“Easy, brother.” Jagger steadied him with a firm hand. “You need a good night’s sleep.”

“Haven’t had a good night’s sleep in nine fucking years,” he mumbled, half to himself. “I doubt I’m gonna start tonight.”

*   *   *

“We’ve got a big problem.” Connie sipped her coffee, leaving a bright pink lipstick stain on her chipped white mug. The small kitchen in Evie’s rental bungalow was barely big enough to hold a table and two chairs, but with with a wall of white lacquer cabinets, green accents and a black-and-white tiled floor, it was cozy and eclectic. And it was hers. Sort of.

Small droplets of water slid down Connie’s hair and splashed on the shiny green table. Two days of rain and no sign of a break in the clouds. Evie had sent Ty down the road to have a playdate with a friend to get him off the gaming console, although she suspected that was exactly what he would be doing when he got there.

“I guessed that from your unexpected visit in a downpour on our Sunday off.” Evie poured herself a second cup of coffee then lifted the aerosol container of whipped cream beside her and squirted it over the top. She had been awake all night trying to figure out how to introduce Zane and Ty without taking the risk Zane might not want to be involved. She didn’t want Ty to get hurt, and if Zane wasn’t interested in being a parent, it would be better to feel him out first before making the introductions so she could prepare Ty in advance, or even not tell him at all.

“That looks good in a bad sort of way.” Connie shook her head when Evie offered her the container. “But whipped cream on black coffee? Why don’t you just add cream and sugar like normal people? It’s not hot chocolate. It’s not dessert. It’s not a latte. Hell, it’s not even a man’s—”

“Don’t go there.” Evie added a last dollop of whipped cream and then licked it off the top.

“Do you let Ty see you do that? What kind of mother are you?” Connie stirred her coffee, her attempt at righteous indignation totally lost in her accompanying snort of laughter.

“The kind who’s addicted to whipped cream, and when no one is looking, sprays it into her son’s mouth to his utter delight.” She licked her lips and grinned. “Plus, this is more efficient. Why add cream and sugar when they come already mixed together? And this is real cream. No chemicals. I only buy the best. I’ve turned Bill to the dark side, too. There’s a can of whipped cream in his office fridge.”

Connie’s smile faded. “Bill is gone. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

“I guessed that when he didn’t show up at work all week.”

“No. I mean gone as in disappeared. I haven’t seen him since the night Axle came in one door and Bill slipped out the other. I went by his place, and when I looked in the window, I saw food spoiling on the counter. I think the Black Jacks got him.”

Evie’s hand tightened on her mug and her mouth went dry. “Maybe he just ran after seeing Axle at the shop. He might have figured Axle had a message for him that he didn’t want to hear.”

“You think they found out about the skim?” Connie dabbed at the water drop on the table. “I never understood why he would take the risk of stealing from the Jacks, especially after introducing you to Viper. Is the store doing that bad?”

“We’ve been in the black for the last year, although we’re not making a huge profit,” Evie said.

Bill had sold half his interest in the business to Evie after he got involved with the Jacks. His gun running took him out of the state for weeks at a time and he needed someone reliable to look after the shop and the employees. Evie had to do a lot of soul searching before she parted with her cash, but after her accountant gave the deal a thumbs up, the opportunity to double her earnings as a part-owner of the business and to secure a better future for Ty had been impossible to turn down.

“Maybe he just panicked,” she suggested.

“That’s what I’m feeling now.” Connie’s face paled. “What if they got him? What if the Jacks tortured him to find out where the guns are?” Her voice wavered. “What if your Black Jack boyfriend shows up for your date and tells you he just made a fresh kill? Or worse … what if Bill’s pulled a runner and they come after us looking for the guns?”

“Then we’ll tell them where the guns are.” She had no doubt the Black Jacks were involved in illegal activities, but Viper rarely mentioned his club around her, never brought her to the clubhouse, never talked business, and except for Axle, had never introduced her to his biker brothers. He had a wide variety of interests, however, and when they were together, they talked about everything from politics to entertainment and from sports to art.

She laughed, trying to put Connie at ease. “I’ll make sure Viper knows that torturing my friends is a deal breaker, and he’ll have to find another civilian to date. And if it makes you feel safer, you can stay here. I have my own personal Sinner’s Tribe biker guards so you can be sure the Jacks won’t be coming around.”

“I noticed them standing on the street on my way in.” Connie licked her lips and grinned. “Cute, but in a menacing kind of way.”

They left the kitchen to check out the bikers, now huddled together under a tree as the rain streamed around them. Evie recognized the blond from the night Axle had paid his first visit to Bill’s shop, but not his dark-haired partner.

“I texted Jagger,” she said. “Apparently Axle escaped from Zane so now Jagger has his boys watching my house and the shop in case Axle shows up again. I told him none of the Jacks know where I live, and Axle won’t be coming around again, but he insisted. They really want the poor guy bad. I’m afraid to think what they might do to him.”

“You know exactly what they’re going to do. Zane was trying to kill him.” Connie’s lips quivered at the corners and she shot Evie a sideways glance. “They’re looking kind of wet. And cold. The hot, dark one shivered when I walked by earlier. It would be terrible if they died of pneumonia right there on the street. And they look so young … early to mid-twenties … same as us. I don’t know if I could live with myself, knowing I was the cause of their deaths.”

Evie tipped her head back and groaned. “You’re as bad as Ty when he’s trying to guilt me into buying him something he doesn’t need.”

“Please, Evie.” Connie gave her a soulful look. “Can’t they come inside?”

“Okay.” Evie sighed. “They can sit on the porch, but you’re responsible for them.”

“I’ll just give them food and water and clean up their mess. And I won’t ask to keep them.” Connie pulled open the door. “You can have the blond, but leave the dark-haired one for me.”

Evie leaned out and waved the bikers over to the house. Yeah, the blond guy was cute, but she wasn’t looking for a man. She hadn’t had a serious relationship since Mark, and Viper was just … an interesting distraction. Especially now that she’d seen Zane. She brought her fingers to her cheek, remembering the heat of his breath, and how she had almost let him kiss her.

Zane.

The intense connection and chemistry that had first drawn them together hadn’t changed. But she had. She was finally in control of her life. No longer at the mercy of her mother’s emotional abuse, or longing for a father who was rarely home, she had embraced normal to the extent she knew what normal was. She made her own choices, cleaned up her own messes, and occasionally let her wild side out to play. And that most definitely wasn’t going to be with the man who had left her alone and pregnant, wishing on a promise he didn’t keep.

She let Connie fuss over the bikers while she called to check up on Ty and chatted with him about his game. By the time she made it outside, Connie had everything ready: coffee, sandwiches, and cookies. She introduced Evie to the bikers, dark-haired Tank and his companion, T-Rex.