Page 3 of Riding Hard

“Can you please tell me where I am?” she asked again.

“You’re in the hospital, and I’m Owen Blaine. That’s my brother, Maverick. You were knocked out in the ladies’ room at the bar we were at. I think someone stole your purse too.” Yeah, she remembered exactly who took her purse, but that wasn’t something she was going to share with either of them. She’d save that for the police, as soon as she was up to going to the station to file a report.

“Well, I appreciate you getting me to the hospital, but I think that I can take it from here,” she said, sitting up. She immediately had to lie back down. She felt nauseous and dizzy. “The room is spinning.”

“You have a concussion and can’t get up,” Owen warned. “You’ll need to stay here over night,” he added.

“I can’t do that,” she said. “He’ll find me here and finish what he started.” The thought of Nate finding her in the hospital and actually using the gun he had, to kill her, scared the hell out of her.

“Who will?” Maverick asked.

“My boss,” she almost whispered, “he did this to me. He had a gun.”

“Why would your boss want to hurt you?” Owen asked.

“That is a long story, and my head is killing me,” she whispered. The less they knew, the better. She was going to have to figure out how to handle Nate on her own because dragging strangers into her mess wouldn’t be fair to either of them.

“I’ll stay with you tonight,” Owen offered. “That way, you can get some rest and not have to worry about your boss getting in here.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she insisted.

“Well, I wasn’t asking, I was letting you know that I’ll be right here for the night. Then, when you get discharged, you’re coming home with me,” he said.

“Oh, I can’t do that,” she breathed. “I don’t even know you.”

“Sure you do—I’m the guy from the bar who you turned down. You can’t go back to your place. I’m betting your boss knows where you live,” he said.

“Good point,” she said.

“He’s right, you can’t go back to your place. So, you need to decide—are you going home with Owen or me?” Maverick asked, puffing out his chest, making her giggle. Tilly groaned and grabbed her head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make it worse,” he said.

“You didn’t,” she said, “they say laughter is the best medicine. Listen, you guys can’t just take me in. I don’t want to be anyone’s problem and if you get involved in this, you’ll be in over your heads, just like I am.”

“How about you let us decide what we will and won’t be involved in? We want to help you out,” Owen said.

“Well, I will need a place to lay low for a bit, until I can figure out what to do about Nate,” she said.

“Nate?” Maverick asked.

“Yeah, he’s my boss—the one who knocked me out,” she said. The thought of going back to her place scared the hell out of her and Nate didn’t know either of the big bikers standing by her bedside. If she went home with one of them, she’d be able to take her time to figure out her next move.

Owen

Owen felt as though he was holding his breath waiting for the pretty red head to answer Maverick’s question. “Um, we don’t even know your name,” he breathed.

“That’s another good reason why neither of you should take me home with you. It’s Matilda, by the way, but everyone calls me Tilly.”

“That’s an unusual name,” Maverick said.

“Oh?” Tilly questioned, “and, Maverick is so normal?” Owen had to admit, he really liked that this woman seemed to like to give his older brother shit as much as he did.

“Good point,” Mav breathed.

“Well, I was named after my grandmother and everyone called her Matilda, so I guess I got stuck with Tilly. I don’t mind, really. I don’t know anyone else with my name. I got her red hair and her name. She was really a wonderful person, so, I’d say that I’m lucky.”

“I was named after my grandfather,” Owen said. “My mom wanted to name one of my brothers after him, but they were twins, and she didn’t want to give one a special family name and not the other. So, she waited to give it to me.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Maverick grumbled, “you’re very special. Now, can you please decide who you will be going home with?” He stared Tilly down and she sighed.

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