Chapter 9
NINE
brINLEY
I’d never taken myself for a masochist, but here I was.
Slipping out from what might as well have been a cell and edging down the exterior steps like a thief in the approaching night.
Wearing heeled boots and tight jeans and the sexiest blouse I owned tucked into the waist.
The shirt plunging at the neckline and slinking all over my upper body.
Last night I was sneaking. Tonight, I was strutting.
I decided I wasn’t about to let Silas Mercer back me into a corner. Wasn’t about to allow him to leave me submissive and afraid.
On top of that, the freaking dry as hell ham and cheese sandwich that had been delivered to my room didn’t compare to the mouthwatering scent of barbecue wafting up from below.
Twilight wisped through the cover of the trees, and voices and laughter carried on the gentle breeze.
The air was tinged in a faint coolness that clashed with the sweat that slicked my skin.
I inhaled it.
Shakily before I curled my hands into fists and moved through the thick toward the commotion happening at the front of the clubhouse.
Sitting around shy wasn’t going to win me any answers.
I still hadn’t heard from Dereck, even after I sent him fifteen demanding texts throughout the day.
Telling him I was worried.
That I needed to know what was happening.
That he was the only thing I could think about.
And what did I get in return?
Silence.
I was so going to kick his ass once I got out of this.
Even though I’d put on a chunky heel, my boots still sunk into the soft ground below as I trudged around the side of the building.
I had planned to storm out there with my head held high, only I stumbled at the periphery.
Looking out on the scene.
The party was in full swing.
There were way more people out there tonight.
A slew of motorcycles sat beneath the trees on the far side of the clearing, making what amounted to a semi-circle around the front.
As if all that leather and glinting metal could act as a barricade from the rest of the world.
In the middle, another bonfire roared, though this one was three times the size it’d been yesterday.
Sparks licked up from the flames and kissed the gauzy night that filtered in from above.
Bikers were everywhere.
Wearing their cuts with that gruesome emblem on the back.
Women who clearly strutted far better than I did roamed through the throng, and the men didn’t hesitate to reach out and snag them as they waltzed by.
They didn’t seem to mind so much since giggles erupted as the bikers pawed at their bodies.
Honestly, I couldn’t tell who was hunting who.
No wonder Silas didn’t normally let Elena mingle with his pack.
I had half a mind to drag her out of there myself, except she was near the fire, sipping from a beer with that exuberance radiating from her.
Like she was maybe having the most fun she’d ever had.
Wearing jean shorts, a white top, and matching sneakers.
Looking so out of place it was almost comical.
She stood next to the same brute of a man who’d been in front of the autobody shop when I arrived yesterday afternoon.
His massive arms were crossed over his chest, and I could almost see the aggression oozing from his pores as he kept watch over her.
Clearly on guard duty.
One point Silas.
At least he wasn’t throwing his little sister to the wolves.
Sucking it all down, I lifted my chin and forced myself to move out into the fray.
My heart thundered at my chest. Anxiety woven in every walloping beat.
I’d almost convinced myself to turn around because it would be a whole lot safer to serve out my sentence hidden behind the fortitude of the walls of my room when Elena suddenly glanced in my direction.
Glee lit her face.
“Brinley! You came! I was about to storm up to your room and drag you out here.” She widened her arms in welcome.
The guy next to her swiveled my way as I approached.
A glower took to his brow, and his dark gaze drifted down me like I was a blight.
Clearly, he wasn’t as excited to see me as Elena.
I searched around inside myself for a good excuse for coming down here. “How was I supposed to resist the smell of that barbecue?”
She hiked a coy shoulder. “Why do you think I had Silas send up a boring, bland sandwich?”
“Diabolical.” I couldn’t help but grin.
“I told you I have my ways around here.”
“Where’s Kai?” Was it weird that I felt a little panic that he was nowhere in sight? But I couldn’t imagine Elena would leave him with someone who wouldn’t fully look out for him.
“With Meems.”
My brows lifted. “Meems?”
“Our grandmother.”
“Grandmother?” I didn’t know why it came out so uncertain.
Elena lowered her voice as she glanced around. “We don’t bring Kai to the clubhouse at night.”
She must have seen the spate of questions roll through my mind because she added, “We all live in a house on the backside of the property.”
“Silas, too?” It came out a demand.
