CHAPTER ELEVEN
T he muffled, pulsing beat of Sadie’s playlist shook the walls of the office in the back of The Serpent Pit. The music was the only barrier in place beside the door, covering any traces of the argument taking place in the small, dark office. It was the end of a busy night, and although the bar was still filled with customers, Kade and Jagger were far from enjoying the evening.
They were too busy yelling at each other.
Jagger was beyond furious and his eyes narrowed as he glared at his younger brother. He was pacing now, the muscles in his arms and shoulders flexing under the taut fabric of his shirt. “Do not tell me you asked to join Green Light.”
“Yeah. I don’t have a choice, Jag.”
Jagger gripped his hair in his hands as he tried to calm down. “So, you just waltzed up to them at the Inn and asked like it was nothing? Do you understand how shady that is? They’ve probably already decided you’re up to something. Shit , kid. What were you thinking?”
“Madison isn’t like us. She’s too soft, too good. She’s not going to be able to get out of there by herself and I’m not going to let her rot in their hands.”
Jagger stopped pacing, a laugh that was more scathing than anything escaping his lips. He shook his head as he ran a hand through his dark hair. “So, what? You’re just going to join up, act like you belong, and what? Save her?” The disbelief in his voice was sharp. “You think they’re going to let you walk out of there once you’ve crossed them? You’re making a huge mistake, Kade. This is going to get you—and her—killed.”
Kade’s lips pressed into a thin line, his anger kicking to get out beneath the surface. “You don’t get it, do you? This has been my whole life, big brother .” Kade sneered at him. “It’s been your whole life, too, which is why you decided to take these fuckers down in the first place. You know what they’re doing to these girls. I can’t not try and do whatever I can to limit the damage they are probably doing right this second .”
“You’re going to be playing right into their hands, Kade. This is exactly how they get what they want. And you’re falling for it.”
Brothers or not, this was getting out of hand.
Kade’s eyes hardened, the frustration in his chest tightening until he could barely breathe. “Don’t act like you didn’t start this whole mess in the first place. You’re the one who started trying to take down the gang and trap them. You know how dangerous this whole situation is, but you kept pushing me to do things I didn’t want to do. And now my girl is gone!”
Jagger’s face turned pale, his hands balling into fists at his sides. For a moment, everything stopped as they glared at one another. Some whooping and shouting turned their attention to the door for a moment before they heard the loud laugh of Sadie as she told someone to stop dancing on the stage. Jagger swallowed hard, and he took a deep breath before speaking quietly. So quietly that Kade thought he might not have heard him right.
“I thought... I thought I could handle it. But now I have to worry about you being on the wrong side and most likely getting killed? To get some girl back you slept with a few times? This is insane.”
Kade stepped around the desk and was on Jagger in a second, gripping him by the collar and slamming him into the door. His gaze locked on the older man, forcing him to meet his eyes as he seethed.
“She’s not just some girl. She’s the only girl that I’ve ever cared about. The only girl who cares about me. She has been there for me the entire time I’ve been back and I have to play their game if I want to get close enough to save her. If I don’t, I’m just going to lose her—and I won’t let that happen. They can do whatever they want to me, but not to her.”
Jagger was quiet for a long moment as Kade held him against the door. He knew he was right. And he knew Jagger knew it. This whole situation had been set into motion the moment they tried to take down the Green Light Gang. Now, there was no stopping it. Kade was in too deep, and Jagger was too tangled up in this mess to just let his brother go at it alone.
“What if it were Sadie?” Kade didn’t hesitate to throw it in his face. “What if I told you she’s just some girl.”
Jagger gripped Kade by the throat and in a moment their positions had changed. Jagger pinned Kade to the door, his other hand coming to meet the one on his neck. Kade gripped Jagger’s wrists as he moved his head back to get some air in his lungs.
“Exactly,” Kade choked out with a smug grin and a cough.
Jagger let go and immediately stepped back, shocked by his reaction. Kade was right. There wasn’t anything Jagger wouldn’t do to keep Sadie safe. And if that’s what Madison was to Kade… they were going to do whatever needed to be done.
“So, do you have a plan? What is the next step?” Jagger finally asked and perched on the edge of his desk, one boot crossed over the other as he stared at the ground.
Kade stayed by the door, rubbing his throat for a few seconds before he answered.
“I got a letter left in the satchel of my bike this morning.”
“And?”
“And their leader has agreed to let me prove myself.”
Jagger looked up at him then. “Mont?”
“Yeah. You said you just met him?”
