BULL: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 6) (75 page)

2.

As the night rolled into dawn, Courtney opened her eyes and looked out at the road passing by her. She had gotten on the last bus and they were now well inside Nevada. She stretched and yawned. The light was gray and pink in the distance and the desert hills looked gold. It seemed wild and untamed compared to her hometown but she didn’t care. She could have ended up anywhere; as long as she was away from Mark and he didn’t have a clue where she was, she’d be happy.

She opened a bottle of water and took a sip. Her throat was dry and scratchy with the stale, warm air. The bus was almost empty, but it still felt stifling. She sunk down in her seat and closed her eyes again.

Not long now
, she thought.
I’ll be there soon
. 

There was no way she ever could have gone to a city. There was one thing Courtney had learned in life and that was, no matter where you go, you always see someone you know. She would have loved to go and twirl it in Vegas. Even though she’d never been overly confident, she could imagine herself working in a club for curvaceous girls. Men always seemed drawn to her. She had a gentle way of seducing them with her big, blue doe eyes and her silky, hourglass figure. Her hair was big, bouncy and blonde and she had regularly been compared to classic beauties like Marilyn Monroe. It was one of her fantasies: Disappearing to a new city and unleashing her inner goddess and abusing men by taking their money while they gawked at her. But she knew it would never happen. She was far too classy for something like that, and even though she knew she had it in her to do it, she was never going to give in.

She had pretty much just opened a map on a random page and dropped her finger. It was a small slip of a town in the middle of the desert, but she was going to make it hers. When the bus finally pulled into the station and she climbed off not long after the sun had fully rose, she stretched it out again and looked up at the sky. No stars were present at that time of the day, but it was reassuring to know she was still under it. In the grand scheme of things, not that much had changed.

She slumped down on a bench and put her feet up for a moment. She hadn’t been able to get comfortable on the small bus seats, and she was desperate to relax.  There was little chance of that, though. Trucks buzzed past her and she knew she had to get up off her ass and try to catch a ride. It was 8 AM, and the desert was alive. In the distance she could see the Greyhound making its way down the long black road. The heat was already rising from it and the world wiggled. She rubbed her eyes and got to her feet.

The cars looked like ants snaking their way out into the desert in the distance. As she undid an extra button on her blouse and applied some ruby red lipstick, she suddenly felt so liberated she barely recognized herself. She was anonymous there and it felt amazing.

As she expected, it didn’t take long for a truck to slow. The guy leaned across and opened the door for her.

“How’s it going?” she said as she pulled herself up and threw her bag across the seat.

“Where to?” he asked, as if he were a cab driver.

“Well, I’m heading to Spring Point. That’s in this direction, right?”

“Sure is,” he clicked his teeth. “Just so happens, I’m passing through.”

“Great,” Courtney smiled.

The man was haggard and missing a tooth, but she didn’t mind. She had pepper spray in her bag and she wasn’t afraid to use it.

“Where you from?” he asked as he pulled back onto the road.

“San Diego,” Courtney lied and pulled her shades off her head and slipped them over her eyes. As if somehow this hid the truth.

“You got family in Spring Point?” he asked, looking across at her.

“No,” she said, staring straight ahead.

“Not the sort of place you just randomly move to… What’s there?”

Courtney shrugged.

“Listen,” he said as he lit up a cigarette and offered one to her. “If you need a job or looking for a place to stay out there, head over to The Buckhorn.”

“What?” Courtney shook her head, declining the smoke.

“It’s a biker bar, got some rooms upstairs…” he said. “People don’t tend to stay long around there, but the guys that run it will put you up if you need somewhere to go.”              

The man wasn’t as dumb as he looked. Courtney looked at him and smiled.

“Thanks,” she said, “I’ll do just that.”

“Tell them Tommy sent you,” he said, and then he turned up the radio so loud there wouldn’t be any more conversation.

“Thanks, Tommy,” she called over it and patted him on the shoulder.

She’d hadn’t even been a runaway for twenty-four hours and she was already an expert at hitchhiking and making friends. The world was her oyster.

3.

The Buckhorn was as small of a town as it sounded. When Tommy pulled over to let her out, they shook hands and she slid down onto the dusty asphalt with a headful of names he’d given her that she was trying to remember.

“Remember to ask for Brogan,” he called after her as she slammed the door to the cab closed and leaned over and tipped his hat. “He’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”

Courtney smiled and nodded as she turned and stared at the building in front of her. It was right on the outskirts of the small town with the highway running up alongside it. Even though it was set back from the road, the noise was still intense and the first thing she noticed was the maze of tire tracks that were cut into the desert sand in front of her.

