Rocket (Hell's Handlers MC 5)

“You lied!” she screamed each time her fist bounced off his hard body. “You lied, you lied, you lied.”

After what felt like hours, her screams turned to sobs. Without a thought for the techniques she just learned, Chloe drove her exhausted right arm forward, missing Logan by a mile. The momentum of her traveling arm unbalanced her and were it not for Logan’s quick reflexes, she’d have crashed to the ground.

Instead, she found herself cradled against his chest and on the move.

“Put me down,” she ordered. Damn her voice for sounding so weak in that moment. But she couldn’t help it. She was tired. Completely drained from the intense physical activity.

And from days of holding onto her anger.

Months really. Ever since she’d been kidnapped, she’d had a knot of anger and hatred swirling just beneath her sternum.

“I can’t do that,” Logan said, moving freely as though she hadn’t just punched him a hundred times.

“Where are we going?”

“My room,” he said as they exited the makeshift gym and entered the room she’d occupied the last few days.

He set her down on the edge of the bed then sank to his knees at her feet. “W-what are you doing?” she asked as he lifted a gloved hand.

He didn’t answer, just worked the glove off her hand, tossed it on the ground, then began unwinding the wrap.

Chloe had no idea what to do in that moment. The anger of moments ago had faded. Sailing out through a barrage of fists and accusations as she pummeled Logan. All that remained was a hollow emptiness in her chest.

Oh, and questions. So many questions. But in that moment, she wasn’t sure she had the reserves to start firing inquiries at Logan. So she watched the gentle, almost tender way he held her hand as he unwound the rest of the long wrap.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he lifted her hand, stroking his thumb over her reddened knuckles. “Sorry I lied and sorry I hurt you.” He pressed his lips to her knuckles. “You overdid it. They’ll be sore tomorrow.”

As the rough pads of his fingers stroked over the back of her palm, she shivered. She searched his face, his eyes, looking for what, she wasn’t entirely sure, but all she found was sincerity, remorse, and even pain. “Why?” she asked in what sounded more like a croak than her normal voice.

He sighed as he repeated the process on the second side, starting with removing the glove. “I’d been following you every Friday and Saturday night. Watched you leave the bar with a different man each time.” His gravelly voice filled with displeasure.

Unease slithered over her. Shit, what must he have thought of her, seeing her head to a motel with man after man?

“The first few times, I had no idea what you were doing, or why. I thought you were out of your fucking mind. After what you’d been through, to leave with men you didn’t know?” He was tense as hell. Muscles bunched, his fists curled on his thighs. “Pissed me the fuck off.”

Both hands free now, Chloe rubbed them together and swallowed. This man was dangerous. In the literal sense. If he wanted to hurt her, he could. And there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to protect herself. Hell, chances were high the handcuffs she’d used to secure him to the bed were child’s play to him. He probably could have snapped those headboard slats in two any damn time he wanted.

Yet, she didn’t feel so much as a niggle of unease around him. Even now as his mood trended toward a darker side.

Rolling his shoulders, he seemed to calm somewhat. “I ran through every scenario in my head. Maybe you were dealing drugs, maybe it was a work thing I didn’t understand. Maybe some kind of off-the-wall therapy. And of course, I wondered if you were fucking them. You became an obsession I eventually couldn’t resist. So, I became one of your guys.”

“It was only supposed to be the one time,” he plowed on. “I vowed it would only be once. To find out exactly what you were doing. So what did it matter who you thought I was? You would have run from me had I been truthful.” His gaze never wavered from hers as he gave her a truth she had no idea how to handle. “And then I had you. And you were so fucking brave. So fucking beautiful when you came. There was no way in hell I couldn’t do it again. So I kept going. With you and with the lies.”

Chloe’s heart plummeted to the ground. It shouldn’t have. Whatever this screwed-up relationship had morphed into, it started with her using him and him lying to her, not any kind of romantic notion. She had no right to be upset about his reasons for leaving the bar with her. But it still irked her. The woman in her wished he’d left with her because he wanted her. Not because he was curious about her odd behavior.