King (Rogue Rebels MC 2)

“Jesus! Go! Don’t come near me!” I heard Valentina scream and it only boiled my blood more.

“Step away from her,” I grunted through gritted teeth, and the two guys looked at each other. They came at me at the same time, coordinated in their actions and I put myself on them. One of them punched me in the stomach while I grabbed the other one’s neck. When I went down to the floor, I took him with me.

The other one’s boot was over my face, coming at me but I rolled away. When I jumped up, I sprang at him again, catching him by surprise and I fell to the ground with him. My punches were hard and quick, and the second guy had by now made a run for it.

I didn’t stop hitting him though. I hit him till I felt his jaws crack open, till I knew he wouldn’t be able to get up off the floor.

When I looked up, Valentina was standing up from her chair, her hands were clasped to her mouth, and there was terror in her eyes. I stumbled as I got up from over the guy I had knocked out. Cries and gunshots and grunts were raging around us as I walked towards her.

With every step I took, Valentina’s eyes grew larger. She dragged her hands away from her mouth, and I saw that her lips were still parted. It was like time was standing still, and we were the only two people in that warehouse. I saw her gulp, something like a smile fluttered at the edge of her lips. Her breasts were rising and falling, and I was close enough to touch her.

But I stopped. I knew nothing about her anymore. I didn’t even know what she was doing here. Maybe I had made a mistake; maybe she wasn’t their prisoner, maybe she didn’t need to be rescued.

“Jesus…” she breathed my name out in a whisper as I stared at her.

“Valentina…” I said, her name catching in my throat because I hadn’t said it aloud in so many years.

“What are you…” I began to ask, but she cut me short.

“I was kidnapped,” she cried and threw herself at me. Valentina fell into my arms, and our bodies pressed together as I held her. I felt like this was another one of my dreams…that she wasn’t there. But maybe it was a nightmare because she was crying and she was hurt. I’d noticed the bruise on her jaw.

“King!” I heard Commando’s voice behind us and Valentina wriggled out of my arms. I grabbed her wrist as I turned to him, tugging her with me as I joined him a little distance away.

“We have most of them. We can get the kids out now,” Commando told me, and we nodded at each other.

“How are we going to do it?” I asked him, and I saw Commando’s gaze drift to Valentina, but only for a moment, he was looking at me again.

“The boys and I can take care of it here; you can leave if you need to be somewhere else. Get her out of here?” Commando said, and I heard the knowing tone in his voice. He had no idea who Valentina was, but he had noticed the grip I had on her hand. He could tell that she meant something to me. If there was anyone, out of all my brothers who would understand, it was Commando. Not too long ago, he had to save Ava from captivity as well.

I tipped my head at him and then turned to Valentina.

“Let’s get you out of here,” I said to her, and she took in a deep breath.

We ran through the dimly lit warehouse, jumping over knocked out bodies and ducking every time we heard a bullet ringing in the air. I covered her head with my arms as I guided her out towards the open exit of the warehouse. I didn’t care about what was happening, even though coming here had been my plan and I should have been back there with my brothers, getting the kids out.

I would have been the first one to put my life at risk here, and I had, but now that I had seen Valentina, nothing else mattered but her safety.

We burst through the exit and into the night air. In the distance, I could hear the rumble of motorcycles. Some of the Black Skulls who had managed to escape were making a run for it.

“Where are we going to go, Jesus?” she asked me and I turned to her. We were both panting, both relieved to have made it out of there.

“To my place,” I said and still holding her hand, I led her towards my parked Harley. I only let her go when I had her seated safely on the back of my bike. I could sense her eyes on me, watching my every move.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I heard her whisper in the dark as I took my place in front of her.

Chapter 6

Valentina

I was shaking like a leaf when Jesus opened the door to his apartment, and I stepped in. I was still in shock over everything that had happened. The kidnapping, being forced to watch those kids beating each other up…seeing Jesus again.

We had spoken very little since we left the warehouse. There were ten years of silence that we needed to overcome and I still couldn’t believe that it was actually him. That he had saved me from my captors.

Jesus switched on the lights of his apartment, and I looked around the place in awe. That skinny boy I used to know from ten years ago, who had nothing, not a penny to his name…now lived in his own place. It wasn’t a fancy place, in fact, it was quite sparse, but it was neat and clean and had everything in its place.

“Sit down, Valentina. We need to clean you up,” he said, and I whipped around to look at him again. We stared at each other in silence for a few moments. He looked different now, his bronze skin was tougher, and his body was buffed up. His hair looked healthy and long, and he had it tied in a ponytail. His chest was broad, stretching the thin material of his t-shirt, and with every step he took, I noticed the powerful muscles of his thighs. Jesus had come into himself. He had turned into a sexy piece of meat, and I did not doubt that he had a long queue of women drooling over him all the time.

I nodded my head quietly and sat down on his leather couch, and then he vanished somewhere into the house.