Page 5 of Beast
Beast exhaled slowly, forcing the memory down, forcing himself to focus on the present.He tucked his gun into the back of his waistband, then jerked his chin toward her.
“What’s your name?”Beast asked.
She hesitated.Like she was debating whether to lie.But then she exhaled and said, “Pixie.”
It suited her.
He crossed his arms.“Why are you here?”
Her gaze flickered toward the entrance, calculating, but she didn’t bolt.“I just got off the bus.Saw the warehouse and figured I could crash here for the night.”
She wasn’t telling him the whole truth.That much was obvious.But the hunger in her eyes, the weariness in her shoulders—those were real.She was just trying to survive.
Cautiously, she asked, “What’s your name?”
“Bennett James,” he said.“But my MC brothers call me Beast.”
Her lips parted slightly.“Why do they call you that?”
His jaw clenched, but he answered honestly.“Because when someone pushes me to the edge, when my enemies threaten those I care about, I become more animal than man.”
He expected her to flinch.Expected her to shrink back, maybe start making excuses to get out of there faster, but she didn’t.Instead, she just nodded, like that answer made perfect sense.
“I’d like someone like that on my side,” she murmured.
That shouldn’t have hit him the way it did.Beast exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through his hair.He should walk away.He should tell her this wasn’t a damn shelter.
Instead, he found himself saying, “You can stay.”
She blinked up at him, like she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right.
“No one will disturb you,” he added, his voice coming out rougher than intended.
For a second, something like relief flashed across her face.Then it was gone, swallowed up by wariness and whatever ghosts she carried in those big blue eyes.
But she nodded.“Thanks.”
Beast didn’t answer.He turned and walked out, but damn if he didn’t feel those eyes on his back the whole way.
Beast swung his leg over his Harley, the familiar weight of the machine grounding him.The rumble of the engine vibrated through his chest, a constant reminder that he was still here, still breathing, still moving forward—even on days like this.
Days when the past had a stranglehold on him.Days when the hole Evelyn left in his chest felt like it had been ripped open all over again.
The ride back to the clubhouse was supposed to clear his head.It usually did.The wind, the open road, the raw power beneath him—those things had always been his escape.But not tonight.
Tonight, the restlessness clawed at him.He wasn’t even sure when he made the decision to turn back.One second, he was halfway to the clubhouse, the next, he was gripping the handlebars too damn tight, cutting a sharp U-turn and heading straight back to the warehouse.
It was stupid.Irrational.He had no reason to go back.No reason to care.And yet, there he was, pulling into the same dark lot, his headlight casting long shadows against the warehouse’s steel walls.
He didn’t go inside this time.Didn’t wake her.Didn’t even know what the hell he was doing.Instead, he sat there, watching.
The night was quiet, save for the occasional howl of wind through the abandoned lot.It wasn’t safe out here, not for someone like her—small, alone, vulnerable.He’d seen what happened to people like that.The world had no mercy.
His jaw clenched.Why the hell was he thinking like this?This wasn’t his fight.Wasn’t his problem, but that didn’t stop him from staying.
Beast didn’t sleep.Didn’t even try.Sleep brought dreams, and dreams brought Evelyn.He didn’t want to see her tonight.Not on the anniversary of her death.Not with the weight of another woman’s presence lingering in his head.
Because that was the part that really messed with him.It wasn’t just that Pixie was vulnerable, or that she looked like she’d been through hell.It was the flicker of something familiar.
