Aching to Exhale (8 page)

There was no way in fucking hell he was handing his woman over to Guillermo Garcia, no matter the job he had to do. Somehow, he'd figure a way to keep her safe, keep his identity secret, and keep his word to Garcia. He had everyone's life at stake if he screwed up now.

Chapter Nine

After sulking for a half hour, Crystal joined Juanita in the back of the laundromat and without speaking a word, helped her with the dry cleaning. Exactly four hours and ten minutes after Raul called to tell Crystal he'd be there to pick her up in two hours, the vibration of a Harley outside set Crystal into motion. She pushed the rack of hung shirts over to Juanita and curbed her relief.

"Raul's here," Crystal said, breaking the silence.

"Yes, he is." Juanita's mouth trembled into a smile. "You may go out to your man."

She hesitated, glancing at the doorway. "Just like that? You're going to let me walk away? What if it's another biker and not Raul?"

Juanita picked up another shirt and held it in front of her, straightening the collar. "You're not the only woman who knows the sound of Raul's motorcycle, chica."

Crystal's lip curled and she turned away, heading toward Raul. She didn't want to hear about how Juanita figured into Raul's life. Some things were better left unspoken. She was too hot and tired to fight the bitch now.

"Crystal?" Juanita called before she could escape.

Crystal stopped at the door and turned around. "What?"

"You're a good worker." Juanita shrugged away the compliment and continued. "I can always use another girl who knows how to work hard without talking. You contact me if you ever need a job."

Crystal looked everywhere but at Juanita, and finally nodded. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Juanita shooed her out of the room. "Go on to your man and give him a kiss from Juanita, yes?"

"Uh, no." She snorted.

Following half of the instructions, Crystal walked through the laundromat, wiping her forearm across her forehead. The working conditions sucked all the energy out of her and left her dirty, sweaty, and irritable. However, she wasn't stupid. She'd contact Juanita again if the situation called for her getting a job. It beat rubbing against a pole and fighting men off her every night.

She pushed through the back door. The heat outside matched the humid air inside the building, and yet the breeze soothed her overheated skin. She closed her eyes and put her face toward the sky. Her body sighed in pleasure as the moisture on her body dried.

"I rush over here to see my girl, and the first thing she does is ignore me." Raul's smooth timbre rolled over her. "Doesn't exactly leave a man thinking he's her everything."

She opened her eyes and raised her hand, blocking the sun from her eyes. "It's what you deserve after the day you put me through."

He remained standing beside his motorcycle. Raul's lips twitched in amusement. His hair, wild and windblown hung around his shoulders, held off his forehead by the sunglasses he'd slid up to the top of his head. Her breasts grew heavy and her nipples constricted, despite her displeasure at the treatment she went through with Charlie and her all day imprisonment with Raul's ex-lover.

She equally loved how it was impossible to stay mad at him for long and hated how he wouldn't take her seriously. He never demanded she get over her moods, just waited her out as if he found the female mind fascinating and he had all the time in the world.

"You made me leave the club after you promised I could stay," she said.

"Yeah, I did." He slipped his hand into the inside of his vest and glanced at her. "I could really use a smoke right now."

"I thought you gave that up." She stepped toward him, but stayed an arm's length away.

He pinned her to the spot. "I stopped while I was with you, because you bitched about my health all the time. You left—"

"You kicked me out," she said.

He dropped his hand to his side and nodded without breaking his gaze. "I did, and nothing I do will change that mistake. I don't need you throwing it in my face,
mi vida
"

She sighed and remained silent. Raul flipped open the empty backpack tied to the back of his motorcycle, rifled through it, and held up a pack of smokes in victory. She eyed him. "What's wrong?"

"Bad day." He pulled out a cigarette and held it up under his nose, inhaling.

The lines across his forehead deepened, and for the first time she noticed his eyes were darker than normal, pained. He avoided looking at her. She lost her irritation. Something happened today and whatever it was, he was unsettled.

"Go ahead and smoke it." She approached him, stood on her toes, and kissed him softly. "I won't lecture you tonight, baby."

