Ripper snorted.

“Yeah, it’s real fuckin’ deep. Try this on for a change,” he said, clearing his throat. “ ‘The land had changed. They hadn’t. The earth had cooled. They couldn’t.’ ”

“What does that even mean?”

“Means shit was changin’ all around them but they were stayin’ the same. Men who had a certain way of livin’, their own way of gettin’ shit done, wasn’t gonna fly anymore ’cause they were livin’ in a world full of pussies makin’ rules.”

“Kinda like the club,” I mused, thinking about my father and Mick, about Bucket and Freebird and their rants about society and living by their own rules, the code of the road and brotherhood.

And speaking of my father…

Before I could speak, Ripper was reaching behind him and hooking his arm around my neck. In one swift move, he’d reversed our positions and had me pinned underneath him.

“Smart girl,” he said softly, cupping my chin, tilting my head back as he moved in for a kiss.

“Wait,” I said, turning my head away from him.

“No,” he growled, biting down on my exposed neck.

I swatted at his head. “Yes!”

He lifted his head and scowled at me. “What the fuck, Danny, make it quick.”

“My dad’s gonna be back soon,” I said, dodging another kiss.

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to talk to him? Tell him about us?”

After spending so much time with Ripper, alone, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sneaking around the club just to be with him. I wanted to be with him everywhere and I wanted everyone to know it.

Ripper moved off of me and into a sitting position. I pushed myself up and reached for his arm.

“I ain’t gonna tell him shit,” he said, shrugging me off him.

I gaped at him.

“But why not?” I whispered.

“Why?” he bit out, his expression hard. “Because the club comes first, you fuckin’ know that. And shit between your old man and Eva is fucked-up, meanin’ your old man is fucked-up. I spill this shit between me and you to your old man, and shit’s gonna go bad real fuckin’ quick, for me, for you, and for the club.”

The club. The club comes first.

God, I’d heard it enough over the years and even if I hadn’t heard it I’d certainly felt it. My father had always spent more time at the club than at home. He’d almost never come to school functions and not once had he come to a game to watch me cheerleading or to a single gymnastics competition. His excuse? Club business.

“You said you loved me!” I yelled. “I should have known you were no better than him! Making me think you care about me, but really all you care about is your stupid club!”

Ripper shot to his feet, startling me. “STUPID CLUB?” he roared. “You got any fuckin’ idea what’s been feedin’ you all these years, what’s been keepin’ you rollin’ in all that stupid pink shit you’re always wearin’?”

My mouth fell open.

“Yeah, bitch, that’d be the club you been livin’ the good life off of.”

I jumped to my feet, furious. “I hate it when you call me a bitch! And if you consider having a drunk for a mother and a father who was never home, who prefers hanging out with Cage over me, living the good life, then you have a seriously messed up view of what the good life is!”

“This ain’t about your cunt of a mother or your old man or your brother. This is about me and you and the club. You bein’ in my fuckin’ bed means you’re my old lady and you bein’ my old lady, you tellin’ me you fuckin’ love me, means you’re lovin’ the club too. And right now, lovin’ the club means we ain’t tellin’ your old man jack shit.”

“Then maybe I don’t want to be your old lady,” I snapped.

“Stop actin’ stupid, Danny. You don’t get to decide that. I do. So wise the fuck up and get rid of whatever crawled up that hot little ass of yours.”

Don’t smile, don’t smile, don’t smile.

Just because he thinks your ass is hot doesn’t mean you’ve forgiven him for not wanting to tell your father about you and him.

“Why you makin’ that face, baby? You gotta take a shit or somethin’?”

My eyes flared wide. “You are sooooo gross!” I yelled, no longer able to stop the grin that shot out across my face.

Ripper scoffed. “You like it.”

“Don’t,” I shot back.

“Do.”

“Don’t.”

“You do, beautiful girl. You like me dirty and the dirty shit I do to you.”

“That’s different,” I said, my gaze dropping to his waist where, beneath his tattered jeans, he was quickly hardening.

He grinned. “Like when you’re kissin’ me hard after I’ve been eatin’ at that beautiful pussy, and you’re suckin’ yourself off my mouth like you’re starvin’. Or when I’m fuckin’ you, got two fingers up inside that perfect ass and you’re movin’ those hips, fuckin’ those fingers, cryin’ for a third—”

I put my hand up. “Okay!” I shouted, my neck suddenly hot from embarrassment. “You’ve made your point!”

