Page 21 of Dancin' with Demons

“Don’t give me shit, woman,” he says sternly, turnin’ his eyes on his ol’ lady. “I can’t help someone without knowin’ what demons they got swimmin’ around.” He turns his eyes back to Raylynn. “You ain’t got to give me details. A yes or no works fine, hon.”

“Yeah,” she says quietly, starin’ at our hands. “Seems like an on-goin’ trend in my life. Get fucked in front of crowds for some asshole’s amusement.”

“Well, when Renegade is ready to claim you, we’ll see if we can’t vote in a workaround then.”

Raylynn’s head snaps up, and she looks between the two of us. “Claim me? What is that? And workaround for what?”

Takin’ a deep breath, I sit up straighter and angle my body toward her more. “Claimin’ is when a brother makes his relationship with a woman official in the eyes of the club. Means she’s set above everyone else for him, and she’s off-limits to anyone else as well.”

“As for the workaround,” Catacomb says, and I brace myself for Raylynn’s reaction to what he’s about to tell her, “our club has bylaws for claimin’ women. I had to follow ‘em when I claimed Sandra, and every brother that claimed a woman before me in any of our chapters followed ‘em too. Just given your background, I know you ain’t gonna want to follow ‘em no matter how much you end up carin’ about Renegade.”

“What are they?” Raylynn turns her eyes to me, and already, the worry and panic are heavy in ‘em.

“The brother has to fuck his woman with the rest of the brothers' watchin’,” I say quietly, makin’ sure to keep my hand on her leg and my other hand gently holdin’ hers.

For a few moments, she just stares at me. Her eyes don’t move from mine, and there’s no expression on her face. The knot formin’ in my stomach isn’t pleasant, and despite knowin’ our bylaws, I didn’t give ‘em part of it much consideration at all. It never crossed my mind— not when I first met Raylynn and not since she crashed back into my life.

“Renegade, I—”

“Raylynn,” Catacomb says in a hard tone, drawin’ her attention to him, “don’t get worried about that right now. Whatever you and Renegade got, we ain’t there yet, and when y’all get there, we’ll figure it out then. We ain’t never had a brother try to claim a woman that’s been through what you have, and trust me when I say that it matters to me. I remember seein’ you on that table. I was in that room when my sister examined you. And I know how Renegade feels about you. So when the time comes, we’ll find a way that works for the club and you.”

Raylynn takes a deep breath before she slowly nods. “I don’t want to cause issues for Renegade with your club, ever. But if we get to the point that he claims me or whatever, I don’t know that I can do that in front of a room full of people. Even if those people are your men.”

Reachin’ up, I cup the side of her face and make her look at me. “Cat’s right. We’ll worry about that when we get to it. Right now, it’s the least important thing on our plates.”

“What about the girl’s father?” Catacomb says.

Raylynn takes another shutterin’ breath, and I swear, one of my goals is to get this woman to take a normal breath at some point in her life. “I don’t know, Catacomb. A lot of the time, I was blindfolded and didn’t even see who was participating. None of ‘em wore protection, and those sessions had five to ten guys in them each time. So, no, I don’t know which one of them is her father.”

Catacomb brings his arm from around Sandra and sits forward toward Raylynn, restin’ his elbows on his knees. “I’m only askin’ because we burned every man we killed that day. But Havoc Ryders was thirty members strong, and we only got twenty of ‘em. We’ve looked, Raylynn, but I ain’t gonna lie to you. We ain’t found the last ten.”

“You mean . . . they’re still out there?”

Catacomb nods. “Like I said, in the last three years, we’ve checked every few months. The Geek Squad has traces on their names, aliases. If they use ‘em again, it’ll tell us. But so far, we ain’t heard wind of none of ‘em.”

Raylynn sits a little straighter. “Are Savior and I in danger?”

“I don’t know,” my president says softly. “Right now, probably not. If any of those men were to find you, I don’t think they’d just leave you alone, though.”

Her chest begins to rise and fall rapidly as she stares at the table, her eyes dartin’ back and forth. I know that fuckin’ look. As I open my mouth, Raylynn quickly pushes herself off the couch and darts down the hall, mutterin’ an apology as she goes. Without explainin’, I’m off the couch and right behind her. Steppin’ into my bedroom, she’s already grabbin’ one of her bags out of the closet and settin’ it on my bed.

“Whoa,” I say, almost runnin’ over to grab her by the arms as she turns toward the closet, “slow down, babe.”

“Slow down?” she snaps, yankin’ herself out of my grasp. “I didn’t even consider the possibility that any of ‘em were still fucking kicking, Renegade. If they find me, at best, I end up back in a cell and tied to another table. Worst case, what the hell do you think they’ll do to my daughter? I’m sorry, but I can’t risk that.”

She goes to move to the closet, and I step in her way, grabbin’ the front of her throat just hard enough to make her stop. Her eyes widen for a second before I slam my lips into hers. As soon as she opens up to me, I run my tongue across her bottom lip and slide my hand to the side of her neck instead, bringin’ my other one up to tangle in her hair. I keep the kiss slow and deep, and Raylynn brings both her hands up to grab my wrists as she kisses me back.

Slowly endin’ the kiss, I pull back but keep my face close to hers, and the tears shinin’ in her eyes make my chest hurt more. “Raylynn, I swear to you, those men will never, ever fuckin’ touch you again. And they sure as fuck will never hurt Savior. Even if they find you, I will rip ‘em apart with my own hands before I let ‘em fuckin’ touch either of you.”

“How are you gonna protect us forever, Renegade?” she whispers. “Your life is in Tennessee. Mine is here. And you can’t stay here with us.”

“You come with us.” My president’s voice makes us both turn toward the bedroom door where he’s standin’ with his hands in his pockets. “You ain’t got to make a decision now, Raylynn. But when Renegade and I go back to Tennessee in a few weeks, come with us. On my order, our entire club will protect you and your daughter. You have my word.”

Turnin’ my eyes back to Raylynn, a single tear runs down her cheek, and she looks like she’s in shock. Catacomb finally put my entire fuckin’ goal out in the open, and I can’t even tell what she’s thinkin’.

Chapter 8

Raylynn

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