Bounty: Fury Riders MC (13 page)

“Get down!” he screamed, and his hand went to the waistband of his jeans. He was going for his gun, I realized. I dove to the side out of sheer instinct, landing in a thick patch of weeds.

The van backed away, its tires squealing, as Vince fired on it. I heard metal hitting metal, but wherever he hit the van wasn’t enough to stop it from escaping.

Vince stopped beside me, a string of obscenities streaming from his mouth. I had the feeling my would-be captors were the least of my problems.

                                          Vince

When I was a kid, my mom would use the word “conniption.” Like, “You kids are gonna make me have a conniption if you don’t calm down.” I used to wonder what that meant, like what a conniption actually was. What did a person have to be going through to have that happen?

When I saw Erica running from the black van, I knew what Mom had meant. I was about to have a fucking conniption all over the place.

I wanted to disable the van. Actually, what I really wanted was to kill the sons of bitches who thought they could take Erica from me. Killing them wouldn’t help, though. Dead men couldn’t tell me who’d sent them or why. Even though I knew who sent them and I had a pretty good idea as to why. I wanted to hear it from their mouths.

And I wanted them to tell me who in my crew had been a traitor, besides Lance.

I should have just killed them since they got away without a scratch. When I pulled up next to Erica, I saw red. I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t speak except to scream every bit of profanity I knew. I had to do something to let off some of the blinding rage I felt.

And then I looked down at her, and I didn’t feel the same spark I’d felt when I found her on the street the night before. This time, I didn’t feel sorry for her. She brought this on herself.

“Get on the bike,” I growled. I couldn’t look at her, didn’t help her off the ground. I waited until I felt her weight settle in behind me and her arms wrapped around my waist before pulling away and turning back toward the clubhouse.

It was a short ride, and the entire time all I could do was ask myself what I had done to make her run off like that. The first chance she got, she left. They had to be waiting for her, knowing she would sneak off. Of course, why wouldn’t she? I was lower than dirt, wasn’t I? No woman like her would want to be with me out of their own free will. I had to trap them, lock them up. They knew her better than I did. I actually thought for a minute, after the way we kissed that morning, that she wanted to be with me. How stupid could I be?

When we pulled up in front of the building, I called the other guys. “I got her,” I said, panting into the phone to Axel. “Have everybody come back.”

I felt Erica trembling behind me, but I didn’t feel a bit sorry. I wondered if I should even be in the same room as her. I wasn’t sure I could trust myself—not that I would hurt her deliberately, but I might end up saying things I shouldn’t say.

She got off the bike without my asking this time and followed me into the clubhouse. The first pair of eyes I looked for belonged to Onyx. He was standing there, watching a game of Monopoly.

“What the fuck goes on around here when I’m gone?” Every other sound in the building ceased. All eyes were on me, then on Erica. I assumed she cowered behind me.

“What’s happening?” Onyx looked at me, then at Erica. “What are you flipping out about?”

I looked at Erica just long enough to give her a command. “My room.” Then I motioned for Onyx to follow me into the office. The door was hardly closed before I flipped out.

“She sneaked out! How did you let her? Was she fucking invisible or something?”

He shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know, she said she was going to the bathroom. What was I supposed to do? Follow her?”

“Yes!” I knew how ridiculous I was acting, but it didn’t matter. I was furious with her, and I had to get rid of some of it before I talked to her.

“Come on. How was I supposed to know? I didn’t even know she left. Really.” He looked upset, and I knew it wasn’t his fault. She was smart, she could have tricked him.

“Damn it. They almost got her.”

“What?” His tan skin went pale. He wasn’t easily so shaken up, and something about it warmed my heart a little. He really cared, if only because I cared. It meant a lot. “Where were they?”

“A couple blocks away. In a van. They were gonna pull her in.”

“What was she doing? Where did she think she was gonna go?”

“I have no idea,” I snapped. “Anywhere but here, I guess.” I faced the window. I didn’t want him to see me like this. She would rather have put herself in danger than stay in the clubhouse for my sake. It spoke volumes.

“Don’t take it personally,” Onyx said. His voice softened a little. He was the only person I would let see what I was going through. We’d been through enough together than I knew I could trust him not to hold it over my head. “I guess she thought she was doing the right thing.”

“Yeah. Glad I got there just in time.” I punched my thigh once, twice, beyond frustration.

“What are you gonna do?”

“I have to go talk to her,” I said, walking out. “She needs to know how fucking serious this is. I can’t let her sneak out again.”

I was still mad beyond words, but I could think straight. I needed to be able to when I spoke to Erica, or else I might make her cry. I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it if she cried. When I walked past the game room, I felt the eyes on me. They all wondered what I would do to her. Like I could do anything. I didn’t look at them, but went straight upstairs.

She was waiting for me, sitting on the bed with her hands clasped. Everything I felt went out the window when I saw the look on her face.

I went to the window and looked out. From my bedroom, I could see the river. A barge was going by, and I told myself I would say something when it passed a certain point. Part of me wished I was on that barge. Away from here. I had already fought people away from Erica twice in less than a day. I was exhausted.

“What were you thinking?” I asked. I was still facing out the window, and my voice came out in a whisper. I wasn’t angry anymore. I was too tired to be angry.

“They tricked me,” she said.

