Her Hot Ride: A gripping and sexy biker mc romantic suspense novel Page 4

  Archer looked down at me, his shoulder still propped against the wall, his muscular arms folded over his chest. His eyes were narrowed in distrust, but he didn’t call me out on my lies this time.

  “I don’t like that guy. Never have. So, if you’re scared of telling me the damn truth about what really happened between you two, then know that I won’t fucking hesitate to put a woman-beater on the streets.”

  Despite his harsh words, my chest warmed at his confession. It was oddly comforting again knowing that he had my back. And that, alone, was enough to make me feel safer than I had been just minutes ago.

  “I appreciate your offer, but I swear nothing happened,” I insisted.

  Emotions warred in Archer’s gaze: distrust, anger, curiosity too…

  A knock sounded at his door. “Flick’s back,” Niyol hollered from the other side.

  “Shit.” Archer unfolded his arms and stood up straight. “Stay here.”

  “What? Why?”

  He shook his head. “It was a mistake bringing you to my room. Hawk will kick my ever-loving ass if he sees you in here.”

  “Why? It’s not like we were ‘doing’ anything.” I scoffed and made finger quotes with my hands.

  He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You being in my room means something to the brothers here. They’ll either think I’ve taken you on as a monthly, or that I’m making you my old lady.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn’t have blackmailed me to get me here.”

  “Maybe you should try to be less of a whiny brat and have some fun every once in a while, then maybe I wouldn’t have had to make you come.”

  I scowled at him.

  He winked.

  Then, when I couldn’t handle his smart mouth any longer, I walked toward the window, ready to create my own exit.

  “I’ll just leave this way then.” I yanked the curtains open and went for the window.

  “Not happening.” Archer tugged me back by the sleeve of my cardigan before I could get one foot out. “We’ve got guards everywhere. People will be even more suspicious of you if they see you scaling the wall.”

  “Then what do I do?” I threw up my hands. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in here for an indefinite amount of time because Archer didn’t want to mess up his reputation.

  Another knock sounded. “Let’s go, brother. All men out on the floor for arrival. You know the drill.” This time it was Slade, my cousin, and one of Archer and Niyol’s best friends.

  “You wait in here,” he whispered. “One hour. Please.”

  I rolled my eyes, knowing there was no way on God’s green earth that I would ever wait in here. Still, what Archer didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  “Fine. Go.”

  He stood there, staring at me.

  “What?” I hissed.

  “Nothing.” Then he turned and walked out the door, something clicking into place from the other side.

  “What the hell?” I walked over, turned the handle. He’d locked the door. “Asshole.” I hit the wood with the back of my fist, then kicked it with my toe.

  That’s when I realized what I had to do.

  And exactly forty minutes later, when I had nearly paced a hole in Archer’s floor, and finally told fear to take a flying leap, I opened the window and left.

  The best part? There was not, in fact, a single guard watching me.

  Three

  Archer

  “You boys still know how to throw a good party.” Flick grinned, downed another shot, then lit up a smoke—his fifth in an hour. Wrinkles covered his saggy, brown eyes, making me wonder what all he’d seen with them over the last few months.

  “We learn from the best, Boss.” I took a sip of my whiskey, trying to keep the conversation light.

  Tonight was all about his return, preparation for the next steps in our war against Pops… but my mind was somewhere else: on the brunette in my room. My guess was JP was ripping my shit to shreds for revenge, pissed to hell that I’d locked her in. But it was for her own good. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

  Knowing she was in there, possibly lying on my bed, did something funny to my gut. I’m guessing it’s because I was attracted to the idea of the forbidden. And Emily was exactly that. Every so often, I looked to where Chop was sitting at the table next to ours, imagining my hands around his neck, squeezing until he had bruises on his throat that were ten times worse than the one he’d left on JP’s neck.

  Scratches and a bruise, fingerprint marks too. Motherfucking sick bastard was what he was. And for Emily to openly lie about it? That shit wasn’t cool. There had to be a reason though. Maybe he was threatening her. Maybe he had dirt on her nobody else did. I’d find out soon enough. Just not tonight.

