by J. L. Drake
The urge to kick her out was strong, but I wouldn’t do that to Tess, so I’d keep her here…for now.
“Hey.” Brick rose to his feet and greeted Tess with a hug. “You feeling a little better?”
She tugged at my t-shirt she was wearing and sank into the couch. “I’m…yeah, I’m okay.”
“Hungry?”
“Very.” She held her stomach.
“I got just the thing.” Brick grabbed the hotel phone and prattled off an order.
Venna moved to Tess, and they started to chat quietly. Well, Venna did most of the talking.
Fifteen minutes later, there was a feast for six in the dining area. Wings, burgers, ribs, fries, rice, and potatoes sat in front of us. Finally, food I could get on board with. Vegas had a lot of pretentious food. I liked my meat.
I noticed Tess went for a burger and some fries. It was interesting that such a little woman could eat so much and stay that skinny.
“Nice to see you eat.” Brick beamed behind a wing.
“Nice to want to eat.” She sipped her water then glanced over at me. “What?”
“Venna mentioned you had a gun.”
“Yup,” was all she offered before she took another bite.
“Where did you get it?”
She swallowed then shrugged. “Big Joe.”
What? Brick looked confused too.
“When was this?” He beat me to the punch.
She wiped her fingers then leaned back with a satisfied sigh. “Joe doesn’t like Loose, and when Loose took me out for a walk, Joe got pissed and told me to take it just in case.”
Joe needed a raise.
“Too bad you didn’t use it on him.” Brick snickered.
“Perhaps if I had a knife,” she said darkly.
“Tess!” Venna gasped as she fought a smile. Her hand clamped down on Tess’s, and she turned red from laughing. “Oh, it’s too soon for that.”
I raised an eyebrow at Brick, who looked shocked as hell. Who was this chick?
Later that afternoon, I settled everything with Eli. He seemed pleased we were leaving. I headed back to the room where I found Venna passed out on the couch, Brick at the TV, and Tess was…somewhere.
“Bedroom.” Brick answered my unasked question.
I found her curled up in the center of the bed. I could tell she was awake even though she had pulled the drapes closed.
“You good?”
“Yup.”
“We’re going to leave soon.”
“Yup.”
As much as I wanted to sink myself deep inside her, it wasn’t the time. She wasn’t in the right head space, and now Bret was most likely consuming her. I wouldn’t compete with the dead.
***
Allen
“You think you can control yourself?” I pointed my gun at him to show I wasn’t fucking around.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?” I leaned forward and ran my tongue along my teeth.
He pulled at his jacket then flexed his fingers over his helmet. Little green eyes stared at me, begging me to use him again.
“Like I said, I got this. I really do. Last time, my head got away from me.”
“Mmm.” I flopped back on my seat. “If you can’t get a good enough hold, don’t risk it. Death is not an option tonight.”
“Understood.”
I glanced over at my hungry least weasels and pushed to my feet. They paced about their cages so aggressively that they’d shredded the bottoms of their feet.
“You six are just going to have to wait for your dinner.” I turned to look over my shoulder at him to let him know I wasn’t fucking around.
“Got it.” He slammed his helmet over his head and rushed to join the others.
I smacked the cage and listened to the bloodthirsty screams from inside. I’d seen what these shits could do. You just drizzled a little rabbit blood over a human in a hole and let them feast.
They were the newest members in my army.
“Where do you want him?” Zay asked with his arm draped over a whore from the house.
“Out back.”
“You have me confused!” the man screamed. “My name is James. I’m married with kids. Please! Please, Father, have mercy.”
I straightened my collar and rubbed the dust from my arm.
“I’m very aware of who you are, Mr. Johnson. I just want to talk.”
He knew better.
“Anything you want, but please don’t hurt me.”
“What do you know about Trigger?”
His gaze snapped up to mine. “Who?”
“Kill him.”
Chapter Nine
Tess
“You can come with us.” I hugged Ven again, but she shook her head.
“Maybe later, but right now I want to go see my brother. Thanks to you, I can.”
“You need more?” I was willing to give her every last cent to thank her for all her help.
“No. I’m just happy to be out of there.”
“Me too.”
“Be careful, okay?” I nodded. “You go enjoy that fine specimen of a man.”
I forced a smiled as she stepped up onto the Greyhound and waved when she found her seat in the back. I was going to miss her.
Trigger sat on the hood of the car, happy to give us some space. He didn’t do emotion well, and I was sure with what I did, he looked at me differently.
I made my way over to him and ran my hands over my arms. The temperature had dropped, and the insane day was quickly coming to an end.
“Ready?” he asked as he put his phone away.
“Yeah.” We really should get out of town.
He glanced at my pocket, and I knew what was coming. He saw the box in my bag, and when I tucked it away when he came into to the hotel earlier.
“What was in the box?”
I licked my lips, and my mouth went dry as I pulled out the engagement ring.
His eyes flickered up to mine then back to the ring.
