Page 46 of Ride or Dies

“You sure you’re not hurt?” Mason grabbed my arm, his expression grim as he looked me over. “You have a single scratch or bruise and I’m gonna rain hell down on them.”

“Hey there, big brother.” Jenna punched his arm. “I’m here too. Don’t you wanna rain hell on my behalf?”

“Sorry, Jenna.” Mason flushed, letting go of me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” she said. “Shaking a bit, because I’ve never been shot at, but I’m not hurt. We got down behind the table after the first shot. Who the hell were those guys?”

“They weren’t Thunder Riders,” Tucker said as he came up behind Mason. “But I wasn’t close enough to see any patches.”

“Probably Cobras,” Mason said. “Sons of bitches already shot me. Probably know some of us come here sometimes and thought they could take us out that way.”

“So they just decided to shoot up a bar on the off chance they’d hit one of you guys?” I frowned. “I’m just a singer, but that doesn’t seem like the best way to kill someone.”

“Yeah, well, they’re not known for their brains,” Tucker said dryly.

The wail of police sirens cut through the air and Levi was suddenly there, looking at his brothers. “We need to go.”

“We can’t just leave,” I protested.

Levi ignored me and kept talking to Mason and Tucker. “RJ said he’ll take care of things.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

Levi barely glanced at me, but he answered my question. “He’s gonna tell the cops that you were worried about your safety and had us take you back to the clubhouse. If they want to talk to you, they can do it there.”

“Why can’t we just wait here for them?” Jenna asked, just as confused as I was.

Mason raised an eyebrow. “Because we’re three bikers with guns who just fired at a bunch of strangers.”

“Because they were shooting at the bar,” Jenna said.

“I love you, Jenna,” Tucker said, “but trust us on this. Bedford PD will arrest us.”

“All right,” she agreed. “Let’s go.”

“Tucker, take Jenna,” Levi said, grabbing my wrist. “Evie’s riding with me. Mason, I want your hands free in case anyone gets any ideas.”

And with that, Levi headed for the door, dragging me behind him as we went. He didn’t say a word as he climbed onto his bike, just sat there, waiting for me to get on. I could hear the cops getting closer and climbed onto the motorcycle behind him, barely getting my arms around his waist before he took off.

Every muscle in his body was tense as we made our way back to the clubhouse, and I didn’t think it was because he was concentrating on driving. I knew he was upset, and I had no problem going toe to toe with him if he wanted to argue about me leaving the clubhouse, but this didn’t feel like the sort of thing that would turn into an argument. This felt more like he was just shutting down. Icing me out.

Hell. No.

The entire ride back to the clubhouse, I kept remembering the way Levi had barely looked at me. How Tucker hadn’t spoken to me. Mason’s anger. A part of me really wanted to believe that it was all because they were so worried about me and Jenna that they didn’t know how to express it, but the tension that kept twisting my stomach into tighter and tighter knots wouldn’t let me believe it.

My gut said that they were furious because I hadn’t done as I was told, and that wasn’t going to fly with me. I’d already taken a step outside my comfort zone by agreeing to be with all three of them, and I knew that if I wanted this to work, there’d be things I’d need to compromise on.

This was not one of them.

I’d been taking care of myself since I was a kid, and while there were things I understood I needed help with, I refused to lose all of my independence in the name of “protection.” Not when it meant that they weren’t seeing me as their equal.

By the time we parked at the clubhouse, I felt ill and just wanted to get inside so we could talk this all out. As crazy as the idea of the four of us was, I didn’t want it to be over before it really even started. Except, as soon as we got off the bike, Levi’s attention was on Jenna.

“Call Isabel from inside the clubhouse and get her to come pick you up. Stay in there until she gets here.” He used the tone we used to refer to as his “big brother knows best” voice, and the look on Jenna’s face said she appreciated it even less now than she had as a kid. But she didn’t argue. Then he turned to Mason and Tucker. “Gather the men. We need to have church.”

I gave Jenna a questioning look as a couple of the Thunder Riders came onto the porch, their expressions irritated but otherwise unreadable.

“That’s what MCs call a meeting of their members,” she explained quickly. After a glance at her brothers, she pitched her voice even lower and asked, “Do you want to come home with me and Isabel?”

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