Page 11 of Ox

My heart sank as I told him all about the terrifying scene. “It was like he didn’t care if he lived or died. It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen. Like he was getting off on it or something.”

“Probably, Ghost is a total nutjob,” Ox agreed, taking a sip of his coke. “And it sounds like he won’t stop pursuing you until someone makes him.”

The little bell above the door jingled then and Ox looked up. His expression hardened to stone and I knew something was wrong immediately.

“Kayla, don’t say anything. Let me handle this,” he instructed, rising up out of the booth.

FIVE

Ox

I couldn’t takemy eyes off of this girl. She was affecting my system like the promise of liquor to a dry drunk. Jesus, I wanted to kiss her. Fuck that, I wanted my hands on her! I wanted to be buried inside her. Ramming so hard I made her teeth chatter from each fucking cock thrust.

And when she’d said,“I don’t date often. I need that spark. You know what I mean? When you feel it down deep and nothing else seems to matter but the other person,”and her big, brown Bambi eyes fluttered up innocently at me. At that moment, I think I’d lost my ability to speak.

I was frozen in place. My dick was so hard, I’d had to adjust it under the table before it became imprinted with my zipper!

With every new thing she shared with me, I became more invested. More enamored. I don’t know what the fuck had come over me. I’d never experienced anything like it before. And when she’d told me the part about what Ghost had done to her, it was all I could do not to track his ass down and lay a beating on him so severe that the motherfucker would never get up again.

The little bell above the door jingled then and I looked up. My expression hardened to stone. “Kayla, don’t say anything. Let me handle this,” I instructed, rising up out of the booth.

It was no coincidence that Ghost found us here. The fucker was probably tracking Kayla somehow. His cold, green eyes had honed in on us the second he’d entered the restaurant. Blowing by LuAnne, who’d tried to warmly greet him at the door, he double-timed it over to our booth, rage barely contained under the heated surface of his tanned skin.

His face was a mask of roiling snakes as he glanced from Kayla’s terrified expression, back to my calm one. “What the fuck are you doing here with my girl, Ox?”

“Your girl?” I openly scoffed. “The way I hear it, Kayla’s told you a million times she don’t want fuck-all to do with you, Ghost.”

Ghost’s teeth gnashed together at my words. “Get up, Kayla,” he ordered, not bothering to take his eyes off of me while he did it. “We’re going home.”

I smiled when she didn’t move so much as a muscle. Only looked at me for reassurance. “She ain’t going nowhere with your sorry ass, Watchmen. Kayla’s property of the Devil’s Riders now.”

Ghost’s jaw ticked then. “Kayla’s mine. And I don’t share anything that’s mine, asshole.”

The whole restaurant was quiet now, watching this tense back and forth. I could see LuAnne, cell phone in hand, waiting to see if she needed to call the cops or if it would resolve itself. I wasn’t sure which way this would go, either. But I knew, as long as I drew breath, Kayla wasn’t going anywhere with this cocksucker.

“You must be as dumb as you look, man,” I said, taking a menacing step closer to the biker, “because I said she stays withme. And I meant it. Unless you think you have what it takes to change my mind?”

While Ghost wasn’t a small man, he looked like one when compared to me. I had at least seventy-five pounds on the man, most of which was pure muscle, and towered over a half of a foot above him to boot.

I could tell Ghost wasn’t used to being outmatched. He was a tough motherfucker, I’d give him that. But he wasn’t as tough as me. And he knew it. He’d never win in a fair fight. Not that he was above an unfair one. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to pull a gun or do anything equally as stupid while all these people were watching. The Watchmen might be crazy, but he wasn’t itching to spend the rest of his days in a six-by-eight metal box.

“You’re going to be very sorry about this,” Ghost prophesized, though I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or Kayla when he said it. Either way, I didn’t give a fuck. We weren’t the ones who should be worried.

Turning on his heel, he punched open the door of the restaurant and stalked over to his ride. Through the window, I watched him climb onto his bike and speed off toward the highway. I wasn’t sure where he was going, but I knew it wouldn’t be anywhere good. That man was one crazy motherfucker. Like a loose missile, he was speeding into the night, looking for something, anything, to blow the fuck up on. And when he did, it wouldn’t be pretty.

When I turned back to Kayla, I could see she was visibly shaking. Reaching into my wallet, I pulled out some cash and tossed it onto the table.

“Come on, Babe,” I said, reaching out my hand to stabilize hers. “You’ve had enough excitement for one night. I’m taking you home.”

Kayla

I tookOx’s outstretched hand and followed him to the front of the restaurant. The entire place, once so loud and boisterous, was now dead silent, watching us like we were a suspense-filled TV program.

Before we left, Ox handed LuAnne a wad of twenties. “Sorry about that,” he apologized with a boyish grin. “I promise it won’t happen again.”

LuAnne looked like she’d just met Prince Charming and Fabio all rolled into one. “It’s not your fault some men are awful, sugar. I think I speak for all of JoJo’s when I say I’m grateful you’re built like a Mack truck. Otherwise, I don’t think anything short of a shotgun would have stopped that troubled boy from taking what he wanted,” she said with a note of real concern in her voice. Turning to me then, she said, “You got yourself a real keeper here, doll. God bless and stay safe.”

Half walking, half carrying me out of the restaurant, Ox led me over to his bike. My legs were the consistency of Jello as I put one foot in front of the other.

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