Without him, the Road Kingz were like a snake with its head cut off—useless.
To give Hennessy credit, he had begun restoring the club’s reputation with fights that had made the news. Jackal had actually been surprised when he had checked out the Road Kingz that Hennessy wasn’t still in prison.
“Like I said, Ice is willing to make it worthwhile to the club. The Predators would even be willing to get Rita to clean the clubhouse.” Getting rid of Rita would be a bonus for both Ice and him. He had made the mistake of using her to take his anger out on Penni. Now the bitch thought she was his lady, despite his angry protests.
Jackal could see the Road Kingz were tempted by the offer. Colt, Arkansas was a rural county. It couldn’t be easy to find women to become club whores.
“You’re sure there won’t be any blow back?”
Jackal nodded. “Ice said he would give his word.”
“Fine. You can have her back next Sunday.”
Jackal felt his victory slipping out of his grasp. “That’s not going to work for Ice.”
“That’s the deal, the only one you’re going to get,” Hennessey stated. “Count yourself lucky. That bitch is a pain in the ass.”
Jackal took a step forward, his eyes narrowing malevolently at the men surrounded him. “Then we’re going to have a problem.”
“The only one with a problem is the Predators. Get his ass out of here,” Hennessy ordered the soldier he had punched.
The soldier didn’t hesitate. Reaching out, he took Jackal’s shoulder, shoving him in the back. Jackal spun, breaking the restraining hold before the others could interfere. Placing his arm around his neck, Jackal put him in a choke-hold, holding his head to the side.
“I’ll snap his fucking neck if they don’t back off.”
Hennessy didn’t move. “Hell, you’ll be doing me a favor.”
He might not care, but his men did. Jackal saw the discord brewing among the others in the club.
“I told you I was doing you a solid.” Jackal made sure Hennessy knew the repercussions if he didn’t listen to reason. “Brother, you’ve stepped into a pile of dog shit, and I’m trying to help you scrape it off before you get buried in it.”
“Let Apoc go. I’m not talking until you do.”
“I thought you didn’t care.”
“I don’t, but Cruz is getting ready to put a bullet in that big head of yours. If you want me to listen, I suggest you let him go.”
Jackal tossed Apoc toward the Road Kingz, and two men moved toward him, but Hennessy motioned them back.
“You remember King?”
This time, Jackal got the reaction he wanted. Fear entered Hennessy’s eyes.
“What about him?”
“Penni is under King’s protection.” She would be if Ice called him.
“Then why didn’t he call me?” Hennessy was no fool.
“I knew, if I called King to ask you to release Penni, you would be a dead man.”
Hennessy stared at him doubtfully. King didn’t bother himself in other people’s business unless there was a profit to be made. Jackal would have to give him the partial truth while protecting King’s secret.
“King is friends with Penni’s brother.”
“Does this bitch know everybody?” Finally, Hennessy’s frustration was beginning to show. Penni did have that effect on men, which was why Jackal had taken his time to try to charm Penni into his bed.
Jackal had used his contacts to find out any information on her. With the exception of her parents, she only had one brother. Her parents were an open book, working nine-to-five jobs, while her brother was a different story.
Shade was shrouded in mystery with little or no information available. Fortunately for King, who had wanted to know everything about his son-in-law, Jackal knew how to pay for the information he needed. Shade had entered the Navy at eighteen and stayed there until he had finished his tour. That was his official record. His unofficial record was buried and attainable only to those who had the clearance to see the carnage he was capable off.
Shade was an assassin who took out his targets without leaving a trace. He demanded a high fee for his expertise, but Jackal didn’t think many of the recent deaths were contracted. Those had been done for free, enemies of The Last Riders.
The part that had made the hair on the back of his neck stand up was his psychological report, performed when he had applied to the Navy SEALs. Jackal considered himself fucked up, but Shade was seriously fucked. At least he knew he had issues. Shade, on the other hand, didn’t care. Shade was an unemotional bastard with only one weakness—Lily.
The first time he had met Shade, Jackal had looked into his eyes and seen death. The man was a natural born killer. Even knowing what he had found out hadn’t prepared him for the soulless eyes staring back at him, though. They had stared at each other, recognizing each other’s capacity to deal death without remorse. Kind recognized kind. One predator recognized another.
The difference between the two men was that Jackal was willing to bet most of Shade’s kills had been sanctioned, while his own had been a matter of survival.
The corner of Jackal’s mouth curled into the only semblance of a smile his scarred flesh allowed. “She tell you about her brother?”
“Jesus, now I’m supposed to be afraid of her brother?” Hennessy kicked out at a chair, forcing the laughing, gathered men to step back. “Shut up! You pussies are afraid of King, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to be afraid of someone before—”
“You ever hear about The Last Riders?”
“No.” Hennessey picked up the chair. Sitting down, he leaned forward, placing his hand on his thigh. “I don’t give a fuck who her brother is. I don’t care who The Last Riders are. Tell King I’ll give my word to give her back, but she has a job to do for me first.”
Jackal stiffened. “Doing your men?”
“My men haven’t touched her.”
