Tempted by a Sinner (Seven Sinners Book 4)

by A G Henderson

  Again.

  Once, I could've gotten over. Twice? No. I couldn't. I wouldn't.

  The sound of glass breaking underfoot reached me, and I snapped my head up, fearing the worst while not quite knowing what the worst would be.

  Finding death waiting?

  Finding Tone staring down at me with that callous look that turned his eyes into hard stones.

  But it was neither.

  The giant Sinner, Texas, moved slowly towards me, dirty-blonde hair mussed and unruly. He stopped a few inches away and crouched down, bringing us face to face. His attention darted over me quickly, and he winced.

  Could he see the last drops of blood in my heart pooling on the floor below me?

  Or did I just look that miserable?

  Texas reached into his pocket and held out a small, plastic box that smelled like peppermint. He popped the lid open and grabbed a toothpick from inside, throwing it between his lips. I shook my head when he offered one to me.

  The silence crushed in on me from all sides, and I wasn't brave enough to break it.

  Texas sighed. “Where is he?”

  Of course, I knew who he was referring to. But it took a few tries to remember how to form words and force them past the sore lump filling my throat with every fractured heartbeat. When I could speak, I said, “He went after them.”

  Texas snapped the toothpick in his mouth in half so suddenly I jumped. Like it never happened, he grabbed another from the small box before shoving it back inside his leather jacket. “That. Fucking. Idiot.”

  I nodded in agreement while Texas lifted his phone to his ear. He held out a finger to me while he called whoever he was calling, and I briefly wondered at the ridiculousness of it. Did he think I was going to start chattering his freaking ear off? Then he started talking, and I forgot about being annoyed in favor of being nosy.

  “Axle,” he said, lips thinning when the voice on the other end started complaining loudly enough I could hear it. “Will you listen? Now’s not the time for you to throw a fit. We’ve got shit going down and Tone is smack dab in the middle of it, and outnumbered like a motherfucker. Get some guys together and get there as fast as you can. You got that?”

  He hung up without waiting for a response and watched me. “He’ll be alright.”

  I glared at him because we both knew there was no way he could promise that.

  “I’m serious,” Texas insisted, sitting down opposite me. Staining his jeans and hands with paint.

  Why? Shouldn’t he be going after them as well?

  Except I wasn’t going to bring it up. My pride had seen better days, and it was barely holding on for dear life. There wasn’t enough left to complain about someone being here with me while I processed what was one of the most traumatic days of my life.

  “Tell me what happened,” said the giant Sinner.

  I paused, thinking back on it.

  When the words started pouring from my mouth, they did so like a busted water line with no cut-off valve. They just kept coming and coming. Much to my horror, I even told him about Tone walking away from me after I’d done everything but get down on my knees and beg him to stay.

  “That fucking idiot,” Texas said again.

  I blinked because I didn’t know what else to do. I agreed with him the first time. But I felt some type of way about hearing Tone be insulted. And I hated how I had to bite my tongue to keep from coming to his defense.

  That’s over with, I reminded myself. He proved it when he walked away.

  Texas ran a hand through his hair. “You have every right to be upset, Naomi. But-”

  “No.” I shook my head, feeling the pinch of strain in my neck. God, I was going to be covered in bruises, wasn’t I? “This doesn’t get a ‘but’ anything. He made his choice.”

  “And his choice fucking sucked,” Texas said, nodding in agreement. “But...” I rolled my eyes. You’re dealing with criminals, not choir boys. They don’t listen. “I understand why he made it. Trust me, what’s been going on between y’all these past few weeks is the same kind of thing that turns all of us into idiots.”

  “And by us, you mean who?”

  “The Seven Sinners,” he said, then shrugged. “Men in general, also. But those of us in the club might be the most susceptible to it.”

  “What is ‘it’? Also, if you say love, I swear to God I’m going to-”

  “Call it whatever you want.” Texas rolled his toothpick around, choosing his words carefully. “Love. Destiny. Soulmates. It all means the same damn thing in the end. Weakness.”

