Ties That Bind (Ruthless Sinners MC 1)

Fearing what he might do, I reached into my purse and took out my phone. As I stared down at the screen, I knew I couldn’t take the chance on Danny coming to the apartment, not when I didn’t know what my father wanted with him, so I dialed Zander’s number instead. My heart raced as I stood there waiting for him to answer. After just a few rings, I heard Zander’s voice answer, “Delilah? Are you okay?”

“Hey, Danny. It’s me. I need you to do me a favor.”

“Danny?” Zander asked.

“Can you come meet me at Sully’s?”

“I’m downstairs. I’m on my way up—”

“No, no,” I interrupted him. “That’s okay. You don’t have to worry about it. I’ll be fine. I just need to talk to you about something.”

“Delilah.” I could hear the concern in Zander’s voice when he asked, “If you’re in trouble, I’m coming up there!”

“I don’t want to talk about this over the phone. Just meet me at Sully’s in twenty minutes, and I’ll tell you everything there..”

Relief washed over me when he said, “Okay, I got it.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“Can you stall whoever’s there for a few minutes to give me some time to get the others here?”

“Yeah, no problem. I can do that.” I glanced over at my father, and I prayed he was buying it as I asked Zander, “How long do you think you’ll need?”

“Fifteen … twenty minutes tops.”

“Okay, that’ll be just fine.”

“Shotgun and I are gonna leave the parking lot in case whoever’s up there is watching, but I’ll be just around the corner.”

“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll wait a few minutes before I leave.” Before I hung up the phone, I said, “Thanks, Danny.”

As soon as the call ended, my father asked, “What did he say?”

“He’s going to meet us, but it’s going to take him longer than twenty minutes to get there.” I put my phone back in my purse, then placed it on the table as I said, “It’ll be a least forty-five minutes.”

“Good. I knew I could count on you.” His attention was drawn back to the window when Zander and Shotgun started up their bikes and pulled out of the parking lot. “Looks like your friends are leaving.”

“I’m sure Zander thought I was asleep and decided to go home.”

His eyes narrowed as he asked, “Hmm ... Is that right?”

“We had a disagreement earlier, and I’m sure he was hoping we could talk.”

“A disagreement, huh?” he asked, still sounding skeptical.

“Yeah.” I hoped I might be able to distract him from Zander by picking a fight with him. “As I recall, you and Mom had quite a few of those when I was growing up, usually over your spending all her money to pay off your gambling debts. How’s all that going by the way? You still spinning the wheel, hoping for a big win?”

“My gambling days are over. I’ve moved on to bigger things.”

“About that. How did you get involved in the whole dealing drugs thing anyway?”

“Same way Danny did. I ran into a little bad luck and needed a way to make some cash fast. Started doing a little dealing, but it didn’t take me long to figure out that the big money was in running the show. That’s when I decided to go into business for myself.”

I could tell by the way he spoke that he took great pride in his accomplishment. Sadly, I couldn’t have been less impressed. I didn’t want him to know that, so I kept my face void of expression as I listened to him yammer on. “A man’s gotta make a lot of sacrifices to make something out of nothing.”

“What kind of sacrifices did you have to make, other than your wife and kids?”

“This conversation is growing old, Delilah.” He stepped towards me as he said, “Let me see your phone.”

“What? Why do you want my phone?”

“Give it to me, now!”

He reached over and grabbed my purse from the table. Panic washed over me as I watched him take out my phone. He went to my recent calls, then snarled, “Fuck. You called him. I should’ve known better than to trust you.”

“So much for being smart.”

I’d barely gotten the words out my mouth when the back of his hand met my cheek with a powerful slap. I quickly cowered away from him, cradling my throbbing jaw and busted lip in my hands. “You’re about to learn that I’m not a man you want to cross, and the same goes for those bikers you’ve been running with.”

He grabbed me by the arm, and as he started pulling me towards the door, I noticed a gun tucked away in his waistband. “Where are we going?”

“Getting the hell out of here before your friends show up.”

With that, he opened the door and dragged me out into the hallway. I tried to pull free from his grasp, but he just tightened his grip and yanked me towards the emergency exit. Using his free hand, he opened the window, then stepped out onto the fire escape, pulling me behind him. I didn’t bother asking why he hadn’t gone out the front. I knew he was hoping to stay out of sight, but unbeknownst to him, Zander and Shotgun were parked just a few yards away, watching in silence as my father yanked me down the steps. It wouldn’t be long before the rest of the Ruthless Sinners came to join them.