So, I banged on the door.
“It’s me! Open up!”
Hope scrambled behind the door before her voice sounded.
“Joanna?”
“No alert word here. Open the door. My purse is in the car.”
She peeked out the window and look around before she nodded. She flipped the lock and I pushed my way inside, quickly slamming the door behind me. Hope had the gun clutched firmly in her hand. So tightly, in fact, that I thought it was going to go off.
“Here, let me have that,” I said.
But she started waving it around. “The shadows were outside. I tried to peek out there, but I couldn't see them. I know they’re here. I just—”
I ducked and weaved. “Hope, give me the gun.”
She pointed with it. “They’re out there. I know they are. They’re watching me, even if those shadows weren’t theirs.”
I wrapped my hand around her wrist. “Hope. The gun.”
She quickly released it and it clattered to the ground. I scooped it up and ejected the magazine before emptying the one in the chamber. I sighed as I led her into the living room. I closed all of the blinds and set the gun, in pieces, onto the coffee table. Hope sank to the cushions of the couch in a fit of shivers and tears. And I knew right then she would no longer feel safe in my house.
“Hope, look at me.”
Her eyes slowly raised. “They weren’t out there, were they?”
I shook my head. “No. Not from what I can see.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t—I just—I think—”
I took her hand. “Hope, it’s okay. You’re scared, and you have every right to be. But I think I have a solution to our problem.”
“You—you do?”
“Mhm. I talked to a man I know today. A man that doesn’t quite work in the same field as me but does work in the same field as Skeleton.”
She ripped her hand away. “You found another asshole that uses women, Joanna?”
I shook my head. “No. But I do know a man who’s part of a motorcycle crew around here. And he says he can help.”
She shot up from the couch. “Over my dead body.”
I stood with her. “That will be a reality if you don’t let these guys help.”
“And what makes you think that getting into bed with another crew will assure me I’m getting out of bed with the Golden Jags. Huh?”
“Because unlike Skeleton or his cronies, I trust this man.”
“And his cronies?”
I giggled. “Yes. And his cronies.”
She sighed. “Sounds like I’m not the only one who’s done some changing lately.”
“It’s a bit… complicated. But, no. You’re not the only one who’s changed.”
She eyed me carefully. “You really think they can help?”
“They’ve already promised they’ll help. But Link? The guy I know? He wants to sit down and have a conversation with you.”
“No.”
“He wants to ask you some questions to get a better idea of what’s going on.”
“No, I won’t sit down with him.”
I took her hands within mine. “Hope, if you don’t talk with him—”
She ripped away. “We’ll find someone else.”
“There is no one else!”
She jumped and I drew in a deep breath. “Hope, there is no one else. I’ve exhausted everything. The police won’t touch this. None of the other lawyers in the area specialize in criminal law. It’s just me, you, and the Dragon Riders.”
She paused. “Is that Link’s crew?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve heard Skeleton mention them before.”
“What has he said about them?”
Her eyes fell to her feet. “Just things.”
I slid my hands up her arms. “What kinds of things?”
She sniffled. “Things like ‘those techno idiots’ and ‘those froo-froo cock suckers.’ He really doesn’t like them.”
“Then, maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe we should be seeking help from people that hate Skeleton. Because if they hate one another, that means the Dragon Riders are just more willing to help us.”
“Or screw us over.”
“Do you trust me?”
Her eyes raised to meet mine. “Of course, I do. It’s why I came to you the second I could get away.”
I cupped her cheek. “Then, trust me on this. Link is good. They can help us. All you have to do is agree to speak with him and Ash. That’s it.”
“Who’s Ash?”
“A guy who goes around with Link. He’s a protector. You’ll be safe with him here.”
I saw the terror in her eyes, but I was relieved when she nodded her head.
“Okay. I’ll speak with them,” she said.
I sighed with relief. “Thank you.”
“Under one condition.”
“Name it.”
“I can’t stay here any longer.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Jo, if there’s anything the Jags have taught me, it’s to never stay in one place for very long. I’ve been here for two weeks.”
“Hope, you’re staying here, and that’s final.”
She shook her head. “But I can’t. I have to stay on the move.”
“I want to keep an eye on you. Make sure you're eating. Sleeping. Getting the water you need.”
“And I can do that on my own. But if they were to come for me and you became collateral damage for some reason? I’d never forgive myself, Jo. You want to talk about something that would kill me? Seeing you die on my account would do me in quicker than anything else. Please. If I’m trusting you, then you have to trust me.”
My eyes danced between hers. “Say I go along with this plan. Will you tell me where you are?”
She nodded. “Yes. So, we can organize the meeting this Lock.”
“Link.”
“Whatever.”
I snickered. “Got any ideas of where you might want to go?”
“I actually thought about going and staying at one of the old clubhouse places the Jags used to keep. They torched the place, but it had an underground basement that I’m pretty sure was preserved in the process.”
