Page 18 of Snow in Texas

“I knocked you off the wagon,” he lamented.

“No, I can handle just the one.” And she set about savoring it, slow drags, holding the smoke for long moments before releasing it.

“I take it you’ve got some history with that guy.”

She shook her head. “Not directly, no. He’s a friend of a friend I wish I’d never had.”

“Ah.” He didn’t get it, not yet, but a vague picture was forming in his mind, one that left a sour taste in his mouth. “You were on the run from the feds and the club took you in.”

“No.” She looked scandalized.

“You’re an undercover fed, working the club.”

“Um…” Even more scandalized.

“Ex-boyfriend?”

She finished the cig and dropped it to the dirt, grinding it out with her white-and-rose boot heel. “Okay, look. Obviously, none of the boys are gonna tell you, and you’re too dumb – no offense – to figure it out yourself.” She turned to look at him head-on. “The club is my family. Literally. Candy’s my brother.”

For some reason, he’d never anticipated that. Like Fox said: he was stupid.

Jenny gave him a small grin. “You had no idea?”

He finally got his tongue unstuck from the roof of his mouth. “No…”

Her grin widened, flashed straight white teeth. She was pretty all the time, but she was beautiful when she smiled, he realized. The sudden brightness in her went to his gut…places farther south…and snapped his brain back online.

“So…you’re Candyman’s sister.”

“That’s what I just said.” Her tone was, miracle of miracles, teasing.

“And he’s your brother.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s how it works, yeah.”

For some reason he wanted to smile back at her. It was a relief, this new knowledge, and he didn’t understand it, but he was going to enjoy it. “Shit. Really? And you live in the clubhouse?”

“Last time I checked.”

The picture he’d been building snapped into sudden, excruciating focus. Candy looking after his little sister, keeping her safe beneath his roof, wanting her to have a two-man security detail…that includedhim. Not to be immodest, but he was a big guy, which suggested a big problem.

He was furious suddenly.

“Our dad was in the club,” she was saying, and he tried to clear his mind, listen to her. Her face was wistful. “He raised Candy up knowing he’d patch in one day. It’s sort of a family legacy, I guess.”

It wasn’t working; he couldn’t keep from scowling.

She glanced at him and started a little. “What?”

“Okay, for real this time, who was that guy and what does he want with you?”

“Riley?” She waved as if it was nothing, though the fear still glittered in her eyes. “You know how the ATF is, always wanting to bring down a whole chapter of Dogs.”

“No, Jen, I’m serious. What kind of danger are you in?”

For once, she contemplated telling him, gnawing at her lower lip, eyes searching across his face. “I don’t think I’m ready to share that story with you yet.”

He sighed, but nodded. “Fair enough. Is Riley involved?”

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