Bad Biker Stepbrother 3 (7 page)

“So then why don’t you head back home,” she asks, carefully removing her arm. “Damon and I broke up a few weeks after that picture was taken.” She nods her head towards his pocket where he had slipped the picture away. “I have no idea where he is now.”

Hank leans against the table and rubs his grizzled jaw. “You don’t say. You don’t look like a girl who doesn’t have a boyfriend. You look plenty...satisfied...if you know what you mean?”

His words are like a sledgehammer to her stomach. She wants to vomit at his tone...at the suggestions in his eyes, “Well, I am. My boyfriend is over at the bar. Damon and I are finished.”
Please let him believe this,
she adds silently.

He glances over at the crowd around Jake. “Yeah, I know how to read people honey, and he is definitely not your boyfriend.”

Mia moves around him, ignoring what he is saying, when his hand shoots out like a snake. It wraps around her bicep and he wrenches her against his body. He is rock solid, and she can feel his erection against her hip. Swallowing the disgust and horror, she says, “Take your hands off of me.”

“Come on,” he purrs, “I know you like the hands of a killer on you. That is how far back Damon and I go back. I know where some of his skeletons are buried...literally...hell, I even helped him bury a few of them. Why don’t you leave that little pussy and come be with a real man.” He rubs his bulge against her hip again and Mia blanches.

The words are gone from her mind and she can’t do anything but fight the bile rising in her throat. She shudders as a masculine voice filled with lethal anger says, “Take your fucking hands off of Mia.”

Damon! She turns slightly and two sapphire eyes come into focus. Jake is staring at them, his face a thundercloud of anger that is threatening to break. He rubs his fist, and Mia can tell that he is ready to beat the man to a pulp...the only problem is that Mia isn’t sure if he would succeed. This man was a killer...a hit man like Damon used to be.

What this means is crystal clear—he is here to kill Damon and maybe even kill her. “Jake,” she says, her voice trembling. “It’s okay. Hank is just an old friend of Damon’s who wants to connect with him.”

Hank drops her arm and Mia takes a step back as he holds up his hands, “Yeah, just an old friend. I’m in town on business,” he emphasises the remaining word, “and I lucked out seeing Mia in the bar. Just trying to catch up and see if I have time to see Damon before I hit the road again.”

Jake’s jaw tightens and the anger flares even hotter in his eyes. Mia isn’t sure how, but she is positive that Jake knows Hank is lying. “Well, Damon isn’t here, and he has never been here. And I know you shouldn’t be here. In fact, I don’t think you should ever come back.”

Hank looks Jake up and down assessing him. His eyes narrow and he nods, “I think I will have another beer.”

“Maybe you didn’t get my meaning. Either you leave on your own or you leave with the bouncers kicking you out. I would love to throw you out myself, but Tony has set rules for his bartenders.” Jake’s eyes are filled with challenge and he grabs Mia, placing her behind him as he waits for Hank to make his decision.

“Okay, okay,” Hank laughs. “No need to get angry. I was just trying to catch up with Mia...I guess I will have to catch up with her later.”

He stands up and with a smile says, “I will see you later, Mia.”

Jake’s hand shoots out and he throws Hank against the table. It wobbles on the stand and then crashes to the ground as Hank tries to get his balance. “You will not see her again,” Jake says and there is a finality in his voice that is deadly. “You so much as sniff around her and we’ll see just who will win in a fight. You may think your tough, Hank, but you can damn well bet I will be the one who walks away. You won’t.”

Hank looks up at him from where he landed; hatred clear in his eyes, “Fuck you man. You are going to pay for this shit.”

He pulls himself up just as the bouncers round the corner and grab him. They hoist him between them, but he pushes them away, “I’m leaving. No need to make this physical.”

Spearing Jake with another baleful glance, he turns towards the door and heads for it. When he exits, Jake grabs Mia and pulls her in for a hug. “What the fuck was that about, Mia? Who was that guy?”

Mia starts sobbing, the fear leaving her feeling defenceless. She cries into his shirt, regretting that this is the second time today she had been crying against him.
Where the hell is Damon?
she cries to herself. “Just some guy who used to know Damon. He wanted to know where he was.”

