Page 11 of Battling Aries

I curl into a ball in the middle of the bed and close my eyes.

I jerk awake at the pounding on a door. I sit upright in the middle of the bed, trying to get my bearings. The pounding stops, only to start again.

Who on earth could that be?

The options could be anyone from Roger’s men to those in the Devil’s Riot.

With my heart racing, nearly beating out of my chest, I move to the side of the large front window and peek out the side. My breathing becomes labored when I see who it is. I glance at the clock and shake my head at how long I’ve been asleep.

He looks pissed. Way, way pissed.

How did he find me here?

Worse, sitting astride their bikes were two more of his ‘brothers’.

Oh boy.

This isn’t good.

“Open up, Scamp. Don’t make me break down the door,” he shouts, not taking his gaze off the door as he pounds on it.

I pull away and glance around the room. There’s no way for me to escape. The bathroom doesn’t have a window. Even if it did, I didn’t think I’d be able to get out before he figured out what I was doing.

The only option is to open the door because otherwise, he’d break it down, and there’s no doubt in my mind he could do it even with the table in the way.

Crossing the small distance to the door, I shove the table just barely out of the way before Aries comes catapulting into the room.

“The fuck were you thinking, Rory?” he demands, glaring at me. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”

Narrowing my gaze on him, I cross my arms, his eyes following this movement briefly before returning his glare back to mine. “Go away, Aries.”

“Answer the fuckin’ question, Rory,” he states coming closer.

“I don’t have to answer to you,” I snap.

“The hell you don’t.” Gripping my arms, he holds me in place. “You realize the danger you put yourself into by leaving the damn clubhouse?”

“I don’t need your help, Aries. I didn’t ask for it. And I refuse to draw anyone else into my problems. Now, get your hands off me,” I snap, shoving pointlessly at his chest.

“Swear to God, woman, if you didn’t have broken ribs, I’d put you over my knee and teach you a lesson.”

Oh boy.

Those words cause a tendril of sensation to course through me.

Aries doesn’t give me a chance to respond. Instead, he lets go of my arms, drops one to my not casted hand, and pulls me out of the room. “I’ll deal with you at the clubhouse instead of here, where we’re exposed. You can also explain to me what the hell you’re into with your fuckwad of a brother.”

He knows about Roger? Did Cordelia tell him? No, she wouldn’t. They probably looked into me. Does that mean he knows? Does he know the reasons for what I’ve done? Why I hurt him?

CHAPTER 7

ARIES

No matter how much I wanted to spank Rory for the stunt she pulled in leaving the clubhouse, I have to keep reminding myself that she is injured. That she needed to get better first and foremost.That doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to chew her ass out when I got her there.

My brothers and I spent a better part of the goddamn day looking for her. She’d been holed up in a rundown, seedy motel. The guy at the front gave her away to damn easily. He also ended up with my fist to his face for the crude comments he made about her. Hell, he’s lucky I didn’t kill him.

I’d already been pissed with her and, in general, because I had to be out there searching for her. Different scenarios had played in my head, thinking about what could’ve happened to her. It’d been by luck alone that as we passed the motel Black pointed toward it, suggesting we check it out.

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