Hot Witness: A MacKenzie Family Novella Read online

  But he was kissing her and even though she should make him stop—because she didn’t like bikers and never would—she told herself she could enjoy it for just a few more moments. She could pretend this was still high school and sexy Jake Ryan had noticed her, of all people.

  He put a broad hand on her hip and tugged her in close—and she gasped at the evidence of his arousal. It also sent a thrill of shock and apprehension through her. She was not prepared to deal with this, and certainly not right here in the middle of one of the Brothers of Sin’s bacchanalias. And if Brandon found out? Dear God. She didn’t like to think what that meant for her, or for Jake.

  Jake’s fingers squeezed her hip, the other hand he’d threaded into her hair tightened—and then he let her go. Just like that, he pushed her gently away and stepped back. She zeroed in on his mouth—that beautiful, sexy mouth—and felt her heart sting that it was over while confusion rolled through her.

  “Gotta go, Eva. But damn, girl, I wish I could stay.”

  He strode over to the door, unlocked it, and jerked it open before she could manage to find her voice.

  All these years she’d protected herself, protected her heart and her body, treating her life like it was an instrument designed for one purpose: revenge. Yet a single kiss from a sexy biker, of all the damn things, had her tied up in knots, had her wishing that everything could be different.

  But it couldn’t. She was here to bring down the Brothers, here to ruin Brandon Cox—and she couldn’t let anything or anyone stop her. Not even Jake Ryan.

  “Me too,” she finally whispered to the empty room.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Where you been?”

  Jake looked up as Brandon strode into the yard at the same time he did. Brandon tugged on his fly, as if to make sure it was up, and grabbed a beer from someone as he strutted over. Jake didn’t bother to lie. It was obvious he’d just come from the direction of Eva’s shop.

  “Checking with the tattoo chick on getting this thing done. She wasn’t out here so I figured she’d be willing to work. She wasn’t.”

  Brandon snorted as he took a pull from the beer. He swallowed and wiped his lips on his sleeve. “That bitch isn’t willing to do a lot of things. But I tell you one thing, she’s gonna suck my dick before too much longer. Because I’ve had just about enough of her prissy shit. Bitch thinks because she can work the ink like nobody else that she can call the shots like she owns the fucking place.”

  “Fuck that,” Jake said, even though his heartbeat accelerated for a moment. He’d wiped his mouth when he’d left Eva’s room. He could only hope he’d removed all traces of that dark wine lipstick she’d been wearing.

  As if on cue, Brandon’s gaze narrowed. It was dark in the yard now but the fire was blazing and the light from it illuminated their faces.

  “Find you a woman, Jake?”

  Jake shrugged. No sense lying about it. “I tried to kiss her. She slapped the shit out of me.”

  Brandon guffawed. “Sounds like Eva.” He tipped the neck of his bottle toward Jake. “But don’t do it again. Anyone gets to taste that bitch, it’s gonna be me.”

  “Got it, boss.”

  He didn’t like the way Brandon fixated on Eva. It wasn’t a good thing at all. Jake remembered that Brandon used to slap his women around a bit, and Jake didn’t think the dude had changed. A wave of revulsion washed over him. Why the fuck had he ever thought he’d belonged here with these people? They were so opposed to everything he believed that he couldn’t imagine how he’d ever wanted to be one of them.

  Because they were cool. Because you had nothing to look forward to back then.

  Yeah, but still. Brandon Cox was a motherfucker who deserved to have his balls sliced off and fed to him, and yet he managed to stay out of prison and in business anyway.

  Take tonight, for instance. A turf war over hookers and blow. Another gang thought they could come into BoS territory and pinch some of their suppliers. Brandon had responded with violent force.

  “Man, you were indispensable tonight,” Brandon said. “If I’d known the military could be so fucking good, I’d have sent some of the guys to the army to learn a few things. Those skills of yours are off the hook, man.”

  He clapped Jake on the back. Jake grinned, even though he’d rather use his skills on this man. “Yeah, handy shit they taught me in the Rangers.”

