After the Ride (Night Riders Motorcycle Club Book 2) (5 page)

Wayne appeared intrigued by the possibility, and Paul held his ground as Wayne brought the blade to his cheek.

“And which hills are you fuckers heading to?” Wayne challenged.

“Underground,” Paul said. “Deep and dark. Think about that, Wayne. No more rivals. Everything just yours for the taking. Doesn’t that beat more blood?”

What the hell is he—?

“That it?” Wayne asked.

Paul nodded under the blade. Wayne stepped away from him and pushed the knife back into his pocket. He stared down at Blake and suddenly grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

“And what about you, stud?” Wayne asked. “You down with giving this corner up so for this cunt?”

Lauren held her breath as Blake looked at her. She searched his face for some sign that he was in on Paul’s plan or at least understood it. But his eyes remained blank as his lips parted.

“If it’s what the boss wants,” he said.

Not the answer that she was hoping for.

Wayne let him go, and paced between the clubs as he toyed with the blade in his hand. Lauren wished that he would stumble, slip, somehow slice his own neck wide. But he just pushed the knife back into his pocket and folded his leather-clad arms across his chest.

“How soon can you ladies clear out?” Wayne asked.

Paul started to speak when Nate charged forward with flailing fists, his blows meant for Blake.

“No fucking way!” he bellowed. “You just gonna let them off with a pass? How the hell can—”

“Cool it, Nate!” Wayne glared at him.

“But—”

“I don’t like to repeat myself, boy.” Wayne said. “You want your brother’s death to count for something? You want to be more than this pussy ass fucker that gives up his turf for a wet slit?”

Nate started to speak again when Wayne backhanded him. Lauren had to smile at the sight of him crumbling him to the ground, but when her eyes met Blake’s, there was only rage in his stare.

He’s not down with this. What am I missing?

“Well?” Wayne asked again.

Nate seethed, and he looked to Eric. Lauren saw the bald man fuming as his best laid plans appeared to fall to under his sweaty hands.

“You saw it go down,” Nate said. “You think this is right?”

Eric started to speak when Wayne laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Careful, Shaller,” he said. “If we turn you out, you ain’t getting too far with these pussies.”

Eric looked at Lauren, and she felt as if she was stripped to the skin under his leer. He looked as he had at the auction, but Lauren stood taller as she met his cold gaze.

“Answer him,” she hissed.

He looked ready to strike her. Lauren instinctively closed her eyes and readied her skin for the impending blow when she felt Eric fall back, and she heard a furious sigh pass through his lips.

“It… it ain’t right,” Eric started.

Lauren cringed when his fingers met her face. His touch ran down her neck, but she didn’t flinch even as she could hear Blake groaning in frustration just a few feet away. She stared Eric down, and when he wilted, she couldn’t suppress a smile. Eric saw her grin, and she sensed that he thought about hitting her when he held back and turned to Nate.

“But… but Wayne makes sense,” he said.

“What the fuck are you—”

Eric held Nate back, and Lauren strained to hear the whisper that poured into his ear.

“Better revenge in the long run,” Eric said. “We’ll find other ways to make them pay.”

Nate seemed to relax in Eric’s hold, and his head shifted into a reluctant nod.

“Good!” Wayne said. “Ain’t it grand when all the pieces come together?”

The Demon Dogs laughed, but Lauren relaxed when Blake grabbed her wrist and pushed her body behind his. She settled into his tight flesh, but Blake’s arms were cold as Wayne turned to Paul and asked. “So we’re square, Paulie?”

Paul nodded slowly, and Wayne bent down. Grabbing his rival’s gun, Wayne was on the verge of handing it back when he kept it close to his thigh and smirked.

“Twenty-four hours,” he said. “Fuck it up, and we’re back to Plan A.”

As soon as he got his gun back in his hands, Paul nodded and signaled for his crew to follow him. Lauren found Blake’s eyes for a second, but he just pulled her from the darkness, his eyes only on the way out.

“Blake?” she dared to ask as soon as soon as the night air hit her body, and Blake brought her back to his bike.

“Why did you run off?” he asked. “I told you to stay—”

“I… I wanted to know—”

“Well now you know,” he said.

Blake lifted her in his arms and placed her on the back of his bike. He mounted fast, and Lauren dared to press her palms to his scars.

Gonna give you a matching set.

Lauren trembled at the thought of how close she had come to the lash, and she pressed her cheek to his battered back and curled her arms around his waist.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “But thank you. Thank you for coming for me.”