Jagger nodded. “Yeah, he’s the one I met with about hosting them here again the other day. He’s… unstable in the most volatile of ways, K. I’m serious.”
Kade shot Jagger a look that clearly showed that he knew that already.
“No, I mean it. It’s actually more fucked up than I thought.”
“How is that possible?”
Jagger pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath to gather his thoughts on how to drop another bomb. But his brother needed to know the extent of it.
“So, I know why he’s not at the parties all that much,” Jagger began, still trying to figure out how to explain this the right way. “And it’s because he does the selling of the girls in Montana.”
“Montana?”
“Yep. That’s why he uses it as his alias. It’s not his real name–it’s where the bastard is from. He owns a luxury car dealership down there. That’s what he’s been doing most of his life until recently when he realized that he had the same tastes as some of his high-end clients. This gang of his just does his dirty work—kidnap the girls, keep them in line, bring them to Montana when someone’s interested in them. The parties are his way of thanking them and letting them play with the merchandise.”
Kade blanched. “Jesus…”
“It gets worse,” Jagger sighed and straightened up so he could deliver this next bit of information. “I didn’t understand why there was this need to bring them back to Montana but he said it’s because that’s how they transport the girls.”
Still not understanding, Kade gestured for him to continue. “And?”
“And,” Jagger grimaced. “The clients purchase a car and the girl they want, and then that girl is then stuffed in the trunk. That’s how he does it.”
“They just drive off with a new car and a stolen girl?”
Jaded just nodded.
“In the trunk?”
Another nod.
You’ve gotta be fucking kidding.
“He thinks I’m interested in purchasing one, that’s the only way I got him to talk about it. That’s how I got them to come here at all.”
“You what? ”
Kade didn’t know why that upset him so much because it made sense. He’d asked himself that very question several times since the party. God, this was such a mess. They were never supposed to be involved in this kind of life—they were too fucking stupid.
Thanks, Dad.
“Yeah. So, there’s that. Now, what did your note say?”
Oh, right.
This conversation was about to get messy again.
“They’ve given me instructions to meet here for the party this weekend. They won’t let me near the girls unless I bring one with me to show that I’m invested. They want to see me share a woman. It’s part of their initiation. And you know what? I’ll do it. I’ll bring someone with me to show them I’m serious.”
Jagger’s eyes narrowed. “And you think you’ll just skip out with Madison after that? It doesn’t work that way. We can’t put our plan into action until Midnight to make sure they’re all there and accounted for. It took almost til then the last time for all the guys to show up and we want to trap all of them. That means you will have to stall for at least an hour, depending on when you show up. Their game seemed to start before 11:00 pm, though, so you might want to get there by then if you’re trying to intercept anything happening to your girl.”
Kade’s gaze flickered to the floor at Jagger’s acceptance. He wasn’t so sure it was going to work either, but he didn’t have a better plan. “I know it sounds messed up. But it’s the only shot I’ve got. The only shot Madison’s got. If something goes wrong and Dad doesn’t pull through, then at least I’ll be able to stick with Green Light until I can get Mads out.”
Jagger was silent for a moment, his brow furrowing in thought. “Alright,” he said at last, the words leaving his mouth slowly. “You need someone to help you. Someone who knows the ins and outs of the bar. Someone who knows how to handle the men in that world. Someone who can play the part.”
Kade frowned. “You can’t join, too. You’re a neutral party here which gives us an advantage. You need to keep it that way.”
But Jagger was already shaking his head. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the girl you need to bring. You can’t do this alone. And there’s only one person I trust to do it.”
Kade’s stomach churned as he realized where this conversation was headed. He already knew who Jagger was talking about, and he didn’t like it one bit.
“ No . I’m not using Sadie. You can’t be serious.”
Jagger’s eyes hardened. “It’s the only way any of us will have a chance in hell of getting through that night. She’s the only one who knows how to handle herself in a situation like this. She’s been around this kind of crap for years now. You remember what she did with the Dregs, right? That fight she broke up with nothing but a pole and her charm? She knows how to get men to do exactly what she wants—women, too. And she’ll help you get through this. She’ll make sure you don’t screw this up.”
Kade ran a hand through his hair, still looking at Jagger incredulously. “I can’t ask her to do that. We can’t. Have you lost it? She’s your fiancé , Jagger. Do you really want her involved in this? You’ve done everything in your power to keep her away from them. What about Camille?”