“My eighteenth birthday, he asked me to marry him. It was one of our many secrets.”
It wouldn’t have been legal, but Clark wanted me to know he loved me as much as my mother.
Trigger nodded.
“It was a lie, like everything else. It was used as a control tactic that, sadly, I kept falling for.”
“Did you go through with it?”
I hung my head, feeling so damn stupid and so hurt all at once.
“Almost.”
“What stopped you?”
“Found him in bed with another girl. I threw the ring at him and left for a few days.”
“Just a few days?”
“Look, Trigger, there’s more to this…” I paused when I heard his phone alert him of a text, and Brick’s name popped up.
“We need to leave.” His voice almost scared me. I wished I knew what was going through his mind.
He headed for the driver’s door, and I was left feeling raw and slightly judged. I knew my past was fucked up, and it was why I didn’t get close to people.
Instead of opening the door, I walked over to the edge of the cliff that dropped off into a canyon. I whispered a goodbye to the ring and threw it as far as I could. It glistened as it spun in the air, then it was out of sight.
“Hey,” Mags’s warm hand landed on mine and she gave it a friendly squeeze, “everything okay here?”
I glanced at my mother. She had her hands on a new client, who was asking for me to be his date for the evening.
No fucking way.
“George, is it?” my mother purred like the whore she was. “I’m sure there are several other ladies who would suit your needs better than Tessa.”
My mother couldn’t care less if I banged every man in the house, but because I wasn’t cooperating, she had to divert the attention away from me and onto her. I’d get my ass handed to me later.
“It’s her eyes.” He ignored my mother and fixed his gaze on me. “They are a passionate mix of
wild and worldly.”
“If that’s what you must see,” she glared at me beneath her fake lashes, and I noticed they had peeled away at the corners, “I will see what Tessa’s schedule looks like.”
Mags read my terrified expression like an open book. There was no way that was going to happen.
“Hi, there.” She stepped around me and offered her slender hand to him. He squinted before he tore his gaze off me and focused on my best friend. “I heard you said something about liking it rough?”
“I did.” He held her hand so tight her skin turned white from lack of blood.
Something felt off about this ass even before he opened his mouth and showed his vampire- like teeth.
“Well, you’re in luck. So do I.” She winked, but I heard the hesitation in her voice. She felt it too. “Shall we discuss this over a drink?”
“What are you drinking?”
“Martini, dirty, hold the olives.” She nodded to the bar and held her hand up to let him know she’d just be a moment.
“You don’t have to do this, Mags.” I pulled her closer to me so we could talk.
“Yes,” she eyed my mother, “I do. You helped me keep this job after my little encounter with speed, and now it’s time for me to take one for the team. Besides,” her voice lowered, and she lovingly tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, “we both know this is not who you are. You’re not like the rest of us, Tess. You’re one of the good ones.”
“So are you.”
“I love you for saying that, but we both know who has more experience in this department. Besides, once he,” she nodded at Clark, who greeted George at the bar, “gets wind that our new client is interested in you, there will be another dramatic episode between the three of you.”
She was right on that one.
“There’s something off about him, Mags.”
“I know.” She let out a shaky breath. “And I do plan on staying very far away from whatever the hell it is.”
My mother strolled by with a look that could kill and hurried over to Clark to make sure she got her digs in on me. He may be her husband, but it was me he visited at night.
“Only three hundred and sixty-two more days, and then we’ll be free of this place.” Mags tried to pull my thoughts away from the matter at hand.
I grinned at her. It had been our plan since the day we met and realized how much we needed each other’s friendship. “We’ll live in a villa, a beautiful villa wedged in the side of a mountain. In Italy.”
“With all the wine in the world.”
“Wine and men,” I corrected before she hugged me and left to sit next to the dark villain who would later shatter both our lives.
I shook the painful memory clear, and as far as I was concerned, Clark died along with Bret. He was nothing to me, history or not.
Trigger started the engine. I slipped inside the car and fell quiet with my thoughts.
It wasn’t long before my eyes grew heavy, and I let myself drift off to an emotional sleep.
I woke to Trigger shaking my shoulder. It took me a moment to register him. He was back in jeans, black hoodie, and his cut. He smelled like weed and leather.
I had missed that smell.
“I let you sleep for as long as possible, but we need get moving again.”
Huh?
“Where are we?”
“State line.”
With a groggy head, I stood on shaky legs and saw Brick’s smile from his bike.
“Hey, beautiful.”
I returned the warmth with a big hug. We were now going to be riding on the bikes. Well, shit. I looked longingly back at the nice, warm, comfy car, but knew I had to get my head back in the game.
“Here.” He handed me my jeans.
I shimmied into them as Trigger watched. The man had no shame. Then he held out my leather jacket and threaded my arms through the sleeves like a child. He helped me with my helmet before he fired up the bike.
He waited for me to get on then nodded to Brick.
Guess we’re leaving the car here.
