I make my way down the stairs and back to my seat where Diane is waiting to hug and congratulate me. “We did it,” she whispers.

I smile and reply, “We did.”

Diane and Stacey have noticed I’ve been off lately, but I put it down to the fact that I was stressed about my exams, but they knew there’s something wrong.

I’m glad they don’t push me for more because I simply can’t bring myself to go back to that horrific night.

RHYDER

“Brother, where you at? We got shit to do.”

I squeeze my cell in my hand as I listen to Torch giving me shit once again on my whereabouts. I should be at the clubhouse going over our plans for the run we’re going on tomorrow. Tate, from the Sinners MC, needs our help with a tradeoff. Usually, we don’t get involved in another club’s business, but it’s Tate, Tracker’s brother, and he needs help getting out of a partnership with a South American gang who does deals for the Mexican Cartel. Tate’s hoping with another club joining us at the meeting, they may get the message and end the partnership, but we also have other things in place if they don’t. We just hope it doesn’t have to come to that.

“I’m comin’, what do you want from me?”

“Who are you balls deep in, brother? Because pussy’s the only reason I know why you ain’t here at church. Prez is gonna kick your ass.”

I sigh, then look up seeing Lexi exiting the restaurant she’s been eating at for the last hour. She’s graduated and has had lunch with her family to celebrate. Lexi, the fucking reason why I’m here and going against my prez and not at the clubhouse where they need me.

Lexi, she’s the only fucking thing on my mind for the last couple of months.

I don’t know what I’m doing here?

Since that night, I’ve felt a pull toward her—the night I heard the cries of an innocent girl. I don’t know how I heard her screams over my bike’s engine, but I did, and I couldn’t ride by without finding out what was going on.

My vision blurred with anger when I saw what was happening in the bushes. Two men were holding down a girl while some fucker was pounding into her. The image of this petite body before me being raped was something I couldnotignore.

In seconds, I had the asshole off her, and he was out cold. Lexi was sobbing and trying to get herself together while I was taking care of the other two men who were attacking her, making them pay for what they did to her. Holding my blade to one of the other asshole’s cocks, I threatened to cut it off if he came anywhere near her again. With that, the other insignificant prick just stood there watching.

I took the asshole’s wallet from his pocket to check his license, noticing he wasn’t from around here—he was fromMassachusetts.Probably some rich fuck down here in New York trying to get his kicks off with his friends. Truth be known, they had probably been stalking Lexi the whole night.

I’d looked at him and smirked while still holding my knife to his cock, then read out loud the address printed on his license. His eyes widened, and panic overcame his trembling body. He pleaded for me to let him go, while the other two men—the ‘out cold’ one had come around by this stage—and they were now backing away in fear. But I couldn’t let this asshole go without warning, so with great enjoyment, I ran my blade down the underside of his cock knowing it was going to leave a bloodied mark. He screamed out in pain as I let go, pushing him back where he fell to the ground with his cock in hand. This is where shit got serious as I pointed my blade at him and warned, “Now get the fuck out of here before I change my mind and cut it off, so you never do this shit again.”

He scurried to his feet with his pants at his ankles, tripped a few times while trying to pull them up, and then the three of them scurried off into the night.

That’s when I could hear the cries of the young girl who was still trying to pull herself together. Her dress had been ripped and was unwearable, her panties lay beside her in the same condition. Blood was running down her thighs, and I knew instantly she had been a virgin. This young girl needed medical intervention, and I knew I needed to get her to the hospital, but I couldn’t bring myself to take her on my bike. The girl was young and had just lost her virginity, so riding on a bike was sure as hell going to hurt.

I grabbed my cell out of my jacket and dialed Torch’s number, hoping like fuck he would pick up and not be fucking some woman. Luckily for me, he was alone, and it didn’t take him long to drive the club’s van to meet us.

I was glad he didn’t ask any questions when I traded my keys for the van’s. I didn’t have the time to explain why I was carrying a sobbing, half-naked girl in my arms. Torch asked if there was anything more he could do, and I shook my head. I was too worried about the girl in my arms, and for some reason, I felt a strong sense of protection over her. I needed to stay with her for as long as it took.

Now, here I am, still watching out for her.

Lexi kisses her parents goodbye with one friend either side of her, and I turn on my ignition ready to leave. The sound of the engine catches her attention because just before I take off, she turns around and looks directly at me. At first, she looks surprised, but then she smiles and turns away.

Fuck me! Does she know I’ve been following her?

Her innocent green eyes do things to me ever since the day I found her. They have been taunting me in my sleep. Her smile causes the air in my lungs to tighten.

What the fuck just happened?I swear my heart just skipped a beat.

Everything about her is breathtakingly beautiful, but she’s not mine. She could never be mine. From the looks of things, and what I’ve learned about Lexi in the last couple of months, is she’s well off and has a rich lifestyle. I’ve also seen where she lives and the car her dad drives. She’s the daughter of a surgeon.

So, why do I keep following her?I have no clue.

What can I gain from doing this?I can’t answer that question either.

But what I do know right now, for some inexplicable reason, there’s a need in me to make sure Lexi’s okay, and if that means watching out for her, then so be it.