Survivor: Steel Jockeys MC by Evelyn Glass

literally, to the inside of her. To know how that smooth ivory skin of his would feel when there was nothing protecting her from his touch. Without thinking, she collapsed in further, as if he could be strong enough to bear all the weight she carried. His breath was soft on the side of her face, a little ragged, as if the exchange had taken more out of him than he was willing to let show.
     
    She couldn't believe she was here, taking shelter in the arms of a young man that, this morning, had been nothing to her, a stranger. Less than a stranger, for he represented everything wrong with her world, everything she'd been trying to outrun. If he was so dangerous, if he was wicked to the core, she thought, then why, why did this feel so right?
     
    She was silent for a long moment. "Don't," she whispered, a hiccup in her voice. "Don't let me down, Joseph Ryan. Don't you dare let me down. Promise me."
     
    His full lips brushed her ear, fierce, intense, and honest. And he promised.

CHAPTER TWELVE
     
    "Is this what they're giving out as party favors now in the county lockup?" Sean Donovan asked, looking Ruby up and down like a trophy. "If it is, I might have to go out and bash in a few mailboxes."
     
    "Nah," said Joe, brushing some of his hair aside to show him the scabbed-over gash on the side of his face. "Still the standard lovely parting gift."
     
    Ruby, standing as close to the doorway as she could, had noticed the mark earlier, though she’d thought it was maybe just a trick of sunlight. But no, someone had aimed for him and connected, though perhaps not as strongly as they’d wished. It marred the side of his otherwise-perfect face. But now, Sean’s comment had filled in some of the blanks for her: he’d been in jail, at least briefly. And if so, for what? She was going to have to find out, even if it meant a frank question or two. He hadn't exactly lied to her, but he hadn't been entirely honest either when he'd told her, in their brief conversation between the gas station and Fresno, that he'd gotten into a fight.
     
    The skinny blonde female bartender at Cat’s Bar, whom Ruby hadn’t noticed at first, jumped up to give Joe a brief hug and, she thought, a kiss on the cheek. Ruby wondered how close they were exactly.
     
    Sean, for his part, wasn't at all the way Ruby had pictured him. Then again, Joe wasn't at all what she had pictured, either, when she had imagined a Steel Jockey. She'd never paused to think that Kyle may not have been unique among the Steel Jockeys--young, athletic, good-looking. She was coming to the realization that there were others like him, who had likely gravitated to the motorcycle club for the same reasons he had.
     
    Sean was older than Joe, closer to his late twenties and the age Kyle would be if he had lived. He had even longer hair than Joe. Black and wavy, with cutting blue eyes and broad shoulders he had the habit of hunching as he stuck his hands in the pockets of his dark-washed jeans. He walked and spoke like everyone, including himself, knew he was the shit.
     
    In that way, he reminded Ruby of Fox, and after what Joe had told her, she didn't know whether that was a good thing or not anymore. She knew she would have to keep one eye open whenever he was around. Joe was looking at Sean now. The other members of his chapter, who grouped around the bar, grunted as they hung on his every word. Even the bartender, who wore a black midriff-baring top under her pink hoodie, looked up from the shot glasses she was drying to periodically giggle at his jokes.
     
    M.C. girls seemed to know their place, Ruby thought as she perched on the edge of chair that Joe had pulled out for her. She nervously observed how the neon signs bathed her skin in orange. They knew who was in charge. Another reason why she wouldn't fit in here, and she was already beginning to worry that the bartender, who’d introduced herself as Desiree, might be feeling resentful of her sudden presence. Clearly, she was