Page 10 of Brightness

“I’m twenty-one, you’re thirty. That’s nothing in the scheme of things.” Ivy moves forward and wraps her arms around my waist, her head sliding in against my chest. The shock makes me tense, as I’m a little unsure as to why she’s embracing me. “But thank you. Thank you for opening up to me and not running away this time.”

I wrap my arms around her, holding her to me. My cheek rests on the top of her head. I don’t hug people—ever—but we’re hugging, and fuck, if it’s not the most perfect damn thing in the world.

“I’m fucked-up, Ivy. I won’t even try to hide that fact. There’s a reason they call me Void. I don’t…” Exhaling, I pull her back to an arm’s length away, delving deep into her gorgeous chocolate-brown eyes. “Emotion is not something I’m used to dealing with. Feeling something for someone is foreign. You bring out shit in me that, quite frankly, scares the living hell out of me.”

Ivy brings her hand up to the side of my face, gently caressing it. “I’m glad I scare you. It means you care. When I thought maybe you didn’t, that hurt more than you ignoring me, more than you abandoning me.”

My chest squeezes. “I care…”

Suddenly, a vehicle in my line of sight parks down the street, and the man in the driver’s side pulls out a camera. Not even trying to hide, he brings it up to his eye and takes a snapshot of Ivy and me. Every muscle in my body goes rigid as I grab Ivy, pulling her behind me.

“We need to leave… now.”

She tries to push around me to see what’s happening, but I block her. “Stop! Don’t act suspicious. We have to leave right now.”

“What the—” I cut her off by letting her go, then I slide onto my bike.

Grabbing her hand, I yank Ivy probably harder than necessary for her to sit in behind me, and she doesn’t hesitate to move into position. “Hold on tight, sweet thing. This is gonna be quick.”

I flick the switch, rev the engine, and we peel out onto the street. My eyes focus on the man in the car, but I have no clue who he is. I pass him quicker than legal, with Ivy gripping onto my waist so fucking tight as I speed down the street.

Checking my mirrors, I notice the guy pulling out to follow, so I wrench the throttle to go even faster. The light ahead turns yellow, and I know I’m not going to make it before it goes red, so I give her a bit more acceleration.

“Hang on,” I yell, though Ivy probably can’t hear me over the roar of the engine.

The light flashes red, and I hammer down hard, entering the intersection. I look to my left, not seeing anything, then flash to my right and see two cars heading straight for us.

I drop gears, and the squeal of the cars as they hurtle toward us screeches through the air. The first car fishtails trying to avoid me. He overcorrects, which allows me to ride straight through the middle of the two. Ivy lets out a squeal that sounds more like excitement than anything, and I pull back on the throttle, smoke billowing from my tires as I get us the fuck out of there.

In my side mirror, I see the two cars now blocking the intersection, halting our photographer friend from getting through.

My lips curve as I spin around, making damn quick work of heading the fuck back to the clubhouse. I haven’t been involved in anything like that for a long time, and I have to admit, it excites me.

We nearly crashed, though.

If anything happened to Ivy, I would never forgive myself.

But I knew I needed to get away from that guy, whoever he is.

Having someone take pictures of Ivy is not ideal. She’s not in America legally. Though she has paperwork saying she is, technically, it’s all fake. One wrong move and she could be deported.

I can’t have that.

Won’t have that.

The idea of Ivy and her sister, Eva, coming so far these past few months just to have it all ripped away again is abhorrent to me. So, I ride like a bat of hell until we’re back to the safety of the club and my brothers.

West pulls the gate open as I ride through a little faster than I know I should. Pulling into my usual spot, I kill the engine, and Ivy jumps off, yanking the helmet off her head before I have a second to even slide off my ride.

“What the hell was that?” she screams out.

“Ivy, there was—”

“It was fucking incredible! I’ve never felt such a rush of adrenaline in all my life. Holy shit, Void. That was the most heart-pumping thing I’ve ever done. It was exciting, scary as hell, exhila-fucking-rating! Can we do it again? Right now?” she blurts out in quick succession.

I’m still sitting on my bike, more in shock than anything. I’m not sure why I am surprised by Ivy’s excitement for scary, dark, illegal shit anymore. I should know better. I underestimate her too fucking often.

She places the helmet on the fence, then turns back to me, her face erupting with joy. “Honestly, I’ve never had a rush like that. It was better than sex!”