Suddenly, a hand slammed down on my window next to me, making me scream bloody murder and fly across to the back seat's other side. Jesus Christ.
Wide-eyed, I couldn't help but drop my mouth open, seeing a man standing there, glaring at me through the glass. Ashby Bronx.
"Claire’s' family live in your car?" He was so angry, those eyes looked like they were about to bug out of his head.
I had never been this embarrassed in my entire life as I was right now. Tugging on my sleeves, I felt my breathing begin to even out after him scaring the hell out of me.
Crawling into the front seat, unlocking the door and pushing it open, he almost ripped the door off its hinges as it flung backward.
"What the fuck, Peaches, you need to explain. Now" his tall frame only made me slide backward as he towered over me, moving further away from him. I wasn't scared he would hurt me. I was afraid of how he would react to the words that were about to fall from my lips.
"I don't have anywhere to go," admitting that hurt.
"Yes, you do," the anger was building in him. I was surprised he hadn't smashed my window earlier with the way he had smacked it, but right now, he looked like he was seconds away from putting more than his fist through it "You turned it fucking down."
"Why do you even care?"
"I don't."
"Bullshit," my voice was the one to get louder this time as I moved towards him, getting out of the car. "If you didn't, why the hell are you here?" It wasn't as though he had driven past and seen my car here. I was hidden from view. The only way to of seen me would have been if he had been looking, searching for me. I knew he had known I had been lying earlier, but I never expected him to do this.
"Because I knew you were bullshitting me and for some fucked up reason, I can't get you out of my fucking head! That what you want to hear, Peaches?" He pressed me up against the rear of the car, our bodies touching with every breath taken.
The anger was rolling off of him in waves, and the heat coming from his body was almost intoxicating. He couldn't get me out of his head?
He didn't give me enough time to process that thought before his lips crashed down onto mine, and the world around us disappeared.
Breaking the kiss and taking a calculated step away from her. I needed a moment, a moment to gather my thoughts as the air felt like it was burning my lungs with every single god damned breath.
Everything about her was intoxicating me, pulling me closer to her in ways I didn't know I could be. I was becoming an addict. Unlike my own mom though, I was addicted to her, my Peaches, and not something dangerous.
At that thought, Marilyn's words came back to mind. Pushing them down, I stepped back towards Peaches, blocking her in against the car once again as she caught her own breath. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and those green eyes looked like they were sparkling in the darkness, like god damned gems.
Lifting my right hand, I ran a finger down her cheek, feeling the heat coming off of them from her flush. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, unable to form any words, apparently. Biting my lip, I leaned forwards and dropped my forehead on to hers.
"Why can't I stay away from you?" My voice was all but a whisper.
"I feel it too," she said just as quietly. "All I wanted to do was come back to the clubhouse, but I was embarrassed."
"Never, you never have to feel embarrassed, to be honest with me, Peaches."
Moving slowly, she pressed her lips to mine, so gently, just once before shivering as the breeze began to pick up.
"Come on, I have a place we can go," standing back and holding out my hand for her to grab, I added, "And don't worry, it's not the clubhouse, Peaches unless you want to go back and sleep?" I wanted to be alone with her. I needed to be alone with her.
There was that, and I also knew that doc was at the clubhouse, and I could do without her judgmental looks tonight. Not that she would be awake at this time of the morning with her shift tomorrow, but you never know. Marilyn was hiding something from me, from all of us. I could see it with every glance she had thrown my way since Peaches crashed into my life. But if that was what she wanted, to go there and go back to the spare room, which was hers. I would take her without a second thought.
"Damn," she almost sounded disappointed, but I didn't think she actually was. I was struggling to read her right now. After having those lips and her entire body pressed against mine, I felt like I'd been drinking, as though I was intoxicated for the first time in my life. Since meeting this chick, I had almost downed some whiskey last night and again tonight when I realized that she wasn't staying with that friend of hers. Maybe Marilyn was right, and she was going to destroy me.
Finding her all curled up in the fucking stupid little car, I wanted nothing more than to smash my fist through the windscreen. I had known that she was lying her ass off when she said she was staying at her friends, but gave her the benefit of the doubt. Until that very friend walked into the clubhouse with Pinky after getting her first tattoo. Without saying a word, I had left, got on my bike, and driven my ass all around this town, searching for her.
"Where is it?" Her small hand slipped into mine and feeling her warmth, the anger that was bubbling up inside me mellowed slightly. "The place we can go?"
Interlinking our fingers, I could feel another burst of warmth growing in another place. My chest. This girl was special, and she was going to be mine. End of story.
"The clubhouse or the other place?"
"The other place, I know where the clubhouse is, Ash" Smirking down at her, I tugged her to the school's front, where I had left my bike.