  My shoulders tightened, and he must’ve read my posture because he immediately said, “Hear me out. I’m not condemning it. You think I have an issue with love? Lizzy is the best fucking thing that has ever happened to me, and I would rip my heart from my chest and offer it to her if need be. Without a second’s hesitation.”

  He wasn’t lying. I saw the way he looked at her. At their beautiful daughter. It was the same way Tone looked at me.

  Like he would dance on the ashes of whatever got between us.

  Obviously, I was wrong. Or maybe that intensity didn’t apply when he was the one coming between us.

  “Still,” he said. “Weakness is weakness. The Sinners are family, but our women are our lives. Whenever something threatens y’all, we get stupid about it. Even if we’re the ones causing the threat.”

  I frowned. “Tone’s never been a threat to me.” It was mostly true. The only thing he ever threatened was my heart. And my foolish self gave it to him anyway.

  “He has.” Texas gave me a sympathetic look I wanted to hide from. “You just weren’t in a position to notice before today. Hell, he might not have noticed outright, but he was damn sure acting on it anyway. Why do you think he hasn’t brought you back around the rest of the club again?”

  “Because Creed is a rude, foul, hateful man that no one wants to be around if they’re given a choice?” Whoa there. I mentally tried to apply the brakes to that line of thought, but the wires were crossed or cut or both. Either way, they weren’t working. “Or, maybe because he knew that we were already working with an expiration date, and he didn’t want me to get attached to his friends.”

  Texas didn’t respond. He got to his feet and offered me a hand up. When I didn’t take it, he simply grabbed my arms and lifted me. Being treated this way by my knight had been enjoyable. Anyone else? I was quickly leaving pissed territory and venturing into cold, hard rage.

  How dare he manhandle me like I was some child?

  I shoved away from him. Wishing I had the strength of Hercules so I could actually gain some worthwhile distance. Texas barely budged, but his eyes did drop in annoyance. I was so over this.

  While the rage was bubbling in my veins, giving strength to limbs that were long since dead from pain and cold, I strode past him towards my car. I didn’t have to stick around.

  “He was protecting you,” Texas said to my back, earning himself a coveted middle finger that the Sinners seemed to keep collecting.

  “I don’t want to hear it.” I jerked at my door handle harder than was necessary. Hard enough to wince when the door opened directly into my knees. Shame, humiliation, fear, and anger got me into the seat and buckled up.

  But it was the anger that was truly in the driver’s seat.

  “We don’t take well to people messing with what’s ours, Naomi. He wanted to keep you far away from his life, and far away from the danger that might come with being part of it.”

  “Yeah?” I asked loudly, verging on hysteria. “Well a lot of fucking good it did!” My scream echoed in the darkness, and on the tail end of it, I thought I could hear motorcycles roaring at the sky. Yeah. It was time to go.

  While I pulled out of the lot, Texas stood there, watching me, hands on his hips. I threw another middle finger out the window for good measure.

  Riding the coattails of my anger got me back to my house, and I stared at it from the street for a moment, wondering why the though
t of going inside nearly made me sick.

  But I knew. I just hated that I knew.

  How could I go back in there and face Tone when he got back from what he was doing?

  If he got back, a small voice reminded me and I shook it away, ignoring the cold fingers dancing up my spine. Texas believed he would be alright, so I did too. He had taken care of himself this long.

  Now, it was time to take care of myself.

  Maybe Tone had been trying to protect me.

  But what did it matter now? It was my dreams shattered on the floor, not his. My happiness on life support, and with each erratic heartbeat, the pulse got slower.

  Each time I thought about not being able to afford the repairs I was going to need made acid flow and writhe through my veins like a soul-sucking demon.

  Could I really face this nightmare again tomorrow?

  My foot was on the pedal before I realized it.

