Page 8 of Inflame Me
I look to his leather vest and decide it’s time. “Maybe you can help me,” I say as sweet as pie. It’s better to have this guy on my good side and not the bad.
“I’ll help you with whatever you need.” The man takes a step closer, and I immediately feel a presence to the side of me. My eyes dart in that direction.
Holy mother of God. I can’t decide if this is the scariest man I’ve ever laid eyes on or the sexiest. Hell, maybe both. His face is so intense, like grab you and never let you go intense. His blue eyes sparkle, but not in a pleasant way. No, like a predator of the night way, but they suck me in, nonetheless. His face is lined with thick stubble all around his strong jaw, his features aged with intent, and those lips … I feel my knees begin to tremble as some sort of electricity floats in the air between us.
My already on-edge nerves seem to implode in my gut, spreading through my body like a wild fire. I clench my fists and reopen them as they dampen. My breath comes up a little short, and it takes me a moment to realize that I actually need oxygen. Never once in my existence has a man had this effect on me, and that is totally what he is—a full-blooded, older man.
I unlock my eyes from him, using every bit of strength I have to turn away, shaking my head and refocusing on bandana man.
“Thanks, but I’m looking for Cameron Wagner.” The grip on my hip tightens painfully, and I wince because it’s the hip I fell on earlier, or yesterday. Hell, I can’t even remember. All I know is that it hurts.
Bandana man’s eyes turn from lustful to scary fierce in the blink of an eye, and my confidence gets shaken a bit. “What do you need him for?”
Strong vibes come from my side again. I know it’s from the sexy, scary man, but I don’t turn away from the one in front of me as my pulse picks up, and fear creeps in. I try to push it back, but it’s growing. Hard core.
“I’m Tanner, his daughter.”
Bandana man quirks his eyebrow, his hand relaxing a bit on my hip. The relief is immediate, but he still holds tight.
“No Cameron Wagner here,” the man says.
Shock fills me, my mouth gaping as everything inside me begins to crumble. He has to be here. There isn’t another option, no other choice, nowhere else to go.
“He’s not here?” I tremble out, looking around the room in haste. My take-no-prisoners attitude slowly drops down, and if I had it in me, I would kick my own ass.
My mom was wrong. He’s not here. He’s not part of this club. We came all this way for nothing. What in the world are we going to do now?
“Sorry I wasted your time.” I step out of bandana man’s grasp and take one more look at the sexy, scary man whose eyes are narrowed on me. Great, nothing like making an ass of myself.
Escape. I need to get out of here.
I move to head for the door when a hand grabs me around my arm, and I flinch, the pain radiating throughout my body. I try not to show it, but come up short. I wasn’t prepared for it, so it caught me off guard.
“What’s wrong with you?” the deep baritone voice from the sexy, scary man asks, the sound of it penetrating all the way down to my bones, doing strange things to my body.
I let out a breath, the pain racing. “Nothing. I’m fine.” I’m not telling anyone what the fuck is going on here if I don’t have to, especially to men who look like they could rip my head off at any given moment.
“You’re lying,” he accuses.
My strength is about tapped out for the day. The fight is about gone. I breathe in deeply and look into his eyes. Something inside them compels me to tell him. I don’t know what it is, but it’s there.
“I have a situation. My mother told me that I needed to come here and find my father Cameron Wagner so he could help us. Since he’s not here, I’m not going to waste your time,” I practically plead with the man, hoping he will let me go.
“Office,” the bandana man’s voice comes from behind me, making me jump and whip around. Oh, no. I’m not going anywhere.
I try to pull out of sexy, scary man’s hold, but it’s too tight, and with each movement I make, his grip tightens, only causing me more pain.
“We need to talk,” he says, and my knees seriously begin to quiver.
“No, really. I didn’t mean to bother you. I’ll leave and never come back.” Horrible, horrendous fear charges through me. If I go into a room with them, what will they do to me? I don’t want that answer, really don’t want it.
Sexy, scary man’s lips come to my ear, and I quiver as his breath tickles me. “Relax. We just wanna talk. It’s noisy out here with lots of ears.”
I notice he said nothing about not hurting me or anything of the sort as he pulls me. I walk with him, his hand still attached to me.Stupid, Tanner!
With bandana man in front of us, I notice his long braid comes down his back. The back of his leather vest says Ravage MC with a large skull in the center with flames coming out of the top. The word Georgia is on the bottom. The leather of the vest looks old, worn, and I bet pretty soft to the touch.
I can feel eyes everywhere, watching us as we move through the crowded space, both men and women’s. This is not how this was supposed to work out.
