Page 12 of Take

WE RODE FOR OVER AN hour with my body pressed up against his. I managed to hold on to the metal bar on the back for about five seconds before giving in and putting my arms around him. Jasper rode his bike like it was glued to the road and when he took the first bend and our knees nearly kissed the pavement, I grabbed for him. I was pretty certain he’d done it on purpose when I heard his chuckle. Asshole.

My palms flat against his stomach, I felt the deep contours of muscles, ridged and hard. I swallowed and tried to think of something else, anything else, but nothing came to mind except the feel of him beneath my hands. His ass and my pelvis snug, the vibration of the bike under us.

I clenched my elbow hard against my side where the bullet had penetrated and grunted in pain. Much better. Pain I knew. It was familiar and I knew how to handle it. What I was feeling for Jasper was new and exhilarating and had no place in my life. I had to control my emotions, and Jasper made them snap and crackle.

Jasper slowed after twenty minutes and we cruised along the winding roads of Andalusia, Spain. I relaxed a little, my arms resting lightly around him as the wind brushed through my hair, the woodsy scent of the piqual olive trees and the warmth of his body close to mine.

He was so casual, easily maneuvering the bike with an air of confidence as if nothing could throw him off-balance. And I knew that was what attracted me to him—that inability to be agitated. The control. It was also what made me uneasy because my usual knack to keep others at a distance wasn’t working with him. Jasper didn’t treat me like I’d shatter; instead, he pushed me to the edge.

The warmth of his hand on my naked thigh made every muscle tighten and my breath hitch. A quiver travelled through me then goose bumps spread. The heat from his hand seeped into my cool skin instantly soothing.

In a slow casual glide, he slid his hand down to my knee, cupped it, his fingers squeezing then moving back up again. My heart went from one beat per second to ten while my murdered butterflies resurrected.

I was determined to ignore him and it wasn’t as if I could get away either, or push him off me. I suspected he knew it, too. He had to know exactly what he was doing and I was pissed off that I was pissed off. That he could easily throw me off with a simple touch of his hand.

I clamped my teeth together and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to ignore his soft caress. Instead, the image of him on top of me as he thrust flashed and I quickly opened my eyes again.

I couldn’t take it anymore when his finger stroked the sensitive spot beneath the crook of my knee and a tidal wave of desire hit me.

My hand shot to his wrist and I latched on then pulled his hand off my leg. He didn’t object, merely placed his hand back on the handlebar. I took a deep breath and my erect nipples pressed into his back. The bike jolted forward and the corners of my mouth twitched.

We rode for hours giving me plenty of time to contemplate what I was going to do. All I knew about Jasper was that he was an assassin and a friend of Xamien’s. Although, I was leery of calling them friends, as according to rumors, Jasper didn’t have friends.

I’d managed to stay clear of any business regarding the Scars until six months ago when I’d met Jasper. He’d been at Xamien’s to help with a situation involving the Scar Delara.

It was the first time I’d met the Taldeburu, Waleron, who lived in Toronto. He sat on the council with the Wraiths and he was known to be cold, unemotional and would do anything to protect the Scars. He also had an Ink that had tried to take control of him.

That was when Waleron found out I had the ability to communicate with a Scar’s Ink. What no one knew, and what was imperative to stay that way, was that I had the unheard of ability to bring a dead Ink back to life.

I’d kept it from Drake for six years. He never knew I could’ve healed his Ink and then his failing lungs would’ve repaired with his Ink’s rebirth. But I knew the consequences if I’d done it.

Drake had killed my entire Talde just for my ability to heal his lungs. If he knew I could heal his Ink, an Ink the Goddess had killed because of how dangerous it became, Drake would stop at nothing to find me again and that sat in the pit of my stomach every day since. My only hope was that he was dead. That his lungs had finally given in to the blackness that suffocated them.

But Drake was one of the original Scars, older than Waleron, who was known as the most powerful Scar alive. He was determined and sought to one day either rule or destroy the Scars.

Jasper suddenly veered off the paved road into a parking lot and pulled up to the front door of a bungalow-style building then stopped, letting the engine idle for a second before he shut it down. I glanced over at the tilted half-lit flickering sign on a metal post that occasional flashed hot tub in Spanish and English. Below that, it read vacancy.

I settled my hands on his hips while I got off the bike and winced at the sharp pain in my side. I stood facing him, arms crossed over my chest. “What is going on? Who’s after me?”

There was something behind his dark eyes, a merciless hardness that even when he flashed that cocky grin, it was settled there like a speck of wet sand in the desert. “Don’t know who, but Xamien will be calling tomorrow and you can ask him, although I doubt he knows either. Right now, I’m tired as hell and need a bullet out of my thigh.”

“Why should I stay with you?” Although, at the moment I had no place to go, no money and I certainly couldn’t go back to Xamien’s.

He shrugged. “Because you want to live a few more days.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pile of bills. “Go, get us a room. They’re more likely to ignore the blood on you rather than me. We don’t need added attention.”

“Two rooms you mean.”

Jasper frowned then got off the bike, grabbed my wrist, shoved the money into my palm and closed my fingers around it. “No, babe, one. You get two, you’re wasting my money ‘cause you’re in my room tonight.”

I wanted to throw the money back in his face; instead, I crumpled it in my fist and glared back at him.

“You waiting for a kiss or a smack on the ass? Both are up for grabs, sunshine.”

I didn’t think I was capable of a girl growl, but I made some kind of noise that came from the back of my throat and Jasper heard it because he laughed then leaned back, resting on his bike, ankles crossed.

Then I spun around and walked into the office where I procured two rooms. When I came back, I tossed him a key with the little yellow tag that displayed the room number then reached into his bag, grabbed my blades and proceeded to my room which was right next door to his. I was hoping that would make him more willing to bend on the issue because I wasn’t sharing a room with him. Shit, he was a Sounder and could hear my heartbeat from next door if he wanted to.

I just put the key in the lock when I was suddenly airlifted and thrown over a shoulder—Jasper’s shoulder. And damn if it didn’t bring tears to my eyes as I landed hard and it felt as if someone punched me in my wounded side.

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