Lynch's Rule (Ruthless Sinners MC 9)

“Mainly crappie, but to be completely honest, I wasn’t as interested in fishing as I was in riding Dad’s bass boat. That thing would fly!”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised.” He chuckled briefly, then asked, “Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?”

“No, I can’t say that I have.”

“Well, I’ll take you some time. I have a feeling you’ll be a natural.”

I liked the idea of Lynch taking me on a ride.

I liked it a lot.

That was the moment I realized I was hoping for something more than a quick fling with a dangerous, sexy biker. I liked him way more than I thought possible and wasn’t prepared for those feelings.

I hadn't been looking to get involved with anyone. I knew what my future held and didn’t see any reason to start something I couldn’t finish.

But here I was with this electrifying, hopeful, tingly feeling in the pit of my stomach, and it terrified me. I suddenly froze. I couldn’t think or speak but only sit there and stare back at him.

After several moments, Lynch reached over and placed his hand on mine. “You okay?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta go.”

“Whoa, what?”

“I’ve gotta go.” I stood up as I told him, “Thanks for dinner and everything. It was great, but I, um, I just can’t.”

“You can’t what?” he pushed.

I motioned my hand between us. “This.”

Without any further explanation, I darted towards the entrance.

I could hear Lynch calling out for me to stop, but I ignored him and rushed out the front door. I never looked back as I raced through the parking lot and got into my car.

I had no idea if he was chasing after me.

A part of me hoped he was, which made me too scared to look, afraid I’d be disappointed if I didn’t see him rushing towards me. That unexplainable, unjustifiable fear had my heart pounding as I closed the car door and started the engine.

I whipped out of the parking lot and headed home. I thought putting some distance between us would make me feel better.

It didn’t.

Instead, I felt like I’d just made a terrible mistake.

LYNCH

“So, she just up and bolted?”

“Yep,” I grumbled as I followed Country into the clubhouse’s conference room. “Don’t have a clue what the fuck happened. One minute, we were eating dinner and talking, and then, bam, she got up and raced out of the restaurant.”

“Did you say something that freaked her out?”

“I wish I fucking knew.” I sat down at the table next to Rafe, then continued, “As far as I knew, things were going pretty good.”

“What are you two going on about?” Rafe asked.

Before I could answer, Country replied, “His date with the jailbird.”

“It didn’t go well?”

“Nope,” Country answered for me again. “She ditched him halfway through the date.”

Rafe looked genuinely concerned. “You really liked this girl, didn’t ya?”

“Yeah, I did.” I didn’t want to admit it, but I was pissed. I’d had a great time with Raelyn and honestly had no clue why things had gone south. Had I known, I wouldn’t have made such a fucking ass out of myself. Feeling frustrated, I ran my hand over my face. “It’s just the way things go.”

Before either of them could respond, Viper threw down the gavel and drew our attention to his end of the table. Our president sounded frustrated. “I’ve called church today to let you all know that we haven’t made any progress with the whole Stilettos situation, which makes this news even harder.”

“What news?” Shotgun asked.

“Someone broke into Jagger’s place last night.”

“What? When the fuck did that happen?”

“Around two-thirty this morning,” Jagger answered. “I was pretty out of it. I probably wouldn’t have even heard ’em if the neighbor’s dog hadn’t been carrying on like he was.”

“So, your alarm didn’t go off?”

“Nope.” Jagger shook his head. “Power was out on the whole damn street, and they cut the main security line to the house. I couldn’t see a damn thing. Still don’t know how I managed to get my hands on one of them.”

“Hold up.” Widow sounded both surprised and impressed. “You got one ’em?”

“Yeah, I tried getting him to tell me who the fuck he was and what he was doing at my place. When he wouldn’t talk, I brought him here. I figured Shotgun could get something out of him.”

“And he will,” Viper added with confidence.

Country immediately leaned forward and asked, “So, you think there’s a chance this has something to do with what happened at Stilettos?”

“As of right now, nothing indicates the two are even remotely connected, but there’s no evidence that it doesn’t either. We’re hoping Shotgun can get us the answers we need.”

“And until then?” I asked.

“We stay on high alert. Watch each other’s back and don’t take any unnecessary risks. And I want the job wrapped up at Stilettos,” Viper ordered. “The doors need to open this weekend.”