Blake revved up his bike, and he turned his head over his shoulder. The moonlight hit his face, and Lauren longed to kiss his lips when he turned away from her and hit the pedal.

“What else was I supposed to do?”

His eyes left hers, and his body felt cold. Lauren still clung to him as they raced across the sands, and she wondered what he meant and where they were going.

Twenty-four hours.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Blake didn’t speak. He didn’t look back at her. His body didn’t even curl into her touch. Sitting on the back of his bike, Lauren dared to bring her lips close to his ear, and she whispered lightly.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But you looked scared when you left.”

“Your eyes must have been playing tricks on you,” Blake said. “I don’t do scared.”

“I…”

Lauren started to tell him that she knew what she saw when she was on the hook, when their bodies were pressed to the floor and the belt was about to tear into her skin. But she bit back these words as she kept her arms around his taut waist.

“I only wanted to help you,” she said. “That’s why I listened in.”

Blake’s shoulders shifted, and she expected his eyes, but he kept his gaze fixed on the way ahead.

“We had it under control, Lauren,” he said. “And you shouldn’t have been so…”

Her body braced for the insult, but Blake held his tongue and just kept riding.

“So what?” she challenged. “What were you going to say?”

He slowed the motor, and as the bike idled under their bodies, he twisted his head ever so slightly, his eyes on the rubber, the sand.

Everywhere and anywhere but her face.

“It was a dumb thing to do,” he muttered. “You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“I know,” she said, her hands gently pressing into his disfigured back. She trembled at the thought that Nate could have followed through on his promise.

Gonna give you a matching set.
.

“I—”

“So why do it?” he snapped, his fist pounding into his hard thigh as he kicked the toe of his boot into the ground. “Why didn’t you think? Why couldn’t you listen?”

“I said that I—”

“That doesn’t change anything,” he said.

Turning the key in the ignition, Blake left the bike and stepped away from her side. As she watched him move across the sand, Lauren saw his back tensing with each step. Paul and the others kept riding towards the horizon, and she hopped off the bike and hurried to Blake’s side.

“I get it,” she said as soon as she caught up with him and managed to grab hold of his arm. “And now you’re… you’re giving so much up for me.”

Blake spun around to face her, and Lauren bit down on her lip when she saw a small smirk cross his face.

“You have no idea,” he said.

“But I do,” she ventured as she tried to caress his face. Blake flinched under her touch and waved his hands in the air.

“Not by a fucking long shot,” he said.

Reaching into his pocket, he lit a cigarette and took a slow drag.

“What do you mean?” she asked as the smoke stung her eyes. Lauren trembled where she stood, but she stayed in his eyes as she waited for him to speak.

“The decision was made before your little adventure,” he said. “Maybe if you’d stuck to eavesdropping, you would have known that.”

He pointed a sharp finger towards the bruise crossing her cheek. Leaning into his hand, Lauren sensed him wanting to cradle her discolored flesh, but he suddenly pulled back and sucked on his smoke again.

“But I guess there’s just no stopping you,” he said.

“I… you said that my family was looking for me,” she started. “Said there might be trouble.”

“Yeah?” he asked. “How do you feel about that?”

Lauren’s mind twisted with a million emotions, and when she was slow to speak, he snapped his fingers in her face and demanded her total attention.

“Answer the question.” he demanded. “What did you think you were doing? Thought you might meet some rescue party half way? Don’t lie to me.”

He started back towards his bike when Lauren grabbed him again, her nails grinding into his arm.

“Wait!” she screamed.

Blake kept moving, and Lauren’s feet made tracks in the sand as she held on tight and trailed after him.

“What did I lie about?” she said. “When did I—?”

“When you said you wanted more.” he flicked his smoldering smoke at her feet and took hold of her arms. Blake pressed her closer to his chest. The nearness of his hard skin and the smell of the desert wafting off his body brought a sigh from her lips. But Lauren kept her eyes wide as she peered intently into his face.

“Asking me to fuck you,” he hissed. “Practically begging for it. You even wanted to know if I’d had the same thing with someone else. What was that about?”

Lauren rested her fingers to his chest and slowly hung her head.

“It wasn’t a lie,” she confessed. “I did want more.”

“Then why not go back to bed and just wait,” he said. “Why couldn’t you do as you were told?”

“I—”

He pushed her away, his eyes blazing as he clenched his fists. “What is this to you? Playing like you’re my old lady so you can have a story to tell? Won’t all your little friends be jealous?”

Lauren started to reach for him again when she suddenly held back and scoffed.