  I passed my house. Then the sign for the town limits. When the open highway greeted me, I wasn’t shaking or mad or much of anything. The numbness was back, right when I needed it. And I was going to hold onto it until I got where I was going.

  Until I could get back to the bubble I’d been in such a hurry to leave.

  There, I was safe.

  There, I was loved.

  There, I could let myself break apart until I found a way to put the pieces back together again.

  Most of the three-hour drive passed in a blur of headlights and street signs. It was a good thing I would know how to get there with my eyes closed, because that wasn’t too far from how it happened. The gas light came on right as I pulled onto the street leading to Dad’s house, and a sob almost took me when I stopped at the curb.

  Not yet, I told myself, blinking at the upholstery to keep the tears at bay. Just a little bit more.

  When I reached the door, the shaking came back. Twice as bad. My teeth chattered so hard I thought my head might break apart as I tried and failed to find the right key before dropping the whole ring to the ground.

  A pitiful cry left my mouth, and I stomped my foot, feeling the tears start to flow despite my best efforts.

  The door opened in that moment, bathing me in familiar, yellow light. Dad had a frown on his face when he saw me standing there. A frown that pulled tighter still when he really saw me.

  Covered in paint.

  Bleeding.

  Broken.

  “Naomi.” He pulled me into the house, into his arms, slamming the door behind me. The smell of his aftershave surrounded me. The combination was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  I started crying in earnest. Crying for everything in my life all at once. Deep, gut-wrenching sobs got pulled from my chest by an excavator. Leaving a yawning cavern that ached so badly I wanted to disappear to make it stop.

  Dad ushered me into the living room, asking questions I couldn’t answer through the tears drowning my entire world. I stuffed my face into a pillow, releasing the screams that had built up over the entire drive. My legs kicked, and I didn’t care that I was acting like a huge child.

  I just. Didn’t. Care.

  There was movement beside me, and I ignored it. When the air stirred again, I felt something cool and slick being pressed against my skin. Stinging me wherever it encountered cuts and scrapes. I let Dad do what he wanted while the tears kept coming in a flood.

  I cried for what almost was. What could’ve been. I cried for Mom, and the shop. For Dad and Law. I cried for my dreams until there were no more tears, and my eyes were so swollen I could barely see.

  “Baby girl,” Dad whispered, covering me with a blanket. “Please, tell me what happened.”

  I shoved my face deeper into the pillow. At some point, I was going to have to tell him something. Otherwise, karma would make sure he found out on his own. But it wasn’t going to happen tonight.

  We lingered in the same terrible silence that hadn’t gone anywhere since we lost Mom. Even in my misery, I was aware of it. And I couldn’t deal.

  Not tonight.

  My very bones protesting, I got up from the sofa and made my way upstairs, ignoring the inquisitive stare I could feel burning into my back. I was glad that my bed was exactly where I’d left it. If not, I would’ve had to sleep on the floor.

  I closed and locked my door, then collapsed onto it, squeezing my eyes shut tight as I rolled onto my back.

  At some point, my phone started buzzing in my pocket and I bit my lip, grabbing it and checking the screen. There were lots of texts. From Lynn, Lizzy, Kayla, Caitlin, even Axle.

  I swiped them all away until I saw the one from Texas.

  He’s alive, it read. And a small piece of my heart stopped bleeding. But not the rest.

  No, the rest was ruined.

  I turned the phone off and dropped it beside me, staring up at the painting on my ceiling.

  The sun always rises on a new day.

  For the first time since she had unveiled her last work and shared the words with me—with all of us—they didn’t bring any comfort with them.

  Because for the first time since then, the thought of a new day brought only further heartbreak.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Tone

  “I’m lost,” I said to the empty woods.

  Figuratively instead of literally, but they were close enough.

  My back was freezing against the tree I sat against, but I didn’t move. The sharp bite of cold was better than this hopeless feeling. I thought I knew how sailors of old felt when they found themselves lost at sea, back in the days before they knew the world didn’t simply disappear at the edges.