Jagger’s expression softened for a moment, but his tone remained firm. “Camille couldn’t fake attraction to a man if her life depended on it, let alone yours. Sorry, kid.” Jagger moved to sit at his desk and started putting paperwork away in a drawer. “You don’t get it, do you? Sadie is the only way you’re going to pull this off.”
Kade clenched his jaw, and stood beside the desk to lean down, hands splayed out on top of the papers so Jagger would stop and look at him. “But what if something happens to her? What then?”
The air left Kade’s lungs with the look Jagger gave him. Sometimes he forgot how scary his brother could be when it came down to protecting someone he loved. He’d seen a similar look when their mom died.
“I will rip every one of them apart with my goddamn teeth and spit their blood in your face,” Jagger growled and pushed his desk chair over with such a force that Kade moved backward to put some space between them. “So do not ever question my love and loyalty to you because the simple fact that I’m even suggesting this causes me more torment than you could ever understand.”
It broke Kade’s heart to see him so anguished, wishing that there was anything else they could do.
“So you’re going to make sure nothing will happen to her. You’re going to keep her safe. And, she’s going to make sure you don’t get yourself killed in there. But, you have to promise me one thing, Kade.”
Kade tilted his head slightly, waiting for him to continue.
“You keep your hands to yourself. No fucking around. You’re going in there to save Madison, so try to keep some distance from the group until you can access her. I’m not dumb enough to believe there won’t be some shit you’ll have to do to make it believable that she’s your play thing you’ve offered up, but do not offer her up to them . Understood?”
Kade hesitated for a moment, the idea that he’d have to do anything with Sadie was rough but this was extreme circumstances and it was better that it was him than someone else if it came down to it.
“Understood,” Kade muttered finally.
Jagger nodded, the tension in his shoulders relaxing just slightly. “Good. Now, get the fuck out of here because this talk is probably not going to go over well.”
“She’s going to hate me,” Kade snapped as he walked to the door, hands sliding into the pockets of his jeans.
“That’s not it at all, K,” Jagger said as he made the few strides to meet him at the door. “Sadie is as impulsive as you. I’ll be talking her down from joining the fucking girls before Saturday if I’m not careful and then I’ll have both of you to save myself.”
Kade let out a laugh, but it was hoarse. “At least… tell her thank you from me. You got yourself a good one.”
There was a long pause as Kade started to open the door to the bar, the loud music hitting them now that it was cracked. Jagger squeezed Kade’s shoulder, which caused him to look over at his older brother.
“It sounds like you did, too,” Jagger smiled. “So let’s get her back.”
The bar was quieter now, the music still playing faintly in the background with the sounds of Down by Marian Hill, but not nearly as loud as before. The neon lights buzzed around them, casting their pink and blue glow over the tables while the voices of the crowd could still be heard from the other side of the building as they started up their bikes and yelled for their Ubers.
Jagger sat on the edge of the pool table in the corner, his broad shoulders tense and his brow furrowed as he stared into his drink. The glass in his hand was mostly empty, the amber liquid swirling as he gently rotated the glass. He hadn’t been able to focus much on the crowd tonight—his mind kept drifting back to the shitty situation they’d found themselves in; The one that was his fault, at the end of the day.
And then there was the dangerous, calculated risk he was about to ask Sadie to take.
Sadie walked up to Jagger, her movements smooth, her blue eyes studying him as she sat beside him and crossed her bare legs peeking out from her cutoff jean shorts. She had just finished locking everything up after sending Camille and the dancers home, but even though her face carried the usual cool confidence, Jagger could see the worry in her eyes.
She knew something was up. His sweet girl always knew.
“You’ve been quiet all night,” Sadie said as she smiled, but there was no mistaking the firmness in it. “Care to share?”
Jagger took a long drink, savoring the burn before he set the glass down on the green felt surface behind him. He didn’t speak immediately, his eyes looking around the bar as if trying to find the right words, the right way to bring this up to her.
Finally, after what felt like forever, he met her gaze.
“Kade was able to find Madison.”
Sadie let out a long breath of relief. “Well, that’s good. I was worried when you said he thought Green Light took her.”
“That’s where she is.”
Sadie’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything. She waited, sensing there was more to it than just those words were letting on.
Jagger turned to her and cradled her cheek in his hand as he brushed her blonde hair over her shoulder with the other. “Kade’s offered to join Green Light to get close to them so he can get close enough to Madison to act as a buffer until we can get her and the others out.” His eyes held hers as his thumb brushed soft circles against her cheek. “The main part of the initiation is that he’s expected to show up with a girl of his own to add to their collection. He needs to come to the party this weekend with a female offering.”