  The Rangers had only been the beginning, of course. He’d worked his way into Delta Force, which wasn’t an easy thing to do, and then onward to HOT. He wasn’t just a soldier. He was an elite special operator with the best fucking top secret outfit the United States had.

  “Think you can show some of the guys how you disarmed four men before they could get the jump on you?”

  “Yeah, sure. But let’s do it when they’re sober.”

  Brandon turned his head to look at the men and women partying down in the yard. Then he laughed and tossed back his beer. “Good plan.”

  He slung an arm around Jake’s neck and hauled him toward a group of women. “Let’s get you laid tonight. You deserve it.”

  It was the last thing in the world he wanted when his senses still reeled from kissing Eva Gray. He shot a glance to her window, wondering if she was watching. The curtain twitched and he knew she’d been looking at him. He wanted to charge back in there and take her in his arms again, but it was too dangerous—especially now that Brandon had told him Eva was off limits.

  Brandon might have been patient with her thus far, but his patience was clearly running out. One wrong move, and Eva could end up dead.

  And so could Jake.

  “Eva Gray,” Declan MacKenzie said. “There’s no record of her existence before about four years ago.”

  Jake frowned. He was standing at the edge of the compound, on his phone, smoking a cigarette even though he’d given them up years ago, and watching the action around the fire. The party was winding down, with most everyone drunk or high or sleeping. Jake was still awake because while he’d had a few drinks, he hadn’t had nearly as much as they’d thought he’d had—and he definitely hadn’t taken any of the women to his room.

  As soon as he’d been able, he’d walked out here away from the gathering and returned Declan’s call. Jake had sent a text earlier asking about Eva, which he’d promptly erased. Declan knew to call him back rather than text him because it was safer that way.

  Though Declan had told Jake to call him anytime, he still had a notion that he’d phoned at a bad time. There’d been the sound of a woman moaning in the background for a few moments when he’d first called. Jake could imagine exactly which woman it was, too. He’d met Declan’s beautiful wife Sophia briefly when he’d gone to Surrender, Montana, in order to do his in-briefing with the MacKenzies before heading to Georgia.

  “Eva looks familiar to me. I’m not sure why.”

  He heard the rustling of papers. “Does the name Evelyn Collier mean anything to you?”

  Jake frowned. “Collier? Jesus.”

  “I take that as a yes.”

  He shoved a hand through his hair and kept an eye on the group of bikers. He couldn’t afford to be overheard out here, and yet he was reeling as if he’d been clubbed over the head with a mallet. Evelyn Collier? He could hardly reconcile the chubby teenager he remembered with the sleek beauty of Eva Gray, and yet now that he’d heard the name, he knew it was the truth. Eva was Evelyn.

  “How long have you known this?”

  “Just got the info tonight. It took time to dig up. She was very thorough at covering her tracks.”

  “She had a sister.”

  “Heather. She was murdered seven years ago. Her body was found in a shallow grave, and she was beat up pretty badly.”

  Anger rolled through him fast and hard as the shape of what was going on here began to form. “She was Brandon’s old lady.”

  “He was arrested, but the charges were dropped. They couldn’t pin it on him. He said that she left him after a fight over another w
oman. Said she walked out of the compound alone, which witnesses corroborated.”

  “Of course they did.” Because the Brothers lied for each other.

  “The defense attorney suggested she’d been picked up by a motorist and killed after she’d left the Brothers of Sin.”

  “I remember. I wasn’t here when it happened though. I was in jail, waiting for my attorney and Judge Mason to work something out. Once I took the deal, I never returned to the compound. I didn’t see Brandon again.”

  “Do you think he did it?”

  Jake clenched his jaw tight for a second. He remembered the way Brandon had been with Heather. She’d been unlike most old ladies, so delicate and out of place here—or so it had seemed. She and Brandon had fought like cats and dogs. Jake had witnessed Brandon hit her at least once. Maybe twice. Guilt and anger swelled in his gut. What a fucking asshole he’d been not to intervene. Not to kick Brandon’s ass from one end of Georgia to the other. In spite of the fact it would have most likely gotten him killed, he should have done it anyway.

