One More Ride (Night Riders Motorcycle Club Book 3) (5 page)

“It
was
real, Blake,” she whispered into the air. “And I would have stayed if you wanted me to.”

No sign of him now, and she hopped onto the chopper and sped off for parts unknown. Especially to herself.

CHAPTER SIX

As she rode over the desert sands, Lauren spied the sun starting to rise out of the corner of her eye. The night was longer than she had known, but still it was ending before she had a chance to do so much as blink. It was tomorrow, and she was without Blake, she had no idea what that meant. Should she have hung back and given him a chance to play the role that Callie believed he could slip into once he cooled off? Wishful thinking on both of their parts. He wasn’t coming back to her, was never going to give her the benefit of the doubt. Lover or not, she had wounded his pride, and the entire club saw him shamed when Wayne dropped the bomb. This was all she could do. Find her family and spin the story in a direction that would protect Grace. At least someone back at camp would remember her fondly when she realized that the blows from Lauren’s own hands were only meant to cut the worst off at the pass and keep her secret safe.

Riding hard and fast, Lauren felt the wind whipping through her hair and tears streaming down her cheeks.
How the hell do I spin this? What are the words?

Turning a corner, her heart lifted some at the realization that she was at least making it back the same way that they came. Wayne and his Demon Dogs might still be lying in wait, but Lauren gritted her teeth and told herself that she could outrun them if push came to shove. Gripping the handle bars tighter, she followed the path of the road and told herself that Callie had it wrong. The police were on their tail. All she had to do was meet them first.

And then she would put her plan into action.

Lauren envisioned herself bringing the bike to a stop and lifting her hands in the air at the first sight of flashing red and blue lights. Cops would swirl around her, guns aimed but low as they tried to believe what they were seeing and look for anyone that might have followed her.

No one will. Not the one I want most.

And then they would ease her body from the bike. Probably wrap her body in a blanket or one of their jackets before pressing her into the back of a patrol car. Lauren would smile and say that she was sorry to cause so much trouble. There would be questions. Where had she been? Who had she been with? In their minds, they would think that she was a victim of some unspeakable fate. Maybe at the start. But not after. Not when she remembered the feel of Blake’s arms around her.

And if she could hang onto that feeling before he turned away from her in disgust, she could sell the story.

Don’t understand all the fuss. Can’t a girl have a little fun off the grid without everyone losing it?

That was her line. Drew and her parents knew that she had run off in search of the unknown, and she would tell them that she had done just that and gotten a taste of some of the darker things during the course of her adventure.

Sorry if everyone was all concerned or whatever.

The cops would click their tongues and frustration and whisper about her when she was just a few steps away. They would call her a spoiled princess who had no conception of the manpower needed to track a girl down or what could have happened to her. Maybe the former was true, but Lauren knew all too well what had happened. And she wasn’t about to take any of it back. Not even when she found her father again and saw the disgust in her eyes.

Thought I told you to get right and grow up. And you go and do this?

She would keep up the act for Grace’s sake and just shrug her shoulders. What her father didn’t know would never hurt him, would only give him ammunition for the life sentence that she would willingly stepping back into. At least her mother would be happy. And as for Drew….

Trying to remember what it was to be with him, Blake’s face flashed before Lauren’s eyes, and she shuddered at the sight.

Make him believe it, Grace. I’ll live on that. If I can’t have him…

Her thoughts congealed and hit the front of her mind as the sound of a distant motor roared and gained power. A quick glance over her shoulder filled her heart with horror, and Lauren feared that Wayne and his boys were about to run her off the road. Falling into their hands was the last thing she wanted. She pictured the Demon Dogs taking her two or three at a time as Paul got his club and further and further away from the threat. Lauren told herself that she could handle it. But she knew that her body would ache and her soul would cry out for Blake to rescue her, to claim her again.

But he wasn’t coming after her.

Intensifying her speed, Lauren had to smile at the distance passing between her and the bike at her back.

They’re not going to catch me. I can still get away. I…

Lost in her hopeful thoughts, Lauren failed to navigate the next curve in the road. Looking over her right shoulder, she saw an abyss waiting to swallow her whole if she failed to ride away from it. She couldn’t fall, not when she was this close to getting away. She had to swerve and hope that the other side of the road would keep her riding into the wind.

Turning the bike under her hands, her tire skidded and lost its grip on the earth, and Lauren wailed into the air as she started to lose the bike. Feeling it falling from under her, she lamented the fact that her chances were nothing on foot. But she had to at least live to fight another day. Collapsing in a heap, her head hit a smooth stone, and she was stunned. But even through her haze, she saw the bike moving in slow motion as it teetered at the edge of the cliff. She prayed that it would somehow right itself and give her a chance to climb back on and keep flying away.

Please. Please…

The chopper seemed to answer her silent call for all of a second before it left her line of sight.

“No!” she screamed.

