Page 71 of Love and Memories

She shook his hand and smiled back. “Sorry to bother you. I’m Bella Young.”

“It’s okay. Are you from around here?” he asked.

That was a loaded question. She didn’t know the true answer. “I’m fairly new to the area.”

Jeremy turned his whole body toward her, giving her his full attention. “Oh, I was going to say you might have seen me before at Ken’s Tractor and Equipment. That’s where I work.”

Bella shrugged. “I do work at a cattle ranch, but I’ve never been to Ken’s before.”

Jeremy covered his mouth with a hand as he rubbed his clean-shaven chin. “I’m not sure then.”

As soon as he covered the lower half of his face, the recognition came back. With his eyes narrowed in thought, she realized why she’d found him familiar.

Her entire body broke out into a cold sweat. She hadn’t seen eyes like that in a long time, but they’d haunted her daily for the last five years.

27

ISABELLA

Gunner. It was the monster who’d abused her–the one her mind had carefully hidden from her these last three and a half months.

The memory hit her like a kick to the chest. Images of him flashed in her mind one by one. Leaning over a table to glare at her. Shooting her a warning look from across the room. Shouting in her face in the garage.

Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth–dry as the desert sand. It was Gunner. The cut on her shoulder blade. The nausea from hunger. The fear that gripped her neck like his hand for no reason. It was all a response to him.

Bella took a careful step back. “Sorry to bother you.”

“No problem. It was nice meeting you,” Jeremy said with a wave as she turned and sprinted down the aisle.

Gasping for air, Bella’s heart beat hard enough to ache in her chest. How had she forgotten?

The better question was how had she gotten away? The club didn’t allow defectors, but she hadn’t been a member of the Iron Fist Motorcycle Club. She’d been claimed by a member–Gunner.

Women were pawns controlled by the men and the club. If a member claimed you, you ceased to exist in the outside world.

That was why the investigator hadn’t found her. She’d been wiped from the population. The club had a way of making people disappear, and they were never found. People with ties to the club died all the time, but no one even knew about it to care.

It was so hard to breathe. She couldn’t even run because her lungs were screaming.

She bumped into someone and let out a terrified screech.

Grady, the older man who owned the Feed and Seed, grabbed onto her arms, steadying her on her feet. “I’m so sorry, Bella. I didn’t see you coming.”

Bella was still gasping for air as Grady’s brow furrowed.

“Are you okay? I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Nodding quickly, she stepped away from the man she’d come to know as a friend. “I–I’m fine. Just not feeling well.”

“Are you sure? You look pale,” Grady said behind her as she headed for the exit.

Her head ached as she strode across the parking lot. The bright midday sun beamed down, and she lifted a hand to her forehead to shade her eyes as she scanned the rows for Travis’s truck. Where had he parked?

Spotting his red Chevy, she headed for the safety of the cab, failing to even check both ways before walking out into the lot. The keys shook in her hands as she fumbled for the unlock button.

When she climbed into the passenger seat, she slammed the door behind her. There was a brief second where she questioned everything she thought she knew. Could this really be happening?

Yes, it was true, and the ache in her chest morphed into a hot knife. Pressing the heels of her hands into her temples, she closed her eyes and screamed until her throat burned. It was therelease of all the terror she hadn’t known to feel over the last three months of her blissful ignorance.

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