  “Probably.”

  “And Evelyn Collier is inside that compound, calling herself Eva Gray.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Yeah.”

  She’d told him she couldn’t leave just yet, that she was waiting for something. He hadn’t known what. He still didn’t know what, but he was beginning to think it wasn’t a good thing. Of course she’d called the FBI on the Brothers. But what else did she want? Something, because she wasn’t running away.

  A sick feeling swirled in his belly.

  “What about Snake? Did you find anyone calling himself that?”

  “Not yet, but we will. Cypher knows everyone who’s anyone in the tech world. We’ll find the guy.”

  “You need to call HOT. The colonel has connections.”

  “Already taken care of.” There was a moment of silence before Declan spoke again. “Extract her as soon as possible. She can’t stay much longer. If Judge Mason takes a turn for the worse…well, all hell’s gonna break loose because the FBI will come calling. Once they do, once Cox knows someone left a tip—it won’t take him long to figure out who it was.”

  “No, I don’t think it will either.” He dropped the cigarette and stubbed it out with his toe. “I’ll get her out of here in two days’ time. I’m going to need a place to go when I do.”

  “I’ll send you the coordinates to a safe house. Memorize and delete.”

  “Copy that. Over and out.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “What’s your game, Eva?”

  Her heart leapt in her throat at the sexy voice coming from behind her. She’d heard the door to her shop open, but she’d been cleaning her machines and she hadn’t bothered to look at who it was. Not an easy task, but she’d had to learn to fake nonchalance a long time ago if she was going to fit in with the Brothers.

  Now, she turned slowly in her chair and faced the man in leathers standing just inside her shop. Goddamn he was sexy. Tall, dirty blond hair, muscled. He had what looked like three days’ worth of scruff and his eyes were slightly bloodshot. There were lines at the corners of those eyes. She hadn’t noticed that yesterday. He looked like a commando rather than a biker at the moment.

  She didn’t like bikers or commandos. She didn’t like dangerous men, and this one certainly was. She shivered as she thought of what he’d told her last night. He was here for her. Here to take her away before she’d accomplished her goals. She couldn’t let that happen.

  She’d tossed and turned for hours, wondering why he’d admitted he wasn’t really one of the Brothers anymore. But she knew exactly why. She wouldn’t rat him out to Brandon, because if she did that she’d be implicating herself—and Jake knew it. If she had to throw herself on anyone’s mercy, it would be this man’s before it would ever be Brandon’s.

  “Game? Sorry, I don’t do games. You want me to work on your tattoo or what?”

  He came over to her chair and shrugged out of his cut and then reached down and pulled his shirt up and over his head with one hand. She blinked as her mouth went dry. Oh dear God.

  His belly was ridged with muscle, and his chest was broad and tanned. She’d seen it all yesterday when he’d done the same thing, but she hadn’t let her eyes settle in any one spot then. She’d focused on his shoulder and the faded tattoo and ignored the rest.

  She wasn’t capable of ignoring it now, not when there were little sparks of sensation zinging through her body or when her feminine core started aching with need.

  “Yeah, you can work on it. But you’re also going to tell me what’s going on with you…Evelyn.”

  Her insides turned to ice. She was vaguely aware that she was gaping at him, the needle in her hand suspended in midair, her muscles solidifying as if ice were creeping over her skin and making it happen.

  How could he know? How? She’d been so careful, so methodical.

  Eva swallowed and told herself to calm down. Told herself he was guessing. He didn’t know anything. He’d thrown it out there to rattle her, that’s all. It was a wild guess, though a good one. She could deflect it though. Of course she could.

  “Nice guess, but Eva isn’t short for anything.”

  His gaze met hers, and her breath caught. “I know who you are, Evelyn. I know why you’re here.”

