The earthquakes that ravaged the globe after the war had left most of the coastal cities underwater. The ones still standing were in shambles and inhospitable, though according to Connor’s woman, the Global Council was apparently in the process of forming a new colony on the west coast.
Speaking of Con’s woman, Hudson was perched on the edge of Connor’s chair, her long blond hair falling over one slender shoulder.
Shit. Jamie wasn’t going to be pleased when she heard that Hudson was allowed at the meeting while she’d been excluded, but Lennox wasn’t surprised to see Hudson there. Connor didn’t let her out of his sight if he could help it.
Hudson surprised him by hopping to her feet once Lennox reached the steps. “I’ll leave you boys to it.” She planted a kiss on Connor’s lips before straightening up. “I’m going to see what Jamie is up to.”
As she sauntered off, Lennox couldn’t help checking out her tight ass, which earned him a low growl from Connor.
He turned back, blinking innocently. “Your woman’s hot, Mackenzie. Men are gonna look.”
Rylan grinned. “And some men are gonna touch.” He jerked a proud thumb at his own chest, triggering a snort from Connor.
“Keep bragging and your touching days will be over.”
Rylan mimicked Lennox. “Your woman’s hot, brother. Men are gonna brag.”
Connor rolled his eyes before turning his attention to the figures that came up beside Lennox.
“Hey,” Xander greeted the group. He clapped Lennox on the arm, then climbed the steps and hopped onto the railing. Lennox had known the bearded outlaw for years, long before Connor and his boys had moved to the area, and it still surprised him to see Xander among the group. He had no idea how Con had managed to convince the nomad to settle in one place.
Kade walked up next, nodding at Lennox as he leaned against the railing next to Xander.
Pike was last, propping his hip against the door, his surly gaze focused on Connor. “What does she want?”
As usual, Pike got right to the point. The man never minced words.
Connor ran a hand over the dark stubble lining his jaw. “You.”
In a rare occurrence, Pike reacted like a normal person instead of the emotionless robot Lennox had grown accustomed to. The man’s eyebrows shot up, his mouth twisting in a frown. “Me?”
“And him.”
Connor nodded toward Rylan, who reacted like the sex-crazed fucker he was.
“Hell yeah. She wants us to service her? Sign me up.” Playful blue eyes shifted to Pike. “I don’t mind sharing, but if you want to sit this one out, I won’t cry myself to sleep about it.”
Lennox snickered. It was no secret that Rylan had been trying to get into Reese’s pants for a while now, but the woman was a total ballbuster and wanted nothing to do with the blond outlaw. Lennox wasn’t sure why, considering that Reese had no problem fucking everyone else, himself included.
“She doesn’t want your dicks.” Connor looked unusually cheerful as he shot down Rylan’s hopes. “She wants your fists.”
Pike’s frown deepened.
“Foxworth’s having some trouble protecting itself,” Connor explained. “Two ambushes in the last three months.”
“Enforcers?” Xander said sharply.
Connor nodded. “One run-in with an Enforcer unit, and then a bandit attack not long after.”
All the men sneered. Bandits were the lowest form of life in the Colonies. They were men without morals. They roamed the free land, robbing, raping, and generally posing a nuisance to the outlaws who were trying to make a life for themselves in this shitty world.
Lennox hesitated for a beat before speaking up. He still wasn’t sure how much to confide in the group—all the secrets he knew would take years to divulge—but now that he was living at their camp, he didn’t feel right withholding certain pieces of information.
“Reese has deals in place with the Enforcers, Con. She bribes them and they stay away. Why would they attack her town all of a sudden?”
Connor didn’t look surprised by the intel. “I guess those alliances are on shaky ground. Shit’s changed since Commander Ferris took over the unit.”
“What does she need us to do?” Gone was the mischievous look in Rylan’s blue eyes. He was all business now, hard and menacing.
“Train her people. Only a handful of them know how to fight. Most can’t even shoot a weapon.” Connor leaned back in his chair, looking unhappy. “She wants you and Pike to spend a few weeks in Foxworth and work with her people, show them everything you taught all those recruits back when you two were still part of the army group.”
Pike didn’t look thrilled by the idea. “Can we say no?”
Connor’s voice roughened. “She lent us her chopper so we could rescue Hudson from the Enforcer compound last month. We owe her.”
“Then give her something else,” Pike grumbled. “I’ve got better ways to spend my time than to teach a bunch of clumsy hacks how to shoot a gun.”
“This is what she wants. It’s all she wants. Trust me, I tried to negotiate, but she wasn’t having it.”
Rylan interjected. “Hey, it’s not the worst favor she could’ve asked for.” He turned to Pike with a careless grin. “A few weeks at Foxworth, sparring during the day and screwing at night? Not a terrible gig.”
Pike still looked unconvinced.
“What’s the real deal here?” As always, Connor seemed to read his man’s mind. His sharp gaze fixed on Pike, who responded with a stiff shrug. But Connor was like a dog with a bone. “You don’t want to go. Why?”
Lennox watched in fascination as the most tight-lipped bastard he’d ever met caved under Connor’s shrewd hazel gaze.
