Ansley leans closer, voice tight as a pulled wire. “We need to go. Now.” We make for the exit anyway, thinking we might slip past if we’re quick, but one of them grabs her by the wrist hard enough she sucks in a sharp breath, pain flashing across her face, and that’s when something inside me snaps. I bring my bag up with everything I’ve got, slam it into the guy’s ribs, and he lets go long enough for her to stumble backward.
I barely manage a second step before a hand fists in my hair and yanks hard, tearing a cry out of me I didn’t mean to make. “Knock it off,” he growls against my ear, breath hot and foul on my skin, “quit acting like you don’t wanna have a good time.”
I twist, try to claw at his hand, but he just drags us both toward the door where a dark SUV is idling—Range Rover, blacked-out windows, positioned way too close like they planned this down to the second. The tires crunch against the pavement and the headlights stay off, and that should freak me out more than anything else happening right now. Ansley is kicking and trying to grab at anything to anchor herself, one guy wrapping an arm around her waist to lift her clean off the ground, and my panic hits full force, sharp and dizzying, choking out every bit of common sense left in me.
Then, through my pulse roaring in my ears, I hear something that doesn’t belong in a quiet diner parking lot. The unmistakable rumble of engines, low and angry, cutting through the night like a warning shot.
Three bikes. Loud. Fast. No hesitation.
Gravel spits and headlights swing wide, washing the entire lot in harsh white. The men holding us freeze for half a second, and I twist enough to see bike tires skid to a stop, leather and chrome filling my line of sight.
Blade is in the lead, helmet already off, and the look on his face is the kind that freezes the blood in your veins. His eyes are locked on me like the rest of the world has stopped existing, and all he sees is someone laying hands on what he considers his. Before his bike is even fully still he’s moving, boots slamming the ground hard as he barrels straight toward us with Rev and Lucky right behind him.
Everything happens so fast it’s a blur of fists and curses. Lucky grabs the guy wrapped around Ansley and yanks him away like he weighs next to nothing, slamming him into the pavement where he doesn’t have the chance to get back up. Rev takes on the next one, driving him down with punches that echo across the lot. But Blade only has eyes for the bastard who laid hands on me.
He tackles him like he wants to bury him, the impact making the guy’s head snap back against the ground. Blade’s fist connects with his jaw in a way that makes my stomach turn. He doesn’t stop after the first hit, or the second, or the fifth. He’s lost in it, all that fear and rage spilling out through every brutal punch. Blood splatters across gravel. Bone cracks under his knuckles. Every hit is a promise.
Don’t lay a finger on what’s mine. Don’t ever try.
It takes both Rev and Lucky pulling back on his shoulders to pry him off before he breaks more than the guy’s face. Blade fights them for a second, chest heaving, before he jerks away and turns toward me. His hands are shaking. Knuckles split open and dripping blood that isn’t his. His entire body vibrates like he’s one wrong breath away from tearing someone else apart.
“What the hell were you thinking?” His voice reverberates across the lot, sharp and furious enough to sting. I open my mouth but the words won’t come. My throat is locked up tight.
“I told you to stay home,” he continues, stepping closer, heat rolling off him like he’s still fighting. “I told you to lock the damn doors, and instead you sneak out like I wouldn’t notice?”
Blade turns toward me, knuckles split and dripping, chest rising and falling hard like he can’t get enough air. “What the hell wereyou thinking?” he asks, voice deep and sharp enough to cut. “I told you to stay home. I told you what was out here and you still ran straight into it.”
I try to speak, but he steps closer like he’s not done, anger rolling off him in thick waves. “You think this is a game? You think just because you’re bored you get to do whatever the hell you want?”
Ansley jumps in fast. “Hey, she just wanted—”
Blade whips his head toward her, eyes narrowed. “This isn’t about you. Not one damn word.” She backs up instantly, hands up, mouth shut.
Then he pins me in place with that stare that always sees too much. “You’re acting like a child,” he says, voice dropping low, like the word itself is poison. “Running off without thinking, without listening, ignoring every warning like you’re invincible.”
Child.
That one hits harder than any punch thrown tonight. My cheeks burn, anger rising fast to cover the embarrassment. “A child?” I ask, the shake in my voice pure disbelief and fury tangled together. “I went to get tacos, Blade. That’s it. I wasn’t jumping into traffic.”
“That traffic came to you,” he fires back, stepping closer until he’s right in my space. “And if we were one minute later, you’d be gone. You’d be in that SUV with those bastards and I’d be scraping together whatever pieces they left behind. You don’t get it. I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“I do get it,” I snap, shoving at his chest, even though he doesn’t move an inch. “But you don’t get to talk to me like I’m some stupid little girl who needs a babysitter.”
He lets out a rough breath, anger still twisting his features. “If you’re gonna act like a damn kid, I’m gonna treat you like one.”
And that’s the moment my heart just… flips.
Whatever guilt or fear I had left dissolves, replaced by this hot, shaking rage that crawls all the way up my spine. “I’m not your property,” I say, voice sharp. “You don’t own me, you don’t control me, and I’m not here to follow your every barked command.”
His jaw flexes hard as stone. “I’m trying to save your life.”
“No,” I fire back, refusing to back up even as my hands tremble. “You’re trying to control it.”
Ansley steps to my side and hooks her hand into mine like she’s ready to yank me out of here if I lose my nerve. Blade sees it. His eyes widen a fraction, like he can’t believe I’m really doing this.
“Bri—” he starts, voice finally cracking.
“No,” I say again, cutting him off. “If you want someone who sits quietly and stays exactly where you put her, go find someone else.”
