Runaway Ride: Alpha Bad Boy Biker and MC Romance Box Set

by A. L. Summers

  “As you can see, I’m a Cheetah.”

  She just shrugged her shoulders and said, “You don’t seem the type.”

  And Cole replied that he was beginning to think the same thing.

  ***

  That was the first of many conversations as Cole began to drop in regularly for coffee and breakfast and Brianne had learned that she liked this biker quite a lot. Cole became aware that whatever his new life would be after leaving the Cheetahs, he wanted her to be part of it. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell her, so the conversations remained friendly but, to that extent, superficial.

  At first Cole had found it difficult to dredge up from his past the body language and vocabulary suited to these conversations. But after awhile it seemed natural, and it began to seem unnatural to talk like a Cheetah when he was with them.

  It all would have been simple, except for one thing: when you joined the Cheetahs, it was for life. The only way you left it was in a body bag. There was a ceremony involving oaths of eternal loyalty and total obedience and it involved the exchange of blood. The penalties for disobedience were severe, ever more severe with Bud as President, and the penalty for desertion was death. Once you were a member, you knew too much to be allowed to leave. Cole knew that if Bud ever got to know what was in his mind, his new life would be still-born.

  He tried to act the same as he always had. He consorted with the Cheetah women as he always had. He took part in the drug dealing activities as he always had, but the fact was, his heart wasn’t in any of it—and it showed. He could see Bud looking at him, head tilted, eyes narrowed, showing he was wondering what was going on. He also noticed, or thought he did, that he was being selected for the more dangerous operations—either to test his loyalty, or possibly to remove him as an irritant. He had never mentioned Brianne or the café to the Cheetahs, but the amount of time he was spending off alone couldn’t be disguised.

  As a precaution, he almost stopped going to The Trolley, and was upset that Brianne noticed and wondered why. But he couldn’t tell her anything. He made plans and discarded them and made new ones. He knew he would have to run far if he was to survive, and didn’t underestimate the enormity of asking Brianne to throw over everything to go with him. It seemed so impossible that he was afraid to suggest it. In the conversations he had learned she had little family in Johannesburg, and few ties. She rented The Trolley and a flat, so could leave them behind, but still, it would be a huge break for her. So he dithered.

  But then one day realizing that he was being followed and watched, he knew he would have to make his move without delay. So he broached the question with Brianne.

  He tried to begin on a light note, and with a little laugh said, “What would you think of running off with me?”

  She just stared and shook her head. “Some kind of joke, huh?”

  “No, not really. I’d really like to know.”

  Brianne looked into his eyes and saw that there was no laughter in them, but fear instead. So she answered as gently as she could. “Cole, the thought has never entered my mind, and I won’t think of it. I hardly know you. “

  “But you like me, don’t you?”

  “Well, yes. I like you. But there’s a long road between liking someone and running off with them. Did you really think I’d say, ‘Yes?’”

  Cole sighed. “No damn it, I thought you’d refuse. But I hoped against hope that you might not.”

  “Is there some reason why you need to run away?”

  “Well, yes, there is.” And he told her about the Cheetah’s loyalty oath and the penalty for desertion. “If I leave the Cheetahs, they’ll kill me. They’ll hunt me down and kill me.”

  “And you thought I might just ‘go on the lam’ with you?”

  “Well, I hoped. The truth is, Brianne, that I’ve come to realize that I don’t want to live without you.”

  Brianne was too stunned to say anything for a long moment. What he was saying revealed feelings that he’d given her no hint of. She gave an exasperated little laugh. “Don’t you think it would’ve been better to kind of lead up to this gradually so I could think about it, maybe?”

  “Of course, but I was afraid of how you might react, so I kept putting it off. But now there isn’t much time left. They suspect something.”

  With the feeling that she was making a big mistake, Brianne didn’t just say, ‘‘No Way!” Instead she said, “Listen Cole, give me some time to think about it. My answer is most likely ‘no,’ but I’ll think about it.”

  Cole was a man who did what he wanted when he wanted, and what he wanted was to grab her across the table and kiss the life out of her. But he didn’t. He just took her hand and said, “Thanks, Brianne, you’re tops.” Then he fled.

  Brianne was awake most of the night thinking. It was a preposterous idea. But in a way, it seemed like a golden opportunity. She was lonely. There was no doubt about that. Running a café left very little time for socializing, and there was certainly no man she was serious about or was as attracted to as she was to Cole.

  The sight of his trim butt when he left the cafe always caused a stirring in her loins and made her realize that it had been a very long time since her womanly itches had been scratched. The truth was, she was more than a little bored or even fed up with her life. She didn’t like the thought of spending the rest of her life at The Trolley. Like Cole, she had a desire for a life with a mate and children.

