Page 3 of Savage Outlaw

“What’s with everyone around here lately?”

He looked up. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone’s acting nuts. Secretive. Dad’s stressed.” Not to mention this new courtship that was out of left field and Reno’s allowed to live. It didn’t make any sense. “Is the club in trouble?”

Something crossed through Chains’ eyes for a second. A look of guilt? Concern? Then it was gone, but she’d caught it and it put rocks into her stomach.

Their club had never been what you’d callpopular.

It warred a lot over the years with the Raging Rebels until that club got firebombed out of existence. Things had been better for the last two years until some of the boys started getting arrested for stupid things. At the last count, six of them were doing long stretches inside. Roux knew it put strain on the club to stay afloat.

Then not so long ago, her now friend, Penelope was used as a bargaining chip for her dad to earn some easy cash. Roux had known then that the club was going through some shit but trying to get anything out of Axel was next to impossible.

“You know I can’t talk about club business, Roux.”

Yeah, yeah. So, fucking outdated. She could easily be a patched member. She knew the club life inside and out, but chest beating men didn’t take in women other than to fuck and party with them. Like they thought they’d sit around the church table talking about periods and menopause.Fucking cavemen.

Fortunately, she loved her mismatched family and didn’t have an urge to become a biker bitch, not in that way anyway.

“Why is that always the go to answer? Just tell me to mind my own business if you don’t want me to know something.”

She was more than a little pissy and it showed when she moved the plate aside.

Chains chuckled. “That temper, girlie, it never changes. You were the same when you were six years old and kept falling off your bike. We thought you were gonna kick shit out of it.”

She smiled remembering. But focused in on the topic at hand, this wasn’t time for memory lane.

“Is Dad in trouble?”

“Axel is fine.” Was all he said as he pushed up from the table, dumped his dishes for a prospect to clean later and he exited the kitchen as she knew he would.

Something hinky was up but she didn’t know what.

Licking butter from her thumb, she shrugged to herself. No point worrying, she’d know soon enough, she supposed.

To get in her father’s good graces, seeing as how he was going to be pissed that she was jobless again, she headed to his office to dig through the mess he had in there. When she saw the man himself talking to Reno.

The pair looked intense and it sent cold to her now full stomach. She stopped in the doorway and watched them.

Reno gestured with a hand, shaking his head at whatever her dad said to him.

Axel Tucker wasn’t old. Almost thirty-eight, shoulder length brown hair with atakes no shitattitude. She knew what people said about him, that he wasn’t liked much. She didn’t care. They didn’t know him, what he’d had to do at seventeen to raise her alone. No wonder she preferred to hang out with guys, all her old girl friends wanted to fuck Axel and that was just gross as hell. Sure, he wasn’t ugly, but it was gross to think of anyone she knew hooking up with him.

She must have made a noise because both men’s heads swerved her way.

Reno smirked as he always did.Dick. She ignored him and smiled at her dad.

“I was just gonna dig into some office stuff.” She told him.

“Hold off on that right now, get over here, Roux.”

Hardening her eyes between the two men, she took herself over. Her suspicious mind relaxed a little when he wrapped a big arm around her and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

She noted Reno was staring at her like a simpering little idiot. She ignored him and the secret look in his eyes.

“Listen, baby.” Her dad started in a voice so serious that she lifted her face, getting that hinky feeling in her gut again. “You need to start taking Reno seriously, okay?”

Concrete landed in her stomach.

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