I scanned the shrubs that popped up in front of me, and there was a gap between them just wide enough for a car. It looked like there had been a path through there years ago, and I guessed that was the one I was supposed to take.
I inched the car forward, nervous about the narrow path. The branches and leaves scraped against the sides of Kenneth’s car, making a squeaking sound, and I gritted my teeth, pushing through. I felt claustrophobic with the leaves on both sides almost covering the windows of the car completely but I had nowhere else to go.
Finally, I broke out of the shrubs and drove along a two-tire track that led through waist-high grass that scraped at the bottom of the car with a whooshing sound.
A cell phone rang in the glove compartment, and I jumped, heart racing. I opened it and glanced at the screen. A number I didn’t recognize, but I knew the phone. It was Kenneth’s. I waited until it stopped ringing and then switched it off. When I’d stuffed it back into the glove compartment, I put both hands back on the wheel, squared my shoulders, and took a deep breath.
I was going to be fine. This was going to be okay. Saxon was going to come get me, and then the nightmare would be over. Saxon said he was coming. He was helping me hide. He was coming. I had to trust that he was coming because I had nothing else left.
I parked next to the squat brown building, the only one in the grassy clearing, and walked through the high grass to the porch. It creaked when I stepped onto it. The door was open when I tried it, and I pushed it into the house. It was small and quaint, and I imagined it could have been amazing if it had been maintained. But it was very neglected, the wood silvering with age and dust hanging in the shaft of light that streamed in through the only window in the house.
There was some furniture—a creaky, round table with two chairs, a bed in the corner, a fridge, and a stove. Everything was covered with a film of dust. I flicked the light switch on, off, on, off. No electricity.
I closed the door behind me. It was as much of a hideout as I could hope for. No one was going to find this place. Hell, I’d struggled to find this place myself. And it wasn’t terrible. I’d been in worse places. Like being tied up in the back of Kenneth’s car. No, this was definitely better than that.
I felt terrible about what I’d done to Kenneth. I’d hurt him, and I didn’t like hurting people. But what was he going to do to me? What would he have done if I hadn’t escaped? Where would he have taken me? These were all questions I was damn happy I didn’t have the answers to.
I walked over to the table and wiped down one of the chairs. My hand left trails, as I unsettled the dust, and then I sat down. I tapped my nails on the table in an unsteady rhythm. I wished I had food. Having something to do would have saved me from going crazy. I glanced down at my phone. How long would it take Saxon to get here? I didn’t know how long Kenneth had driven before I’d woken up.
Considering that it had been morning by the time I’d come to, I was guessing hours. Shit. It would be hours before Saxon was going to arrive then. I took a deep breath. Calm, I just had to keep calm. And stay put.
After two hours, I was about to lose my mind. I was chasing myself in circles, thinking of all the reasons Saxon wouldn’t come—even though he’d told me he would. He had a life, a perfectly good one, without me in it. Everything about him seemed like it worked for him. His apartment was for one person. His bike was for one person. His entire life was perfect just for one. And I was trying to make myself fit into that equation.
It could have been that it wasn’t even what he’d wanted. Maybe he’d just felt guilty about having sex with me at work, and then the tapes had brought him back, too. Who was I? What could I offer him?
I shook my head and tried to get rid of the thoughts. He said he would come. Those words would be enough. I swallowed hard. My throat felt raw and swallowing felt like I was rubbing it with sandpaper.
Margo hadn’t tried to call me. That was strange. I tried to call her, dialing her number. The automated voice on the other end of the line told me that my phone service was inactive. I started panicking. If I couldn’t reach anyone, not even Saxon, God knew how long I was going to be stranded here until I withered away and died. Or worse, until Kenneth managed to find me.
I shuddered. Maybe it was just my phone. I switched it off, took out the battery for ten seconds before replacing it, and restarted the phone. Still nothing.
I put the phone in the middle of the table and got up, walking to the bed. It was just as dusty as the chair had been, and dust whirled up when I sat down on the covers, the mattress dipping under my weight. The dust tickled my nose, and I sneezed.
How long still? The sun had crossed the sky, and it was starting to sink toward the horizon. I watched the shadows around the cabin elongate as time marched on. I played games on my phone until the battery died.
I didn’t know how much longer it was before I heard a sound coming from behind the shrubs. It sounded like an engine, and I started panicking. My heart hammered against my ribs, and I struggled to breathe. My throat constricted, and I ran to the window, looking out, wondering if there was still time to run and hide behind the cabin. But the car was a dead giveaway that someone was here.
The car. Kenneth’s car. Which meant he couldn’t drive here to come get me. He would walk, and then I wouldn’t hear him coming. The thought was unsettling and relieving at the same time. A moment later a motorcycle broke free from the bushes and parked in front of the house.
