Her Double Mountain Outlaws

“If you’re looking for a lighter, I’ve probably got one in the office,” Axe growled, eyeing me as he stroked his big beard. Next to him, Ryker smirked.

“He’s no gonna light it.”

Ryker had known Landon and I from back in Vegas. For one, because he’d also been involved in some fringe-level shady shit for shady people, but for two, we’d done some ink work on him. Landon had done the Viking crest on his arm, and I’d inked his daughter Kyrie’s name over his heart. Needless to say, he’d seen me with the unlit cigarette on more than one occasion.

Axe arched a brow but just shook his head. He folded his big arms over his chest, glowering at Landon and I.

“You recognize the guy you beat the shit out of?”

Landon shook his head. “Never seen him before, but he was one of Harry’s guys, I know it.”

Axe glanced at Ryker, who nodded. Shotgun Shaunessy was a name he knew from down in Nevada too.

“What makes you think it’s this guy’s crew after you two?”

I smiled grimly. “Because Harry can’t forget if he loaned someone a fucking dollar to get a Coke, and he thinks we lifted three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand from him.”

Axe’s brow furrowed. Next to him, Stone did the same thing.

“Do I even want to fucking know why he might ‘think’ that?”

I pulled the cigarette out of my mouth and smiled thinly.

“Because we did. Sort of.”

Axe swore, muttering as he turned to Ryker. “This Harry guy a serious player down there?”

Ryker scowled. “Big enough that you don’t want to fuck with him. The guy’s a fuckin’ psychopath. Even the Moretti family stays the fuck away from him down there.”

Stone shook his head, glaring at us.

“You guys never fucking mentioned this sort of heat chasing you when you moved here.”

Landon growled under his breath, and I turned to see his eyes narrowing at Stone as his hand closed into a fist.

“Don’t remember getting your fucking life story either, bud,” he spat.

“That’s cause we could vouch for him,” Axe growled, standing from where he’d been leaning against a mechanic’s bench and showing his full huge frame.

“Whoa, whoa,” Ryker finally muttered, standing and moving between the four of us. “How about we chill the fuck out, huh? We’re on the same fuckin’ team with this one, and we’ve all had heat from our past chase us up this mountain one way or another, so how about we fuck off with the stone throwing, huh?”

Axe and Stone glared at him, but finally they nodded. In another lifetime, the three of them had all been in a motorcycle gang together. I didn’t know much about it, but I knew they were the only survivors after a rival MC’s massacre. Now, they were out of that life, living as family men up on Blackthorn. But the demons of the past always come looking for more. I knew that first hand.

“No offense meant,” Stone finally muttered, nodding his chin at me as he stuck a hand out.

“No apologies needed, man,” I shook his hand before turning and doing the same with Axe, smoothing the temporary flare-up over. Landon did the same.

“Look, we never thought this shit would follow us here. Not in a million years. The money…” I shook my head.

“It was never Harry’s anyways, and we gave it to the widow of a guy we were on the job with who didn’t make it,” Landon finished. “But, Harry’s not exactly a seeing logic kind of guy. We did not mean to bring this to your front doors though.”

I turned, my eyes piercing through the dimness of the garage and locking on to Kennedy.

“We’ll leave.”

The words left my mouth before I could even think about them. And they fucking stung. I turned to Landon, but I could see the same grim reality on his face too. Leaving pulled the danger away from the families of Blackthorn. It pulled it away from Kennedy too.

“You’ll leave? What, Blackthorn?”

I nodded at Stone. “This isn’t your bullshit, man. We’ll leave, and we’ll deal with it elsewhere, away from you all and your families.”

Ryker’s jaw tightened as his eyes darted between Landon and I. Slowly, he turned to his two friends, grunting.

“Fuck that.”

My brow went up. “What?”

“I said fuck that.” The big, bearded, tattooed ex motorcycle gang president stood from his chair, unfolding his huge muscled frame. “You’re not leaving because of this. Blackthorn is your home. You’ve set up a business here.”

“It’s just brick and mortar, Ryker,” Landon growled. “It can be started up again somewhere—”

“And you’ve got family here.”

Ryker’s voice was grim and edged as his eyes burned into us. “You live here, you’re one of us. And up here, we protect our own. Shit, one of the first things you did here was help us protect one of our own.” He cleared his throat. “So, fuck Harry. Fuck his crew.”