Page 10 of Ride or Dies

“What the hell?” I scowled at him. “Are you saying I’m asking for it?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.” A muscle in his jaw twitched, like he was clenching it too hard. “I said you do stupid shit. And if you need an example, what about the time you went skinny-dipping in the mayor’s pond and I had to rescue your naked ass?”

“I was fourteen!” My face flooded with heat. “And in case you forgot, Mason and Jenna dared me to and then took my clothes! My stupid mistake was trusting them. And again, I was fourteen. I’m twenty-three now.”

Jenna winced. “Yeah, I know I’ve apologized about this before, but again, sorry about that. It was a shitty thing to do.”

I seized the opportunity. “See, this is why your idea won’t work. I’ll just be more careful, okay? I’ll get some bear spray or something.”

Jenna shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t feel that guilty about it. Your safety is more important.” She turned to her brothers. “So I’m pulling the wedding card. This is going to be your gift to me. Got it?”

“What if I already got you a toaster?” Mason asked.

“Don’t be an ass,” Jenna said. “I mean it. You three are on guard duty as your gift to me. I’m trusting that you won’t let anything happen to my best friend.”

“Dammit.” Tucker sighed. “I can’t do it. I can’t say no to that.”

“He’s right,” Mason said, looking over at Levi. “She’s our baby sister.”

“Besides,” Tucker added, “how bad could it be?”

I really didn’t want any of them to answer that. Levi’s kiss was still fucking with my head, and I wasn’t sure how I’d handle him tearing me down any further right now.

Levi ran his hand down his face, his expression saying he was hating every second of this.

Join the club, asshole, I thought.

“Okay,” he said. “But she’s not staying here.”

“I’m not going to my mom’s,” I cut in. “I can’t take her drama on top of everything else.”

Levi snorted a laugh. “I’d never make you go there. She’d just complicate things. No, I want you at the clubhouse.”

I shook my head. “Not a chance. I’d rather stay in the seedy motel.”

“You’re not staying in a place that rents by the hour,” Mason said. “And don’t even think about suggesting Betty’s B&B. Kimmy Thompson’s older sister just bought it.”

Shit. I’d been about to suggest it, but Mason was right. Kimmy Thompson had bullied me from third grade right up until graduation, and I doubted her sister was any better.

“You’re going to stay at the clubhouse,” Levi said with the sort of finality that came with having everyone around him obey his every word.

Fuck that.

“I’m not staying with a bunch of bikers,” I said. “I don’t know what sort of shit goes on there, but I’m not—”

“You’ll put Jenna and Isabel in danger if you stay here,” Levi said bluntly.

That brought me up short. He was right. No matter how much it pained me to admit it, if I stayed here and Randall came back, or if my stalker tracked me here, Jenna and Isabel would be in danger. And whether I liked it or not, being in a clubhouse filled with bikers was probably the best deterrent I could find.

I was probably going to regret this, but I nodded. “All right. I’ll do it.”

Chapter Six

Mason

Iwasn’t entirely sure how I ended up being the one who got to take Evie back to the clubhouse, but as Levi checked Evie’s car to make sure no one had messed with it or had a tracker on it, Tucker handled going over security measures with Jenna and Isabel, and Evie got on the back of my bike for the ride.

“Hold on tight and lean into the turns,” I instructed her.

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