you every minute. You make this deal, it’s up to you to keep it. And you don’t have to make the f**king deal. Your brother’s an idiot and he knew what he was getting into. This isn’t your mess and it’s not your job to bail him out.”

“You trying to talk me out of it?” I asked. “Well, you can’t. I meant what I said. I’d do anything for Jeff. Anything.”

His jaw clenched as he turned, growled and kicked one of the trees so hard it was a miracle he didn’t break a toe. Then he marched me back to the trailer.

We went inside to find the other guys sitting around, drinking beer and talking. Jeff lay on his side in the middle of the room, crying silently, the bruises covering what I could see of him getting uglier by the minute. Horse ignored all of them, pushing me into my bedroom and closing the door he’d cracked behind us. He ripped open my closet door, found a backpack and thrust it at me.