Ride Hard (Savage Saints MC Book 1) Read online

  “But most noticeably, in a moment of crisis, like the one with the Mercs last week, your quick thinking saved lives and helped us emerge victorious. All of us would be walking around with a lot less blood if not for your service, service which most exemplifies what your father did for us. So to Jane Peters.”

  “To Jane!” a roar went up as we all did a shot.

  I finished mine, blew her a kiss, and watched her turn even redder than before.

  “To the rest of you all,” I said. I let the words hang in the air for the second as anticipation rose. But there was only one thing left to say. “Celebrate!”

  A raucous roar broke out, someone started the music, and the alcohol started flowing freely. It didn’t take long for the mamas and the single club members to slowly start gravitating toward each other, but there was nothing slow about the way that Jane approached me.

  “You’re a sly little bastard, you know that?” she said.

  I just shrugged innocently, as if what I had done was nothing more than compliment her personality.

  “What?”

  “Uh huh,” she said, pulling me in for a kiss. “Do that to me again, and I’ll humiliate you with all of your childhood stories.”

  “Aww, Jesus, please don’t, not—”

  Jane just laughed and kissed me once more. This time, though, I didn’t let her pull away as if trying to set a record for the longest kiss ever. I wanted those lips on mine, her body pressed against me so that our souls might better come closer together and bond. I wanted nothing more in this world than for the club to last forever and my love for Jane to last forever.

  And I had to say, at this point, it was a pretty good bet that I’d see both to fruition.

  The only thing that interrupted me, in fact, was a loud knock on the front door. I ignored it, hoping someone else would get it, but then I heard Splitter yell for me.

  “Gimme a sec?” I said with a smile.

  “Make it a fast second,” Jane said back.

  I hurried over to Splitter, waiting by the front door, and he asked me to come outside.

  “The hell’s going on?”

  Just then, I noticed that Sheriff Wiggins was leaning against his squad car.

  “I know y’all are celebrating and having a good time tonight,” he said. “So I wanted to take this outside, away from it all.”

  He came forward with a heavy sigh, his hands in his pockets and his feet kicking at the ground.

  “They have a warrant out for Splitter’s arrest,” Wiggins said.

  “Goddamn, seriously?”

  So much for everything going great.

  “The evidence they found at the warehouse scene was pretty strong. It’s not perfect, but it’s enough for them to have one. There’s no getting around this, Trace. We gotta bring him in because if we don’t, the state police will.”

  I put my hand on my head, closed my eyes, and tried to wonder how badly we could have fucked this up.

  “Don’t worry, boss,” Splitter said. “We’ll figure it out. We always do. And worst case, I take the fall for the club.”

  “Fuck,” I said.

  There was no such thing as a good arrest. It meant money we had to raise, time lost from a valuable member, and an eroding of our relationship with state officials.

  “Look, unofficially, I have to arrest him, and when other cops show up, you best believe I’m going to act the part,” Sheriff Wiggins said. “But I know a gal. Great lawyer. Real cute too. Amber Reynolds is her name. Look her up. She’ll be able to help.”

  “I sure fucking hope so,” I said with a sigh.

  I looked at Splitter, saw his eyes welling as he tried to look tough, and pulled him in for a hug.

  “We’ll get you out of this, bro,” I said. “You’re family. We protect our own.”

  “I know,” he said. “Love you, brother.”

  “Love you too, man.”

  I pulled away as Sheriff Wiggins put Splitter in cuffs, gently led him to the car, and then drove off. I looked behind me and saw Jane standing at the entrance of the doorway, stunned.

  “What happened?”

  “They got him on warehouse-related stuff,” I said. “That’s the fucked part. But at least we got a lawyer. A recommendation. Some gal named Amber Reynolds.”

  I was too frustrated to do anything other than drop my head and lean into Jane. It was clear, for better or for worse, that our troubles were far from over.

  At least, though, as long as we had the love of our brothers and the love of Jane, we wouldn’t give up until we had no other choice.

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