Page 48 of Riding Dirty

I wince, but Dare doesn’t even hesitate. “I offered,” he says. “Claiming a woman is not my thing. I don’t date, don’t plan on it, don’t have any kids either. So this works for me.”

“I guess I should give you a speech about treating her right or whatever, but I don’t think I need to.”

“You don’t?” I ask.

Piston snorts. “Chass? No. Honest to fuck, I should tell her to treat you right. She’s not happy about this shit at all. I would probably just lock her up. Don’t sleep next to her at night or anything. No telling what she’d do.”

I know that Piston is trying to make light of the situation, but he’s kind of scaring me. Chassis is a club princess, and she’ll be the queen of our chapter once she and Dare seal the deal, so the last thing we need is for her to fuck up our operation in an effort to get back at her dad.

“She really in love with that guy?” I ask.

Piston shrugs a shoulder. “I think she’s in love with the idea of him. She didn’t put up too much of a fight when Dad brought her here and locked her ass up in the back room.”

I know what that back room is for. Everyone does. That is the holding room, and there is no way I’d put someone I cared about back there, not with the horrors that the room itself has seen over the years.

Dare clears his throat and crosses his arms over his chest. I watch as he dips his chin once, but doesn’t shift focus from the dark hallway that Cake disappeared down.

“Chassis is a free woman. I won’t force her to stay. Won’t lock her up, either. But I’ll protect her.”

Piston stares at Dare for a long moment, then nods once before he shifts his attention to the dark hallway as well. Seconds later, Cake appears. He doesn’t stop walking until he is directly in front of the three of us, and I didn’t see her before, but Chassis steps out from behind him.

I haven’t seen her in years, probably since she was about fourteen years old. Eleven years have been good to her, and if I weren’t half in love with Elodie, I would reconsider Cake’s offer. She’s tall, probably around five-eight, but she’s got curves in all the right places. I feel like a pervert for even looking at her like that, but damn, she is built.

Her long, light-brown hair is straight and brushes her elbows. Full lips, big blue eyes that I know every man imagines looking into theirs when he’s balls deep inside her. And I know it makes me sound like a fucking asshole, but facts are fucking facts. Chassis Adams is sexy as fuck.

But Chassis Adams doesn’t give a fuck about any man in this room. When she lifts her head, her eyes lock in on Dare’s. The moment they look at one another, the second they connect, it feels as if I’m watching an intimate moment take place.

Taking a step backward, I move away from them to give them privacy, even though they’re in the middle of a public space. Clearly, they do not need anyone gawking at them. Cake and Piston must feel the same way because they follow me.

“Is everything all good?” I ask, shifting my attention from the couple to Cake.

He grunts, not answering me immediately, also not looking away from them for a long moment. Then his spine straightens as if he’s brought out of his thoughts, whatever they are. He turns his head, his eyes finding mine before he jerks his chin in my direction.

“It’s good. She agreed and has her shit ready to go back with you.”

“Social media and baby daddy?” I ask.

Piston curses beside me, likely because he knows just how fucking dangerous that shit was that his sister did. Cake clears his throat before he inhales deeply through his nose, then lets the breath out through his mouth, a cleansing breath, probably an attempt to keep from getting irritated as fuck at Chassis again.

“Social media is no longer a problem. No phone, no fucking issues. Plus, I watched her deactivate all her accounts. I’m keeping her phone in case that fuck tries to get in touch with her again. For all intents and purposes, Dare is the baby daddy, and nobody here is going to say a goddamn thing to anyone, especially not a Perov about where Chassis has moved.”

And that is that.

Our club world has just been officially rocked and altered all at once. It should probably be an issue, but it’s not. For some reason, it feels right. Like maybe the original chapter and us, we were always meant to be bonded in another way, not just because we’re the Iron Flame MC, but because of something else.

Something bigger.

And maybe this was the reason.

I don’t know why or how, but it just feels right. Now I need to get back to Boulder City and make something else right. Because no doubt, Elodie is pissed that not only did I ditch her at Fat Boys, but I’ve also been gone for coming on two fucking days. I know she’s got to be mad, because I would be fucking furious.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-NINE

WRATH

Chassis sits in the back seat of the pickup truck, her shit packed and loaded into the bed, while I drive. Dare sits shotgun, which I don’t quite understand, but I also don’t ask him. Maybe he’s giving her her space. Her entire life is about to change. Then again, so is Dare’s.