Page 28 of Rise In Arms

Being on the back of Kane’s bike is a feeling I can’t explain. With my arms wrapped snugly around him and the side of my face leaning against his back, I feel safe.

His scent lingers as we drive on, not stopping for anyone, or anything. I’m attracted to him, there’s no doubt about that, and something tells me he’s attracted to me too but he’s trying everything in his power to ignore it. I see the way he looks at me, how he needed—no, wanted—my arms around him, and I catch him now and then stealing glances of me through the bike’s side mirrors. It’s insane to have feelings for another person so soon, especially when I’m running from the exact thing he represents—a man. But Blake is not a man; he’s a coward, an asshole who couldn’t take responsibility for his child and instead took his anger out on me and his unborn baby.

No, I can’t compare the two men. Sure, Kane’s scared me with his actions a couple of times, and he’s also bossy as hell, but he’s also caring, and he’s proved that by helping a complete stranger in need. Blake would never do that. Blake is all about Blake, and his entourage, and I always come third. I doubt he would ever help a friend of mine in need, and it makes me think about what I saw in Blake in the first place.

On the verge of peeing myself, I lean in close to Kane’s ear and yell over the rumble of his motorcycle, “I need to pee!”

He doesn’t respond but I see his jaw set, and then he nods. He pushes the throttle forward till we’re alongside Bear, and signals for him to make a stop. A diner is within sight, and Kane pulls off the road and parks his bike in the small parking lot attached to it.

Stepping off his bike, he faces me and offers his hand to help me get off next. Once I’ve got both feet on the ground, I remove my helmet and smile wide.

“That was freakin’ amazing,” I say enthusiastically. I loved being on the back of a bike—well, with Kane anyway.

He laughs at my obvious delight. “Yeah? You like that?”

“Are you kidding? The carefree feeling of being on a bike is out of this world,” I explain, and notice how his eyes soften. Running my fingers through my hair, I feel all the knots there from wearing the helmet, so I bend over and run my hands through it, trying desperately to tame it a little.

The sound of a growl has me standing straight again, and Kane demands, “Let’s go.” What did I do to piss him off? He leads the way toward the diner, and I’m about to stop him and ask him what I’ve done but am interrupted when Hazel catches up to us and says she’s hungry. That girl is always hungry.

As soon as we enter the diner, I look for the restroom sign, and spotting it to my left I go to head down the hallway that leads to it, but I’m spun around into Kane’s hold. Swallowing hard at our suddenly close proximity to each other, I open my mouth to talk, but he stops me when he says in an urgent whisper, “Don’t talk to anyone, just go do your business and come straight back here, you got me?”

The serious look in his eyes makes me feel a little uneasy, and I glance around the diner. It’s not that busy, just a few people scattered around who are too busy eating and talking and haven’t taken any notice of us, so I nod my head. “Sure, no talking to anyone,” I repeat.

His hand lets go of me, and I stumble back a little.

“Need me to go with you?” Hazel asks.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll just be a sec.”

Walking toward the restrooms once again, I feel my phone vibrate in my jeans pocket. Taking it out and checking the screen, I see it’s Blake calling again. I ignore it and switch my phone off—there’s no point in answering it, he’s only going to yell at me and ask me where I am, and there’s no way I’m telling him that. I take another step as I look down to switch it off, not taking notice of where I’m going. Suddenly I bump into something very hard, and I step back automatically. When I look up, I notice that the hard thing I collided with is in fact a man, a very good-looking man. He grins down at me, straight white teeth appearing against his bronzed skin. “Um… sorry…. I should have been watching where I was going.”

He has a white button-down shirt on, with the top two buttons undone, and navy slacks. His shirt is basically popping at the seams with all the muscles he has going on underneath.

“No need to be sorry, beautiful, you can bump into me anytime,” he drawls.

Feeling my cheeks flush at his use of the word beautiful, I step back and smile, saying, “Sorry, again, I need to go now.”

I go to step around him, and he steps to the side with me, blocking my path. “What’s the rush? Have a drink with me.”

I smile, feeling a little uncomfortable in the situation. “Thank you, but I’m here with….”

“She’s with me,” a low and deep voice says from behind me. Knowing exactly who that voice belongs to, I turn around to face him. His eyes aren’t looking at me; they’re glued to the man who offered to buy me a drink.

“Is that so?” Mr. Muscles says, his arms now crossed.

Kane wraps one of his arms around my shoulders, bringing me into him. “That’s right, fucker, now step off, she’s Blood Brothers property,” Kane says, pointing to the Blood Brothers patch on his cut.

Mr. Muscles eyes zone in on the patch near Kane’s chest, and his smug smile suddenly disappears, replaced rapidly with a shocked look. His arms unfold, his palms come up in front of him, and he steps back, putting some more distance between us. I hear a sound of heavy boots treading along the linoleum floor behind us, and when I turn around I see Tracker and Bear have joined the party.

“Sorry…. Look, I don’t want any trouble. I didn’t know she was yours.”

Kane looks down at me, his eyes traveling over every inch of my face. His gaze bores into mine when he says, “She is, and you’d better watch it next time you try and talk to someone’s woman. You got me?” Kane demands, then he looks back up at Mr. Muscles, who’s nodding his head.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Now fuck off.”

Mr. Muscles steps forward hesitantly, and then moves rapidly past us, soon taking a seat at a nearby table where his lunch awaits.

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