Author: Jaci Burton

“Needle in a haystack, Teresa,” AJ added. “You don’t seriously think you could find him up there.”

“If the Fists are all up there, they’ll hang as a group. They’ll protect their own, including this guy.”

“Providing he didn’t turn against the Fists,” Pax said.

“If he’d betrayed the Fists he’d be a dead man by now,” Joey said. “Turning against one of your own club leaders requires swift and very public retaliation. If he killed Larks, the Fists would have taken him down right away. And we’d all know about it.”

AJ nodded. “Joey’s right. And if he didn’t, if this was planned with the Fists full knowledge, then they all closed ranks around him.”

“Which means he’s with them. They’re protecting him,” Teresa said.

“In Sturgis, if they’re all up there,” Pax added.

“So maybe that’s what did happen. But there’s no guarantee,” Joey said.

“Well maybe he did, and maybe he didn’t. Either way, we have to help my brother. I can’t do nothing when I might hold the key to his freedom.”

“Hey.” Joey laid his hand over hers. “I’m going to be fine. I didn’t do this, and eventually the cops are going to figure that out. It’s not your job to save me.”

She palmed the top of the bar, her gaze clear and focused as she looked from AJ to Pax to her brother. “I know what I’m doing. And if the cops are here trying to find him, why can’t we be up in Sturgis doing the same thing?”

“Do you really know what you’re in for?” Pax asked “It’ll be crazy up in Sturgis, honey. Crowded. Lots of bikers. Lots of men.”

She sucked in a breath. For Joey, she’d do it. She had to. And she wasn’t going to be afraid. She lifted her chin. “I can handle this. Let’s go.”

Pax slid his gaze to AJ, who shook his head.

“I don’t like this.”

That piqued Teresa’s anger. “I’m going with or without you two.”

AJ’s gaze shot to hers. “That’s not smart.”

“I’ll get some friends to go with me. I won’t go alone. Russ and the other Thorns are up there, and I could meet up with them. But you’re not stopping me.”

“We’ll go with you,” Pax said, giving AJ a solid glare when AJ turned to him. “Won’t we, AJ?”

AJ locked gazes with Pax, then finally shrugged. “I guess so.”

Teresa turned to Joey. “I’m sorry you can’t go with us. But can you hang around the bar and keep an eye on my girls?”

“You know I will. I still don’t like this.”

“I know you don’t. But if our situations were reversed, you’d do it for me.”

“Yeah, I would. But this is different.”

She crossed her arms. “Don’t get sexist on me. Besides, I have two of the best bodyguards around going with me. I’ll be fine.”

“I guess we’re going to Sturgis, then,” AJ said. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

After Teresa closed up the bar, AJ sent her home with Pax. He detoured to Joey’s apartment to talk to him.

Joey lived like a true bachelor: sparse furniture, beer cans and laundry strewn everywhere; not much in the fridge with the exception of beer. Joey grabbed a couple and handed one to AJ. They took seats on the worn-out sofa and chair in Joey’s living room.

“I’m sorry you and Pax got mixed up in all of this. Really shitty timing for you guys.”

AJ shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I’m just glad we could be here for you. And for Teresa.”

Joey took a couple slugs of beer, then wiped his mouth. “Man, you gotta keep an eye on her. I don’t like this whole Sturgis thing.”

AJ looked down at his beer, then back at up at Joey. “She told us about the rape.”

Joey leaned forward, blew out a breath and looked at his shoes. “Damn.”

“Now I want you to tell me the real story.”

Joey’s head shot up. “What real story?”

“It was a message from the Fists, wasn’t it?”

Joey’s brows slanted together in anger. “That’s a lie. It was random.”

“You trying to make me believe it, or make yourself? Don’t bullshit me, my friend. We go too far back for that.”

Joey laid his beer on the scarred table and stood, ran his fingers through his hair and walked to the front window, staring outside.

“We had just had a big showdown with the Fists the night before. Larks was laying down some serious pressure about us joining with him. He wanted to make inroads into our territory, needed the river to get access for his drug shipments.”

“And the Thorns were blocking him.”

“Hell yeah. This is our turf and he and his fucking drugs could shove it, which is what I told him. I told him he could stay the hell out of our territory or face the consequences. The Thorns were willing to go to war to protect what was ours.”

“And?”

Joey blew out a breath. “Larks said we wouldn’t win a war with them. We were too clean and the Fists fought dirty, and we might not like the consequences. Then they left. The next night, Teresa’s bike broke down and she was raped.”

AJ didn’t say anything. He knew there was more Joey needed to say.

“There wasn’t a goddamn thing wrong with her bike or her tires. I checked them myself all the time at the garage.”

“Someone sabotaged her bike.”

“Yes. She was set up to have a blowout and they were waiting for her.”

“She was used as an example of what war with the Fists would be like. He wanted to show you what the casualties would be.”

“They wore no colors, no patches and kept every part of their bodies covered. And when they raped her they never said a word. They knew Teresa would be able to identify them otherwise. But it was the Fists. I’d wager my soul on it.”

“Retaliation?”

Joey had the decency to look ashamed. “We weren’t sure, ya know? In my gut . . . yeah, it was the Fists. But retaliation would mean war.”

