Chapter One
“They’re monsters, Elena. Never go back to them. They will hurt you and use you. They’re bad people.”
Elena stared down at her cell phone ashecalled again. It had been two weeks since she had made a mistake, having a drink with her brother’s club’s enemy. Damn, she wasn’t involved with the Saints and Sinners MC, and yet she was being controlled by who was the enemy, and who wasn’t. She hated it.
Canceling Pipe’s call, she pocketed her cell phone, and smiled at her friend Sarah, who came back into the main shop carrying a large box.
“Are you okay?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah.”
“Who was texting?”
“Stop being nosy.” Elena smiled to show she was teasing. “Just some guy who won’t leave me alone.”
Sarah groaned. “I hate men.”
“What? Isn’t Ralf included in that?”
Ralf used to be a patched in member of the MC, but he’d pulled out, handing in his cut, and taking the position of deputy in Sinners’ Corner.
“Yeah, he is.”
The pain in Sarah’s voice had Elena moving toward her friend. “What is it? What’s going on?”
Sarah put the box down, and shook her hands in front of her face. “It’s nothing.” Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
“What is it?” Elena asked.
“Ralf and I, we’re on a break.” Sarah covered her face and just started to cry.
“Wait? What? Why? Shit, I know none of my questions are helping you right now.” She placed her hands on Sarah’s shoulders, trying to give her comfort, when none seemed to be had.
“Life as a deputy, it’s just not working for him, and I told him he didn’t need to be a deputy. Everything is messed up, and we started arguing, and he said I cost him his cut, and there was something else as well. We did a lot of shouting. He’s unhappy, and we’re just separated.” Sarah wiped away the tears. “He quit being a deputy three days ago, and he moved out of our small apartment. He’s probably already screwing some club whore, forgetting all about me. Look at me? Why would he even want to be with me? Compared to those women, I’m ugly and frigid.”
“Don’t ever say that,” Elena said, getting angry. She was so going to kick Ralf’s ass. How dare he be so cruel to her friend?
She had lost Saint growing up because her mother took her away from the club. Elena cut off the pain of leaving behind her family. The Saints and Sinners MC was no longer her family. Saint made sure she was kept out of club business.
Pipe entered her mind, and she gritted her teeth. There’s no way she should even be talking to him. Pipe was the president of the Hell’s Wolves MC, and a rival club to her brother’s. She hadn’t spoken to him since spending the night with him, not having sex, just having fun. He had relaxed with her, having a drink, playing pool, and even dancing. For a couple of hours, she was able to forget that she was Saint’s sister.
“I’m sorry.” Sarah wiped away the tears. “I should have known it was never going to last. We were two different people.”
Ralf had chased after Sarah, not the other way around. “Don’t think this is your fault. He’s an ass, and you shouldn’t ever make excuses for him.”
Sarah took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m fine. Everything is fine, and we’re all good.”
Her friend stood, placed a hand on her stomach, and took another deep breath.
Elena saw she was putting on a front. “Do you want to come by my place? Ice cream? I’ll even find a picture of Ralf, and place him on a dart board. We can throw darts at his ugly face?”
Sarah burst out laughing. “Nah, I’m good. I don’t need that. Can I take a rain check on the ice cream?”
“Sure.”
Elena moved toward the stock orders while Sarah started putting some of the products on the shelves. Dirty Deeds was a sex shop, and a damn good one that not only supplied to the locals, but also distributed online as well. Elena wasn’t an idiot, and knew it was only one of many business ventures the club had. She was paid good money, and it meant she stayed in town, without even looking elsewhere to move. Had her brother done it on purpose? There was a time when she used to idolize her brother. Now, she couldn’t even think of a reason to like him. There was a distance between them that had been created by more than years of separation. Her mother’s warning and cruelty had made it hard for her to reach out to her brother.
It seemed ironic to her. Her mother took her away from the danger of the club, and the real danger had been with her.