“Then why keep her prisoner?”
“I need to ride with her to the Spring Rally.”
Hennessy wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t jeopardize his men’s lives unless he had no choice.
“Talk.”
Jackal could see Hennessy was weighing his options.
“Core?”
A man walked from behind his back when Hennessy called his name. “I’ve heard of The Last Riders. The Road Kingz won’t win against them.”
“I’d take your enforcer’s advice. I wouldn’t have warned you had it been anyone else. When you saved my life and took me to Gert to patch me up, I told you then I pay my debts. But, brother, you’re making it hard for me.
“I found out about The Last Riders because of King. Before then, I thought he was the meanest son of a bitch I had ever met. He wasn’t. The Last Riders are filled with them. They’ll kill for each other, and what makes them even more dangerous is they’ll fucking die for each other.
“Shade is their enforcer. He is the one you will not escape from. He is the reason the Road Kingz or even the Predators can’t defeat them. I thought of taking on Shade, and King laughed at me. Fucking laughed at me!”
“And King would drag The Last Riders into a war with us?”
Jackal shook his head. “King wouldn’t, but Shade would. Shade is Penni’s brother.”
6
Penni walked back and forth across the small room. When she heard the door open, it took everything she had not to attack.
She stumbled over her own feet when she recognized Jackal.
When he closed the door behind him, fury and fear had her throwing her body against his.
“You bastard!” She tore a chunk of his hair out as she used his hair to slam his head against the wall.
“Are you fucking nuts!” Jackal twisted her hands behind her back.
Undeterred, Penni kicked then bit him on the shoulder. Struggling against him, she found herself thrown backward onto the bed. Then she found herself pinned underneath Jackal’s weight as she tried to ri
se from the bed.
“I hate you! When I get away, I’m going to kill you!” Penni glared up into his imperturbable expression.
“I’m here to try to save your ass.” He turned his face to the side when she attempted to rake her nails down his cheek.
“I don’t believe in turning the other cheek.”
Penni found herself lifted up like a rag doll, tossed head first over Jackal’s lap. Then a series of harsh spanks pounded down on her unprotected bottom.
“You big ape!” Penni bit down on Jackal’s thigh as she tried to throw herself down to the floor.
“I wouldn’t put up with that spoiled bitch behavior from any other woman. Quit biting me, or I’ll pull your jeans down and carry you down to the front room and let them take turns turning that ass you’re so proud of red.”
Penni stopped biting. The thought of the bikers witnessing the aftereffects of the spanking was incentive enough, but she still struggled. And the more she struggled, the harder his hand struck her bottom.
“Did you think it was funny leaving me waiting? I was nearly stung to death. I had to jump over your wall into your neighbor’s yard, and they had fucking German Shepherds. You think this hurts? One of those sons of a bitches nearly bit off my balls.”
Penni raised her head as Jackal furiously ranted and spanked her again. What was he talking about …?
She pressed her hand to her mouth as he described having to jump into her neighbor’s pool then maneuvering through piles of dog shit as he ran from the dogs.
“I bet you laughed your ass off!”
“I forgot, Jackal! I swear!” Penni wiped away the tears that fell from her eyes. It took all her will not to laugh out loud at Jackal’s injured pride.
She looked up at him to see him frowning down at her. Jackal jerked her up to sit on his lap. Wincing, Penni shifted so the globes of her butt bore her weight. The bastard knew how to give a spanking, placing most of his smacks on the tender flesh between the top of her thighs and the bottom curve of her ass.
“I waited for you for over an hour.”
Penni bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry. I forgot. I swear, Jackal, I was going to tell you I couldn’t make it, but Grace called me, and I forgot.” She saw no need to confess that she had originally planned to leave him to face the bee’s alone.
Jackal wasn’t buying her bull and dropped her unceremoniously on the bed.
Penni watched as he straightened his T-shirt making the tan skin of his waist was visible. An irritating quiver of excitement held her still as Jackal regained his temper. Without realizing it, she had raised her hand, letting another thing go.
“What are you doing?” he asked her.
Penni lowered her hand back to her side. “Nothing.”
“Were you going to hit me again?”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s just a habit I have.”
Suspiciously, Jackal stared back at her.
Penni tried to divert his attention from the silly habit she’d had since she was a young girl. “Are you going to get me out of here?”
“Any sane woman would have asked me that question when I came inside the room!”
Penni flushed. He was right.
“I’ve been cooped up here for two days. When you walked in the door, I took my frustration out on you. Shade keeps warning me my temper will get me in trouble.”
“Don’t mention Shade to me. I blame him for turning you into a spoiled brat—”
“Don’t you dare bad mouth Shade!” She yelled as she rose to her knees in the middle of the bed. “It’s not his fault I’m here. It’s my own fault for running out of gas.”
Penni’s head reared back when Jackal grasped her shoulders, forcing her gaze to his.
“Any other woman would have called a tow truck. I told you when we went to Treepoint that you were writing checks with your attitude that couldn’t be cashed.”
