rode with, he had few scars on his face. They were mostly on his body, covered with ink. She knew every scar, every tattoo. She had traced every one of those scars and tattoos with her tongue. With her fingertips. She’d memorized them until they were etched so deeply in her brain, she could have drawn them and gotten every detail perfect.
She wore his tattoo on her skin. He’d had his friend ink her for him, a tattoo of his design, right across the top curve of her butt, an intricate pattern that she always thought was beautiful. She had a love/hate relationship with that tattoo. The ink beads dripped down onto her buttocks, both cheeks, but high up, the intertwining lace wove his name there declaring her his property. His. She’d loved that. It had meant something back then. Now, not so much.
She’d been shaking, and he’d held her hand and whispered to her, beautiful, loving things, things that had made her laugh or want to cry with happiness. All the while his friend Ink had tattooed the custom design on her. It had felt intimate. Loving. She often thought of that day and the way, for the first time in her life, she’d felt important and loved by someone.
“Untie me.”
He shook his head slowly. “You’re coming back to the clubhouse with me.”
She flinched. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to go anywhere near that place again. “Once was enough, Steele.” There was sarcasm in her voice. Maybe bitterness. “One look, one smell and I knew I was so finished with that life. You managed to fall right back into it once I was gone, or were you still participating while we were together? I should have known it would take more than one woman to satisfy you. You always had such an appetite.” She made that as nasty as she could manage.
She didn’t look away from his glittering midnight blue eyes. She’d always thought he had the most beautiful eyes, ringed with all those dark lashes. The color of his eyes was unusual, in that they were so dark one had stare at them a long while before realizing they were actually blue. His hair was wild and always out of control. When it was longish, it was decidedly unruly, falling into his face, but it didn’t make him look young. Nothing took the cold from his eyes.
She found his friends, the ones he mostly ran with in the club—and at that time they’d all been riding with the Swords—had eyes that were flat and deadly. She’d been young enough and stupid enough to get a thrill from that. Now, she just knew they weren’t good people and she didn’t want any part of them.
“Did you come here to kill me? To kill Czar?”
If her hands hadn’t been tied, she would have slapped him right across the face. She’d risked everything to warn him. To warn Czar. And some man named Jackson Deveau she’d never even met. She’d risked everything just to do the right thing. “Screw you, Steele. Yeah, that’s exactly what I did. I came here and left you a letter detailing how I planned to kill you all.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice.
In the distance she heard the sound of pipes as two Harleys approached. She saw their lights once they rounded the bend. There would be no escaping from this if Steele didn’t let her go. She raised her gaze to his once more. “You know what the stakes are. Let me get out of here. If I can’t—”
He shook his head. “You aren’t going anywhere, Breezy. We’re going to put this before the others and take a vote.”
Horror swept through her. “We’re not something to vote on, Steele. What’s wrong with you? Just let me go. I warned you. I warned Czar. It’s up to you to warn this Deveau.”
Steele transferred his hold to her elbow, and she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Her only hope was to convince Czar she was no threat to anyone. The others had always followed Czar’s lead, even within the Swords club much to the chagrin of the president of their chapter. Czar had been the enforcer and very trusted. No one suspected, not for one moment, that he—and the others—were plotting to assassinate the international president and bring the club to its knees. Of course, she was gone by then. Long gone.
The motorcycles reached them. She recognized Maestro on one with Keys