  “Archer,” Slade growled in my ear. “What’s your issue?”

  I rubbed two fingers over my mouth, refocusing on Flick. This was supposed to be a night of celebration, but the old man looked like he was seconds from having a coronary.

  “No issue. Just thinking about shit.” Shit I had no business thinking about right now.

  “We doing Church in the morning?” Hawk jumped in.

  Flick nodded. “Yep. Back to the grind.” Then he lifted two fingers and motioned Willa over, patting his lap a second later. She was all smiles as she took a seat, her tits pressing against his chest, legs straddled over his lap.

  Good. Getting back to the grind meant I didn’t have to branch out on my own and take care of shit. I didn’t want to do it, but I would without blinking an eye.

  “How’s Maya?” Flick looked to Slade then. As he asked about his niece, the guy tucked his hands into the back of Willa’s skirt. She writhed against his thigh, turning her head to look at me. I saw the hunger there in her eyes, the way her lips parted in a silent moan. It was easier than it probably should’ve been to ignore her.

  “She’s good.” Slade cleared his throat. “Tat business is going well for her.”

  Slade’s girlfriend had opened up a tattoo parlor across from our main shop a few miles up the road toward downtown Rockford. She’d tatted most of the guys from the club there, and was getting a good client roster outside of just the brothers. Chick was talented as hell. I had several tats on my body proving so, including one on the inside of my right wrist that said, Self-made or never made.

  “You got plenty of watch on her, yeah?” Flick frowned, nonchalant as he pushed Willa back just enough to start playing with her tits over her skimpy tank.

  Loved my pres, but his sexual appetite was worse than mine. Plus, he was more old-school about the women and hang-abouts in the club than any of the rest of us. Taking what he wanted, never really asking… The women always let him, of course. Getting with the sixty-something-year-old man was a prize to most of them—including Willa, apparently.

  “Yeah. She’s good.” Slade nodded. “You gonna go see her tomorrow?”

  “Doubt she wants to see me.” Flick shrugged.

  “The hell you mean by that?” Slade barked. “Hell yes she wants to see you. You’re her uncle. You’re all the blood she’s got left.”

  Before anyone else could say shit, a loud noise sounded from outside over the bass of the speakers.

  “What the fuck was that?” Slade didn’t wait for orders, just stood up and took off toward the door, pulling a gun and blade from his jeans while he was at it.

  The music shut off, chairs squeaked, men ran to the windows, guns drawn. Hawk dropped his phone on the table and rushed after Slade, one name likely running through his head: Summer.

  I stood just as the fifty other brothers there tonight followed my best friends outside. Flick got to his feet beside me, a hand on the table keeping him balanced. Old man was more wasted than I thought. Like Slade, he pulled a gun from his waistband, poised to kill and conquer like the rest of us—shitfaced be damned.

  “We gotta go,” I said. He nodded his agreement. “Crazy?” I yelled to one of the older, original, Red Dragons. “Get Flic
k where he needs to be.”

  The old man nodded, then did as asked.

  The second I stepped out the front door though, I remembered what I’d left in my room, cursing the fact that I’d almost left her locked in there. She wasn’t a prisoner, but I wasn’t sure what was going on and whether she was safer out here with us or inside my room, alone.

  Realizing what I had to do, I rushed back into the club and headed down the hall toward the dorms, quick feet and hands as I unlocked my door and shoved it open.

  “JP, we gotta…”

  I looked around, eyes narrowing when I didn’t see her.

  She wasn’t there. The window was open.

  She’d left.

  Little fucking brat.

  My heart raced when I ran back out the front door. Where the hell has she gone? I searched the dark, only to spot orange-and-yellow flames flickering up into the sky like a bonfire… directly behind Hawk’s place on the other side of the gate.

  Shit.

  “Go, go, go!” Flick yelled ahead of me, waving his hands, giving prospects their orders.

  Brothers rushed right and left, some taking off on bikes, others on foot, all heading in the same direction toward the fire.

