by Cove, Vivian
My glee had, ahem, been short-lived. Still, I wasn’t one to quit. I loved the club, so I stayed. Cheyenne hadn’t been thrilled about this, but she’d accepted it. Me being there meant she could spend more time there, too, which also meant she could spend more time with my father. Bottom line: they’d look for me at the club, not at home, which was doubly great because my house was on the east side of the mountain and the clubhouse was on the west side. Since the barn was right smack dab in the middle between these two points, if they didn’t split up they’d probably all run off in the wrong direction and miss me entirely.
Of course, I’m also driving closer to where my dad and the other MC Presidents and their inner circles were meeting, but I’ll pass them soon so as long as they weren’t leaving I’ll be able to sneak by them too.
My heart jolts as a guard rail brushes against my leg. My back tires are dangerously close to spinning out of control. I don’t slow down—I can’t. Damien or my father will get me if I do, and at this moment I don’t know which would be worse. I gun it and turn sharper, moving from the outside lane to the inside lane on a blind corner. Normally I’d never pull such a stunt but right now I’m alone out here…and running out of time.
As I lean into the corner, white hot light fills my vision, shooting into the back of my skull like a knife, blinding me.
No.
I swerve to the right. I feel the exact moment where I lose control of the bike. For a second it feels like it’s floating in the air, and then suddenly, horrifically, it passes the point of no return. I grip the handlebars harder, pushing up against them with all my might, but it’s too late. The bike curves back along the road until it hits the guardrail.
The sound is like a thousand witches scratching a chalkboard with their blood red 5 inch nails. My stomach rolls, and then my front tires hit the guardrail and I’m rolling too, right through the air.
It feels like I’m airborne for over a minute. Time stretches until it seems to not even move. My head pounds with bitter knowledge.
I’m going to die.
I’m going to die.
I’m going to die.
Heights are not “my thing.” That’s the nicest way I can think of to phrase my epic fear of heights. I can’t see the bottom of the cliff. It’s an abyss. Maybe I’ll fall forever. Maybe I’ll be this afraid forever.
Whack!
Something whips my chest, then bends back. I wrap my arms around the spindly, scratchy surface, scuffing my palms.
A tree branch. Thank God. Now all I have to do is climb down and…
I do the stupidest thing I could do.
I look down.
The abyss below me seems to swirl with ominous intent. The wind blowing through it seems to howl. I don’t think my heart has ever beat so fast in my entire life. It’s coming for me, I realize. The lost souls of the dead are trying to drag me to hell! I scream, clutching at the tree branch. It bends under my weight. I think I hear something crack.
Oh God, why the fuck didn’t I go on that diet with Candy? My huge ass was going to kill me! I take a deep breath. Get it under control, Annie. That wasn’t a crack, that was just your cracked mind trying to freak you out because it’s a bitch.
Crack!
The branch jostles. Oh fuck, there’s no denying I heard it that time. I’m gonna die!
“Hello?” A deep, masculine voice calls out. I don’t recognize the voice. It’s low and a little gravely. It sounds…nice. Not that I’d think about a guy’s voice while clinging to my life either. I mean, that would just be stupid.
Really stupid.
Way too stupid to actually do.
I shiver, biting my lower lip.
“Hello?” There’s panic in the man’s voice now. The sound of skidding dirt. He must have just jumped the guard rail and is now climbing down the freaking cliff to find me.
“Uh…” I whimper. Loud and proud, Annie. You can conquer your fears. “Uh…”
Okay, maybe I can’t conquer them. I hug the branch, shut my eyes and yell, “Here!”
The guy stops rustling around. “Where?”
The branch cracks again. Though it probably moves only a fraction of a centimeter, it feels like fifteen feet. I scream.
There’s a flash of light. I’m blinded, again, by him. “You alright?”
Was I alright? I was hanging off a freaking cliff! “Um…” Damnit, why did I have to think about the cliff again?
