Chapter Two

Both men burst into hoots of laughter.

“Jesus, darlin’.” Drake held the door for her and ushered her in. “You have a sassy mouth, huh?”

She smiled at him as Dux helped her take off her coat. “Sometimes.”

“And what do you do with that sweet mouth the rest of the time, when it ain’t sassing innocent old people?” Dux asked her. “Maybe it does nice things once in a while?”

Briley cocked her head at them, briefly taken aback. This wasn’t the first time that the twins had said something that felt really, really loaded… and despite the joking, teasing words, they also seemed to have a serious undertone, a current of sensuality. Like maybe the men were really asking; like maybe they were more than just flirting to pass the time as they all drove from Utah to New York, and now back west again.

Briley had been alone in the van with Dux and Drake for almost ten solid days, ever since the group of them had peeled away from The Garden of Divine Light, leaving Gideon dead on his back and his Guardians and women-servants keening and wailing. She still felt incredibly guilty about the women but she knew that Wolf Connor, President of The Road Devils MC, and Ice Johansson, the ice-cold blond beast who didn’t seem to possess a single emotion, were staying on top of things.

It seemed that they had contact with someone in law enforcement – someone high up, maybe as high as the FBI – who was paying attention to the cult and its activities. Briley was nothing but shocked that that cocky little piss-ant Michael seemed to have abandoned the Garden completely and disappeared into the night, and that things had basically fallen apart in the wake of his escape. With no clear leader in their midst, the cult hierarchy seemed to have just crumbled, leaving a group of very confused people sitting amongst its rubble.

From what Dux and Drake had told her, it sounded like only a handful of Guardians were still on the loose: three had been killed in the assault on the compound, three had been arrested, and the remaining four had made a bee-line for New Mexico. As for the ten women, they’d been left behind in Utah to fend for themselves, and all Briley could think was that they were dead weight and would have slowed the men down as they fled the state.

She was totally sure that the four Guardians would simply regroup, recruit and rebuild; they’d just find a new Garden to grow. After all, Gideon had started his cult in the desert almost fifteen years ago and even when he’d moved to Utah, he’d kept the New Mexico facilities open and staffed. It made perfect sense that the Guardians had run there when everything had gone up in smoke and they were looking for safety and to start all over again.

It was still a source of great amusement for her that someone named ‘Ice’ was camped out in the wilds of sandy New Mexico at that exact moment, stealthily surveilling the Desert Bloom compound. It was because of his presence there that Wolf knew as much as he did – despite his glowering, terrifying size and unforgettable appearance, it seemed that Ice was, in real terms, one hell of a spy. The twins had told her to never, ever bet against Ice Johansson when it came to protecting the MC and its interests, and she was quickly learning to believe that.

“Well,” she said now, wrenching her mind away from a vivid image of the cold-as-ice Ice burrowing up to his neck and sweltering in a sand dune, peering through binoculars. “My mouth gets up to all kinds of things, boys.”

“Do tell,” Drake said. “In great detail.”

She leaned forward and watched those identical sets of eyes widen in anticipation. “My mouth… orders a Cobb salad and then goes to call its good friend Cheryl.” She sat back again and flashed them a grin.

“Awww,” Drake said, clearly heart-broken. “That was a bit of a let-down.”

“A bit?” his brother asked.

She stood up. “I really am going to check on Cheryl now, so would you guys please order for me? Salad and some green tea?”

“Yeah, sure, darlin’.” Drake smiled up at her, devastating her with those damn eye-crinkles. “Say hi to that sweet girl for us.”

Briley nodded and headed over to a quieter section of the restaurant, semi-hidden behind a wooden partition. For no reason whatsoever, she looked around before pressing the ‘1’ on the burner to speed-dial her friend. She knew that there was zero chance that Michael was lurking around the buffet, but still – the fact that nobody actually knew where that sick little fuck was did give her pause. She’d feel better when he rolled up to the Desert Bloom compound and Ice got eyes on him; it was just a matter of time before that happened, surely, because where else did Michael have to go?

Pushing down hard on the flutter of worry that moved in her chest whenever she thought about that pathetic, twisted man, Briley listened to the phone ring on the other end. She sent up a quick prayer that Cheryl was still doing OK in her new life in New York.

“Bee! How’s it going on the road?”

“Hey, Cee.” Briley relaxed immediately at Cheryl’s cheery tone. “It’s good. I mean, I doubt I’ll ever really get rid of the leg cramps, but such is life, huh?”

“Well, at least you have company as you travel… and said company is damn easy on the eyes.”