“Sorry again,” she mumbled, then began walking.
“Wait.” His arm shot out, and he grabbed her wrist. “Who’d you think I was?”
“Hey!” She tried wrenching out of his hold, but his grip was unbreakable. “Let me go.”
All she could see were dark eyes beneath even darker eyebrows and tanned skin, framed by the full-face helmet. Amusement sparkled in his gaze.
“I said, let me go.” Her heart kicked into overdrive, sending anxious chemicals zooming through her bloodstream as she tried to tug her arm free.
“One of those outlaw bikers?” he asked as he yanked her closer. “Hell’s Handlers?”
Shit.She glanced around, but no one else was on the quiet mountain road, which was why she had taken this route in the first place, something she now regretted.
“What? No.” She shook her head, keeping a steady pull on her wrist. I thought you were… a friend. Just a guy who rides a motorcycle.”
“Hmm.” He tilted his head, studying her, and though she couldn’t see his mouth, it was easy to imagine a sinister smirk curving his lips. “You look familiar.”
“No. We’ve never met.” She’d have remembered those soulless eyes.
“Reddish hair,” he said as he reached for her ponytail with the hand not holding her captive.
“Don’t.” She smacked his hand away, only thinking it might be a bad idea afterward, but he laughed as though finding her immensely amusing.
“Green eyes.”
He yanked her so close she had to arch back to keep from smacking her head into his helmet as he inhaled. “Leather and motor oil. Smells like MC pussy to me.”
“Let. Me. Go,” she said through clenched teeth. She smelled like Bahama Breeze body wash, not the goddamn clubhouse.
The guy laughed. “Tell your father Demo says hello. And maybe he should be a little more accommodating to the newcomers in town. You know, roll out the red carpet a bit more. Everyone can use more friends, right? Better than having…enemies.”
Fear fled, morphing into white-hot rage.How dare he threaten her family?The anger felt good, powerful after being on the wrong end of a man’s anger for too long. In Texas, she’d been alone, no backup, no one to turn to when things with Jason went sour. But here in Tennessee, if someone messed with her, they paid a steep price. “I’m not telling anyone shit so that you can fuck right off.”
His mood changed in an instant, going from playfully sinister to full-blown evil. The grip on her wrist tightened until his fingers dug into the delicate bones, making her whimper.
“I wouldn’t be so fucking cocky if I were you, princess. Your club’s been on top for too long in this town.”
As she opened her mouth to blast him once again, the low purr of an engine, a car this time, not another motorcycle, had him releasing her with a harsh shove. She stumbled back, barely managing to keep herself from hitting the ground. Two blinks later, he was speeding away, leaving her trembling on the side of the road with a jackhammering heart.
“Shit. Shit.Shit.” She dug her phone out as a cherry red sedan, whose driver had no clue he’d just saved her ass, whizzed by.
Two seconds later, her mom was answering on the first ring with a light laugh. “Told you that you wouldn’t want to walk all the way to town.”
“M-mom,” she said, furious with the tremor in her voice.
All teasing disappeared. “What’s wrong?”
“I need you to come get me,” she said, before rattling off her location as she tried to control her breathing. “Some asshole in a cut I didn’t recognize just stopped me on the side of the road and threatened the club.”
“What?” Shell practically screamed into the phone. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Are you safe?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine. Just a little shaken.”
“Okay, I’m already in the car on my way to you.”
“Um, you should probably call Dad.” Even though her surroundings were now quiet but for the chirping of birds and buzzing of cicadas, she glanced over her shoulder every few seconds. She could call her father herself, but wasn’t in the headspace to deal with the level of freak out he’d have. At least her mom could talk him down before Beth had to deal with him.
“I will after I get to you. I want to stay on the line with you until I get there.”
