Page 17 of Regret

Chapter 7

If Hunter had a dollar for each time he had to make use of a fire escape rather than the front door, he’d be living in a bigger mansion than Adam—and he definitely would not have been in the middle of this fucking mess saving a stubborn as shit woman’s ass—who he hardly knew.

He looked down from where they were standing. Of course she had to live on the top floor. To have the woman you were about to rescue from a bunch of SUV fuckers live on the ground floor would be just too much to ask, wouldn’t it? Now he had to come up with a way to get her stubborn ass down the fire escape since everyone knew women and heights were always a recipe for squealing and broken nails.

Just as he turned around, he glanced back into the apartment and saw two men bursting through the front door and rushing toward the window.

Fuck it. He’d have to carry her down.

Hunter slammed the window shut, trying to buy them some time, then flung around, ready to haul Scarlet over his shoulder. And then he balked.

Scarlet was already halfway down the fire escape, taking two steps at a time, hauling ass like she had Lucifer himself on her heels.

Damn. He was impressed…and very fucking far behind.

“Scarlet! Wait up!”

Hunter jumped over the rail and landed on the level below before rushing down the stairs. Scarlet didn’t pause for a second, and Hunter wasn’t sure he would be able to catch up with her. And the best part, she was doing all that sprinting down the stairs in high heeled boots. Im-fucking-pressive.

The second Scarlet’s feet hit the ground she ran toward where both their motorcycles were parked. He had managed to almost catch up with her, then looked back to see the two men running down the fire escape after them. From the corner of his eye he also saw two other men storming out of the building entrance and rushing toward them.

Holy fuck. Was this woman on the world’s most wanted list? Because damn, who would send out so many men in one night to try to catch one woman?

Just as he looked back in front of him, a fist came out of nowhere and almost connected with his face. Luckily, Hunter was slightly quicker than that and ducked out of the way, narrowly missing a blow to his jaw.

As he came back up, he swung his right arm and landed a huge blow against the guy’s head. Without pausing he brought his left fist up and made doubly sure this guy wouldn’t be getting off the pavement any time soon.

He heard Scarlet trying to start the Kawasaki’s engine, but there was nothing more than a choking sound.

Great. Of course the universe would not make this easy for them.

“Come on. Come on. You son of a bitch!” Scarlet kept on trying to start the damn thing, but it didn’t give.

Hunter climbed on his Ducati and started the ignition. “Get on.”

“Fuck you.” She swung the ignition again, but nothing.

“For fuck’s sake. Get on. Now!”

She didn’t even glance his way. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Hunter looked over to the apartment building and saw the men approaching them fast.

“Woman, if you do not get that fine-looking ass of yours on this bike right now, I will pull you over my lap and drive through the streets of Chicago with your butt in the fucking air. That sound fun to you?”

Scarlet let out a string of curses before she finally got off her bike. And of course, just to prove the point that this woman clearly had anger issues, she kicked the black-and-white Kawasaki just as the words, “Fucking piece of useless shit,” left her mouth.

Hunter grabbed her elbow and pulled her toward him, knowing they no longer had a second to spare. Just as Scarlet swung her leg over the bike, getting on behind him, one of the men came close enough to reach for her.

Her one hand gripped Hunter’s shoulder and he took that as his cue. With screeching tires, he pulled away, but not before Scarlet managed to kick the asshole who had reached for her right in the fucking nuts.

Poor bastard. Hunter had firsthand experience what that pain felt like. That guy’s balls would be bruised for the next month while he continuously had a metallic taste in his mouth from burping blood.

Within seconds they were two blocks away as he sped through the streets like a total maniac.

While taking turn after turn trying to get the SUVs off their ass, Hunter tried to come up with some sort of plan. But nada. There was no way in hell he would be able to figure out what the right thing was here if he didn’t have all the facts. So that meant he had to get this stubborn ass woman currently squeezing the breath out of him as she held on for dear life to fucking talk. And something told him that wouldn’t be any easy task, but Hunter loved a challenge.

Soon, after he was sure he lost the SUVs he turned into the underground parking area of his apartment building. The sound of the engine roared, echoing between the concrete walls. With a few more revs of his engine, Hunter parked the bike and switched it off.

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