Page 13 of Lexi, Property of Rhyder

“Are you fuckin’ crazy, coming in there dressed like that?” he growls, his eyes roaming over my body. I bite my bottom lip not sure what he means when he says ‘like that.’

I look down at what I’m wearing. “What’s wrong with this? I’m in jeans and a top.”

Rhyder lets go of my arm, stating, “I can see your fuckin’ tits.”

I frown, confused. See my tits? What the hell? I look down at my top, and other than showing a little cleavage above the neckline, you can’t see anything. God, if he met me before the rape and had seen my choice of clothing back then, he could have definitely said something.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Before I can continue, I’m dragged again by my arm, but this time to a motorcycle. I pull my arm out of his hold and fold my arms over my chest, the coolness now causing me to shiver. But a part of me is thinking that the shivering is being caused by something else, or shall I say someone else, someone who makes you want to run to him but run away from him all at the same time.

“Here, wear this,” Rhyder demands, holding out a helmet to me.

“Oh, no way. I’m not getting on the back of that thing,” I say, pointing at the motorcycle. “Yeah, I’ll just grab a cab like I had planned before you dragged me out here. Oh look, there’s one now,” I say, raising my hand trying to hail it, and at the same time handing back Rhyder’s helmet to him. The cab stops, and I go to open the door, but I’m not quick enough. Rhyder grabs my hand saying to the driver, “Move on. We’re good.”

The driver doesn’t think twice and drives away.

“Just who do you think you are?” I yell. I get that he saved me in the past, but what gives him the right to say how I get home tonight.

Rhyder doesn’t answer me this time. Instead, he grabs the helmet and shoves it on my head, then points a finger at me, growling, “Get on the back of my bike, or else I’ll make you.”

A part of me wants to deny him and tell him I won’t, but I think I know how that will end. He will have me on the back of his bike whether or not I want to. I swallow my pride and raise my leg to sit on the bike. When I take a seat, I slide myself backward and stare up at him. I notice a different look on his face and wonder what it is, but before I can ask, his anger returns. He doesn’t say anything, he simply takes a seat in front of me and yells over his shoulder, “You need to hold on.” Rhyder reaches back, grabs my arms, and pulls them around his waist.

I instantly remove them and yell, “I’m not doing that. There’s gotta be another way I can hold on.”

Rhyder turns again, and this time he demands, “Put your hands around me now, or else—”

“Okay, okay. Sheesh, bossy much,” I say under my breath.

“What was that?”

“Um… nothing.”

“Thought so. Move closer.”

“What?”

“I said… closer.”

Closer? How much closer can we get?

“Oh, that closer,” I say in surprise when Rhyder places his hands under my thighs and moves me forward. I’m flush against his back and feel my breasts flatten against his hardness. I don’t know why, after what happened, I should feel uncomfortable, frightened even to be so close to a man again, but I don’t feel that way with Rhyder. I don’t know what it is about him, maybe it’s his familiar scent of sandalwood and citrus or the way he makes me feel safe whenever he’s around, but I don’t fight it. After what happened to me that night, Rhyder is the man who helped me and got me to the hospital. I don’t dare to think about the consequences if he never showed up that night. My mind won’t let me think like that because the outcome is way too scary.

I tighten my arms around his waist and rest my head on his back when I hear the rumble of his motorcycle come to life.

He looks over his shoulder. “You okay?” His voice sounds sincere, and it makes me feel at ease.

“Yeah, I’ve just never been on a bike before.”

“Well, baby, you don’t know what you’re missin’.”

Baby?Did he just call me baby?

Why do I like that?

Rhyder takes off slowly, and once again, I tighten my arms around him. I watch as we pass the streetlights and shop fronts. Catching a glimpse of myself in the window, I smile to myself thinking of how my friends would react if they could see me right now on the back of a motorcycle and with someone who’s part of the Blood Brothers MC. My parents would probably have a coronary and ground me for life.

Rhyder’s left hand leaves the handlebars to adjust my linked ones at his waist, then moves them further up from his hips to his abs. I can feel my cheeks flush as my hands flatten against his six-pack as I feel every single ridge. It’s not as if I haven’t felt a six pack before. I’ve hugged Zane and seen him topless, but somehow this feels different. Rhyder is all man, he’s older and experienced with women, you can tell that just by looking at him. Actually, he’s probably got many women in his life. Surely, he’d have a girlfriend? I mean he’s very good-looking, and from what I’ve seen, he’s model material too.

---