XANDER (The Caine Brothers Book 2) (10 page)

He had no idea how they’d make things work, but now that he had her he didn’t ever want to let her go. He didn’t think he could ever get enough of her smile, her laugh, her sense of humor, those sparkling gray eyes, and that body. He could spend a lifetime exploring it and never get tired of it.

The ride back to the hotel was way too short, and when they pulled into the parking lot it occurred to him he’d have to let her go, if only for a few hours. If nothing else, he had to deal with Prez, and there was the rest of his club, and rally events.

He parked the bike and they stood beside it holding hands like lovesick teenagers, unwilling to say goodbye.

“I’m going to catch up with the guys and see what they have planned for the day. You go check on Lily,” he said.

“I’ll see if I can find Prez so we can talk to him. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll be reasonable.”

“I don’t care about reasonable as long as we can agree on a truce.”

She smiled. “That’s more likely, but don’t hold your breath.”

“Call me later.”

She pulled her phone from her pocket, fiddled with it, then handed it to him. “I don’t have your number. Go ahead and add it.”

She’d started a contact profile for him, so he entered his number and handed it back to her. “Thanks,” she said. “Now expect all kinds of heart-and-emoticon-filled texts.”

He caught her hand and brought it to his lips and kissed her knuckles, then leaned in and kissed her lips. “I can’t wait. The guys will love it, too. They’ll torment me endlessly.”

Before she could respond, a huge hand grabbed Xander by the shoulder and spun him around. “Did you just kiss my sister?”

He caught a glimpse of the rabid face of Titan Buckner screwed up in anger before Titan’s other fist swung out of nowhere and smashed into his face.

Xander slid to the ground in a semi-conscious fog. It was like being smacked in the face with a sledgehammer.

“Back off, Troy,” Gracie said.

“What are you doing hanging out with that Huntsmen scum? You know what he did to your sister’s husband, don’t you? He almost killed him. Your family. And here you are with him. Did you fuck him? You let him touch you? I should kill him now.”

Gracie put herself between Xander and Titan. “You won’t lay a hand on him. He’s mine, not yours. What are you even doing here, anyway?”

“Prez and I have been looking for him and his sidekick.”

Xander’s vision cleared and he climbed to his feet, standing next to Gracie. He straightened his jacket and stretched his neck side to side. He didn’t get sucker-punched very often. It was embarrassing. “Well, you found me. What you want,
Troy
?” Xander asked.

Titan’s jaw muscles twitched. The disrespect of calling him by his real name irked him. Good.

“Payback.”

“For giving Hank a taste of his own medicine? I don’t think so. He got what he deserved. Let’s just hope he gets the message and keeps his hands to himself. Better yet, when he feels the urge to hit a helpless woman, he can come look me up. I’m happy to spar with him.”

“It’s none of your damn business.”

“It is, actually.”

“Oh, because you fucked my other sister you think you’re suddenly part of the family? Like you have a say, or something? I got news for you asshole, you got nothing. If Gracie feels like slumming, I guess I can’t stop her, but you’re just a piece of shit I owe an ass whipping to. Before the rally’s over, you’ll get it, too.”

Xander tried very hard not to launch himself at Titan and return the punch. It hadn’t escaped his attention that Gracie had called him hers, which aroused a certain pride, so out of respect for her he restrained himself. Barely.

“Reel it in, Troy,” Gracie said. “What are you doing here?”

Titan glared at Xander for a moment longer, reminding him of a heaving, pawing bull ready to charge. All he needed was the red flag. Titan finally snorted his disgust with Xander and turned his attention to Gracie.

“Lily called and asked about Bug,” Titan said. “Said she needed to talk to him.”

“And she told you where she was?” Gracie asked it like she meant to yell at Lily later for doing something so stupid. Xander agreed.

“I’m her brother, Gracie, not the enemy.”

Gracie made a derisive snort. “Sometimes they’re the same thing. You stay away from her, Troy. You and Prez both, and especially that asshole husband of hers.”

“She wouldn’t let me in her room, anyway. She told me to go away. She’d only talk to me on the phone.”

He actually sounded hurt. Jerk.

“Good for her, she’s finally learning.” Gracie said. “She needs to talk to Hank, but in a public place where she has some hope of staying safe. Neither of us trusts you guys.”

“What’s not to trust? For fuck’s sake, Grace. What bullshit have you been feeding her? She needs to go home to her husband.”

