Page 39 of Inflame Me
“What are you …?” Griff’s hand comes around my mouth, muffling my words, and my mother tries to get up from the couch.
“You stupid little bitch. Maybe I’ll just fuck the answers out of you,” he says loudly enough for my mother to hear as he presses his hard erection into my ass. Panic like no other hits. I shake my head and scream no.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” Dagger’s voice comes from the entryway of the living room.
I stop struggling and thank God that Dagger stayed. Dagger’s arm is extended, and at the end of it, his hand holds a silver gun. Oh, hell. He’s threatening a police officer.
“Who the fuck are you?” Griff stops for a beat. “Oh, you must be the baby daddy.”
“Damn fucking right, and if you don’t let go of my daughter, I’ll put a bullet in your fucking head,” Dagger replies.
My eyes move to my mom. She’s not saying it with words, but telling me though her eyes that everything is going to be okay. I sure as shit hope so.
“You won’t. Officer Miller out there would have your ass,” he gloats.
“Oh, you mean Matthew Miller, who owes thirty-seven thousand dollars in credit card bills, not to mention a house on the verge of getting repo’ed. Oh, and he has a wife and three children to take care of. That, Officer Miller?” Dagger’s eyes are cold and stony. “You don’t think I have something that will make all his problems disappear?”
Griff audibly swallows. “Bullshit.”
“You didn’t do your research very well.” Dagger shakes his head. “We don’t put up with bullshit. Let. Go. Of. My. Daughter.”
A pin prickle of fear slides up my spine as Griff pushes me head first into the couch, making me hit my mother’s legs.
“Give me your gun, Taser, and whatever the hell else you have on you. Slide them across the floor.”
Slowly, Griff does what he says, pulling out three guns, a knife, and Taser along with pepper spray.
“Now sit your ass in that chair and tell me everything about the case.” Dagger pulls out his phone, and then it looks like he’s sending out a text. “Tanner, go outside and stall Officer Miller. When you hear the bikes, you’ll know it’s time to bring him in.”
I nod, not really knowing what the hell else I am supposed to do. My mother says to trust him, and I really don’t have much of a choice at this point.
I rise and head out to the door. Shakily, I move up to Officer Miller, surprised that Dagger wanted me out here alone, but he must not see this guy as a threat.
“Get everything you need, Officer?”
He turns at my words from examining the car. I suck in a gasp at the look of it. When we drove to the house it was fine, but Dagger said a couple of the guys fixed it. I hadn’t seen it until this moment. The front end of the car is completely smashed in, looking exactly like it ran into a tree, just as we told Griff over the phone. I try to hide my reaction quickly.
“Looks cut and dry to me. Are you all right after this big of a hit?” he asks in concern.
“I’m fine.” I place my hands in my back pocket. “My mom got a little banged up, but we’re good.”
He goes around the car, snapping a couple of pictures and writing some things down in his notebook while I stand there and watch him.
“Shame what happened to James,” he says at the front of the car.
“Yes. My mother loved him.” That isn’t a lie. She did until he kept hitting her.
“Understandable.”
While the seconds tick into minutes, I feel the anxiety building up quickly. Finally, the low rumble of a motorcycle comes from the distance, and I close my eyes, feeling the comfort surround me with the sound. As the bikes pull into the driveway, Officer Miller comes to stand next to me.
My eyes are glued on Rhys: the way his muscles flex as he maneuvers the bike—heck, the way he looks on the bike. I’ve never pictured myself having a thing for a guy like Rhys, but it’s there.
Even though when he left earlier, it freaked me out, I have never been so happy to see him. He along with several of the club members turn off the engines to their bikes.
“Your father?” Officer Miller asks.
“No,” I answer.
