Dancing With Danger

by Christine Michelle

  “You’re fine girl,” Ghost stated. “If we didn’t want your opinion to pop out you wouldn’t be sitting in on this meeting.” He glanced around at the other men. “I think she made a mighty fine point though. Let’s allow it to be their choice.”

  And that was how I ended up sitting in the security room watching the monitors with Rage while the front security door was opened up and Luanne and Sheri Lynn Michaels stepped out into the waning sunlight as the day lingered just this side of disappearing for the night. Luanne had asked to say her goodbyes to me. A request the guys were willing to fulfill, but I was not. I understood her motivations, but that didn’t mean I could forgive the things she’d done or attempted to do. Thank God I had a good daddy who kept me safe from her and the craziness she tried to bring me into. Thank God I was my daddy’s daughter, and not the monster we were sending these two women to.

  Sheri Lynn had not asked to speak to me. No surprise there, as she had all the reasons in the world to both hate and envy me and the life my father had given me over the life hers had given her. I understood her too. That didn’t mean I felt like falling on my sword to help either of them though. They’d made their choices. The two women stepped further outside of the vestibule that was used as a secondary security measure when entering the building. Once they were free and clear of it and walking down the pathway to the parking area a voice boomed out for them to stop where they were.

  “Sheri Lynn why were you in there?” That same voice boomed out.

  “I was captured while trying to retrieve the little bitch,” she stated clearly.

  “Did you hear anything useful inside?” The disembodied voice asked.

  She glanced to her left where her mother stood. “I heard this disloyal bitch tell stories about how you raped her to make me, and how you kept her in check by threatening to kill her sister and the rest of her family. She had them all convinced it was the truth.”

  Laughter boomed out then. “It was the truth baby girl,” the voice stated simply. That was when I saw the first cracks in Sheri Lynn’s visage. She hadn’t known her own mother’s story even as she grew up with her. The girl turned wide, surprised eyes on her mother then. “It was true?” She asked. She didn’t have time to get an answer as a bullet ripped through Luanne’s head before she could answer. “Noooo!” Sheri Lynn screamed and moved to dive down and help her mom. Our mom. There was nothing she could do though. I was certain my mother had been dead before she hit the ground. Bright lights flashed on illuminating the entire space, making clear where The Tribe members had been hiding in the shadows. It didn’t matter though. Another shot rang out and Sheri Lynn dropped with her body half draped over Luanne’s. Both women were dead as the ATF and FBI agents surrounding the building started rounding up all of the men that were lying in wait. We watched as they got seven men and thankfully Crank was among them.

  Rage’s arms were around me. “Darlin’?” He questioned when I just sat there staring blankly at the screen that showed the two women slumped together. I continued to watch as the teams moved in and began assessing both women and calling for body bags. “Why didn’t they move in before they were shot?”

  “I don’t know, darlin’. I do not know.” Rage sighed the words out, frustration evident. “That’s not on you though.”

  “It’s not on you guys either. They were given a choice. I think Luanne knew what her fate was, but Sheri Lynn went out there with complete faith in her father. It astonishes me that she still has faith in the man who abused her. How could that be possible?” I stopped myself from going down that road of endless questions that would never have answers. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

  It took hours for the mess outside to get cleaned up. Rage had moved me from the security room so I didn’t have to watch it all take place. Instead we went to the kitchen, grabbed some drinks and snacks, and hauled ass up to our room. Rage put me in the shower and washed every bit of my body, my hair, and then wrapped me up in one of the soft, fluffy towels he’d brought me. When he took me to the bed and had me lie down he went back to the bathroom and retrieved a bottle of lotion I used on my skin.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I’m making it all better for you. I didn’t think your stomach could handle ice cream right now. Instead, you get me pampering you for a bit. Doc left some pills there,” he nodded to the side table where there were indeed a few bottles of pills. “He meant to leave them here before, but with everything going on he kept getting called away before he could get you full prescriptions together.”

  “Doc deserves an award. Do you guys have a champion doctor patch he can add to his kutte?” I asked in jest.

  Rage laughed. “He already has something like that, darlin’. That man is cool under fire, for sure. Now just hush that mouth of yours unless it’s open to moan in pleasure.”

  “Yes sir,” I hissed out as he took my sore leg gently in his hands and started massaging lotion from toes to the tips of my thighs. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to be relaxing every time his fingers brushed over my mound when he got too high on my thighs, but judging from the devilish glint in his eyes I didn’t think he cared whether I was relaxing or strung out on a sexual high, so long as my brain was turned off to life’s realities. Either way was fine with me too.

  The End

  6 months later

  Are you sure you want to do this, darlin’?”

  I had never been more certain of anything in my whole life. “She should know. I bet she’s been wondering about her long lost sister for years now. Wouldn’t you want that closure?” I looked up at him and saw the answer in his eyes. If it were me, he would want to know what happened.