"I can't leave my car here."
There was no way I was driving it again, not after last time. I was too tall, too wide to be inside of that thing she called a car.
"Fine, follow me to the clubhouse, and we can take one of the cars from there" Daryl had a truck we could take. She hesitated for a moment before removing her hand from mine.
"Where is this place?" She repeated her question again. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought she was nervous.
"Someplace quiet and" pulling her closer to me with just an inch or two of space between the two of us. The heat from her small body was radiating into my own "away from people."
That thought alone was enough to get her moving back to the car. She wanted me just as much as I wanted her.
"And are you sure you aren't taking me somewhere to murder me like a stalker" her tone may have been serious, but she was teasing me. The twinkle in her eyes a tell that she was.
"On my life" standing above her, I found myself looking into those beautiful green eyes, apart from they weren't just green, it was almost like there were turquoise flashes in them as well. "I won't let anything happen to you."
And from the look on her face as she watched me with wide eyes, I knew that she believed every word. I just had to make sure that I lived up to them, knowing deep down inside that there was a possibility I couldn't.
I tried to stop myself, I really did, but I had to taste her, touch her more so as she stood continuing to look up at me, I bent down and pressed my lips against hers again, just one more time. For a second, she stayed still, but then she kissed me back, and it felt like everything was right in the world.
Breaking the kiss this time, I was the one to take a step backward. Creating some much-needed space between the two of us. My heart was racing a hundred miles a minute, and I was about naught point two seconds away from jumping him in the high school parking lot. Calm down, Nala.
"Are we still going somewhere?" My lips felt like they were full of electricity, or as though they were on fire. I wanted him in a way I had never wanted anyone ever before. It was like every fiber inside of me, craved him, craved his touch.
"Yeah, come on Peaches," pushing me towards the driver's door, he waited for me to get in before gently closing it. Those eyes looking down at me like a glistening bright blue ocean, an emotion I couldn't name pouring from them "Follow
me."
Pulling into the clubhouse, it was just as busy as it had been the first night that he had brought me here. Last night. God, so much happened in such a short amount of time. I had only known Ashby Bronx for two days, and yet no part of me ever wanted that to change. If that meant that the only way for him to enter my life was for my mom to lace my food with whatever godforsaken pills she had bought from, hell, I'm assuming she hadn't just gone to the drug store and bought them. If I had to go through that to have him, I would do it a hundred times over.
I may only be eighteen years old, and he may be thirty-one, thirteen years older than me, but I could already feel these feelings bubbling up inside of me. Ones that I had never had before, and I craved them to grow. I wanted them to take me over in every way.
A knuckle knocked on my window brought me out of my thoughts. Ashby was standing there looking at me expectantly, with a small smirk on his lips. "Come on, Peaches"
Once I was out of the car, he grabbed ahold of my hand as the door to the clubhouse bar opened. There stood Marilyn, who hadn't noticed us standing there. "Ya' wanna wait out here?"
"Wait?" Confusion clear in my voice.
"Need to get the keys off, Daryl, you coming with me?"
One look over to Marilyn, who had walked further down the lot, through a double door and out of sight. I shook my head. "No, I'm good here" I was excited, almost to go to wherever this place was he was going to take me but I was also intrigued as to why Marilyn was acting the way she was towards me.
"Okay," he gave my hand one single squeeze in his before leaving me standing there, alone. Apart from I wasn't alone, and my feet quickly moved forwards. Straight to where Marilyn had disappeared. Keeping my steps light, the closer I got, her voice began to float through the cold night air.
"Answer the goddamned phone, It’s about Weston!" Who the hell was Weston? "Daryl won't make a move until, if he comes back, you need to call me back. Now!"
Looking around the corner, I could see her pulling the cell phone up to her ear, obviously calling whoever this person was, again.
A sudden gasp fell from her lips, making me flinch slightly.
"You answered"
I was too far away to be able to hear whoever it was on the other side of the phone, but she was close enough to hear when Ashby called my name in the parking lot.
"Shit," she dropped the phone in the same second I turned around and ran towards him. His brows pinched in confusion when he spotted me, running towards him. Panic was coursing through my veins. Something was going on, and I had this gut feeling that Marilyn was not on the side of who she was living with. Of who she claimed to be in love with.
"What's wrong?"
"Who's Weston?" I asked, stopping only when our bodies collided.
"Weston?" His face fell slightly, and his eyes widened. "Where did you hear that name?" He lifted both hands on either side of my face. Just looking into my eyes, with a look of fear in them. There was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. Had I heard that name before?
"Stag?" I could hear Marilyn walking towards us.
