Unchained: A Biker Erotic Romance (2 page)

She paused to trigger the gate at the top of the next rise and then continued aloud to herself, “Everyone else has grown up, and I’m still catching–”

Her thoughts were stopped abruptly by the shock of what she saw as she topped the rise and started into the shallow valley beyond. Coming directly toward her on the narrow road was a double column of motorcycles. She could count at least a dozen of them, and more were coming over the next hill. She slammed her foot on the brake and the jeep slid to a stop in a cloud of dust.

One of the riders at the head of the column held up his hand and the bikes slowed to a stop about a hundred feet in front of the jeep. Raina could now count 19 bikes. She could hear shouted voices above the rumble of motors. Someone was saying, “That’s some of those fuckin’ security assholes now. This time we’re not alone. Let’s see how they like gettin’ a beatdown for a change.”

There were other shouts and voices, but Raina could not understand what they said. The rider who had given the signal for the column to stop made another motion with his hand and the noise of the engines died away, except for one. Whoever it was spoke to the rest as if he were in charge.

“Talk first,” he said clearly. “I’ll check it out. Stay here unless it looks like I need you.” Then the lone engine revved slightly, and he pulled slowly away from the column and closed the distance to the jeep.

Raina thought of calling 911 on her cell phone, but what good would that do? Even if she found a cellular signal, she was over 30 miles out in the scrubland. It would take the Sheriff at least a half hour to get here, even if he or a deputy were in town and ready to respond. She clutched the steering wheel, wondering if she should try to turn around and flee back up the road. A glance in the mirror told her the gate had closed behind her. They opened slowly. Would it open in time even if she could get the jeep turned around?

Then the time for action was past. The lone rider was stopping his bike directly in front of the jeep. He was walking up to the door. Raina felt herself trembling slightly with fear. He turned back toward the rest and said loudly, “It’s not security.” Then he looked into the jeep and smiled.

“You’re definitely not one of Mr. Chaplin’s security goons. What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?”

Raina wasn’t sure how to react. Of all of the things she had expected or feared might happen, of all the things she thought he’d say, a stupid, corny pickup line from an old movie was not on the list. She found herself smiling back at the handsome stranger who now stood just outside the door of the jeep.

He was ruggedly handsome, standing there in a thin T-shirt. The upper portions of his muscular arms were heavily tattooed. The crossed scythes on his left bicep identified him as one of the Crossed Reapers. His actions identified him as one of their leaders. From her father’s many rants about the Reapers, she had expected him to be coarse and vulgar and threatening. Instead, he was handsome, and polite, and very obviously standing slightly away from the open window of the jeep so that she would feel less threatened.

“I’m Neil Gunn,” he said brightly. “My friends and I were...” He shook his head and laughed. Then he smiled again. His deep brown eyes seemed to change color slightly. They became slightly lighter, warmer. For some reason, Raina felt herself again returning his smile.

“The truth is, I’m Neil Gunn, President of the Crossed Reapers, and I brought some reinforcements up from Dallas for the day. We were hoping to meet up with some of the power company security people and discuss the way they’ve been treating my members when they catch them alone out here on the maintenance roads.”

Raina was surprised at the honesty of what he said, and even more surprised at the polished way he spoke. From her father’s nightly tirades, she’d expected the President of the Reapers to be a knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing imbecile barely capable of speech. That was definitely not Neil Gunn. If it weren’t for his tattoos and rough appearance, he would almost fit in among the engineers and managers in her father’s office.

He stepped closer. “What
is
a pretty girl like you doing out here in the middle of nowhere in a power company security jeep?” As he spoke he brushed against her arm, which was resting on the edge of the driver side window. Was it accidental or intentional? In either case, an electric thrill ran through her body.

Raina felt herself blushing slightly as she stammered out an answer. “It was the only vehicle left in the yard. Everybody’s out working on storm damage up north. Daddy needed someone to take a part up to the switching node and I was the only one available.”

Neil’s eyebrows raised and a look of mild surprise flickered across his face. “‘Daddy’? You’re Miles’ daughter. It must be something really serious if he sent his Little...” He stopped in mid-sentence as a flash of anger flared on Raina’s face.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a soft voice. “You don’t like that name, do you?” He shrugged his shoulders and said, “But that’s all that anyone in town ever calls you.” He paused and seemed to examine her from top to bottom. “I guess they are all afraid to tell Miles that his daughter is all grown up.”

He brushed against her arm once again. This time it was definitely not an accident. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Raina,” she answered. She returned his smile for a moment before reddening and looking down at her lap. She was embarrassed. But why? Nothing was happening. Neil was no threat to her and had done nothing inappropriate. She felt like a teenager on her first date.

The sound of another engine caused her to raise her head. Another bike was pulling up alongside where Neil was standing. “What’s the deal?” the rider asked. “The guy’s are wondrin’ what’s up.”

“The best-laid plans, Tommy,” Neil answered. “The weather won this round.”

The other man looked up at the clear sky with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Storms up north must’ve torn up a bunch of towers last night,” explained Neil. “Everybody’s gone except a few techs and the boss’ daughter. We’ve got no beef with them. We’ll have to come back another day.”