I walked to the front door, swallowing hard. I had one hand crossed over my chest, the other at my throat. Saxon swung his one leg back to get off his bike, and then he took off his sunglasses and hooked them on his shirt.
“Oh, my God,” I said and pushed open the door. I stepped down the steps, nearly stumbled, and fell into his arms.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Saxon said softly, and his voice vibrated through his body, deep in his chest against my ear.
“I was starting to think you weren’t going to come,” I said, pushing away from him enough to look up at him.
“I said I would come,” Saxon said, looking at me with those electric blue eyes. “I wasn’t just going to leave you here to fend for yourself.” He lifted his fingers tentatively to the wound on my head, anger and then concern flashing across his face. He didn’t touch me, but his expression and his gesture was enough.
I’d been strong until now. I’d told myself I wasn’t going to buckle and cry because nothing terrible had happened to me and I was going to get out of this. But when Saxon looked at me that way, everything suddenly came crashing down on me. Tears welled into my eyes and then spilled onto my cheeks.
I tried to stop the tears, but the harder I tried to stop crying the worse it got until I was shaking and hiccupping. Saxon blinked at me, and then he did the most uncharacteristic thing I’d ever seen him do as a biker, and he put his arms around me, pulling me closer. I cried against his chest, leaving two wet spots on the shirt underneath the jacket. He stroked my back with one hand and spoke in soft tones, and even though I couldn’t make out what he was saying, it made me feel better.
Finally, when the crying calmed down, I pulled away from him and wiped my eyes with my sleeve. I didn’t have much makeup left as it was. Chances were it was all gone now.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Saxon shook his head. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.” His face darkened. “Kenneth Sherman, on the other hand, has a fuck load to be sorry for.”
I blew out my breath slowly, trying to keep control over myself.
“I didn’t mean to take so long,” Saxon said. “It’s a hell of a drive, but I got us some food, too. I know there’s nothing in that fridge; it doesn’t even work anymore.”
Saxon opened the compartment under the motorcycle seat and pulled out a loaf of bread, a ready-made rotisserie chicken, and a bottle of water.
“Nothing fancy,” he said.
“You have no idea how good that looks.” I hadn’t eaten or drank anything
since the water I’d had when I’d escaped from Kenneth, and I was starving. I led the way into the cabin and Saxon put the food down on the counter.
“Where is he?” he asked.
“I left him out there where I’d kicked him,” I said and guilt groped at me again.
“I didn’t see him there on my way past. Unless someone picked him up and took him to a hospital—which is unlikely given the lack of traffic on this road. He’s out there, looking for you.”
I shook my head, feeling like darkness was wrapping around me all over again. Was I never going to get rid of this guy?
“Don’t worry. He’s not going to just find this place. And if he does, I’m going to be here. I’m not leaving your side until we’re sure you’re safe.”
His speech eased some of the tension that had been building again, but I was still scared.
“Let’s get you taken care of, and then you need to eat,” Saxon said. He took me by the hand like I was a child and led me to the sink. He wet a cloth and dabbed it gently against my head. He was trying to be careful and still I winced.
“What did he hit you with?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
He nodded and carried on, focusing on the wound. His eyes were a bright blue, lighter than usual, and I realized it was rage that I was seeing.
When I was finally cleaned up, he ran his fingers through my hair. He leaned forward and kissed me on my forehead. Then he turned away.
He found two plates in one of the cabinets that he wiped clean on his pants. He cut the chicken with a hunting knife—I couldn’t figure out where he’d pulled it out from—and then he tore the loaf of bread into chunks.
“Not the most elegant supper, but it will do,” he said.
We ate in silence for a while, but then I frowned and looked up at him.
“Where were you?” I asked. “I tried to call yesterday…?”
He looked irritated, and he wiped his hands on his leathers, swallowing what was in his mouth.
“I went to Sherman’s place to get the backups of the tapes.”
It took me a moment to realize he was talking about Kenneth when he said Sherman, referring to him by his last name.
“I got stuck inside and then like some damn idiot I fell asleep under the bed where I was hiding.”
I covered a smile. Saxon, the badass biker, hid under a bed?
“When I saw my chance to get out, I tripped the fucking alarm and ended up in jail for the night. They confiscated my phone.”
I stared at him. This was the most unlikely relationship in the world.
“Are you up for theft now?” I asked. I knew I was supposed to feel different about the fact that Saxon had been in jail. I was supposed to be upset with him, disappointed in his kind of life, sure that I would never fit into it. Instead, it sounded interesting, and I didn’t see it as a problem, just a setback.
Saxon shook his head. “That’s the thing. They let me go without bail because Sherman didn’t press charges. He didn’t even declare the tapes as stolen; they booked it along with my other personal stuff.”
“That’s weird, why would he do that?”
“I didn’t know it then, but my guess is that he was already on his way with you and he didn’t want the cops more involved than they already were. He called the cops on me, but now that the fucker broke the law himself the cops needed to back off.”