She scanned around and sighed. It was only 9 AM and there wasn’t a person in sight. She wandered forward and climbed the wooden steps and sat down under the awning.

I could have a very long wait
, she thought to herself.
May as well get comfortable.

She leaned back against a post and pulled her water bottle out of her bag. Even though it was early, the sun was already blasting down and she could feel her hair sticking to the back of her neck. She pulled her shades down over her eyes and closed them.

“If it wasn’t so hot,” she told herself out loud, “I’d make the walk into the town and get some breakfast.”

“You’d have a long walk,” said a voice from behind her. Courtney jumped up and span around.

“Jesus,” she shrieked, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Can I help you, Miss?”

The voice belonged to a man who was stood in the entrance to the bar. He was heavyset and had a long beard that looked wiry and knotted. Courtney found herself staring and couldn’t look away. She wondered if he had food stuck in it.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I thought you were closed.”

“We never close,” he said. He stepped back and held the door open, welcoming her inside.

Courtney slowly got to her feet and stepped forward. She glanced behind her to see if there were signs of anyone else close by, but apart from the cars and trucks passing without giving The Buckhorn a second thought, she was on her own out there.

“Well?” he raised an eyebrow.

She wasn’t really in a position to turn down offers of help, so she picked up her bag and followed him inside.

The first thing that hit her was the thick cloud of smoke that hung in the air like a veil. She winced and coughed as she walked through it and it stung her eyes. The man walked up to the long wooden bar and went behind it where he had a beer waiting. He swigged it and held one out for her.

Courtney climbed onto a stool and sat opposite him. It was quiet in there and she couldn’t see any other customers, but somewhere in the building she could hear the dull chatter of voices and the guffawing of men. It was dark considering the sun was blazing outside, and she looked around at the wood paneled walls and the random objects that were tacked to them. Bike wheels and flags were mixed in with neon and black-and-white photographs.

“I want to talk to Brogan,” she said as she swigged the beer. It was ice cool, and even though it was far too early to be drinking, she really didn’t care.

“Oh yeah?” the man said, amused. “And who are you?”

“I’m Courtney,” she said. “I’m just passing through.”

“Where you from?”

“Tucson.”

“And who sent you?”

“No one,” she said. “The guy who gave me a lift from the bus station just recommended it here.”

He seemed to relax and leaned in closer to her.              

“And who would that be?” he asked.

“Tommy,” Courtney said as she took another swig. “Said you’d have rooms and to ask for Brogan.”

A smile crept across his face and he lit a cigarette.

“Well, it’s your lucky day,” he said as he raised his hands in the air, “Brogan, at your service.”

Courtney nodded and held her beer out. They clinked them together and she heard the thudding of boots coming down a hallway towards them.

A man came inside, clad in a leather vest with his big tattooed arms bulging out of either side. He was wearing low, ripped jeans and his hair fell softly around his eyes. He had broad shoulders and a chiseled jaw, and she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Courtney turned to look at him properly and realized instantly that he must be a biker. He wore skull rings and carried a black helmet. He reached down to the back of a chair and picked up a leather jacket and pulled it onto his shoulders. He was handsome in a rugged way and Courtney felt herself blushing. His eyes were dark and intense but they were pulling her in. She combed her hair behind her ear with her fingertips and smiled. He moved forward and she caught the scent coming off him, stale smoke, booze and the most delicious cologne she had ever smelled.

“Who’s this?” he asked, looking at her. His voice was deep and gruff and it made her sex pulse.

“This is Courtney,” Brogan said. “She’s just passing through.”

He looked her up and down slowly before reaching out and swiping a discarded glass from the side and downing the remnants of brown liquid that lingered in the bottom. Courtney couldn’t stop staring at his hands. They were so big and masculine, the only thing she could think about was having them all over her. Her heart started to race and she quickly had to look away.

“I’m on first run,” he said to Brogan. “Should be back around dusk,” he paused and looked at Courtney again with a wry smile on his lips. “Catch you later.”

He walked out of the door backwards and winked at Courtney as he went. She took another sip of her drink and exhaled. Her heart was still pounding and she could feel the fire in her cheeks.

“So,” Brogan said, “You want a room or not?”

“Please.”

“Fifty a night, unless you’re willing to work down here and then I’ll charge you less and take it out of your wages.”

A no-brainer really. She smiled at him and held out her hand.

“Deal.”

“Well, Miss C, your room is on the first floor. Number three, it’s unlocked.”

