Page 22 of The Devil's Pair

“Incorrect, darlin’,” Drake said, his eyes dancing in amusement as she turned an adorable rosy pink. “What my dear older brother actuallysaidwas that we’dcoverthe other half. The word ‘loan’ was never used.”

“But –”

“Didn’t I just say ‘no buts’?” Dux admonished her with a grin. “Didn’t I just say ‘it’s done’?”

“But–”

“Briley,” Drake said quietly, and his voice was so different from its usual light, teasing tone that she actually stopped panicking and blubbering and paid attention. “This is a housewarming gift to you from us, so you can start again with a bit of extra cash in the bank. All we want is to make sure that you’re as far as you can be from that fucking lunatic Michael, and knowing that you’re here safe and whole here is forustoo, not just you. We’dneverforgive ourselves if you landed someplacethat you hated, or that wasn’t really secure. And the money’s not just from me and Dux – it’s from Viking and Wolf too.”

“Viking?” she asked, perplexed. “Why?”

“Because you went into that compound of brainwashed yahoos alone and unprotected, and you got his girl out,” Dux said. “He’s grateful to you, babe, and he’s insisting on helping you launch your new life.”

“OK, I kind of get that, I suppose… but Wolf? I didn’t rescuehisgirl too, did I?”

“Nope,” Drake said. “But I talked to him last night and he insisted on kicking in a fourth of any of your outstanding costs, just because it’s the decent thing to do. Despite all appearances to the contrary, the manisdecent.”

“But he already gave Cheryl a ton of money to help starthernew life!” Briley protested. “He’s going to bankrupt himself for two total strangers!”

“Wolf is on top of his finances better than anyone that I know, so don’t be fooled by how he looks or sounds,” Drake said. “And believe me when I tell you that he isn't a man who likes to be told no.”

Briley tried to imagine anyone saying ‘no’ to Wolf Connor, and failed miserably.

“So, you see,” Dux said gently. “You’re home, babe.”

“I’m – I am.” She was surprised when tears came to her eyes, and she smiled through them, feeling settled for the first time since Gideon had first used Cheryl’s crime to blackmail Briley. It came to her that it had been a long,longtime since she’d felt truly safe in her own space – both her mentalandphysical space – and she realized what a gift these men had just given her. “I really am.”

“You are.” Dux hopped off the island, held out his large hand to her. “Now, c’mon Annette. Let’s go give the good news toour friend out there before the next viewing comes at ten o’clock ands steals your house right out from under you.”

So Briley walked into that bright, airy living room with her chin up, and said that they’d transfer the deposit within the next hour, if the owners agreed to sell to her. It was less than fifteen minutes later that the beaming property agent informed her that as soon as the money was received, the house was all hers.

An hour later – after a flurry of calls to Wolf and Viking and to banks, and tapping on bank apps on cell phones – it was all done. Five separate transfers had been sent to a single account, and the thrilled owner of that account called the agent, confirming that the full amount had been received, and they would look forward to receiving the balance within ten days.

And that was it: all of a sudden, Briley was home.

After arranging with the agent to come by the office the next day to sign all the final papers and pick up the keys, Briley looked at the mountains again, loving the knowledge that now this washerview. It was uniquely hers;nobodyelse would see the mountains the way that she did. The thought made her so deliriously happy about starting her new life here, she could hardly believe that it was real.

She whispered to herself, to the mountains, to the apple tree in the front yard with its delicate white and pink blossoms: “I’m safe, and I made it, and it's finally all over.”

She had no idea how wrong she was aboutallof those things.

Chapter Six

Salt Lake City, Utah

The Highway Hellions MC Clubhouse

Hal ‘Crusher’ Alcott threw the tiny skirt at the drunk blonde that he’d just brutally fucked.

“Jesusfuck, bitch,” he snarled. “Can you move any fucking slower? Isaid, get out of here. You’ve been useful in the only way that counts with your skank cunt, and I want your ass out of this roomnow.”

She bent over to retrieve the skirt, tottered on her sky-high high heels, and fell down to the floor with a moan. Enraged at being disobeyed by a worthless club pass-around, Crusher leapt to his feet, launched himself at her. With one massive hand, he grabbed her by her slim throat and lifted her straight up and off the floor. Automatically, helplessly, her two hands went to his one, tugging and pulling at it, desperate to draw breath.

“What. Did. I. Say,” he hissed into her contorted face that was slowly turning violet. Still with just one hand, he turned and slammed her back against the wall, her feet dangling and kicking a good four feet off the ground. “I. Said. Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

He dropped her now, without warning or grace, and she crashed back to the floor. Even though she was stunned and had the breath totally knocked out of her, she somehow still managed to do what he said this time: she knew good and well what happened when Crusher got his hands around people’s windpipes. It was how he’d earned his MC name, of course.

Crusher narrowed his light-green eyes as the club whore finally hauled her pathetic ass out of the President’s office, and then he allowed himself a tiny grin.Thathad been fun, he had toadmit – and he wasn’t thinking about the sex. Club sex was free and easy and on-tap and thrown in his face every minute of every day, and it was almost deadly boring at this point.

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