Xander sensed Gracie tense beside him, like a panther about to pounce. She sucked a long breath in through her nose and blew it out before she spoke again. Good girl. Not that he didn’t personally want to give Titan the attitude adjustment he needed, but fighting in the hotel parking lot probably wouldn’t do the trick.

“Where can we meet?” she asked, her teeth gritted.

“How about the bike show at noon. That public enough for you?” Titan spewed the words with disdain.

“That’ll do,” Gracie said. “Now please leave.”

Titan grunted, then spat at Xander’s feet. Gracie grabbed Xander’s hand and laced her fingers with his, holding him back. His other hand had rolled into a fist, but he kept his feet planted. There’d be plenty of time to give Titan a piece of his mind. And maybe a fist or two. Now, he needed to stay with Gracie and keep her safe.

After Titan roared out of the parking lot on his bike, Gracie deflated some.

“Shit,” she said. “I need to go talk to Lily. She’s pregnant, you know. She’s going to leave Hank, but she wants to tell him in a public place where she thinks he won’t cause a scene, then she’ll probably come live with me.”

Xander’s blood boiled to think that not only had Hank beat his wife like he had, but he’d beat his pregnant wife. He should have let Dude kill him.

“You really think you can keep her safe?”

“What are my choices? I don’t want to leave her alone. She’ll end up having a weak moment and go running back to Hank. I want to keep her close so she can start a new life. And I was thinking Florida would be sufficiently far away she would be tempted to go back to him, assuming she’d even go with me to Florida. But now with things between you and me, I don’t know what I’m going to do about Florida.”

Xander didn’t like the idea of her moving to Florida. It was practically halfway across the country. He wanted her with him. Selfish? Sure. But she sounded like that’s where she wanted to be, too. There had to be other jobs in Texas—preferably Houston—for a photographer.

“The Huntsmen can protect her,” Xander offered. “We’ll find a safe house for the two of you in Houston. Keep an eye on you both. Even Prez would think twice about taking on the whole club.”

She smiled. “You just want to keep me close.”

The bulk of his anger faded looking into her face. “Can you blame me?”

“Not at all. I want that, too. I’ll talk to Lily about it.”

“Good.” He’d never admit, out loud anyway, how glad it made him that she’d probably stay in Texas. Hopefully Houston.

He kissed her again and walked her into the lobby, to the elevator, up to her floor, and to her door. When she opened the door, her sister stood on the other side. Lily looked surprised to see Xander, but when she did, she pushed her way past Gracie to stand in front of him.

“This is him?”

Gracie actually blushed. “Yeah.”

“You look familiar. Do I know you?” Lily asked.

“No,” Xander said. He’d seen her before at biker events, and he’d visited her in the hospital after she’d been beaten, and after they’d received the anonymous request, but she’d been asleep so he didn’t think she’d remember him. But maybe she did. Otherwise, they’d never met.

“Well, you have good taste, anyway,” she said to Gracie. To Xander she said, “if you hurt her, I’ll hunt you down, biker or not.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Xander said. He wondered how she could let Hank use her as a punching bag, but get her hackles up at the thought of a threat to her sister. He’d never understand the psychology of domestic violence.

“We need to talk, Lily,” Gracie said. “I’ll call you later, Xander.”

When she closed the door, it felt far too final. He missed her.

“Get a grip, Killer,” he said to himself, and headed for Dude’s room.

When Dude opened the door, he didn’t seem surprised to see Xander. “‘Bout time you showed up. You done rutting around for a while?”

They entered the room and Dude shut the door.

“Probably not, but I’m good for now.”

“Good, because Prez has been nosing around.”

Dude stretched out on the bed, lacing his hands behind his head. Xander took the armchair.

“He came here?” Xander asked.

“Yeah. Chico ran into him in the lobby. Told him to beat it or he’d bring all the Huntsmen down on him.”

“I just ran into Titan in the parking lot.”

It made sense that if Lily told Titan where she was, he’d bring Prez with him. Good thing Xander hadn’t run into Prez in the lobby, or anywhere else. Prez wouldn’t have held back.

“What happened?” Dude asked.

“He hit me, but out of respect for Pixie, I didn’t deal with him there.”

“I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to avoid a rumble while we’re here. Not that I want to. I love a good fight. But Mel wants to keep the peace. I don’t think Prez cares about that anymore. He’s on the warpath,” Dude said.

