Page 10 of Coty

I risk losing my arm and lay my palm against her right shoulder. “No, ma’am. Not this time. Now, what happened?”

“I don’t want or need your help,” she bites out. She glances over my shoulder and smiles. “Bankz and Hendrix took care of it.”

Yeah, the little vixen knows just where to hit. It won’t work like she hopes, though. I spin around to face my friends, my club brothers. I’m not a fool by any means. Hendrix is a big man. He’ll ground me to sawdust on the floor if I pop something smart off to him. I take a deep breath and remind myself that these are my friends, my family. They’ve done nothing wrong. They actually did what a brother would expect of them.

“What happened?” She won’t tell me, but they will.

“Kayla shot his buddy down tonight. Apparently, Landon had a problem with hercrawling in bed with dirty bikers. His words, not mine,” Bankz explains.

I twist my head to one side, then the other, popping my neck. Rich kids with daddy’s money are scumbags. They believe no one can touch them. College guys just moved to number two on my bad list.

“Where’s Landon now?” At least they got a name for me. Nick can find him from the security footage.

Hendrix huffs. "Helandedhimself in the Emergency Room."

“What?” Kayla gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.

Jack steps forward and switches to leader mode. “This coming back on us? Cops going to be looking for you?”

“Nope.” Bankz shakes his head. “Told ‘em we owned the cops around here.”

“You did what?” A muscle in Jack’s neck twitches.

I rub a hand across my forehead. These two are idiots sometimes. “We don’t own the cops.”

“They don’t know that.” Hendrix moves to the empty stool next to the new lady.

Jack points at Bankz. “Just in case they call the cops, what exactly did you two do?”

“It was sad, really.” Hendrix takes a bottle of water from Parker. He sounds extremely disappointed. “I punched him in the face one time, and down he went. His head hit the wall, and his buddies pulled him off the ground.”

“I suggested the ER. The way he staggered around, he probably has a concussion.” Bankz shrugs. “That’s when I told them not to bother calling the cops. We owned them.”

“Great.” Jack tosses his hands up and walks off, mumbling.

“You guys are insane,” the new lady says. She’s intrigued, not appalled.

“Who are you?” I demand.

“She’s my friend.” Kayla pushes against my chest. “Find your manners.”

I place my hand over the spot she just touched and gently rub it. Her eyes follow the movement before snapping up to mine. She blinks a few times and quickly looks away.

My lips turn up into a slow grin. Well, well, well. Somebody doesn’t hate me as much as she pretends. Good to know. I’ll pack that little bit of information away for another day. It’s the first sign of hope she’s given me since I’ve been back.

“I’m Eliza.” The woman holds her hand out.

I nod once. “Rodeo. Thanks for helping tonight.”

I don’t take her hand to be rude. It’s respect. My girl is sitting right here. I won’t willingly touch another woman even when she’s not around. It darn sure won’t happen in front of her. Yeah, I know Kayla isn’t officially mine yet. However, I’ve made a small dent in her tough girl armor tonight. I’m not messing it up.

Bankz, on the other hand, has no problem wrapping his hand around hers. “I’m Bankz. I own the Roadhouse. That’s Hendrix.” He points across the room. “That’s Jack.”

Our future President is on the phone. He turns to look up at the TV monitor connected to the Den. Lily’s on the phone, pointing at him. She keeps glancing at Kayla. We can’t hear what she’s saying, though. Jack needs to get back to the clubhouse. A phone call isn’t calming her ole’ lady down.

“You have things handled here?” I ask Bankz.

“Absolutely.” Bankz gives a firm nod.

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