“Anywhere else, if that doesn’t work?”
She paused. “The sewers?”
I giggled bitterly. “Yeah. We’ll try your first idea and go from there. How’s that sound?”
The afternoon grew long as I packed up a few things for Hope. She didn’t have anything that belonged to her. So, I gave her all of the clothes and toiletries I could spare for the moment. Then, we got back into my still-running car and she guided me to this place out in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by trees and meadows that sat along a paved road that was practically deserted.
“I don’t like you not having anyone around,” I said.
Hope pointed. “That black blob. Go around back.”
I grimaced. “Are you sure about this?”
“Positive. The metal cellar doors were behind the house.”
“Will you have a way to shower or do anything like that while you’re here?”
“You let me figure that out.”
I pulled around back. “I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I. But if I remember it correctly, it’ll have a bed, a fridge, and a gas generator. That’s all I’m going to need.”
I came to a stop. “How will you get the gas?”
She sighed. “Please, just leave that stuff to me. Okay?”
“How will I contact you?”
“Joanna—”
“Hope, you have to give me something.”
“I’ve survived with these guys for an entire year, okay!?”
I put my car in park as Hope wrapped her arms around her chest.
“Look, I—it’s all so much to explain and we don’t have time. Just trust me, okay? Trust that I’ve got ways of getting what I need.”
I didn’t understand, but I let her be
. “Will you get in touch with me once you’re all settled?”
“Yes. I promise.”
Everything moved in sort of a blur. I watched Hope fiddle with a metal shard in order to unlatch the metal doors from the outside. And when she pulled them open, the musty stench filled my nostrils within seconds. It didn’t seem to bother my sister, though, and I didn’t know whether to be angry about it or sad. I stood outside, keeping watch as she stumbled around. With her bag of clothes and toiletries tumbling down the stairs leading into the cellar, I heard her cursing and tripping. Scoffing and grunting.
“Hope, do you need any help?” I asked.
Then, the roaring of an engine brought the entire place to life.
“Nope. I’ve got it. Thanks,” she said.
The small glimpse I got of the place made me vibrate with fury. The bed was obviously musty and molded. I knew that fridge would have moldy, rotten food in just by the looks of it. But I also watched her dig through what looked like a small desk. She bashed the locks open on the drawers and pulled out all sorts of things. A gun. Ammo. Magazines. Two handheld radios. Even a cell phone that was still in its packaging.
“How do you know so much about this place?” I asked.
Hope paused. “This used to be my bedroom, Jo. When I first got here with Skeleton.”
I swallowed down the bile that threatened to fill my mouth. Hope looked up at me before she tore into the phone, activating it while I stood there.
“You have my number memorized?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yep. Just shot you a text. That’s how we can communicate.”
“What about money for food? Or more gas for that generator?”
She shot me a look. “Remember what I asked you to do?”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Just—I can’t help but ask.”
“You should get out of here. Before someone finds us.”
“What if someone finds you?”
She held up the gun. “Good thing you taught me how to use one of these.”
“Was that yours at one point, too?”
She licked her lips. “Uh, no. It was—”
She didn’t have to say anything else.
“He’s going to pay for what he’s done to you,” I said.
“I certainly hope you’re right about all this.”
I nodded. “I am. No one else will you put in this kind of danger as long as I’m living. Got it?”
She wiped at her eyes. “Got it.”
It killed me to leave her there, but I had to. After a quick hug and one last glimpse of that disgusting room she actually wanted to stay in, I hopped back into my car. But not before marking this exact spot in my GPS so I could get back to her quickly. I drove home in a daze. The sun began to set over the horizon, signaling the passing of another day. And as I navigated my way through my neighborhood, all I wanted was to eat and go to bed.
Until I pulled into my driveway.
“Link?” I asked. I watched him stand from my porch before he walked to my car. “Link. What are you doing here?”
He opened my door for me as I cut the engine on my car.
“I was hoping to catch you tonight,” he said.
I shook my head. “Is everything okay?”
He offered me his hand. “You hungry?”
“What?”
“Are you hungry? I brought food for us to cook.”
I took his hand as he nodded to the porch. When I saw the grocery bags sitting at my front door, my stomach growled. I hadn’t eaten all day. I’d been so preoccupied with other things that it didn’t even occur to me to stop and eat.
“Wait, where’s your bike?” I asked.
He led me to the porch. “I parked it around back. Can’t be too careful right now.”
“They might see your bike from the woods.”
“Men like Skeleton don’t patrol anywhere they can’t take their bikes. Trust me, it’s hidden just fine back there.”
I wish Hope would’ve known that.
“So, how are things?” he asked.
I helped him get the groceries into my kitchen before I locked the entire house down. With Link’s eyes following me everywhere I went.