  “Gonna need outside help,” Flick yelled to Crazy over the roar of bike engines.

  “On it,” Crazy yelled back, pulling out his cell.

  We’d need a fire crew for this, but they had to be people not connected to the law. Thankfully Flick had contacts.

  I took off toward my bike in the lot, no time to seduce her before a ride this time as all my thoughts were on Emily right then. If she’d made it home or if something had happened to her…

  I blinked, pushing the morbid thought away. She was fine. Had to be. Because Hawk would kill me if she wasn’t.

  Wind rushed over my face and through my hair, bringing with it the smell of smoke the closer I got to the fire. By the time I arrived, a crew of my brothers were already on the other side, standing by as they watched a car burn. My stomach dropped into my toes when I kicked off my engine. But it wasn’t the fire that had me all tied up. It was the woman standing next to the lone tree in front of Hawk’s house, both her hands on Chop’s chest, shoving him back.

  Emily.

  “Leave me alone,” I heard her yell when he didn’t move.

  Chop put his hands on her waist, holding her steady, and I couldn’t help but see red—red not caused by the flames either. Guy just couldn’t take a fucking hint.

  From over Chop’s shoulders, her eyes met mine, going wide, but not for long.

  “You’re in deep shit,” I said to myself, lip curled, vowing to deal with her sneaking out after I dealt with Chop.

  “Let’s go. I’m taking you back to my dorm,” Chop said, clutching her wrist.

  “Step the hell away from her, Chop,” I growled to his back.

  His eyes narrowed at the exact moment I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shoved him to the ground.

  “The fuck, Archer?” he hissed up at me. Two seconds later, he was on his feet, shoving me back. “Don’t touch me.”

  Having six inches—and a hell of a lot more mass—on the former Marine, I didn’t budge. “Leave. Go do something useful for once. Emily’s off limits.”

  “Archer, stop. It’s fine.” Speak of the devil.

  Chop ignored her when she stepped in between us, her back to me, facing him. Instead he snarled at me like a rabid wolf. “The hell she is. She’s mine. I’m making a claim, right here, right fucking now.”

  “Yeah, real mature, asshole. Especially since we might’ve just gotten attacked.”

  I couldn’t fucking stand the man before. But now? I hated the motherfucker. If Chop hurt one woman, who’s to say he wouldn’t hurt another? Willa or Tammy? They didn’t deserve that shit. There was nothing wrong with a little kink, believe me. But only when it was done right.

  An unmarked truck pulled up outside the gate, distracting the three of us. I turned, finally taking in the scene, eying the fiery car first, which sat about fifteen feet from the other side of the fence. There were no other cars around it, which meant it wasn’t an accident but a deliberate fire. By who though? Someone in connection with Pops? And if so, where were they?

  Men readied hoses, hooking them up to a nearby hydrant. Water started flowing and it took less than a minute for the flames to die down. If this was an attempt at an attack, it was pretty pitiful.

  “She’s mine,” Chop repeated low in my ear, some sort of a reminder or warning.

  Shaking my head, I turned to tell him Hawk wouldn’t ever let that happen, especially when he found out what the guy had done to her. But the fucker was already walking toward the fence, where some of the brothers stood with their fingers linked through the metal.

  Even in the dark I saw Chop’s hands fisting against both thighs. Could almost bet he was imagining what it might be like to deck me upside the head with one, or both, of them.

  Bring it, asswipe.

  Seconds later, Emily rushed past me, unnoticed by everyone but myself.

  “You should’ve stayed put,” I called after her.

  She flipped me off but didn’t slow as she made it to her door.

  “Hey, you hear me?” I followed, grabbed her shoulder as she sank her key in the lock. Spinning her around, I forced her gaze to mine, a hand on her chin, thumb on her neck, stroking where the bruises were.

  She winced, shut her eyes too. “Leave me alone. Please.”

  “You left through the window after I told you not to. Why? What’s so hard about listening?”

