Page 7 of Lulu

The blonde grinned and stepped closer to me. “What difference does it make?”

He was definitely trying to intimidate me. They were slowly inching closer, and something warned me that when they got close enough, they would make their move.

I wasn’t about to tell him that I’d been with the Desert Rebels for ten years and knew a lot of the MCs they associated with. It would be stupid to give them that kind of power, especially if they had a beef against them. I’d never seen these two men before, and didn’t know how much of a threat they were.

I shrugged. “I know a few of the clubs around.” That was all I was willing to give them. While I made nice, my mind raced with what I could do to protect Millie. Her association with Loco and the Desert Rebels would put a mark on her back if someone wanted to get at the club for some reason. I’d seen too much of that happen over the years.

They were still inching closer, slowly, as if I wouldn’t notice. I took a mental note of the door directly behind my back, knowing that it had a lock on the other side, and I made a split-second decision to act before it was too late. I opened the door just enough to catch Millie’s attention. “Run Millie!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then I twisted the lock and slammed it closed behind me again.

The blonde biker didn’t even bother coming around the counter like his partner did. He jumped over the top and grabbed me by the throat as he pushed me up against the wall. “Bitch!” he ground through his teeth in my face. His other arm went across my chest as he held me pinned.

I looked over at his friend, who was busy trying to break through the door that led to the back. That’s when I saw the back of his cut. Soul Reapers. I’d never heard of them before.

He twisted the doorknob and threw his weight against the door, swearing when nothing happened, and then he took out his gun. My heart raced, and my eyes flew back to the man who was holding me captive. He was staring down at me with a cocky grin.

Before I could take another breath, the glass in the top half of the door was shot, out and I watched in fear as the other biker reached inside to unlock the door.

“Millie! Run!” I screamed, praying that she’d found the back door.

“Shut it, bitch,” the biker in front of me gritted, putting all his weight into the arm that was pressed across the top half of my body. I struggled to breath and get away. Seeing my discomfort, his grin seemed to grow, but he stepped back enough to lower his gaze to the V of my t-shirt. “Nice tits.”

“Fuck you!” I spit, still struggling. I turned my interest to his friend and watched helplessly as he opened the door so hard that the doorknob slammed into the opposite wall.

“Run!” I screamed again when he disappeared into the back room. Afraid that they were going to kill Millie, I brought my knee up and slammed it into the man’s balls. With a painful grunt he released me and fell to his knees, giving me the out that I needed. I gave him a shove hard enough that he fell back to the floor, clutching between his legs and groaning.

I stepped away from him and for a brief minute I paused, considering what I should do. I hadn’t heard a sound out of Millie, but I could hear the other biker opening and closing doors loudly. Had she found a place to hide, or had she left out the back door? And where would she have gone? We were a mile away from anything, surrounded only by dry desert.

I didn’t like the thought of leaving Millie, but if one of us didn’t make it out to let the Desert Rebels know what had happened, we were both screwed. As the fat biker reappeared at the doorway, panting and looking pissed, I spun around and headed for the entrance door. I fumbled with the lock and pushed the door open, escaping outside.

“Stop her!” I heard the younger one yell out behind me. He was slowly getting to his knees.

My eyes lit on Millie’s little car, and then a van, and I realized why I hadn’t heard any bikes approaching. They had come prepared to take Millie with them. I didn’t stop to ponder why, running around the back of the building where my car was parked. As I ran, I dug out the keys from my pocket, all the while searching for any sign of Millie. Relief swamped me when I rounded my car to find her crouching in front of it, out of sight.

“Oh, my God! Thank God you’re okay!” she rushed out, instinctively going to the passenger side door as I opened the driver’s side. “When I heard that shot…” She didn’t finish. “I’ve already called Loco, they’re on their way! Who are they?” She slammed her door closed.

I’d already started my car and shot her a quick look. “I was hoping you’d know. They’re after you.” I didn’t even take the time to look behind me and back up. As long as I didn’t hit the building I didn’t care. I rounded the building to leave through the parking lot when both men appeared in our way, their guns drawn and pointing in our direction. “Get down!” I screamed at Millie, and then I floored it.

They stood their ground until they realized that I was prepared to run them over. I ducked instinctively just as they fired their weapons but kept going, pointing my car toward the main road. They weren’t shooting to kill us. I knew that instantly when I felt the pop and pull of my tires and knew that they were flat. As I drove blindly past the men, one of them shot out my driver side window. Millie screamed as glass shattered and sprayed down on both of us, but nothing was going to stop me.

“Fuck!” I heard one of the men swear.

“Get in the van!” the other one commanded.

“Shit.” I peeked over the wheel to see that I had a clear shot to the main road. “They’re coming after us.” I sat up and drove like the devil was after us. “They’re from the Soul Reapers MC.”

“I don’t know them.”

We exchanged looks. “I didn’t think you did.”

“Fuck, honey, they’re coming!”

I could hear the panic in Millie’s tone. I was scared, too. Millie was sitting sideways in her seat, keeping her head turned so she could observe what was happening behind us. What the hell had the Desert Rebels done to piss off the Soul Reapers? Or was it just Loco that they had a gripe with. All I knew was that if they caught up with us they were taking Millie, and Lord knew what they had planned for me.

“Millie, do you know how to handle a gun?”

“What? No!”

“Loco never thought to teach you for protection?” I asked incredulously.

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