Biker (15 page)

Noelle didn’t need to act panicked here. She knew the gun was loaded, and having it pressed up against her head was enough to scare her to the core.

“Nobody move, or I shoot her!”

“No!” Derek bellowed, lunging at Blaze.

“You move, and I shoot you first so she can watch, and then I shoot her!” Blaze yelled, pointing the gun at Derek and then pressing it back up against her head.

Noelle shook as she felt the cold metal press into her skin. Her entire body was covered in goose bumps, and it didn’t help that she had so much skin exposed.

“Lock boxes!” Blaze bellowed, and James went running to the boxes, where the dealers emptied them with shaking hands.

Blaze dragged Noelle, half by her hair, and she cried out in genuine pain, stumbling on her spike heels. Blaze was taking her toward the door, and Derek was following close behind.

A few women were crying as Benny took cash from the last of the room’s occupants, and Noelle noticed that many of the men were holding their hands up so that Blaze could see they weren’t going to try anything.

Noelle looked around the room at the frightened and terrified faces.

She
was doing this to other people.
She
was terrifying them by being a willing participant in this plan.

Remorse hit her like a ton of bricks and she suddenly felt sick for doing this to innocent people, for making them go through such a terrifying ordeal.

What was wrong with her? How could she have come back to Vegas to do this again? With the first heist, she had been a victim herself. She'd had no idea what Blaze was going to do, so she couldn’t blame herself.

But this time Noelle had gotten involved knowing full well what the plan was; in fact, there wouldn’t even
be
a heist tonight if Noelle hadn’t called Blaze.

Noelle vowed to herself that she would never do anything like this again. She had literally lost her mind, and she was disgusted with herself.

“Hurry!” Blaze yelled, and Benny and James finished up, joining him.

“Where are you taking her?” Derek screamed, playing his part well as he lunged at Blaze, who was pulling Noelle roughly out of the lounge.

“Grab him!” Blaze ordered Benny, and Benny, who was by far the largest of the men, grabbed Derek and dragged him toward the door. Derek tried to fight him off, but without any success.

Noelle now understood why she was paired up with Derek. It was easy for Benny to drag Derek, who was half his size, him across the room.

“Nobody fucking move!” Blaze yelled, and Benny, James and Derek exited the high-roller lounge. Blaze was right behind them, dragging Noelle along with him.

They raced down the hallway, Derek now no longer fighting, but running too. They burst out of a door into a parking lot, and just then a loud, ear-piercing alarm rang out.

“Fuck!” James yelled as they ran toward four motorcycles parked behind a large van. Benny and James each leapt on one, the engines immediately roaring to life.

“Freeze!” a voice shouted from behind.

Noelle spun around to see a security guard coming after them, a pistol in his hand, his arm raised, and his aim tight on them. Noelle screamed in fear, and Derek grabbed her, tossing her on the back of his bike.

Blaze turned toward the guard, and Noelle screamed again, knowing that the guard was going to fire.

A loud bang shattered the night, causing Noelle to shriek again, though her screams were lost in the powerful roar of Derek’s bike.

“Blaze!” she screamed, her body crazed with fear.

What had she done?

She had been worried about going to jail but now she knew that was the least of her worries.

Blaze might be dead... and she herself might be killed in a gun battle!

She twisted around, expecting to see Blaze’s body slumped on the ground, but as Derek kicked off the ground, she noticed that the security guard was slumped in a heap.

“Oh my God!” she screamed, feeling the tears at her eyes as sobs filled her throat.

“Hold on!” Derek commanded, and she grabbed his waist just before she would have flown off the back of the bike.

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” she screamed. “Blaze shot him! Blaze shot him!”

“Just hang on!” Derek yelled, his voice hard, as he weaved in and out of traffic, traveling at a reckless speed.

Noelle pushed her head against Derek's back, crying hysterically. She knew that the guard would have shot Blaze, but how could Blaze have shot the guard? An innocent man doing his job?

Was he dead?

Bile rose in her throat.

Someone probably just died because Noelle wanted another adrenaline high; wanted a weekend full of cold cash and hot sex. How could she have gotten so lost?