  “I told you. I’m not some dog you can order around.” Her eyes popped open again and she shoved my hand away. “I don’t even get why you care anyways.”

  “You leave then just so happen to come upon a fire burning in your backyard? This looks really fucking bad for you.”

  “Are you trying to accuse me of something?” She lifted her chin. “Because I am not Pops. I couldn’t care less about your club and the people in it.”

  “Summer’s a part of this club,” I argued.

  “Exactly. I lost her. I lose everyone. And if I’m not careful, I’m gonna lose my…”

  I let her go, frowning. “Lose what?”

  “Nothing.” Then she turned and headed inside. This time when she locked me out, I didn’t grab the spare key in the light fixture that Hawk had told me about. JP could run, but she sure as fuck couldn’t hide. And neither could her secrets.

  Four

  Emily

  My knees shook as I stepped into my house, panic consuming me like the fire outside. On the other side of the door, I listened, waiting for Archer to walk away, praying the entire time that he hadn’t seen the panic in my face or heard it in my words. I hadn’t started that fire. But I knew exactly who had and why.

  One second.

  Two.

  Then three…

  Finally, his footsteps faded as he moved down the porch, away from me, from my house… I let go of the breath I’d been holding, thinking clearly without fear and adrenaline clouding my mind for the first time in twenty minutes. There would be no forgiveness from the Red Dragons if they found out what I was about to do. Which meant I needed to go. Now.

  A younger guy in a leather cut, face hidden by the brim of a black hat, had been waiting for me on my porch when I’d gotten home from the club— more like after I’d snuck out of Archer’s window. Still and without fear, he watched me approach, a letter in his hand that now sat burning the inside of my bra. His words had been absent, but his eyes had said what his voice hadn’t.

  This is it. The last letter. The one you’ve been waiting for.

  Seconds after placing it into my fingers, he’d left like a ghost in the night. I didn’t know him. Couldn’t pick him out of a lineup either. Without a doubt, this man knew my mom and was also associated with Pops. The scariest part about it? He’d managed to get through the compound gates and over to my house.

  Five minut
es after he’d walked away, the car had appeared outside the gate. The same man had jumped out of it then run toward the street. Ten seconds after he’d disappeared, the car had erupted like a cannon into the night, bursting flames reaching skyward. It had been stupidly dramatic, but also the perfect distraction for this guy’s getaway. For my getaway too. If it hadn’t been for Chop showing up like he’d done, dragging me off the porch then shoving me against that tree, I would have been long gone by now.

  At least he hadn’t seen me with the mystery man.

  Now that everyone was piled at the gate behind my house, I could finally get out of this place, barring no one was guarding the back entrance of the compound—which was where I planned on going. Now away from both Chop and Archer, I rushed through my house, my palms damp with nerves. From my top drawer, I pulled out the cash I’d been stowing away over the last few months, then grabbed the duffel bag in my closet, stuffing the envelope into the side pocket. Twenty-five hundred. That’s all I had. God, I hoped it’d be enough to get me where I needed to go. Through Illinois and Indiana to, finally, Kentucky, which was where Mom was. Where she’d been staying for the last two weeks, according to the letter.

  She’d told me they’d be there for a while, and that they were hidden in the forests of Pine Mountain State Resort Park. An abandoned building, she’d said, where Pops was making a home for his new club. Hidden out of sight just enough for privacy, but close to a plethora of towns with all the resources a growing motorcycle club would need.

  Was she warning me? I was selfish to not say anything to anyone here on the compound, which was why I grabbed a pen off my dresser then scribbled a quick letter to Summer on a pad of paper. Be on alert, I told her. The rogues are closer than the guys here think.

  That was also the exact second I let myself break down. Quick tears, flushed face, and a guilty conscience most of all. I didn’t realize saying goodbye to my best friend would hurt so much. It’s probably why I hadn’t thought about doing so. But I owed it to Summer to explain, without actual details. So, I told her I loved her; how sorry I was that I had to go. Then I told her to take care of the baby, that I already loved it so much, maybe as much as I loved her.