I didn’t have to go that bad, but I figured the ladies room was someplace he couldn’t go with me or stand in the doorway. It was a chance I was willing to take.
He rolled his eyes as he climbed out of the booth and pulled me towards the bathroom. There was a line about five people long, and much to my dismay, it was a one-person, unisex bathroom. He would totally be able to go in with me.
So much for that plan, I lamented.
“Shall we order some drinks while we wait?” I asked, trying to distract him. “Old times’ sake?”
His eyes locked in on the bar tender.
“We’ll lose our spot,” he said. “I thought you really had to go.”
“I do, but it can wait,” I said. “I can stay here or I can go get the drinks. It’s up to you.”
“No, no, no,” he said as he shook his head. “I’m not letting you out of my sight tonight. Not for any reason.”
“Okay, fine,” I replied, pretending to act like it didn’t bother me at all.
He looked torn for a bit and then suddenly pulled us out of the line and towards the bar.
“Yo, Jonah!” he yelled out as he slapped his hand on the bar. “What’s a guy gotta do to get a drink around here?”
He sounded like he was suddenly from New Jersey or something. His accent came out of nowhere that was for sure.
“Ay, Big Blaze, what’s crackin’?!” the bar tender said, replying in what I could only assume was a genuine Jersey accent. Maybe it was their thing? “What can I get ya?”
“Gin and tonic for her and whiskey sour for me,” he said as he pulled cash from his wallet.
“Ah, your money’s no good here,” Jonah said as he mixed up our drinks. “At least let the first round be on me. Pretty ladies always drink free anyway.”
He winked at me, though it was a friendly wink. He seemed nice. It made me wonder what someone like him saw in someone like Blaze. They were from opposite ends of the spectrum. Jonah wasn’t creepy at all. He was a big, friendly guy from New Jersey who tended bar in Tulsa. That was all.
He placed our drinks on the bar and carefully slid them towards us.
“Enjoy guys,” he said as he moved onto the next patron.
Blaze grabbed my arm and pulled us back over to our booth, pushing me in by the wall once again. My urge to use the restroom had suddenly disappeared after realizing it was a unisex room. I crossed my fingers that Blaze would forget. I didn’t want him to call my bluff. That would be the worst that could happen. All trust would be shot for sure.
CHAPTER 17
“Everyone’s checkin’ you out,” he said with a proud smile. “They haven’t stopped staring at you since I brought you in here.”
I wanted to say that maybe it was due to the fact that he was parading me around and not letting go of me. I wondered if that’s what they were really staring at, but I didn’t say anything.
“They all want what I’ve got,” he said in the cockiest tone I’d ever heard.
“Hey, buddy,” a short, blonde guy in a motorcycle jacket said as he walked up to our table. My heart sunk down into my stomach when I realized it was Ace, from the weekend before. My face instantly turned ten shades of crimson, and I looked away.
“What’s up?” he said as he looked at me, wagging his tongue out like some sort of dog.
“Hi,” I said, still avoiding eye contact.
“I, uh, think, R.J. wants to have a word with you,” Ace said to Blaze in all seriousness. His smile from a few seconds ago had left his face in an instant with those words.
“R.J.? Really?” Blaze said. He looked a bit nervous, and I’d never seen that look on his face before.
“Yeah,” Ace said. “When you get a chance.”
Ace patted the table, took a swig of his beer, and walked off.
“Who the hell is R.J.?” I asked Blaze.
“The president of the club,” he said. His look had gone from anxious to bewildered. I was confused.
“What do you think he wants?” I asked.
Blaze’s face lit up. “Who knows? Maybe he wants to formally offer me membership?”
“You’re not already a member?” I asked. “I’m confused.”
“Not technically,” he said. “I’m still an initiate.”
“Oh,” I said. Just another one of his bold faced, manipulative lies.
He rubbed his hands nervously against his jeans. They must have been sweating a bit. His eyes scanned around the room, presumably looking for this R.J. guy.
“What’s he look like?” I asked.
Blaze shrugged me off, as if he were annoyed with my presence.
“Okay…” I replied. I took a sip of my drink.
From across the room, I couldn’t help but spot a tall, handsome drink of water staring at us. I’d seen him stare at us when we first walked in, and we had passed him on our way to the bathroom line earlier. We’d made eye contact several times, now that I’d thought about it, and he was probably one of the most gorgeous creatures I’d ever laid eyes on, but I wasn’t there to pick up men. And I had vowed to myself never to get involved with anyone in a “biker club” ever again. I needed to get far away from this seedy little world.
I locked eyes with the guy, turned away, and then turned towards him again. He was still staring at me. At least I was pretty sure he was staring at me. My face blushed, and I hoped to God Blaze didn’t notice.
