After the Ride (Night Riders Motorcycle Club Book 2) (6 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

As the camp came into view, Lauren felt the adrenaline seeping from her veins. Her capture was a memory that she longed to suppress. So were Blake’s words. But she ached, body and soul, and she felt wearier than she had in her entire life.

Trent and Hugo and some of the other Night Riders were already breaking down parts of camp. Just the smaller tents. As they started to load up their saddle bags, Lauren felt a great guilt tearing at her heart. Outlaw’s den or not, this patch of desert was still their home.

And because of her, they were now forced to abandon it.

Paul sped back to Blake’s bike and spoke fast.

“The boys are starting now,” Paul said. “Two of you should get some rest.”

“Paul, I want to—”

“And I say that you need a rack for few hours,” Paul said as he cut him off. “We’ll regroup at first light, take what we need, and move out.”

Under protest, Blake brought his bike to a stop. Stepping to the sand, he stood toe-to-toe with Paul and clenched his fists.

“I’m not tired,” he insisted. “I should—”

“You should look after your old lady,” Paul said.

Turning his eyes back to Lauren, Blake grunted his reluctant assent. Taking her in his arms, he brought her feet back to the sand. Lauren lingered for a moment in his embrace and thought that she saw something that might be affection blazing across his face. But as fast as it came, Blake’s face morphed back into a cold mask, and he looked to Paul.

“She should see Callie,” Blake said. “Get her some ice for her face or whatever.”

Paul brushed his hands together and shot Blake a confused stare.

“Don’t you want to help her out with that?” Paul asked. “You were the one that led the charge to find her.”

Paul’s words brought a small smile to her face. She might just be a toy to him, but some part of Blake still regarded her fondly. Lauren was tempted to touch him, and she took his arm as both camp and desert night spun around her.

Blake didn’t shirk her hold, but his eyes focused on nothing and no one but Paul.

“She needs kind hands,” Blake said. “And I have work to do.”

Lauren’s shoulders sagged as he led her deeper into camp. Of course she needed kind hands. But she wanted them to be his. Blake didn’t look down at her, and Lauren nearly asked him where he was going when Callie was there with her arms outstretched.

“Thank god,” Callie said. “You come here, honey.”

Lauren was reluctant to leave Blake’s side, but he eased her into Callie’s arms.

“We were worried,” Callie said. “You okay— oh, kid.”

She brought her fingers close to the bruise, and Lauren stayed in her hold and her eyes.

“It’s nothing,” Lauren assured her. “Hardly hurts.”

“Liar,” Callie said.

Lauren saw Blake glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She thought she saw a small smile cross his lips, and she started to lean into his shoulder when he shrugged her off and looked into Callie’s eyes.

“She’s good at that,” Blake said.

And just like that, she went back to wanting to scratch his skin from his cheeks.

“Just take care of her,” Blake said. “We got work to do.”

He turned away from her and crashed into Paul.

“Blake, I said—”

“I heard you!” Blake barked. “And I am fucking fine. So we gonna do this or what?”

Even Paul seemed to know when he was beat, and he waved his hand in the air as Blake stalked off into the shadows. Watching him go tugged at her heart, and she wanted him to turn and give her one glance to assure her that some part of this was real.

But Blake kept plowing forward and made no move to get back in her gaze.

“Will he be okay?” Callie asked.

Paul shook his head.

“She’s probably the only one that could enlighten us on that subject,” Paul said. He stepped closer and peered into her eyes.

“What about it?” Paul asked. “You want to tell me what really happened when you two lagged behind?”

Lauren wanted to tell someone, and she parted her lips to speak when she suddenly held her tongue. She had desire to shame Blake in front of his leader, and Callie’s presence reminded her that Paul was kind of precious to her.

And maybe it is my fault. He told me not to go. But I still ran.

“We… we were just sorting some stuff out,” Lauren said. “Guess he’d rather I stick close to camp.”

Paul took her hand in his, and the smile that crossed his face made her gasp. Because it didn’t belong. Not in this place. Her mind flashed back to the memory that Paul was only in charge because of Joe, because Callie’s man was no longer among the living. He stepped up because he had to, and from the looks of him at this moment, he didn’t want it. There was something too soft in his stare. Maybe he seized on the threat of her people coming after her and welcomed the chance to hide in the shadows. Lauren glanced in the direction that Blake had departed, and she thought that the leaders of the Night Riders should be him.

But maybe Blake didn’t want it either.

Callie pressed her hand to the bruise on her face and shook her head.

“Well whatever the hell happened, we need to tend to this,” Callie said. “Now you just come with—”

“Are they back?”

Grace appeared from the folds of the tent. He eyes were wide, and her hair was rumpled. She looked as if she had just wrestled with some horrible dream. Was she imagining that she was back in the waking nightmare that had been her life prior to the night of the auction? Or was she dreaming of what might have happened had they not returned in one piece?