The light vanishes. “Hold on, babe. I’m comin’ up.”
I hug the branch. “T-thank you.”
And then he starts climbing and the tree starts wiggling.
Predictably, I scream again.
And, equally predictably, the branch cracks.
“Shit, we gotta get you off that, fast.”
Thanks for clarifying! “Okay.”
Seconds later, he’s up by me. “Everything’s gonna be fine, babe. Here.” He leans forward and holds out his hand. “Just grab my hand and climb over to me.”
That sounds good. Really, really smart. “Okay.”
“On the count of three. One…two…three…”
“Okay.”
I shut my eyes.
And keep my arms wrapped tightly around the branches.
There’s a pause. “I meant on the count of three.”
“Yeah. Yeah, uh, duh,” I whisper.
“Ready to go again?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. One…”
It’s easy, Annie. Just reach out and take his hand. He’s a big strong man. He can swing you to safety. Either that, or put you out of your misery faster, because this branch started to give out the second you landed on it!
“Two…”
I take a deep breath. I could do this. All I had to do was let go for a few seconds.
“Three…”
I let out a warrior roar to pump myself up and…
Keep holding on.
The branch shifts. “Oh god, I’m sorry. Let’s do this again.”
The guy’s quiet for a moment. “You afraid of heights?”
Am I really that obvious? “Maybe a little.”
He sighs.
“I know, I know, it’s pathetic!” I admit. “And if I don’t reach for you I’m going to freaking die, and you must be thinking how stupid and annoying it all is—”
“No,” he cuts me off. “That’s not what I was thinking at all.”
“Yeah right! That’s totally what you were thinking!”
There’s a silence, and in that silence, I realize how stupid I am. Where had that sass come from? And why the fuck was I sassing the guy who was trying to save my life?
“I don’t think you’re stupid and annoying,” he responds lightly, like I didn’t just have a stupid, self-righteous outburst. “Fear can paralyze you. It’s normal to close up when you’re scared.”
Really? I think. It’s normal to cling to a branch that you know is gonna fall instead of a man who can pull you to safety because you’re afraid of heights? That’s NORMAL?!?
“I once had this little puppy,” the guy begins.
Oh no. Fuck no. Puppy stories are always the worst. “I am not listening to a story about a cute little doggie dying in the last few moments of my life!”
“She doesn’t die,” the guy chuckles.
“Oh yeah? Then why did you say ‘once’?”
“’Cause she isn’t a puppy anymore.”
Oh. That makes sense. Sort of.
“So this puppy,” he says as the tree bends. I whimper and cling tighter to the tree. “Her mother died when she was young.”
“Oh god, I knew it! There are dead dogs in this story! You are such a horrible liar!”
“Well, alright, the mom couldn’t take care of her baby because she…had issues or somethin’…fuck…”
“Stop trying to sanitize it for me!”
“But you didn’t want to know that she’d died.”
I guess he had a point. “Fine. Mom dies. Baby is aban
doned. So far, it’s going great. I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
He smartly decides to ignore my outburst and keeps going. “Well, this little boy adopted the puppy. Everyone told him not to. They said there was no way she’d make it. She wouldn’t eat, you see. She missed her mom too much, I guess.”
Oh God. The puppy’s going to starve to death in the little boy’s arms. The tree swings as the man puts his foot on the branch right below mine.
“But the boy wouldn’t give up on her. He’d lost his mom too, and he knew how scary it was to be alone, and how much it hurt.”
The man is close now. His body almost touches mine. Even through his leather jacket, I can tell how strong his arms are.
“So the boy bottle fed her. It took a while for her to trust him, but he didn’t give up. And, after a while, she put her little paws on his arms just like this,” he says, gently taking hold of my wrists.
His fingers are rough and strong. The shoulders he places my hands on are even stronger. Slowly, he loops my hands behind the back of his head, pulling me away from the branch and towards him.
