Instead, something hot and dizzy unfurls low in my stomach.
Because of course a man like him would have a bike.
Because of course he looks like every dangerous fantasy I was too smart to believe in.
He swings onto it like muscle memory and shoves a helmet at me.
“Get on.”
My hands shake so hard the helmet knocks against my teeth as I drag it on.
“Now,” he growls.
I scramble onto the bike behind him, arms locking around his waist because I have nowhere else to hold. My cheek brushes the hard line of his back for one stolen second, and heat flashes through me so sharply it feels like a betrayal.
He fires up the engine.
The roar devours the night.
The bike launches forward. The alley smears into shadow. Velvet Reign falls behind us like a nightmare burning out in reverse.
I cling to him, breath ripping in and out of me, my mind stuck on one impossible truth.
Luke didn’t take me to a club for a date.
Luke took me tosell me.
And somehow I ended up escaping with the most dangerous man in the room.
Chapter 3
Sin
Herarmsstaylockedaround my waist like she thinks the wind might take her if she lets go.
The bike tears through the dark while cold air cuts through my shirt and whatever calm I managed to drag out of that room. Velvet Reign falls behind us in a smear of neon and smoke, and I don’t look back.
Good.
I take the first few turns fast, not because I’m reckless, but because getting clear matters more than comfort. The fastest way to die is assuming nobody’s coming after you.
Ruby makes a small sound against my back, so faint I almost miss it. It lands somewhere in me that should’ve gone dead years ago.
I keep my voice low enough to carry through the helmet and the engine.
“Hold on.”
She tightens instantly.
Her nails dig through my shirt. Pain should be the first thing I notice. It isn’t.
Relief is.
She’s here. She’s breathing. That’s enough for now.
I check the mirrors and catch headlights behind us. One set, then another. One hangs back while the other edges closer.
Could be nothing.