Her ears with the sound of metal hitting stone as the engine groaned in defeat and smoke wafted up into the air. Summoning what little strength she still had, Lauren crawled towards the sight of the fall and peered over the edge. Narrowing her eyes, she saw what was left of the bike in nothing but pieces among the jagged rocks. Should she try to make her way down and imagine some kind of magical repair? Lauren nearly did just that when she suddenly stopped herself. Going after the bike was a lost cause, and as she struggled to her feet, Lauren was relived to find that she still had the use of her legs. Wobbly to be sure, but she could still run. Or at least try to. Her steps were labored as the sound of the strange bike gaining on her filled her heart with terror. But she had to try to keep moving. She couldn’t… she just couldn’t…

Looking towards the sun rising in the sky, Lauren didn’t know which way to turn. The world suddenly seemed to spin all around her, and she didn’t know which way to move. Taking a few halting steps, her head pounding with each move, she told herself that it was the right path, that he plan was still perfectly intact as one foot stayed on solid ground.

And the other hit the open air.

Looking down, she saw the wreckage that had been her bike. Even as she tried to draw back, Lauren’s body was nearing the place when she had no hope of doing anything but joining the crashed chopper and going out the same way.

Maybe this can still work. It’ll look like an accident. No one will come after a mistake.

Resigning herself to her sudden fate, Lauren felt her body moving closer to the open air when a firm arm surrounded her waist.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The hold brought her away from the edge, and she managed to sigh in relief at the realization that this was not the day when she was going to die. Her heels dragged against the asphalt, and she felt her body being lowered to the sand. The relief lasted for all of a second when she remembered who or what might be after her, and her vision was still hazy as a hand touched her face.

“Don’t touch me,” she muttered. “I won’t go with you.”

The fingers fell away, and Lauren’s body relaxed against the slate. It had to be Wayne, and he had to just be toying with her. Probably wanted to see how far she could crawl before he pounced again. She pictured her hands bound, her body stripped. He would make like Eric and drag her enslaved body across the sands and lead her into some circle of hell from which she might never…

“Let me go!”

Trying to stand, her legs started to give out from under her, and Lauren could either fall or settle into the arms holding her fast. Even as she wanted to live, to run, she still thrashed and kicked until the stranger’s hold was too much for her to fight.

“Stop!” she screamed. “Get your fucking hands—”

“It’s me, Lauren!”

Catching her breath in her chest, Lauren’s eyes struggled and finally focused on the eyes over the arms keeping her in their grasp.

“Why would you run away from me?”

Seeing Blake clearly for the first time since he’d left her, Lauren’s first instinct was to wrap her arms around his neck and hold him tight. He had come for her! In the end, he still wanted…

“Why would you do something that stupid?”

Her head cleared around his words, and Lauren pulled away from him. Blake kept her at arm’s length, his fingers till touching her hands even as he seethed before her and kept spewing.

“Smack Grace around and run?” he challenged. “That made you no new friends.”

She could already picture Trent leading the rallying cry to her to stew in her own juices until she was met some worst fate. Maybe Callie spoke up for her; maybe she just focused her mind on Paul’s wounds. But something had brought Blake back to her side.

“What?” she asked. “Are you going to sling me over your shoulder and go back all King Kong? Show them that you can put me in my place?”

“Something like that,” Blake said. “Come here.”

His arms pulled her off the ground. She nearly settled against his chest, savoring the musky waves pouring off his neck as pulled her closer. Meeting his eyes, she tried and failed to decipher his cold stare.

“What if I don’t want to?” she said. “What if I…?”

Lauren’s voice trailed off, and her head spun again. She couldn’t focus on anything but her own ragged breath as Blake’s hold intensified and he kneeled to the ground.

“Easy.”

He cradled her head with his hand and laid her out on the sand. Grateful for the solid surface against her back, she sighed into the feel of his fingers touching her cheek.

“You’re okay,” he crooned. “No worse for the wear.”

He leaned closer, his lips curled above hers when she turned away with a light smirk.

“What can I say? Guess I got a hard head.”

“I won’t argue that.”

Blake rested his body at her side and dragged her fingers down her cheek.

“Something to be thankful for,” he said. “Maybe not the only thing.”

As her fallen bike continued to smoke from its final resting place, his fingers firmed around her chin, and she forced her stare into his eyes.

“You… Grace said it was real.”

Lauren’s lips parted to echo her own words when another dizzy spell overtook her. Needing rest, she settled into his shoulder.

“It was,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“But you did,” he said. “A fiancé?”

Finding her focus and his eyes, Lauren caught the light in his stare. It felt as if he was giving her a chance to change her story, his lips ready to kiss her and just get back to where they were. Wanting nothing more than to take that chance and see it through, Lauren nearly met his lips when he questioned her again.

“Who is he?” Blake asked. “Can you at least give me a name?”

He was being tender. Probably in light of her fall. But Lauren saw through it and bit back her anger as she curled closer to his chest.

“Drew,” she muttered. “Okay?”

She felt his body tense around the sound, but when his hands pressed into her back, and he did not pull away.

“Never saw a ring,” he whispered. “You lose that before the auction?”

“No,” she started. “Because there never was a ring. Never a proper engagement.”

His eyes brightened, and Lauren felt sure that she felt his heart lifted as he shot up, his eyes till peering down at her. “So what did he even mean to you?” Blake asked.

