Page 398 of Hell Hath No Fury
HOSTILE FATES
A STEEL STALLIONS NOVEL
INDIA R. ADAMS
DARING FATE
Blood smeared against the outside of the store windows as my weakening legs stumbled through snowy slush in the dark, my Harley boots never feeling so heavy. Using my right shoulder to help support me, I didn’t dare stop to catch my breath. No way. My enemy was hot on my trail.
Staggering, I tried to shut out the memories of my father roaring,“Lynx!”as I was taken from him. Putting pressure on my bleeding wound, I peered at my cell phone one more time. No miracle had replaced the cracked piece of shit. It still wasn’t offering me a way to call my pops and tell him I’d escaped, nor a way to tell his men to come and rescue my ass.
Separated from my brothers, I had no choice but to find a place to hide. Did I prefer a quiet place so I could gain my wits? Fuck yeah. But a dark corner is where my foe would have searched first. A dark corner is where they would’ve finished me off. So, I chose to follow the low rumble of music thumping inside some nightclub. Instinct told me that was the last place anyone—especially our rivals—would expect me to hide, buying me time for my own club to find me. It had to be warmer inside, anyway.
Mustering my failing strength, I pushed off the store front to attempt to appear normal. Not that it was needed. By the time I made it to the club’s entrance, a fight had broken out in the line of patrons waiting to get in. Bouncers and bystanders were too preoccupied to notice a severely injured biker slipping into the deafeningly loud establishment.
Inside, the DJ had some dance mix, “Heads Will Roll,” pounding in my ears while I inspected my surroundings. It was so dark there was no need to squint, but the pain in my stomach was taking a toll. Sweat had already gathered on my upper lip as I searched for a bathroom where I could grab paper towels or something to plug the hole in my gut, and possibly highjack someone’s phone.
Being 6’ 2”, I easily spotted the hallway where I suspected there was a bathroom. Groaning, I realized this place was well past legal capacity. The overcrowded dance floor spilled into the path that led to the hallway.
Fuck.
Having no option but to go back out the front door, which was definitely a no-go, I exhaled and winced as I started pushing through the patrons at the bar and headed for the dance floor.
Beams of lights blinked to the pulsations of the music, encouraging bodies to bounce up and down and into each other, compounding my dire state. I dreaded entering the shoulder-to-shoulder moving crowd, but again had no safer alternative.
Every time someone rubbed against me, causing me more pain, I wanted to pull out my gun and shoot, but then I remembered my piece was gone. Hence me running. All I could do was grimace in discomfort and keep my eye on the hallway, demanding my body get me there.
Fortunately, the partygoers were so self-absorbed that no one noticed or reacted as I pushed through them, leaving smears of blood. Had they been aware, screams may have broken out, notifying the bouncers of the wolf amongst their sheep.
Due to blood loss, I felt drugged under the lights, my staggering mistaken for dance moves. Heads lolled and nodded to the music, everyone surrounding me still completely unaware of the dead man walking.
Once to the center of the crowd, exhaustion doubled and distorted my thoughts.
Where am I?
As if my condition wasn’t critical enough, the set of green eyes staring at me was about to finish me off. Unlike everyone around us, she stood still, directly in front of me, studying my face while her closed hand slipped into her pocket. In between blinking lights, I read her lips. They said, “Your eyes.”
Too fucked from the bullet in my gut to remember I was dying, I smirked. I was used to this response from females. My eyes were a haunting light grey that made panties fall in my favor. But no smile appeared on the young woman’s face. Her lips said, “You’re in trouble.”
I am?Pain suddenly kicked back in, causing me to wince.Ah, fuck.
I peered over her 5’ 9” frame and scanned for the hallway, that is until I felt a finger poke at my cut. I looked down to see her, noticing she was pointing to my patch that read Vice President. Her lips read, “How’d you get in here?”
With a snarling upper lip, I said, “I go wherever I want.”
The music was too loud for her to hear me, but she clearly got my point.
Then I got hers when she gestured to my bloody hand trying to hold my stomach together. Her expression said, ‘That attitude is working well for ya’.
No longer denying I was in deep shit, I surrendered with a nod and tried to step around her. I guess my body preferred Green Eyes’ company because my legs chose that moment to cave, causing me to stumble into her.
I thought her body stiffened in fear, but bravery was all she had to offer. She shoved her chest against mine in an attempt to help steady me as my head lulled forward. Her hands went tomy shoulders to hold me up as she spoke in my ear. “VP, do you know where you are?”
Trying to shake my head because I was clueless, my clammy cheek touched hers. Green Eyes’ body was warm and soft, instantly comforting me in my dazed state.
As other bodies bounced around us, she told me, “You’re in the Devil’s playground. And he doesn’t like challengingalphas.”
Not giving a fuck about the devil, who I’d made my bitch long ago—an amused Green Eyes had already pegged me right—and being on the verge of passing out, my eyes rolled back in my head as I dared to grin. “Smart girl.”
