Touched By The Devil (Devil's Riders 7)

“Shit. I really like her. And I love her for Mac.”

“Me too,” I said quietly, resting my head on Molly’s shoulder. She was one of the sweetest girls I’d ever met. She made me laugh too. I was beyond blessed with the girlfriends I had through the club. We were more than friends. It was a sisterhood.

“Janet is on her way,” Kirsten said, coming in from the deck where she’d been making calls. “Do you think I should wait?”

I bit my lip.

“It’s up to you. Maybe we should lead up to it.” I took her hand. “Are you sure about this?”

“She’s one of us,” Kirsten said firmly. “I trust her.”

I nodded.

“I do too.”

“I can start,” Sally said, and we all nodded.

We all sat in the living room and waited while Kirsten walked over the Suzanna. Becky was making warm tea.

“Come sit,” Kirsten said, and Suzanna nodded. “We have some stuff to tell you.”

She blinked, looking at our faces.

“No matter what you decide, you are our friend,” I said. “I want you to know that.”

Her eyes got a little misty and she nodded.

“Thank you. I haven’t had good girlfriends since school. But if I’m not with Mac…”

“We will be your friend anyway,” Becky said, bringing her a hot tea.

“I hope there’s whiskey in that,” Janet announced, arriving with a big paper bag. I hid a smile as she lifted out a bottle. “You want?”

Suzanna looked at me and I nodded.

“You might need it.”

Her eyes got wide and she held her cup out for Janet. She spiked a couple of other girls’ drinks and took a seat. Her attention was on Suzanna. I knew how much Mac’s happiness meant to her. To all of us.

But we wanted Suzanna happy too.

“There’s something you need to know about our guys,” I started. “They are protectors first. They will protect their families and the club. And sometimes, that isn’t exactly…”

“Legal,” Janet finished flatly. “They have their own code, and it has nothing to do with the law.”

Suzanna was staring at them, then looked back to me.

“I’ll start,” Sally said, taking a deep breath. “I was… hiding when I came here. There’s no nice way to say this. My ex used to…” She nodded to herself and continued, “he beat the crap out of me.”

“She was so shy when she came here.”

“Shy?” Suzanna asked. “I can’t imagine.”

“Well, like I said, things were bad. I escaped him and was living under a fake name. But I was still afraid. And then I met Donnie.”

“Don’t let her fool you. She was still kickass,” Janet said.

“That’s right. Sally learned self-defense. But she was shy,” I added.

Sally took a deep breath.

“And then he showed up.”

Suzanna gasped but didn’t interrupt.

“He hurt me. But I hurt him back. And when Donnie and his friends showed.” She looked around the circle at Janet and me. We nodded. “They made sure he wouldn’t hurt me again.”

“They killed him?” Suzanna asked.

“No. They hurt him really bad though.” Sally reached out and they clasped hands in the middle of the circle. “But they would have if he came back.”

Suzanna nodded.

Good, I thought. She’s starting to get it.

“I’m glad you are okay.”

“I am,” Sally said with her chin held high. “But it took time. And love.”

“Sometimes, love can be… harsh,” Kirsten offered.

“Every one of our guys would dole out a beating for us. Or worse.”

Kirsten cleared her throat.

“I’ll take some of that whiskey now.”

Janet refilled her cup and a few others’. I noticed Suzanna clutching her cup and taking a deep drink.

“Before she starts,” Janet said. “We are trusting you. This is serious.”

Suzanna nodded.

“I know. I won’t… I would never repeat any of this.”

“Good,” Janet said with a nod. “I believe you.”

“So do I,” Becky said. We all nodded.

“This is about the guys. The ones who were asked to take Mac out.”

Suzanna’s grip on her cup intensified. I was half afraid she was going to spill it. I put my hand on hers and she shot me a grateful look, taking another quick gulp.

“I used to work for the mob,” Kirsten said with a small smile. “This guy, Sal, he gave me a loan in return for working at an underground casino. I needed the money for Jayce’s medicine.”

Suzanna nodded. She got it. Thank God, I thought.

“But he was… well, he wasn’t a nice man. He wanted more from me. And one night, he got rough.”

I realized my hand was holding Suzanna’s extra-tight. We were all reliving that night. That awful, terrifying night.

Kirsten took a deep breath and lifted her eyes to Suzanna’s.

“And I killed him. I didn’t mean to,” she said, her voice soft. “But I defended myself. The police might have understood…”

“But the mob wouldn’t,” Janet finished.

“The guys Sal worked for, the Margarelli brothers, they run the whole mob around here. They are big.”

“Huge. Big as the mob in New Jersey.”