“She was so scared she couldn’t eat,” he whispers. “Her fear almost killed her, but she didn’t let it. Even though it was the scariest thing in the world to her, she found it in herself to trust.”
My breath catches. My heart starts speeding up. My breathing might start speeding up, too. He feels as sturdy as the tree. No, even sturdier. There’s something comforting about his protective embrace.
His arm tightens, holding me against him. He begins to climb down from branch to branch, winding along the trunk of the tree. “Want to know what the boy named her?”
“Yes.”
“Valkyrie,” he says. “Because overcoming what your fears takes more strength than never being afraid, because never being afraid means that you’ve never loved something so much that you know losing it would destroy you.”
We reach solid ground. I tip my head back from his shoulder and look into his face.
It’s difficult to differentiate his features from the shadows, but even from what little I see I sense something primal and raw about him. His eyes glint in the moonlight like metal as they stare into me.
“That was a really beautiful story,” I tell him.
He nods.
“Thank you for saving my life.” I cringe. “I probably should have said that first…”
“Hey, we both saved your life. If you didn’t let me take you, we both woulda fallen.”
So really I almost killed myself and him. Great. “That’s one way to look at it.”
He says nothing.
“Thank you,” I say again. “Really.”
Still nothing.
Looks like I’m going to need to spell it out. “You can put me down now.”
His grip on me tightens. “Not gonna happen.”
What?!?
“There’s a cabin down the road. We’ll go there first, fix you up, and then get you home.”
No! The cabin was too close. I needed to get home, secure foodstuffs, lock my door, and then break apart my furniture and nail down all the windows like a fucking zombie apocalypse was coming.
“I’ve got a bike,” I tell him. “I can ride home. You’ve already done more than you need to.”
“You can’t go home on that bike.”
“Like hell I can’t! I was riding it until I…” almost ran into your car. Shit, maybe I should stop talking.
“Whether or not you can ride it isn’t the issue. It’s totaled, babe.”
Every cell in my body turns to ice. “What?”
“It went down the hill after you and smashed into some rocks. Even if you could get it back up to the road, there’s no way that thing would run.”
I don’t think I’m hearing him correctly. “What?”
“It’s ruined. Sorry.”
Totaled. Ruined.
Oh. My. God.
Totally ruined.
That was Damien’s motorcycle. His baby. The love of his life. Now I’d never be leaving my room because once he got me in there he’d freaking kill me!
I don’t struggle as the man starts carrying me up the hill. I’m too shocked to do anything but cling to him.
Halfway up, I see the bike. And, oh boy, I am so fucked. Every muscle in my body tightens.
“That’s not your bike, is it?” the man says. Even though he poses it like a question, it isn’t.
Shit. “Um…no it’s not exactly mine.”
“How, exactly, did you get it?”
Damn, what’s with these questions? “I, uh, borrowed it.”
“Oh.” He waits a second. “Does the person you borrowed it from know you borrowed it?”
“Yes.”
There’s a purposeful silence coming from his end.
“I’m not lying!” I tell him. I mean, Damien did see me driving away on it, after I stole his keys and kneed him in the groin. It wasn’t like it was some big secret.
“So, why’d you leave the party?” the guy continues.
Oh, why wouldn’t I leave that awful party was a bigger question! “Things weren’t going well.”
“Did someone make you feel uncomfortable?”
I think of Damien’s mad face. “You could say that.”
He stops. His demeanor changes, his shoulders tightening, mood darkening. My heart skitters. “Who was it?”
“Who was what?”
“Who’s the asshole who made you want to leave?”
I feel like electricity just ignited my veins. I like hearing the nasty sex demon being called an asshole way too much. “Damien.”
“The kid from Dawn's Rebellion MC?”
“Kid?” I scoff, trying to get another good look at him. “You’ve got to be about as old as he is! Who are you callin’ a kid?”
