Sinner's Steel

“Why would he care about Axle’s kid?” Dax voiced the question that was on the tip of Zane’s tongue.

Her eyes widened and she quickly looked down, worrying a thread on the rough wool blanket covering the bed. “Viper has no boundaries. I wouldn’t put it past him to grab my kid just to make sure I don’t talk to you.”

Zane ran a hand through his hair. Something else was going on here, more than just an old lady who’d been unwillingly taken to pay her old man’s debt, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “We’ll take it to the executive board, but you have to give us something as a show of good faith. You do that and Dax will write down your mom’s address before we leave and we’ll check it out to make sure it’s not a trap.”

“He’ll be in the torture chamber,” she said quietly. “Under the clubhouse.”

Zane’s head jerked up. “So there is a torture chamber?”

“That’s where he puts all his prisoners. Looks like a medieval dungeon and the stuff that he’s got in there…” Doreen shivered, giving authenticity to her words even before her lips curled in disgust. “He likes to hear them scream. He likes their pain. Sometimes he keeps them in there for days or weeks. I heard he has another dungeon at his house, but I’ve never heard of anyone being taken there.”

“Sadist.” Dax said. “Like that’s a surprise.”

Doreen’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Never wanted to leave the Jacks as much as the first time I was sent down there to clean up. Axle was no saint but he wasn’t twisted like Viper. Torture turns Viper on. Even the hardest old ladies didn’t want to go to his bed after he’d been down there.”

Zane’s jaw clenched. “How do we get in?”

“The main door to the dungeon is outside the clubhouse. The yard is fenced off with electric wire and there are guards on the gate, as well as guards patrolling the grounds. And dogs.” She drew in a ragged breath. “Viper has the only key and he keeps it in his office.”

“Don’t need a key when we have explosives,” Zane said.

“Someone will need to get close enough to plant them. That’s not go

“That’ll be me,” Zane said.

T-Rex had sacrificed himself for Evie. Zane owed him a debt. And if he had to repay it with his life, he would die a happy man. He had held Evie in his arms one last time. He had a son to carry on his name.

What more could a man want?

FIFTEEN

Don’t get distracted while doing your repair. You have one goal, and one goal only. Make it run and make it run good.

—SINNER’S TRIBE MOTORCYCLE REPAIR MANUAL

Perfect woman for Jagger, Evie thought as she shook Aria

Evie tried not to stare, but it was hard to look away from the contrast of Aria

“So you’re Zane’s new girlfriend.” Aria

“I have to say I never thought I’d see him with a woman,” Aria

“I’m surprised he’s still alive.”

Aria

“We’re not really together,” Evie said quickly. “We were friends growing up, and then we lost touch.” So they’d had sex. It hardly counted for a relationship, although she knew a lot more about Zane than she did about most of the men she had dated. But that was Zane before. Not Zane now.

“Friends who have a son together.” Aria

“Yeah. I don’t know how that’s going to work out. I mean, with the whole biker thing…”

“Lots of the club members have kids,” Aria

“Don’t scare her off.” Sparky, the Si

“That kind of information is only shared among old ladies.” Aria

Evie’s cheeks heated and she drew in a deep breath, inhaling the familiar scents of grease and paint. “I didn’t—”

“And I’m outta here.” Sparky tossed the rag on a tool bench affixed to the wall. “Gotta get back to man stuff: fixing engines, tuning bikes, using tools—”

“What I was just doing,” Aria

Sparky flipped her the bird. “Ty. Bud. C’mon over here and I’ll show you my manly socket wrenches.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything,” Aria

Evie’s mouth opened and closed again. She was at a complete loss for words. Had everything between Her and Viper been an act? Every word? Every conversation? His gentle kisses and soft words? As with Derek and Mark, had she failed to see the monster behind the man? Was she making the same mistake with Zane? How could she ever trust herself?

“I’m sorry.” Aria

Was that it? Or had she been wearing blinders all her life, shutting out what she didn’t want to see in her dogged pursuit of a dream that never was going to come true? “Maybe she stayed because of you,” Evie said. “I stayed in a bad marriage for Ty. That’s why I’m done with relationships.”

Aria