“You’re here!” she cried as soon as she saw Paul. “Thank god.”

Grace flung her arms around his neck and clasped him close. Paul’s arms enveloped her trembling shoulders, and he gathered her to his chest as he whispered into her hair.

“Right here,” he assured her. “Not a thing for you to worry about. You… hey. Hey come on now. Don’t cry.”

Grace disobeyed his order and wept into his shoulder. If it was Blake, if she was Grace, the biker would have pushed the sobbing girl back and told her that he didn’t buy even an inch of what she was selling. But Paul didn’t make that move. He pressed Grace to him, and she heard Paul’s soft voice as it hit her ear.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised. “Neither are you.”

Grace pulled away from him, and she smiled through her tears as he kissed her brow.

“Except with me,” he said. “Always… only with me. Okay?”

As he pushed his fingers under her chin, Grace nodded, and Paul pecked her cheek as he passed her back to Callie.

“Look after her,” Paul started. “Tend to Lauren.”

Callie gathered both girls under her arms and stood taller than seemed possible given her squat form.

“Don’t worry. The girls are in good hands,” Callie said.

“That’s what I want to hear.”

Paul was nearly gone when he stopped in his tracks, and he succeeded where Blake had failed. Turning around, he swept back to their side, and he took Grace’s tear-stained cheeks in his hands.

“We’re heading out to start a new life,” he promised her. “Everything I promised you is gonna come to pass.”

Grace shrank into his shoulder and whispered into the leather covering his arms.

“You swear?” she asked.

“I would never lie to you.”

Paul lifted her lips to his, and he kissed her lightly. Lauren saw her cringe ever so slightly under his hold, and she wondered just how intimate they truly were.

He touches me. He kisses me. But mostly he’s just been real sweet. I… I know it’s crazy, but I think it’s kind of like lucky that I’m here.

Wanting to feel that with Blake, Lauren started to move into the darkness when Callie grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her side.

“Nuh-uh,” she chided. “Blake wants you cleaned up, and that’s just what we’re gonna do.”

Before she was led into Callie’s tent, Lauren saw Paul run his hands down Grace’s back. His palms settled at her waist, and Paul gazed into her teary eyes.

“You go, too,” he said.

“But… you need to sleep.”

“Come here.”

His lips met hers again, and Grace seemed stiff for all of a second. But then she appeared to melt in his embrace, and Lauren watched her arms surround his body. As they clasped each other close, Grace moaned into his mouth, and when Paul ended the kiss, their smiles met, and Grace sighed.

“You’ll be back soon?” she asked.

Paul kissed the top of her head and stroked her cheek.

“Not a damn thing in the world can stop me.”

As soon as he disappeared into the shadows, Grace bit her lip and wiped her eyes dry.

“Come on now,” Callie said. “Fucking cold out here.”

Callie’s makeshift home was a burst of pink and purple. It seemed soft and somehow homey against the desert winds despite the clutter of clothing strewn about the bed and a small table sitting before a rickety chair.

“Let’s get you out of this,” Callie said as she peeled Blake’s jacket from her arms. Grace gasped at the sight of her torn dress.

“It’s nothing,” Lauren assured her.

“Let me be the judge of that.”

Callie followed her words with a careful inspection of her bare back, and Lauren winced when she touched her exposed skin.

“They were going to whip you,” Callie said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Am I right?”

Unable to deny it, Lauren murmured the answer that Callie already knew.

“Lucky the guys got to you in time then, isn’t it?”

Pushing her hands into her pockets, Callie revealed a handful of safety pins, and she went to work repairing the dress.

“Far cry from what you’ll have to do make it like new,” she sighed. “But it’ll do for the moment.”

“I… what I have to do?” Lauren asked.

“You think I’m doing the patch job?” Callie asked as she continued to pin.

“But I don’t know how to sew,” Lauren confessed.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Callie said with a hearty laugh. Finishing the task at hand, she turned Lauren to face her. “Guess you’ll just have to learn,” Callie said.

Lauren started to speak when Grace pressed her lips to her ear.

“I’ll teach you,” she promised. “As soon as we’re safe. Now come on. Sit.”

Sinking into a pile of pillows, Lauren basked in the softness, and she peered into Grace’s eyes, calm and tranquil now that she knew that Paul was back, now that he had held her close. Why couldn’t Blake love her like that? Was it really so wrong that she had gone after him? Even if it was, shouldn’t he just be relieved to have her away from the Demon Dogs and back in his arms? But one look towards the flapping fold of the tent gave no sign that Blake was returning, and Lauren sighed sadly as Callie knelt before her and twirled a lock of her hair between her fingers.