Jake looks toward the door again as Mia looks up at him. His expression is thoughtful, “Okay, you go and finish serving drinks for the night. I will do clean up.”

Mia nods and pulls away from her. When she is a few steps from him, he calls out. “You do not leave this bar without me. I will walk you to your car so that asshole doesn’t try anything in the parking lot. Do you understand me?”

Nodding, Mia heads back to the bar, ignoring the curious glances that Jake’s actions created, as she begins to fill the orders Jake had left when he helped her.

Chapter Seven

“Are you ready?” Jake asks and Mia gasps as he slides a black pistol out of his gym bag and checks the safety. When he’s done, he slides it into a holster set on his side and slips his leather jacket on.

Looking up, he smiles at her and says, “Don’t worry, I know how to handle a firearm.”

“How?”

“Five years in the Marines.” He shrugs his shoulders at the question in her eyes, “You never asked, and I don’t like to talk about it...Well, unless it can help me score.” He grins and Mia laughs. She can tell he is kidding about the last point. If he really did use it to score, she would have known he was in the Marines because he had scored a lot in the little time she’d known him.

“Do we really need the gun?” she asks.

“I doubt it, but I like to be prepared. I have a permit for a conceal and carry so that isn’t an issue. I think he is gone, but he may come back and try something.” He pauses and glances at her. “I don’t mind popping a cap in his ass if he does try something.”

He turns toward the door and looks out into the brightly lit parking lot. If there was one thing she could be grateful for, it was that her boss really made sure he had enough lights in his parking lot. It kept the bullshit to a minimum and the security, including the cameras and the bouncers, took care of the rest. “Yeah, ready.”

Pulling her keys out of her purse, Mia adjusts the strap on her shoulder so it is comfortable and walks out of the bar behind Jake. She could see the bouncers chatting with a few of the waitresses across the parking lot, but the rest of the lot is clear. Jake waves to the group and Mia does as well as they walk towards her car.

Jake scans the parking lot every few seconds and it feels like she is walking in a warzone. Who knows, maybe her life had become a warzone. When he gets to the car, he says, “Hit the remote, but don’t get in.”

Mia does what he asks and he manoeuvres around the car. He opens the back doors and peers inside before closing them and doing the same with the front seats. When he appears happy with it, he says, “Pop the trunk.”

Despite being on edge, Mia rolls her eyes, “Do you really think someone’s going to be in my trunk?”

Raising an eyebrow at her, Jake points to the trunk, “Open it.”

She jams her thumb on the trunk button and it pops open...inside is nothing but a spare tire and a road safety kit. Jake looks almost disappointed. “What did you expect to happen?”

Much to her surprise, he kneels down on the ground and starts searching under her car with careful deliberation. “Nothing really, but you can’t be too safe,” his words are somewhat muffled as he looks under her car.

 Standing up, he dusts off his knees and continues, “I teach female self defense classes on my weekends. Women aren’t aware enough. That is the first thing they need to learn before they learn anything. Attackers will hide in the backseat, even in the floor space on the passenger seat. You would think someone would see that, but when you become comfortable with your routines, you don’t notice things like that until it is too late. The same with the trunk. Your backseat has a leaver opening up the trunk to the rest of the car. Someone could wait in the trunk and climb out.”

Mia’s mouth opens in shock. She is learning so much about Jake tonight and it is a bit unnerving. Somehow, he was shifting from the harmless friend to a scary one. She was just glad he was on her side. “And under my car?” she asks.

He grins and there is a slight smile, “Old habits die hard. I was checking for an explosive, but I doubt some drunk from a bar would have an explosive handy or the know-how to secure it to a car.”

She felt the whoosh before she could hear it. “I don’t think he is that dangerous,” she says, but she feels sick as though her blood has rushed from her brain, “He’s just a harmless drunk that knows Damon,” she adds.

But he wasn’t. He was a dangerous killer who knew where they were. She needed to flee. Needed to get Damon and get the hell out of here. Pushing the panic aside, Mia says, “Well, thanks for going over my car and walking me to it. I should really get home.”

