Resurrection (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 3) by Michelle Betham Page A

that?’
    ‘Yeah. ‘Cause I really want to get my arse thrown in jail for fucking my sister, right?’
    Coby raised an eyebrow. ‘Look out for her, by all means. That’s what we do here. But no bad-mouthing Ben, no trying to persuade her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. He’s one of us now, you got that? You don’t like it, tough. Deal with it. But he’s one of us, and he’s putting his life on the fucking line for this club.’
    Kip held his hands up in surrender. ‘Best behaviour, I promise.’
    ‘I’m being serious here, brother.’ Coby stood up, his dark eyes boring into Kip’s.
    ‘I can’t stop caring about her, can I? After everything she’s been through, I think she deserves a bit of security, and I’m just not sure…’
    ‘What the fuck have I just said, Kip? Keep your personal shit to yourself, OK?’
    Kip walked over to Coby, looking him right in the eye, his expression hard. Determined. ‘OK. Anything you say, Pres.’
    Coby stared him out, wanting to believe him. But he knew the way Kip still felt about Ben. He knew he didn’t trust him, didn’t think he was the man for Mia. But Coby didn’t have time to baby-sit his V.P. He was just going to have to hope Kip was as good as his word. ‘Go on. Get out of here.’
    Kip felt relief flood through him. He’d almost blown it there. Almost let his true feelings for Ben Salter come out in front of the one person he should be hiding them from. Because if Coby knew what he was planning to do he’d have him pulled from this job quicker than he could down a beer. But, despite Coby thinking he knew enough about Ben’s past to trust him, Kip knew he was right; he knew Ben was still hiding something. He knew that accepting Ben into the Lone Riders as anything other than their lawyer had been a dangerous move; a rash action. He needed to go. He needed to be out of Mia’s life. And Kip wouldn’t settle until his name was history in this compound.
    ‘You still here?’ Coby sighed, pushing his hair back off his face. ‘Go on. Out. I’ve got work to do.’
    ‘Listen, Coby… if all this works out, if we do actually find Shane…’
    ‘You know what happens, Kip. He has to pay for what he tried to do – for what he did .’
    ‘Yeah. Those are words I really wanted to hear from you, Coby.’
    Kip swung around to see Lexi standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest, her eyes cold. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ Kip directed that at Coby before making his escape. The last thing he wanted was to become involved in one of their domestics.
    ‘I’m not in the mood for a lecture, Lexi.’
    ‘Why can’t you just accept that he’s probably gone? That he might just have left America .’
    ‘Because we have no proof, Lex! We have nothing concrete, not a fucking thing that says he is no longer a threat. Don’t you understand that, darlin’? Don’t you care that this could be your safety in jeopardy here? The man is a fucking mess. He’s twisted, irrational… that is not a good mix, sweetheart. And if he thinks he can get to me through you…’
    ‘That isn’t gonna happen…’
    ‘How the hell do you know that? How, Lexi? How can you fucking know that?’
    ‘I don’t…’
    ‘Exactly. You don’t. So you go back to picking out wedding dresses and leave me to deal with this.’
    She stared at him, her eyes still cold, but he could match that. He wasn’t playing here. This was real, and this was happening.
    ‘You’re putting yourself at risk, Coby…’
    ‘And if I do nothing, you think the situation changes? You think by ignoring it it’ll all just go away? You really think it works like that?’
    ‘Don’t patronize me.’
    ‘Then stop talking crap. Look, the wedding isn’t that far away, and there’s still a heap of stuff to sort out so why don’t you and Angie head out for the day, go shopping…’
    ‘You’re doing it again.’
    ‘What?’ he sighed, leaning back against the table. He needed this to end now.