Page 17 of Holland
“I’m not made of glass dumbass it will take more than what those assholes did to me to break me.” Bella smiled to lessen the sting of her reprisal. I looked over her obvious wounds checking her fingernails which looked like they’d been put through a meat grinder and her elbows didn’t look much better.
“Chill, I got those while trying to escape. Crawled across the concrete floor, made it all the way to the door before dick for brains came through the door. I was this close to escaping on my own, even with two legs that didn’t want to work.” Damn she was one tough woman, she didn’t wait around to be rescued, she rescued herself. That shit was sexy as fuck.
“Holly, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Sorry sugar but how long until you can ride?” Matt was right we needed to get out of there, but I had a feeling her legs still weren’t working completely. I was ready to tell him we’d wait ‘til she was ready when she spoke up.
“Don’t be sorry, I want to get the fuck out here as soon as possible. My legs are starting to get feeling back, I’m not sure how long it will take for them to be a hundred percent though. I’m even willing to forego a shower and a clothes change if it means we can book it out of here sooner.” I smiled down at her squeezing her shoulder.
“Good as soon as your legs are operational we’re out of here. I don’t know if anyone saw us at the club or if Lorenzo has surveillance cameras anywhere. Didn’t see any, but better safe than sorry. I’ll get the rest of the guys ready to roll out as soon as you give us the signal.” We both nodded at Bart in response as he and Matt walked out the door. Which left me and Bella alone together in a hotel room, with a king size bed. The things that were running through my head that I wanted to do to her needed to be shut down. She’d just been through some traumatic shit; she didn’t need some asshole she barely knew lusting after her.
“Are you hungry? I can run down to the vending machine and grab you something.” I didn’t really want to leave her alone in the room, but I also wanted to take care of her; there was something about her that called to all my protective instincts.
“NO! Don’t leave me.” She flung her hands out as if to stop me.
“Shit, that sounded pathetic didn’t it.” I grabbed the office chair from the tiny desk in the corner and sat down in front of her.
“Look Belladonna, you’ve been through some scary shit. No one will fault you for being scared, not me, not Bart, and definitely not Matt. Both of their women had shit happen to them, I won’t go into detail, but they know sometimes you just need time to heal. And well my sisters went through some shit that changed them both.” Her head was bent down, and she was plucking nonexistent lint on her shirt.
“Please call me Bella, creepo Vincent called me Belladonna.” Her voice sounded so small. I wanted the girl who was full of fire back.
“Is Vincent the guy that was with you? Did he work for Lorenzo?” I didn’t want to say that Matt killed, but we both knew who I was talking about. If she was calling him a creepo chances were he’d hurt her or tried to hurt her. Damn if that didn’t make me want to raise him from the dead so I could kill him again.
“Yeah he was psycho number one in Lorenzo’s little army of goons. Told me after Lorenzo was through with me I was all his. Said my name like it was a prayer, creepy as fuck.” She still kept her head bent while she talked; I could tell she wasn’t used to talking like this to someone. I had a feeling that she didn’t let many people see her vulnerable, and right now she was definitely feeling vulnerable.
“Well his ass ain’t getting you or anyone else for that matter.” That brought a small smile to her lips, her very kissable lips. Damn it why couldn’t I think about her without my dick getting involved.
“Fuck yeah, I hope he rots in fucking hell.” Some of her spirit seemed to come back.
“He killed one of the other guys, Marcel, for touching my boobs. The way he talked about Lorenzo was like a religious fanatic, creepy as fuck.” It sounded like we’d gotten to her in time, but until she told me herself, I’d proceed with caution.
“That must have been the guy we found at the cabin. Crimson told us where to start looking for you. When you weren’t there, and we found the body we figured you’d been taken. She told us about Lorenzo’s club being in downtown Chicago but didn’t know the name. Luckily the asshole has an ego the size of California and named the club after himself.” I shook my head at the thought. Lorenzo was sloppy which meant he had people covering for him. I was pretty sure the guy who did all the covering for him was dead in the basement of his club. It worried me a little because if no one was there to clean up Lorenzo’s messes and keep him under control then he was even more dangerous to us. There was no way I was going to bring that up to either Bella or the guys though. No sense in causing undo panic if we got out of there without being seen.