Sadie’s face remained unreadable, but Jagger saw the slight tension in her shoulders as she processed what he was saying. “So, you’re telling me you want me to go along with this— pretend to be Kade’s... ‘girl’ for this initiation?” Her voice was calm, but Jagger knew her too well. There was fire underneath that calmness, a strength he trusted, but there was also fear—fear that this could end badly if they didn’t play their cards right.
He nodded, his jaw tightening as he avoided her eyes for a moment and dropped his hands away from her. He didn’t want to tell her this part.
He knew it would be the hardest for her to hear.
“You weren’t here the night that we worked the party. These guys are animals. They don’t take kindly to being told ‘no’. The more a girl struggled, the more they hurt them. Do you know why they call themselves Green Light?” Sadie shook her head. “Because green means go .”
“That’s so fucked up,” Sadie murmured and ran a hand down her face. “But you have a plan?”
“We have the Rebels coming to surround the place but they can’t get into formation until after 11:00 pm because we have to make sure they’re all here first–I can’t miss even one of them or they’ll come back for revenge or some shit.”
Sadie shivered and Jagger pulled her in close to his side to wrap an arm around her before continuing, “They like to share these girls, make sure they’re properly broken in before they sell them off to new homes so they won’t fight. To prove he’s serious about being part of their crew, he might have to do some things. Touch you.” Jagger’s voice cracked as he spoke, his mind replaying the words they’d said to Kade—words that made his stomach turn inside out.
Sadie’s lips parted, but she didn’t say anything. She just sat there, still, letting the weight of what Jagger had said sink in as she rested her head against his shoulder.
After a few seconds of silence, she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. “And you think I’m the best to do this? You do realize that means I might have to do things with him, too, right? You know what they’ll expect.”
Jagger’s heart ached at her words, but there was no denying the truth in them. She was right. He was asking her to put herself in that kind of situation, to do things that neither of them would ever want to do. But the stakes were too high. He had to trust Kade, and he had to trust her.
“I know,” Jagger growled, tightening his hold on her. “I know exactly what they’ll expect. But Sadie, you know how to work around a bad situation. You can buy some time and keep them from hurting the girls until we can corner them when my Dad gets here. If things have to escalate with my brother to keep them from figuring it out, we can deal with it.”
Sadie’s eyes softened, but the hardness was still there—the stubbornness that had aided her and her position at this bar the last few years. “You know I’d never say no,” she said softly, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “I can do it. I’ll do it for you, and Kade and Madison.”
Jagger’s heart clenched. “I wish there was some other way. I didn’t expect this to get so out of hand.”
“I know you didn’t,” she said, her hand coming up to brush some hair off his forehead as she looked up at him. “But I also know I can handle it.”
He winced at her words, but she was right. She wasn’t the type to cower or run from danger.
Jagger leaned back, rubbing his hand over his face as he exhaled sharply. “I know you can, Sweets. I just–”
“I know, baby. I understand. But you have to promise me something, Jagger.”
He looked at her, his voice tight. “Anything.”
“You keep yourself in check, okay?” she said, her voice low but firm. “You keep your hands and eyes off me that night. Let me do what I need to do. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Jagger’s eyes darkened at her demand, but he nodded. “I’ll keep my distance. But if it gets to a point where someone is going to hurt you or another cock comes near my cunt, I will not hesitate to start killing them. Backup present or not.”
Sadie exhaled slowly, “Okay. That’s fair.”
“I’ll make sure you’re safe,” Jagger said, kissing her fiercely on top of her head. “No matter what happens, you and Kade will both get out of there alive. And Madison. I’ll make sure of it.”
Sadie nodded, standing up from the pool table. She took off her Serpent Pit crop top and dropped it onto the ground before speaking again.
“When is this happening?”
Jagger glanced down at the shirt on the floor before locking eyes with her as she undid the black bra behind her back, letting it drop as well. “Tomorrow night.”
Sadie gave him a small smile, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes, before turning around and starting to drag her shorts down her legs. She made sure to take her underwear down with them, lifting her feet carefully through the holes so she could stand before him in just her motorcycle boots.
Jagger watched every movement with dark eyes, growing harder with every passing second. “Don’t even think about taking them off.”
When she turned back to face Jagger–looking like his own personal goddess of ruin–he was on his knees before her in seconds, kissing the recent tattoo of a snake on her upper thigh that matched the one on his torso.
Sadie ran her hand through his hair before gripping it tightly and forcing him to look up at her.
“Let’s make the most of this one, then.”