Page 46 of Fox (Road Rebels MC 4)
“How would you like to shift that purpose? You know, putting your focuses on becoming a prospect?”
I brought my beer up to my lips to conceal the goofy grin I could feel spreading across my cheeks.
“I think I’d like that,” I said.
“Good. Colt, hand it to him.”
I looked over at Colt as he held out a leather cut he had slung over his chair. It was my size and tailored to me, and it had The Fallen Reapers logo on the back of it with a prospect patch on the bottom.
Holy shit.
I had my own leather cut.
I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my cheeks. I slipped my old leather jacket off so I could slip on my new one. Doc was grinning at Colt, and I was leaned back in my chair, and I was smiling like a fucking idiot.
“Looks good on ya,” Doc said.
“Feels good, too,” I said.
“Being a prospect lasts about a year. You’ll do all the shit the club does. Trips, jobs, security detail. The whole nine. We don’t do any hazing shit like some clubs do. It’s pointless, and we got too much work to do to make someone’s life hell for the fun of it. Plus, with you being ex-military, it’s about time you had a break.”
“Is it over?” Bruiser asked.
“Can we come out now?” Grave asked.
I watched as the rest of the guys came out from the pool shooting room and gathered around the table.
“I’d say it’s official,” Doc said.
“Oh shit! This is gonna be great,” Jax said.
“Want me to start the food and round of beers?” Fender asked.
“Hell yeah. It’s celebration time. We got ourselves a new prospect with a fun skill set we don’t have yet. We got the advantage with this one,” Doc said.
“Glad I can help,” I said.
“Set the table for one more guys,” Colt said. “I’m expecting a guest.”
“Who the hell you got comin’ around here now?” Bruiser asked.
The doors to the place slammed open, and we all looked over to see who it was. Colt’s smile was broad on his face as my stomach hit the floor. It was Zoey, in all of her beautiful glory, walking towards the table as the guys as the guys stilled around me.
Oh shit.
This wasn’t happening.
Holy. Fuck.
“Guys, I want you to meet someone you haven’t seen in years. She looks a bit different now, but you’ve met her before. This is my little sister Zoey. And she’s back from college.”
“Holy shit. That’s Zoey?” Fender asked.
“He’s joking. That’s not Little Zoe,” Bruiser asked.
“That’s your lanky little sister? Where’s her black eyeliner?” Jax asked.
“Traded it in for some bombshell lipstick and my natural red hair. You guys like it?” Zoey asked.
“Holy shit, girl. Get over here and give me a hug,” Doc said.
Zoey threw her arms around Doc as I tried to avert my gaze as much as possible.
“And this, Zoey, is Rider. He’s our newest prospect for the club. You met him a couple of times. He’s the friend of mine that enlisted in the military,” Colt said.
“Wait,” Zoey said. “You mean the one with the shaggy hair? The thin one that everyone teased about getting broken in basic?”
I swallowed my shock as her eyes widened and turned back towards me.
“You’re that Rider?” Zoey asked.
“Looks different now, doesn’t he? Didn’t think you’d recognize him after all these years,” Colt said.
The guys all rallied around her to give her a massive hug as they doted on how different she looked. And they were right. She looked dramatically different. I had a hard time recognizing her even now. But she was just now beginning to process who I was as her eyes raked up and down my form.
Her eyes were begging me. Silencing me with their nervousness before she finally turned her gaze to everyone else. She looked genuinely happy to see everyone. They were hugging her close and scanning her body. I could see Bruiser and Fender allowing their hands to linger just a little too long on her body. Colt smacked their hands away and gave them a predatory stare, but it didn’t stop the jealousy from ricocheting throughout my body.
And still, Zoey was begging.
Every time her eyes caught mine, she pleaded with me to keep my mouth shut. But she didn’t have to worry. I’d just been made a prospect with the club I’d considered family for a while now. I wasn’t going to do anything to ruin that for myself. But I couldn’t deny that I wanted her. I couldn’t deny that I felt like she was mine. The way our bodies had connected and the way things seemed to natural between the two of us.
It pissed me off that all the guys were hugging on her.
I was struggling. Pulled between two worlds I now wanted. The leather cut I was wearing felt good against my skin. It reminded me of the family I had found when I thought I was alone. But then there was Zoey. With her jaw-dropping curves and her sassy attitude. She took no shit from anyone, and she stood her ground. Independent and fiery, just like I remembered her. She was the kind of woman I wanted in my life. She was the kind of woman I wanted standing at my side.
But she was Colt’s little sister. My best friend’s fucking sister.
And she was now off limits.
Chapter 10
Zoey
As the guys hugged my neck and kept talking about how different I looked, I begged Rider to keep quiet. To keep his mouth shut and try to act natural. The last thing we needed was my brother finding out about us. About what we did the night before in the bar his club owned. The guys kept hugging me and picking me up off my feet, and I could tell it was pissing Rider off. I could see the way he gripped his beer as he sat there silently and watched everything unfold.
Then I saw the leather cut on his back.
It wasn’t the leather jacket I’d slid off his shoulders that night. It wasn’t the leather jacket he had been wearing in the bathroom when he took me against the wall. This was shiny and new… and it had The Fallen Reapers logo cut onto the back of it.
Shit. My worst nightmare had just come true.
Rider was the club’s new prospect.
“I cannot believe it’s you, Zoey,” Fender said. “You look fucking phenomenal.”
“Hey, that’s my damn sister you’re talking about,” Colt said.
“We’re not sticking our dicks in her. Just complimenting her on how she’s blossomed into a beautiful woman,” Bruiser said.
“Don’t you fucking use that kind of language around her. You hear me?” Colt asked.
I rolled my eyes as Colt quickly because distracted by the other guys.
I slid through the bickering crowd and made my way over to Rider. He was sitting at the table, silently nursing his beer. He was white-knuckling the glass as I slid into the chair Doc had been occupying, trying to make things look as innocent as I could for the sake of my brother. The arguing was getting loud, and Doc was trying to get into the middle of it all. I was pissed off with how all of this was already going down. Colt didn’t have any fucking reason to be this pissed off with how absent he’d been in my life
But I knew sleeping with Rider had consequences for him and the pledge he’d just taken.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you were coming to this thing?” Rider asked.
“Because I didn’t know I was. And why the hell didn’t you tell me you were that Rider?” I asked.
“Figured if I was important enough to remember, you would’ve,” he said.
“Oh, don’t give me that shit. You really mean to tell me you recognized me a last night in the damn bar and slept with me anyway?”
Rider fell silent as the guys continued to argue over stupid shit. Sometimes I really hated the opposite sex and how petty they could get with stuff.
I looked out over the bar and noticed a couple of guys eyeing me closely. Grave and Jax were staring me down, and I was beginning to grow nervous. Their eyes kept darting be
tween Rider and I, and I could see they were slowly putting the pieces together. I knew they would recognize me from that night. Especially since I’d fucking sat down with them at the bar. The rest of the guys were too busy arguing over the fact that someone said ‘dick’ in front of me, but Grave and Jax had their sights trained on us.
And I could tell by the way Rider straightened up that he saw it, too.
“You think they know?” he asked.
“Yep. I think they’re putting the pieces together,” I said.
“This could ruin everything.”
“No shit, Sherlock. It’s why I’m trying to keep it under wraps for you.”
