Jax drew on the longneck, eyeing me, assessing how much bullshit I was spewing. I wouldn’t fool him for long, but hopefully he’d buy it long enough for me to battle Zach in the last match the piece of shit would ever fight.

3. Tattoo - Rafe

3. TATTOO - RAFE

I didn’t like lying to Jax, regardless of our rocky history, but I didn’t see how I had much choice. We stood firmly planted on opposite sides of the fence when it came to handling Alex’s brother. After three beers and more silence than either of us could stand, he left. We weren’t comfortable with the elephant between us—the one we never spoke of. Last thing I wanted was to stomp all over his pride, so I tried not to rub Alex’s presence in his face.

But he knew I was going to fuck her six ways to Sunday.

And I knew it bothered him, but shit, he was the closest thing I had to a friend. To a family, for that matter. Even after the hell he’d put Alex and me through, I couldn’t cast him aside. Our bond ran too deep.

Too bad he wanted it to run deeper.

I double-checked the locks, made my way to the bedroom, and peeked at the gun I’d hidden an arm’s length from my pillow. Rounding the bed, I came to a standstill at the end. The longer I stood like a statue, my cock hard as fuck as I feasted on the sight of her, the more I wanted to shake her awake.

As if sensing my presence, she stirred, though she couldn’t move with her ankles and wrists secured to the anchors on the wall and floor. Grabbing her today had been a last minute emergency, but I’d been preparing for this day for a while, like a paranoid lunatic building a fallout shelter. Except I hadn’t been preparing for another threat against us—I’d simply wanted to be ready when the day came that I wouldn’t be able to stay away from her anymore.

Not if…when.

So I’d mounted anchors for restraining her, had tucked away whips, paddles, and other implements in drawers—ready to deliver painful strikes—along with clothing and barely-there lingerie. Assuming I let her wear anything at all.

Her low groan brought me back from the dark pit of fantasies that teased from the edges of my mind. The drugs were wearing off, but not fast enough for my liking. I tugged on the chain to the overhead light. Her lids fluttered, revealing two jade eyes that zeroed in on me.

She blinked several times then parted her lips. “Where are we?”