  That was where I was. Tied to the mast of a ship set adrift. Watching the approaching the drop into the void with something like distant horror. Somehow, it didn’t feel real. Maybe I’d already fallen over the edge, and my brain was just trying to trick the rest of me into continuing on.

  How long would it take before the truth caught up and finished pulling me apart?

  Or would it always be this deep, all-consuming ache that persisted despite the passage of time? I hadn’t thought anything could be worse than the last time I was in this very spot.

  It was amazing how fucking wrong I was.

  Losing Katherine had been inevitable. I wasn’t a surgeon, able to do the procedure myself and hope it gave her more time. I wasn’t supernatural, able to provide her with some of my blood to cure everything that was wrong. From the moment her results came in, fate had been decided.

  It was only sheer, stubborn will that kept her going for as long as she had. And in the face of her determination, I started lying to myself.

  Lies that claimed there was something I could do.

  Lies that convinced me that if I worked a little harder, stole a bit more, and lived my life solely for her, that she would somehow pull through.

  Then I lost her anyway.

  But losing Naomi was no one’s fault but my own.

  A branch snapped and I paid it no mind, staring up at the canopy created by the pine trees instead. It was starting to get warm enough for the forest to wake back up. But the tall, dirty-blonde figure that appeared from between the cluster of greenery certainly wasn’t Bambi.

  Unless Bambi stood almost six-foot-six and could put a bullet between a person’s eyes from half a mile out.

  “What do you want?” I grumbled, shitty mood souring even further. “In fact, how the hell did you even find me?”

  Naomi was the only other living soul who knew about this place.

  Naomi, who no longer wanted anything to do with my ass. And for good reason.

  It’s for the best, I reminded myself. Fat lot of good it did. My reasoning held about as much cohesion as a cardboard box filled with water.

  I clutched the lie tightly anyway. It was about all I had.

  Texas stared at me. “I always find what I’m looking for,” he said. “Always.”

  “Well, how about you un-find me?”

  “And lea
ve you out here for another two days? Not happening.”

  Two days? It felt like it had been so much longer since my world detonated, and the dust of the aftermath settled. It certainly didn’t feel like enough time had passed for me to want to deal with any more club bullshit.

  Asher was gone, along with his pet killers and the bodies they created. He was gone without so much as a bloody nose to show for going up against us. Yeah, we avoided being caught within the shark’s teeth and starting a war. And even Creed seemed alright with the outcome.

  Didn’t stop me from feeling like we lost.

  In my head, I knew I should be glad we came out of this as unscathed as we did. But knowing that didn’t bring innocent people back to life. Didn’t change the fact that Asher’s sister was currently at the clubhouse while the Sinners decided how to go about protecting her.

  Didn’t change the fact that Naomi was gone, and I was miserable as hell about it.

  “You look like shit,” Texas said, drawing my focus.

  I ran a hand through my beard and thought I’d scraped my fingers with a brillo pad instead. Damn, that was rough. I half expected to see blood when I untangled my fingers. I lacked a mirror, but I was sure shit was probably an understatement.

  When did I shower last?

  Everything after I returned to town, finding Naomi gone and the shop covered in boards, seemed as if it was some whole other world. A reality I no longer belonged to.

  There was only this new one. The shitty one.

  “I thought about what I was going to say to you on the way out here.” Texas folded his arms across his chest, shaking his head at me. “Now, I can see most of it would be a waste of breath.”

  “Then why the fuck are you here?”

  “Because brothers don’t let brothers wallow in their own self-pity when what they really need is a size fourteen boot straight to the ass.”

  “What I need is for you to leave me alone.”

  “No. You need to make things right before it’s too late.”

  I dropped my gaze from his penetrating stare, absently playing with the pine needles that had fallen on my jeans instead. “It’s already too late.”