Read The Bad Boys of Eden Online
Authors: Avery Aster,Opal Carew,Mari Carr,Cathryn Fox,Eliza Gayle,Steena Holmes,Adriana Hunter,Roni Loren,Sharon Page,Daire St. Denis
Opal Carew
While running from her stalker ex-boyfriend, Marissa is rescued by a passing stranger on a motorcycle. Will her knight in supple leather be her saviour or has her dream vacation turned into a nightmare?
Copyright 2015 Opal Carew
Table of Contents
Rip sat at the tall bar table with Raven and Shock listening to Wild Card’s latest adventure when he felt someone jab his shoulder. His gaze shot around to a man, slightly swaying, standing behind him in the crowded bar.
“Fuck, it is you.” The guy’s nostrils flared. “You are a fucking asshole, you know that?” His words were slurred, and he was clearly inebriated.
Rip stood up. With his six five frame and broad shoulders he knew he made an intimidating figure. That along with his tattooed arms and black leather vest made most men cringe. He added a fierce scowl, hoping the whole picture would make the guy back off.
His antagonist’s gaze followed Rip’s face upward as he stood¸ and he seemed a little dumbfounded.
A woman clutched at the guy’s arm and tried to pull him back. “Come on, Riley. Just leave it alone.”
But the guy frowned and shook his head, then pulled up his shoulders. “No, I can’t just let him get away with it.”
“Please, Riley.” The woman tugged harder. “He’s a criminal,” she murmured under her breath, clearly hoping Rip wouldn’t hear her words. “You’ll get yourself killed.”
“I don’t care.” He glared at Rip. “You ruined her life.”
“Who?” Rip asked, a knot forming in his stomach.
The guy’s fists clenched at his side. “Marissa. You bastard. You don’t even remember her name, or have you destroyed so many women you just can’t remember?”
The woman pulled on his arm as she gazed at Rip in appeal, then shifted her focus to Raven, who sat on the stool beside him at the bar. “Please, he’s had too much to drink.” She shook her head. “Please don’t hurt him.”
The look of fear in her eyes shook Rip. He’d seen that look all too many times. It was one of the things he’d hated about being undercover as a one percenter. The gang he’d belonged to had been cruel and dangerous. Every time he saw that look, it ate at his soul.
He could feel Raven’s gaze on him from across the bar table. Raven, the woman of his dreams, who had just started riding with him a few weeks ago. Her real name was Hayley, but they’d given her the ride name Raven because of her glossy black hair.
What was she thinking? She was an accountant-turned-biker-chick. She’d had a wild time with him when they’d met at a wedding last month, but things had clicked and a one-night-stand had turned into a relationship Rip would do anything to make last.
But was she ready for this? Was she now thinking she had made a mistake?
Raven stood up and walked to the woman. In her tight jeans with the form-fitting black T-shirt with glittering skulls, she still managed to look classy, yet bad-ass and sexy all at the same time. The expression she turned on the woman was sympathetic.
“Why don’t we just take him outside?” Raven asked the woman.
The woman nodded thankfully, then Raven placed her hand on the guy’s arm. He snatched it away with a glower and Rip tensed. He’d let the guy’s drunken words pass, but if he laid a hand on Raven, Rip would tear the guy’s arm off.
Raven just stepped back, her hands raised. “It’s okay. I think—”
But before she could finish her sentence, a huge man, towering over Rip, approached.
“Hey, guys. We don’t want no trouble. How ‘bout you take it outside?”
Although Rip knew that he, Wild Card, and Shock could easily take the bouncer, and anyone else who tried to throw them out of here, he knew the guy was just doing his job.
It was about time to go meet Steele and the others at the tattoo studio anyway. Raven was thinking of getting her first tattoo and she wanted to watch Steele get his.
Rip and the others stood up. The bouncer took the drunk guy’s arm and guided him to the door while Rip and the others followed. Raven walked close to the woman and he could see they were talking.
Once outside, the woman took Riley’s arm and guided him away. She glanced back at Raven and sent her a smile.
“You sure you don’t want us to come and watch you get your tattoo?” Shock asked, a glitter of amusement in his eyes.
“No way. I’m just watching Steele get his today and then I’m going to decide. If you guys come, you’ll try and talk me into it,” Raven said.
Shock laughed as they walked toward their bikes. “You can handle it. And you’ll look super sexy with ink.”
Rip chuckled. “Hey, man, you might as well give it up. She’ll decide in her own time.”