Her brow arched. “Are you interested in where my brother sleeps at night?”
I curled my nose. It seemed the appropriate reaction.
She laughed again, then my attention was suddenly stolen by a surging energy that came from across the clearing.
Hot spikes of animosity that arrowed through the night.
Someplace inside me wanted to cower.
Instead, I lifted my chin in a challenge to meet the ferocity staring back.
I guess I shouldn’t have because the force of it nearly blew me back ten feet.
I could hardly make him out where he stood on the opposite side of the bonfire in the shadows.
Just the crude outline of an intimidating, overbearing silhouette.
It didn’t matter. I could still feel the cruel wickedness blazing from the green flames of his eyes.
I sent him my best scowl.
I didn’t know if he could see it since I couldn’t actually make out his expression, but I knew there was no humor ridging his arrogant demeanor tonight.
It was all power.
The president standing there in all his twisted, fucked up glory.
The King in full play.
Elena looped her arm through mine, jerking my attention from the thousand-ton magnet lurking on the far side of the lot.
“Come and meet the birthday boy.” She pulled me toward the guy she’d been standing beside.
Like he was a cinnamon roll and not some murderous beast.
“Brinley, meet Trevan. Crimson Crows’s vice president and Silas’s best friend and basically a giant pain in my ass.”
Her voice rolled with the tease.
Trevan grunted, though there was no missing the softness as he looked at her.
“That’s because you’re a giant pain in mine, having to keep after you.” His voice was a low rumble of affection.
She rolled her pretty eyes and released me so she could lean her shoulder into his side. “You know you love me.”
I wondered if I was the only one who noticed the way he minimally leaned into her and his hands twitched.
Like he wanted to touch her but couldn’t.
She lingered for a second like she was begging him to, but when he refrained, something came over her face before she popped off him and grabbed me by the hand.
“So, tell me you’re hungry because you are in for a treat.”
In theory, I shouldn’t be able to eat a bite with the way my stomach was in knots of apprehension, but that barbecue and I were so going to go down.
Apparently, I was a stress eater. “Starving,” I told her.
“Then let’s get that belly fed.” Her grin suddenly turned to a frown. “You do look a little peaked. Did Silas work you too hard today?”
I almost choked over a laugh.
If she was referring to Silas leaving me to wander through a mile-high pile of unpaid invoices and bills discarded in random stacks on the desk, a fool who decided she was actually going to sort through the total mess, then yes.
It wasn’t like I could just sit there idle all day, anyway.
I had to do something with my hands or those hands would have ended up around Silas’s throat.
The few times he’d wandered by the office door, the asshole had never even glanced my way.
As if he had zero care that I was there.
I didn’t know why that pissed me off even more, but it did.
Elena began to haul me toward the main entrance of the clubhouse, which was two swinging doors with the Crimson Crows emblem stamped on the front.
I wasn’t surprised that I could feel that brute of a man tromping along behind us, though he was hanging back in the distance.
You’d think he’d be given a break from guard duty on his birthday. The most problematic part was it appeared that maybe he didn’t want one.
Elena pushed through to the chaos on the other side.
Heavy metal music blared, and while there were a ton of people outside, it seemed the main gathering was in there.
It was a full biker bar. A private one, clearly, but lacking no amenities.
High-top tables were situated up front, three pool tables running down the middle, and couches were hidden in the shadows along the right wall.
Toward the back on the left was an L-shaped bar, probably ten or so stools running each length, and to the back right was a stage elevated by two feet with a dance floor below it.
A haze of smoke curled through the dim lights, making the people scattered everywhere appear like figments of vapor.
A few dancing. Some tossing back shots while others were drinking straight from the bottle.
Laughing.
Shouting.
“Is everyone here a part of Crimson Crows?” I basically shouted it so Elena could hear above the raucous din.
It wasn’t like I knew much about biker life.
It’d always been a bit of fiction to me. Something fanciful and romanticized.
Full disclosure, what was going down in there was far from romantic.
People groping each other in the darkened corners, one woman propped on a table while a biker kissed up between her thighs.
Elena gave a slight shake of her head. “Normally only family is allowed, but not tonight.”
Family.
She considered these brutes family.
She shrugged a little. “But the guys wanted to give Trevan a real bash, so they basically did a word-of-mouth invitation. A ton of old friends came from the last town where we lived, so I recognize most.”