His Loyal Rebel - Debra Kayn Page 0,17

window?" Rick looked over his shoulder.

"Don't know." He turned his back to the house and walked ten feet away and waited until Rick stood beside him. "What's going on?"

"Cusclan put a hit on you and gave intel to the police." Rick crossed his arms, keeping his voice low. "Last night, the P.D. had half the department looking for you."

"Is there a warrant?"

Rick shook his head. "More than likely, Cusclan has someone on the inside who is doing them a favor by bringing you in."

"Why the Missoula police?"

"It's easier than going to the Feds and involving themselves." Rick half turned toward him. "The police can't get you if you're not doing anything."

"I'm a felon. I carry a gun. I wear a vest." He took a hard hit on the cigarette. "Any of those things will give them an excuse to stop me. It wouldn't take much paper-pushing to take me into custody and hold me for however long they feel is necessary."

Rick dipped his chin, agreeing with him.

"Why is Cusclan after me?"

"You're Tarkio." He paused. "Do you want to hear my guess?"

"Shoot."

"You've had three-four encounters with Twyla lately," said Rick.

"She said she wasn't involved—"

"Would that matter if she was your woman or your ex, and you saw her hanging with a Cusclan member?"

He gritted his teeth. The threat of Cusclan hung over his head. They were the reason why he'd spent four years in prison for admitting he killed two Cusclan members in self-defense. Because they were all involved in motorcycle clubs, the jury concluded that he'd committed a gang war.

No one considered that his parents were murdered, and his sister had to witness her parents killed in front of her.

"Your association with Twyla is going to keep that target on your back," said Rick.

He should've never stopped and told Twyla to leave Missoula. He for damn sure never should've found a way for Ringtail to continue seeing Angie.

Glancing at the house, another complication clouded his thinking.

He was attracted to her.

That morning, he'd gotten a small taste of her and instantly wanted more. While he had no claim to her, if she'd lied and Big was still in her life, watching over his property, he had a seriously big problem.

"Priest thinks it's best if you lay low at the clubhouse until we have a bigger grasp of the situation. Cops are hanging around the area six streets deep. It took all day for me to get here without having a tail. We'll have to find a way to get you inside, and then Tarkio will make sure nobody but members can get inside the clubhouse." Rick took a bandana out of his pocket, rolled and tied the material, and slipped it on his head.

"What about Twyla?" he asked.

"What about her?"

"If Big's aiming for me and he can't find me, he's going to make Twyla pay." The shithole he'd gotten himself into started filling up. "I can't leave her here unprotected."

"Tarkio can't afford to protect her. Cusclan will take that as a sign of war."

Whip ran his hand down his face, pulling on his beard. "I'll stay here."

"Bro—"

"Better yet, tell Priest we'll be staying at the cabin at the river." He pulled out another cigarette. "I'll have the mountainside at my back. Nobody can come down the trail without me knowing. I can keep her safe while we figure out how to deal with Cusclan."

"The police will notice us, escorting you out of town."

He slapped Rick's shoulder. "Don't worry about that. I'll get her there."

"Let me call Priest." Rick turned toward the house.

"Tell him we'll need supplies for the week." He looked at the door, knowing how Twyla would react once he told her that he was uprooting her life.

But there was no other option. He wasn't leaving her alone.

She'd already tried to shoot Big. Unless that was all a show.

A week would give him enough time to get the truth out of her.

Chapter 10

Twyla

Twyla followed the path from the Clark Fork River, keeping an eye on the sky. Smoke from the cabin swirled in the air. It was the only sign that Whip hadn't left her out here alone.

Water ran down her leg. She hefted the bundle of wet clothes higher on her hip.

For how much trouble it was to wash the clothes in the river, it would've been easier to go swimming, fully clothed, with a bar of soap.

She entered the clearing and dumped the clothes on the towel spread out on the hood of her car. It'd been four