Tommy pointed at the window of the jeep. “Is that Little Pri–”

“Uh-uh,” said Neil, holding up a wagging finger to cut off Tommy’s question. “Her name is Raina.” He turned back at her, smiled, then turned to face the other rider and said loudly enough to be heard by the waiting Reapers, “Tell the boys that they can take the rest of the day off. I’ll be back in town in a little while after Raina and I finish our ... conversation.”

He laughed softly and turned once more to face her. “That is, if that’s OK with you?”

“Sure, I can talk for a while,” she answered. “Daddy isn’t expecting me back for a while.”

“So, does Daddy always tell you when you have to be back?” he asked, stroking her arm lightly.

“Daddy likes to protect his property,” Raina replied. Then she grimaced and said, “I shouldn’t have said it like that. He loves me in his own way, but I don’t think he really knows how to love. So he treats me like I’m some treasured piece of property.” She continued, “Daddy had nothing as a child. He had to fight to ‘free himself from the chains of poverty’... his words. Now all he wants is money and power. He thinks giving money is the same as giving love. And he thinks having money and power make people love and respect him. But all it does is make them fear him.”

Raina reached out and stroked Neil’s arm. For the first time she noticed that all his tattoos ended slightly above his elbows. “I don’t know if he hates you, or what you represent,” she said. “He thinks you’re trapped where you are by ignorance and poverty.” Her voice changed in imitation of her father. “If they had the strength and determination I had, they could break free of that way of life.”

She shrugged and looked into Neil’s eyes. He smiled back at her and, after a moment, said softly, “Your Daddy’s the one who isn’t free.”

He chuckled at her look of surprise. “I’m a third-generation Reaper. I could’ve done something else with my life, but I
chose
to come back to the club. You aren’t really free from something until you can choose to come back... or not come back. The freedom to not be requires the freedom to be. The freedom to refuse is the other side of the freedom to choose. I chose to be a Reaper.”

His eyes seemed to open very wide. It was as if he was letting Raina inside himself. “Momma insisted I go to college so I could get away from all this.” He laughed. “She had some other rules. No chewing tobacco. Learn proper English so you can blend in if you have to. No tattoos you can’t cover with a shirt and a pair of pants.”

He laughed again. This time it seemed almost like an embarrassed little boy laugh. “She’s been gone over six years, and I still can’t bring myself to put ink on my lower arms. That’s her space.” Then he laughed a very bright laugh. “But I do have some very interesting ink where it almost never shows. Why don’t you come out to the clubhouse some evening and I can give you a tour of the artwork?”

Raina reddened slightly as she pictured herself and Neil lying in bed naked exploring each other’s bodies. Her mind was quivering between “Yes” and “No” when her cell phone rang. It was Daddy.

She held up her finger to tell Neil to be silent and then answered the call. Neil could clearly hear Miles Chaplin’s voice. “GPS pinger says you haven’t moved in over an hour. Is everything OK out there, Princess?”

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she replied. “It’s been a really hectic week and I was just enjoying the beauty of Texas.”

She looked up into Neil’s eyes and giggled slightly as he stood as if posing for a glamor photo. “Well you hurry back in here, Little Princess. We’re short-handed and I may need you for a few things around here.”

“Yes, Daddy,” she replied. “Be there soon.”

After she had disconnected, Neil said, “Give me your number. I’ll text you and we can talk about getting you out to the clubhouse. Looks like it may take a little work to get out from under Daddy’s watchful eyes, but I’ll think of something.”

He then leaned down through the window and gave her a kiss. It was a light-brush-of-the-lips kind of a kiss, but in those few seconds of contact, she kissed him back, and he knew that she kissed him back. “Right, then,” he said. “I’ll figure something out.”

***

The rest of the day at the office was a blur for Raina. Daddy was in meetings, or on the phone, or talking on the radio constantly as the engineers and linemen laid out their plans for restoring power. Despite Miles’ concern that she return if needed, he gave her nothing meaningful to do. There were several calls she could have made for him to various suppliers or community leaders, but he instead delegated those to his overwhelmed secretaries. Raina was left to sit at her desk, as usual, trying to look busy.

The only bright spot was when Shirley, one of the office supervisors, commented to her, “You must’ve really enjoyed your ride in the country.”

When Raina asked why she had said that, Shirley answered, “You just look... different since you got back. I don’t know. You look... happy. If I didn’t know that you were out in the middle of nowhere, I’d suspect that you’d found the man of your dreams.”

Shirley and Raina laugh. Raina felt her skin warm slightly and almost said aloud, “If you only knew.”

Was that what had happened? Had she met “the man of her dreams”?

It couldn’t be. Neil was one of
them
. And yet he had been so nice and polite. Yes, there was an element of danger about him. Yes, he and his club were going out to pick a fight with Daddy’s security people.

Why? What was it that he had said? Something about the way the security men were treating his people when they caught them alone. Is that what Daddy meant when she overheard him instruct the security guards to “teach these hoods to respect my property”?

She stared at the paperwork in front of her, lost in her thoughts. What was it that so attracted her to Neil? Was it his body? She smiled and glanced slyly around her as she thought that. Yes, part of it was his body.

Was it the excitement? Yes, part of it was the excitement. But there was something else. What was it?

Her eyes widened and she looked up as she realized what it was that was so different about him. Neil was... free. That was it. He was free. He wasn’t trapped by anything. He was one of the first truly free human beings that she had ever met. And he was offering her freedom... at least she thought he was.