“Don’t want to leave Hope,” Pike muttered.
There was a beat of silence. Then a loud snort from Xander, who’d just lit a cigarette from his perch on the railing.
Connor was equally dumbfounded. “Are you kidding me? You want us to face Reese’s wrath just so you can stick around here and hang out with your fucking pet?”
Lennox swallowed his laughter. The pet in question had caught him by surprise when he first showed up at the camp. Apparently Hudson and Pike had found themselves a wolf pup, who they were now raising and teaching to do their bidding. To Lennox’s amazement, Pike was scarily gentle with the furry beast, and it was rare to see the man around camp without Hope scampering at his scuffed boots.
“She’s in training,” Pike said tightly. “If I leave, it’ll screw up the routine we have going.”
“Hudson knows the routine—she’s been doing it with you,” Connor pointed out. When Pike shrugged again, the leader cursed. “Is this seriously going to be an issue?”
After a beat, Pike swore under his breath. “Fine. I’ll go.”
“Damn right you will.” Connor shifted his exasperated gaze to the railing. “You too, Kade.”
The dark-haired man looked startled. “Why me?”
“Because you fight like shit,” Connor said bluntly. “Wouldn’t hurt to brush up on your hand-to-hand combat skills.”
Kade nodded in resignation. He was only twenty-four and looked it, with his lean frame and boyish features. The guy had been living in West City up until he escaped a little over a year ago, and he’d yet to develop the hard edge that the other men possessed. That every outlaw possessed.
In all honesty, Lennox wasn’t sure what Kade really offered to the group. Xander had vouched for him, though. And the first time Xan brought Kade to Lennox’s house, Lennox had watched the city boy tag-team a curvy blonde with Xan as if he’d been in the free land for years.
“I’m going too, then,” Xander said immediately.
“No.” Connor’s tone invited no argument. “I need you here.”
Xander’s features tightened.
Lennox didn’t cla
im to be a mind reader like Connor, but he was perceptive enough to figure out the reason for Xander’s unhappiness. Kade was still green, and Xander had taken the guy under his wing. Someone would need to look out for Kade at Foxworth, but neither Rylan nor Pike was up for the job. The former would be too busy chasing pussy, while the latter would no doubt find a shadowy place to hole up in and avoid any social contact.
Connor yet again proved to be the leader Lennox always knew he was by saying, “Lennox will go and keep Kade company.”
Lennox raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t used to other people making decisions for him, but he decided not to argue. He could use the change of scenery. Besides, the way Xander’s shoulders relaxed told him the man would appreciate it if he went along.
“No problem,” he said easily.
Connor looked pleased. “Good, then we’re all on board.” He rose from his chair and addressed the group. “You leave tomorrow night.”
3
“Seriously. What’s the deal with you and Lennox? You’re really not sleeping together?”
Jamie wiggled out of her jeans and turned to grin at Hudson, who was sitting cross-legged on the twin bed in Jamie’s cabin. No matter how many times she insisted that she and Lennox were simply friends, Hudson still raised the subject every time the two women were alone together.
“Nope, not sleeping together.” Jamie folded her jeans and carefully placed them in the top drawer of the weathered dresser.
Lennox always teased her about her need to maintain tidiness and order, but it wasn’t a compulsion or anything. So many things in this world were out of her control, but this was one thing she could control. Putting away her clothes, eliminating clutter.
Stupid as it might be, Jamie equated living out of a backpack with admitting defeat—it was like saying it was inevitable that they’d be forced to run again.
Fuck, she was tired of running. Her entire childhood had been one frantic getaway after the next, a constant cycle of packing up and moving somewhere new. Sometimes, if the Enforcers were breathing down their necks, packing wasn’t even an option.
There had been times when Jamie was tempted to beg her parents to surrender to the council and move to the city. Because really, the people in West City lived a good life for the most part. Everyone was assigned a job suited to his or her skills. They were given clean, spacious accommodations. They ate well-rounded meals in the dining halls and had lots of free time to socialize and roam the city.
For the majority of citizens, all those perks were appealing enough to allow them to overlook the truth—that they were living in an oppressive environment, wrapped up in a pretty package under the guise of freedom.
Jamie’s parents had reminded her of that each time she cried about abandoning camp, and it was a reminder she clung to whenever life got too hard. The citizens weren’t free. How could they consider themselves free when they were unable to leave the city gates without written permission and an Enforcer escort? When marriages needed to be approved by the council, or outright arranged if a citizen remained unmarried by the age of thirty-five? When girls were sterilized when they reached childbearing age, except for those chosen to breed?
Thinking about the breeding laws always resulted in sending a chill up Jamie’s spine. She couldn’t stomach the notion of being sterilized against her will. Having the right to bear a child stolen away from her . . . that alone was enough to make her want to burn West City to the ground.
“But . . . why not?”
Jamie snapped out of her thoughts. “Why not what?”
“Why aren’t you sleeping together?” Hudson repeated.
“Because we’re friends.”
“So? Rylan is my friend, and I sleep with him.”
