Page 13

Sugar

Six months later

“A nd I promise to ride you more than my bike,” Scorpio says as he kisses me.

A holler goes up from the rest of the club, and the entire Vegas chapter of the Saint’s Outlaws—who’re all gathered in the little chapel on the Strip.

Elvis nods and gyrates in only that way that an overweight Presley impersonator can.

I toss my bouquet and wait to see where it lands, but the smallest movement of Zeus’s throat bobbing as he swallows catches my eye from mere feet away, and the flowers are forgotten.

He claps with the rest of the club, but his eyes never leave mine the entire time, and they’re not full of pride or happiness, they’re black as death, and just as empty.

He approaches the dais, swarming us along with the rest of the club, and everyone pulls us into hugs.

Zeus’s arms wrap around me, and he squeezes tight enough to lift me off my feet.

My breasts ache with the pressure and as he buries his head in my neck for the space of a heartbeat, I understand what a colossal mistake I’ve made.

“Congratulations, darlin’.” His voice is thick with sadness, with longing.

That can’t be right. He doesn’t feel that way about me.

I mean, I’ve seen the way he looks at me, but it’s the way any of the hot-blooded club brothers look at anyone with a pussy, like he wants to own it, conquer it, make it his and only his.

But Zeus had plenty of time, an overabundance of opportunity, and never made a move.

I would have been his, a million times over.

If he’d asked, I would have made him my whole world, but he never said a fucking word.

I pull away, just an inch, so I can read his expression as I look up into those dark eyes, but the moment is stolen from us, like it always is.

“Jesus, brother, quit pawing at my wife.”

That word hangs heavy between us, suddenly the cheap ring on my finger and the scratchy veil on my head are a little too heavy a sentence.

I laugh, but there’s no humor in it. My skin prickles under the leather jacket, and the clip holding my veil in place digs into my scalp as Scorpio throws his arm around me, the weight on my shoulders pulling at the wretched tulle.

“Can you blame me when she looks like that?” Zeus offers his hand and Scorpio steps away from me to shake it. The two men embrace with enthusiastic pats on the back that are entirely too audible.

“I guess not.” Scorpio turns and grins, but I’m quickly swallowed up by the rest of his brothers lifting me into solid hugs that squeeze all the air from my lungs.

Not a single one hangs onto me the way Zeus did.

I’m still trying to figure out what that means when I’m lifted up and carried down the aisle to Elvis’s crooning, “Love Me Tender”, along with a little old lady playing the electric organ to send us off.

In the foyer, the revelry stops abruptly as we come face to face with a rival MC, the Heathens.

I’m quickly set on my feet and shoved behind Razor, the club’s Enforcer.

For a heartbeat, everyone just looks at one another, Outlaws and Heathens alike, and then Scorpio reaches for his gun, fires three bullets at the Heathen’s President, and all hell breaks loose.

The brothers around me swarm forward and I’m caught up in the fray, surging toward an enemy I have no place fighting.

I married Scorpio for the power, for the club’s protection because I was tired of being weak, and here I am on my wedding day, fodder for their war.

One second, I’m crushed in the violence, and then I’m shoved back against the wall, cowering in my wedding dress as the spray from a fallen body mists the pristine silk.

I can’t move. All I can do is cower against the wall and catalog the swinging fists and flying bullets.

Scorpio’s eye splits open as he headbutts the Heathen’s President.

All around is violence and bloodshed and then a hand wraps around my wrist. I scream, but Zeus’s dark eyes meet mine as he tugs me toward him. “I got you, darlin’.”

Scorpio’s head whips around to me and he shouts, “Get her outta here!”

“Already on it,” Zeus replies, and pulls me toward the chapel we just exited. He leads me down the aisle and across the dais. Elvis protests, the organ lady does too, but when they see the commotion through the double doors, they make a beeline for the foyer.

“There another way outta here?” Zeus shouts.

“Through the back, honey,” the little old lady pulls a shotgun from under her organ and cocks it.

