Hell or High Water (The Four Horsemen MC Book 8)

by Rayne, Sara

  He shook his head. Boone had never understood how Voo felt about Artie and he never would. “The answer’s no.”

  “You’re not gonna help them?” Lex asked. The disappointment in Lex’s tone stung, but it wasn’t unexpected.

  “Did you think he would?” Boone scoffed. “I recall you being skeptical about this plan.”

  “Yeah, before I knew it was Voodoo.” She stared hard at him. “I don’t even recognize you right now.”

  “No, I’m not going to help the people who pretended to be your friends,” he responded pointedly. “Sorry if it upsets you.”

  “Pretended to be my friends? Maybe they used our connection to get you up here, but…” Lex bit her lip.

  He could visualize the wheels turning as she rethought her assumptions.

  “Why did Josie choose a college in Texas? How long’s she been cozying up to you? I’d say it happened right after Boone visited a couple years ago.” He folded his arms smugly over his chest as the cousins turned ashamed eyes to Lex. At least he wasn’t the only one getting dragged through the mud today. “It’s been awhile since I pulled a con, but I can spot one a mile away. Josie still makes a great plant, just like when she worked at Mt. Olympus for us.”

  Lex’s eyes widened, glistening as she looked at her friend. “Josie?”

  Josie’s guilt shown plainly on her face. “This isn’t want you think.”

  “Right. At your going away party, when you told me to bring bikers with me if I came to visit—said to give this one, in particular, your address.” Lex jerked a thumb at Voo. “I’m sure you would’ve texted me every day asking me to come, even if you weren’t running out of time to save the Chance.”

  “It wasn’t like that, I swear,” Josie protested.

  “No, no, I get it.” She smirked. “Plan X, right? You skipped over my role during the explanation.”

  “Believe me, chérie, I’d rather have you than him any day of the week.” Boone glared at Voo.

  “You’ll never touch her,” he growled.

  “Stop it,” Lex snapped at them. She straightened, eyes icing over as she turned to Josie. “You know what? All you had to do was ask me. I would’ve done it honest—gone straight to Voo. I would’ve helped you because we were friends.”

  “Lex, I’m so sorry.” Josie reached for her, but Lex brushed her off. “I did what I had to. I didn’t even know you when we came up with this plan.”

  “So? The plan didn’t stop once you did know me. You didn’t fess up and tell me the truth. Don’t try to wrap horseshit in a pretty bow and tell me it’s a gift.” She waved a hand. “You used me. Pretending to be my friend got you what you wanted.”

  Voo wondered if she had lumped him and their messed up situation into the sentence.

  “I wasn’t pretending,” Josie pleaded.

  “Then you need a new definition of friendship. Go fuck yourselves.” Lex turned on her heel and marched away. “Seriously. All of you.”

  Merde.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Voo found Lex under a magnolia tree in the courtyard, watching the sunset. The fading light gilded the silhouette of her body beneath a dress so sinfully tempting Satan himself must’ve stitched it.

  The neckline plunged in the front and split to the base of her spine in the back. What seemed to be miles of firm, tanned legs peeked beneath the short skirt. Every inch of emerald silk floated across her skin like a kiss, the fabric so sheer it would tear effortlessly in his bare hands.

  The straps over the delicate line of her shoulders would snap in his fingers, the dress sliding down her legs into a puddle of silk around her tan ankles….

  The thought had him hard and aching in seconds.

  He drank in the sight of her like desert sand consumed the rain. He swallowed, rethinking his decision to follow her for the millionth time, but he could no more walk away than he could will spring not to come.

  Gravitating toward Lex seemed to be his nature.

  “Not for nothin’, but you got legs for days.”

  Lex stiffened, hastily wiping at her face. “What do you want, Voo?”

  So much for easing the tension.

  “I’m sorry you’re upset.”

  She turned further away, the sun’s last rays shining like a halo around her head.

  “I want to fix things between us.” And keep you away from Boone.

