Trust The Devil (Devil's Riders 3)

God, he hoped nobody saw him.

Then again, he didn't really care.

As long as she liked them. He would so anything he could to get into Sally's house. Dear God, he wanted her to let him in. On more than one level.

He wanted to get her into bed obviously. Desperately. The woman had some sort of magic spell on him so that all he could think about was touching her, kissing her, holding her… and more.

But he also wanted to get to know her better. And even more than anything, he wanted to know what was making her so fearful. He had an overwhelming desire to protect her. To tell her everything was going to be okay. That he'd protect her, if she'd let him.

He was good at that. Protecting women.

He'd learned early, helping his mom look after his little sister, Marie. He'd had to protect them both. He hadn't always succeeded, but as he got older, it got easier.

Their dad had been fast to drink and even faster with his fists. But the old drunk hadn't stood a chance against an angry fifteen year old Donnie.

Mean old bastard.

Donnie pushed the thought of his father aside and readjusted the flowers. He hoped she wouldn't mind him just showing up like this but it couldn't be helped. It wasn’t like she’d given him any other options.

He didn't have her damn phone number!

But he'd get it today. Damn straight he would.

He pulled up in front of her house. He felt a bit nervous as he walked up to her front stoop and knocked. He heard pattering little footsteps and smiled. Then he heard a chain being unhooked. And another chain. And a couple of locks.

Damn, the place was like Fort Knox!

She peeked out from a sliver of the door. There was still some sort of chain on it. He smiled, even though the number of locks was throwing him. How had he not noticed that before?

"Hi Sally."

He grinned and held up the flowers.

"These are for you."

She just blinked at him like a tiny little owl. Probably figuring out that she had to open the door to accept the flowers. He felt a bit like a heel, knowing he was being pushy. But she was so damn elusive that he didn't really have a choice. If he wanted her, he was going to have to use every trick in the book.

And God Damn did he want her.

"Oh. Thank you."

She closed the door to unhook the chain and opened it up again, wider this time. He almost swallowed his tongue when he saw her. She was wearing a pink tank top and a pair of tight jeans. Her feet were bare and her cute little toes were painted a sparkly peach color.

Jesus, the woman was trying to kill him.

He handed her the flowers while trying to send her a message telepathically.

Let me in let me in let me in let me in…

"Would you like to come in?"

He grinned so wide he felt like his face would split in two. Every inch he got closer to her felt like a triumph. It wasn’t like she was playing hard to get though.

Everything about Sally was real.

He stepped inside and watched as she locked the door again. He was staring at her door as her busy little hands clicked each lock into place.

She had eight locks.

He felt a cold weight settling in the pit of his stomach. That’s when he saw the baseball bat by the door. Fuck. He knew then.

He knew without a fucking doubt.

"I'll just put these in water…. is something wrong Donnie?"

He tried to keep his face devoid of emotion. He was shocked at how angry he was at the thought of someone threatening a sweet little thing like Sally. His sweet little thing.

"Has someone been bothering you, Sally?"

She blanched and took in a sharp little breath but didn't say anything. He was practically vibrating with the need to punch somebody's face in. Whoever it was that made her this afraid.

"Tell me and I'll take care of it."

"No- there's just been- a lot of break ins around here. I'm alone here so…"

She licked her lips nervously. She was lying. He knew it.

"I'll get a vase."

He followed her into the kitchen. It was faded yellow and white, run down but spotlessly clean. He saw a guitar leaning under the window by the table. The window had bars on it.

He looked back the way they had come. Bars on those windows too.

A can of pepper spray on the counter top.

Fuck.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?"

He nodded and she gestured to the kitchen table. He sat down. Five minutes ago he would have been negotiating to sit on the couch in the living room. Much easier to get horizontal on a couch.

But now… now he knew that something was very wrong here. Now he had other things on his mind.