"Trust me, I never forget," I snapped. "And don't hurt my sister."

Skid snorted.

"I wouldn't worry about that if I was you."

"What the h.e.l.l is that supposed to mean?"

"Ask her," Skid muttered. "Trust me, she's not the victim here."

The atmosphere in the clubhouse was darker than I'd ever seen it. Burke sat in the back, talking to several of the chapter presidents. His eyes caught mine as I walked in, and he gestured me over. I realized this was it-decision time.

Might as well get it over with.

"I need a moment, Burke."

He tilted his head, considering. Then he nodded.

"In my office," he said. He stood and I followed him down the hallway, wondering how the next ten minutes would play out. You never knew with Burke. He'd been like a father to me ... But he'd also taught me to kill.

He couldn't afford to show mercy, especially not right now.

"Shut the door," he said, sitting back in his chair. "What is it?"

"It's Emmy Hayes," I said, figuring it didn't make sense to be anything less than direct. "I f.u.c.ked her last night and I'm pretty sure I'll be doing it again in the near future. Hopefully on a regular basis."

He studied me, eyes cold like a snake's. Sometimes I wondered why Burke helped me kill Jim all those years ago. At the time I thought he was saving us, that he didn't like seeing two kids suffer. In retrospect, I wasn't so sure.

Burke was always ten moves ahead of the rest of us. Had he seen an angry teenager and decided I might suit his purposes some day? The chance to shape a valuable a.s.set for the club? I'd probably never know.

"You with her last night?"

"Yup," I said, holding his gaze. "That's why I'm convinced it was the cartel that hit us. I talked to Picnic right after it happened. He had no idea I was with her and no time to put together a story. He played tough, but the man was scared s.h.i.tless for his kids-scared enough to give me safe pa.s.sage to take her home. Her dumba.s.s sister was still missing, by the way."

"Interesting," he said, betraying nothing. "I know when we started this, you thought keeping her around would work out for you ... That was under very specific conditions. Apparently those conditions have changed-you're obviously emotionally invested-and that's not so convenient for my plans. How serious are you about this?"

"Pretty serious," I admitted. "I'm not sure where we're going, but I won't give her up without a fight."

Silence fell between us. I held his eyes steadily, refusing to soften what I'd just said or back down.

"I'll need you to talk to the others," he said finally. "Explain your relationship with her, including your plans and how they differ from the original arrangement. I won't have this used against me. Of course, that kills any hope you have for leadership, at least for now."

"I understand."

Yeah, I understood. But it hurt.

"There's some good that can come of this, though," Burke said thoughtfully. "I'll have you talk about Hayes's reaction, explain why it reinforces the cartel theory. We've got hotheads pushing for retaliation against the Reapers. They don't want to believe the cartel has the reach to pull off an attack like this."

"So you think it was the cartel?"

"I'm certain of it," he said, his voice grim. "I've met the Reapers' president, Shade. He's a good man. This isn't his style. The others don't want to accept that, though. They'd rather blame another MC than admit we're really at war with the cartel."

I nodded, because he was right. Fighting the Reapers was weirdly safe, almost comfortable in a strange way. We all knew the rules and what to expect from each other.

"Like I said, this pretty much kills any chance you have to go higher in the Jacks," Burke continued. "So you'll stay in Portland. At some point I'd like to see a true chapter started there, a.s.suming we can get the Reapers to sign off on it. Deke's still pretty p.i.s.sed at us over his niece, and I'm sure the Toke situation didn't help things. That happens, you'll have another shot at leadership. Until then, I'll still expect you to be available for delicate a.s.signments. You'll have to get a regular job, though. I'll make sure you still get a bounty when it's warranted, but the others won't tolerate a man on payroll who's sleeping with the enemy. And they're still the enemy, at least in most minds. We clear?"

I thought about Em and nodded. She was worth the sacrifice-a.s.suming things worked out. s.h.i.t ... This was happening too fast. Something must have crossed my face, because Burke paused.

"How sure are you of this girl?" he asked.

I considered the question, reluctant to answer. Would've been nice to pin Em down, spend a little more time together first ...