With a sigh, Lauren leaned forward and savored the support of his hold. “It’s… complicated,” she finally said.

Blake lowered is eyes and sadly nodded his head. “Still sounds serious,” he said. “And it kills me.”

Seeing the pain in his stare, Lauren reached for his face and kept his eyes in hers. “I… I left home because I wasn’t sure,” she said. “I wanted to see what else was out there.”

Lauren looked at him without blinking as his hands moved down her neck. Holding her there, he spoke softly.

“So now you see,” he said. “I bought you. I tried to make you mine.”

Tried?

“Blake, I wanted all of—”

“But of course you want to get back to what’s really real,” he said. “Because you had a life before all of this. This is just a fantasy or—”

“It’s not. I—”

“Come off it, Lauren!”

Pushing away from her, Blake sat up and held his face in his hands. She watched his back tense, his shoulders lift and fall. Trying to touch him, Blake shrugged her off and moved further away from her.

“All this time,” he muttered. “And all you’ve wanted is to get back to another man.”

Lauren started to reach for him again when she drew back and punched a small fist into the sand.

“So maybe I didn’t tell you,” she started. “But I was leaving him. I… I wasn’t even sure if I would ever go back.”

“Whatever,” he said as he got to his feet. Watching him go caused her lips to twitch, and she barreled forward, her arms around his legs as she forced him to the ground.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked as he tried to block her frantic blows.

“I told you that I wanted to stay with you!” Lauren cried. “And you… you just walked away from me.”

Seizing her wrists, he turned her to his back and straddled her suddenly. “Get the hell off—!”

“Thought you said you want me to keep you close,” he spat. “Well, which is it, Lauren?”

Her blood boiled as his mouth curled into sneer. Lauren’s hands were useless, but she twisted her legs around his and brought the heel of her sneaker to his shin. As soon as he winced, Lauren wriggled from his grasp and found her way to her feet.

But she did not run.

“It’s gray,” she said. “Me wanting you when I should want to go back is not one thing or the other.”

Struggling to his feet, Blake brushed his hands on the backs of his jeans and stared at her hard. “Then is it anything?” he said.

Lauren’s shoulder slumped as she hung her head, speaking softly into her chest.

“It’s… it’s everything,” she muttered. “And I only left because I’m a jinx. It’ll be better for everyone if you just try to forget me.”

Blake made no move as he appeared to ponder her words carefully. Now he would agree and send her on her way. Maybe he would offer her his bike in place of the one she had wrecked and tell her to keep going and try to steer clear of trouble. Lauren started to turn away from him when he quickly pulled her back into his arms and brushed the hair from her eyes.

“Now how the hell am I supposed to do that?” he asked.

Lauren’s tongued tied as she tried to reiterate all the reasons that her departure was the right call. But his hold intensified around her body, and he breathed into her eyes as he spoke softly.

“It ain’t happening,” he whispered. “I…” He rested his brow to hers and kissed every inch of her face as he murmured into her skin, his hands, his lips spilling down her sides. “I won’t lie to you,” he said. Lauren started to back away at the veiled insult in his tone, but there was no escaping the force of his embrace.

“Sure,” he continued. “Crossed my mind for like a split second when Trent told me what you did to Grace.”

“Is she okay?” Lauren asked sadly.

“Girl’s a lot tougher than she looks,” Blake said. “Gave me your message and more.”

“What do you mean?”

“She said that I shouldn’t let you go without a fight. So I’m here, okay?”

His speech stopped and started right there even as Lauren waited for him to say, to do something else. “And that’s it?” she asked. “You don’t have anything else to say?”

Pulling her closer, Blake brought his lips close to hers. She felt as if she would swoon at the feel of the warm stream escaping from his mouth.

“I’d rather show you.”

Bringing his kiss to her lips, Lauren struggled for all of a second and tried to push him away. His arms were too hard, his hold too strong, and Lauren started to melt into him when he left her lips and searched her face.

“How’s that?” he asked. “Did you buy it?”

She was on the verge of nodding when she suddenly held still as stone and peered into his eyes.

“Maybe,” she said. “But you could show me more.”

Kissing her again, Blake’s arms surrounded her shoulders, and he pushed her into a slab of hard rock shining under the first light of dawn. Blinking past the sun, she found his face again and dared to stroke his cheek. “That all you got?” Lauren asked.

When he failed to make another move, Lauren started to fume. Wriggling against him, Blake tried to claim her mouth again as she flattened her palm against his cheek and sent him spinning. As she watched him fall, Lauren felt a tear at her heart, and she started towards him.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I… oh!”

Grabbing her ankle, Blake started to wrestle her to the ground. As her body began to crash to earth, Lauren curled her fingers into fists and started beating against his chest. Blake easily absorbed her blows, and she screamed and kicked as he caught her arms over her head and pressed her body in place.

“Why does it always have to be like this?” she whimpered as she tried and failed to kick him again, his knee against her leg as he peered into her eyes.

“Like you don’t love it,” he challenged.

“I—”

“And stop lying to me already.”

Lauren licked her lips and felt his face burning over his. She turned her head away, and he made no move to stop her as she spoke slowly.