“And you didn’t want war.” Not even on behalf of Teresa. AJ would have gone full throttle against the Fists if it had been his sister. But it wasn’t his club and it wasn’t his decision to make. Guilt pounded at him. If he’d been here, if he’d never left, things would have been different.

This would have never happened to her.

“Does she know it was the Fists who did the rape?”

The misery on his face gut punched AJ. “I don’t know. We don’t talk about it. She won’t talk about it.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?”

“She had plenty of rape counseling. The Fists were all investigated, fingers were pointed at them. But there wasn’t a scrap of DNA to identify anyone.”

AJ leaned back and let out a breath. “This sucks, Joey.”

“You’re telling me? I’ve lived with this guilt for five years, that my sister had to suffer for something I did. How the hell do you think that feels?”

“She doesn’t blame you.”

“Of course she doesn’t. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t my fault. I should have protected her better.”

And if AJ hadn’t turned tail and run out of town to escape the miserable existence of his life, a lot of things would have been different. And maybe he’d have still been here to protect Teresa. Guilt weighed heavily on him, too. “Teresa’s a strong woman.”

“She’s doing okay. But I still hate leaving her alone. She likes living in our parents’ house by herself, craves her independence, refuses to let the rape change who she is.”

“Good for her.”

“But it did change her, AJ. As much as she tries to pretend it didn’t, it changed who she is. There’s a light that used to shine in her eyes that isn’t there. And her fear of men and relationships—”

“Yeah, I’ve caught a glimpse of that.”

Joey’s hands clenched into fists, and he turned away to face the window again, but not before AJ caught the tears brimming in his friend’s eyes. “If I ever find out who did this to her, I’m going to rain down hurt on them like the fires of hell.”

“I’ll help you.”

PAX WASN’T SURE WHY HE’D JUMPED ON THE IDEA OF TAKING Teresa to Sturgis, but she seemed determined to go and no way in hell was he going to let her go alone. AJ argued that it was a bad idea for her to go at all, but Pax figured she was going to be too stubborn to let someone else deal with it. It was important to her to find this guy and save her brother, and she wasn’t patient enough to let the cops do it.

Though he couldn’t blame her, since the local police seemed to think they already had their man and would probably be slow about gathering any additional evidence or suspects, even minus a murder weapon. That he didn’t understand, but then he was always pretty thorough about everything, no stone left unturned and all that. How they thought they could convict Joey based on blood evidence on his clothes alone made no sense. Sure, there had been animosity between Joey and Larks, but that wasn’t enough. And the Fists as eyewitnesses? Come on. The police needed to be hunting and hunting hard for the murder weapon. And if they weren’t, then Pax agreed with Teresa—they’d go find the actual guy who did the deed, and hopefully he’d have the knife on him, especially if it was a one-of-a-kind. Guys who had knives custom made for them didn’t ditch them in a Dumpster. Guys tended to be sentimental about their weaponry anyway, but especially one-of-a-kind weapons, which were definitely keepers.

They lucked out because General Lee had his own place in Sturgis. He usually went up there for the annual rally, but this year he was stuck on an assignment and couldn’t make it. One phone call and Pax had secured the property for them, plus filled General Lee in on what was going on with Teresa and her brother. General Lee’s only advice was to lie low and not blow their covers unless absolutely necessary. The entire Wild Riders organization operated under security and stealth. They didn’t exactly flash their badges on a regular basis, and General Lee hadn’t been happy AJ and Pax had done so in order to walk into a murder scene. Pax got that, understood the ramifications of too many people knowing about a secret organization that wasn’t even supposed to exist. He promised the general they’d keep it low-key in Sturgis.

Which didn’t mean they wouldn’t be locked and loaded.

They packed up early that morning, the sun still nothing more than a glint of gray light over the horizon as they took off. Teresa climbed on the back of Pax’s bike again. He liked having her back there, liked feeling her thighs sliding alongside his, the press of her breasts against his back when she leaned forward. AJ didn’t say a word or look like he was unhappy about it. Then again, sharing a woman was normal for them, so jealousy had never been an issue before.

Sharing Teresa—a woman AJ had a past with—that might be something different.

But they weren’t really sharing her, not after finding out what had happened to her. They were protecting her. That was it. That was all there was going to be. At least for now. Teresa was going to call all the shots, and that’s the way it should be. She had to be in charge, at least of what she wanted as far as her body. As far as the investigation—Pax and AJ would have to take the lead on that since they had more experience, and he was afraid Teresa would go balls to the wall trying to clear her brother. There were better ways to get what you wanted.

The trip would have been nice if they’d taken it for any other reason, if they’d been able to take a slow and easy back-roads pace. But they weren’t on vacation any longer, so they stuck to the interstate and got to the general’s place late that same night. It was a grueling ride, but Teresa was a trooper about it, didn’t complain once about her butt being sore or how long the ride was. They stopped plenty of times for gas, meals and drinks and to stretch their legs, but she seemed just as anxious to get there as Pax and AJ were. It probably helped that she swapped, periodically riding on AJ’s bike, then back to Pax’s, giving her ass a different seat to rest on.