Final Ride (Lords of Mayhem 4)

His warm hand covered hers and she tensed. “Going to have to hold on tighter than that unless you want to fly off.” She squeezed his waist. “Better.”

He took off, and she pressed her body against his back. He smelled like leather and man. The soft material was a gentle caress against her cheek. Inhaling deeply, she focused on the feel of his muscular body and the vibrating beast between her legs. Anything to block out the event replaying in her mind.

They pulled into the new compound and she rejoiced in the quiet isolated area. Here I won’t be a sitting duck. Hawk cut the engine.

“Get off. I need to back her in.”

Slightly dazed, she stumbled as she got off the bike. His hands wrapped around her biceps, keeping her upright.

“Shit girl, you’re a mess right now.”

She peered up at him and clutched her fury to her like a blanket. “I think I’m allowed to be right now.”

“Don’t give me lip. You won’t like how I deal with it,” he said. His gravelly tone stole her breath away. She blinked and took a step back. This was not a man to mouth off to. She knew it, but she couldn’t stop baiting him.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the others into a cabin a distance away. Her stomach clenched. Where is he taking me? He unlocked the door, and she hesitated in the threshold.

“Get inside. You’ve caused enough trouble for one day, don’t you think?”

His words stung. She slunk inside like a puppy with its tail between its legs. He closed the door behind her and leaned against it, studying her with a narrowed gaze. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

“If I knew I would. I left the library, got into my car and almost got my brains blown out.”

“For no reason?” he said skeptically.

She pursed her lips. “I have an idea why.”

“You care to share? ‘Cause I’m not getting any younger.”

Her stomach churned. “Shouldn’t Tiny be here?” she asked stalling as she asked about the club president. The calm man put her at ease. This snarky vice president, not so much.

“He’s taking care of his heavily pregnant wife. I’m the one in charge of you. Now talk.”

“I found some information that could be damaging to Emmit and Linden’s operation,” she said, eager to take down the bastards who’d nearly killed her friends. The two men were the last ones keeping the sex-trade business alive. The group of four started as indulged rich, entitled sadistic frat boys. Until they crossed a line and invested their money in a sick and twisted business that allowed them to indulge in their own perversions.

“And you didn’t share this, because?” Hawk asked.

“I wanted to be sure. If I came to you with bunk scuttlebutt it’d look bad on me and hurt my credibility.”

“You should’ve brought it to the table,” he said shaking his head.

“It’s not my table.”

“The hell it’s not. You’re under our protection. That means your stupid decisions directly affect us. You don’t act alone anymore.”

“I didn’t act—”

“You did something. Or do you think you’ve pissed off so many people that this is unrelated to the sex trade?”

Heat flooded her cheeks. He was right, and she hated him for it.

“You listening to me?”

“Impossible not to,” she snapped.

He grunted. “Good to see they didn’t completely break you. But I suggest you tone that shit down.”

She ground her teeth together. The quicker I tell him everything. The quicker I can put space between us. “I did some digging into the men’s past and I found a pattern. They liked to pick pretty, young, naïve girls and exploit them. They separated the girls from everything they knew, broke them down, and trained them to respond as the men saw fit. Fear, isolation, and physical and mental abuse can cause blind obedience. I saw it first hand with Juliette. I can’t say they have those girls they choose as their personal playthings working at the club, but I noticed a change in a few of them. They pulled out of school and retreated to live damn near reclusive lives. That’s not normal.”