Page 2 of Saved By the Rogue

I could feel tears pricking my eyes as I packed, and I swiped them away quickly. Was this all I was worth to them? Was that what they had been keeping me here for, just like my father had said? Keeping me around, pretending to take care of me, because they knew I would make a pretty bride for some ally they wanted to consolidate their relationship with? I was nothing but a pawn on a chessboard for him, and now, it was my turn to be taken.

Not if I could help it. I hooked my bag over my shoulder and changed into a pair of sneakers, catching sight of myself in the huge mirror in my ensuite bathroom. I looked different than before, eyes dark with fear, jaw set tight as I tried to muster the courage to do this.

I had barely set foot outside the family mansion without a bodyguard since I was a kid – the fancy boarding school I had attended as a child had been full of other girls like me, pampered and protected, cut off from the rest of the world. Had they been groomed to be married off to a husband of their parents’ choosing, too? I hadn’t stayed in touch with any of the girls I’d gone to school with – they'd headed off to their prestigious universities abroad, while my parents had kept me close. I had looked at their pictures, envious, on social media, knowing I had to keep living this life, unable to pursue the same dreams they got to fulfill.

I headed for the stairs as quietly as possible. I had no idea how I was going to sneak past the guards at the door, but I couldn’t wait around to find out. It was late, nearly eleven in the evening, and chances were they’d be down to a skeleton staff – tired, not paying attention, not watching out for me, of all people...

I reached the kitchen, and held my breath, glancing around to see if anyone had seen me. The place was empty and still; I grabbed a few snacks from the cupboard and crammed them into my bag, figuring I would probably need the sustenance for the road.

The road? Exactly where was I planning to go, exactly? I had no idea. No clue. I didn’t know this city outside of this house, and the few event spaces where my father held fundraisers and got me to show face. Atwood was a pretty safe place, at least from my experience, but I knew there was a dark underbelly to it – an underbelly that, by the sounds of it, was right on my tail, since my father had given my hand away to one of its scariest members.

The back door was propped open, and I could smell a waft of cigarette smoke drifting through the door – Jacobi, the guard on watch tonight, was a smoker, and he was likely getting his evening puff in before anyone noticed. I peered outside, and, sure enough, he was facing away from the door, trying to disguise his smoking, the glow of the cig in his hand the only thing giving him away right now.

I had seconds. He would turn around, see me there, and send me back in, and I would have no choice but to go through with what my father demanded of me. If I didn’t flee now, I would be trapped here.

I inhaled deeply, and, before Jacobi could turn around again, I ran with every bit of strength I had, rushing past him towards the gate at the far side of the garden that led out on to the street beyond. I could feel the perfectly-clipped grass beneath my feet, the breath tearing in my lungs, the cold air burning in my system, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not when I knew what was waiting for me if I turned around, what would happen to me if I stopped in my tracks.

I kept my eyes pinned on the gate in front of me, the bag bouncing against my back – it was a little too small for me now, and it was already digging into my shoulders, but I knew I couldn’t let that slow me down. The tears were coursing down my cheeks as I ran from my family home, the only place I had ever known– the place I had always thought I would feel safe.

I reached the gate and unlatched it, spinning around for a moment to look back at the house. My last chance to change my mind and go back, my last chance to forget I had even tried this, my last chance to accept the fate they had already chosen for me.

I steeled my nerves and pushed the gate open. No. I wouldn’t let them marry me off to someone like Lombardi. I wouldn’t let them marry me off, period. Even if they thought I was just some asset they could do with as they chose, I knew I was so much more than that, and I had to prove it to myself as much as I had to prove it to them.

I reached the sidewalk outside, cars streaking by in either direction. I could have flagged one down and tried to get a lift out of here, but where would I go? And what if someone recognized me, and just took me right back to my father? No, I couldn’t risk it – I was on my own, and I needed to keep it that way. No matter how tempting it might have been to let myself ask for help, I needed to put as much space between myself and this place as I could.

I needed to run as fast as my legs would carry me, and never look back. Because if I did...if I did, I was looking down the aisle of a marriage to a man who would do God knows what to me when he got me alone.

I glanced in either direction. Which way should I go? I supposed it didn’t matter, as long as I started walking. Gripping onto the straps of my backpack, I took a deep breath of Atwood City air and began to move.

Chapter Two – Jaxon

"Shit, man, I don’t know," Lee replied with a shrug. "We could try to find a new route out there, but I get the feeling the Tigers are going to cut us off at every turn."

Chuck let out a low growl of irritation and shook his head, then glanced over at me.

"What do you think, Jax?" he asked. I held my hands up.

"Hey, don’t ask me," I protested. "You’re the ones who know this city better than I do."

"Yeah, and you’re the one who does most of our weapon runs," Chuck replied. "If you think you can handle it, we can stick with the route we’ve got. If not, we can find a way to work around the Tigers..."

I grimaced, not wanting to let Chuck down – but, before I could give him an answer, I heard the bell at the door of the shop ringing.

"Customer, boss," I told him, getting up to meet whoever it was. "Can we pick this up later?"

"Sure," Chuck replied, waving me off. He had tried to explain to me that I didn’t need to take the tattoo shop work so seriously, it wasn’t much more than a cover for everything else the Dark Dogs got up to, but I enjoyed it – made for a break from everything else that was going on in our lives, and a chance to flex my artistic skills for once.

I reached the front desk – and, when I saw the woman approaching it, I let out a low whistle through my teeth. Damn, she was hot. The kind of hot you didn’t see around these parts all that often. Long, blonde hair, pale blue eyes that seemed like jewels against her pale skin, a willowy build with a few freckles smattered across her nose. She was dressed down in a pair of jeans and a tee, but she looked like she could have walked off some fashion runway as she glanced around, taking in the designs on the wall around her.

"Hey," I greeted her, and her head snapped around at once.

"Oh, hey," she replied. "You work here?"

"Last time I checked."

"I want a tattoo," she replied. "Can I get one? Today?"

"If you’ve got the cash," I replied. She reached into the bright pink backpack slung over her shoulder and pulled out a few twenties.

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