“Well, my sister’s in some dingy cellar near the site of some burned down house in the middle of nowhere and I’m here. So, I’m sure that tells you exactly how things are.”
He nodded. “She got too paranoid staying here?”
“She said the one thing the Jags taught her is to never stay in one spot for too long.”
“Well, it’s a smart move. Stay on her toes to keep them on theirs.”
I shook my head. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
He pulled out the chicken. “Did she agree to speak with me?”
I nodded. “Yep. You and Ash. But no one else. I didn't prepare her for anyone else.”
“I’m assuming she’ll want to do it at this cellar you’re talking about?”
“I honestly don’t know anything beyond what I just told you. I’m still trying to process everything that happened this afternoon.”
“Want to talk about it?”
I paused. “I don’t think so. At least, not until I can make sense of it all.”
“All right. Well, how was work?”
I slowly looked over at him. “What?”
He shrugged. “We won’t talk about your sister. So, how was work?”
My eye twitched. “I had to leave early because of my sister and the panicked episode she had just before lunch.”
“So, not good, then.”
I snickered. “No. Not particularly.”
“Where do you keep your pans?”
I pointed. “Down there. Is this the time where I ask you how work went for you?”
He grunted. “You can, if you want. That’s usually what people first talk about at the end of their days.”
“All right. I’ll bite. How was work for you today?”
He set a pan on my stove. “Hectic as hell. The bars are bringing in scores of money, even after putting in all of the orders I had to put in today. But I can’t seem to find more people to come in and bartend full-time. The bartenders I have now are about to quit on me because they can’t handle the workload.”
“That sounds… oddly normal.”
He grinned. “Hey. I’m not always getting into shit with the guys.”
“Not always, huh?”
He winked at me. “But beyond that, it was a pretty normal day.”
“Apart from me storming some meeting this morning.”
“Yes, apart from you interrupting a formal meeting with my crew.”
I watched as he searched around for the things he needed. Oil. Salt. Pepper. Cooking alongside him was oddly domestic, and it made me wonder if he’d ever thought of having a life like this. A life where he worked a nine to five, then came home and had dinner with his family.
“This suits you, you know,” I said.
He passed me the tomatoes. “Can you chop those up? I need them diced for the alfredo sauce.”
I reached for a knife. “Have you ever thought about it?”
He turned the chicken. “About what?”
“Having a life like this?”
“You mean, a house with a backyard and a regular job?”
“Yep.”
“What makes you think I don’t already have that?”
“You mean, other than the crew that keeps you a shade grayer than the law I uphold with my job?”
He snickered. “Yep. Other than that.”
I diced the tomato. “Nothing, actually.”
“Do you always make assumptions like this in your line of work? Or is this something special with me?”
I giggled. “I didn’t mean to make a bad assumption. I was just trying to make conversation.”
“Well, on that same train of thought, have you ever thought about giving up your entire life to put on a leather jacket and hit the open road on a motorcycle?”
I grinned.
“What makes you think I don’t already do that?”
He chuckled. “Call it a hunch.”
I nudged him playfully and he bumped me with his hip. We bounced around from topic to topic, not stopping once. Not even to eat. We talked through our mouthfuls of food. He told me stories that almost made me choke, I laughed so hard. For the smallest moment in time, things in my life felt normal again.
Until he opened his mouth.
“She’s going to be all right, you know. We’re going to get her out of his.”
I nodded slowly. “I really hope so.”
“Well, I know so.”
I licked my lips. “I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight.”
“Why’s that?”
I snickered. “Because I’m worried? Because I’m scared? Because I’m wired up with too much energy even though I’ve got a stomach full of food.”
He stood from his chair. “Well, I can fix one of those issues.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, right. Really. I’m sure you can. You’ll just go ahead and take all of my worries from me. Or cast some magical spell so I automatically feel safe in my own house again.”
He stood at my side. “‘No’ to both of those. But I do have a way to wear you out, if you’re looking to dispel some energy.”
I slowly looked up at him and watched his eyes darken. A shiver slid down my spine as he held out his hand. My eyes dropped to his palm, and I took stock of his calluses. The breadth of his massive hand that led into a forearm bulging with veins.
“A word of caution, though,” he said.
I swallowed hard. “What is it?”
“If you take my hand, you give me permission.”
My eyes whipped up to him. “Permission to do what?”
He grinned. “Can’t give away all my secrets, now can I?”
9
Link
I grinned at myself in the mirror as I ran my hand against my red neck. Fucking hell, Joanna was a damn spitfire. I couldn't get my mind off last night. How wonderfully she moaned for me. How her teeth sank into my neck, as if she wanted to mark her property. I still heard the soft echoes of her moans in my ear. I still felt her fingertips curling into my muscles, clinging to me as I explored her body. My only regret was that we didn’t have enough time. My only regret was that I didn’t take the chance to taste her when I had it.
Link (Dragon Riders MC Book 1) Page 7