Chapter 3 #2
Her features are sharp. A deep, defined brow line, angular jaw, and bright brown eyes.
But the expression she’s wearing rather than the characteristics of her face are what really give her away.
The signature don’t-fuck-with-me look that I’ve endured every time I’ve gone toe to toe with the Soldiers of Sin president.
Everyone in that fucking family looks perpetually pissed off.
“That’s Gracie Donovan.”
Jack’s younger sister. Half sister, I guess. She’s Lena McKenna and Jimmy Donovan’s kid. A secret affair baby situation. Guess we have that in common. I have the honour of sharing a bloodline with the piece of shit who raised her. Rick McKenna. Devil rest his soul.
Once upon a time, Jack shared more than he should about that with me.
I’ve known the truth about Grace’s lineage since shortly after I found out about mine, though I’m not privy to many details.
All I know is that Rick attacked Jack and Gracie’s mother and that a hell of a lot of violence came after that.
Sinners killing Sinners, Axe in handcuffs, Jimmy gone.
A final face-off with Jack’s father. Jack laid the final blow.
I cleaned up the mess. My first duty as Axe’s little bitch.
Dig a grave for the man I inherited half my DNA from.
I honestly kind of forgot Grace existed. Axe has been the only Donovan in South Bay since Jimmy packed up his family ten years ago and tossed his crown at his only son’s feet.
The girl’s got a hell of a family tree. Which means I’m in another situation where I have to be careful, choose my words like my life depends on them. Fuck with Grace Donovan a little too liberally, and I’ll have two very pissed-off bikers kicking down my door.
Grace crosses her arms. I almost laugh. She’s a Donovan, all right. Same irritated demeanor. Same disdain for law enforcement. Though she’s a little nicer to look at than her brothers. A lot nicer, actually.
Grace grew up hot.
Tilting her head, she gives me a once over. “Wish I could lie and say it was nice to see you, Decker, but the last time we crossed paths, you were putting my brother in handcuffs.”
I smirk. “I did do that, didn’t I?”
She narrows her eyes, but before she can manage a retort, Allen interrupts.
“Donovan? You’re Jimmy’s kid?”
She gives him a smooth nod.
“Licence and registration,” he says, his mood shifting from irritated to elated. “And maybe you can tell me why you’re riding a motorbike that doesn’t belong to you.”
“Last time I checked, that wasn’t a crime.” She unzips the bag strapped to the tail of her bike and digs inside, then hands Allen her papers. “You’re seriously pulling me over for doing seventy-five in a sixty? There’s like, no one around. Come on, Decker. You really that bored?”
“We clocked you at over ninety.” Allen shines his light on her registration, squinting, as if searching for a detail that’ll allow him to arrest her. “You failed to pull over. Any reason for that?”
“You’ll have to excuse me for not wanting to stop for a cruiser on an abandoned road in the middle of the night.” She throws me a scowl. “Cops in these parts haven’t exactly been kind to my family.”
I roll my eyes. “Give it a rest, Grace.”
“Where is Jimmy, exactly?” Allen asks.
Her only response is a glare. Outlaws have few rules, but the ones they do maintain are upheld fiercely. And the most important? Nobody talks. Jimmy Donovan could be livestreaming cartwheels on the front lawn of the South Bay Police Station, and Grace still wouldn’t tell Allen where he is.
He huffs when she remains silent. “Got any drugs on you? Weapons?”
She scoffs. “I’ve given you no reason to think that.”
Allen pockets her documents and smiles. I don’t like it. He looks too excited. Like something’s about to go his way.
“That wasn’t a no.”
“It wasn’t a yes either,” she snaps, her chin lifted.
“I’m gonna have to ask you to put your hands on your bike so I can search you.” He takes a step forward.
She immediately steps back, as if sensing a threat. Her eyes shoot to me and then back to Allen, on the hand now sitting steady on his gun. She raises her own hands slightly, putting them both in clear view. “You’ve got no right to search me. I haven’t done anything.”
“Let’s all just… calm down.” I slide my hand to my own gun.
At the subtle move, Grace side-eyes me, frowning.
“You were speeding,” Allen says to her.
“Just give me the ticket and I’ll go.” Her voice is shaky. It’s subtle, but there’s fear there. Like she senses the same thing I do. Danger.
“Can’t do that,” Allen says. “When we pulled you over, you got belligerent. We tried to defuse the situation, but you refused to cooperate. You escalated. You got emotional. And then you got violent.”
“Sergeant,” I warn, my tone low and rough.
He’s the one who’s about to escalate. Grace is right to be nervous.
She may not be Jimmy Donovan, but in his eyes, she’s just as good.
Allen’s unit is here to disrupt. To push the Sinners into a corner.
To piss them off. And using a woman whose brothers are on the top of his shit list is the perfect way to do that.
Brows knitted, she zeroes in on me. “What the hell is he talking ab?—”
Allen moves fast. He punches Grace in the stomach, and as she doubles over, he twists her wrists behind her back.
She coughs and wheezes as she struggles to refill her lungs with air.
“Jesus, Allen!” I shout, taking a step closer. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Before I can intervene, Grace somehow frees herself from his grip and clocks me. Right in the fucking face.
“Shit,” I curse, stumbling back.
Pain radiates across my nose and cheek from the impact, my eyes watering as a gush of liquid rushes from my nose. Blood. Fucking great.
By the time I’ve recovered, Allen’s got her cuffed and the back door of the cruiser open. He shoves her forward, smashing her face into the doorframe, then pulling her back and throwing her inside. The curses she’s aiming at him are cut off when he slams the door shut.
I round on him, grabbing a fistful of his shirt. “What the fuck are you doing throwing her around like that? Donovan’s gonna kill you when he hears about this. And that’s only if his VP doesn’t gut you first.”
He smiles as he pries my fingers from his shirt. “Like we said, Decker. Whatever it takes.”
Without looking back, he strides around the car and jumps into the passenger seat, leaving me standing on the dark road with a bloody nose and Grace’s angry eyes burning a hole in my head.