Lynch's Rule (Ruthless Sinners MC 9)

I didn’t want to end up like my mother—a life lost before truly living. For a short time, I was crippled with dread, causing me to become depressed and shut down. I’d stopped doing the things I normally did and locked myself away in my room, avoiding my friends and family—but thankfully, that phase didn’t last long.

I didn’t want to spend what was left of my life paralyzed in fear.

I wanted to see things. Do things.

I wanted to experience all life had to offer—I wanted to feel alive.

So, I started a bucket list of everything I planned to do before something happened to me. I started simple: trying new makeup, changing my hair color, or going to a concert in the park. But as time went on, my list grew and included more adventurous things like ski diving and base jumping.

Sadly, the base-jumping experience hadn’t turned out as well as I’d hoped.

I had no idea how much time had passed when I turned to Haleigh and whispered, “I truly am sorry about all this.”

“I know, but don’t beat yourself up over it. I could’ve told you no.” She looked over at me and smiled. “And as much as I hate to admit it, you were kind of right. Tonight was pretty awesome.”

“Yeah, it really was.”

“How mad do you think our folks are gonna be?”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure my dad’s gonna kill me. Mom, too.” I let out a deep breath. “He pretty much lost it the night we were caught racing with the frat guys.”

“Yeah, and the cops just gave us both a warning that night.” She leaned her head back against the concrete wall and groaned. “We are so screwed.”

“Definitely.”

I was imagining my father’s long lecture after calling him to come bail us out when an officer appeared and announced, “Raelyn Thomas and Haleigh Morris.”

“Yeah, that’s us.”

“Time to go.”

“What?”

The guard unlocked the cell door and eased it open. “Your bail has been paid.”

“But how? No one knows we’re here.”

“Well, apparently somebody does.” Raising a brow, he snapped, “You two coming, or do you want to spend a few more hours in here?”

“We’re coming! We’re coming!” I answered while we rushed towards the door.

As we stepped into the hall, Haleigh turned to me and asked, “You think it was one of the guys we were jumping with tonight?”

“I have no idea.” I shrugged. “But I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

LYNCH

“Are we thinking this was a hit or what?”

“Right now, we don’t know anything for certain. There’ve been several strip clubs in the area that’ve run into trouble with radical groups trying to shut them down, but it’s all been trivial bullshit. Nothing like this.” There was no missing the concern in Viper’s voice as he told us all, “Menace has been going over tonight’s security camera footage to see if he can come up with anything, but so far, he hasn’t had any luck.”

Country stepped forward and asked, “So, the whole thing with the fireman and the electrical box was you?”

“I didn’t want the fucking cops involved any more than they already were, so I called in a favor.” He shook his head. “That means we’re on our own with figuring out what the hell happened and finding out who was involved.”

“It’s all well and good,” Country replied. “We’ll come up with an answer a lot faster than the cops will, and we don’t need their asses snooping around the club anyway.”

“Exactly.”

“So, what’s our next move?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing?” Widow barked. “We gotta get this place back up and running.”

“Our hands are tied, brother.” Viper shook his head in defeat. “We’ve still got the marshal coming in to check things over, and I gotta contend with all the insurance bullshit.”

“How long’s that gonna take?”

“No idea. I’ve already put in a call to Marco, and he and his boys will be here in the morning to give us an estimate on fixing everything. He doesn’t fuck around, so we should be back up and running in a couple of weeks at most.”

“This whole thing is a fucking mess.”

“Yeah, and it’s about to get a whole lot messier.” Viper’s tone grew daunting as he added, “I got a feeling this is more than some holy roller trying to make a point.”

“Don’t worry, Prez.” Hawk tried to ease Viper’s mind as he told him, “As soon as we find out who’s behind it, there’s gonna be hell to pay.”

“Agreed.” Axel, the Sinners’ VP, looked just as frustrated as the rest of us as he glanced around at all the damage. “We just gotta figure out who’d have the fuckin’ balls to pull a stunt like this.”

“Oh, we will. You can count on that,” Viper assured him. “But it’s going to take some time. For now, we need a couple of you to hang here with the prospects and make sure no one fucks with anything. We can rotate shifts until Marco puts up a new barrier wall.”