So what was she doing? She might not be good with a gun, but Zane thought she was strong and brave. Was she really any less of a woman than Arianne? She just needed time and more information to come up with a plan.
“Arianne said you were lying about having a son.”
“I lied about pretty much everything else, but not that, and not Axle.” Doreen raised the gun again. “Needed something to tug on the heartstrings that had a ring of truth to it. Except JC isn’t really Axle’s son.” Her voice tightened. “I’m telling you this ’cause I feel sorry for you since you won’t be leaving that clubhouse until you’re too broken to talk. Axle and I were together before he joined the Jacks. Not the best of guys, but not the worst ’cause he had ambition. He wanted to lead his own club. And since it couldn’t be the Sinners, he set his sights on the Jacks. He kissed up to them something fierce until finally Viper agreed to patch him in.”
“He wanted to take over from Viper?” Evie’s gaze flicked to Doreen. “Was he crazy?”
“Go big or go home, that was Axle’s motto.” Doreen sighed. “First night Axle brought me to a Black Jack party, Viper called me to his room. He told Axle women in the club were shared and if he had a problem with that he’d take back the patch. I did what old ladies do, which is what their old men tell them to do. Not that I was complaining. Everyone wants Viper’s attention. If you’re wearing his cut, you get a shitload of respect. So I went with Viper. He wouldn’t join the “no glove no love” party, so nine months later…”
“Viper’s son?”
“I told Axle the boy was his and I put Axle’s name on the birth certificate. I fucked up my life but I didn’t want to fuck up his. Viper wouldn’t have given a damn about his son, but Axle did. He wanted kids. He was good with JC. He would have been a good dad. But the minute I found out Axle was dead, I took JC to my mom’s place, and I did what I had to do.”
“You became Viper’s old lady.”
Doreen didn’t miss a beat. “You gotta look out for yourself in this life. You gotta be strong. You get caught, you figure your own way out. That’s the biker way. It’s all about self-reliance. It’s all about doing what it takes to survive. It’s a fucking rush, I gotta tell you. Now I got power, respect, and soon I’ll have enough money to get him away from my mom and give him a good life.”
Evie studied the road ahead. All signs of civilization slowly disappeared until they were deep into the low rolling foothills of the Bridger Mountains. She had no doubt if she drove into the Black Jack clubhouse she wouldn’t survive—at least, not emotionally. So why was she looking in her rearview mirror every five minutes hoping to see the Sinners? Why couldn’t she handle this on her own? Was she that afraid to take a risk?
She caught a glint of metal on the road ahead, and slowed the vehicle. Doreen stabbed her in the side with the gun. “Keep driving. Whatever it is, go right through it.”
“Get that thing out of my side.” She’d had enough of Doreen and her rough voice and her harsh words. She’d had enough of driving and worrying about what would happen to Ty. She’d had enough of wondering if she had what it took to cut it in this world. Because dammit, despite her best efforts, she was in this world. She would do what it took to survive, and that meant there was no fucking way she was going to let Doreen take her to Viper.
Closer now, she could see motorcycles parked across the road, blocking the way. But she didn’t give a damn who they were. All she knew was that she was finished with this bullshit. Doreen might think she was a kitten, but she had claws.
Evie pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road, and turned off the ignition.
“What the fuck?” Doreen poked her again. “Start that vehicle up and get going.”
Evie’s heart pounded in her chest and she dropped her left hand to the driving console and felt for the window button. “Shoot me.”
Damn, it felt good to take a risk, just like she’d done when she was young. Except Zane had always been there to catch her if she fell.
“Stop playing games,” Doreen snarled.
Evie pressed the button and the window rolled down. She reached for the key. “Okay. Okay. I’ll get going. The heat is getting to me. I needed some air.”
“Now.”
Swallowing hard, Evie yanked out the key and threw it into the bush. “You aren’t going to shoot me because Viper wants me, and I’ll bet he won’t be happy if you bring me back dead.”
“You fucking bitch.” Doreen slammed the butt of the gun into Evie’s head. “Yeah, he wants you, all soft and pretty. But you pull this kinda shit and he won’t want you anymore I promise you won’t be wanting what he dishes out to women at the club who he doesn’t want to pet.”
Dazed, her head throbbing, Evie gripped the steering wheel and tried to regain her focus, but Doreen was already pushing open the door.
“Climb over the console toward me. Nice and slow. We’re gonna go get that key.” She stepped out of the vehicle and gestured Evie toward her.
Still stunned from the blow to her head, Evie climbed over the console toward Doreen. In the distance she heard the rumble of an engine, the thud of feet, and then …
“Evie.”
She knew that voice. She had heard it in her dreams since she was eight years old.
Taking advantage of the distraction, she brought up her knees and slammed Doreen in the chest, knocking her to the ground. Doreen stumbled back, falling to the ground. Evie dove after her and grabbed the gun. She pointed it at Doreen, lying sprawled in the dirt and smiled at Zane and Jagger as they jogged to a stop.
“I want to deliver her to Viper. All wrapped up in a pretty bow.”
* * *
“No.”
Zane hugged Evie to him and glared at Doreen, now securely trussed in the back of the 300C and out of earshot. After what Doreen had pulled, he could think of a dozen other things to do with her rather than drive her back to the Black Jack clubhouse, and none of them involved leaving her unharmed.
He tightened his arms, pulling Evie into his chest. He couldn’t think about what would have happened if they hadn’t been on the road, planning the raid on the Black Jacks clubhouse. Of course if they hadn’t been on the road, they would have been at the clubhouse, and Doreen wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take his Evie captive.
“It’s our best chance.” Evie looked up at him from the circle of his arms. Zane hadn’t let her go since he’d rescued her from Doreen. Okay. Maybe not rescued. Evie had been doing fine on her own. More than fine. In fact, she’d reminded him of Arianne when she delivered a couple of kicks to Doreen’s stomach, stomped on her hand and threatened to blow off her head before Jagger had taken away her gun. Maybe she’d been hanging around the club too much.
But at least she was talking to him now, holding him, letting him hold her … He startled when he caught the tail end of Evie’s sentence and realized she’d been laying out a plan.
“I’ll put on your bandanna and sunglasses and drive up to the gate with Doreen,” she continued. “They aren’t going to feel threatened by a woman. They’ll have to open the gates to let her in, which means the electric current will go off. I’ll stall them as long as I can. You can cut through the wires at the back and go with Cade to get T-Rex, since you know the layout best. No need for sniper guns or people getting hurt.”
“I like it,” said Jagger, leaning against the vehicle beside them. “Except for the part about not getting to shoot any Jacks.”
Betrayer. Zane weighed the likelihood of another disciplinary session against the pleasure he would get from punching Jagger in the face to stop him from moving forward with Evie’s ridiculous plan.