Jekyll and Hyde Series

JAMIE

I arrived home to a brilliantly lit-up house.

My brother, Cain, didn’t like the dark. Ironic, because most of his work was done in the dark.

I didn’t mind all the lights blazing every night. A higher electric bill was a small price to pay for the happiness of my other half.

Because Cain was just that—my other half. We were twins, inseparable since birth. The sudden and traumatic end of our childhood, when our parents were murdered and we were placed in Solomon’s care, had only strengthened our already tight bond.

I would do anything for my brother, even move to a small suburb in the middle of the desert so that he could try to find some peace.

I unlocked the three deadbolts on our front door and followed the smell of roasting meat into the kitchen. Cain stood at the stove, a skillet in one hand and a beer in the other. He glanced up with blood-red eyes. Clearly, he had already taken out his color contacts for the day.

Despite being twins, Cain and I looked like exact opposites. I had inherited our family’s easily tanned skin and dark-brown eyes. My long, silky hair was so black it looked almost blue sometimes.

Cain, on the other hand, had a genetic abnormality that left him completely without pigmentation. His skin was so pale, he could pose as a vampire. He kept his pure-white hair buzzed, and his red eyes made him look like a demon taking a vacation from hell.

Yeah, my mountain of a brother could look like one scary motherfucker. Better yet, he could act like a scary motherfucker. But he would always be my safe harbor in a storm, the one person who accepted me unconditionally. I could rob a bank or steal candy from a baby, and Cain would be there driving the getaway car.

I sat down at the breakfast bar and Cain silently started dishing up roasted chicken, corn bread, and root vegetables. He was a man of few words, and we were comfortable enough with each other that we didn’t need pleasantries.

After shoveling about half of the food into my mouth, I slowed down enough to ask Cain the question that had been bugging the hell out of me.

“What’s a sergeant at arms?”

“In what context?” Cain asked in his easy, soft voice. I had only heard Cain raise his voice three times. Each was a point in time I wished I could forget.

“As a ranking in a motorcycle club,” I replied, and Cain shot me a surprised look. Apparently, this was something I should have known. As always, Cain read my thoughts and filled me in without fuss.

“A sergeant at arms is the MC equivalent of a wet work guy.”

Cain’s quiet words slapped me in the face and I dropped my fork. Oh shit. That was something I should have known.

“Why are you asking?”

I told him about the Souls walking into The Shop.

Cain wasn’t the type to advise me not to get involved in something, but he was the type to pull me out of hot water. He listened but made no comment.

“What did you do today?” I asked into the silence.

Cain was having a hard time adjusting to the slow pace of our new life. Since he didn’t care to have a day-to-day job, he often went into Phoenix just for the hustle and bustle—not that Phoenix had anything on DC, but it was better than our isolated hundred-acre property.

“Went into the city and met up with The Horsemen again. They seem interesting. Offered me a job after I had to handle a thing at a bar.”

This was where I had to do the twin thing and decipher. The Horsemen were a gang that controlled a portion of Phoenix. They were more hardcore criminal than the Souls, in it solely for the money—while I was getting a way-of-life slash brotherhood vibe from the Souls.

We had moved here to get away from corruption and violence, but it seemed like Cain was having trouble cutting himself off cold turkey. Not that I blamed him. I was planning on pulling a job soon just to make sure I didn’t get rusty.

The Horsemen were small potatoes for someone like Cain. But if he wanted to make friends in the criminal playground, who was I to say anything about it?

Now, the bit about them offering him a job after “handling a thing at a bar” was interesting, because if we had grown up in the MC world, Cain would have proudly worn the sergeant at arms patch. Which made it doubly embarrassing that I hadn’t known what that meant.

Cain was in the business of killing people, or at the very least, seriously maiming them. Evidently, he had solved a problem for The Horsemen by killing someone, and now they wanted him to kill someone else.

“Need a sidekick for this job?” I asked, by way of offering unwavering support.