“How? How the hell could they do that?” I looked back at her, and she was shaking her head. Her eyes were on the floor. She looked even smaller than she actually was, like a little girl who knew she was in deep trouble.

“I went on Facebook. Just to see what was happening in the world, you know? I was going crazy, just hanging out listening to the guys playing Monopoly. Anyway…I don’t know how it happened, but my mom logged on and told me my dad was hurt. In the hospital. She told me I had to come right away.”

I frowned, which she must have taken as me not believing her. “I swear,” she whispered. “I’ll show you the messages. I was so scared.”

“How did you sneak out?”

“There was a fight over the game, so I waited until Onyx was distracted. You guys take board games very seriously around here.”

“We take everything seriously,” I said. I knew she wanted me to smile, but there was no way.

“Anyway, I was in such a hurry to get to the hospital. She…whoever it was…made it sound so serious, like I had to get there right away.” She started to cry. Shit, I couldn’t handle that.

“Don’t cry.” It was pointless. She was gonna cry if she wanted to cry. I looked out the window again and wished she would stop. I wanted to comfort her, but I still needed her to listen and take things seriously.

“But they tricked me! How did they know who I was? How did they know my mom? They must have hacked her account unless—oh, my God! Unless they’re at her house!”

“Okay, calm down.” I turned back to her, thinking. “Would it make you feel better if you called your mom to make sure she’s okay?”

She nodded hard. I handed her my phone. “Here. Call her.”

“What should I say?” She bit her lip, looking at the phone.

“Just tell her your phone’s broken or something, and you’re calling her from your friend’s phone. If you want, I can send one of the guys to keep an eye on the house.”

Erica looked up at me with huge, teary eyes. “You would do that?”

I nodded and went downstairs to set up a watch for her parents’ house. Brett was watching me closely, and walked over to me before I went back upstairs. “She okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, she’s okay.” I patted her on the arm and went back up.

Erica was just getting off the phone. “She’s fine. So is my dad. No hospital.”

“That’s good news.” She didn’t look too happy, though.

“So somebody hacked into Mom’s account and tricked me into coming out. That’s what happened.” She looked at me, and I saw her chin start quivering. Oh, no. She was gonna cry again.

I sat down next to her. I couldn’t be mad anymore. She was right, someone had lured her out. “If I still had a family, I would have gone out, too,” I admitted.

“You don’t have a family anymore?”

I shook my head. “Nah. Not for a long time. The guys downstairs…they’re the closest thing I have now.”

“And you would do anything to help them, I know.”

I nodded. She was right. They were my family, and I would do anything to be with them when they needed me. I couldn’t blame her for going, even though it could have gotten her killed.

“You have to listen to me,” I said, and I turned to her. “Look at my face.” I wanted her to know how serious I was.

“Do not do that again. They will stop at nothing to get their hands on you. I don’t know why—maybe you saw more than you thought you did, or maybe you hurt their pride by getting away. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. They’re after you. Be careful and do not step foot out of here until this is all settled.”

Her eyes were wide, and I realized how intense I sounded. She looked terrified.

“I know I’m scaring you, but maybe that’s a good thing,” I added. “As long as it keeps you safe. Because if anything happened to you…” My words trailed off. All I could do was reach out and touch her face. I ran my fingers down her soft, smooth cheek. She turned her head slightly, planting a kiss on my palm. I stroked her full bottom lip with my thumb, and she trembled.

That was all it took. I needed her. I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. The look in her eyes told me she wanted what I wanted. She was as desperate for me as I was for her.

I took her in my arms and crushed my lips against hers. Just like earlier that morning in the office, things escalated quickly. One minute we were kissing, the next we were panting and clawing at each other. I couldn’t get her clothes off fast enough. I needed to touch all of her.

Erica raised her arms over her head, and I lifted the hoodie up and tossed it to the floor. Off came her t-shirt. I pulled her to me again, kissing her long, slim neck. She tilted her head back, sighing as I lowered her to the bed. Her hands pulled at my shirt, and I let her work it up my back and over my head. Her hands were like fire on me. Making me burn even hotter for her.

I ran the tips of my fingers all over her, exploring, soaking her in. She writhed beneath me, gasping, whimpering and begging for more. Her nipples had risen into little peaks under her bra, and I flicked my fingers over them before moving down her abdomen again. She arched her back, tensing the lower I went.

“Shh…” I whispered, kissing her. Then my tongue darted out to lick her lips. She tasted incredible, and my cock got even harder when her tongue touched mine. We kissed like that, tongues dancing, while I unbuttoned her jeans and she slid them down her legs.

She was so hot, the heat getting more intense the lower my hand went. It all radiated from her core, between her legs. I needed to be there. My cock ached to be inside her.

I cupped her mound, and she moaned louder than before. Her hips started grinding against me in a circular motion. She was already so wet, soaked through the cotton panties. I rubbed hard through the fabric and was shocked when she started convulsing and moaning louder and louder until she froze with a quiet little scream, then shuddered.

“Christ,” I whispered. Now my cock was painfully hard and straining to be free. I rolled away from her to pull off my jeans. She surprised me by rolling over with me, pushing the denim off my legs with her feet as she kissed her way down my neck and chest. All I could do was watch as her blonde head moved lower and lower.