“Shit. We should probably talk to Mel. Maybe he can talk some sense into Prez.”

“He’s got a suite on the other side of the building,” Dude said. He scooted off the bed. “But I think he’s at the bike show, helping some of the guys set up.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

When they reached the bike show, it was still mid-morning, so the bulk of the crowd had yet to arrive. Xander and Dude parked on the street outside the park where the show would take place. They found Mel with Chico, Tater, and Wrench working on setup and tinkering with Tater’s bike.

“Where have you been?” Mel asked when he saw Xander.

“Long story.”

“You’re going to need to fill me in. Chico said he ran into Prez this morning, and Prez wasn’t happy. I told you guys, no drama with the Ravagers.”

“It might be easier if Killer weren’t fucking Prez’s daughter,” Dude offered.

Xander shot him a ‘thanks a lot for throwing me under the bus’ look. Dude just shrugged. “He’s pissed at us for hurting Hank,” Xander said. Prez couldn’t have known about him and Pixie when he’d gone sniffing around at the hotel.

Mel’s lips thinned to an angry line. “You’re sleeping with Lily? No wonder Prez is pissed. First you fuck his daughter, then you take the commission to beat up her husband.”

“The other daughter,” Xander said. Why would he be so stupid as to sleep with Lily?

“Grace?”

“Yeah.”

Mel’s entire demeanor changed. He looked surprised and maybe a little pained. Or melancholy. “I didn’t know she was back in Houston. She left years ago.”

“She’s back. She came to help Lily leave Hank. Lily’s pregnant, by the way,” Xander said.

“What the fuck?” Dude said. Full of loathing and disbelief, his voice soared an octave. “That piece of shit beat his pregnant wife? I’m gonna kill him.”

Mel put a steadying hand on Dude’s arm, though Mel’s face had turned hard, too. “Peace, Dude. We already did what we were asked to do—and can get away with. If Lily plans to leave Bug, that’s better than anything else we could do.”

“What is with you and Prez?” Dude asked. “Why are you so determined to keep peace with him? He’s a piece of shit. Why would you care? He’s a criminal. And an asshole.”

Everyone froze, half waiting for an answer—because the feud was an ongoing mystery to everyone—and half waiting to see what Mel would say about Dude’s attitude. Their little bubble of quiet was only broken by Wrench’s wrench work, and the buzz of others in the park prepping for the show.

“Better let it drop, man,” Tater said, voicing what everyone else was thinking.

Mel operated on a pretty even keel, and like Xander, he had a long fuse, but there were stories. Legend type of stories. They all hinted at a wild, violent, drug-laden past; a past that Mel never talked about, but because his reputation pretty much scared the shit out of everyone, nobody asked.

Xander figured it was Mel’s business and if he wanted to talk about it, he would. Because he was a fair, honorable leader to the club, Xander respected the guy’s privacy. It wasn’t like everyone else in the club didn’t have dirty laundry. The unspoken rule was, you don’t ask about my past, I won’t ask about yours and we’ll get along just fine.

Dude stood taller, because he’d already put his foot in his mouth and he wasn’t one to back down. He’d take whatever came his way. The hint of a smirk ghosted Mel’s lips in response, then disappeared.

“Details aren’t important, only that it was my fault so I’ll keep the peace at any cost,” Mel said.

“You know Titan and Prez are after us,” Dude said. “He wants our hides. I’m not just gonna sit on my thumbs and let them take me down. I’ll defend myself it they come after me.”

Xander agreed. No way he’d let the Ravagers beat him down over Mel’s mistakes, no matter how loyal he was to the club.

“If they throw the first punch, you can defend yourselves,” Mel said. “But that’s all.”

“So you think Prez sees Bug’s beating as breaking your truce?” Chico asked.

“Probably,” Mel said. “But it’s also our job to help people who need it.”

“If anyone needs it, it’s Lily,” Xander said.

Mel nodded. “She does.”

“She’s going to meet with Hank at noon, here at the show,” Xander said. “It could get ugly. Gracie says Lily plans to leave Hank, and she’s doing it in a public way.”

“Well, shit, whose genius idea was that?” Dude asked.

“Aw, man, that’s fucked up,” Tater said. “I mean, sure, she needs to leave him, but in public, at a rally?”