As a thief by trade, there wasn’t a lock or safe I couldn’t crack. And since people often hid behind locked doors, my skills went hand-in-hand with Cain’s. We made a pretty kick-ass team if I do say so myself.

Cain shrugged to show he wasn’t sure yet.

Since Cain had cooked, I cleaned up, and while he settled in to watch some late-night cartoons, I retired to my corner room in our ranch-style house. Cain had taken the master bedroom, but we each had our own bathroom, and mine had a tub, so I was happy.

I ended my day just as I had planned, with a hot bath and a large glass of whiskey. Life was good.

The next morning, I made pancakes for Cain and a fruit salad for myself before deciding what type of cookies to make for this barbecue.

Cain stole some of my fruit to make a smiley face on his pancakes before sitting down to watch more cartoons. I swear, that man was a little boy stuck in a ruthless killer’s body.

As the peanut butter cookies cooled, I dressed in jeans and a cute, floral-patterned T-shirt, then pulled on some knee-high leather boots as a nod to the motorcycle club dress code. I was going for a laid-back, just-having-drinks-in-the-backyard kind of vibe instead of the I’m-sexy-and-want-to-jump-your-bones kind of vibe.

While I liked HD, it was because he was a lot like Cain. And reminding me of my brother makes you a romantic no-go. Hopefully, HD would be cool with that, because I was new here and could use a bad-ass friend like him.

Just before noon, I squeezed Cain on the shoulder, grabbed the cookies, and hopped into my generic and thus almost invisible silver Honda Civic.

As I drove, I sang along to the radio at the top of my lungs, once again trying to pretend I was nothing more than a normal twenty-six-year-old going to a normal community barbecue.

When I reached town, I drove right past a garage that looked completely deserted except for a lone kid of about nineteen sitting on a stool outside the massive gate. A tendril of doubt started to curl in my stomach as I doubled back, and I reminded myself that I didn’t even want to go to this thing in the first place.

If they were pulling a prank on me for making HD behave himself, then it would be no skin off my back.

But that wouldn’t explain the almost desperate look in HD’s eyes as he’d asked me to show up today.

Remembering that look, I parked the car and walked purposefully up to the gate. The kid stood up as I approached and gave me a lazy perusal that made my skin crawl.

Reminding myself that I was here to make friends, I plastered a smile on my face.

“Hello, I’m here for a barbecue. HD—Breaker invited me.”

The first thing the kid did was laugh at me. The second thing he did was insult me. And the third thing this fucker did—and this really sealed his fate—was to actually touch me.

“Oh my god. Do you really think you can come rolling up here looking like a soccer-mom wet dream, with fucking baked goods, and get through this gate? When hundreds of chicks much hotter than you have failed? And then you think that Breaker is going to be your fucking meal ticket?

“Lady, you need to wake the fuck up. The Saturday barbecues are for family only. No club whores, no sweetbutts, no hang-arounds. Patched members and their blood only, and Breaker doesn’t have any family outside of the club. Nice try.”

The kid spoke quickly and with such a deep Southern drawl that I had a hard time following. Then he stepped up into my space, grabbed my ass, and hissed into my ear, “Show your appreciation to me right here and right now, and I’ll see to getting you an invite after I get my patch.”

No one fucking touched me without my permission. If the Souls had a fucking problem with that, Cain and I would just have to burn them to the ground.

I dropped the fucking useless cookies and swung my elbow up in a vicious hit to the kid’s jaw. The impact should have broken my arm, but I’d been training in muay thai for over fifteen years, and my bones were strong.

When the kid reached up to cradle his jaw, I grabbed his shoulders and delivered a punishing knee to his nuts. As he hunched over, I shoved and he fell into a fetal position at my feet. I took a moment to feel superior to this poor excuse for a man-child, then turned to leave.

I took three steps before a pissed-off Rogue positioned himself between me and my car.

