Dauntless (Sons of Templar MC) by Anne Malcom Page B

the word, in order to make sure the biker searing me with his gaze wouldn’t cotton onto the ugly truth—“I’ve obviously been missed. My ass is the only reason that place makes anything. That and my boobs.”
    My two greatest assets, as Carlos himself had stated. All I had. And they were melting away with the weight.
    “So you’re going back?” Even Lily couldn’t hide the judgment in her tone.
    I had been about to reassure her that even I wasn’t that stupid when someone beat me to it.
    “She’s not fuckin’ setting a toe in that shithole’s direction,” Lucky growled, his cold stare intent on me.
    The moment he spoke for me, took away my choices and control for himself, was the second my back went up. “I am,” I snapped. Of course I wasn’t going back, but the very fact that he thought it was his decision to make made me want to do it just to make sure I was in control.
    He tried to stare me down but that time my resolve was rock solid.
    Lucky sighed and shook his head. “You wanna take your clothes off, show the world that sweet ass, you’ll be doing it at our club. Where I can keep a fuckin’ eye on that ass,” he declared. “And where no one puts a hand on you, trying to sell that ass,” he added roughly.
    I scowled at him, searching for an argument where none existed. I could go back to the club where drugs were aplenty and the boss had me beaten up to try and get me into prostitution, or I could work for a club that had zero tolerance for drugs and were well known to pay the girls well and treat them with respect.
    It was an opportunity to try and wrench myself out of the hole I was in. Only I wouldn’t be doing the wrenching. Someone else would be doing it for me. The chains would tighten and I’d be even less likely to release myself.
    So I had the opportunity for redemption. The only price was my pride.
    “It’s a good idea,” Lily said gently. She knew what this was for me, knew my past and how I had just been tossed about by fate, unable to grasp the reins.
    She had my best interests at heart, yet I still couldn’t wipe the glare from my face.
    All I wanted was escape. From all of this.
    But that was the easy way out. I needed to learn that escape was not an option. Not anymore.
    “You won’t be swinging your ass around any pole until you’re better. What’s wrong with you? Have you been to the doctor?” He mirrored his earlier concern, that time seeming more intent on getting an answer.
    I would rather die than have this moment drenched even more in the shame that came with the truth.
    “I’m fine,” I lied.
    He scowled at me. “Bitches around here need to stop saying they’re fine when they’re obviously not. Every man worth his salt knows that if uttered by a woman, the word ‘fine’ could signify a fuckin’ apocalypse,” he muttered.
    My blood reached the boiling point at his words, Rosie and Lily sending death glares his way as well.
    He held his hands up in surrender.
    “We haven’t seen the last of them,” Asher stated, ushering the conversation back to the more pressing matter before I could do something like scream in frustration. “Carlos knows you’re my old lady. For him to authorize this, for them to do that with my bike in the parking lot…?” He paused, his face grim. “They’re not fuckin’ around.”
    “If what they said to me was anything to go by, they most certainly are not,” Lily muttered.
    I went stock-still at her words.
    “What exactly did they say?” Asher asked slowly.
    “That we haven’t seen the last of them,” she lied. She was a totally crappy liar. I needed to give her lessons.
    “Don’t get cute, flower. Now is not the time. What specifically did they say?” Asher commanded.
    “Not something I’d care to repeat,” she said.
    I swallowed my smile. Lily was holding her own with the alpha biker. If it weren’t in this particular context, I’d be high-fiving her. But this wasn’t a moment to exert her newfound