It feels like I’ve been clubbed over the head, watching her hands move so gently, the one injured, with dried blood where she pulled out the IV. I can’t believe she did that, but when she saw them try and restrain me, she went apeshit like a vengeful goddess.
I move my hands back, awkwardly, because I don’t want her to get any ideas about what I can and can’t do at the moment, when it comes to my signing.
And then, even though that annoying little shit, Wraith, is watching, I tip Harley’s chin and slant my mouth over hers. My lips meet hers, mine chapped and dry from riding like the devil straight to the hospital to face what would have been the worst night of my life, hers as soft as satin. I take my time, make that kiss count, because what happened tonight drives home the point about never knowing when these moments might be our last.
Her lips open to me and when I sweep my tongue into her mouth to stroke and tangle with hers, sweet as honey, smooth as good whiskey, and hot enough to send fire straight to the pit of my stomach and tighten up my groin.
I can’t help the groan that escapes and evaporates out into the night when I force myself to pull away.
Wraith clears his throat from a few feet away and I think about grabbing him and throttling him, wrapping my big, battle scarred hands around his throat and squeezing until his eyes bulge from the sockets. I don’t look at him though. I keep my hand on Harley’s chin and bend my head so that our faces meet, forehead to forehead. Her hand brushes over my pounding heart, tearing up a wild beat in my chest that would make even the world’s best drummer jealous.
Her eyes flash when she pulls away. “You have to go. It’s okay. Go. I’ll be fine here.”
I make sure she’s tracking my lips. “Lock the door. Stay in the house, Harley. Promise me you won’t go anywhere.”
Two pink smudges appear on her dainty cheekbones. I can’t tell if I’ve just pissed her off or if that blush was from something else entirely, but I don’t care. She’s mine now and if I have to fucking lock her into that house to keep her safe, I’m going to do it.
“Promise me!”
She doesn’t respond and I reach behind her, gripping her neck hard. I wrap my arm around her, sink my fingers into the meaty part of her hip and cart her up against me. The fact that Wraith is getting one hell of a show doesn’t stop me from going completely caveman. She lets out a little yelp and mumbles something that passes for assent into my ear.
I set her back from me, forcibly, because I know that I have to. Wraith rolls his eyes as he walks by us. His bike is parked at the top of my narrow driveway, nearly at the road.
“Come on, princess. Time to suck it up and mount up.” He bats his eyelashes like a little bastard and puckers his lips. “You might be the prettiest thing that ever rode bitch on the back of my bike. Though I have to say, still not prettier than me.”
Harley’s eyes swivel to my face and she can’t hide her smile. She bites down hard on her bottom lip with those top pearly little teeth and my cock punches against my fly hard enough to bruise. I promise I’ll make her pay for that later. I’ll make her kiss away the pain in my cock after…
Fuck.I am so fucked.
I track her every movement as she mounts the steps with care, her bare feet walking so daintily over the dry earth. I don’t move until I hear the click of the deadbolt sliding into place.
For the first time in my life, I wish that this meeting could wait. That all of it could wait. The roar of justice hums in my blood, but it’s muted, quieter than usual. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt so torn.
My throat feels oddly closed up as I force myself to turn and stalk to the end of the driveway, where the bastard with the shit-eating grin is waiting for me.
“Ready to go, sweetheart?” Wraith asks as he holds out a helmet.
I’ve never wanted to kill anyone more.
Chapter Thirteen
Harley
After everything that happened, I should be tired.
After a shower, which feels like heaven, I sit perched on the edge of the bed, completely naked, and inspect the neat little black line of stitches that scrawls across my bicep. I don’t know how the bullet could have torn a path like that, or how the doctors could have just pieced it back together like it never happened. I marvel at the fragility and resilience of the human body. How we can be repaired just like an object. Stitched up like a quilt or a shirt that’s ripped.
The wound doesn’t hurt so much now that I’m used to the throb and pressure in my arm. It feels more like a dull ache with a bit of heat underneath. The area isn’t swollen, just slightly red from the freshness of it. I know Edge has a bottle of pills in the kitchen for headaches—meaning hangovers—so I take a couple of those.
Even though Leah brought me a duffel with my clothes, I still choose a fresh t-shirt of Edge’s to wrap around myself.
After that, I stray to the living room, restless, not tired at all. I guess I had enough sleep after I passed out, though I wouldn’t exactly call that rest. Maybe it’s the adrenaline keeping me going, but I figure, as I sit bathed in the early golden light of a new dawn—one I might not have been lucky enough to see—that it’s vengeance. Vengeance and the unknown. I knowthat no one died, because I figure someone would have told me that right away, as soon as I woke up, but I don’t know the details and I want to know.
I’ve always been pretty good at keeping everything orderly. Neat and tidy. I was good at math because it made sense to me, those columns and rows of tidy numbers, written down in search of a right answer. I liked formulas. I liked not knowing the answer at the beginning and figuring it out on my own, even if it pissed me off along the way.
I hate that everything right now is a huge mess. Nothing is neat or orderly. Not Edge’s house, not us in it. Not my father, who seems hell bent on making sure that Edge and I are never happy, even if it’s not his decision. I hate that now, on top of everything else, we have this new threat to worry about. People were hurt. I was hurt. I was scared. God, I’m still scared.
I’ve never felt this way. Never felt like everything is falling down around me all at the same time, my family, my club, my town, and I hate it.
