Page 33 of Savage Lust

“I’m fine.” She edged closer to me.

Preacher made a face, glaring at me before he continued, “What happened?”

“Cam and I rode to breakfast and when we came back…” She pointed to the door. “Looks like someone broke in, but Cam checked the house.”

Oh, he heard that. Those first six words settled on the washed-up old fucker like a bundle of barbed wire. I couldn’t help but grin at her. He wasn’t the only one that heard it. There were rules, lines drawn in the sand, ones the table wouldn’t even let Preacher break.

Riley Bowman was officially mine as far as the Kings were concerned. She was safe. At least, from one particular set of dangers.

“Somebody was looking for something. Fucked shit up in there pretty good.” I finished my cigarette, dropped it on the concrete, and snubbed it out with my boot.

Jester lit a joint and passed it to me. “We calling the cops?”

Preacher looked at me with an expression that asked what I thought. Not that he cared, he’d do whatever he wanted. That he asked me—the VP—was for appearances only. Puck disappeared to the front of the house, moving quick for someone with that much sheer bulk.

I hit the joint and held the smoke for as long as I could before passing it back. Hell, my adrenaline was running so hot I could smoke the whole thing myself and probably wouldn’t catch a buzz.

“I don’t think it’s going to do any good.” It wasn’t a lie. But the way Preacher was acting, the only part of this situation that seemed a surprise was Riley riding on the back of my bike. I didn’t like that.

Riley sat at the table, quietly checking her phone as we talked.

“I’ll take a look around.” Preacher nodded to me once and ducked inside.

I didn’t realize I’d stood so rigid in his presence until he walked away, and the muscles in my back relaxed. He’d been with Jester, so he couldn’t have done it unless Jester had helped.

Nah, Jester isn’t helping him do shit.

With the exception of a few punks like Ghost and Band Aid, Preacher hadn’t built a very good connection with the younger guys. He wasn’t a surrogate father like Archer had been or AP was.

Puck came back around. “They tried the front door first. Fucked the lock all up, I’m going to run and pick up a newwindowpane and lock, get that fixed today. Shop is closed so I don’t have to be there. Did you check the cameras?”

Fuck.I checked them then, but there was nothing after Riley and I left. “Cameras don’t have shit, not even us pulling in.”

“Let me see.” Jester took my phone and fucked with it for a few minutes before Preacher came out. “Looks like someone fried the Wi-Fi on them. We’ll need to check the modem, but I’ll probably have to get new cameras. This time I’ll do a dedicated system, so it’s hard wired in and they can’t fry them.”

“So, there are no cameras?” Riley was getting freaked out now. Her eyes darting from me to Jester to Puck and back again, her face increasingly pale.

If I went to her, held her, that said more than I needed it to—fuck.

I swore and raked my fingers through my hair before hitting the joint again. When I offered it to her, she thought about it for a long second before shaking her head no. Hell, it would do her some good right about now.

“We won’t let anything happen to you, Riley.” Preacher jogged down the steps, his t-shirt clad beer belly jostling as he did. “You can come down to the clubhouse and hang out. We’ll be there all day.”

The rest of the patched officers rode up the driveway, climbed off bikes, and spilled into the carport.

The one to cut straight to me and survey the damage was Merc. “Damn.”

I shrugged, and we said nothing. I knew he thought someone was after the guns. Good thing we’d cleared them out. Not that I agreed, but better safe than shot up.

“We got that run tomorrow, Cam. You good for it?” This from AP, who eyed me with the concern of a favorite uncle.

I nodded my head.

“I’ll keep an eye on the kid while you do it.” Preacher stepped in, once again trying to get Riley away from me. “We don’t know who—”

“She can ride with me.” I didn’t wait for it, just dug my line in the sand deeper, filled it with gasoline, and set that bitch on fire.

Preacher balked, his ruddy face growing redder as he blustered without saying anything. He looked a damn fool. This young, beautiful woman had no interest in his old, perverted ass.

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