He pointed behind the bar to a small set of stairs that she could just make out from where she was sitting.

“It’s nothing fancy,” he laughed, “But it’s the best we’ve got here.”

“I’m grateful for anything,” she said, “And I’ll be gone as soon as I can.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Brogan said, “You’ll never leave here now.”

She looked at him. “What?”

“Not now Dylan’s got his eye on you…” he teased.

“What? Dylan?” she looked around confused.

“Don’t play dumb,” Brogan laughed, “I saw the way you looked at him the second he walked in.”

She felt her cheeks blush again as she looked down at the floor.
Dylan
, she thought,
the name has a nice ring to it
.

4.

Mark’s clammy hands were wrapped tightly around her neck and he was squeezing so hard she couldn’t breathe. As he crushed her wind pipe, she felt her eyes bulge and her life quickly flashed before her eyes. She saw her parents on her graduation and her first boyfriend who she dumped after prom. The only thought pulsing through her was that she had never settled down or married. She’d never had children. She looked into Mark’s eyes as he delivered the final surge of strength that would finish her off, and as he choked her in those final seconds, he spat at her, “
I told you I’d get you
.”

She snapped awake in a cold sweat, her chest heaving with exertion as her heart tried to slow. She ran her hand over her forehead and wiped it dry. As she swung her legs over the side of the bed in her little room and stood up and stretched, she realized she could hear the thud of music coming from downstairs in the bar.

They literally never went to sleep.

Ever.

Brogan hadn’t been lying when he said they were always open. The men came and went throughout the night. Some of them stayed there like she did, but most of them were just avoiding going home… And there was always some deal being made.

In the week she had been there, Courtney had avoided them all. She had run away from one criminal and now feared she was in the company of many others. But there was something about the Buckhorn Riders that made her feel secure. She was cocooned up there amongst them all and she knew that if Mark ever came looking for her, he’d have to get past them first.

Since her first day there when Dylan had walked in and lit something inside of her that she hadn’t felt for a long time, she had been too shy to talk to him properly. He was always around first thing in the morning, and he had only been into the bar once on a night when she had been working. She’d enjoyed it all so far, and even though she had never worked a place like that in her life, she seemed a natural at it and was fitting in just fine.

The night he had come in he sat at the back of the room cradling a whisky and stared at her all evening. A word hadn’t been spoken between them but she could feel his eyes on her with every move she made. He kept his head low as he smoked a cigarette and the smoke curled up around his nostrils and through his dirty blonde hair. The air was stifling in there but he still wore his heavy leathers, and at one point when she turned around, he was just fixated on her, smiling. His presence was intoxicating. She hadn’t properly spoken to him since the first time she had walked into The Buckhorn, but she felt like she knew him intimately, just from the way he watched her and seemed to stare into her soul.

***

In the bathroom attached to her bedroom, she ran the tap and splashed water on her face. It was 4 AM and the heat was intense. She’d found a fan in the cellar and convinced Brogan to let her have it up there, even though it could probably cause a fire with its faulty electrics, but she promised to only use it when she was in the room. She turned it on and stood in front of it. She twisted her long blonde hair into her hand and held it off the back of her neck and as she cooled down and the light air hit her dewy skin, she imaged that it was Dylan’s hands touching her.

She sat back down on the bed and reached into her purse. She pulled out her wallet and opened it up. Inside there was a photograph of her with her parents on her graduation day. They all looked so happy and carefree. She cast her mind back to how proud they had been of her and she felt instantly guilty at having left them without a word. She knew she was doing it for their safety and so that they wouldn’t have any information regarding her whereabouts, but she was still devastated to leave her only family behind.

Mark was haunting her. She had to push him to the back of her mind. She had to forget and move on. She was in Nevada now. She was hundreds of miles away from him and he didn’t have a clue that she was there. As the sun rose over the desert, she lay wide awake and listened to the gang of men in the rooms below her, drinking, swearing, fighting and fucking. There were always women who came and went and loitered around on the dusty road outside. They were like groupies. They draped themselves over the bikes and wore the tiniest outfits imaginable. Courtney had watched them and wished she could have their confidence. They were all stick thin and bags of bones and none of them looked healthy or classy, but all of the bikers went there. Just because they could and it was easy.

All of them except Dylan. 

His hungry eyes watched her always and she knew that it wouldn’t be long before he made a move. She felt a twinge between her legs just thinking about it. She hadn’t been with a man for so long. The anticipation was almost too much to bear, but she was willing to wait.