Addicted (Outlaws Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

again over the years.
    “We’ll be gone for weeks, love. And Foxworth is apparently taking some heat from Enforcers. I’d rather you stayed here where it’s safe.”
    She lifted her chin in defiance. “No.”
    “Jamie —”
    “No,”
she repeated. “I’m coming with you.”
    “What about Piper and Layla?” he countered. “You’re perfectly okay leaving them alone?”
    “Connor and Hudson will be here to watch over them. I told you, Len – you can’t win.” She shrugged. “Besides, this training thing could be useful for me. It’s been a while since I got in any target practice.”
    Lennox snorted. “You can shoot better than anyone I know, Pike and Rylan included.”
    He had her there. The adults at the camp they’d grown up in had made sure every single child knew how to shoot a weapon. Jamie and Lennox used to take their rifles into the woods and set up targets, and by the time she was seven years old, she could blow a glass bottle right out of the sky while both she and the target were in motion.
    “Fine, then I’ll work on honing my combat skills.” She refused to back down. “Either way, I’m going with you.”
    A crease of unhappiness dug into his proud forehead, but Jamie knew he was close to capitulating. Lennox didn’t like letting her out of his sight and they both knew it. And that was fine by her. His overprotective bullshit annoyed her sometimes, but when it came down to it, she and Lennox were a team and always had been.
    “Fine,” he grumbled. “You can come.”
    She snickered. “You say that as if you’re giving me permission. But sure, you can keep thinking you’re in charge if it makes you feel better.”
    His lips quirked in an exasperated smile. Then he walked over to the bed and captured her chin with one big hand before dipping his head to kiss her cheek. “Night, love. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
    The soft brush of his warm lips on her skin made her smile. Lennox was always so tender with her, which was ironic, considering that it was no secret that he liked rough sex. Jamie had seen him pound into women with fervor, use his lips and hands and teeth to let out his sexual aggression.
    She was one of the rare people who got to experience the gentle Lennox. The sweet Lennox. She would’ve missed out on that if the two of them had gotten sexually involved, because going to bed with Lennox would’ve come with a choice: sex or friendship.
    Times like these, when he ran a tender hand over her cheek and gazed at her as though she meant the world to him, she was glad she’d never been forced to make that choice.
     
    Rylan could tell that Connor had more to say. While the other men headed off in different directions, he remained on the porch, studying his best friend’s serious eyes.
    Usually Con was a lot harder to read, but tonight he was conveying his unease as clearly as the neon lights that had once lit up city billboards. Rylan remembered being shown a picture of a place called Vegas when he was a kid, and how his eyes had grown larger than saucers when he saw all those lights, shining bright even at night.
    Nowadays, nights were shrouded in darkness unless you were lucky enough to find a place with a generator or access to the power grid. Or if you lived in the city, where modern conveniences were given freely to the citizens who toed the line.
    “What’s on your mind?” he asked the camp leader.
    Connor rose from his chair and joined Rylan at the railing. He stared into the dark forest for a moment, opened his mouth, then closed it when soft footsteps sounded from the path on their right.
    They both turned to find Hudson approaching the cabin. “I’m exhausted,” she announced as she climbed the steps. “You coming to bed?”
    Connor gave a brisk nod. “Give me a second, sweetheart. I need to talk to Ry.”
    “Don’t take too long.” She glanced at Rylan. “You’ve got five minutes and then I’m dragging him inside. He’s exhausted too, but he’ll