Page 13 of Property of Azrael

“You get off first.” I tell Hallie, who compiles as she gingerly gets off the bike. I wait until she settled back onto the ground before dismounting and removing my helmet.

“What did you think of your first ride?” I ask.

“It was windy.”

I raise my brow. “Of all the words you could use to describe your first ride on a Harley, windy is what you came up with?”

“Yup,” she replies.

“Okay, then.” I scratch the scruff covering my chin. “Grab what you need for the night, and the guys will bring in what you have stashed in their bags. We can get shit moved around in the morning so you don’t have to spread out your stuff.”

Reaching into my saddlebag, she pulls out a few items of clothes and crushes them tightly against her chest. It hits me when I see her shiver against the warmth of her clothes. Shit. She was cold.

“The next time we ride, you can wear one of my jackets.”

“I’m fine,” she retorts.

“No, you’re not. If you need something, all you have to do is ask, Hallie.”

She doesn’t respond. She simply turns on her heel and follows Van and Fox into the hotel. Orion and Ash stand next to me, all of us watching as she steps inside.

“How was the ride, brother?”

“Awkward,” I answer honestly. “Between her digging her nails into my stomach when I took a turn, or her tits slamming into my back when she shifted around, I’m not sure I can explain it any other way.”

“Tits being slammed against my body in any fashion is not what I would call awkward,” Orion muses. “So, how are we doing the rooms? Fox said he only booked three.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“I just want it stated for the record that I will not be sharing with Van. Fucker uses his sheets like a fart chimney. Unless the room comes with a wartime gas mask, I’d rather take my chances with the storm.”

Ash shakes his head. “You have a way with words, O. A real poetic way with words.”

After being friends for so long, I thought I’d heard all the shit that could come out of Orion’s mouth. His vocabulary is more colorful than a sailor fresh off the boat. Hell, he could give those guys lessons.

“Noted,” I laugh. “Let’s head inside and see what we can do.”

Grabbing what I need out of my saddlebag, I follow the guys into the hotel. The door is barely open when I hear Hallie’s voice.

“What do you mean, the hotel is booked? There has to be another room.”

“I’m sorry, but with the storm system, what rooms we did have available sold out? Your friends here got the last of what we had left. I can put you on a waiting list if someone cancels, but that’s the best I can do right now.”

Handing off my bag to Ash, I stalk toward the front desk and sidle up next to Hallie, who puts some distance between us. “Put her on the wait list. She can stay with one of us if something doesn’t open up.”

The receptionist’s eyes go as wide as saucers when she realizes Hallie is grossly outnumbered to the guys.

“No, I’m not,” she argues. “I’ll find another hotel before I submit to whatever reverse harem/why choose crap the world keeps throwing at me today?”

“I have no idea what you’re going on about, but by all means, find another hotel.”

“The next hotel is five exits away,” the receptionist offers. “I can assure you, if we’re booked, so are they.”

Her frown deepens. “Unless you’ve figured out how to hot-wire a Harley, you’re also missing transportation. A rural place like this probably doesn’t have Uber or Lyft.” I keep my voice low enough that the receptionist shouldn’t hear a fucking word of it, but the inquisitive look on her face when I glance over tells me she heard every single word.

Without another word, Hallie shoves away from the desk, charges over to one of the lobby couches, and parks her ass in it, letting out an audible huff.

“I’m sorry. She’s not having a good day,” I offer as an explanation to the receptionist. The last thing I need is for her to call local law enforcement to report a kidnapping or hostage situation because Hallie can’t share a room for a night. “Car trouble. And she gets like this when she’s hungry.”

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