  Her hands were trembling. She could feel it, could see the needle shaking as she held it high. She set it down carefully and tucked her hands between her knees.

  “You really don’t. You don’t know anything.”

  “You want to get him. You want him to pay for what he did to your sister. But how? How are you going to make that happen? You want to kill him?”

  She could feel the blood rushing to her face. Of course she wanted to kill him. But she wasn’t brave enough, dammit. Not yet anyway.

  “I imagine a lot of people want to kill Brandon Cox. No one has done it yet, though.”

  “You’ve been inside for a couple months now. Why haven’t you shot him with that .45 while he was at your mercy in this chair? Don’t tell me you couldn’t have.”

  She dropped her head, her eyes blurring. Yeah, she could have. A few times. “Because they’d have killed me if I did. And nothing would change other than he’d be dead, I’d be dead, and they’d have a new leader. There’d be no justice.”

  “So hanging out here and calling the FBI with anonymous tips was your plan?”

  She swallowed. She could deny everything, deny she was Evelyn Collier and that Heather was her sister. But, dammit, she didn’t want to. For once, she wanted someone to know. Besides, even if she denied it, she knew he wouldn’t believe her. It was clear he knew the truth. Somehow, in spite of all her planning, he knew.

  “I want to bring them down. All of them. And I want him to admit what he did.”

  She heard him sigh and she looked up, met those whisky-smooth eyes of his. “Tall order.”

  “Maybe so. But I’ll find a way.”

  “Judge Mason’s wife died in that crash. I think that’s enough to get them if you testify about what you heard.”

  Fear rolled through her, followed by doubt. “It’s not enough,” she spat. “They’ll find a way out of it. They always do.”

  “So what’s the plan then, Evelyn? How are you going to take them down?”

  “Stop calling me that,” she growled. “I’m Eva. Evelyn died seven years ago.”

  “You were a sweet little thing,” he said softly, and a shiver slid down her spine.

  “You don’t remember me, Jake Ryan. Don’t pretend like you do.”

  He reached out and took one of her hands, gently pried it from between her legs. “I remember. You were in my English class. Mrs. Hamrick, fourth period. And you used to bring me drinks whenever I escorted Heather home for a visit.”

  “You brought her home three or four times. For all you know, I was trying to poison you so I could free her from the Brothers.”

  He snorted, and warmth blossomed inside. “I could
completely believe that about Eva. Evelyn not so much.”

  She extracted her hand, mostly because of the heat prickling her skin. She didn’t know what to do with him. What to do about him. He wasn’t one of them, but he still wasn’t the kind of man she could get involved with. Ever.

  Another thought formed in her mind, chilling her. What if he was one of them and he was just getting her confession before turning her over to Brandon? It was exactly the kind of sick game Brandon would play.

  “Hey,” he said, and she met his gaze. He looked calm and cool. “I can almost read your mind, beautiful. You’re wondering if this is a setup, if the game is over.”

  “It’s occurred to me.”

  “It’s not a setup…but the game is definitely over.”

  Her eyes hardened, turning icy blue. Her jaw tightened. He could see her fighting with herself, but what she hadn’t realized yet was that she’d already lost. He wasn’t letting her stay.

  “I’ll say when it’s over, thank you. You don’t get to tell me what to do. You know nothing of what I’ve been through, or what I’m willing to go through in order to win this battle. Nothing.”

  The last word was hard and bitter. He understood being driven by ghosts, but he also knew that you never outran them. He’d been trying for the last seven years. He was proud of who he’d become—but he wasn’t proud of who he’d been.

  “Brandon’s ready to walk in here and force you to your knees, Eva. He’s tired of you holding out on him. What are you gonna do then?”

  She blinked and he could see the fear in her eyes. But then her jaw tightened and anger flashed over her face. “I guess I’ll have to shoot him after all.”

  “There’s a better way. We get the fuck out of here and you testify about what you heard—and anything else you know about the Brothers and their operations. The MacKenzies will follow the trail and get the evidence to back you up.”