The remark wasn’t meant to be hurtful, but Jamie couldn’t fight the pang of resentment it evoked. It was no secret that Connor and Hudson fooled around with Rylan sometimes. And although Jamie knew it shouldn’t make her jealous, it did, damn it.
From the moment she’d met the sexy blond outlaw, she’d come to think of him as hers. Which probably wasn’t fair to Rylan or the women he slept with, but Jamie’s heart was as stubborn as the rest of her.
It also didn’t help that Hudson was drop-dead gorgeous and had landed one of the sexiest men in the colony. Jamie couldn’t deny she’d fantasized a time or two about Connor’s intense eyes and rock-hard body, but at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to hate Hudson. The woman was fun to be around, and she’d been nothing but kind to Jamie since they’d met.
Still, sometimes Jamie wanted to shake her by the shoulders and say share the wealth, girl.
“Lennox and I aren’t like that,” she said absently. “We never have been.”
“Never?” Hudson looked doubtful. “Haven’t you known each other for years?”
“Since we were kids. Our parents were friends, and Len and I grew up together in an army camp.”
“Wait—was the People’s Army still around at that point?”
“No, it was officially disbanded five years after the war. But unofficially it was around for years after that. Even now there are groups who still keep trying to drum up support for a new People’s Army.”
“I hope they get it.”
Jamie couldn’t hide her surprise. “You realize that could mean another revolution against the council? Which means your brother might get caught in the cross fire.”
“Not if he leaves the city first.” Determination lit Hudson’s gray eyes. “I’m working on making that happen.”
This time, Jamie made an effort to mask her reaction. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with the fact that Hudson’s twin brother, Dominik, was the head Enforcer of West Colony. Dominik and his men had been feared and vilified by outlaws for as long as Jamie could remember. They were known to be ruthless sons of bitches, and they’d only gotten worse over the past couple of years.
According to Jamie’s parents, when the Enforcer unit had been formed after the war, the initial goals had been to protect the citizens, police the Colonies, and round up outlaws. The Surrender Law had been put into effect, which meant that outlaws were offered the choice to reintegrate into society or else face execution.
But with a new commander leading the military now, things had changed. The Surrender Law had been abandoned. Now outlaws were killed on sight.
Hudson claimed that the rising violence among the Enforcers was due to a drug cocktail the commander was giving the men, but Jamie was skeptical. Those assholes had always been violent, and she had trouble sympathizing with Hudson whenever the woman spoke about Dominik. If it were up to Jamie, he and his men would all be wiped off the face of this razed, blackened earth.
“I know you don’t like hearing about him.” Hudson shifted awkwardly, proving to be more perceptive than Jamie had given her credit for. “But he’s my brother. I still love him.”
“I know.”
“He’s trying to make things right.”
Jamie didn’t answer, but her thoughts on the matter hung between them like a cloud of radiation. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Hudson sighed. “Okay, enough about Dom and more about Lennox.” She flashed a smile, but it looked forced. “So you’ve known him forever and you never got together. Which raises the question . . . why? You do realize he’s insanely attractive, right?”
“I hadn’t noticed.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course I know he’s attractive, you idiot.”
The tension dissolved as Hudson burst out laughing. “Good, because I would’ve been concerned if you didn’t. That man is fucking gorgeous.”
No argument there. Lennox was one of the sexiest men she’d ever met. That messy dark hair, chiseled features, magnetic silver eyes . . . Shit, and his body? It had been designed for pure sin. Jamie would have to be blind not to notice how attractive her best friend was.
If
she was being honest, there was a period of time when she’d noticed far, far too often.
“Uh-oh, you’re blushing.” Hudson pounced instantly. “Ha! You two did hook up!”
“We didn’t.” She shrugged. “But I wanted to at one time.”
“I knew it!” Hudson leaned back on her elbows, wearing an expression of sheer delight. “When was that?”
“When I was sixteen, I think. So Lennox would have been eighteen. We were living on the coast at that point, and one night—it was late, way past midnight—I caught Lennox sneaking away from camp. I was curious, so I followed him down to the beach.” Jamie wiggled her eyebrows. “And then I hid behind a tree and watched him jerk off.”
Hudson hooted. “Oh gosh, really? Did he know you were there?”
“I don’t think so. I mean, he didn’t give any indication that he knew. But holy shit, it was the hottest thing I’d ever seen,” she admitted.
Even now, years after the fact, she could easily conjure up the memory of Lennox on that beach. His long body stretched out on the sand as he propped himself up on one elbow. His pants undone. The pleasure stretching his features taut as his strong hand worked his cock in slow, almost seductive strokes.
Jamie ignored the shiver of heat that shimmied up her spine. “After that, I lusted hard for him. I started flirting with him more, trying to catch his interest.” She gave another shrug. “But he continued to treat me like a sister, so yeah, it was pretty clear he wasn’t interested. Then I fell in love with this other boy at camp and forgot all about Lennox.”
“Well, that’s no fun.” Hudson’s disappointment was unmistakable.
“It was better that way. Lennox never stuck with one girl for very long. He just fucked her and then moved on to the next one. Trust me, he would’ve broken my heart. At least this way I still had him in my life.”
“I guess.”