Iona shifted her weight slightly. “Bring it.”
“You heard her,” Enforcer One snapped. “Show her how proper women are supposed to act.”
“Yeah,” Enforcer Two said. “If you don’t, the other women will sass their men, too. It’s like a virus, man. You gotta stomp it into the ground.”
Iona stared. Stomp a virus into the ground? Good grief. If Eddie was pulling the strings and orchestrating this whole thing, no wonder he didn’t bring Dutch and the Blackthorn Riders into the Reckoners’ fold. Dutch wasn’t strong enough to stand up to pressure from his MC members. Didn’t bode well for the MC’s chances of long-term survival under Dutch’s leadership.
She held her arms away from her body and wiggled her fingers in a come-ahead gesture to get him moving. She and the other women had a mountain of potato salad to make before they went to bed tonight.
“Show her how it’s done, Dutch,” Enforcer Three shouted.
That plus Iona’s sultry smile did the trick. The MC leader lumbered forward and grasped her right upper arm in an iron grip faster than she expected. Well done, she admitted to herself. Another time, she’d hold back and take Dutch through his paces. Tonight, though, she didn’t want to waste time on a sparring match.
Iona fisted her hand, raised her arm against his thumb, and twisted, breaking his hold. She followed up immediately with a right cross to his face.
Dutch stumbled back, shock on his face. With a roar of fury, he ran at Iona.
Guess he wanted to play rough. Fine with her. She sidestepped Dutch enough for him to stumble from his momentum and miss her entirely. When he fell to his hands and knees, Iona slammed the side of her fist onto the back of his neck.
Dutch went down and didn’t move.
Enforcer One ran to his fallen leader. “Dutch!” He dropped to his knees, glaring at Iona. “Lady, you better hope he’s not dead because if he is, you’ll be dead soon, too.”
She rolled her eyes. “He’ll wake up with a headache in a few minutes. If I were you, I’d find a cold pack and some over-the-counter pain medicine.”
Enforcer Two helped Enforcer One haul their fearless leader to his feet. They draped his arms across their shoulders and lugged him off the field of battle.
Elias bent and kissed her hard. “Well done.”
“Thank you.”
“I wonder how they’re going to get Dutch home,” Violet said, expression thoughtful.
“Don’t know and don’t care.” Iona turned back to Elias. “What repercussions can I expect?”
“I don’t know.”
“Iona’s concern is valid.” Seth frowned. “Dutch won’t appreciate being shown up by a woman in front of his men. What will be even harder to take is that she made it look easy.”
“He’ll plan to retaliate when you least expect it, Iona,” Elias said. “Keep your guard up.”
“Don’t worry. I planned to do that.” She looked at her teammates. “Come on. We have work ahead of us tonight.” Iona turned to Elias. “You and your team are on kitchen duty with the rest of us.”
“I can hold my own in kitchen cleanup, but the rest of these guys, except for Seth, are only useful in front of a grill.”
“They’ll learn some new skills tonight. We all have to work together, or the side dishes won’t be ready for tomorrow.”
“After tonight, do you think Dutch will still want our help?” Noah shook his head. “I’m afraid he’ll send word for us to get out of here tomorrow at first light.”
“He might.” Seth folded his arms across his chest. “But we had to show him we can handle ourselves, even the women. Elias is right, though. Dutch will have a hard time living this down. He’ll be planning payback.”
“We’ll handle it.” Teagan rested her hand on her husband’s forearm. “It’s what we do.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her mouth and guided her toward the back door. “We need to get busy. If the MC members want nothing to do with us and our potato salad, we’ll be eating the stuff for a week.”
Andre held up his hands. “Not me. I say we have a company picnic and unload the stuff that way.”
Laughter followed that statement.