Zeus pushes past the gauzy curtains blocking off the altar from the back room, and then we’re out on the street. He turns me to face him and checks me over. His browbone is bleeding from a vicious gash. I raise my hands to it, but he flinches and pulls away.

He heads to a line of bikes that don’t belong to us. With a vicious shove, he pushes over the first and they all fall like dominos in a screeching crash of iron and chrome. I yank off my veil, but there isn’t time to grab my helmet from Scorpio’s bike.

“Get on,” Zeus barks as he mounts his ride.

I throw my leg over the back and wrap my arms around his waist. He revs the engine, and we take off at breakneck speed.

I lay my head against Zeus’s back and watch the lights on the strip whiz by as we weave in and out of traffic.

I realize I’m still clutching my veil in my hand, and I loosen my grip on it, but Zeus takes his hand from the handlebars and catches it up firmly clasping my fist around it.

I don’t care about my veil. I care that he almost died in there.

I care that my husband might, that he and any of the other brothers may already be dead. That we might be next.

Adrenalin thrums through my veins. Zeus’s heartbeat under my palm echoes my own and as terrified as I am right now, for a fraction of a second, I let myself believe that Zeus is whisking me away, not because my crazy husband started a brawl on our wedding night, but because Zeus wanted me enough to risk everything.

What would it be like to be truly free? To run away with Zeus and never look back?

Jesus, Sugar . Your husband could be lying in a pool of his own blood and you’re dreaming of running away with his brother? What the fuck is wrong with me ?

Before long, we’ve left the Strip and the lights of the city behind, and were pulling into the vacant lot of the Saint’s Outlaws MC Vegas clubhouse. Their Prez has been kind enough to host our wedding reception, but instead of all-night celebration, we’ve brought nothing but trouble to their door.

Zeus parks out front and cuts the engine.

The lights are on inside, and music blares from the speakers, but out here it’s dark and quiet enough to hear the sharp cries of the coyotes in the biting Vegas night, and I refuse to let go of Zeus.

His hand rests on top of mine, toying with the tattered veil.

As his thumb smooths the inside of my wrist. He flips the kickstand down and neither of us say a word, and then a beat later, he’s pushing me off as he slides off the bike, careful to avoid kicking me in the face.

On shaking legs, I climb off too and stalk after him. “Hey. You need someone to tend to your head.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re gushing.”

Zeus stops dead in his tracks, but he doesn't turn around. “Don’t test me tonight, darlin’?”

“Why tonight?” I whisper.

He turns and strides toward me, his heavy boots don’t stop until they’re toe to toe with my white satin pumps. “Because you could have fuckin’ died in there. Hell, my brothers could all be dead, and I left them. Without a second thought, I left them for dead ... I left them for you.”

“Scorpio told you to.”

“I would have done it even if he hadn’t. I would have done it anyway.” He shakes his head. “Fuck. All I can think about is putting you back on my bike and riding the fuck out of here, riding away with you and never coming back.”

Oh god . Can Zeus read minds now? We are so fucked. “What are you saying?”

“As if you don’t fuckin’ know,” he says, and then he leans in to kiss me.

Soft lips meet mine, they tease, tender and tentative.

For a heartbeat, I don’t kiss him back. I’m too stunned, but his big, calloused hand wraps tenderly around my throat, sending shivers down my spine.

He groans into my mouth, his tongue seeking, searching my heat as it massages my own, and I lose my ever-loving mind because Zeus is kissing me.

Zeus who has killed for me. Zeus who has protected me since the first time we met.

Zeus who is my husband’s brother, flesh and blood—his VP—is kissing me on my wedding night, and all I want is to strip myself bare and give myself to him completely.

He pulls away, his hot breath washing over my face as he cups my head in his hands and presses his forehead to mine.

I pant hard as I look up into those eyes that I’ve been lost in since the day we met. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Fuck that,” he whispers. “I should have done that a year ago.”

“He’ll kill us.”

He swallows audibly and nods. “He will.”

I take a step back. “Oh god. What have we done?”

“It wasn’t your fault. I’ll go to ground for you if I need to, babe.