“Too bad. The guy Steele’s going to is the best.” Shock pulled on his helmet and mounted his bike, then he and Wild Card drove away.
Rip grabbed Raven’s helmet from the back pouch of his bike and handed it to her.
“So will this be a regular thing now that I’m riding with you?” she asked, her eyebrows arched. “Being thrown out of bars?”
He chuckled. The first time he’d met her, he’d been thrown out of a bar, and Raven, who hadn’t even known him, had stood up for him and insisted it wasn’t fair, then found her own ass on the curb right alongside him.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I thought that’s what you loved about me. The excitement I brought to your life.”
She grinned. “Too true.” She climbed onto the bike and sat staring at him as he retrieved his helmet. Clearly, she had something on her mind.
“So who’s Marissa?”
He sighed. So they were going to have this conversation.
“Marissa was a woman I dated about a year ago.”
The guy, Riley, had said he’d ruined her life. The words crawled through him and settled under his skin.
Raven pursed her lips and nodded. “I talked to the woman on the way out of the bar. The guy is Marissa’s brother. Did you know that?”
Rip shook his head. “I never met him.”
“Apparently, after you and Marissa broke up, she was traumatized for some reason… the woman didn’t know for sure why, or wouldn’t tell me…but Marissa packed up and left. Moved to another town. Left her family and friends behind.”
“Ah, fuck.”
“You want to talk about it?” she asked.
His lips compressed. “Not really.”
Raven just nodded, then pulled on her helmet. “Anytime you do, just let me know.” She slid her arms around him. “Oh, and she told me Marissa lives in Miami now.”
He pulled on his helmet and climbed on the bike in front of her, then started it up. Once her arms were around him, he lurched the bike forward and turned onto the road.
His heart compressed at the thought of what Marissa must have gone through to drive her away like that. He lurched the bike forward and turned onto the road. When she’d cut off communication with him, he’d thought the best thing was to just leave her alone. He’d assumed she would just get on with her life and forget about him.
Now he knew he’d changed her life forever. And not in a good way.
Fuck, he’d never wanted to hurt her.
Raven knew they were heading through Miami in a couple of days, on their way to the resort they’d been invited to, and clearly she was suggesting that he look Marissa up.
He wasn’t sure if that was a good idea, but he knew he had to do something.
He vowed he would fix this. Somehow.
Marissa stepped into her apartment and dropped the mail on the dining room table. She grabbed a soda and slumped on the couch. It had been a long day at work and she was glad to put her feet up. She turned on her cell, which she always turned off during the bus ride home, and checked for messages. There was one message waiting for her.
“Marissa, it’s Rip.”
At the sound of the familiar voice, her blood turned to ice. The rest of his words droned through a veil of building panic as her heart pounded faster and her body went numb.
“I know it’s been a while,” the message continued. “I wanted to talk to you. Please call me.”
She stared at the phone with shaking hands.
Oh, God, he’s found me.
She checked the time of the message. An hour ago.
She pushed herself to her feet and walked to the window, then pulled back the sheer drapes that softened the harshness of the afternoon sun through the window, and peered out. Her apartment was on the eighth floor and her window had a great view of the small beach where the river widened to a bay, then narrowed again to a lovely waterfall.
She stepped outside onto the balcony. Her apartment was at the corner of the building, so she tried to peer around the edge of the building to the left to see if she could see the parking lot, but trees blocked her view.
Was he down there waiting for her?
Of course, that didn’t make sense. She hadn’t seen him on her way in.
Thank God!
What if she’d run into him when she’d walked from the bus stop? What would she have done? Run away?
All she knew was that Rip meant danger.
And now he was looking for her.
She debated whether to race out the door and go over to her friend’s place. Lana would let her stay there if she needed to. She could go throw a few things in a bag, enough to keep her going for a week or so. Maybe by then Rip would have given up on her.
She stepped back into the apartment and closed the balcony door behind her, frowning. But she was overreacting. Wasn’t she?
He wasn’t there when she came in. He probably didn’t even know where she lived. Though her heart thumped at the fact he’d found her cell number. She had only given it to her family back home and instructed them not to give it to anyone under any circumstances. Her friends here had it, but he would have no idea who they were.
She walked into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. Her appetite had crashed with this going on, but she had to cook the chicken she had thawed in the fridge, or throw it out. She hated to throw out food, so that was enough to put her through the motions of preparing dinner.
No matter what, she couldn’t let one phone call drive her from her home and throw her life into turmoil.
