Page 33 of Under His Control

“Joining the club.”

A motorcycle club?I didn’t react, but internally, I groaned. My opinion of biker gangs was the same as Dante’s. The world could do without them.

“My newfound brothers helped me. They sure did. Joining up with them all gave me a better sense of fitting in, you know?”

I did know. That brotherhood and mentality of having a kinship was a big reason I was considering working for the Constellas. I spoke with Dante, Romeo, and Franco daily, and I never left a conversation mad or offended. Theyweregood men from what I saw.

“It’s not easy, fitting back in with society after seeing the shit we do overseas and fighting like we do. Ya know?” He nodded, narrowing his eyes with a sage expression of recollecting his past. “After the kind of combat we survive, we ain’t whole and proper to fit in with common folks again.”

I shrugged, not sure it was as cut and dry as he was making it out to be. I wasn’t a savage after fighting in the military. But I did feel like I’d make the most of my life in some sort of demanding law enforcement field.

“You should join.”

I set down my beer, mostly empty already with how thirsty I was. “Join you?”

“The MC.” He nodded, sizing me up with a careful look.

I stood, uninterested in his unsolicited advice. The last thing I wanted to do was join a bunch of bikers. I had a baby to care for. A life to live. Being on the road was fine sometimes, but I recognized the need to settle. “I’m not interested,” I told the old man. Another nod was the best I wanted to do for a farewell with this stranger, already feeling like I’d wasted enough time here listening to him.

I headed back outside, mulling over how much his advice to join a crew of bikers was a hard pass for me. Yet, the idea of taking Dante up on his job offer sounded better and better every day. He was right. I did see myself as part of them, being there for almost two weeks now.

But fucking Eva would be out of the question.Continuing anything with her—just sex or not—wouldn’t be smart. I heard Dante the other day. He considered Eva his daughter, and I couldn’t mess up a job by sleeping with the boss’s daughter.

It seemed like we just couldn’t help ourselves, though, and I worried that push and pull would snap between us sooner than later.

On the road again, I paid attention to the louder roar of bikers following me. They’d left the bar when I had, but passing the first intersection was the test I was waiting for. When they didn’t turn but instead sped up after me, it was too damn clear that they were chasing me.

I revved my engine, increasing my speed, and they did likewise.

Fuck. What now?

I wasn’t in the mood to be reckless, and I didn’t want to have trouble following me all the way back to the house.

All I had on me was one gun. It was enough for an ordinary circumstance of self-defense. As I pulled over at a gas station, I counted the assholes who followed me to the lot. Six bikers didn’t count as ordinary circumstances, but I braced myself for a fight.

They looked like they were spoiling for one. As one, they got off their bikes and approached. With puffed-out chests and standing as tall as they could to look down at me and seem superior, they carried an angry vibe.

Goddammit.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, not making a move to startle them.

Behind them, I noticed others stopping for gas and glancing over, worry and curiosity on their faces.

“Yeah, asshole. We got a real problem,” the one with the thickest beer belly claimed, slurring his words and staggering in his step.

Great. This is just great. Drunk bikers.I sighed for patience.Why me? Why does this have to happen to me?

“And what’s that?”

“You came trespassing on our territory,” he accused.

For fuck’s sake.“No, I didn’t. I’m just passing through.”

“I say you ain’t,” he growled, flashing a knife at me.

12

EVA

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