Total pages in book: 13
Estimated words: 11879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 59(@200wpm)___ 48(@250wpm)___ 40(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 59(@200wpm)___ 48(@250wpm)___ 40(@300wpm)
So gone was my free-living, happy go lucky life. My boyfriend broke up with me and I pretty much lost touch with all my friends. But I was surviving… at least the best way I knew how.
I’ve had my head laid against Brick’s back and I finally lift it and look over his shoulder. We’re flying down the empty road, only us and the two other bikes in sight. It doesn’t seem long before we are pulling off onto a gravel road and driving into a facility where a number of bikes are parked outside. We get waved through the gate and as soon as Brick parks, he stands up and helps me off.
One of the bikers gets off his bike and helps the other. It’s obvious the other man doesn’t want the help, but he’s accepting it anyway, since he seems to be hurt pretty bad. “Brick, man, I’m going to grab my cage and take Rancher to the hospital.”
“Call Doc, have him come here,” Brick tells him.
“I’ve tried texting and calling him. No answer,” he responds.
He walks over to a car and helps the one they call Rancher into the passenger seat. “I’ll let you know,” he hollers to us before getting in and pulling out of the gravel lot.
I watch them leave and then turn to Brick to find him staring at me. “So, uh, where am I at and can you take me home?”
“You can’t go home… not until I know you’ll be safe.”
I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. I hate change and don’t handle it well. I should be more upset about all of this, but a part of me maybe feels better about the excitement of it all. I’ve spent every day this past year working and sleeping. “So where am I at?”
“The Exiled Guardians’ clubhouse. Or my second home.” His chest puffs out and I can hear the pride in his voice when he says it.
I wrap my arms around me, hugging myself. “So they were bikers… and you wouldn’t let me stay there. But you brought me to a whole clubhouse of bikers?”
“Princess, you didn’t beat one of us in the head with a baseball bat.”
I cringe at his words. He’s right; I did. I still don’t fully understand what made me jump in.
He’s looking at me as if he’s trying to understand me. I want to tell him, Good luck, I don’t even understand me half the time.
He cocks his head to the side. “You saved me back there. I owe you.”
His words should make me feel better, but they only put a pit in my stomach. I’ll admit it, at one time when I was on the back of his bike, I imagined that I was his girlfriend. The fact that he’s helping me because he owes me doesn’t really fit in with the dream I was having.
“I’ve taken care of myself for a long time, Brick. I’d like to go home… please.”
“No,” he answers immediately and starts walking toward the door of his clubhouse.
I grab his shoulder and pull him around to face me. “What do you mean, ‘no’? I want to go home. You’re not my keeper. You’re helping me because you feel like you owe me. Well, you don’t owe me anything. I expunge your debt to me. Anything that happens to me will not be on your head. So please, will you take me home?”
3
Brick
I see the frustration on her face and the way she’s all riled up has me thinking things that I’ve never thought before. I swear at one point, in the middle of the fucking bar fight, I was picturing her pregnant with my babies. And when she was on the back of my bike with her thighs gripping me, well, I wanted to pull over and take her right then. It’s like a punch to the stomach thinking about it. Especially with the life I live. I never thought I would want to settle down. But hell, in this moment with her, even though she’s a little pissed off at me right now, well, I can picture it in my mind and I want it. I want it bad.
I fist my hands at my sides. If I don’t, I’m going to touch her. And if I touch her, I’m afraid there’s no stopping me then. “I can’t take you back.”
Most people don’t question me. I say something and they agree. That’s not the case with her. “What do you mean you can’t take me back?”
I shake my head, and with nostrils flaring, I turn her until her back is pressed against the building. I can hear the steady thump of the party going on inside. There are bikers, my brothers, standing by their bikes talking not too far from us. But I tune all of that out. I press my body against hers and look down at her. How do I tell her I want her? How do I tell her it’s not just for one night, when that’s all I’ve ever known.