He slid his fingers into the top of her jeans and tugged her closer. One arm hooked her neck, pulling her against his chest. Against her, he remained hard, tense, and unmovable. She slid her arms around his waist and leaned her cheek against his collarbone. His heart raced against her ear.

"Need you. All day, I just wanted to come to you and escape." He kissed her forehead, and then lit his smoke. He blew out the smoke at the same time said, "Tired of shit."

"What happened?" she whispered. "You mentioned going nomad."

His chest expanded with the drag on the cigarette and then he exhaled, his voice softening and deepening. "We're not going back to the club."

"Baby, I get that. But why?" She leaned back, keeping her arms around him. "You'd never turn away from the Lagsturns. You're their president. They depend on you, and you need them."

His gaze narrowed. "Don't question me. I need you, that's all you need to know."

She shook her head, wanting to argue the point, and his grip tightened. "Okay."

"Good girl." He kissed her hard and deep. Then all too soon, he pulled away. "Get on the back."

Raul handed her a helmet, swung his leg over his Harley, and started the engine. She latched the D loop on her helmet, put her foot on the peg, and climbed up behind him. Riding away from the Lagsturns frightened her more than riding to them. They'd be alone— and for how much she'd love to have Raul's attention not divided between her and the club— they'd lost their protection.

Raul rode out along the main road and hit the highway. She relaxed her grip on his shirt, and slid her hands underneath the soft worn material and touched bare skin. Hard, sculpted muscles under her palms heated her already warm body. Raul let go of the left handle and rubbed the outside of her thigh. Unable to speak while he traveled, he connected with her by touch often to reassure her everything would be okay.

The wind blew her hair off her neck. She closed her eyes, letting the vibrations of the motorcycle and the speed at which they travel calm her. One moment at a time, she'd face what each day brought her.

Her mother's soft voice whispered in her imagination.
"Tomorrow will be different. It'll be easier if you follow the rules."

A shiver rolled down her back and she opened her eyes. Raul held up one finger. She nodded, and remembered what she was supposed to do if something was wrong. She patted his stomach twice. Once meant he needed to pull over, two times and she was fine.

She'd have to be more careful. Around him, she let herself slip into her past, her dreams, her life, and he saw past her defenses and stayed attuned to her in a way others were not. Not her parents or any of the people she'd friended since leaving home at seventeen years old.

Chapter Ten

The further Raul rode away from Lagsturns' territory, the more mixed his feelings grew. He glanced around the gas station where he and Crystal stopped to rest. On short notice, he could think of one place where she'd be safe.

Taking her there would test him, but going nomad for real…wasn't happening.

Crystal walked out of the restroom of the gas station. Raul whistled, and then gave her a grin. He enjoyed the way her long legs took longer strides to reach him and her breasts, barely contained in one of the skimpy white T-shirts hugged her body like a second skin, bounced in her eagerness. He didn't have to look to know every guy pumping gas into their rigs had stopped to watch her walk to him.

Everywhere they went, he saw the envious raised brows of appreciation from other men. His woman was hot, and she knew it. She flung her hair over her shoulders and smiled back at him. The impish expression almost had him laughing. She loved the attention, and he was a lucky man.

"Ready?" He tossed her the helmet.

She bent over at the waist, gathered her hair, and put the helmet on her head before straightening. "How much longer are we riding?"

They'd rode late into the night, stopped at a motel and grabbed a few hours of sleep, and left before the sun came up. It was almost dusk on their second day now, and they'd put in a solid hard day of riding. He tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, checking the strap of her helmet. "An hour."

She frowned and studied the area. "Aren't we near—?"

"Yeah." He walked over to the Harley. "Hop on, we need to go."

"Wait." She hurried over to him and grasped the handlebar. "You can't take me to Pitnam."

"I can and I will." He glanced down at her holding his bike. "Get on the back."

She shook her head, stepping away. "No. I'm not going back there."

He was off the motorcycle faster than she could turn around and run. He hooked her waist and dragged her body against his. She grunted as her next words turned to expelled air under the impact.

