Page 36 of The Biker Alien

“What did you plan?” I ask, staring at the goons instead of him.

“I was going to let you flee to safety while I remained behind.”

“I was bait. He was planning on killing you.”

“He would’ve tried. I was hoping to kill him first.”

“His men would’ve killed you if you had.”

“I never said I planned on leaving there alive,” he says.

Now, I do turn to look at him. “You have a death wish?”

“I was the reason why you were shot at, why you were kidnapped. They came to your place of business to harass you—”

“Actually, they came to pay me handsomely to work on their bikes and their bikes alone,” I correct.

He opens his mouth and then shuts it.

I blow a breath out of my nose. “I want to go to my house,” I say.

Alec shakes his head. “Let’s figure out how to lose our tail and get back to the mainland, okay? Then we can talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I argue, but he doesn’t listen to me.

Typical.

“I’m going to talk to the captain,” he says, and he walks away as if he can accomplish anything he puts his mind to.

The frustrating part is that he probably can.

Despite myself, I follow. My stomach doesn’t appreciate my walking on the moving ship. We’re not even going all that fast.

“We’re being chased,” Alec is saying to the captain.

“Have you contacted the authorities yet?” the captain asks.

“Yes,” he says, and I lift my eyebrows.

Is he lying or telling the truth?

What about Josh? Is he all right? I sure as hell hope so.

The two of them continue to talk as I walk away and pull out my phone. Stacy has been blowing it up, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. And it’s not because she wants to tell me about her date.

When I call her, though, she doesn’t answer, so I leave a message.

“Hey, Stace. I’m fine. For now. I, ah, don’t know what all is going on, but I’m okay for now. I was kidnapped, but Alec… Alec came to save me, and I don’t know what I’m doing to do from here, but I just wanted to give you an update. I hope you’re fine, that your date went well, and maybe you could’ve bent the rules a bit? You only live once.” I swallow hard. “Love ya.”

I hang up. Normally, I can be a lot smoother when leaving a voicemail, considering I have to do it all the time for work, but right now, my nerves are on edge.

I fish out Josh’s card and call him. I’m a bit amazed that no one took my phone from me when I had been captured, but I’m not complaining.

“Officer?” I say as soon as he picks up.

“Who is this?”

“It’s Teri. Teri Fletcher.”

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