"What have you done, doc?" Ashby shook his head with disappointment. Clearly filling in the blanks, knowing that she was who I had heard the name from. A name that paled his tanned skin.
"She needs to go, Ashby" he dropped his hands from my face but stayed silent. What did she mean by that? "You need to walk away, now."
Turning my head from his chest to look at her, Ash's arms circled around me. Keeping me in place.
"What have you done, Marilyn?" He repeated as she just stood there, looking almost wild.
"You know," she sounded deranged, "I know you do!" Her arms flailed around in the air as a bang made all of us turn our heads.
"Go to bed Marilyn," a voice I hadn't heard before shocked all three of us. An older man, with almost black hair and a matching beard stood, a lit cigarette hanging from his lips.
"But..but, Daryl… this can't…" Daryl?
This was Ashby's uncle?
The president of The Unholy Confessions?
The way he was standing there, with this look of pure anger in his eyes scared me. For the first time being around these men, these bikers, I felt fear. Sensing this, Ashby's arms tightened around me, holding me as close to him as possible.
"Now, Marilyn," Daryl had not attempted to move from his spot by the open door. The music inside was still loud, and if anyone else had noticed what was going on, well, they weren't watching us.
One last long and hard look at the two of us, and she turned and fled through the door behind her man.
The two Bronx men had a silent conversation, just starring at one another while I tried to process what had just happened.
Who was Weston, and why was she calling someone about him?
Was it an affair?
Something… something sinister?
All I did know was that I wanted to get as far from here as I could, with Ashby.
"Can we go?" My voice broke the silence.
Daryl gave his nephew one nod before going back inside of the clubhouse. We stayed on the spot a moment too long, and I couldn't stop myself from asking, yet again "Who is Weston, Ash?"
Clearing his throat, he held me tighter as he answered me, "A drug mogul, scum of the earth, Peaches. Daryl recused the doc from his clutches".
"She called someone, told them that your Uncle wouldn't do anything about him or something I… why does she hate me so much?" if she had to be rescued from him, why did she call someone about him?
"I don't know, Peaches" he ran a finger down my cheek as he dropped his forehead into mine. "Come on, I wanna get out of here and take you to a special place."
"Where are we?" My eyes focused on the skyline in the distance. The lights from the town below made it look so beautiful against the pitch-black sky. "This view is incredible."
After leaving the clubhouse, Ashby had driven us over the border into Oregon and up a mountain, deep inside of the woods. I had always seen the vast amounts of trees on the edge of the town but had never dared explore the deep forest between the two states, until now.
"It is," he agreed but looking up at him, his eyes were not on the view at all but on me. Feeling my cheeks flush, I quickly cast my gaze back out to that incredible view of the skyline. He thought I was beautiful?
"This cabin is mine," he gestured behind us, back where the jeep was parked. The large wooden cabin was almost hidden. If you didn't know it was there, you would, without a doubt, miss it.
"I thought you guys all lived at the clubhouse?"
"We do, but this, this is mine. It was left to me when I was ten years old. I don't get to come here often, but it's my safe haven."
"It's perfect," it was so quiet and peaceful. I could understand why he came here to be alone, away from everyone else.
Tugging me to his chest and holding me in place, "You're the one that's perfect, Peaches."
"I'm anything but perfect, Ash" his fingers ran down my arm, sending electricity shooting under the skin beneath them, the vibrations causing my heart to pump harder.
Smiling, I looked up at him. All I wanted to do was kiss him again. Actually, I wanted a hell of a lot more than to kiss him.
"Come on, let's go inside," his warm hand clasped mine, pulling me along with him.
The cabin was dark, and as he turned the light on it slowly started to brighten. I was surprised to see a spotless and minimal room. One brown leather couch in the center and an almost empty bookcase, and that was it.
"No TV?"
"I usually come here to get some peace. There's a stereo on the bookcase" he nodded his head as he shrugged out of the leather vest. Dropping it on the back of the couch, he moved further into the cabin, leaving me standing there, just taking the space in.
There were no photos on the walls, or any shoes scattered by the front door. This place was not lived in. It wasn't a home.
"Kitchen is through there and a bedroom with an en-suite through t
hat door" he gestured to the closed door that had a red flag hanging from it. I could see some words from where I was stood but couldn't make them out.
"It's actually, nice."
"You sound surprised?" He snorted, looking over his shoulder at me with teasing eyes.
"So, you really didn't bring me here to murder me then, stalker?"
"That what you're going to call me, huh?" He laughed, turning back around, coming closer, closing the distance between us.
Swallowing nervously, I stepped into his embrace, standing on my tiptoes and crashing my lips to his, this time.
Peaches: MC Romance (The Unholy Confessions Book 1) Page 9