“Jagger,” I warn him, taking a step out of his hold on me. My heart is racing like crazy.
“Get moving, flower. You’re running out of time. Three.”
I open my mouth to say something else, but words won’t come out. I’m rendered speechless by the way he’s looking at me alone.
“Two.” His eyes lock with mine, a clear threat in them.
“I… I should at least text Ash,” I stutter out, knowing I’m not getting out of this. I don’t want to.
“One,” he snarls with a little too much delight in his tone.
My heart pounds so damn hard I hear it. My feet move without me controlling them, practically running to where his bike is parked. I throw a leg over. He’s right there with me, climbing on in front.
He takes my hands and wraps them around his middle, allowing me to touch him properly for the first time. “Keep them here and don’t let go,” he tells me with a no-shit tone. But I have no intention of letting him go. For one, I’m scared of being on a bike; two, Jagger Stryker is letting me touch him. And I know I shouldn’t be so excited about that, but I am.
My fingers tangle into his soft T-shirt, and I lean my head against his back, holding him close as I inhale. He smells like his aftershave, something with cedarwood, but it’s more than that, it’s leather, whiskey, and sin, an intoxicating combination that has my body on fire.
He kicks the bike into action and speeds off up the street. I grip on for dear life, a thrill of excitement dancing through me.
Chapter 26
Enter Sandman
Jaggerridesalongwindingroads out of town to what feels like the middle of nowhere. The only light is the shining full moon illuminating the asphalt in front of us. I have no idea where he’s whisking me off to or what to think. I can’t see him really organizing something remotely romantic, so I’m interested to see what he thinks constitutes as a date. If that is even what he has in mind. Who knows with Jagger.
When he turns off the main road and onto a dirt one, I would be lying if I said a shiver didn’t just slither down my spine. I’m desperate to ask him where he’s taking me, but over the roar of the bike,I’m sure he won’t hear me, and the truth is, knowing Jagger like I have come to, he wouldn’t tell me, anyway. It’s all this illusion of control he seems to crave.
He takes the dirt road for a good five minutes and then comes to a gate, where he pulls the bike up closely before typing in some code. The gate creaks open, then he rides the bike through, and it closes behind us, locking us in. He travels down the road for another couple of minutes and then pulls up under an old oak tree. I glance around. It’s dark as hell and a little creepy. A chill comes over my skin as old trees cast shadows, and my ears become acutely aware of the night calls of animals.
He hops off his bike and turns to me with a crooked smile, like he knows I’m slightly terrified and he’s getting off on the thought. He holds out a hand to me, just expecting me to trust him and take it.
“Where the hell are you taking me?” I whisper the words, choking them out.
“Somewhere romantic.” His grin twists in delight.
My stomach churns uncomfortably. I should have run back inside the club and demanded Asher take me home. He would have protected me from his brother.
When I don’t accept his hand, his fingers tangle around mine, and he tugs me from the bike and into his arms. I stumble forward, not able to help it, but he captures me with a steady hand at the waist. His hand lingers at my waist longer than I expect it to, his touch warm but not entirely comfortable. I’m not sure how to act around him when we’re alone but not in the private suites. The only time I have spent with him, we have been arguing or screwing blindfolded. Now I just feel strange, like I don’t know what to say or how to act. Or if he’s about to kill me.
I take off the helmet and swallow the lump in my throat. “Is this where you bring your victims to kill them?” I try to laugh, but my voice comes out flat, not so sure it isn’t. If I tried to scream out here, no one would ever hear me. It was at least ten minutes ago that I saw a house.
He tilts his head to the side, his lips curling up just a touch. “Would I tell you if it was?” There is something in his cold eyes that makes it hard to tell if he’s serious or not. He takes the helmet from me and hangs it on his bike. “Don’t look so scared, flower. I’m not all bad.”
My eyes narrow, not so sure that’s true. Yeah, he’s got a magic tongue and screws like some sort of sex god, but that doesn’t mean anything.
He holds out a hand for me to take, and I tentatively place my hand and my trust in him, praying to God he’s not leading me to my death. He laces his fingers with mine as we walk down a rocky path. The gnarled roots of old trees wind over the path, and I have to watch my step so I don’t trip as Jagger moves quickly in the dark as if he’s done this very walk a million times before. An owl hoots from behind me, and I nearly jump right out of my skin, gripping his hand with white-knuckle force.
Jagger’s dark chuckle vibrates through the trees, and he moves his hand from mine to wrap his arm heavily around my shoulders as he tugs me in closer. “So jumpy, aren’t you? Like a scared little rabbit.”
We make it to a clearing with some stone steps that lead down into the dark. My eyes go wide trying to focus on what on earth is in front of us. “You would be too if you had some psycho leading you down a desolate path in the middle of the night.”
“Do you always construct morbid little scenarios in your head?”
“Only when you’re around,” I snip, not able to help myself.
As we make it to the bottom of the fourth step, the place comes to light, and I can’t help the gasp of shock that comes from my lips. Most of it is relief, but a small part is awe.
“It’s beautiful.” A stunning lake stretches out before us, its dock reaching out over the water, while a cozy, rustic house is nestled off to one side. The property is immaculate and picturesque; a perfectly manicured grass lawn and floral gardens surround the home. But it’s the festoon lights that draw my attention the most, as they light the path ahead and create a magical ambience I wasn’t expecting. “What is this place?”