I looked away and resumed working on my drink. I was pretty much stuck there. Part of me wished I could get away for just two seconds, tell that guy I was being held against my will, and get the hell away from Blaze. It would be nothing short of a miracle, but I knew it wasn’t realistic. It would take an act of God for that to happen. A divine intervention.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome making his way over to our table. The way people moved and got out of his way told me he was a man of some sort of power or influence. His presence alone commanded respect and boy did he get it.
“R.J.,” Blaze said as he stood up the moment the man reached our table.
So that was the infamous R.J. The closer he got to us, the less I could take my eyes off him. I never wanted to stop staring at him. He was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. His full lips pursed the moment he saw me, and his intense, dark eyes were framed with long, black eyelashes. His jaw line was chiseled like some sort of Greek God sculpture, and his eyebrows were strong and furrowed. He stood a few inches past six feet tall, and his shoulders were broad while his hips were narrow. His cut wore his nickname alongside the title “president” and the logo for the Hell’s Highway Motorcycle Club.
R.J. ignored Blaze at first, staring deep into my soul it seemed, and then took a seat in the spot across from me. Blaze seemed irritated at first but then sat back down next to me.
“I heard you wanted to talk to me, sir,” Blaze began.
I’d never heard him call anyone “sir” before. This guy was important.
“I did,” R.J. said as his eyes never left mine.
Part of me wanted to plead to him with my eyes. Part of me wanted to shout out to R.J. to help me, save me, and get me out of there, but the truth was I didn’t know if I could trust him. And given my string of poor decisions over the past week, I didn’t know if I could even trust my own instincts.
I sat paralyzed, waiting for R.J. to say something. Blaze noticed our locking gazes, and I was sure he was fuming on the inside, but I knew he couldn’t act like that in front of the president.
R.J. squared his shoulders back as he finally released my gaze and turned his eyes towards Blaze. He sat up tall, and I’ll admit he was a bit intimidating, but I wasn’t the one he was trying to intimidate.
Blaze cleared his throat, and I could just feel the nervousness oozing out of his every poor. I kind of liked watching him squirm. Okay, I loved watching him squirm.
“Can I have a word with you?” R.J. said to him. “Alone?”
Blaze turned to me and shot me t
he most evil look I’d ever seen, as if to tell me to stay put, don’t move, and don’t do anything stupid.
“It’s fine,” I said with a willing smile as I rubbed his arm. I tried to reassure him as much as I could. I could tell he didn’t want to leave me.
He leaned towards me and whispered into my ear, my hair covering his mouth so R.J. couldn’t see his lips move.
“You move from this booth and I’ll hunt you down and put a fucking bullet in your skull,” he said into my ear.
I smiled and nodded, acting like nothing was amiss. I believed his threats. I knew he was fifty shades of crazy. He belonged on the inside of an insane asylum.
R.J. studied my face as he stood there waiting for Blaze to get up and follow him. I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. R.J. was a tough person to read, especially since I didn’t even know him one bit.
I stayed put, like a good girl, and watched as they made their way to the other side of the bar. They stood next to the front door, and R.J.’s back was towards me. I was quite sure Blaze purposely positioned himself so that he could still see me at all times, and I expected nothing less of him.
A few short minutes later, Blaze came walking back over to our booth.
“Get up,” he said with a smile as he motioned towards the door. “We’re leaving.”
“Huh?” I was shocked and confused to say the least. “We literally just got here. Where are we going?”
“Back to the hotel,” he said.
He seemed a little manic all of a sudden. Like someone had just given him some kind of happy pill. It was a complete one-eighty from the Blaze I’d been used to the last couple days.
We climbed back into his truck, only this time he let me sit next to him in the passenger seat. We were definitely making progress.
At one point, he reached over and held my hand. He squeezed it a few times, glancing over at me every so often and beaming from ear to ear. He truly was a lunatic.
CHAPTER 18
As soon as we pulled into the motel parking lot, Blaze slammed it into park and hurried around to meet me on the other side of the truck. Again, the moment my feet hit the ground, he was holding onto me tight. He didn’t let go once on the entire walk to our room, but he wasn’t as rough as he was before.
I watched him from the corner of my eye. It seemed he’d never stopped smiling.
“Did they offer you full membership tonight?” I asked. I had to know why he was so giddy. It was so out of character for him.
He shrugged, not confirming nor denying.
“You just seem really happy all of a sudden,” I said. “Just curious.”
We made it to our room and upon entering, he threw me on the bed as if he wanted to have his way with me. He climbed over top of me, kissing my neck and nibbling on my ear.