The bike jolted forward, and I squeezed my eyes shut as he weaved down the on ramp and picked up speed on I-15. The air was freezing, and the further we drove, the colder it grew. It felt wonderful to press up against his back, my arms around his body and my thighs pressed around his ass. I felt at home on his bike. I rubbed my cold hands together whenever we had to slow down for merging traffic. Trigger unzipped his jacket pockets and urged my hands inside. They instantly thawed in his body warmth.
He might be an ass some of the time, but he could be incredibly thoughtful.
About two hours into the drive, my eyes started to grow heavy. Between the hum of the bike and the setting sun, I wasn’t sure I could stay awake. I leaned my forehead on his back and for a moment gave in to the urge.
“Tess.” Trigger jolted me awake. “You asleep?”
“No,” I lied, fiddling with the button on the helmet.
He reached back and squeezed my thigh. “Don’t lie to me. If we need to stop, tell me.”
“I’m fine.”
He shook his head as he suddenly slipped in between two trucks. I ducked my head but kept my eyes on his patchwork. Anything to keep my eyes open.
We jumped off the I-15 and headed into the San Gabriel Mountains. His chest vibrated as he spoke to someone. I glanced back to Brick, who had pulled out a cell phone.
I began to feel like something was off by the way Trigger’s head started to move around. The tenseness in his body gave me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I pushed the button.
“Something wrong?”
“No.”
I rolled my eyes. “Now who’s lying?”
He didn’t answer, so I started mimicking his movements. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I wanted to help if I could.
We got to a point where we were surrounded by mountains. Rain had started to fall in a cold drizzle, and it became hard to see very far through the mist.
I grew cold deep in my bones with his uneasiness.
I leaned back to stretch my arms, feeling them snap at the elbows. God, that felt great.
Then I spotted a single light off in the tree line, then another and another.
“Trigger…” My voice trailed off.
“I see them.”
Fear licked through me at the word them. He placed a gun into my hands. “Point and shoot. Watch out for Brick.”
Shit. It was one thing to shoot at a slow-moving target, but to shoot sitting behind someone on a bike that was moving around like crazy was something else.
Zip. Zip.
I yelped as two bullets whipped by my helmet.
So, point and fucking shoot. Got it!
I tried to aim at something and pulled the trigger, hoping like hell I would hit someone. Trigger fired back and swerved the bike around to make us harder targets. I heard Brick’s gun as he fired, but all I could see were flashes of light. How could they tell if they were hitting them or not?
Trigger made a hand signal, and Brick disappeared. I wanted to ask where he was going, but now wasn’t the time.
A different sounding motor caused a prickle up my spine and into my scalp. Two shots flew by, and one broke our mirror.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
My stomach dropped, and my hand flexed over the cold steel grip of the gun.
Fuck it!
I grabbed Trigger’s waist, twisted around hard, and concentrated on my fire. Each shot made my heart speed up. My muscles tightened and filled me with adrenaline.
I could tell by the light and the squeal of brakes that the bike spun out over the slick road. It turned completely around before he went out of sight in the ditch.
Trigger grabbed my hand and shoved it over his erection. His hand covered mine as he stroked it twice.
Jesus, I was wet.
We are seriously two fucked up individuals.
Just when I thought we were in the clear, two more bikes came up behin
d us. How did we not hear them?
Trigger popped one of them in the shoulder, but he didn’t go down. The other tried to reach for me, pulling up alongside.
What the fuck?
I held up my gun and took the shot, but nothing happened. Shit! No bullets. He came up close again and grabbed my arm and tugged hard.
I slipped, but Trigger reached back and slammed me to him. He shot the guy to our right and got him in the thigh. He lost control, and his bike went flying into the trees.
Trigger waited until the guy went for me again. He suddenly turned and shot him under the arm.
Jesus Christ!
Trigger yelled something into his radio and revved the engine. We surged forward, picking up speed.
It was so fast, I had to duck to block the wind because it hurt my neck so badly. I closed my eyes and counted my wild heartbeats until we finally slowed.
Holy shit.
Holy hell.
Holy Mother of Christ.
The words looped around and around in my head. I was trying to absorb what the hell had happened.
The bike hit gravel, and I was finally able to look around. Thick trees lined the road as we started up a big hill. We stopped at a rusty trailer set up on concrete blocks.
Once Trigger stopped, I hopped off, tossed my helmet, and headed into the woods. I had no idea where I was going, but shit, I needed a moment.
***
Trigger
As I tucked the bike away, I watched Tess fade into the darkness. These woods were safe, and I knew them well, so I wasn’t worried.
“Heard you ran into some trouble.” Gus appeared by my side. “I was about ready to send Rail and Cooper.”
“Nothing we couldn’t handle.” I glanced at the woods again. “Brick make it back?”
“He did.” He nodded at the woods. “That Tiger?”
“Yeah.”
“You piss her off again?”
I smirked. “Turns out the girl can shoot, along with a few other hidden talents.”
“Really?”