  Some mystery guy with a blueblood pedigree and a 401K in Lex’s future, he could deal with. But watching a guy like Boone—someone so much like Voo himself—vie for Lex’s affection? It made his blood boil.

  “For someone everyone thinks is a ‘perceptive motherfucker’, you can be really obtuse sometimes.” She faced him, eyes bright, salty tracks of tears beneath them. “I came here to get away from you.”

  “If you need to be alone for a bit—”

  “I meant New Orleans, not the garden.”

  The statement gutted him.

  “Guess your plan backfired.” His forced smile felt fake as shit. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Lex. I don’t like how we left things.”

  “Yeah? Me neither.”

  “You’ve become one of my closest friends. I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Closest friend, right.” She kicked at the ground then cleared her throat. “So, you were engaged?”

  “Oui.” He’d never wanted Lex to see this side of him. She knew he’d lost people in Katrina and left New Orleans after the storm to join the Four Horsemen. She’d pieced together how poor he’d been growing up, but now she knew every shameful detail.

  “It’s true?” She swallowed. “You were a con man, and you lied to your fiancée about your own name.”

  “Yeah. All of it.” He gritted his teeth, waiting for the floodgates to open—the judgment, the condemnation. Everything he’d tried to avoid seeing in her eyes by keeping her at arm’s length.

  “And you won’t help the Brulés? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not exactly championing their cause at the moment, but it’s not like you.”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Is it?”

  His mouth twisted into a hard line. “I’m not the person they knew anymore. I never will be again. This place is cursed for me.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Lex sat down on a nearby bench with a bruised magnolia bloom in hand, stroking the petals thoughtfully. “You keep a lot of secrets.”

  “And now you know them. Still want in my bed?” The fear he’d wrestled all the way here transformed into a well of anger. He should’ve known this moment was coming the second he burned the gumbo. It was a harbinger of loss.

  She laughed harshly. “No, I don’t.”

  “I never pretended my closets were skeleton-free, ma petite. I warned you I wasn’t a nice guy, so I’m not gonna apologize for my past.”

  The look Lex sent him was poisonous. Why was everyone so pissed at him? All he’d tried to do was save the damsel in distress—from himself, no less.

  “I don’t give a damn whether or not you’re a ‘nice guy’. I’m not even sure those exist.” Lex shook her head.

  “Lex, listen—”

  “No, you listen. You want to fix our friendship, but you had a whole other life I know nothing about, a life you thought I’d judge you for. Seems like we don’t know each other at all. That’s a piss-poor excuse for friendship, don’t you think? So I’m wondering, what exactly is there to fix?”

  “So we’re not friends?” Voo raised a brow, a sinking feeling inside. He’d heard it way too often lately.

  “Friends are honest with each other.”

  “That’s not fair.” Voo frowned. Wasn’t this the same mistake he’d made with Artemis? He’d clouded the truth, hid parts of himself from her.

  “Oh?”

  “I never lied to you.” He didn’t know if he was talking to her or himself. “You can’t expect me to tell you everything.”

  “How about anything? I confided in you—told you everything.” She ran a hand through her hair. “
Well, I left something out. I didn’t tell you I was falling for you, but I assumed you caught on when I threw myself at you.”

  He blew out a breath. Back to banging his head against the same old problem. He wanted her. Voo longed to be with Lex, but he didn’t want Lex to be with him. She deserved better.

  “I can’t be with you, Lex, and I can’t help the Brulés. Hook yourself to me and you’ll end up drowning, just like them. Look around you. Good people get hurt when they get close to me.”

  “Good people get hurt. That’s fucking life.” She glared at him. “I think you told me that not too long ago.”

  “This place? This home? It wasn’t mine. My grand-mére was a maid here. I took out the trash, washed dishes, and swept the kitchen floor.” He gestured at the hotel behind him. “I grew up swamp-trash in a rickety little shack. I stole from people to take care of myself. I did what I had to do to survive, and I’m still that guy—deep down. I’m not your hero, Lex. I can’t be the one to save you.”

  “Wow.” Lex’s spine straightened. “Who asked you to?”