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  We had called ahead and let the woman, my aunt, know that we were coming. When we got up to the door we didn’t even need to knock as it was torn open and a lady who looked so much like a healthier version of my own mother burst through and wrapped her arms around me. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe she survived, and that you are a part of her.” The woman was blubbering on my shoulder as she spoke. I just hugged her hard, because I knew this was bringing back all the horrible moments from her past. She had been the one to discover her dead parents when she arrived home from school later that day.

  I sat down with my aunt and her husband and told them the entire gruesome tale, stopping when she needed a moment, and starting again as she got herself together. “Thank you,” she finally told me when I was done. “Thank you for coming to let me know. I’ve always wondered. I always thought maybe she’d been a part of our parents death.” She shook her head then. I knew something bad had happened to her before, but no one wanted to tell me anything, because I was too young to hear it. Knowing that she had to watch. That she was taken. That she went willingly to spare me…” a hiccupped sob tore from her mouth then. “I owe my sister a debt of gratitude, even if the rest of her life was some big game and she was a piece that the bastard moved around, she always looked out for me.”

  “She did,” I agreed.

  “My aunt eyed the kutte that my man was wearing once more. “Are you all right though?” She asked. Pretty ballsy of her considering Rage was sitting right beside me. I smiled at her.

  “I’ve never been happier. The men of Aces High are not like those degenerate Tribe members. They’re good men. My father was the best person you could ever know. He saved me from my mother and the man that warped her into what she became.”

  “You think your mom would have hurt you?” She asked on a hiss.

  “Not on purpose, but she wanted me to live in that environment with the man who raped her, killed her parents, abused her other daughter, and eventually wanted to sell me into slavery to an evil man who would have done far worse. She was so far gone down the rabbit hole she didn’t even realize what would have happened if she had gotten her wish and been able to take me from my father.” I glanced over at Rage and then back at my aunt. “I thank God every
day that my father was the man he was. He took care of me, loved me, and put me above everything else. Then, even in death, he lead me home to the family he left behind in order to keep me safe.”

  My aunt wiped away a few more stray tears. “Do you know what happened to the man who killed my parents?” She finally managed to ask.

  I nodded my head. “I do. He was taken into custody the day Luanne and Sheri Lynn were killed. While in a federal holding facility awaiting trial he was stabbed to death by another inmate.”

  “Good. He didn’t deserve to rot in jail.” Her words came out firm and honest. “You’re sure?” She asked once more.

  “Absolutely. It was verified in person,” Rage explained.

  What he didn’t tell her was that he knew the man who had shanked Crank. He was an Aces High brother who had been hauled in for some scam he was trying to run, on his own outside of the club, with counterfeited money. Taking out Crank was part of his penance he had to pay for bringing down the feds on the Tallahassee Chapter of the Aces High MC.

  We stayed and chatted with my aunt and her husband for a while before we had to leave for the airport. Rage and I had a wedding to get to in South Dakota. No, it was not our own. I wasn’t ready yet, even though he had asked. We were taking our time in getting to the altar. I was his old lady. I’d even received the gorgeous tattoo with his name on it saying I was his property. Actually, it had more than just his name. I had taken a picture of Rage, from behind, where his cut was plain to see. It was during a poker night with the guys in the clubhouse, and I snapped the shot of him holding his cards away from his body, trying to get them out of Rabbit’s cheating clutches. So, my property tattoo is just that, from the waist up, my man’s likeness is holding all aces, his kutte plain as day to see with a top rocker above his head that reads, ‘property of’ and a bottom rocker below his waist that reads ‘Rage’. He cried when he saw it, though he made me promise not to tell the boys.

  Even though I loved him enough to not only get his name, but his image tattooed permanently on my body I just couldn’t bring myself to get married again. Being part of a marriage for murder scheme in order to bankroll someone’s foray into the human trafficking world was not an easy thing to get over. So, my image of marriage was slightly tainted. We’d get there eventually, but for now we were both happy with the way our lives were turning out. We were together, and each day we made sure the other knew exactly how much they were loved. That was all that really mattered in the end.

  Book Previews

  Author’s Note: It is a strange thing – for an author – to publish the spinoff book or series prior to the original, but that is exactly what Dancing with Danger was – the spinoff to the S.H.E. Series. Angel Girl is the first book in that series, and was my first foray into the MC World. The thing is, I was attempting to make sure that my readers got the most bang for their buck, so instead of having Angel Girl (book 1) and Sweet Angel (book 3.5 – a novella) for sale separately I mashed them together into one long book so that you have more to enjoy and less to buy!

  The problem with that was that I had to go back through the Sweet Angel portions and re-write huge chunks of it so that it wasn’t giving away spoilers from Keys (book 2) or JoJo (book 3). So, I ended up finishing Dances with Danger in between while trying to work those kinks out. Hopefully, you enjoyed it enough to go check out the original series. You just read a little bit about Ghost and Jamie (Angel Girl) in the last chapters of Dancing With Danger. Keep in mind though; the S.H.E. Series turns the MC world on its head. The ladies have their own club, and they’re far tougher to tame than the women you encounter in the male dominated MC books. ;)

  About Angel Girl:

  Jamie Murdock was promised to a man in her father’s Motorcycle Club, Aces High - Cedar Falls Chapter, before she was even legal to marry. No matter how insanely good looking that man was, she wasn’t sticking around for an arranged marriage, and especially not to a womanizing manwhore.