"Not as sure as I'd like," I admitted finally. "I mean, we don't have anything arranged formally, and her dad hates me. All her people do. But she stood up for me last night, so that's something-even told her father we were together. That means I've got a shot, and G.o.d hates a coward."

Burke snorted.

"You're an idiot," he said flatly. "Believe it or not, I can understand giving things up for a woman. I really can. But giving away everything for a girl you barely know? I'm saying this as someone who cares about you-you're a f.u.c.kwit. You're lucky I need you to convince the others the Reapers aren't behind this attack. We don't save this truce, the cartel's already won."

"Hope they listen," I murmured.

"Won't hurt that you're throwing everything away to tell them," Burke said offhandedly. "Of course, your judgment is obviously f.u.c.ked, so it balances out."

I shrugged.

"Can I ask a question?" I said. Burke was the closest thing I had to a father, but I was all too aware that I didn't really know him at all.

"You can ask," he said.

"If it wasn't for what happened last night-if you didn't need me to convince the club it wasn't the Reapers-would you still let me have her?"

Burke laughed, but there wasn't any humor in his voice.

"Romeo and Juliet died, son. Consider that all the answer you need."

Chapter Fourteen.

EM.

Kit finally called at four in the morning.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on?" she demanded, and for once there wasn't a hint of playfulness or laughter in her voice. "I just saw my phone-there's about a hundred messages here. I want to know what I'm getting into before I get hold of Dad. Do you think I should wait a couple hours to make the call, when he's awake?"

"Definitely don't wait until later," I told her, keeping my voice low. The house was crawling with people, and I didn't want to wake anyone up if I didn't have to. We were all exhausted. "Someone tried to shoot Shade last night in Boise. Swinger is dead. Not only that, they shot up some of the clubhouses, including Portland. Everyone's been scared you were kidnapped or murdered or something."

"Oh my G.o.d. I'm calling Dad right now."

She hung up on me, and I flopped back down on my bed, throwing an arm over my eyes. What a cl.u.s.terf.u.c.k. Ten minutes later my phone rang again.

"You were with Hunter last night!?" Kit demanded, her voice incredulous. "Dad says he brought you home. What the h.e.l.l is going on? It's like the world turned upside down while I was getting laid."

"Yeah, I was with Hunter."

"You want to give me the details on that?"

"I'm not sure even I know the details. We had s.e.x, but before we could talk about anything our phones blew up and everything fell apart. He took me home and then left. Hopefully I'll hear from him today."

"I hate to say this, but have you considered he might be playing you again?" she asked quietly. "I know I'm the one who dragged you over to his place last weekend ... But I didn't think there was any danger then. Now people are dying. This is bad s.h.i.t, Em, and Dad says the Devil's Jacks could be behind it. He wants us to come home."

"Hunter's not playing me," I said firmly. "You didn't see how he reacted last night-totally shocked. Someone tried to kill their president, too. He's dead now, along with another Jack. They got hit worse than we did."

"Sweet baby Jesus on a stick. That's f.u.c.ked up."

Hard to argue.

"Where are you?" I asked. "I'm a.s.suming Dad told you to come to Cookie's place? I guess this is where we're holing up for now. The Portland clubhouse had some water damage. n.o.body got hurt, but one of the bullets burst a pipe, of all things. Weird."

"Deke's sending someone for me right now. Not sure whether I'll make it back up to school tomorrow or not. Dad wants to arrange some kind of family emergency leave or something. Next week is Thanksgiving break, so that'll give me a little breathing room. I was planning on driving over on the Wednesday before, but even if I head back to school, I'll leave the minute cla.s.ses end. I know it isn't like me, but I want to be with Dad, Em. This is scary s.h.i.t, and I don't like the idea of him alone."

I snorted.

"Dad is never alone."

"You know what I mean," she replied. "He's always had you to keep an eye on him. I know he's a big bad MC president, but we both know how lonely he gets. Why do you think he drags home all those losers to sleep with?"

"Because he's h.o.r.n.y," I said, my tone flat. Sometimes the truth isn't pretty. "I'm not going back. I just got away from him for the first time in years, and he'll use this as an excuse to try and keep us there. You know he will."

"You're not a slave, you know. You can leave whenever you want."

