“So you are seeing him then!” he barked.
Damn. I walked straight into that one. Harrison outwitted me after all by catching me off-guard. He grabbed my upper arms and shook me. “Jade. Have you forgotten what kind of people they are? That they kill innocent people? How could you?”
“It’s not like that,” I retorted, annoyed that he was jumping to conclusions before knowing the story. “I’ve known Ryder for a while now. Yes, his background is different to mine, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. It merely means we are different in some ways. But we are both humans, with the same wants and desires. Besides, I’m not dating him, so calm down.”
“Calm down? Shit, Jade, I’ve got news for you. Ryder Knox and his little gang are on my radar. The shooting that went down a few months ago? That was based on illegal guns being shipped around. The same kind of guns that killed Amy and my friends back then, and that still kill innocent people every day now. I will bring those motherfuckers down, even if it costs me my life.”
I jumped up, my hands on my hips, and stared at my brother through narrowed eyes. “For a smart man, you’re so damn stubborn. Like Ryder said, even the law gives him more credit than we do, by believing he is innocent till proven guilty,” I huffed.
Harrison shook his head. “Fuck me. It’s worse than I’d thought. What? You’re quoting a biker now? Jesus, Jade, what’s gotten into you? I think I need to hunt that fucker down and put an end to this shit before it gets out of hand. You’re going nowhere near Biker Boy again. Are we clear? I’ll arrest him, and throw his fucking ass into jail if you don’t listen to me.”
“On what grounds?”
”You don’t realize I have a whole fucking file on the Scorpio Stinger MC and their rivals. I can dig up dirt and make it stick. And I will if you don’t stay away. You have no fucking idea what you’re getting into. These bikers are criminals. They deal in illegal guns, and drugs, and extortion.” A vein ticked in his neck. His lips were drawn into a thin line as he stared at me through narrowed eyes. It’s not pretty. And I won't allow you to be any part of that shit. Do. You. Understand?”
Blood rushed to my head and anger swirled in my gut. “Just because Ryder had a tough upbringing doesn’t make him a goddamn criminal. You can't generalize like that.”
Harrison’s fists clenched and unclenched. The frown between his eyes deepened. “OK. I wasn’t going to tell you this . . .” He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them, they were hard and calculating. “Ryder killed a man. His own father, no less, when he was only a kid of eleven.” His voice had a hard edge I couldn’t ignore. ”That just smells like trouble. He was in juvie for years. That’s how he got tangled up with the Scorpio Stinger MC. And now he’s their VP. Come-on Sis, even you know what all of that means.”
Harrison wouldn’t lie to me.
All the blood drained from my face as I went cold.
“Yeah, I can see Ryder omitted to tell you about his childhood. Killing a man is a big deal. And he did it in cold blood, and had no remorse after. That makes him a psycho killer. Dangerous. Like fuck am I letting him anywhere near my little sister.”
“Harrison!”
“Do you hear me Jade? Over my fucking dead body are you hooking up with a biker. I’ll kill him with my bare hands if he touches you.”
Chapter 20 ~ Ryder
For the first time since meeting Cobra that fateful day in juvenile detention, I wanted to kill him. I’d never have believed that this day would come. But it had. Cobra was staring me down, anger seething from his pores. In his neck, a thick vein protruded and throbbed, and a grim expression was on his face.
“Look, I'm mad as hell at Mia for inviting Jade in the first place. But Mia didn't know about the connection with her cop brother. But you, Ryder . . . you could have stopped it all from happening. I don’t appreciate the fucking cops showing up at the compound. It could’ve turned nasty. For fuck’s sake, we had old ladies and kids here.” He closed his eyes for a minute. When he opened them again, pain was etched across his face. “I have nothing against Jade as a person. But I can never allow the bloodshed and loss of our family again on my watch.”
“I know, brother. This is on me, not you.”
He scrubbed a big hand over his face. Cobra looked tired. All of this had taken a toll on him—the shootout, him nearly dying, Mia losing the baby, the cop raid last night. He looked older than his thirty-six years.
“I tossed and turned all night about this. And I’ve come to a decision. Neither Jade nor Lexi can ever come to the compound again. It’s too fucking risky. And I'm all done with taking risks where my family’s lives are involved.”
The blood drained from my face. “What are you saying, Cobra?” I snarled. My gut turned upside down—I knew what was coming, and I didn't like it one bit.
“I’m saying that you should forget about that woman. I’ll deal with Razor and Ox about Lexi. But now, I’m telling you—brother to brother—that you should walk away from Jade while you still can, and before it brings more shit to the club.”
I shook my head. Had I heard right? Cobra was telling me in no uncertain terms to end it with Jade? Fuck.
“Cobra. You don’t know what you are asking, man.” Sweat formed on my brow, and I felt a trickle run down my back. Cobra didn't understand. Give up Jade? I was beyond that stage. The realization hit me with full force, making my knees so weak that I had to grip the ends of his desk to keep myself standing upright. My knuckles were white as I held on, my brain in a whirl.
“I'm fully aware of what I’m asking. I'm asking that you sacrifice pussy for the club. It’s always been an easy decision for you, Ryder. A no-brainer. Why the resistance now?”
“Well—this time it’s different. Because Jade isn’t just pussy to me. She’s my bitch. My woman. I fucking love her. Yeah.” There: I’d finally declared it, to my boss and president no less. Finally, I was able to formulate all those crazy feelings into words.
Cobra’s eyes widened and his skin went ashen. He slammed a fist on the table.
“Fuck. Why her, Ryder? Of all the fucking bitches in the world . . . It can't work, brother. You’re from different worlds. She’s the rich bitch, and you’re the bad biker. Do I fucking need to remind you of that?”
“Christ, Cobra, do you think I chose this? Do you think I wanted to love the snarky bitch that pushes all my buttons—good and bad? No. I didn't choose it. It chose me. My fucking heart can't be told who to love and who not to love. It fucking is what it is, brother.”
I sank into the chair, spearing my fingers through my hair. This was as fucked up as it could get. Cobra telling me to let go of Jade. Did he fucking know what he was asking of me?
I hung my head, letting it rest on my chest as I closed my eyes. Anything. I would do anything for Cobra, anything for my brothers and the Scorpio Stinger MC.
Anything, but this.
Because fuck me, now that I’d tasted the love of a woman as sweet as Jade, I wanted more of it. Cobra could not be asking me to give up this one thing I wanted more than my next breath.
Cobra cleared his throat. “As your president, I'm asking you, Ryder. I'm asking for all the lives of your brothers, past and present. Let Jade go. You know there can come no good of it. You know it’s fucked. It will lead to bloodshed. You know.”
I jumped up from the chair. Fuck. I needed to punch something—anything. I slammed one fist into the wall, then another. It hurt like fuck, but it was nothing like the pain of my heart that was breaking in two. I'd waited all my life to feel like this. Since the day Marianne had left, and never come back. Since when first the emptiness, and then the hatred had filled my heart. And now that I’d finally found my woman, Cobra was forbidding it?