Page 36 of The Devil's Pair

“Wait.” Briley stared at them. “Who was this?”

“Cain,” Drake told her. “Cain invited us into the MC.”

“Ah.” Briley blinked as a few pieces fell into place. “And – is he the reason that you two ended up as Enforcers? Because he was one already, and he knew your military training and background?”

“Beautyandbrains,” Dux teased her, tugging at her hair. “And yep, that’sexactlywhat happened. But more than that, Cain also told the Road Devils President at the time, Wheels Jordan, the guy before Wolf, about our interrogation skills. So Wheels not only handed us the roles of Enforcers, backing up Ice and Cain, wealsomanaged to get confessions and information through asking the right questionsandbeating people’s faces in.”

“So you were adoubledouble-threat.”

“Indeed, babe.” Dux sighed. “Andthatwas how I ended up in jail for a few years.”

“An MC job went wrong?”

“It sure did,” Dux said. “Long story long: a rival MC gang member ambushed me, Drake and Ice one morning outside the bank for a beat-down we gave his buddy. Ridiculous murder attempt setting, but there it is. Anyway, this guy opened fire on a public street in the middle of the fucking work day, aiming at Ice first. Drake jumped in front of him and took the bullet instead.”

Briley turned her eyes to Drake’s astonishing body; she’d noticed the bullet scar on his left shoulder, but she hadn’t asked. Now she touched it gently with her fingertip, cocked her head at him, asking the question.

“Yep, that’s it,” Drake confirmed. “That’s the bullet that I took for Ice.”

“Damn,” she said quietly. “How bad was it at the time?”

“Not bad at all,” Drake said. “But Dux didn’t know that, even though heshouldhave – with all of our goddamn militarymedical training. He just saw me go down, saw the blood, saw the shooter, and saw red. Hecompletelylost his shit.”

“Uh-oh,” she said, starting to see the sequence of possible events that landed Dux in jail. “What happened?”

“I shot the fucker in the chest,” Dux said simply. “I didn’t kill him, though I meant to, so I was charged with attempted murder.”

“Only three years imprisonment for being found guilty of attempted murder?” Briley said, a bit surprised at the leniency. “I guess your lawyer argued self-defense?”

“He sure did,” Dux said. “And seeing as the guy had shot Drake,andhit an innocent woman in the leg when she was coming out of the bank,andthere were about fifty eyewitnesses to him opening fire first, the whole thing turned into a bit of a farce. Nobody seemed to feel very bad for the guy, to be honest, and he ended up doing seven years. So, I guess it was all pretty fair in the end, really. I mean, Ididshoot him in broad daylight, and I sure as hellmeantto kick him off this mortal coil, and the truth is that if I hadn’t hesitated for a few seconds while I waited for a man to duck out of the way, I woulddefinitelyhave ended his life.”

“And then we wouldn’t be here like this,” Briley said softly. “Right?”

“Exactlyright, babe.” Dux gave her a brilliant smile. “So you see… everything’s worked out the way that it was supposed to. We’re all where we’re meant to be.”

“Thatis the truth,” Drake said, and she heard it in his voice, the slow, smoldering heating up. “Although, Idobelieve that we’re probably all meant to be somewhere a bitdifferentsoon enough.”

“Do you think so?” Briley asked, her voice constricted with rising lust. “Where do you think we should all be that’s different?”

“Hmmmm.” Drake reached out, traced the curve of her calf with a fingertip. He moved up her long leg slowly, taking his time, watching her face. He skimmed over her knee, then made his way up her thigh, stopping just at the curve of her pussy lips. “I’m thinking that Dux needs to be inhere, darlin’… andIneed to be inside that amazing ass.”

She gasped, beyond impossibly aroused at just the words, at just theideaof it.

“Butfirst.” Drake’s fingers grazed her pussy, danced over it with the softest of touches, before he wrapped his hands around her thighs, and gently pulled her towards him. He was so strong, it took no effort at all for him to haul her down to his end of the bed. “I need to see for myself if you taste as sweet as my brother says.”

Chapter Eight

New Mexico

The Desert Bloom Cult Compound

Wyatt ‘Holt’ Gibson looked up from his book at Ice’s approach, amazed that his break from watching the compound was almost over already. As soon as he picked up a book, time just stopped for him. It had been that way since childhood, and even though it was considered a bit odd for a hardcore, hardboiled ex-bouncer and -bodyguard and current MC member to love reading, it was what it was. Holt was never without a book in hand – or at least within immediate reach – and his brothers teased him mercilessly about it, while thinking that it was actually pretty cool.

He marked his place, put the book down. “My turn?”

“Yep,” Ice said with a sigh. “Cain just brought back some food, so go have a late dinner. I’m gonna crash out for a few hours. Get me up around midnight.”

Holt nodded. Ice had taken last night’s shift solo, and had been up for the whole day, and even though the man was the toughest person that walked the planet, evenheneeded to recharge his batteries. It was theonlyconcrete proof that Ice was actually fully human, and not part machine, despite the fact that he looked like the Terminator on steroids.

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