“I didn’t ask for this, okay?! Those creeps kidnapped me! And you.” Her finger stabbed at him. “You bought me like a pack of cigarettes. I didn’t ask for any of this to happen!”

Blake grabbed her again, and Lauren gasped when his mouth was close enough to kiss.

“I get that,” he said. “But you sure put up a good show. Let’s see if you can manage an encore.”

He crushed his lips around hers. Lauren’s first instinct was to push away from him, but as his tongue mingled with hers, she wilted and sank into his kiss. Blake’s arms surrounded her waist, and he pulled her closer. Lifting her hands to his face, she intensified her pursuit, her arms clinging to his neck. Blake moaned as he left his mouth, and she felt her face and her cunt on fire as she stared into his eyes.

“Not bad,” he said.

His finger traced the line of her mouth, and he let out a light laugh.

“So how about you just stay the course and be what I need you to be?”

Any and all tenderness fell away from her heart.

“And I’m the liar?” she challenged.

“From where I stand.”

“I thought you wanted to keep me safe,” she said. “Would you have said that if you didn’t… if you didn’t care?”

Blake’s eyes clouded over, and a small part of her hoped that he would admit what he felt, what she felt when he was in her arms and they were alone in the darkness.

“I care,” he said. “I care about my possessions.”

Rage clawed its way up her throat. Lauren wanted to rail into him, to scream her fury into the sky and let it rain down to the core of his soul. But her tongue tied in her throat. Unable to speak, her palm tensed, and she slapped her hand across his surprised face.

“Hey!” he drew back and grabbed his cheek. “What do you—?”

“So that’s all I am to you,” she said. “One of your toys?”

Lauren thought she saw a look that passed for pain pouring through his eyes. Was he lying now? Or was the lie lumping her in with his other trinkets and pretending that she barely counted for as much as that?

“We’ll talk about this when we get back,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Blake tried to grab her arm, but Lauren shied away from his touch.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said.

“You sure as hell—”

“Don’t touch me!”

Lauren wriggled in his hold, but Blake’s grip was more than she could fight. As he dragged her back to the bike, she kicked and spit and tried to break free. Bringing her nails to his face, she scratched his skin. Blake winced and groaned, but he held her fast until a set of headlights and a roaring motor started towards them.

“Get behind me,” he ordered.

“What’s going—” The rest of her words were choked out as he closed his hand around her mouth.

Drawing his gun, Blake aimed at the approaching driver, and Lauren’s breath accelerated as she feared Eric or Nate or one of the other Demon Dogs having a change of heart. Of course they would choose this moment, when it was just the two of them, to renegotiate the impromptu contract and take her for their own.

And if Lauren had to be a toy, she’d rather stay at Blake’s than fall back into that nightmare.

“What the hell are you two waiting for?”

Paul’s familiar form rode into view. Blake sighed as he lowered his gun, and Lauren relaxed behind him.

“Sorry, man,” Blake said as he concealed his weapon in his pants. “Didn’t know it was you.”

Paul dismounted, and he cocked his head to the side as he looked at Blake’s face.

“What happened there?” Paul asked. “Someone get a little rough?”

Even in the moonlight, Lauren could see Blake’s cheeks turn scarlet. Satisfied that she had gotten one over on him, she was ready for him to point the finger in the direction of her shaking hands when Blake simply shrugged and barely looked at her over his shoulder.

“She’s a little rattled.” Blake said. “Been that kind of night.”

Surprised by and thankful for his lie, Lauren nodded at Paul.

“Sure that’s all it is?” Paul’s stare was only for her, and Lauren bowed her head and spoke softly.

“Just like he said.”

That was a lie, but it came quite easily, and Lauren took note of the slight sneer in Blake’s eyes as he glanced at her over her shoulder.

“You don’t believe her?” Blake asked Paul as he kept his eyes on Lauren. “Only a fool would doubt those lips.”

A small feeling of shame washed across her heart, but Lauren stayed silent as Paul revved up his motor.

“Let’s say you two take this little reunion back to camp,” Paul ordered. “We got things to do.”

“I got you,” Blake said. “We’re coming.”

Paul watched them closely as Blake lifted Lauren to the back of his bike. Mounting ahead of her, he shot her a quick glance and a whisper.

“Just cool it,” he cautioned. “Last thing we need tonight is another scene. Think you can lie a little longer?”

His words pierced her heart, but where was she going to go? Run into the desert with two Night Riders on her back when the Demon Dogs might be lying in wait? She nodded her head and reluctantly pressed her hands to his hard shoulders.

“I can if you can,” she said.

Blake started his bike, and they followed Paul into the darkness.