I wondered if he was just all of a sudden horny and that’s why he wanted to take me home. Maybe all those other guy staring at me and him thinking they were all jealous of him really turned him on? Who knew what went on in that fucked him little head of his.
He began to tear off my top and unbutton my jeans.
“Why don’t you go put on something pretty?” he said as he stopped. He nodded towards my suitcase across the room in the bathroom. “I think I packed enough for ya.”
“Oh-okay,” I stammered. I was still trying to wrap my head around everything. It was all happening so fast.
I sauntered over to the bathroom and rifled through the gobs and gobs of lingerie he’d packed for me. I picked up a pink floral silk nightie, removed my bra and slipped it on.
“This look okay?” I asked.
“Perfect,” he said with a smile that quickly went from manic to maniacal. His previously giddy demeanor was turning twisted quickly.
I tiptoed back to the bed, purposely taking my time, and as soon as I did, he laid over top of me, pinning me beneath him. He was heavy on top of me as he practically smothered me. It wasn’t a sexual kind of pinning, it was a control thing. I could tell. He didn’t want me to be able to move out from under him.
While I laid under him, trying to gulp as much air as I could, I felt his body suddenly turn and reach down below towards the nightstand. He opened the drawer and pulled out his trusty roll of duct tape.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked. I bit my tongue and hoped I didn’t piss him off.
He said nothing as he bound my wrists to their places on the bed posts.
“You’ll understand,” he said. “You love me. You’ll understand.”
I don’t know how or why he thought I loved him, but it couldn’t have been further from the way I really felt. I said nothing.
He sat up, suddenly losing sexual interest in me, and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Are you going to explain any of this to me?” I asked him.
“I’m trying to get into Hell’s Highway,” he said. “They have a few requirements.”
“Okay, what does that have to do with me?” I asked. I couldn’t have hid the anger in my voice if I tried.
“Look, Molly,” he began. “I know you want to be with me. I rock your fuckin’ world, and I can give you everything you need and more. Once I’m in this club, we’ll be set for life. No more workin’ for the man. No more day jobs. No more being tied down with the same old boring lifestyle for the rest of our lives. Our lives will be an adventure every single day. This is what we need. We need this.”
“I like my life,” I said.
“I can give you a better one,” he replied, obviously not listening to me.
“If you’re going to be my Old Lady, there’s a few things you have to do for me,” he said. “What you need to do tonight, is for me. It’s for us. It’s for our future.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked. I suddenly felt a cold sweat run through my body.
“From time to time, at least until I’m in the club officially, you’ll be required to service other men,” he said. He said it like it was nothing. Like it was no big deal.
“Required?” I repeated. “To service other men?”
I was seething on the inside, but I didn’t want him to see.
“Is that why you rushed me back here tonight?” I asked. I wanted to spit at him, but I couldn’t.
He stood up and placed his hands on his hips and nodded.
“Who the fuck am I servicing tonight?” I yelled. “Is there going to be a train of bikers coming in and out of here all night?”
“No, no,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
I found it a little hard to believe him on that one.
“It’s R.J.,” he said with a glimmer in his eye. “The president of the club.”
A shiver ran through my body when he said that. R.J. was gorgeous and beautiful and powerful, and he’d been staring at me all night long. It made me wonder if he just wanted a piece of me and that’s why he stared at me and approached Blaze.
My hopes and dreams of being rescued by R.J. were quickly dashed. If he was the type of guy who used this power to sleep with whoever he wanted, he wasn’t going to be the one to save me. R.J. wasn’t going to be any sort of knight in shining armor for me.
“Do you know how awesome it is that the president of the club wants to fuck my Old Lady?” Blaze said with a mystified look on his face. He was overly proud about it. “Like that doesn’t happen. You just might be my ticket in. Finally. After all these years.”
“Lucky you,” I said with a sarcastic tone.
CHAPTER 19
A knock at the door quickly signaled to Blaze that our little talk was over.
“Shhh,” he said as he put his finger to his mouth.
He peeked out of the peephole and ran back over to the bed.
“It’s R.J.,” he whispered. “You better show him a good fucking time tonight.”
The look he gave me shook me to my very core, and I knew he meant business. I’d never been pimped out before. I was terrified, but I wasn’t going to let him see
that.
Blaze made his way back to the door where he unlocked it and swung it wide open.
“Come in, come in,” he said hurriedly.
R.J. immediately turned and looked at me, sprawled out and restrained on the bed. His dark eyes pierced right through me, and I wondered what sorts of horrible things he was going to do. I was at his mercy. I was at Blaze’s mercy. I wasn’t a human being to either of them.
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