Ryder: MC Biker Romance (Great Wolves Motorcycle Club Book 8) by Jayne Blue Page A

line he’d not crossed since I was a kid. He was willing to hurt me too.
How much I didn’t know. But enough.
    “You made this
bed. I set you up the young good looking one. Now you’re going to sleep with
the old wrinkly one. Turns out you did me a favor, though. Judge Wexler has
more power and influence. And probably a limp dick so you’re welcome.” Daddy
was like a jungle cat. He stalked around me. He pounced. He enjoyed toying with
me. I was the mouse, and he was batting me around with his claws.
    Daddy was behaving
as cruel as I knew him to be.
    “I have
conditions.” That stopped his prowling around our living room.
    “Conditions?”
    “Yes. You may kill
everyone I ever looked at but if I don’t cooperate, even The Judge won’t want
me. I guarantee it.”
    “I wouldn’t test
that little theory of yours.”
    “I want to run my
own business.”
    Daddy rolled his
eyes at me.
    “I’m serious. I’ll
play nice with The Judge. With the club. Whatever. But I want to run my jewelry
design business. And you’re going to give me the money to start it.”
    “You aren’t really
in a position to make demands.”
    “And I want it legal,
I want to have my own company, and I’ll marry The Judge with a smile on my
face.”
    “Fine. Do your job
for The Hawks and you can design all the bling you want to.”
    “I want a lawyer
to draw it up too. A real company that’s mine.”
    Daddy stepped in
close to me and cupped my face in his hands.
    “Okay, you can do
the business; I’ll let you draw up the papers. You’re a good girl. No more
running. You’ll be safe with The Judge and here in Southwood.” And then he
pulled me in for a hug.
    He smelled like
cigarettes. As always. It was the smell of my childhood. Cigarettes, leather,
and intimidation. I wanted Daddy’s approval, and I had never got it.
    Daddy did love me.
In his way. The way he’d loved my mother. As a thing, a possession that could
help him and the club. I was an object or a pet to be used how he wanted.
    He did want me
safe. That was something. And maybe he even wanted me a little bit happy. Maybe
not.
    In the end, he let me get Julery going because I would
be less likely to run if I had something to keep me occupied. Something to keep
me distracted.
    Something to do
while Judge Wexler and Daddy kept me in Southwood so that the Devil’s Hawks and
Daddy could break any law he wanted.
    I thought about
Violet, Ryder, even Ross, who had lost two fingers thanks to me bolting.
    I was willing to
run to save myself, but I couldn’t live with myself if my running got anyone
else hurt.
    I would stay put.
I would marry Judge Wexler.
    I’d never see
Ryder again.
    But I would have
my designs. My business.
    It wasn’t enough
to warm my heart back up, but at least it would keep beating with something I
could call my own.
    Even if it wasn’t
love.

Chapter Eleven
     
    Ryder
     
    The club set up
would work. They had a small bar that pretty much only their MC used. Not like
the Great Wolves in other cities that had turned their bars into money makers.
This place was cigarette smoke, pool tables, and a club trying to hold
together. It was a few blocks away from the space they were using to set up
their attempt at an auto body shop.
    Maybe Ridge and I
really could help them. The President of their probational charter was a young
guy, Cruz. There was a lot of shit on his shoulders, and I felt for him.
Sometimes I forgot how hard it was in the beginning. When we first tried to
transition from outlaws. We felt poor, caged, and we fought.
    But we were tired
of running and tired of dying. It wasn’t until we started earning money and
respect in Grand City that it got a little easier. That took years, and we lost
brothers to the process. We also had Sawyer lead us. That was key. There
weren’t many Sawyers.
    All that would be
on Cruz. He had to be a tough son of a bitch to make it work. He also had to
command respect. He was caramel skinned and black haired, and