“Like I would take any advice from you.” She jerked back from his hold. Rising, she moved to the opposite side of the bed. More than getting fed up with him manhandling her, Penni didn’t want to deal with her unwanted reactions to Jackal. It was a losing battle she had been dealing with since she had first seen him sitting on his motorcycle in front of a hotel years ago when she’d had the interview with Kaden Cross.
Penni had prayed for the job as tour manager for Mouth2Mouth. It gave her the perfect excuse to move from her overprotective parents and brother. It also gave her breathing room from the man she had fallen in love with when she was just thirteen years old.
“Then you better start. The Road Kingz aren’t like the Predators; they don’t give a damn that King ordered Henry and the Predators to watch out for you.”
“I don’t—”
“Shut up!”
The sound of Jackal’s boots striding across the floor had her backing up to the wall.
Jackal braced his hand on the wall near her head. “The only reason those men haven’t already gang raped you is because of Hennessy.”
Shocked speechless, Penni reached for her own throat.
“Instead of using your head and bargaining with them, what did you do? You fucking told them you could identify who took off with their shit!”
“How was I supposed to know?” Penni interrupted another long-winded rant then quickly changed her mind at the contemptuous sneer that reminded her of Shade when he was angry.
“That know-it-all brother of yours should have warned you!”
She trembled as Jackal ran his hand down the curve of her cheek, coming to a rest on the curve of her breast.
He lowered his head, placing it next to hers. “I swore I would let you get out of this mess yourself.”
“Why didn’t you?” she whispered.
“Grace has enough to worry about.”
“Her mother is worse?”
“Yes.”
Penni held back the tears at his stark answer.
“I’ve really screwed up.”
“Yes.”
Penni felt the tip of his tongue explore the corner of her lips.
“Are you trying to pay me back for tricking you into showing up at my house?”
“Maybe …” Jackal murmured.
Penni clutched his shoulders, fighting the urge to respond to the enticement of him nibbling on her bottom lip. She firmed her mouth. She had made a promise to herself years ago that the only man who would share her bed, despite her yo-yo dating, was her childhood crush, whom she told herself she would get over when she met the right man.
Penni had lost count of how many times she had made a fool of herself to keep him off her mind. She forced herself to concentrate now.
“Did you work out a deal with Hennessy to let me go home?”
“Kind of. First, we have to go to the Spring Rally—”
Penni brought her knee up in a sharp movement. She tried to squeeze between him and the wall, but Jackal closed the space between them.
“We don’t have a choice.”
“I’m the only one here who doesn’t have a choice. I want to go home. If you’re not here to help me, then why are you here? Did Hennessy call you to get me to cooperate?”
“No. If you want to go home, then you’re going have to do what Hennessy wants. This isn’t a conspiracy between the Road Kingz and the Predators. Ice wants to help get you back for Grace. Grace could have found another job months ago. The only reason she hasn’t is because of her relationship with you. It might not mean much to you, but she loves you, and the last thing she needs right now is to be worried about you, too.”
Penni was filled with turmoil. Seeing Jackal watching her, she kept her hands from reaching upward toward the universe. Penni could imagine the man judging her. Shade was aware of her strange habit, and he would roll his eyes when he saw her praying to the universe.
“So, the only reason you’re here is to help me?”
“Yes. I’m the best chance you have to get out of here alive. If you don’t help the Road Kingz f
ind Striker, Hennessy said none of us are going to live. The cartel the Road Kingz bought the drugs from want their money.”
“Shade will save me—”
“You believe that Shade can walk on water, but he’s still in Kentucky, and he doesn’t know you’re missing.”
“But—”
“Can you listen to me just this once? Did I let anything happen to you when I took you to Treepoint?”
“You mean when you kidnapped me?”
“I didn’t kidnap you. The Last Riders, King, and the Predators all explained we needed to keep Lily safe.”
Penni nodded her head. That was what they had all explained to her, but they had all lied to her, too. She had been kidnapped and used as a pawn. The only one who had told her the truth had been Lily. No one would ever be able to break the bond that existed between them.
Lily knew how important the truth was to her. Not many other people could understand, but Lily was one, and Grace was another.
“I’ll trust you, Jackal, but you better not be lying to me.” Penni held out her hand. “Let me have your cell phone. I’ll call Grace and Shade—”
“Hennessy doesn’t want you making any calls.”
“What about Grace? I don’t want her worried.”
“Ice will take care of Grace.”
Her hand dropped. He was lying to her. She could spot one a mile away.
“Let’s get some sleep. We leave at first light.”
Penni felt the shot of adrenaline she had experienced when Jackal had entered the room wear off. Sitting on the side of the bed, she stood back up when she saw Jackal lie down, making himself comfortable.
“You’re not sleeping here!” Penni insisted, reaching down to shove his shoulder and make him move.
“There isn’t an empty bed in the clubhouse, and I’m not fucking sleeping on the floor.”
“I don’t care where you sleep as long as it’s not with me.”
Jackal stretched out his arms, tugging her down to the bed. A long leg wrapped over her, holding her in place. Penni began to struggle against him but stopped when a seductive whisper had her freezing.