  Jamie couldn’t leave behind the MC lifestyle though, and soon found herself living under the road name “Angel Girl” while running her own club full of tough, smart, beautiful women who happened to love the open road as much as the next guy.

  Everything was fine with her new life until it wasn’t. Until he found her again.

  Angel Girl will be available on March 22, 2018!

  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

  Releasing in May 2018.

  I was sent to South Dakota with a tattoo artist, biker named Tango in order to keep me safe from whatever mess my brother had gotten himself into this time.

  Tango was a stupid name for a tough biker who was supposed to be able to protect me. How was a man named after a dance supposed to do anything to keep me safe?

  Stupid name. Sexy biker though.

  Lucky for me, I had been dead wrong about pretty much everything.

  Wrong about his name.

  Wrong about his ability to take care of me.

  I wasn’t wrong about how sexy he was though. My perpetually soaked panties were all the evidence anyone needed that Tango could dance all over my body any time, anywhere if only I was all that he wanted.

  Unfortunately for me he seemed to be in a weird relationship with his buddies Whiskey, Fox, and their girl Amy. No way was I signing on to be the lettuce in that screwed up sexual sandwich.

  Nope. Nope. Nope.

  I might need protection from an entire MC, but I did not need to share my man. Ever.

  Then again...

  I’d been wrong about everything else so far.

  Maybe I was wrong about this too.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book was brought to you by coffee and Strawberry Twizzlers! No, seriously, I think I have an addiction, okay several addictions! Whatever, Don’t judge me! ;)

  For real though, let’s talk inspiration instead of the sugar rush that kept me typing – MUSIC!

  In a lot of my books I post a list of songs/musicians/bands that inspired the writing. I’m going to make this a little easier on you, and send you to a Spotify playlist named Southern Gothic (see link below). Some of this stuff was absolute shit. I’ll leave what is and isn’t worth listening to up to your interpretation, but don’t be afraid to skip through if you need to. A lot of it was inspirational for the whole Americana theme that tends to roll through the MC world. Enjoy, or don’t. This playlist was a departure from my norm so I won’t hold it against you either way. Maybe you’ll find something new to add to your own lists.

  https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX58NJL8iVBGW?si=i6v6QrfrQ5y85yR2mQCGtg

  To my brother (who will remain nameless) – who didn’t teach me shit that I didn’t already know about the MC world, because he knows how to keep his mouth shut. He did, however, introduce me to the weak link of an MC who LOVED to talk. While I learned a little bit, and definitely developed a character (not in this book) based around the weak link, likes-to-talk-too-much, biker I wanted to also point out that everything in the Aces High and Sierra High Evermore books is one hundred percent fictional. If the names resemble any road names for bikers you know – just pat them on the back because they’re obviously cool dudes! That being said, these characters are not them!

  I started writing the S.H.E Series two long years before I had interaction with an MC on a personal level simply because the grittier, male dominated world was a curiosity to me, and I wanted to work out a way to turn it on its ass. ;) Why? Because girls can be rebels too – bitches! That’s right, I said it!

  I think I did what I set out to do with the S.H.E. Series and it’s strong women. The men, even in their domineering, caveman ways are just as intriguing though so I couldn’t stop writing and that’s where the Aces High Books came into play. Hopefully, you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing them.

  As always, thanks to you – the reader! Without your support I wouldn’t be able to take the time I do to carve out these worlds to get lost in for a little while. Thank you for your purchases,
support, reviews, and comments. They are all appreciated.

  My children – I only have two left at home with me these days, but as always they are super supportive of what I do, even when they like to interrupt my work with stories from their day. I wouldn’t have it any other way though. Being here for them is my number one priority.

  A special thank you to my readers – as many of you know, my youngest daughter is Type 1 Diabetic. She was diagnosed in Dec. 2012, after nearly dying from being DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). That is what happens when your body can’t use the sugar in the body properly and ends up making acids with it instead that build up and will eventually kill the person if left untreated. We have struggled and fought every day since to make sure she has a normal life despite all the blood sugar checks and things she has to attach to her body (or all the shots she has to take) in order to survive. We’ve managed all this time to never have her get sick enough to require hospitalization or even a trip to the ER (for diabetic related issues). I credit JDRF and Palmetto Children’s Hospital in Columbia, SC (where she was diagnosed) for that. They gave us a diabetic bible to live by. We received a small backpack full of information that we still have, and use, to this day. It keeps us on track, and has given my daughter a better chance of not having complications later on in life from Diabetes. So, with that in mind, I am donating 10% of all royalties from every single one of my MC World books to JDRF. So, thank you for your purchase, because a little bit of what you spent on this book will go towards helping another child, like my daughter, to live successfully with Diabetes.