Page 11 of Beautifully Reckless

Even as he cups his bleeding nose, his eyes widen at hearing his name fall from my lips.

“Leave us alone!” Daniel yells, so forceful his voice cracks, and my men just laugh, those nearest his car kicking their boots into the side.

“Stop!” Daniel shouts again, but it’s then that we hear sirens, and I know our fun will have to wait.

My eyes flash to the road ahead, catching the taillights of the ute as it exits the freeway.

Thank fuck.

“Stay in place!” I yell for my club brothers to hear, and the message gets passed on so everyone knows.

We can’t let these fuckers follow Abbey, so we stick close to them, blocking their path, making sure they have no choice but to stay on the freeway as the sound of sirens gets closer.

We’re lucky, given the time of night, that the freeway isn’t congested. People see and hear us riding in a pack, and they either speed up or hang back, but it also means that the cops can gain on us faster.

“You wait until my uncle gets you!” Donny yells out the window, blood still pissing from his nose.

“I can’t fucking wait to meet your uncle Ian. Be sure to tell him Ringo’s coming for him!” I yell over the roar of the engines, my rage bubbling up.

I want to pummel these fuckers now and be done with it.

But not yet. Not while an entire police precinct is ready to ride our arses.

A sharp whistle cuts through the noise from over the hood of Daniel’s car to where Smitty is, motioning ahead.

It’s time to ditch Tweedle-fucking-Dum and Tweedle-fucking-Dee.

Moving in sync, my club brothers veer left, our bikes slicing through traffic like a pack of wolves closing in on a kill before we take the exit while Daniel and Donny keep gunning it down the freeway, thinking they got away.

The second our wheels hit the metro streets, cops swarm like they’d been waiting for us.

Lights flash. Sirens wail. They were prepared and we rode right into this shit.

“Fuck!” Smitty shouts. “Split up! Stay with your partner! Meet in eight hours!”

We don’t hesitate. We know the drill.

Some of us will get nabbed tonight. That’s inevitable, but better a few than all.

We all have a designated wingman, and as mine, JD speeds up beside me, his grin wide and reckless.

“Time to have fun?”

“Yeah.” I chuckle, feeling that familiar rush kick in. “Time to have fun.”

4

Jared snakes an arm around me, steadying me as we stand in the lift, and I watch as he punches the button for the top floor.

“Where are we?” I ask, hating the tremble in my voice that matches the way my body is shaking.

I’ve been like this ever since I lost sight of Ringo. Ever since we left the freeway and Jared tore through the streets, weaving us back towards the city.

“We’re somewhere safe,” Jared offers vaguely, and I glare up at him, unimpressed.

Dee snickers beside him, and I lean forward with a raised brow. She just shrugs, then glances up at the numbers climbing on the screen.

I don’t know if I canhandle any more surprises. The last hour has been a lot, and now my pelvis is sore, like I may have strained a muscle running.

---