Continuing to cry, she clung to Derek as they sped through the night toward the barren, ugly desert.

Miraculously, no police followed them.

Noelle finally picked her head up, her eyes red and swollen, as the bike began to slow down and she saw the clubhouse come into view. Derek parked out front and helped Noelle down.

She stood on shaky legs, her entire body trembling. Derek held onto her, afraid that she might collapse if he released her.

Moments later, Blaze pulled into the parking lot and jumped off his bike, looking windblown and rattled.

Something snapped inside of Noelle.

“What the fuck?” she screamed, coming at him.

“Whoa!” Blaze backed up, his eyes wide.

“You shot someone!” she shrieked, “You shot someone!” She broke into sobs again, and it took Blaze only a moment to react before grabbing her and pulling her to him.

She sobbed hysterically into his chest, clutching at his clothes.

“This was wrong! I can’t do this! You shot someone! How could you shoot someone!” She pounded at his chest, but he held her still, not responding.

When Noelle finally stopped crying and yelling, Blaze gently released her.

“We need to go inside,” he said softly.

Noelle looked around and realized they were alone now in the parking lot.

She nodded, moving stiffly toward the clubhouse.

Blaze guided her toward the door, and Noelle had no idea what to expect now. She felt as if she had been torn into pieces on the inside.

When she walked inside the clubhouse, people were celebrating once again, just like the weekend before. Men and women alike were cheering and drinking, and Noelle saw Blaze’s father holding two large duffel bags.

“Well done, Blaze,” he boomed! “Close to fifteen million this time!”

Noelle was sick.

Blaze mumbled something to his father, and pushed Noelle toward the hallway that led to his room.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw bikers snorting lines of cocaine, and she realized that the hall was hazy with the acrid smoke of weed. What was she doing here?

She stumbled after Blaze into his room, and after he closed the door, Noelle began to freak out again.

“You realize that you probably killed someone, right? You shot someone!” The tears began again. “I don’t know why I came here. I need to get on a plane. Tonight.”

“Calm down.”

“Calm down? How can you act like nothing happened? How can I calm down? I’m a nurse! And I just watched someone get shot and I let them lay there! What was I thinking? It was
such
a mistake to come here!” A sob wrenched from her throat, and she fell to the floor in tears.

“Hey, hey,” Blaze soothed. “It wasn’t supposed to be that way. And yes, I feel fucking awful, okay? I didn’t want to shoot anyone. That was never part of the plan. But what was I supposed to do? Get shot instead?”

Noelle just shook her head. She wouldn’t argue with Blaze.

“Please, Noelle. Let’s be reasonable.”

“Reasonable?” Noelle let out a choked laugh. “There is nothing reasonable about this. I’m out of my freaking mind!” She knew that her feelings for Blaze were completely irrational. She had loved the threat of danger; it had been so different from life with Todd – they were polar opposites. But after this night, she was terrified and she knew that she could never be the right kind of person for Blaze.

“Please,” she said, trying to gather herself and standing up. “I need to book a flight out of Vegas tonight. I need to get out of here.” She started tearing through her weekend bag, looking for normal clothes to put on.

Blaze came over and took her hands. “You can’t go anywhere right now. Think about it. You need to lay low. You can get on your regular flight tomorrow.”

Noelle narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you trying to tell me that I can’t leave here tonight?” Her voice was just a whisper.

“Come on, Noelle. You know you can’t leave right now.” His eyes pleaded with her.

Noelle’s mouth formed in a tight line. “Are you forcing me to stay here?” She raised her eyebrows, challenging him. “You’re going to keep me locked up like some kind of prisoner?” This time her voice was higher, slightly hysterical.

“I’m not keeping you as a prisoner. I’m just saying that you need to stay in the clubhouse tonight.” Blaze’s voice was a little firmer.

“I. Want. To. Go. Home.” Her eyes flashed.

“No.”

Noelle gaped at him.

“I can’t trust you to keep a cool head right now,” Blaze explained, “And you just earned yourself another easy two hundred grand. So as shitty as you feel right now, you’re sitting on four hundred thousand dollars. That should make you care a whole lot less about some security guard getting shot.”

