Look out.
Chapter Seven
Jake
It had been a week. A whole week of this bullshit. I could feel the walls closing in on me, all the time. The only time I felt free was when I was riding.
I climbed onto my bike, eager to get as far from home as possible. I was avoiding my brothers again. Every damn day either Daniel or Jackson had cornered me, trying to talk me into staying on. Being part of the horse breeding business again.
Permanently.
I wanted to be here for the old man. I wanted to help my brothers. Even to agree to stay on for a time until the will because a non issue. But every instinct I had was telling me to run. Not to get boxed in. Not to settle. Not to be tamed.
The estate was a cage to me, and I was like a wild animal clawing to get out.
It's not like there wasn't room for all four of us in the house. The four of us, the staff, even dad’s nurses. There was room for dozen more people, truth be told. The mansion was almost a hundred and fifty years old and enormous. It was built to impress and intimidate and it did both tasks admirably. There were fifteen bedrooms, sitting rooms, ten baths, an enormous kitchen, galley, bar room, study, library, billiard room, conservatory, dining room, living room and drawing room.
Yes, we had one room just for drinking and another one just for playing pool.
That didn’t even cover the stables, which encompassed two large buildings, including a training facility where riders came for lessons and to stable their horses. Then there was the garage with servants’ quarters above it, a greenhouse and numerous storage sheds. The largest shed was bigger and better equipped than most people's houses.
We sure as shit weren't going to get into each other’s hair. Hell, if I skipped meals the only place I saw them was at the damned liquor cabinet. And none of us liked to talk when we were imbibing. To a southern man, drinking was serious business.
But it wasn’t all bad here.
In some ways, it might be time to take a break from running. Try something different for a change. And I missed working with the animals. Daniel was telling the truth when he said I was a natural with difficult animals. I was. And they did something for me, too. Calmed me somehow. Gave me a purpose.
But I couldn't think with my big brothers breathing down my neck all the damn time. I’d dutifully gone to see my father each day before drinking myself into oblivion. Today was my first sober day in a week.
I needed to clear my head. A good ride would do that. Or a good fuck.
Or both.
Immediately that hot little waitress from the club sprang to mind. I felt my groin tighten at the thought of her. All week I’d been ready to pop, just thinking about her. I felt like a goddamn teenager in the throws of puppy love. I didn’t like feeling this way. But it didn’t matter. She had her hooks in me and she didn’t even know it.
I started the bike and pulled out into the road, not intending to ride anywhere in particular. I roamed the back roads, the wind at my back. The sky was starting to get dark when I recognized the stretch of road I was on. I smiled grimly as I pulled into the back entrance of the Country Club.
I almost laughed out loud. I’d been riding aimlessly for hours. Somehow I’d ended up here.
I knew why.
I was looking for her, of course. Even though she hadn’t given me the slightest bit of encouragement. She’d practically hissed at me like an alley cat when I tried to joke with her last time we’d spoken.
I just couldn't seem to stay away.
I parked my bike and waited outside the service entrance far from the overhead lights. I knew I would catch her out here eventually. If she was working, sooner or later she'd sneak out for a smoke.
Twenty minutes later my prayers were answered.
I watched from the shadows as she looked around nervously, then headed for a copse of trees on the far side of the lot. Right near where I was parked.
I smirked as she walked gracefully across the parking lot. Having no clue what she was walking towards. Like a deer walking right towards the hunter.
Let the games begin.
Chapter Eight
Elle
"You really are a bad girl, aren't you?"
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of the husky voice coming from the shadows behind me. It was Jake Delancey. He was here, lurking in the bushes. Naturally. I turned and saw him, trying to act like he hadn’t been in my every thought for the entire week. He was leaning against a motorcycle at the ass end of the parking lot.