He took a step toward me, still grinning. “You want me to drive that point home?”

I did. I so did. Just looking at his big, beautiful body made me crazy, but I was still mad.

“No,” I snapped. “I do not.”

He sighed. “Don’t fuck around, Danny. I don’t like playin’ these stupid games women are always playin’.”

My jaw dropped. Next to my father, Ripper was hands down the most infuriating man I’d ever met.

“I hate you,” I spat, pushing him out of my way.

“No you don’t,” he called out.

“Now I really hate you!” I yelled over my shoulder.

“Don’t.”

“Do!”

• • •

Ripper watched Danny stalk out of the living room, wondering what the fuck she’d expected.

How the fuck did she think he could explain this mess to Deuce? Without getting killed?

No matter what he said or how he said it, Deuce was going to flip his fucking shit.

Prez, I’m feelin’ Danny and I thought maybe you’d be cool with me takin’ her out?

He could almost hear the gun discharging.

Prez, Danny and I been hangin’ and I’m wantin’ more.

Yeah. Right.

Jesus, what the fuck was he supposed to say?

Dude, I’ve been fuckin’ your daughter since her prom night and I just wanted to give you a heads-up ’cause I ain’t gonna stop fuckin’ her.

Yep, he’d die.

He knew Deuce deserved his respect; he’d owed it to his prez to tell him the truth. In fact, he owed Deuce a lot more than that. The man had taken him in when he was still a kid, gave him a place to live and a family, a way to financially pull himself together. Deuce had been a father to him after he’d lost his.

And how was he repaying him? He was fucking his daughter behind his back, something Deuce had made explicitly clear to all the boys they were not to do. They were not even to think about doing it.

And he wouldn’t have.

If it hadn’t been for Frankie fucking him up and the drunken wallowing that had followed, he would have never touched Danny.

Too late, he thought.

Not only had Ripper touched her many, many times inside and out, she was firmly rooted inside him now. He wasn’t giving her up. Not only that, but he didn’t want to have to keep her a secret.

It wasn’t ever going to happen, but that didn’t stop him from fantasizing about her hanging off him at the club, wearing leather and heels, her eyes trained on him, looking at him in that hungry way she did. He wanted everyone to see her hands on him, her nails digging into his skin, claiming him. He wanted them knowing that her thoughts…were always on him.

He wanted every motherfucker out there knowing her pussy was his, that when he went to sleep at night, he did it with her in his arms.

Yeah, he wanted the whole fucking world to know that eighteen-year-old Danielle West, the most beautiful female he’d ever laid eyes on, loved…him.

Jesus, he was hard again. As if he hadn’t already fucked himself into oblivion. That fucking pussy of hers was Viagra in the form of sweet and soft pink flesh.

But there was no way…

“What the fuck!” he bellowed, seeing Danny exit his bedroom, fully dressed in head-to-toe pink, her stupid bag with some weird cat on it slung over her shoulder, heading for the front door. Moving fast, he made it there before she could.

“Move,” she ground out. “I’m leaving.”

“Nope, and no you’re not.”

“Fine,” she hissed, spinning around. “Then I’ll call my dad for a ride!”

Ripper gritted his teeth. Bitches. Crazy. All of them.

Dumping her bag out on the floor, she bent over, reaching for her cell phone, forcing her skirt up and giving him a first class view of her ass.

“You wanna play it that way, Danny?” he growled, fighting the urge to slam her up against the refrigerator and take her from behind. “Fine. You either do what I say or you can act fuckin’ stupid and let your old man in on the secret. And if you choose actin’ stupid, you can take to the fuckin’ bank that I’m gonna be tellin’ your old man this shit was your fault, that you’d been beggin’ me for cock all summer.”

She went still and for a moment he thought he’d won whatever round of stupid female shit she was forcing him to play.

Then, standing up straight, she slowly turned around. “Go ahead,” she spat. “And I’ll tell him everything you did to me! In detail!”

Holy hell. If she was anyone else pulling this shit, he’d slap that attitude right the fuck out of her.

“You do that, baby,” he gritted out, “and it’s my funeral. Is that what you fuckin’ want? Me goin’ to ground?”

“I’m sure Kami will be devastated,” she hissed.