"Or I can just stay here. They weren't shooting at women, and if it's safe enough for Cookie, it's safe enough for me. I'd rather stay in Portland and keep moving forward. I'm not going to take stupid risks, but I'm not getting locked away forever, either."

"You're letting hormones cloud your brain," she said bluntly. "This is about Hunter. But he's just a guy, Em, and there are millions more all over the country. A d.i.c.k is a d.i.c.k."

"It isn't just about Hunter, Kit. Okay, I'll admit, maybe it's a little about him. But I also fought hard to get out. I'm not like you-I'm not independent and strong ... If I go home, I might just stay, and I don't want that."

"We'll talk more when I get there," Kit said, sighing. "I see them pulling up right now. I feel kind of bad for this guy I picked up. He was talking about making me breakfast, but I'm just gonna leave him a note. No point in waking him up."

I snorted.

"You're a s.l.u.t."

"Probably," she replied with a hint of her old spirit. "But he's s.h.i.t in bed. It's better this way. See you in a few."

By nine that morning, the kitchen was warm and full of good smells. Cookie and I were making a king-sized batch of pancakes while Kit sliced fruit. Deke and the brothers had a council of war going in the living room, so we'd closed the sliders that separated the kitchen and dining room to give them privacy. Silvie sat at the table coloring and singing some weird, unending little song about pizza fairies.

I couldn't seem to stop checking my phone. No word from Hunter. I wasn't particularly surprised-I a.s.sumed he was in his own council of war right now. I just hoped he stayed safe.

"I think Kit is right," Cookie was saying. "You should go home to Coeur d'Alene with her. If this thing with Hunter is real, it'll still be real in a couple weeks, when we've had a chance to wrap our heads around what's happening."

"I'm not going home," I said, my voice firm. "Moving out was hard. Really hard ... I don't want to slip back into old habits. I'm too comfortable in Coeur d'Alene and the club was smothering me. I'm happier here and I don't think it would be any safer back home. In fact, I haven't even decided if I'm going for Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll have other plans."

Cookie and Kit exchanged looks.

"You know I'm all about getting laid," Kit started carefully. Cookie snapped her with a towel.

"Little ears."

"Sorry. I think it's great that you and Hunter made a connection," Kit started again. "But you're building castles in your head and that's not too smart, sis."

"I'm gonna live in a castle when I'm a grown-up," Silvie declared.

"Good luck," Cookie muttered. "I leave the shop closed another day and we won't be able to afford a house."

"Are things really that tight?" I asked, startled. She shook her head, frowning.

"No, but you get what I mean. I'm just frustrated because Deke seems to think he's my boss. No thanks-I'm a sole proprietor."

I snickered.

"Bikers are crazy," Kit said, rolling her eyes. "All caveman and bulls.h.i.t. You'll never catch me with one of them, I promise you. Life is too short to let a man call the shots."

"And yet you're the one trying to convince me to go home to Coeur d'Alene. You do realize it's infested with them, right?"

She opened her mouth to argue, but Cookie's phone rang and we all froze. What now? Cookie grabbed it.

"It's Maggs," she told us, her face nervous as she answered. "Hey, hon ... What's up?"

She listened for a minute, her eyes growing wide. Then she screamed and started jumping up and down. Seconds later the kitchen door burst open and Deke ran through, gun in hand. Cookie burst into tears, a huge smile transforming her face.

"Bolt's coming home!" she yelled "He got parole. It's a f.u.c.king miracle. They're actually letting him come home!"

Kit and I burst out screaming and hugging each other. Deke collapsed back against the door frame, and for the first time in my life I saw him smile.

"About time we got some good news," he said. "f.u.c.k. Didn't see that coming. Idaho never paroles 'em if they won't confess to the charges."

"Let me talk to Maggs," I demanded, reaching for the phone. Cookie laughed and handed it over. "Maggs! I can't believe it! When did you find out?"

"He called Friday afternoon but made me sit on it," she said. "It killed me not to tell you ladies, but I got the go-ahead this morning. I guess he had some business he wanted tied up before word got out? I dunno. The parole hearing was two weeks ago, but you don't get a decision right away ... We didn't think it would happen. He won't admit he did anything wrong, and you know how that goes. They aren't supposed to consider anything but his behavior inside, but the parole board does whatever the h.e.l.l they want."