Page 28 of Juno

“The guys down at the Royal Bastards gave it to me. It’s my biker name.”

“That still doesn’t explain the unusual nickname,” she insisted. “What does it mean?”

If she wasn’t mistaken, the big guy actually blushed, although it was hard to tell in the dark. “It’s a long story,” he insisted.

“Well, I have no place to be,” Rebel said.

“I do,” he said, “I promised Jace that I’d get you back to the club safely.”

“You talked to my brother?” Rebel asked. “Is he okay?”

“For now,” Bolt said. She hated how cryptic he was being with her. All she wanted was some answers.

“What the hell does that mean?” she asked.

He grabbed her hand and tugged her along to the bike sitting back in the corner of the parking lot. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“You ask a lot of questions,” Bolt insisted.

“And you don’t answer any of them,” she spat, pulling her hand from his.

He opened one of the containers on the side of his bike and pointed to it. “You can put your stuff in there,” he offered.

“I’ll just put it in my car,” she said. “I can follow you wherever we are going.” There was no way that she was getting onto the back of that death trap. Rebel never liked motorcycles, and when Jace told her that he was getting one after he graduated from high school, she wanted to tell him that if he did, he’d be grounded for a month, but threats like that didn’t work on him at that point. And when he rode away on his motorcycle, all she could do was hold her breath and pray that he didn’t do anything stupid.

“Your car is impounded, honey,” Bolt said. “Plus, it’s not safe to drive.”

“My car is perfectly safe,” Rebel insisted. “Why would they impound it?”

“Because it’s evidence now,” he said.

“Evidence for what?” she asked.

“Again, it’s a long story and one we can get into once we reach Savage Hell. For now, I just need you to trust me when I tell you that staying here only puts us both in danger.” She wanted to ask more questions, but Rebel knew that he wasn’t going to give her the answers that she was looking for. Her only option was to trust the man that her brother sent to bail her out, and then, hopefully, someone would be able to clear a few things up for her.

Bolt

Bolt knew that Rebel had questions. Hell, she had asked him a dozen of them since they met. Jace owed him big time for picking up his inquisitive older sister, but then, his partner hadn’t really asked him for a lot of favors over the years. One thing was clear—Jace had never told his sister that he was an FBI agent and telling her for his partner wasn’t going to happen. That was between Jace and his sister, and getting in the middle of family issues was something that Bolt tried to avoid at all costs.

“You ever been on a bike before?” Bolt asked Rebel. She looked the motorcycle over as though it somehow offended her and shook her head. She shoved the two plastic bags, with her stuff inside, into the saddle bags on his bike and took the helmet that he handed to her.

“It’s easy,” he insisted, “I’ll do all the work. All you have to do is hold on tight to me. We’re only about an hour from the club, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“I wish that you sounded more confident about that,” she teased. “But, if it means that I’ll get to see Jace, I’ll do it.” He wasn’t about to admit that she wasn’t going to be able to see her brother any time soon. Jace was deep undercover and that was where Bold should be too, but he bailed out when his dad got sick. His boss told him to go home to be with his father, and he had to admit that he was thankful that he did as ordered. His father was terminal and didn’t tell anyone until it was almost too late. Bolt got to spend two days with his dad before he passed, and after he got past his anger, he knew that he had been given a gift.

The problem was, after he buried his dad, he couldn’t just go back undercover and pick up where he had left off. The guys in charge would ask him too many questions, and that would put not only him but also Jace in danger. Still, he hated leaving Jace all alone in that world with no backup.

They were working for human traffickers and the thought of not putting them all behind bars made him sick. Every day, he watched the eyes of the women who they had brought in to be sold. Most of them looked to be underage, and the thought of any man laying a finger on them pissed him off. He and Jace were able to get some of the girls out of there and back home to their families, but they couldn’t save all of them without blowing their cover.

They got back to Savage Hell just past midnight and a few of the Royal Harlots were still hanging around, talking about the new clubhouse that was being built for them. They were going over the final alterations and he hated interrupting, but he needed to find Savage.

Banshee met him at the door, “We’re running a bit late,” she said.

“I’m not here to interrupt, Banshee,” he assured. “I have a meeting with Savage.”

“Oh, he’s back in his office,” she said. “I’m Banshee,” she said, holding out her hand to Rebel.

“Rebel,” she said, shaking Banshee’s hand. “I’m trying to find my brother Jace. Would you by chance know where he is?”

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