Scanning the area, I saw a huge slab of muscle checking on the kid—but nobody else. If I wanted to make a run for it, now was probably the time. The huge slab of muscle stood up and gave Rogue a slight nod before training his eyes on me. His patch said his name was Tank.

Well, hopefully all of those beautiful muscles would slow Tank down, and hopefully, Rogue would consider pursuing me beneath his station—because I was bolting.

As I turned to go, Rogue reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

He guided me inside the gate with surprising gentleness. I was too shocked at the gentle touch to use one of the dozens of moves I knew to get out of holds like this, and within the blink of an eye, I was in enemy territory.

God, this guy was good. No wonder he was king of his ant hill.

Maybe I could talk my way out of this mess before calling in Cain for a rescue. “Okay, I know this looks bad, but if you didn’t want me here, all you had to do was say so. I’m not going to apologize for taking out the kid because he put his hands on me, and that’s just not acceptable.

“Yes, I could have handled the situation with a little more finesse. But come on, give the new girl a break. I didn’t know that this was a family-only event. I just showed up with cookies like HD told me to. If you let me go, I’ll leave immediately, and we don’t ever have to talk about this again.”

By now, Rogue had led me to a corner between the fence and some sort of shed—the kind of corner that Cain would use to complete a job.

I did not want to be in this corner with these two rough-looking men.

“Who’s HD?” Tank asked.

Rogue and I both replied “Breaker” at the same time. I really wanted to yell jinx, and demand that he buy me a Coke just to break the tension, but I suspected Rogue wouldn’t appreciate that type of humor.

“Breaker invited you?” Tank asked, still sounding confused.

“Yes, he told me to show up around noon with cookies. He didn’t mention the handsy kid or the family-only event. So I say we just chalk this whole thing up to a misunderstanding. I’ll get out of your hair, and you can go enjoy your exclusive event.”

Tank just blinked at me twice and then turned to Rogue before asking, “Breaker invited her?”

Jesus, was this guy deaf or something? Rogue nodded once and continued to stare at me. I’m ashamed to admit that his intensity was turning me on a little.

My crazy was starting to show. I really needed to get out of here.

“If Breaker invited you, then you can’t leave. Here.” Tank pushed the Ziplock bag full of broken cookies at me, and I took it.

“I’m not trying to be difficult here,” I said, “but someone is going to have to spell this out for me because I’m apparently all sorts of stupid when it comes to MC politics.”

Tank had stepped away, so the only person left to explain things was Rogue—and he had yet to utter a single word to me.

After another tense moment of power staring, Rogue finally said, “Yes, this is a family-only event, and we don’t hand out invites lightly. To be invited is to be included as part of our family. And we take care of our family.”

He paused to allow me to absorb his words. Mostly, I was trying to get a grip on my hormones, because at the sound of his low, gravelly voice, my body decided he was the best thing since sliced bread. The president of a powerful and dangerous motorcycle club was explaining that I’d been invited to become part of their family. Could there be a worse time to become a horny slut?

“Breaker has not invited a single person here the entire time he has been a member. He doesn’t have family outside of our brotherhood. Yet, after just a short meeting with you, he has decided to bring you into the fold. I don’t like it, but I trust my brother. Just know that if you hurt him, I will kill you.”

Silence filled the air after this grim declaration as I tried to hide the fact that his threat had caused me to flip the switch from turned on to dripping wet.

Judging by the sudden flare of Rogue’s nose, the heat now pouring out of his stare, and the grinding of his jaw, I hadn’t done a good job of hiding my inner horny slut.

It was so time to walk away from this situation before I did something that would be bad for my health, like jump Mr. Powerful while he was all ragey. I slowly sidestepped Rogue’s menacing frame, and when he didn’t reach out to stop me, I scurried out of the scary corner and headed for the happy noises that I assumed were coming from the barbecue.

