I open my mouth, but Beast pinches my hip. “Hicks had a gun to her head. I stabbed him in the neck, but she caught most of the mess.” I shut my mouth and keep my face impassive as best I can. He’s choosing to protect me, and I’m sure he has his reasons.
“Dead?” Reaper asks.
“Finished him off myself,” Beast replies. “We’re getting her outta here. She’s in shock and the sooner we get her cleaned up, the better.”
“Jesus. Yeah, okay.” Reaper agrees. “Someone got an extra shirt?” He asks the men behind him. A man I don’t recognize takes off a long sleeve t-shirt, tossing it to Reaper. He hands it to me. “We need to burn everything you’re wearing.”
Beast growls, but the look on Reaper’s face is frosty. “It’s fine,” I whisper, rubbing a hand over his bicep. “Just help me get a little privacy.” He sighs, using his body to shield me from view. From the set of his jaw and the way the other Sinners look away, I’d hazard a guess that he’s not being stingy with the glares.
Rattler helps me quickly pull my jacket off and lift my shirt over my head. He pulls the loaner down over my body. Luckily, it comes to my knees. I kick off my shoes and socks, stripping my pants and adding them to the pile. Beast picks up the bundle. “I’ll handle it.” He tosses the truck keys to Reaper and steers me away.
EPILOGUE
ELLE
Rattler answers the door and immediately, I hear shouting and stomping feet. My heart sinks when I recognize my brother’s timbre. I pull my bathrobe tighter across my chest and run downstairs. “What the fuck, Clint! You can’t just barge into someone else’s home!” I yell, storming into the living room. Rattler looks like he’s about to lose it.
“You can’t do this, Cherry! Dad would roll over in his grave if he knew you were letting two ofthem…” He can’t even finish it.
“Fuck me?” I ask sweetly. “Seriously, I don’t give a single flying fuck what dad would have thought, and you’re not going to stop me.”
I turn, dropping one shoulder of the bathrobe to give my brother a good hard look at Rattler’s skill as a tattoo artist. I waited a month before agreeing to get my Sinner’s property tattoo, but deep down, I knew from that first night. This was it for me. Rattler and Beast have been better than their word. No woman has ever been as loved as I am. It’s not the life I planned, that’s for goddamn sure, but it’s the life I want and the men I want. I’m not about to let anyone stand in my way.
Clint’s face turns dark red, and for a second I’m afraid his head really will explode. But it doesn’t. Instead, he charges at Beast and Rattler, clearly out of his mind if he thinks he can handle either of them, let alone both.
He only makes it a couple of steps before I intercept him, my knife at his throat. He stares at me like he’s never seen me before. And maybe he hasn’t. I spent my entire life trying to distance myself from people like us, and now I wear my stiletto strapped to my thigh 24/7.
“Try me,” I murmur. “I’ve put up with a lot of shit over the years. First from dad, then you, but I’m done taking it.Theysaved my life.Theylooked out for me when I needed it.Theylove me. And I love them.” Clint’s eyes tighten at that, but I really don’t care. “You have two choices here, Clint. You can let me be with the men I want, or we’re dead to each other.” I shrug. “Up to you.”
Clint hesitates, his expression colder than an iceberg, but after a moment, he takes a step back and grudgingly nods. “I’m… glad you’re happy.” The words cost him, I can tell, and I’m all the more grateful for them because of it.
“Thank you, Clint,” I say. He nods once, a jerky bob of his head, and then he’s gone.
Rattler locks the door behind him and strides toward me. “What are you doing?” I laugh, backing away. The look in his eye is steely, predatory. It makes me so fucking wet. I take another step backward, bumping into a wall of solid muscle.
“Do you have any idea how fucking sexy it is to watch our Old Lady pull a knife on Mayhem?” Beast growls, slipping a hand under my bathrobe.
“No, I don’t think I do…”
Rattler goes straight for the tie around my waist, tugging it free. “How ‘bout we show you…”
* * *