“Just that he’s who’s gonna take second after Dawn's Rebellion’s prez passes on the torch.” His grip on me tightens. “What did he do to you?” his voice is soft, so damn soft.
“He made me feel like a fool, again. I wanted to show him up tonight. The guy thinks he owns me.”
“But he doesn’t, right?”
“Fuck no! I hate him.”
We’ve reached the top of the hill. The guy sets me down on the road right next to the dented part of the guardrail where Damien’s bike hit.
“That’s his bike, isn’t it?” he asks.
My toes curl. “Maybe.”
His teeth catch the moonlight, flashing as he grins. “Gotta say, I like your style babe.”
Suddenly, totaling Damien’s bike doesn’t seem like the worst thing in the world. “Thanks.”
“So,” the guy says, climbing over the guardrail after me. “We got a few options. If you don’t want a stranger drivin’ you home, I can call someone to pick you up.”
I consider this for all of four seconds.
In the first second, I imagine calling Cheyenne…who is currently at the meeting with my father.
In the second, I think about calling Candy, who totally does not have a car since we called a cab, and leaving an angry voice message.
In the third, I consider calling Damien.
And in the fourth, contacting one of Damien’s brothers, like Gracie or Ryder…but since they’re totally “bros before hos” the one who’d come to get me would be Damien.
“What’s the other option?” I ask.
“I can take you to that cabin, see what’s up, and from there either take you to the hospital or home.”
I don’t hesitate. “Okay. I want that one—I want to go with you,” I tell him.
If this surprises him, he doesn’t let it show. “Alright. Let’s go.”
Chapter 8
He bends over to adjust the rear suspension of the bike so I can ride with him. I cross my arms over my chest, squinting as I try to make out his patch in the moonlight. It’s faded and it looks like the corner of it is peeling. Is that a serpent, maybe? I recognize the large shape in the center as a
skull, but that tells me nothing. Nearly every club here sports one of those on the back.
He stands, brushes his hands off on his jeans, and turns. “I’m guessin’ you’re not a virgin.”
My eyes shoot open. “WHAT?!?” Where the fuck had that come from? And how the hell was it any of his business?
He chuckles like he’s amused by my response. “You’ve been on the back of a bike before, right? So you know what parts are too hot to touch, and not to put your feet down if we stop?”
Oh. Virgin. Like…that kind of virgin. The kind who’s never been on a motorcycle before. Biker virgin. “Yeah, I’ve been on bikes since you were…” my voice cracks as all 6-feet plus biker badass steps towards me, “…probably also riding bikes.”
Did the comment I just made make any sense? What the hell is wrong with me? Why did the “V-word” get me all confused and bothered?
“So you know what to do, then,” he continues. “Just wrap your arms around my waist. If you need to stop for anything, tap my shoulder.” He hands me a helmet. “Probably a little big for you, but I’d like to think it would be better than nothin.’ You gotta excuse me, I wasn’t expecting company.”
I put the helmet on as he seats himself.
I get on behind him and wrap my arms around him for the second time. I push my face in the center of his back, taking in the familiar scent of leather, oil and smoke as a strange thrill shoots through me.
“Ready?” he asks.
I gulp. “Yes.”
“We’ll take it slow,” he whispers, and a jolt I feel all the way to the tips of my toes rushes through me as the bike roars to life.
The cabin is less than a mile away. It doesn’t take us long to get there, even at his leisurely speed. He pulls up a dirt road. The cutesy animal totem poles that hold up the sign “Camp Tambourine” are still there. As we pass beneath it, I wonder how this guy knows about this place. It’s a strange local attraction, so it wasn’t something I’d think members from other clubs would know about.
We pull up at the main cabin and get off the bike. Since the camp doesn’t open until May, it’s empty. The forest canopy above is so thick that I can’t see the moon or any stars. There’s something eerie about us being nestled beneath all the big trees, surrounded by the scent of evergreen trees and earth.