Page 3 of Riding With the Grizzly

We take off at a brisk place, but we have to pass by the bar to get to her car.

“Let’s go around back,” Astrid calls over her shoulder when she sees more bikers coming out of the bar.

"Good call."

We turn the corner but suddenly, the side door of the bar bursts open and a group of guys separates Astrid and me.

“Nara!” she calls out. I stand on my tiptoes, trying to spot her in the crowd.

“Astrid! I’ll meet you at the car!” I yell, but I’m not sure she even heard me.

I turn, trying to find a way out of this mess. Everything seems to be happening so fast though. There are big men on each side of me, pushing and shoving and I start to panic.

Should I try to keep going? Go low and try to crawl through without being crushed? Where is Astrid? Is she okay?

“This way, princess,” comes a deep voice to my left and I look over, locking eyes with a dark-haired man.

He holds his hand out to me and I hesitate for only a second before I slip mine into it. He pulls me out of the fray and then puts himself between me and the other men, sheltering me.

“My friend!” I tell him and he nods.

"Caden has her."

"Who?" I ask, raising my voice to be heard over the noise.

“My friend. He has her. He’ll keep her safe.”

“I have to get to her. She’s my ride home,” I inform him.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he growls down at me. “You see the mess that’s happening downtown right now. It’s not safe.”

“I’ll be okay. We’re leaving town.”

“No!” he barks and I back up a step.

“I’m going home,” I tell him firmly.

“Where’s that?”

I press my lips tightly together, refusing to answer him.

When the man first showed up, I had thought he was my knight in shining armor, swooping in to rescue me. Now I see that he’s just another jerk.

My eyes scan over him, taking in his leather vest and I sneer at it.

“What?” he asks and I blink.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re thinking something.”

He looks down at his chest and I study the rest of him. He's tall, almost a foot taller than myself, and just as wide. I'm a big girl with lots of curves, but next to this man, I feel almost… delicate.

His green eyes come back to meet mine and he frowns down at me.

“You don’t like bikers?” he asks.

“Hate them,” I admit.

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