Page 44 of Knocked Up By the Bikers

“It’s okay, baby, I know,” Sky says.

Kendric and Raylan join us, and I look up to see them, thankful that I am still alive and able to see them and be with them. “I’m so sorry,” I manage.

“Don’t,” Kendric replies. “You did what any other woman would do, especially given your circumstances. It’s okay, Ariana, we understand.”

“I had no idea. I thought he was saving me.”

“Who was that?” Raylan asks, short of breath as he leans closer to get a better look at me. “And most importantly, are you hurt?”

“No, no, I’m okay. You got here just in time. How’d you know?”

The guys exchange the most awkward set of glances before they look at me. Sky exhales sharply. “We heard you climbing down the lattice,” he says.

“Why didn’t you stop me?”

Slowly, my pulse and my breathing return to normal. The lightheadedness persists, however, and I doubt that I’ll be able to stand anytime soon. They don’t seem to be in a rush to get me up, either. All I can do is stay down in Sky’s arms while Raylan and Kendric get closer, their fingers brushing the hair from my face. I’m covered in dirt and sweat from my tumble and near-death experience.

“We wanted to see how far you’d get,” Sky says. “Honestly, we kept hoping you’d change your mind and turn around.”

“But then we saw that guy pick you up, and we had to find out where that would lead,” Raylan chimes in. “We didn’t recognize the vehicle. It wasn’t one of the usual civilian-disguised squad cars.”

“He’s a federal agent, apparently. Eric Masterson,” I tell them. “He showed me his badge. I trusted him. He said he’d been watching the clubhouse from afar, keeping an eye on the place without interfering with the local authorities. He said my dad reached out to the Feds.”

Kendric frowns. “He was about to kill you.”

“He’s working with the Black Hand,” I exhale sharply. “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you. I didn’t think it was as bad as you made it out to be.”

“Ariana, everything we did, we did in order to protect you,” Kendric says.

“I see that now. I just wanted to get away, to be free again.”

“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Sky says.

I give him a terrified look. “They know you took me. Masterson has confirmation that the Steel Knights took me. We can’t go back to the clubhouse.” I hold on and let him pull me up, but my head starts spinning as the greater implications of the night’s events begin to sink in. “Oh, God, they’re going to raid the place. They’re going to come after you, all of you!”

“She doesn’t look too good,” Kendric mutters, his eyes constantly searching my face in the darkness of an increasingly colder night.

“I don’t feel too good,” I mumble.

My mouth feels numb, as do my hands. It’s as if the lights are flickering on and off. I feel myself falling. They catch me, but my consciousness is in and out, and it feels as if the night may swallow me whole.

16

Ariana

My senses are dulled, but I can still hear their voices, albeit they sound like I’m in an echo chamber. I feel like a heap of jelly. A helmet is being secured on my head and I am helped onto the back of someone’s bike. I register Kendric’s voice as he tells me to hold on.

“Hold on tight, baby, do not let go, no matter what,” he says.

My eyes are closed. I understand what he needs me to do, and I know it’s for my own good, so I muster enough strength to keep my arms locked around his waist. I breathe him in as the Harley roars back to life. The cold wind blows in my face as they race down the road. Gradually, I fully come to.

Blessed be the self-preservation instinct, for it’s keeping me upright in the saddle as we swerve left and right down the streets of Everton. I’m finally back in the city, though I’d expected Agent Masterson to be taking me there in his car, expected to be safely arriving in Everton with him. That was a pretty lie, he told. For a brief second, I actually thought this hot mess had an end.

“Where are we?” I ask when we pull up behind a cluster of two-level buildings on the southeast side of Everton.

“It’s a private clinic,” Kendric says, waiting for me to get off the bike first. “How are you feeling?”

“Can you stand up?” Raylan rushes over, having already parked his bike next to us and Sky.

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