Page 15 of Laying it Bare Biker Style: Ryder

“Okay, before this turnsinto a pissing match of ‘what’s mine’, where do you want us to dropher off when we are finished?” Angel’s lips twitched as her gazebounced between Gage and me.

“If it’s before seven,here. If it’s seven or later, at the club but only if you two areplanning to hang around there. We have Church at seven and I don’twant Sage left for the vultures.”

“We can hang out there.Play some pool without interruptions from you guys foronce.”

With that settled, the three of themheaded out to the black SUV. I kept my gaze focused out the frontwindow until Gage met them on his bike.

“So, when does she get yourvest?”

I twisted at Bolt’s question. “It’snot like that. It’s complicated.”

“I think it looks prettycut and dry to me. You’re in to her and she’s in to you. And thatprotective streak you have going on is so potent, the energyradiating off of you almost blew me off of my feet.”

“You might need to hit thegym more, if that’s all it takes.” I stormed off to the back bay,not wanting to be under his scrutiny anymore. Itwascomplicated. Iwanted to keep her safe and at the same time not lead her on. Itwasn’t fair to her. End of problematic story.

About a half an hour after they hadleft, one of the techies from a cell phone retailer contacted thegarage and I had them set her up with a phone and paid for it whileI was talking with the associate. And I managed to not send textsto Gage for updates because I knew he’d let me know if there was anissue. For the next four hours, I kept my attention on refurbingthe classic and struggled to shove away thoughts of my situationwith Sage.

It was late for lunch, since I hadbeen immersing myself in my work to keep me from thinking too muchabout things I shouldn’t be dwelling on, but I couldn’t ignore myhunger any longer. Heading back out to the main area to see ifanyone still needed to eat, my phone buzzed. When Gage’s nameflashed on my screen, my heart dropped into my stomach. Swiping toanswer, I put the phone up to my ear. “What’s going on,Gage?”

“The girls are fine. But wehave a bit of a situation. Some members of the Pyro Devils havetheir SUV surrounded. My bike is situated right at the driver’sside door and I’m not letting anyone near the girls.” Gage’s voicewas saturated with irritation. “Pip is demanding to see you beforehe’ll move his men. We’re on the strip of Bentwood about thirtyyards from Sparky’s Gas Station.”

“Fucking cock sucker.Thanks, Bro. I’ll be there in five, with back up.” As soon as I hitend call, I yelled. “Skip, Bolt, Hedge, Axel, you guys are comingwith me. The rest of you, we’ll be back as soon as we can.” At afast clip, I rushed out the back door to my bike, the brothers faston my heels.

“Where are we headed,Ryder?” Bolt asked as he climbed onto his bike.

“Bentwood near Sparky’s GasStation. A few Pyro Devils are messing with my girl.” My mouth justshot off shit again. But I didn’t have time to correct myerror.

Once the motorcycles roared to life, Iled the procession out of the parking lot, not keeping it withinthe speed limit.

About five minutes later, the SUV cameinto my sight, five Pyro Devils’ bikes forming an arc around thegirls’ vehicle. Gage stood behind his bike with his body shieldingthe door to the backseat on the driver’s side. My guess; that waswhere Sage sat. I rolled my Hog right up to the closest bike, shutoff my ignition, and dropped my kickstand before rushing up to theSUV. Peeking inside, Sage stared back at me. She didn’t appearafraid but her expression was guarded.

“You’re inviting troublewhere you don’t need it, Pip.” I snarled his name as I stormedright up to him where he stood beside his bike with his armscrossed.

“I could say the same aboutyou. Unless you want to stir up trouble between our groups, youneed to give us back our girl. I provided for her for five years,she owes us.”

“And I’m sure during thattime she did everything she was supposed to do. She doesn’t owe youanything. Besides, you lost your right to call her yours, when youfailed to protect her. Even worse, you allowed her to be assaultedby someone from another club.” My jaw clenched.

Pip’s eyes grew wide. “Did she tellyou that?”

“No, a trusted informantdid. Doesn’t matter. Get the fuck out of the way so the girls canhead home.”

“Can’t do that. We need herback. If Wasp comes back and wants her again, we need to be able tooffer her.”

The edges of my visionturned red and rage washed over me like a dragon unfurling itswings. My arm struck out like a cobra and I wrapped my hand aroundhis neck. “Wasp willneverget his hands on her again. You need to findbetter security for your place. None of your girls should ever betreated like that. Figure out another way to solve your problem.She’s ours now and we protect our own.”

“Put your fucking guns awaybefore we make the cops antsy.” I barked over my shoulder at hisbrothers. Then I released Pip’s throat. “Do I make myselfclear?”

A few violent coughs erupted fromPip’s mouth as he frowned. “Did you talk to your Prez about sittingdown and talking with us about the shit that’s going on that isaffecting both of our clubs? It will help prevent most of the runins between our clubs. And we will be able to focus more on themajor problem at hand.”

“We have Church scheduled.I’ll let you know what the club decides. You stay the fuck awayfrom my girl. Tell your brothers to get the fuck out of the way.Our girls want to get home.” I marched back to the SUV and stoodbeside Gage.

Pip stared at me for a beat and thennodded to me and then his brothers. One by one, they started uptheir bikes and once Pip took lead and headed back in the directionthey had come, the rest followed.

Once the noise from their bikestrailed off, I peeked in at Sage again and then directed myattention to Gage. “Thanks, Bro.” I patted his shoulder. “I’massuming you got the text from Remus. We’ll see what he thinks, butI’m really starting to agree with Grayson. We might have someproblems with the Brutal Demons. Things have been growing moreviolent lately. And I’m beginning to believe they might be thesource. Let’s get these girls home.” I tapped on the driver’s sidewindow.

Angel rolled it down and gave me afrown. “We were hoping to make this a weekly get together for usgirls. We had fun until those assholes showed up.”

“We’ll figure somethingout. But yeah, we’re going to have to be more careful when yougirls are out and about. We will follow you to the garage. ThenI’ll take Sage with me and a couple of the guys will follow you tothe club. You are still planning on being there tonight, right?” Ittook every bit of my strength not to tug Sage out of the SUV andput her on the back of my bike now, but I didn’t want to freak herout any more than she already was and she had been having a goodtime with the girls so I wanted her to at least get back to alittle normalcy.

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