Page 8 of 23 Hours

“No. That can’t be right. That was…” I approach, racking my brain for any memory of a Kit. It sounds familiar, though I can’t say why.

“Twenty-three years ago, this August,” she explains.

I pinch the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes. Kit. Kit. Why does that hit a cord? “We—”

“Had sex,” she chimes in unhelpfully.

We… Wait… Hold up… I think I got something…Holy fuck. That was the… No. This is her?Kit.The engaged bitch partying with her friends like Sturgis was the new Vegas vacation. They were outta place in a bar full of leather, wearin’ sundresses and no panties. Sturgis was some rite of passage after college graduation before saying I Do. She was the drunk chick offering the goods to anyone who’d give her a ride. I stepped up when some greaseball from a club we don’t associate with wanted to get up in that. I took over, lifted her dress, saw she was down, and we…

“At the bar,” I fill in, vaguely remembering her back against the wood, her legs around my waist… “Wait… Blimp was there.” I look at my brother. His face tells a different tale. He’s half-smiling like a dumbass, half trying to hide it, stroking his long gray beard. Yeah, he remembers.

The fucker punches my shoulder. “Congrats, Daddy-o.”

Nope, I’m not even gonna touch that comment. He can fuck right off.

I ignore him and address Mel. “Listen, just ’cause we had sex a dozen times, doesn’t mean he’s my kid.” I’m not buyin’ it.

FYI, in case you were wondering, I could use a cigarette right now, or an entire pack of menthols.

Juiced up on the news, my leg jiggles. I snatch another Dum Dum from my pocket and shove the thing in my mouth before I make Blimp give me a hit off the blunt he’s packin’. I sigh long and hard as the strawberry bliss gives me the relief nicotine used to.

Melanie kicks a rock. It clangs against the base of the gate. “It kinda does when I have a test saying otherwise.”

“Excuse me?” I keep my tone neutral, wanting to crawl outta my skin. Either she’s a liar, or I’m fucked.

Her head cocks to the side. “How do you think I found you? I couldn’t remember your name, much less the club you were in, so I put Adam’s DNA spit sample in one of those fancy online ancestry sites, and Eli popped up as a close relative.”

“My brother, Bonez?” Why would he submit DNA to a company like that? Hasn’t he learned a thing from me?

“Yes. Him,” she confirms, much to my horror.

“You talked to my brother?” If he knew and didn’t tell me, I’ll beat his ass.

“No.” Melanie’s nose crinkles like that’s the most distasteful thing I could’ve said. “I wouldn’t do that. I hacked his social media…”

She… How…Argh!Now I’m really gonna kill him.

“You what? You hacked his… YouhackedBonez’s social media?” He’s a biker, too. Sure, he rolls with the Corrupt Chaos, a more laid-back veterans club, but he’s smarter than this.

“Well.” She shrugs, all innocent and far too cute for her own good. “I borrowed his password for like a minute to find out more about you, since you’re one of the few people on the planet with less online presence than me.”

Fuckin’ A. Hacker hotness shouldn’t impress me, but it does. Even if I’m gonna wring my brother’s neck for lettin’ anyone get past his firewalls. Firewalls I set up for him myself. They’re not top of the line, but they’re nothin’ to sniff at either.

“This is—” I begin.

Melanie waves a hand to shut me up. “Listen, I’m sorry for showing up like this. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Can we talk somewhere? I’m here for Adam. That’s it. I promise. I don’t want your money, connections, or whatever you might be thinking.” To prove a point, Melanie picks up the bills I threw at her, rolls them up, and sets them in a crumpled ball on the gate.

And just like that, I’m frozen, stuck in…mind-numbing limbo.

I must give some indication it’s cool for the brothers to let her pass, ’cause the banged-up gate that got hit by two trucks yesterday opens.

Not giving me a chance to change my mind, Melanie strides toward the clubhouse, a sexy sway to those hips.Damn.As if I’m not already screwed, she’s gotta show off the goods when I’m sex deprived. I want pussy, even more so now than before. Anything would be nice to distract me from tonight’s surprises.

Closing my eyes for the count of ten, I take a breath and will my nerves to calm.

They give me the finger. Twice.

“Your truck.” White Boy waves to her vehicle parked outside the gate.

---