When I rounded the big garage, I saw that half of the back lot was covered in pristine green grass, while the other half was well-kept gravel dotted with picnic tables. Groups of kids played games on the grass, and dozens of people were clustered around the tables, all holding drinks.

It didn’t take me long to spot HD. He was talking to the guy manning the grill while bouncing on the balls of his feet. I made a beeline for him, trying not to make eye contact with anyone along the way. If someone else stopped me and flipped their shit before I made it to HD, I was going to do something I would regret later.

The guy at the grill spotted me and gave me the all-too-familiar stink eye, causing HD to turn. When he saw me, his face split into that Christmas-morning smile—and I decided that all the drama had been worth it.

HD scooped me up in his arms and spun me around like I was a little girl. Once again, I felt that this was an important moment for him, so I allowed myself to smile back and let out a girly squeal that appropriately matched the acrobatics I was doing.

After a couple of turns, he put me down and gave me a proper bear hug. Considering every other person had looked at me sideways all morning, being in his arms and feeling his gratitude and happiness felt fucking amazing.

I decided right then and there that I was keeping HD.

After he let me go, I handed him the bag of peanut butter cookie crumbs and stood on my toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

He gave me another brilliant smile. “Pretty Lady, what the fuck did you do to these cookies?”

Smiling back, I said, “You can blame the handsy kid for those. I had to drop them to teach him some manners.”

HD’s smile faded into a scowl, and his grip became restricting. “What the fuck does that mean?”

While I appreciated that HD was willing to go to bat for me, there had been enough drama for one day.

“It means that if you invite a girl over to meet your family, you should probably tell the girl—and the guy guarding the gate.” My tone was severe, but the smile plastered to my face told him that I wasn’t really mad at him.

He turned into the picture of a caught-out, sheepish boy, and my smile turned genuine. I was going to have to work to stay mad at HD. He was just too damn cute.

“I didn’t think you would come,” he admitted.

I wouldn’t have come if I’d known the ramifications.

Family was a two-way street. The Souls might now want to take care of me, but that would mean I needed to take care of the Souls. I already knew that I couldn’t have HD without his brotherhood. I shrugged off the thought.

“Well, now I’m here, you better introduce me around and give me the gossip. I’d hate to be lost when the old ladies catch up to me later.”

With a grin, HD proceeded to parade me around as if I was made of gold. Faces and names started to blur, but the whole name-patch thing helped a shit ton.

Eventually, HD got called away, leaving me with a group of wives who were indeed called old ladies. Despite what I’d said earlier, I didn’t really want to deal with female cattiness right now.

Spotting a little girl shooting hoops all by herself, I made a beeline for her. When the ball rolled toward my feet, I picked it up and carried it over to her.

“Hey, my name is Jamie. Want to play a game of one-on-one or horse with me?”

I gave her a moment to take my measure. If she wanted to be alone, all the more power to her.

She looked about twelve, and her dirty-blonde hair with pink tips was curling wildly around her head. She wore ripped jeans, well-worn sneakers, and a bright pink T-shirt embellished with rhinestones.

“Who are you, exactly?” she asked. “My dad says not to talk to strangers.”

Smart kid.

“Your dad’s right. I’m a friend of Breaker. Do you want to go find him to check on me?”

“No, it’s okay. If you try anything, I’ll scream, and at least ten different guys will come and kill you,” the little girl said with a completely straight face.

Yeah, she and I were going to get along famously.

“I’m Angel,” she went on, “and a game of one-on-one would be awesome. The boys won’t play with me ’cause I’m a girl, and the girls all suck.”

“Well, we’ll just have to practice together until you can kick the boys’ asses, and all the girls will be jealous,” I told her in a serious tone.

She said that sounded like a good plan. And just like that, I had made another friend.

Two friends in two days. That was a record for me—I hadn’t made two friends in twenty years. Alarm bells were going off like crazy in my head, the way they always did when anything seemed too good to be true. But, for once, I decided to ignore them.