He put his lips to her ear. "Do not cause a scene,
mi vida
. Any one of those upstanding citizens watching you right now gets an urge to play white knight and save the blonde isn't going to like what I do to him."

Trapped within his arms, she couldn't budge her way free. She squirmed. "The Bantorus members will crucify me, Raul. Please, let's go somewhere else."

"I'll be with you," he said. "I won't let them touch you."

She exhaled harshly. "They'll kill you too, you know. Rain's riding hot after the last time you dared roll into his territory. You know that for a fact. He knows you set me after him, and I played his bitch. His woman got hurt because of me. If I would've told him sooner—"

"Trust me." He moved his hand up into her hair, pulled hard enough to tilt her face up to him, and held her there.

"I can't—"

"Trust me," he repeated. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Rain won't let us stay in Pitnam," she said. "He'll think I had something to do with his woman getting kidnapped. I messed up and thought I could use our relationship to keep her safe. He'll never believe that I was doing the only thing I knew to do at the time."

"You'll let me worry about that." He eased away from her, needing distance from her questions. "Now, get on the bike."

He ignored her stubbornness and waited her out without another word. When she settled herself behind him, he set off for Pitnam. There was going to be hell to pay later, but he was running out of options and he had to keep her in the dark until the business with Garcia was over.

Right now, he had to work on getting into Pitnam safely and talking to Rain.

For one, the Bantorus MC saw him for the president of the Lagsturns—who were not welcome in Pitnam. Two, Rain and Tori knew his true occupation. He trusted them as much as he could given the situation, but as with everything there were risks involved. Rain was tight with his members of the Bantorus MC. His loyalty lay with them.

Thirty minutes later, he spotted his first Bantorus member tagging behind them. Two miles later, six Bantorus riders fell in behind him, taking the off ramp, and entering Pitnam. He pulled over and cut the engine. The other riders were taking no chances. He was surrounded.

"Hey." Raul recognized the man on the gray softtail. "Slade, right?"

The Bantorus VP nodded, but gave nothing away. His mouth remained firm and the scar at his brow stood out even with the lack of lighting in the area.

"Yeah." Slade glanced at Crystal. "What's your business?"

Raul chuckled, but he wasn't feeling any amusement. "Traveling, man. Thought we'd stop for the night and while we're here my woman wanted to say hello to your president and get a bite to eat at the bar."

Slade's lip curled. "That isn't going to happen."

"I'll argue that point." He pulled off his gloves and set them on the gas tank of his motorcycle. "Why don't you give your president a call, and let him know we're in town and when we'll be arriving."

Slade looked behind Raul and nodded at one of the other men. Raul kept his gaze on the road, and off the riders. He wasn't afraid to fight his way in if for some reason Slade denied them permission to enter Bantorus territory.

"Raul?" Crystal whispered. "Maybe this is a bad idea."

He half turned on the seat, fisted her hair, and brought her close enough he could put his lips on her ear. "Relax. Trust me."

"But, Rain doesn't—"

He brushed her cheek with his lips, and captured her mouth. Not giving her a choice, he forced her lips to open and kissed her deeply with his tongue. Damned if his balls didn't tighten at the taste of her.

Sitting on the side of the road, surrounded by Bantorus members, his fate in his hands, and he had the urge to take Crystal on his bike in front of everyone. He broke away, softening the kiss with nibbles on her bottom lip. Jesus, he needed one fucking day to escape his life so he could show her exactly how he felt about her.

Slade stepped up to him on the motorcycle and held out the edge of his jacket, showing a well-used, but cared for, 38 special. "Rain granted you permission to ride directly to Cactus Cove."

A smile came easily, rubbing the win in Slade's face. "Well, isn't that nice of him?—he turned to Crystal—looks like the reunion you wanted is going to happen,
mi vida
."

Crystal stiffened. He patted her thigh to keep her quiet. "Lead on, boys."

Slade remained standing beside him. "I don't know what the hell you have planned, but you so much as raise your hand to touch a Bantorus, a woman owned by Bantorus, or anyone within our territory, and we'll bury you and your bitch."