  “Lex….”

  “I don’t need to be rescued.” Hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes. “I’ll figure things out just fine on my own, thanks.”

  “I didn’t mean to—”

  “Enough. I’m so tired of hearing ‘I didn’t mean’ and ‘I’m sorry’. Skip the half-assed apologies and stop being an asshole.”

  “I’m not going to apologize—”

  “Good. You don’t need to. If you don’t want to help your friends, then say so. You don’t want to be with me? Fine. But this whole ‘I’m not a nice guy’ flag you’re flying? It’s bullshit, and I ain’t saluting.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “You want to be friends? Here’s some friendly honesty for you. This is all defensive crap, and you know it. You’re not refusing to help the Brulés because you think it won’t work or you’re cursed or whatever. You don’t want to give up your fiancée’s hotel.”

  “I told you—”

  “And it’s not because you’re a bad guy. It’s because you’ve made the building a memorial to the life you used to live. All those people you lost that day, Voo? You’re one of them, and Mt. Olympus is your gravestone.”

  He flinched. “Bold statements for someone who claims she doesn’t know me.”

  “You named your hotel and diner ‘Hades’. Doesn’t take a close, personal friend to read the neon sign over your parking lot.” She touched the broken heart tattoo on his shoulder. “You’re not as subtle as you think.”

  “Whatever you need to tell yourself to make it easier, Lex.”

  “Cue the deflection.” She rolled her eyes.

  What loa bent on mischief made someone as beautiful as Lex this goddamn irritating?

  “Maybe when you’ve had more experience with the world, you’ll understand my point of view.”

  “Right, you’re playing the age card because I didn’t strike a nerve. Also, you’re like fifteen years older than me, dude.” She folded her arms. “Not like you’re Gandalf the Grey standing here.”

  “I was being polite and not callin’ you naïve for trusting the first snake to welcome you into its nest. You’ve barely known Boone a week and already you’re on his side. You’re lashing out at me because you want to protect him?”

  “I’m lashing out?” Her eyebrows shot up. “This is so not about Boone.”

  “Phee and Josie are good people. Boone is everything I used to be.”

  “Maybe that’s why I like him.” She smirked. “Are you jealous?”

  He was not amused. Licking his lips, he tried again. “I’m sorry.”

  “Oh?” The look on her face said this is going to be good.

  “You’ve been through a lot lately, and I hurt you. You’re too wounded to be rational right now.” He reached for her hand, but she slapped it away. “Even you have to admit you’re not making the same decisions you would have three months ago.”

  “People change.” A muscle worked in her jaw. “This isn’t about Grant. That whole mess is behind me. I’m sorry he died, but I’m not sorry he didn’t get the chance to rape me. End of story. Happily ever-fuckin’-after.”

  “I wasn’t talking about Grant.”

  Her eyes narrowed, flashing a warning he was too far gone to heed. “You saying I have ‘daddy issues’, Voo?”

  “There another reason you got in a car with a drunk football player you barely knew?”

  “Damn.” She flinched. “Ryker was right. Never corner something meaner than you.”

  “Tell me, Lex. When did you decide to ‘throw yourself’ at me? Before or after Cap told you he didn’t want you at Eddie’s?” Voo knew he was digging himself the kind of hole a man didn’t climb out of, but he couldn’t stop. He wanted her to feel as exposed as he had today. “First Grant, then me. Now Boone. A pattern’s developing.”

  “Boone and I are friends.”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen firsthand your brand of friendship.”

  “You and I were different, and you know it.” Her eyes glinted with dangerous intent. She stepped forward, the sway of her hips a spell he’d never break.

  Her intoxicating honeysuckle scent invaded his senses as she stopped in front of him. He wanted to pull her into her arms, make her stop saying these things, stop looking so sad and angry, make all of this pain and hurt go away. He wanted it so badly his teeth ached.

  Lex drew her bottom lip through her teeth, and something primal ignited inside him. His gaze flicked back to hers. Those peach-kissed lips curved. Voo couldn’t hide a damn thing from her anymore.