“Fuck you,” she spat. Noelle turned on her heel and threw the door open, hurrying out of Blaze’s room.

“Noelle!” He chased after her, but she was quick, dodging through the winding hallways of the clubhouse. “God dammit, Noelle!”

Scurrying through the twisted hallways, Noelle had a tough time maneuvering in the slutty outfit she had been forced to wear that evening. She ducked into an empty room, closing the door shut behind her.

She was surprised to find that she was in a bathroom, an elaborate one, which reminded her of a fancy spa. There was an open shower, tiled in beautiful marble, with the most intricate showerhead she had ever seen, with a polished marble slab that looked like some type of bench.

Across from the shower was a luxurious looking Jacuzzi tub. It was wide and deep, and made of creamy marble. Dozens of little canisters filled with expensive-looking bath products lined a ledge behind the tub, along with colorful fragrant pillar candles.

Feeling reckless, and not caring much about anything anymore, Noelle marched over to the tub and turned it on. Water poured out of the two faucets, and Noelle noticed the tub was lined with jets.

She found a container of lavender bath salts and she dumped them in, before flipping on the jets. She ripped off the ridiculous dress she had been wearing and tossed it into a glass trash bin. She kicked off her shoes and grabbed a fluffy towel from a rack, as well as a face cloth.

Slowly, she lowered herself into the tub, letting out a sigh of pleasure as she sank into the warm water. Bubbles fizzed around her, and the room was filled with the intoxicating scent of lavender. She found book of matches and began to light candles. Next, she soaked the face cloth and slowly, carefully, started wiping off her heavy makeup.

She continued to wipe her face, wringing out the cloth and then repeating until the cloth finally came clean.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she sank further into the tub, until only her head was above the water. She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply, trying to focus her mind and forget about the utter insanity that existed just outside the door.

“What the hell?”

Her eyes flew open and there stood Blaze in the doorway, looking down at her.

His eyes flashed first from angry to bewildered, until finally they filled with desire.

“What are you doing in here?” he asked in a quiet voice.

Noelle didn’t know if she should be afraid or not. She wasn’t afraid of Blaze; somehow she knew he would never hurt her, but she was worried that this room might be entirely off limits, especially to an outsider like her.

She decided that she didn’t care; the night had been terrible.

“I’m relaxing,” she said stubbornly. “I think I deserve that after the shit-show that went down tonight.”

Blaze opened his mouth to speak and then snapped it shut. Apparently he couldn’t argue with that.

He came toward her and sat on the edge of the tub. “Look. I am truly sorry about how things went down tonight. They got entirely out of hand, and I had to think on my feet and make a snap decision. It wasn’t a good one. I could have shot him in the foot or the leg, but I didn’t.” He sighed heavily.

Noelle waited for him to say more, but he didn’t.

“I can’t really be mad at you,” she said softly. “I’m just in way over my head. I don’t know what I was thinking coming out here again.”

Blaze turned to her and his eyes were filled with longing. “Do you regret it?” he asked in a husky voice.

Noelle shook her head. As much as she should regret it, she didn’t.

“This room is off-limits,” he said in a dark voice.

Noelle shrugged. She honestly didn’t care.

Without warning, Blaze leaned across the tub, kissing her hard on her lips.

Noelle gasped, and then once she regained her composure, she kissed him back, her wet hands reaching for his body.

Blaze thrilled at her touch, deepening his kiss. He kicked off his shoes, and awkwardly fumbled with his pants. Noelle panted, moving to her knees as she continued to kiss him, sliding her hands around the back of his neck.

Fat water droplets dripped down Blaze’s neck, but he didn’t seem to mind. As Noelle ran her hands through his hair it became damp and something about seeing his dark hair wet and messy, made her desire rise.

Groaning, Blaze kicked off his pants, yanking his boxers down. As he did so, Noelle wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, and he lost his balance, tumbling into the water.

Neither one of them slowed down, and Blaze yanked at his soaked shirt, pulling it over his head and tossing it to the floor.

Noelle was still furious with him, and with herself, yet the only thing she wanted right now was Blaze’s hands all over her, numbing her mind.