“Sixx knows people,” he shared. “A body dump in the middle of some sick-ass shit involving death and picnic tables and porn and MCs, people in her biz buzz about. Your name came up as to where the most recent dump happened. She looked into shit. Some of her people know some cops. They shared. She told Maddox and me.”
I turned accusing eyes to Sixx.
I didn’t know her very well. She was friends with D, Maddox and Molly, and to my understanding the relationship was relatively new. But I’d had dinner with her and her man when I was down in Phoenix last month.
I liked her. She was cool.
Still.
“Sister, with this mess?” She shook her head. “No. I had to tell them.”
She might be right.
I still glared at her.
“Do not give that attitude to Sixx,” Diesel ordered. “And I asked a question. Have you lost your mind?”
“Can we talk about this elsewhere . . . later?” I requested. “I’m in the middle of something.” I paused. “And where’s Molly?”
“Bodies are being dumped, Rebel,” Diesel reminded me. “Do you think we’d bring our woman here when bodies are being dumped?”
They would not.
She might be in Australia, they’d want her so far away from something like that.
Probably where they intended to send me.
“Whoa, you’re huge.”
I looked behind me and down and saw Rider standing there, gazing up at Diesel like he was a superhero.
“And you’re like, ripped,” Rider went on. His dazed-with-little-kid-admiration eyes strayed to Maddox, those eyes got bigger and he whispered, “Whoa.”
I looked to Maddox.
Pitch-black hair. Full black beard. Black eyes. Not as tall as Diesel or as big, but he was a seriously fit guy. Wicked nasty handsome face in the sense he looked like a classic villain from a comic strip, the one you wanted to win over the good guy, mostly because he was the one you wanted to fuck.
Another world that didn’t have D or Rush, I’d totally do him. And it didn’t make me feel queasy to think that. Maddox was just that hot.
He turned his angry gaze from Rider to me.
Angry, he went from looking villainous to murderous.
That was hot too.
I couldn’t appreciate the hotness in that moment.
Oh boy.
“We’ll talk later. You’re done here, you come right home, Rebel. Then you’re packing and we’re taking you to Phoenix,” Maddox said.
Uh-oh.
I didn’t get the chance to get justifiably uppity that Maddox was treating me like a naughty little sister.
Rush moved to stand to my side, but partly in front of me.
“We got her covered,” he declared, his voice very growly.
“That’d make me feel a whole lot better if I knew who the fuck you were,” Diesel returned.
“Diesel,” I snapped. “Kids.”
D looked to Rider who had now been joined by an equally admiring Cutter and said, “Sorry, kid.”
“Dad uses the F-word all the time,” Rider shared.
“To my everlasting frustration,” Tyra mumbled.
“Rebel and I are together,” Rush stated. “And I get you’re concerned, man, but she’s not going anywhere.”
Diesel’s brows went up at me. “So you also got yourself a man and didn’t share.”
“We met on Tuesday,” I bit out.
Diesel’s torso swung back and he looked around, taking it all in, and with the Allen clan being obvious about coming from Tack’s loins, it didn’t take a genius to see what was happening.
But my brother was sharp, intuitive, empathetic and I’ll repeat, sharp.
He saw what was happening.
“Yep, I’m the sister. Those are our baby brothers. That’s my kid crawling around. This is my husband. And that’s my dad and stepmom,” Tabby confirmed Diesel’s look.
He turned back to me. “Meeting the family, Reb? Already?”
“How about this,” Tack pushed in. “You come in. Have a beer. Eat. We’ll talk. You can get to know us, know we got Rebel covered, feel better about the situation. She’s out. Not doin’ what she was doing anymore, but we’re not taking any chances. We’ll explain more over food. That work for you?”
Diesel looked behind him at Maddox.
Maddox settled in and crossed his arms on his wide chest.
That meant, “It’s up to you.”
My brother then looked back at me before doing a top to toe scan of Rush and swinging his eyes through the group.
“We’ll eat,” he grunted.
I let out a breath thinking this might be good.
It might be bad.
But at that point, I had no choice but to let it be.
And that was on me.
I should have told him.
Shit.
Rush looked over his shoulder at me. “Straight up, sweetheart,