4. Colt
COLT
Watching Jayne walk into that bar with Raze is bad enough. Waiting outside after having her naked underneath me an hour earlier is fucking torture.
I stay where we agreed, in the dark edge of the parking lot across from the bar, far enough away that Raze won't spot my bike unless he comes looking for it. From here I can see Jayne's car and most of the entrance, but nothing happening inside, which is the part I hate.
I don't know what he's saying to her, how close he's sitting or whether he's running his mouth about what Perdition intends to do to Kane, Judge and me.
All I can do is stand beside my bike and remember the way Jayne looked at me, then remind myself that she walked into that bar because she wants to protect me.
When the door finally opens, Jayne comes out first and relief lasts about three seconds before Raze follows her.
I straighten as they cross the lot. He stays close enough to make every muscle in my body tighten, but Jayne keeps moving toward her car without looking back at him.
Then he catches the door before she can open it.
I swing onto my bike and fire the engine, already moving when his hand lands beside her head.
Jayne says something I can't hear. His other hand settles on her hip, and when he puts his mouth on hers, everything in me goes white-hot. She doesn't freeze. Her foot comes down hard, she shoves him off and twists free before I can reach them.
Raze turns at the sound of my bike. He doesn't know it's mine, but maybe he suspects. For a man who spent the evening telling Jayne how much tougher he is than Kingdom Come, he makes his decision to leave pretty fucking fast. He backs away from her, throws a leg over his bike and fires the engine.
I could probably reach him before he clears the lot and every part of me wants to try.
Then I see Jayne standing beside her car, breathing hard with one hand braced against the roof, and remember why she's here.
If I give chase and drag Raze off that bike now, he knows the date wasn't what he thought it was.
Whatever he told her becomes useless, Perdition changes whatever they've planned, and Jayne put herself in front of that bastard for nothing.
So I make myself watch him ride away, and it might be the hardest thing I've done in years.
The second his taillight disappears, I go to her.
She's pale, but she's standing on her own and looking pissed more than frightened.
I cup the side of her face before I stop to think whether she'll want me touching her after him.
“You okay?”
She nods, then catches my wrist before I can look toward the road again. “Friday night. Blackwater Road. There's an old logging turnoff about six miles east of the river crossing.” My attention snaps back to her.
“He said Kane will be riding to meet Cyrus. You and Judge will be with him, and they'll hit you before you get there.”
The rage in me has to make room for something colder. “You're sure?”
“Completely. I made him think I didn't believe Perdition could take you, and he couldn't stand it. He told me exactly where because he wanted to prove what a tough guy he was.”
Of course he fucking did. I glance once toward the road where Raze disappeared. “And what happened outside?”
“He kissed me.”
“Forced you?”
“Yeah.” She touches her lips.
That's enough to have me turning toward my bike but Jayne grabs my arm.
“Don't.”
“I know where he's going.”
“And if you follow him, he'll know something's wrong. He'll know why I was there.”
“I watched him put his hands on you.”
“I know what you saw.” She moves in front of me, forcing me to look at her rather than the road. “But if he works out I was getting information from him, Perdition changes the place, the time, maybe the whole thing. Then all we know is they're still planning to kill you.”
There is nothing soft about her expression. She's angry too, except she's thinking past it better than I am.
“Don't make what I just did pointless because you want to hit him.”
That gets through. I stand there for a moment, breathing through the urge to go after him anyway. “There isn't another date with him.”
“I wasn't planning one.”
“No more getting near him for information. Whatever Kane thinks we still need, he gets it another way.”
Jayne studies me, then nods. “Fine by me.” The lack of argument tells me everything. I saw what happened in the parking lot with Raze, and it shook her.
“You're not going home tonight.” Her eyebrows rise.
“Raze knows where you live,” I tell her. “He thinks you turning him down is some game, and he just proved he doesn't hear no when he doesn't like it. I'm not leaving you alone in that house while he's still riding around.”
Jayne glances at her car before looking back at me. “The compound?”
“Yeah.”
I know what I'm asking. She spent years making a life that had nothing to do with Kingdom Come, and now Chains has somehow made the club's gates safer for her than her own front door.
“All right.”
I hand her the spare helmet.
“But my car?”
“We'll get it later.” This time she doesn't argue.
Jayne climbs on behind me and wraps both arms around my waist before I pull out of the lot.
The first time I ever carried her on the bike I had back then, she was eighteen and laughed every time I accelerated too hard.
Tonight she presses close enough that I can feel her whole body pressed against my back, and after this afternoon my body has no trouble remembering exactly what that means.
The gates are already opening when we reach the compound.
Kane is waiting in the clubhouse with Judge.
Wilder is at the bar, and Griz sits at one of the tables with a coffee in front of him that looks untouched.
There are more bikes outside than there were earlier, which means word has already gone around that something is moving with Perdition.
Nobody comments on Jayne arriving behind me. Kane looks at her face once, then at mine. “What happened?”
“We've got the location. Blackwater Road, the old logging turnoff six miles east of the river crossing. Raze followed her outside and forced a kiss on her. I wasn't leaving her after that.”
Wilder's head comes up immediately. Griz's expression changes too, though he looks away before Jayne can see much of it. Kane's attention returns to her. “He knows where you live?”
“Yes.”
“Then you stay here tonight.”
Jayne doesn't bristle at the order. “I assumed that was coming.”