  But a biker? He might be an unusual biker, but he was still a biker. She’d come to know quite a bit about him, but not nearly enough to prevent her going off with him from being an act of staggeringly blind faith. She knew he was doing things he had never told her about—things she didn’t want to think about. She knew as well that the gentle, sensitive side which he showed her was only one side of a complex personality. That he had been a biker for ten years spoke of a darker, more violent side to him. He’d admitted, after all, that he was a murderer. What would that mean for her?

  No, it was impossible. And she’d have to tell him so in the morning.

  Meanwhile, when Cole got back to the base, Bud called him into the office. When Cole arrived, Bud was sitting at his desk and didn’t invite him to sit down, so Cole knew he was in trouble. The look in Bud’s eyes held no warmth, but only cold malevolence. “I like you, Cole. We’ve been getting along well. You’ve been doing everything right. You’re a little peculiar sometimes, but we’ve learned to accept that. But I sense recent change in your attitude, and you’ve been doing things you shouldn’t ought’ve done.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “I think you do. The Cheetahs is like a big family, and we need to keep it that way. You’ve been straying, and we can’t have that.”

  “Shit, no, Bud, I’m loyal; just as loyal as I’ve always been.”

  “Maybe, but maybe not. You’ve developed outside connections. You’ve got an attractive Oreo who’s not one of us stashed away and haven’t mentioned her. That’s suspicious.”

  “Oh what the fuck, Bud. I just like her coffee and we chat. It doesn’t mean anything. There’s nothing suspicious in that.”

  “Maybe so, or maybe not. But I hope it’s true, because that will make it easier for you to give her up.”

  “Oh, shit. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill, Bud. It’s harmless, completely harmless.”

  Nevertheless, you’ll give her up or there will be consequences. And maybe not only for you. She’s a pretty little thing, I’m told. It would be a shame if she stopped being pretty.”

  “Okay, Bud, whatever you say. “

  Cole stumbled out of the office in a storm of rage and fear. The threat had been clear enough. He was already in danger and so was Brianne. He’d brought her into danger. And there was no way out. They had to go away together whether she liked it or not. If he left her behind, they’d use her to try to find out where he’d gone. It wouldn’t help if he didn’t tell her; in fact, it would be worse for her. They wouldn’t believe h
er and would use methods he didn’t want to think about to try to make her tell. No, she had to come with him whether he had to knock her out and carry her or not.

  He could buy some time by pretending to give her up, but he had to find some way of talking to her and persuading her. And he had to have a car. He couldn’t just throw her over the back of his Harley. There were lots of things to do, and it had to be done in secret. But he’d find a way.

  The next morning a couple of Cheetahs went to The Trolley. They were nothing like Cole. Brianne could see that, and was afraid. They were like Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, grossly fat with long, stringy hair hanging in greasy clusters to their shoulders. In full leathers in Cheetah colors—red and blue—they looked like Spiderman on steroids, encased from top to bottom in cycle gear. When they opened their visors, the look on their faces was sheer malevolence. She stepped behind the counter to be within reach of her gun.

  “What can I do for you guys?” she asked with a fair imitation of her usual smile.

  “We don’t want nothing but a little chat,” said Tweedle Dum.

  “Just a friendly little chat,” echoed Tweedle Dee.

  “Oh, okay. What about?”

  “We just want to warn you as friends should,” said Dum.

  “We want you to think of us as your friends,” said Dee, “being helpful.”

  “All right. But what’s it about?”

  “You’re living dangerously,”

  “And have got a dangerous friend.”

  “He’s not good for you.”

  “In fact, he’ll hurt you. That’s his nature.”

  “He’s one of us, so we know.”

  “We know all about him.”

  “Which you don’t.”

  “So take our advice and don’t have anything to do with him.”

  “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll tell him to fuck off.”

  “As soon as possible.”

  “Like right away.”

  And without another word, they left, leaving Brianne trembling. She hadn’t failed to understand them. They may have said that Cole was dangerous, but she was sure, at least she thought she was sure, that the real danger came from them instead. But as she had already decided not to go away with him, she really wasn’t in danger. The fear, however, didn’t leave.

  Later in the day, Cole decided that he had to risk seeing her openly once more. Trying to throw off his pursuers, he parked in the underground lot of a nearby shopping mall and stripped off his helmet and motorcycle jacket before making his way on foot to The Trolley. He got to The Trolley before it was open, but Brianne was there and greeted him with a great cry of relief: “I thought maybe you’d never come back!”

  “I probably shouldn’t have, but we have to talk. Somewhere where people can’t see us.”

  There wasn’t anywhere in The Trolley where they wouldn’t be in full view, so Brianne relocked the front door and pulled Cole out the back door to where was a spot where a pair of dumpsters blocked the view from the road. It wasn’t safe; somebody could come down the alley at any moment, but it would have to do.