He nods, “Yeah, you do and go straight home.”

Mia climbs into her car and inserts the key. Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes as she turns the ignition. The car shudders to life, but no explosion ends her night on a bang. She sighs and then laughs. Jake was cute, but he was a lunatic. Explosives rigged to her car!

Pulling out of her spot, she waves at Jake as he climbs into his own car and then navigates out onto the nearly empty streets. Despite being a major city, there really isn’t a lot of traffic out. Glancing in the rear view mirror, she spots a set of headlights that seem to be following awfully close.

Panic races through her blood, turning it to ice. Is that car following me? She turns a corner and watches as the car comes around it behind her. Panicking, she weaves through the streets as the car follows her.

Oh my God! Is he following me or am I just being paranoid...

****

Mia sighs against the door as she feels it click behind her. It has been a terrifying hour and she still isn’t sure if the guy was following her. When she’d first spotted the headlights, she had made a few turns just to see if the car followed. After the fourth turn, it was clear that he was following her so she headed out towards the busier areas of the city where the after party clubs were in full swing.

The car had followed behind her and she had manoeuvred through the city streets for well over half an hour until she lost it. When she had, she had spent another half an hour avoiding her trip home to make sure that the headlights didn’t appear in her rear view mirror again.

She felt emotionally drained when she pulled into the garage of their beach house...and she felt a little silly. The guy probably wasn’t even following her. He was probably heading towards the afterhours clubs like everyone else.

Breathing in a deep sigh, she screams as Damon rounds the corner. “Where the fuck were you and why weren’t you answering my calls?”

He stops and takes in her white complexion and her large eyes. “What’s wrong? Did something happen? Tell me,” he races over and checks her over.

“I’m fine. I thought someone was following me from work, and I took the long way home to make sure I wasn’t.” She looks down at his chest as she talks so he can’t see that there is so much more.

The entire way home, she had thought about telling Damon what had happened. Telling him about Hank, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Jake had handled Hank, she was sure of it, so there was no reason to worry Damon. Plus, she had decided to give up her job once she found a teaching job or something closer to her field.

But until then, she didn’t want to quit her job. It may take a month to find something new and she just couldn’t give up that part of her day where she wasn’t staring at the wall going crazy.

The silence stretches between them and after a few minutes, Mia chances a glance up at him. His eyes are filled with anger and his jaw is tight. “Why would you think someone was following you?” he asks and his voice is deadly quiet.

Trying to think of some reasonable explanation, she says, “Because some guy was a little grabby tonight. He was bounced out of the club, and I guess I was still on edge from the night. When I spotted headlights in my rear-view mirror, I just sort of panicked.”

She breaks free of his hold and walks around him to the kitchen. Pouring herself a glass of water, she takes a long swallow as Damon stalks into the room. “Why the hell did you walk away?” he yells.

“Because I know just where this is going. You already hate that I’m working at the bar and knowing some drunk tried to make a pass at me will only set you off again. I am so tired of fighting with you about all of this.”

“And what do you want?” he growls. “Do you like having drunk guys make a pass at you? Because I sure as hell don’t want that and what if they do more and force you...rape you. That is what I am worried about.”

Mia shakes her head, her shoulders slumping at his words. There were things so much worse than what Damon was thinking...there was the men from his past that could come and take Damon away from her. She wasn’t the one in danger, he was.

“Damon,” she says, tears brimming her eyes, “I don’t want to fight but I will fight you on this. I have changed my life completely for you. My mother barely talks to me, I am finishing school online instead of on campus. I left my job, my school, and my apartment to be with you. I have given enough and for once, you need to be the one who gives.”

Pacing in the small space, she turns and looks at him. “I want this job because I like the people. They are all really nice. I don’t want to be sitting around the house every day going out of my skull from boredom.”

The tears are streaming down her face, but she doesn’t swipe them away. Instead, she lets them fall as she stares at Damon...the anger is still clear in his eyes and she is positive her words are falling on deaf ears, “I want to have friends and as much as I love you, you can’t be the only person in my life. I need more than just you.”