Page 3 of Beyond the Cut
“Jimmy! Get away from them.” Heedless of the danger, she pushed past Cade and stepped into the street. Jimmy’s presence here was nothing short of brazen, and tantamount to suicide. But then he’d always been an adrenaline junkie, a quality she’d admired until she discovered he got his kicks by listening to her scream.
Jimmy scowled when he spotted her, and she felt the familiar surge of adrenaline that accompanied the fear of knowing she’d displeased him. Once that scowl would have sent her running in the other direction. But she wasn’t going to let him near her children ever again.
And besides, for the first time ever, she had backup. Not that she expected Cade to intervene in what was essentially a marital dispute, but Jimmy was a member of the Devil’s Brethren, and he was on Sinner’s Tribe territory. There was no way Cade would let that pass.
“What the fuck?” Clearly audible over the dwindling traffic, Cade’s angry shout chilled Dawn’s blood. She held her breath in anticipation of the moment Jimmy heeded the outraged biker only a few steps behind her and ran for cover.
Unfortunately, Jimmy didn’t oblige. Instead he crooked his finger and motioned her forward, sending a shiver down her spine with a simple gesture that carried with it the memory of years of pain.
Dark where Cade was fair, slender where Cade was broad, Jimmy had a lean, wolfish face with razor-sharp cheekbones and a cruel slash of a mouth framed in a prickly goatee. When she first met him she’d thought him darkly handsome, but now, knowing just how vicious and brutal he could be, his cruel features were the stuff of nightmares, not dreams.
“That’s your Jimmy?” Cade’s voice dropped to a low, threatening growl. “Mad Dog, VP of the Devil’s Brethren MC? What the hell is he doing in Conundrum?”
“Yep. That’s Jimmy.” Dawn’s pulse kicked up a notch as she took full advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself in the form of a Brethren’s mortal enemy, with absolutely no qualms about what she was about to unleash. If Cade were even half as passionate about the club as he was about sex, Jimmy would soon sport as many bruises as she had on the many occasions he’d raised his fists to her. “He’s never dared come into Conundrum before. Looks like he’s decided to stick to the Sinners.”
“Jesus. Fucking. Christ.”
Dawn’s mouth watered in anticipation.Oh yeah. Jimmy was about to pay for his crimes. His presence was a challenge to Sinner dominance in Conundrum, and no one challenged the Sinners without paying a price.
“You were an old lady in the Devil’s Brethren?”
“Biggest mistake of my life.” She hadn’t realized just how big until she’d become pregnant with the twins at the age of nineteen. Only then did the blinders come off. Although the Brethren were hard, ruthless, violent men, they had bylaws and a constitution, rules and a creed. Jimmy followed the rules only to the extent he was forced to do so, and he lacked the fierce protectiveness most bikers had toward their property: bikes, weapons, clubhouse, women, and children—born or unborn.
Jimmy’s dark eyes finally flicked from Dawn to Cade and back to Dawn. She trembled under his silent censure, wondering if he’d seen Cade’s hand on her cheek and just how bad her punishment would be if he had. Jimmy’s justice was swift and brutal, and she’d quickly learned that the price for breaking his rules was not worth even the smallest amount of defiance.
Cade took a small step forward, interposing his body between her and Jimmy. He seemed unaware of his subtly protective gesture, but Jimmy had seen it, and from the ferocity of his scowl he wasn’t pleased. Of course, his displeasure was only the tip of the iceberg. She’d been caught breaking the deal. Now she would have to pay.
***
Cade didn’t think of himself as a violent man. However, the string of blood patches lining the bottom of his cut said otherwise: One patch for every life taken. A skull and crossbones for his tenth kill. And a Master of Mayhem patch telling the world he’d made violations for his club.
Violations he’d willingly make again.
The Sinners had given him the brotherhood and camaraderie he missed after leaving the army, and a way of life that made him look forward to every day when, for the longest time, he thought of nothing but ending it all.
And right now, his club’s dominance was being threatened by a member of the Devil’s Brethren who dared step foot in Sinner’s Tribe territory; a biker who had stared at Dawn as if he owned her and Cade was the one in the wrong.
He wants to stick it to the Sinners.
Well, fuck that. No damn member of the Brethren would intrude on his territory, whether it was his town, nestled at the foot of Montana’s Bridger Mountains, or a beautiful green-eyed blonde with a dry wit, a sharp tongue, and the sexiest body he’d ever had the pleasure to fuck.
Time had not diminished his desire in the least. When he’d seen Dawn standing under the tree, dark blond waves blowing gently around her heartbreakingly, beautiful face, lush curves filling out a slender frame, he almost crashed his bike. No one had ever affected him the way Dawn did, and over the last year he’d made the effort to find out.
“He’s their father.” A statement. Not a question. Although he had questions for Dawn. Like, what the fuck was she doing with such a loser? When did they split? And was it before she and Cade got together? Not that he had any issues with martial infidelity—he’d fucked plenty of married women, most of them better lays than the inexperienced hang-arounds at the club who were desperate to get into his bed—but he hadn’t pegged Dawn as an old lady. And Arianne would have told him if she was still involved with the Brethren.
“Yeah, but we’re not together anymore.”
“I can’t stand by and let one of the Brethren ride around my town like he’s got the fucking right to be here. It’s like a slap in the face.”
Too bad Mad Dog was already rolling his throttle, preparing to flee. Except for the monthly fight matches at the clubhouse, Cade rarely got a chance to fight—properly fight—and he’d always been a brawler, taking out the stress of living in an abusive household on anyone who rubbed him the wrong way. Even after he’d joined the army he’d been disciplined countless times for scrapping.
“You have to do what you have to do.” Dawn seemed surprisingly unconcerned that Cade was about to hunt down the father of her children. Her ex. Whatever had happened between them must have been bad.
Real bad.
Mad Dog accelerated into the traffic and Cade threw himself on his bike.
“I’m gonna take care of him.” And not just for the club. He was more than happy to serve up a little justice. Sinner style.