She ate the chicken, rice and salad she’d prepared while she watched her favorite sitcom on TV, then she washed the dishes and settled on the couch again. She grabbed the handful of mail she’d brought up earlier and sorted through it. A nice parchment invitation with black letters written in a formal script caught her eye. Fancy.
She opened the flap and pulled out a parchment card with a ragged edge. The words “Invitation to Eden” were written in gold letters on the front. She opened it.
“You have been invited to an all inclusive week at Eden.”
Her breath caught. She had heard of the ultra exclusive, very expensive resort. It was the kind of place that was well outside her price range, and pretty well anyone else’s she knew, too. Only the wealthy and elite went to Eden. Or the lucky few that received an invitation. No one knew why certain people were invited to the resort. There were rumors that the owner was eccentric as well as very, very rich and that he would sometimes invite people on a whim.
It was also rumored that on the island people found their deepest desires brought to life. That, of course, was probably rumor nurtured by the resort itself. If patrons believed they would find their happiness on the island that would help convince them that the hefty price tag was worth it.
Either way, who was she to turn down a week at a luxury resort?
The phone rang and she picked it up.
“Marissa, this is Rip.”
Marissa tore the phone from her ear and jabbed the End button.
God, she’d been distracted and forgotten to check caller id. Now he knew she was here. The phone rang again. She stared at the letters on the display. R-i-p. An image of those letters on a tombstone—hers—flashed through her brain.
Get a hold of yourself, girl. He doesn’t know you’re here. Just that you answered your cell. You could be anywhere. And he probably doesn’t even know where you live.
She dialed Lana’s number.
“Hey, what’s up?” Lana said on the other end of the line. “Did you want to do that movie tonight?”
“I…uh…just got a call. It was from that ex I told you about.”
“The biker? How did he find out you were here?”
“I don’t know and… I’m a little scared. He’s actually called me twice.”
“Was he at your apartment building?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“Pack a bag. Now. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes. You’ll stay with me for a while.”
* * *
Marissa stood in the elevator watching the numbers on the display decrease, her suitcase on the floor beside her. The doors whooshed open and she stepped out, rolling her bag alongside her. As she walked through the lobby, she caught sight of a man outside the door glancing around the parking lot.
A big man in a black leather jacket.
He started to turn around and she dodged for a nearby pillar. He glanced into the lobby, then back to the parking lot.
Oh, God, those full lips, and clear blue eyes, and square jaw covered with scruff, except where a two inch scar slashed across his cheek. That was Rip.
Her heart pounded and she hurried down the hallway leading to the stairway to the parking garage. It would have been easier to manage her suitcase if she’d gone back on the elevator, but she didn’t want to be caught there waiting for the doors to open if someone let Rip into the building.
She opened the door and wrestled her suitcase down the stairs to P1, then she rolled it across the parking lot to the door which would take her out the other side of the building. As soon as she got outside and had service again, she called Lana and asked her to drive to the back entrance to pick her up, explaining that Rip was at the front of the building.
“Yeah, I just pulled into the parking lot and I see him near the entrance. My God, girl, he is one sexy hunk. You’re sure he’s dangerous?”
“He and his friends killed a woman. She was the girlfriend of one of the other gang members. At least, she had been, then she’d broken up with him.”
“Okay. I get it. I’ll be there in two.”
* * *
Marissa kept her head down while Lana pulled out of the parking lot. She felt like a fugitive fleeing the police. Once they were driving along the main road, far enough away from her apartment parking lot, she sat up and peered behind them.
“Don’t worry.” Lana smiled. “There are no mad bikers chasing our asses.”
“Thank you for coming and getting me.”
Lana shrugged. “That’s what friends do.”
In Marissa’s experience that’s certainly not what friends did. Friend’s ridiculed you for the mistakes you made, and told you to solve your own damn problems. That’s why Marissa didn’t have any close friends.
Until she’d moved here and met Lana. In that, she realized just how lucky she was.
* * *
Marissa watched as Lana read the parchment invitation. Lana’s eyebrows arched and she glanced at Marissa.
“You’ve really had your ups and downs today. Your murderous ex-boyfriend shows up to stalk you, and you receive a
free
invitation to the most expensive and elite resort in the world.” She glanced at Marissa. “You know they say the island knows what you need.”
“You think I got the invitation so I could escape from Rip?”
“Or maybe you’ll find yourself in the arms of that sexy ex of yours. The magic of the island will fix everything and you’ll find you were wrong about being in danger from him and are really meant to be together.”
Marissa’s stomach clenched. “That’s not going to happen.”