  Having Brianne’s hand in his set Cole’s blood racing, and knowing it was probably a mistake, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her fiercely. Brianne wanted to push him off, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her blood was racing as fast as his. After a moment of rigid resistance, she melted into his arms. Her lips parted to admit his tongue. For a very long moment, nothing existed but each other; their bodies pressed together, hardness meeting and being welcomed by softness. Even breathing seemed superfluous, but eventually they had to come up for air, and Cole seized the opportunity without relaxing his hold on Brianne to gasp. “Listen, Bri, you’ve got to come with me. It isn’t safe for you to stay here.”

  Brianne told him of the bikers’ visit, but said, “If you leave me alone, they’ll leave me alone, surely.”

  “No they won’t. If I disappear, and I have to get away if I want to stay alive, they’ll try to find out from you where I’ve gone.”

  “But I won’t know.”

  “But they’ll think you’re lying and take measures to make you spit it out. I tell you, Brianne, they’re ruthless. They’ll use torture, and Bud, the leader, will enjoy watching. “

  Brianne pulled away. “How do I know you’re not exaggerating to force me to go away with you? It can’t be as bad as you say.”

  “Believe me, please, Brianne. They’ll do anything they have to do to find me. Bri, I know I’ve ruined your life. I didn’t want to or intend to, and I’m more sorry than I know how to say, but the only way I can make it up to you is to take care of you and help you to build a new and better life with me. Dammit, Bri, I love you. Please believe me. We have to leave here now, or we’ll both end up in a body bag.”

  Bri looked at him for a long moment, her head in a whirl. She couldn’t see in his face any hint that he was lying, and decided that he wasn’t. She figured she should hate him, but she couldn’t. The longer she said nothing, the greater was the desperation in his eyes. “Please, Bri. I beg you.”

  “All right.” Either she had just made the biggest mistake of her life or she had opened the door to a wonderful new one. She wasn’t sure which, but the die was cast, and her task now was to make it work.

  “Thank God!” Cole crushed her to him and put his lips over hers, and for them both the urgency of the danger receded under the urgency of their mutual need. If they hadn’t been standing in an open alley in the icy cold of a Jo’Burg winter, it would have been a long interlude. But as it was, Brianne came to her senses before anybody started fumbling with clothes and said, “What do we do?”

  Cole had thought it through, and when he had caught his breath, said, “Go about the rest of the day as normal and go home. Pack a couple of suitcases with whatever you can’t do without. Then, about midnight, I’ll come by and pick you up.”

  “On your bike?”

  “God, no! I’ll buy a car.”

  “What’ll I do if those two goons come back?”

  “I’ll be visibly around, and with luck, they won’t realize I’ve seen you, so won’t go into recovery mode. Do you have a passport?”

  “No, just an I.D. “

  “Well, we’ll have to stay in the country. My idea is that we should stay close anyway. They’ll expect us to have run as far as we could. We’ll drive to Pretoria and find a pad near the University in Hatfield where mixed couples are not uncommon so we won’t attract notice. Don’t contact your family.”

  “Maybe we could hole up at home in the Transkei where nobody’s going to give white bikers the time of day.”

  “Maybe. I might be able to get in touch with S’bu. We’ll talk about it, but first we have to go to ground close to home.” Pulling her close again, he kissed her cheek and whispered, “I’ll make this up to you, Bri. I give you my word.” Then without a backward glance, he strode down the alley, and with a quick reconnaissance around the corner, he disappeared.

  Brianne went back inside and opened as normal. Her mind wasn’t on what she was doing, and she made a couple of mistakes and wasn’t as chatty as normal, but only one customer, an elderly woman who was there almost every day, seemed to notice.” “Something wrong today?”

  “Oh, no. Just that time of month.”

  “Ugh! That’s a problem I don’t have, thank God.”

  “The blessing of old age.”

  “Yup. And there aren’t many.”

  Brianne made a list of the things she needed to take, and in a quiet moment went to an ATM and withdrew her daily limit. She supposed it might be some time before she could get any more. She rang her landlords to tell them she’d be away for a while so nobody would worry or start asking questions. Fortunately it was early in the month so she had several weeks before she had to decide whether to give both the flat and the café up, though she supposed they would have to. She wondered if the Cheetahs had a way of tracing cell phone calls, as she knew the police did. If t
hey did, it would make things much more difficult. But they’d cross that bridge when they came to it. When she had a moment to reflect, she realized was rather enjoying the challenge of the chase, even though the stakes were high. After all, if she’d not enjoyed taking risks, she never would have ventured to Jo’Burg on her own to run a café. And when she thought about what she would be leaving behind, there wasn’t a lot that she’d really regret. When, at the end of the day, she shut up and locked the café, she walked away without lingering or looking back.

  When Cole turned up at her flat at midnight, she hardly recognised him. He was dressed in chinos and a football jersey and had cut his hair and shaved his beard, which made him look much younger and more vulnerable. No stranger would identify him as a biker, and even the other Cheetahs might not identify him at first glance. He rushed her into the car. “I’m not sure I’ve got away clean and I’m pretty sure I was noticed buying a car, which would have put the wind up. Anyway, there’s no turning back now.”