“Let who know?” I asked, but Raider stood, avoiding my question. “Hey,” I called after him. “Him who?”
“See you later, Willa.” He called over his shoulder. “Stay out of trouble and away from my men.”
I glared after him. “Asshole.”
“Heard that.” He chuckled, but I just shot the finger at his back.
Spider
I hated runs like this.
We weren’t moving anything. Weren’t selling anything. Just sitting around, fact finding. Working on an internal issue within another MC. We were here until it was deemed officially over, and who knew how long that shit could take.
The Red Dragons had a rat and it was our job to sniff him out and then take care of the problem. I had done this only once before, and of course Bash had been with me at the time. It had lasted three weeks and we’d ended up offing three of that MC’s crew. Hawk had been with us then, though. Not Raider.
I wasn’t a fan of Raider.
It wasn’t that I didn’t respect him. I did. I respected everyone in my club; they were my family, especially the Hannigan siblings. Raider… He just didn’t have the balls for something like this, in my opinion. Seriously, you needed to be ruthless when it came to this kind of thing and in the Hannigan family I would put Raider at the bottom when it came to ruthless. Jet was at the top of the list followed by Hawk, Colt and then Raider. And if you really wanted my opinion I would toss Raven in there between Jet and Hawk. Even at sixteen that female was merciless when it came to certain things, and yeah that was smoking hot to me.
That Raider had told me I couldn’t even look at Willa Blackstone yet he was always sniffing around The Red Dragons’ president’s daughter? Yeah, that in no way made me less of a fan. Nope.
Fuck, who was I kidding? I had loved that shithead like a brother until he’d pulled rank, ordered me to stay away from Willa—because Duke Blackstone had said so—and then started sticking to her like glue. He was lucky I didn’t want to face Bash’s beating or I’d have already stomped the fucktard.
It had been five days since Willa had arrived and I had bent over backward to keep my distance from her. But my resolve was fading fast and I was going to give in. Especially when she looked at me through those deliciously long eyelashes with those stormy gray eyes. She had tried to get my attention countless times, and when I had point-blank ignored her she had gotten hurt.
I didn’t like the look on her face when she was hurting.
That look that had been on her face this morning when I had just walked by after she had spoken to me. I’d been gutted ever since and my mood was dark by the time we pulled our bikes into The Red Dragons’ compound parking lot. We were no closer to finding the rat than we had been when we had first arrived. No one knew why we were here except for Duke, and while some of the MC here knew Bash, they also knew what his job inside of Angel’s Halo was. Enforcers only showed up when shit was about to hit the fan and so everyone had clammed up. Bash was the most feared enforcer on the West Coast; no one wanted to have to face him for punishment.
They needn’t have worried though. Bash and I weren’t here to kick ass—unless it was to beat information out of someone. We were here to take care of the situation. End it once and for all. That didn’t require leaving the rat broken and bloody. Just dead. Fists weren’t going to be involved.
Beside me Bash got off his own hog. Raider was already halfway to the front door of the compound. I should have been too. The Nevada heat was scorching and I was anxious to get inside to the AC. But even as I started to get off my hog something from the corner of my eye caught my attention and held on.
Turning my head, I saw Willa running down the side street. Dressed in a pink tank top and white running shorts that barely covered that perfectly round ass of hers, she would have made a dead man sit up and pay attention. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and swayed with each step she took. Her shirt was covered in sweat and I wondered how long she had been out here at it. In this heat? She was going to get heatstroke if she wasn’t careful.
Raider disappeared into the compound, but Bash, noticing my hesitation, followed my gaze. Shaking his dark head he turned to look at me. “She could get you killed, man.” It wasn’t a warning, just a statement. We both knew the rules. President of an MC said hands off, that meant hands off. Or face the consequences. Bash was struggling with that rule just as much as I was right now.
A week before we had come on this run Raven had told Bash she wanted to be his. The only thing that had stopped Bash hadn’t been the hands off rule, but Raven’s age. No way did Bash do jailbait. Even if it was killing him. He was fucking everything in sight to get that female out of his system and nothing was working. Not even a full day of depraved, sick sex with Tasha Blackstone.
When I didn’t say anything my friend just sighed. “I’ve got your back, brother,” he assured me before walking into the compound without a backward glance.
I waited until the door was shut behind Bash before taking off down the side street I had seen Willa heading. The heat was beating down on me and my shirt was glued to me under my cut. If I was this hot and uncomfortable how must she be feeling?
At the end of the street I found Willa stopped, bent over and sucking in deep breaths. She had her earbuds in so when I tapped her on the shoulder she nearly jumped out of her skin. Her gray eyes were wary as she gazed up. “Hey.”
“It’s a hundred and ten out here, Willa. Don’t you think you should wait until the sun goes down?” Her face was flushed, sweat rolling off of her. I wanted to lick it all away. “You could get heatstroke or something out here. And what about sunscreen? You’re burning.” I clasped her hand in mine gently so I could inspect her red arms better. She was burning and that just pissed me off. Her skin was perfect, porcelain.
She pulled her arm free. “It was either go for a run or murder my own sister. I’d rather face the heat than a jail cell.”
I grimaced at the mention of Tasha. It was no secret that Tasha did nothing but goad Willa. Taunting her every chance she got. It was childish and Willa showed who the more mature of the two sisters was by ignoring Tasha. For the most part. Tasha could try the patience of a saint and no mere mortal could hold on forever. Willa would snap before long, and no one would blame her. That was exactly what Tasha wanted, for Willa to throw the first punch.
And then all hell would break loose. Tasha was a nasty piece of work. She played dirty, fucked dirty, and fought dirty. I’d end up in a jail cell myself if Tasha hurt Willa.
“Come hang out in my room, then.” I found myself offering. “Tasha won’t bother you in there.”
Her eyes widened, her mouth gaping open. I’d surprised her big time. “Are you feeling well? This morning you wouldn’t even speak to me. Now you’re offering to spend time with me? Of your own free will or is my father making you do it?”
I snorted. “Baby, your dad would shoot me dead if he found out I wanted you in my room.”