  “Go on. Do it,” she dared. He swallowed hard, staring into her upturned face. “I know you want to.”

  “Shut up.” He grasped her hips and tugged her forward. His lips crashed down on hers. Her mouth parted with a gasp, and he took full advantage, thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth, tasting every inch.

  The sweet scent of magnolia surrounded them on the humid night air, and Lex tasted a thousand times sweeter. Like maple sugar candies and hot coffee sipped on a patio. He groaned, his fingers sliding up her sides, tracing her shoulders to delve into her hair. His hands fisted in the blonde tresses as he bowed her body into his.

  She made a hungry sound in the back of her throat, clinging to his biceps as he molded their bodies together. His cock hardened against the soft curve of her thighs. Voo slid a knee between hers, and she gasped, breaking the kiss.

  He held her upright as they both struggled for breath. His mind cleared.

  Je suis un bãtard.

  She searched his face while he grasped for a way to back out of this. He had nothing—Voo was fucked.

  “Thanks for illustrating my point.” She nodded as if to herself, then she tucked her hair behind her ears and wrapped her arms around her middle.

  “Lex….”

  “We both know what you want from me, and it’s not friendship. All the flirting we did? You were tempting yourself to break.” She looked out over the lawn. “I spend a lot of time watching people. Spent a lot of time watching you. I noticed you flirt with all the women, but you only sleep with brunettes. Why?”

  Voodoo dredged his memory for the name of a blonde he could throw at her. Surely he’d slept with one since Artemis, right?

  He came up empty handed.

  “We’ve always called each other on our bullshit, right? That’s part of our friendship?” She looked him dead in the eye. “You turned me down because you’re afraid of me. I remind you of her.”

  Fuck. Me.

  “And you know what, mon ami? Now I’m afraid, too.” Lex patted him on the shoulder and said, “Goodnight, Voodoo.”

  Voodoo watched the crescent moon recline on the darkened horizon as Lex walked away. How many nights had he stood feeling lost, staring up at the moon for answers under this very sky?

  How many of his failures had she witnessed?

  And what were the fucking chances this would be the
last?

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Don’t look so sad, chérie. He fucks us all over. It ain’t personal.”

  Boone deposited a bottle of red wine on the table and dropped into a chair across from her. He withdrew two glasses from his suit pockets, popped the cork, and poured for both of them.

  She took the glass. “Pardon me while I use this moment to not give a rat’s ass and take it personal anyway. Looking for the bright side gives me a headache.”

  He smiled wryly. “I wasn’t sure you were still talking to me.”

  Lex leaned back. The party was in full swing throughout the grounds, crowds of drunken revelers romping the gardens as live jazz floated from the band on the back balcony above. Sterling silver trays of peppered rum, packs of cigars, and steaming paper sacks of grilled peanuts were set throughout the lawns, surrounded by moats of black candles in offering to Baron Samedi. Top-hat-clad skeleton ornaments danced in the night wind amongst the lights in the trees. The moon peeked out from wisps of ashen clouds, lending an edge of dangerous anticipation to the night’s frivolity.

  Like anything could happen.

  “Right now, you’re a distant third on my shit list behind Rafe and Josie. Can you blame me?”

  “Not for anything, chérie.” His smirk was indolent. “I could forgive you for destroying the world.”

  “Hmm. You flirt to divert attention from personal pain.” She gestured at him with her glass.

  “I’m glad you’re drinking the wine instead of tossing it in my face.”

  “It was touch and go for a moment, not gonna lie. But I needed a drink, and you’re a better option than asking Johnny to bring me one. The guy gives me the creeps.” The greasy porter had been staring at her for days. She shuddered, and Boone laughed. “Only slightly better.”

  “You wound me.” He covered his chest.

  “You’ll survive.” She rolled the wine across her tongue. It was robust and deep with a sweet, clean finish. “This is good.”

  “Rafe’s gran made it. She used to bring us a case every year. This is one of the last bottles.” He drained his glass and poured another.