But none of this is on you. He’ll never know,” he whispers, but we both know that’s not true.

Scorpio knows everything and he’ll find this out too.

It’s only a matter of time. I glance toward the clubhouse door, thank god there are no windows, just like in Louisiana.

But that doesn’t mean that someone didn’t see.

The roar of motorcycles in the distance fills the empty desert and I shiver, despite the adrenalin rushing through me.

“You best get inside and get cleaned up before he sees I’ve bled all over you and has questions we can’t answer.”

I frown and press my hand to my forehead.

It comes away sticky and as I glance down at my white dress ruined with blood, tears spring to my eyes and my whole body trembles.

My legs are practically noodles as I sink to my knees in the rocky desert soil because I don’t think I can keep myself upright any longer.

I just married a man I don’t love. Not completely.

I can’t give him my heart because it belongs to someone else, and now we’re all well and truly fucked.

“Come on, darlin’.” Zeus crouches down in front of me, tilting my chin up so I’ll look at him.

“You’re the Prez’s ol’ lady now. That means you’re our fucking queen, and no queen of mine is gonna fall apart in front of the club whores and every other hang around in this place.

If you show them the slightest weakness, they’ll eat you alive. ”

“I should never have said yes.”

“Little late for that now,” he says and stands, pulling me to my feet. “Dry your tears and be the badass bitch I fell in love with.”

I suck in a sharp breath, because how can he say that so calmly after I just married his brother? “Zeus ...”

“I know. I shouldn’t say it. I shouldn’t feel it, but I fuckin’ do, babe. And I know you do too. I’ve known it since I killed Jimmy. Ain’t nothing we can do about it now.”

“I-I love you too. I don’t know where that leaves us.”

“It leaves you married to my Prez, my brother, and both of us unable to do a fucking thing about it.”

A sob tears free of my throat.

Zeus reaches out to cup my face. “Meant what I said before, darlin’. It’s time to push all that shit down and adjust your fucking crown.”

I sniff and straighten my spine as the Vegas chapter of the Outlaws pulls into the lot, followed closely by Scorpio and the rest of the New Orleans chapter.

Scorpio doesn’t bother parking in a uniformed line like the rest of the brothers.

Instead, he flips the kickstand down, yanks off his helmet, and stalks toward me.

His eyes catalog my entire body and then he pulls me into him and squeezes me so tight I’m afraid he’ll break my ribs.

“I was so fucking scared,” I whisper, because I don’t know how to deal with everything Zeus just told me, the kiss, or the fact that I saw men gunned down in front of me.

“You’re shaking.”

“She’s in shock. Not everyone gets to experience a shootout on your wedding day.”

Scorpio releases me and slaps Zeus on the back. “Thank you, brother.”

“Couldn’t have you lose your wife the same day you married her.”

“My fucking wife,” Scorpio says as if he can’t quite believe it. I can’t either. What have I done ? “Jesus. You look like a fucking dream covered in another man’s blood.”

My heart skitters and skips a beat. I am covered in blood ... on my fucking wedding night . My hands tremble as I wipe at the crusted blood from my forehead. “I need a fucking drink.”

“Hell yes, you do. It’s a celebration after all!” Scorpio shouts and the rest of the club holler in approval.

“How many did we lose?” Zeus asks.

Scorpio glares at his VP. “We’re down a prospect.”

“Who?”

“Noble.” Scorpio shoots Zeus a look that says he’d rather be discussing anything else. “Dirty and Riot are seeing a local doc along with some of the Vegas brothers.”

“Jesus, Scorpio.” Zeus shakes his head.

“Oh my god. Noble is dead?” I ask. “And what happened to Dirty and Riot?”

“Club business, sweet cheeks.” Scorpio turns to Zeus. “We’re gonna talk about this later. For now, I’m gonna get my wife that drink she needs.”

As Scorpio pulls metoward the clubhouse, I glance over my shoulder at Zeus. His eyes are black with anger.I’m not sure if the rage is because we lost people in the shoot-out or the fact that his brother keeps calling me his wife.