I nodded slowly. When I’d needed Saxon’s help, driving the streets at midnight, he’d been locked up in jail. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before I took another bite. We ate for a moment in silence.
“What now?” I asked.
Saxon looked at me, his eyes suddenly the color of the ocean and drowning deep. He reached over the table and put his hand on mine, and warmth shot through my body. He didn’t have to add any words to it. His eyes said it all.
CHAPTER 31
I couldn’t stand it anymore. She’d been an emotional mess when I’d arrived, but she’d rebuilt herself as the evening dragged along until she was the person I’d seen the first time I’d hidden out in that diner. She still wore that goddamn diner dress, too. I should have gotten her something to wear, but I hadn’t thought about something like that. I was a man for god’s sake.
I looked up at her, lust burning through me. Her lips were so kissable, and I couldn’t hear what she was saying anymore. I took her hand, and she caught on to what I was feeling. And she didn’t back away. Her eyes flared, and I knew she was right there with me. Fuck the gang and all the rules about who and what you were supposed to invest yourself in. Tanya was here right now, and I intended to have her every way I wanted. She was my only investment right now. Oh yeah, I was going to invest myself real deep.
I pulled her closer to me, and she opened her legs and climbed onto my lap, straddling me. That dress of hers pulled up so high I could almost see her underwear. She arched her back, her tits pushing toward my face and her crotch pressed against mine. I was hard, straining against my pants, and I’d never been as irritated with clothes as I was right then.
She was the one who kissed me. Hard. Her lips mashed against mine, and she was the one who pushed her tongue into my mouth, looking for me and twirling around my tongue like she was desperate. And who was I to turn a dame down? I slid my hand down onto her breast and massaged it through the material. She moaned into my mouth, her hips doing a number on my cock, rubbing me through the material until I was about ready to pop.
I got up, carrying her like that, legs around me, to the bed. I laid her down and made work of her dress, undoing those damn little buttons. I yanked it away, and she lay in front of me in her lace bra and panties, with curves that rose and fell over her hips and into her small waist. Her breasts almost spilled over the edge of the bra. I climbed onto her, losing my leather jacket and my shirt in the process so that my skin could press against hers when my body came down on hers. My hand found her breast again, and I found her nipple, all hard and eager to meet me.
I rolled it between my thumb and forefinger, my tongue in her mouth, grinding my hips against her. Her breathing picked up, and when I broke the kiss, her cheeks were all flush, her pupils dilated, and her lips slightly parted.
“God, you’re so fucking sexy,” I said to her. She smiled a naughty smile, not the innocent blush she usually gave me.
I kissed her again, no more time for talk, and started working my way down her neck and onto her chest. I pulled the material of her bra out of the way, exposing her breast. Her nipple was dark and large, and I licked around it before taking it into my mouth. I sucked on her, feeling her skin against my lips, hearing her breath catch in her throat when I nibbled on it. Her hands were in my hair.
I stopped for just long enough to get her to unclip her bra and dropped it on the floor before I got back to business. I had one nipple in my mouth and the other breast in my hand. I rubbed her up good, making her moan. Her hips gyrated under me, and I knew she wanted sex badly, but I wasn’t done yet.
All in good time. All in good fucking time.
My mouth left her breast. I replaced it with my other hand before I started kissing down her chest and then her stomach. I licked a circle around her belly button before moving even further. A shudder traveled through her when I licked a line down the “V” that led from her hips bones into her panties.
With my fingers under the hem of her panties, I pulled them down and off, dropping them next to me. She lay in front of me, wet and glistening, legs open. Her body arched and curled on the bed. I held onto her hips and put my head between her legs, kissing her pussy. She shuddered again. I stuck out my tongue and started working on the small numb, hard and erect between her lips. She jerked when I did it and moaned again. I worked her with my tongue, paying attention to her moans and her breathing. It changed, picked up the pace, and I knew she that she was getting close to an orgasm.
I pushed one finger into her, and carried on licking, moving my finger slowly in and out.
&n
bsp; Her verbal response was enough to know that I was getting the right spot. She moved her hips up and down like she wanted to fuck my face, and I let her use the movement to push herself up against my tongue.
She shuddered, and then her insides clamped down on my finger, an orgasm rocking through her body. She contracted and released, contracted and released, and her hands reach down into my hair again, curling until she was almost pulling too hard.
I let her ride it out before pulling out my finger. Then I lollipopped her nice and slow, licking her pussy with a wide tongue all the way up. She shuddered in the aftermath. She opened her eyes and looked at me. Her eyes were large and glazed over.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
I crawled back over her and kissed her on the mouth. Then I lay down next to her and let my hands just roam over her body.
Filthy Ride: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Iron Bones MC) (Whiskey Bad Boys Book 3) Page 18