Free Making Choices (Black Shamrocks MC Book 2) by Kylie Hillman Page A

them as irritating as fingernails raking down a chalkboard.
    She takes a photo of us sitting together on the bed and shows the guy standing next to her. He smiles at her, slapping her on the ass with appreciation.
    “Get copies. Now. Then get them dropped off at the Compound and all their houses. ASAP!” he orders her. She nods in response, but doesn’t make a move to leave. He glares at her, but she’s oblivious. The woman that Maddi called Sherri runs her eyes over my body—not that she can see much since I’m hugging my knees to my chest—and smirks at me. 
    “I see Timber’s downgraded significantly. He must be missing me something bad if he’s settled for you.”
    I’m not sure what to say to her.
    I have no idea who she is, or what her connection is to Lucas, and I’m not brave enough to sass her back at this stage. Maddi, however, doesn’t stay quiet. I’m beginning to get the feeling that she is incapable of it.
    “Oh my God, Sherri. Get some new insults. It’s always the same old crap with you. Your man likes me better. I’m a better fuck than you are. Blah, blah, bloody blah,” she tells Sherri, who turns white at her hostile taunting. “You’re a goddamn whore. You know as well as we do that’s all you’re good for, and all you’ll ever be. You’d wanna hope you have a tiny bit of talent for it. So just shut up.”
    The guy who told Sherri to get copies of the photos starts laughing.
    “Good to see you’re still the same hardnosed bitch you always were, Princess. I was worried you’d be fucked up. Too broken to be fun anymore.”
    Maddi flinches at his words. This is the first time I’ve ever seen her unsure of herself. He laughs at her again. There’s a whole back story here that I’m not privy to, one I need to know now that I’m caught up in it.
    “And you’re still the same traitor you always were, Connor. You disgust me. We both know that Mik and the Shamrocks are going to kill you when they find you. You’ve just sped up the process by taking us.” She gestures between the two of us.
    Studying Connor again, I realize where I know him from. He’s one of the men who guarded Joel’s room during his hospital stay. He’s what Lucas called an Enforcer, but I gather from Maddi’s comments that he’s no longer a member of the Club.
    That can’t be good.
    What the hell am I caught in the middle of?
    Signalling the two men who brought Maddi into the room by crooking a finger in the air, Connor turns his back on us and walks out without another word. Sherri follows him on spindly high-heels that make her take mincing steps, and even with the seriousness of the situation very apparent, I can’t help meeting Maddi’s eyes and sharing a grin with her.
    The biggest of the two men left—the one I think Maddi kneed in the balls since his face is almost as red as his hair—looks at us, a grim smirk covering his face. “Don’t go anywhere now, bitches. We’ll be back soon for some entertainment.”
    I gasp at the implication of his words, but Maddi raises her middle finger and flips him the bird.
    “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, asshole. You have no idea what those two out there have dragged you into.”
    He tries hard not to buy into her threat, but his curiosity wins.
    “And what would that fucking be?”
    “I’m Beast’s daughter and Mad Dog’s Old Lady.” She points at herself, and both men’s eyes bug-out as her words sink in. “And she’s Timber’s woman. I’m sure you’ve heard of him too?”
    Maddi points at me, and in spite of my reservations about the status of our relationship, I nod in agreement. I’m all for any intimidation factor we can gain by mentioning their names.
    “Fuck off! Blake the Butcher?” the red-haired guy asks, unease in his eyes.
    “The one and only.” Maddi laughs at him.
    Personally, I’m disturbed to hear Lucas referred to as a butcher. I’m not naïve. I’ve read the newspaper articles that refer to him as Blake the