“I’m glad Crimson had you, she hasn’t had a lot of people she can count on. She thinks of you like an older brother, okay a hot older brother.” Shaking my head because I knew how Crimson felt, or at least how she felt before I left her at the clubhouse. Bliss and Jesse would take care of her, make sure she stayed out of trouble; at least I hoped they would. If the phone call with Brickhouse was any indication, then they probably weren’t doing such a good job.
“Yeah, she’s a good kid. Who is hopefully staying out of trouble while I’m away. Do you want to call her?” I reached for my phone but Bella put her hand out to stop me.
“No, let’s wait ‘til we are far away from here. The less she knows the safer she is. Lorenzo knows I have a sister; I wouldn’t put it past him to use her to get to me. We have to keep her safe. Do you understand? Crimson’s safety is your priority. I can take care of myself, and I can handle a hell of a lot more than she can.” Bella took a shaky breath before continuing.
“She deserves to be happy; to go to college, to meet boys, to date, to get married. She deserves all that shit and if something happens to me you need to make sure that happens. Do that shit for me or I’ll chop your balls off and feed them to you. You got me?” Tears were on the edges of her lashes, and her voice cracked just a little. This woman amazed me; instead of worrying about her own life, she was worrying about her sister.
“I got you, but Bella she’s just as adamant about making sure you’re safe you realize that don’t you. If I save her at the cost of you, she’ll never forgive me. So how about we both agree to keeping you both safe so I can keep my balls right where they are. I kind of like where they are and want to keep them there as long as possible.” That earned me a bigger smile and little laughter.
“Fine, keep your balls if you must. I think my legs are coming back to life. No idea what the fuck they gave me, but whatever it is this shit doesn’t like to wear off, probably some kind of horse tranquilizer. Isn’t that what the mob uses?” She laughed as she spun her body to the edge of the bed, placing her feet on the floor. I reached out to help her stand and was rewarded with a glare.
“Hey, I’m just trying to keep you from falling. We need to get out of here. Remember? Let me help you. Scout’s honor I won’t tell anyone you needed help.” I did some kind of symbol with my fingers hoping she would believe I’d been in the scouts. Judging by her pirate eye squint and the shaking of her head, I’m going to say it didn’t work. But she didn’t push me away and let me help her stand up.
“Alright they seem to be holding me up alright; no swaying and I can feel my feet. Now let’s take a few walks around the room to get this blood flowing again.” Leaning on my arm, her breasts squished between us, she started walking around the room with me. The longer we walked the less she needed to lean on me. When we’d made a whole circuit around the room without her needing to lean against me, she did a little happy dance.
“That’s right baby I’m back, time to get the hell out of Dodge, or in this case Chicago.” Her smile spread across her face lighting up her eyes. I had the urge to kiss her; she was so damn tempting.
“Wow if you’re this excited about walking, I bet riding on the back of my bike really gets you going.” Bella froze and looked at me.
“Ride? With you? On the back of your bike? Didn’t anyone bring a car? A truck? A plane maybe?” She looked upset at the prospect of riding with me.
“No, I’m sorry we all brought our bikes. It was faster to travel that way. If you don’t want to ride with me there are a couple of guys with us, you could ride with.” There was something deep in my gut screaming at me not to let her ride with anyone else, but I had to tamp that shit down. She wasn’t the kind of woman who took well to feeling like she was owned. I didn’t want to own her, I wanted to give her the freedom she’d lacked for so long, while at the same keeping her entirely to myself. Okay so I’m a greedy bastard; sue me.
“It’s just that...I haven’t ridden on the back of someone else’s bike in a long time. Last time I road bitch was when my husband was alive. Swore I’d never ride bitch again.” Her arms were crossed giving me that look like she was ready to fight me over this.
“Don’t think of it as riding bitch, think of it as the road to freedom with me as the driver.” She didn’t look convinced.
