Page 34 of Falling Hard

Chapter 8

Libby

“Um, how much of that did you hear?” I winced as I pushed past him. I slipped on my shoes, jacket, and grabbed my backpack, then turned to look at him, but he was gone, the hotel room door wide open.

Instantly, my heart dropped, knowing he had indeed heard everything. Panic set in as I stuck my head out of the door and looked down the corridor, but there was no sign of him. Unsure about what to do, I begin to slowly make my way down to the lobby. Once I was done checking out of the hotel, I stepped outside where the cool night breeze hit my face, and I closed my eyes as a single tear slowly slid down my cheek. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes and planned on heading back to the gas station to stock up on some food when a hand grabbed onto my shoulder. I screamed, dropping my backpack as I spun around, tripping on my own two feet. I fell flat on my ass, then I placed my head in my hands and just sobbed as all of the pent-up emotions from everything that had happened in the last few hours overwhelmed me. I didn’t even bother to see who grabbed me, not understanding why this always happened and hating the fact that I couldn’t control my body’s reaction to things even though I knew, mentally, I was okay. Hyperventilating, I tried to control my breathing, but nothing helped, and I started to feel light-headed.

I hardly registered the two large arms wrapping around my body. He pulled me to my feet, then grabbed my waist and lifted me up. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, then buried my face in his neck, inhaling sharply through my nose. His scent comforted me slightly as I held onto him like my life depended on it, and to some extent, I started to believe it did. I knew it seemed crazy, we’d just met, had sex, and now I was falling apart. I wanted to be his and him to be mine, I just didn’t know how to say it without sounding like a lovesick puppy and scaring him away. I fell fast and hard, and I always had. I always knew just by being near someone if we would get along or not, and I knew it was crazy, I was crazy, but this was me.

“Hush,” Lynx whispered as he walked us over to the curb. Sitting down next to his bike, he rubbed my back soothingly.

As I sucked in deep breaths, trying to calm down, I couldn’t believe Lynx was being so tolerant with me. It was like he knew exactly what to do when even I didn’t know what to do.

“I’m sorry I’m so crazy. I just can’t help it. I’ve been like this for a long time, and I try to not let it get the best of me, but sometimes it happens,” I explained. “It’s been an intense night, both bad and what we did was incredible, and I haven’t slept in nearly twenty-four hours. I’m still shaken up from the fights, and then… then… then…” I stuttered nervously into his neck. My face burned bright red, and my heart nearly beat out of my chest as my fingers nervously tapped on his back, refusing to move from our position.

“Don’t think about it, babe, just trust me,” he said firmly, his fingers inching their way under my T-shirt, his thumbs tracing patterns on my skin. “Look at me.”

Hesitantly, I slowly leaned back and looked him directly in the eye, blushing slightly, not that he could tell since my face was already red from crying.

“Trust me,” he repeated. His eyes didn’t waver from mine, a look of determination, honesty, and something else I still couldn’t quite pinpoint flashing across his face.

Trust did not come easily to me, but for some strange reason, I felt like I could trust him, and that terrified me.

“Okay,” I whispered. I leaned my forehead against his and ran my fingers through his hair, enjoying the contrast of the roughness of the freshly shaved back and sides versus the long silky strands on the top. My whole body went limp in his arms, and my breathing evened out as he leaned forward and planted several sweet, soft kisses on my lips, causing my head to spin. As I squirmed in his lap and tried to push myself even closer to him, he chuckled, then pulled back and gave me a quick peck on the nose before slowly standing up, still holding me in his arms.

“We really have to go. You good?” he asked, placing me on my feet.

I quickly wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest as I groaned in annoyance, not wanting to leave.

“I’m okay now. Do we really have to go? I would much rather climb back into bed and ravish you right now.” Smirking, I quirked an eyebrow as I glanced up at him.

Growling, he swatted my ass before shaking his head and prying my arms from around his waist. He got on his bike, then turned it on before looking at me expectantly.

“You’re no fun.” I pouted and retrieved my backpack. An idea came to mind and biting my lip, I rocked back and forth on my feet, abandoning what I was looking for. “Hey, Lynx, I have one request before we take off. Since it’s only a few hours from here and not that much out of the way, can we stop and see Uncle Hammie? We can crash at the clubhouse for a couple hours too before taking off again. It will be safe, and this way, we won’t have to stop at another hotel on the way. Please?” I pouted. I gave him the cheesiest smile I could muster and tried to look all cute and innocent but failed miserably.

A laugh escaped his lips as he just shook his head at me. When he nodded, I squealed and climbed onto the back of his bike, and then we took off into the night.

* * *

It was almost four a.m.by the time we pulled up to a massive barbed wired fence, one you would have thought belonged around a prison. Uncle Hammer spared no expense when it came to security, which was wrapped around the entire property. An old, abandoned brick warehouse that Uncle Hammer and a bunch of the men converted into the mother chapter clubhouse could be seen in the distance, a few lights on signaling some of the men were up and about.

We pulled up to the security booth that sat just outside the gate, and a prospect slid open the bulletproof window.

“State your name, rank, and reason for being here,” the man shouted

Lynx tensed and stated his name but left out his rank. He shot a hard glare at the man before glancing back at me and winking, causing me to blush bright red.

As the man typed Lynx’s name, a frown appeared across the man’s features, and he glanced back at Lynx nervously. “You’re not showing up in our system. You need to leave,” the man said quickly.

“Are you kidding me? He’s wearing his cut. There has to be some sort of mistake with the system,” I stated angrily at the man. “Try Libby Paxton. Hammer’s my uncle.”

“Hammer doesn’t have a niece. Now, you need to leave,” he snapped while reaching under the counter and grabbing a pistol, which he placed on the counter next to the computer.

“What the fuck?” I screeched, latching onto Lynx’s arm as his whole body tensed.

A deadly look crossed over his features as he calmly put down his kickstand, climbed off the bike, and stalked toward the security booth’s door, He punched in a code and opened the door. Before the prospect could even aim the pistol, Lynx had grabbed him by the neck and pinned him up against glass window. With his other hand, he typed something into the computer that I couldn’t see and shoved the prospect’s face right into the screen. I didn’t know what he saw, but he went deathly pale and began apologizing profusely before pressing the code that opened the gate.

“What the hell was that?” I yelled, slightly shaken by what just happened.

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