Page 9 of Bride for the Bikers

HARPER

I’min soooo much trouble.

I pull my phone out from under my boobs, where I shoved it earlier for safekeeping and turn on the shower to cover any noise. Can someone trace my location if I make a call? Or is that just a movie thing? Maybe I shouldn’t risk it, but after the day I’ve had, I need to hear that Mom is okay. I hit the contact number for the rehab center and someone answers after a few rings.

“Lillyglade Medical Center, Penny speaking. How can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m calling to check on Eileen Simmons? This is her daughter.”

“Oh! Harper! How are you, hun? How is your trip going?”

I look down at myself and a slightly manic giggle slips out. “Fine. It’s great. Everything’s fine.”

“Good! Your mom’s in great hands so take this time to recharge your batteries. Her recovery is right on schedule. We’re dialingback the medications so she’s starting to be more alert, but still sleeping most of the time. Her friends come to visit every day and talk to her. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

Something inside unwinds a tiny bit. Everything else might be messed up in my life right now, but Mom’s safe. No matter what happens, all this has been worth it. She took care of me by herself my whole life and I didn’t appreciate how hard that must’ve been until I had to do the same for her. “You’ll tell her I called if she asks for me, right? Tell her I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Of course, honey.”

I finish the call and glance at the mirror over the sink. The woman that looks back isn’t me. I don’t even recognize her.

I’ve got to get out of this dress. No matter how beautiful it is, it doesn’t feel like mine.

I nearly fall into the tub as I dance around contorting my arms to get at the hook between my shoulder blades. Once the hook is off and I’m working the zipper down, I’m nearly frantic as I pull it off, and rip out the bobby pins holding my hair in place, desperate to be free. I throw them aside, not caring where they go and ignoring the clatter of them bouncing around. The hotel bathroom looks like it hasn’t seen an update since the nineties, but as soon as the hot water hits my face, I let out a breath I feel like I’ve been holding since I first laid eyes on Vincent Mesner and got a sinking, sour feeling in my stomach.

After scrubbing until my skin is flushed pink and my fingers wrinkly, I put on the silk pajamas that my father’s stylist bought for me, along with all the other fancy clothes I was supposed to wear on my “honeymoon” with Devin. A guy I don’t even knowwell enough to hate. If the criminals—hot criminals, but come on, let’s be real—in the other room hadn’t shown up when they did, we’d be finishing the reception and heading to the airport for our flight to Hawaii right now, probably.

What happened after they drove me away? Is my face all over the news? Are the police looking for me?

I could check my phone and answer that question myself, but I don’t really want to know. I want to live in this bubble for just a little bit longer.

Someone bangs on the door. “Yo! Harper! Everything good in there?”

“I’ll be out in a sec!” I give myself another pass in the mirror. I’d throw away the pajamas too if I could, but it’s the only nightwear I’ve got. Other than that, I’m already feeling a lot more like myself. The eyes looking back at me are bloodshot and strained, but with the war paint scrubbed off and my hair down, I suddenly see me again.

With my massive wedding dress in my arms like a shield, I leave the bathroom and meet four very curious stares. Someone must have gone out to a gas station or a convenience store, because there’s a couple six packs of beer and bags of snacks spread out over the dresser.

“Fuck,” the one called Shadow, who seems to be in charge, whispers under his breath. Mossy eyes with flecks of gold and green rake over me.

I thought feeling more like myself was a good thing, but I hadn’t considered that without the makeup and dress, they are seeingme.Just me. Not Mesner’s daughter, the kidnapped bride, but atwenty-one year old college drop-out, who’s now very trapped in a hotel room with four very dangerous men.

They are all so different. Lightning is rougher than my usual type, but seems like the kind of guy I could meet at a bar, while his identical twin Thunder seems way more serious and intimidating. Outlaw, with his hard, black eyes and tousled red-brown curls, stares at me for a long moment before shaking his head and taking a swig out of the bottle in his hand. He’s the one that makes me the most nervous. If all four were like him, I would’ve hopped out of the car at the first opportunity and never looked back.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to take so long,” I mumble.

“We talked about it while you were in the shower. You take the bed by the wall and we’ll rotate using the other one tonight,” Shadow says, nodding towards the bed I was sitting on earlier.

“Are you sure? It’s a double,” I volunteer out of politeness before thinking about what that would mean. “Just to sleep. I didn’t mean—”

“If you wanna share, ain’t nobody here going to argue,” Lightning says with a sparkle in his warm chocolate eyes. “One at a time or you think you can handle us all?”

“Why would you want to? I thought I was a cold bitch who left her fiancé at the altar. Maybe I’ll stab you in your sleep or something,” I grumble as I climb onto the bed.

Before I know it, my back is pressed into the mattress and there’s a whole lot of man staring straight down at me, Lightning’s face is close enough that I can smell the sweet, hoppy scent of beer on his breath. The lighthearted joker is nowhere to be found. “Was that a threat?”

“Search her,” Shadow snaps.

“I was joking!”

---