Page 74 of Through The Woods

Chapter Twenty

I turned the pages with trembling hands, pausing every so often to brush the tears from my cheeks. I’d initially sworn that Doc had been wrong; had convinced myself that whatever had happened between us at the cliff was nothing but some lust-driven frenzy. He’d made it apparent that he’d loathed the very sight of me.

I brought my knees up to my chest in the leather chair and forced myself to power through, even though everything in me said to run away. And then I read about the most intimidating man I’d ever met going into more than one bookstore just so that I’d have something to read and my emotions ricocheted around the room.

He’d even read through them, so we would have something to talk about.

My wariness gave way to hope.

When the words stopped, I sat back in shock, clutching the notebook to my chest. It was true. He’d fallen for me much like I’d fallen for him.

We’d even encountered the same obstacle in Rae.

I couldn’t feel my legs as I left the study; it was as if there was a gravitational pull leading me directly to him. It was madness—pure and simple madness. Yet, my feet continued to propel me forward, even as my mind bounced between reactions.

It changed everything.

It didn’t change a thing.

I was getting emotional whiplash just trying to keep up.

Was I cut out to be a biker president’s ol’ lady?’ Was that even something he still wanted? What happened to him not wanting to be my man?

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the man at the end of the hall until I crashed into him.

“Sorry,” I began as he grabbed onto my waist and spun me around before setting me down gently.

“Well, well, well. This MC might have the best-looking bitch around.” He kept his hands on my waist and backed me up toward the wall.

His voice held a hint of malice and I tried, unsuccessfully, to push him away. “I need to get outside.”

He clicked his tongue. “That’s no way to treat company, bitch. You might’ve heard a lot of shit from the other whores, but I’ll go easy on you the first time. I promise.”

“Get your hands off of me.” I held my chin high in defiance and when he tightened his grip, I reared up and kneed him in the balls.

“Fucking bitch. I’ll make you bleed for that.”

He stood back up and lunged at me. I tried to move out of his reach, but he was quicker. He grabbed my arm and began pulling me back toward Charm’s office.

“You sure you wanna do that?” A voice asked and I turned, ready to thank my rescuer, until I realized it was Blade—the biker who’d referred to me as a bitch in front of PD.

Their cut-offs shared the same logo, meaning they were from the same club. The man holding me had the Road Captain patch on his vest, while Blade had the Prez patch sewn onto the right breast of his.

Great. I’d managed to find myself in the crosshairs of the Hell’s Horsemen. From what I’d overheard from the other bikers, these guys were not likely to treat me like a little sister. I’d be lucky to get out of here unscathed.

The man sneered. “You can have what’s left of her when I’m done.”

I was kicking wildly now to escape, but the man kept a firm grip on my arm.

“That’s Charm’s ol’ lady, asshole. He’ll gut you if you a lay a hand on her.” Instead of feeling relief, my fear intensified. There was something about him that just made my skin crawl.

The man immediately released my arm. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

I moved toward Blade, keeping my eyes on the man the whole time. He pulled me into his side and walked toward the front door. “Jesus Christ, you need to stay with your men. Find one and don’t wander off—your ol’ man might not take kindly to rape, but these other fuckers don’t share the same morals.”

I nodded shakily as we moved through the crowd of bikers out onto the front porch where Joker was standing with a beer in his hand. When he saw my face. He dropped it and began signing wildly.

Are you okay?

---