Free Defiance by Stephanie Tyler Page B

having fun. Doing what anyone in the club would do.”
    “Doing what any man would do, and you’re not a man, hear? Like I said, you’re not even a woman. You’re a little girl, playing games. And they’re gonna get you in big goddamned trouble.”
    “What do you care?” she shot back.
    “Don’t,” he lied. “Until I’m the one who gets his ass hauled outta bed to come rescue you.”
    “Out of Fiona’s bed?”
    “I don’t stay in Fiona’s bed and she doesn’t stay in mine.”
    “Fine. Your job’s done. I’m in the car. So go report back like the good soldier you are. Guess I can’t have any fun.”
    “Not sure what your idea of fun is.”
    “Same as yours,” she challenged.
    He snorted. “You want it, but you’re too scared to go all the way with it, Tru. That’s not having balls—that’s being a goddamned little girl. You’re gonna tease, then tease. But know that’s all you’re being.”
    “Maybe I don’t tease. You’ve been gone awhile, and you don’t know everything. Maybe you couldn’t handle me.”
    He raised a brow. “Yeah, like Silas handles you?”
    “You have no idea—”
    “That you’re a virgin? Sweetheart, you might be the only one your age in the MC who is. The golden virginity. Hope Silas finds it worth it.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    He shrugged. “Like buying a bike without a test drive.”
    She went to slug him then, but he caught her fist in his hand, tightened around her fingers easily immobilizing her arm that way. “Truth hurts.”
    “You’re an asshole, just like they say.”
    “Rumor usually has some truth to it, darlin’.” He got out of the truck and went around to help her out. When he did, he also picked her back up, having made a promise to deposit her at Trixie’s door.
    “Get your goddamned hands off me,” she said, clawed at him. He put her down but held on to her anyway, even as her cheeks colored and her eyes flashed with anger. “I’m not helping you keep your 8 Ball patch, Caspar. Plenty of women lined up for that already.”
    “Is that really why you’re pulling this shit?” he asked, his voice low. He let her go and fuck it, Trixie could collect her from here.
    He hadn’t fully believed he’d been right about why she’d started acting out. The look on her face, her comments about his patch confirmed it.
    Instead of saying anything, she just wrapped her arms more tightly around herself, like she knew she’d been caught.
    His hands tightened into fists. He had no right to tell her what to do, other than the fact that he was a man in the brotherhood of the club and she had no rights in the MC. “What the fuck, Tru? I mean, seriously, what the fuck? You got it good in Defiance.”
    Not like me.
    He stared at her and she met his gaze for just a second. But that was enough. Something flashed in her eyes and for the life of him, it was something he’d never ever goddamned wanted to see. Never.
    He knew that look. But knowing it and doing something about it were two totally different things.
    And Tru was different—there was a light around her from the first time he’d seen her. She’d been six years old, her long blonde hair trailing behind her as she ran.
    She was someone the other kids followed. Big Hugh’s pride and joy.
    They wanted her to be part of the MC and yet, not like the other MC women. She was born with the respect given to an old lady, based on the respect everyone had for Big Hugh.
    Hell, Caspar had been fooled by the guy too. He’d been one of the few kind ones, although no one would ever pin that moniker on him to his face.
    “I don’t want to be in this lifestyle,” she blurted out, looked horrified that she’d admitted it. She’d deny it to the death—he was sure of it.
    He also agreed with her. “So don’t be a part of it.”
    “Easy to say. Not easy to do,” she told him as she walked away, from him and from Trixie’s house, glancing over her shoulder.
    “Nothing worth anything