“Good. You brought us something we can verify. Until we do, you stay out of whatever happens next and we keep Raze away from you.”
“That's fine with me.”
There is no ceremony around it, which is exactly how it should be.
Jayne has potentially just saved three Kingdom Come men from riding into a kill zone.
But she's also Chains's daughter, and she got the information while sitting alone with Perdition's vice president.
Kane would be a shit president if he didn't hold both facts in his head at once.
I don't like it, but that doesn't make him wrong.
“I'll get her settled.”
Kane nods. “Come back when you're done.” Jayne follows me across the compound to my room. She looks around when we walk in, taking in the bed, dresser and chair with enough clothes thrown over them to prove nobody expected company.
“Still a tidy person, then.”
“I've had a busy day.”
“That explains the previous several years.”
The dryness in her voice tells me some of the strain is starting to ease.
I lean back against the dresser while she puts her purse down.
For the first time since the parking lot, we're alone, and my attention goes straight to her mouth because I fucking hate knowing Raze's was there. Jayne sees where I'm looking.
“He didn't get anything from me.”
“I know.”
I cross the small space between us and touch her jaw, letting my thumb move once over her skin. “I wanted to kill him, just so you know that.”
“I noticed.”
“Still do.”
“That I believe too.”
There are about a dozen things I could say next, none of them useful. What happened outside wasn't about my pride, and I refuse to turn it into that by demanding reassurance. Instead, I press a kiss to her forehead.
“I need to get back to Kane.”
“I'll be fine.”
That doesn't stop me looking back once before I leave.
Kane catches me before I reach the meeting room and jerks his head toward the far end of the clubhouse.
“Chains knows what Jayne was to you.”
The past tense irritates me immediately. “Was?” Kane gives me a flat look. “Not the point.”
“Then get to it.”
“He knows you, and he knows her. If he's thinking beyond impressing Cyrus, he'll know Jayne is one of the few people who can pull your attention away from the club when it matters.”
“She doesn't make me weak, Prez.”
“I didn't say she does. I said Chains might think she does.”
That lands differently. Kane isn't accusing Jayne of anything. He's asking whether Chains knows enough about both of us to use what we feel against me.
“He might.”
“And if he does?”
“He learns he's wrong.”
Kane watches me for a moment. “I need more than that.” I bite back the first response that comes to mind because he deserves one better than anger.
“Check every word she brought us. Watch her if you need to, and watch me too. I'm not asking you to bet Kingdom Come on what I remember about a girl I loved twelve years ago.”
Kane's expression doesn't change, but I know he hears the distinction.
“I'm looking at what she's done now. She called me before she needed anything from us. She came through these gates knowing exactly how people would look at her because of her father. Then she sat across from Raze because she believed three of us were going to ride into an ambush.”
“And you love her, of course.”
It isn't really a question.
“Yeah.”
He nods once. “Then make sure loving her doesn't make you stupid.”
“It won't.”
“Good.”
That's the whole conversation. Inside the meeting room, Blackwater Road is already spread across a map on the table.
Kane doesn't waste time debating whether Jayne is trustworthy.
He sends brothers out separately to check the area from different directions with strict instructions not to get close enough to spook anyone watching it.
The plan comes together quickly once the first calls start coming back.
The logging turnoff exists exactly where Jayne said it would.
Dense tree line on both sides, enough cover for men and bikes, narrow enough to control whoever rides through.
Chains would know Kane's most likely approach and know that Judge and I would be the two men beside him if Cyrus called for a serious sit-down.
Wilder studies the map. “They'll expect three bikes.”
“Then we give them three,” Kane says.
Nobody needs the rest explained twice. Support goes in early.
Bikes stay hidden down the logging tracks and side roads with engines killed.
Kane, Judge and I ride the route Perdition expects and let them step out far enough to expose themselves before the rest of Kingdom Come closes around them.
No rushing in after guns are already on us.
No relying on luck. If Raze wants a show, we're going to give him one.
Griz has barely spoken since Jayne arrived, but when Kane starts assigning positions he takes his without hesitation.
Wilder does the same. Whatever Chains thought he was breaking when he left, it isn't broken.
By the time Kane releases us, several brothers are already out checking access roads and places to hide bikes without being seen from Blackwater.
I return to my room afterward. Jayne is sitting against the headboard, still dressed, with her shoes kicked off beside the bed. She looks up when I come in.
“How bad?”
“Bad enough that you were right.”
Her shoulders loosen slightly, though I can tell that isn't what she's really asking.
“They believe me?”
“They believe Blackwater exists where you said it does, and they're checking everything else.”
Jayne nods and I sit beside her.
“That's all you're getting from them tonight.”
“I didn't expect more.” There is no bitterness in it, which somehow makes me want to defend her more than if there were.
I take her hand. “You shouldn't have had to do any of this.”
“My father shouldn't have brought Raze into my house.”
“No.”
“And he shouldn't know enough about you and me to use it as entertainment for his new friends.”
That one lands harder and I look at our joined hands.
“Chains told him about us because Raze wanted something that would make him feel bigger than me.”
“I know.”
Jayne leans her shoulder against mine. For a while we sit there without talking, and I let the quiet stay quiet instead of trying to fill it. Tomorrow there will be Blackwater, Chains, Raze and whatever Cyrus thinks he's started. Tonight Jayne is beside me. For once, that's enough.