Page 46 of Savage Lust

The corners of her mouth curled. “Yeah. Where’d you get the jacket?”

Her question caught me off guard, jerking me from the buzz of happiness I found myself caught in, and my guard slid back in place. It wasn’t the question, so much as the almost robotic way she asked it.

“Cam gave it to me.”

She turned to me, not smiling, but with a soft look on her face. “Be careful, Riley.” She took a deep breath. “I really like you. And I love Cam. If he’s happy, I’m always going to be happy. But riding on his bike, wearing his first cut…that’s making statements with weight.”

The earnestness in her gaze worried me.

Had I done something wrong? He’d said I wouldn’t be trouble for him, but I couldn’t help but feel like I’d stepped over some imaginary line. “I didn’t mean to—”

She grabbed my hand. “You haven’t done anything. But this life—there are rules, and I don’t think he’s telling you everything.”

“All right, ladies. My turn!” A jovial voice bounded into the kitchen, interrupting us and leaving me tangled in so many questions I felt like a moth stuck in a web, flailing to be free—the vibrations calling the spider right to me.

Jester was carrying more plates. I stepped out of his way as he deposited them in the sink. Dylan busied herself with turning the dishwasher on.

“A real man washes his own shit,” he told me, before carrying on solemnly. “Except his bike. He leaves that to babes in bikinis.”

His salacious wink was so over the top, I laughed.

“She’s looking a little dirty. You should help me out, Dylan.” He twisted a towel and popped her on the ass as she turned away.

She snatched the towel before he could get her a second time and was practically growling when he jerked her close. “Not for a million bucks, asshole.”

“Yo, get a room!” Someone tossed from the doorway.

But Jester’s eyes had darkened, something changing in his facial features. Dangerous, sexy, and sucking out all the air in the room.

Dylan dropped the towel and stepped back. “No thanks.” Then after a long pause, a challenge passed in the slight curl of his upper lip. “I don’t like being told what to do, and I don’t listen for shit.”

He laughed, leaning against the counter, and watching her as she walked away. “She’s got me all wrong. I like ’em feisty first.”

eighteen

Cam

I got itchy if she stayed out of my sight for too long. Even here. Which was fucking ridiculous. I was obsessing, acting like an idiot over a girl. Not something I’d ever done, but Riley was different.

She’s in danger.

And there was that. There were things I knew for certain: Archer hadn’t killed himself. He and Preacher had been fighting for months, but about what I couldn’t ever be sure. My money was on the deal Preacher wanted with the rednecks.

Riley came back to the living area just as we folded up the last table, Merc carting one out under each arm. I’d have taken one from him, but the scowl on her face stopped me. The urge to know what had happened, to stalk into the kitchen and put my fist through someone’s face, was so strong I took a step back from her. Gesturing to the front porch, I followed Merc out and lit a cigarette.

“What’s up?” I took a long drag, focused on the swirl of smoke on my tongue and the burn in my chest. Anything to keep from acting like some idiot with a hard on. I’d brought her here on the back of my bike, wearing my leather—I’d drawn enough attention tous.

Because I wanted them all—every last fucking man in this county—to know she was mine.

She blinked up at me with those hazel eyes with flecks of green and gold and then shook her head as if to clear it. “Nothing. Just thinking.” She looked down and grinned, like we were sharing some sort of secret.

I could eat her alive.

If she’d come to me, wrapped her arms around my middle like I’d wanted her to, I would have held her right there.

I’d barely known her a week.Jesus.

“About what?” I flicked the ash, watched the little ember float away and disappear into the night.

---