Boxed Set: Steel: Blacthorne MC Romance (4 page)

W
e walked through the bar
, drawing the attention of the clientele. One woman, wearing a low-cut top and a denim skirt, looked Nick up and down hungrily. I couldn’t blame her. At first glance, he had everything a woman could want. His T-shirt clung to his abs, showing off his perfect body. Of course she didn’t know what he and the rest of his biker gang were really capable of.

We walked quickly through the bar and then out the back. Nick closed the door behind us and we entered a wood-paneled corridor, lined with photographs of Harley-Davidson’s and various badges and symbols of different motorcycle gangs.

“What are the others going to do while you see the doctor?” I asked as I followed him down the corridor.

“Get drunk, I should think. We’ll be staying here tonight.”

An idea started to form in my mind. There were so many people here. I must be able to get hold of a cell phone from someone.

But for now, I would have to stay by Nick side as he was watching me so intently.

“Are you the patient?” The voice came from behind us and we both turned.

The voice had come from a man I guessed to be in his fifties, he had messy grey hair, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and patchy stubble on his chin. He gave us a half hearted smile.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Nick said. “Are we using the room at the back?”

The man nodded and then he turned his attention to me. His bloodshot eyes travelled down my body until his gaze rested on my breasts. He smiled again. “Yes, that’s right in the back room.”

The room he led us into was dark, but I could see that there was a long bench in the middle of a room. A chair stood beside it, and in the far corner of the room, there was a sink.

He switched on a lamp behind the table.

I turned in a slow circle. Surely Nick wasn’t going to be treated here?

Nick sat on the bench in the centre of the room and then peeled off his T-shirt slowly as though the movement hurt him.

My eyes drank him in. I couldn’t help myself. He looked damn good fully clothed, but without his T-shirt he looked like a Greek god. He truly was devastatingly gorgeous. It took me a moment to realize Nick was looking at me, and when my eyes eventually managed to wrench away from his torso and back up to his face, I noticed he was smiling at me in a knowing way.

I flushed and looked down at the floor.

The guy, who still had the cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, rubbed up against me as he moved past. At first I thought it was an accident because there wasn’t much room to get around the bench. But then he did it again, this time grinding his hips against my ass. I moved away and gave him a hard look.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and smiled at me, showing off his yellow teeth.

“Where is the doctor?” I snapped.

“You’re looking at him,” the man said with a grin.

I blinked at him in horror. Instead of a white coat, he was wearing a stained plaid shirt and dirty jeans.

“Nick, this is not a good idea. You need proper a hospital and a proper doctor.”

“I am a proper doctor,” the man said, scowling at me.

Maybe he had been a real doctor once, but I was willing to bet he’d been struck off since then. I watched him closely as he fumbled about with some steel implements beside the sink.

I turned my attention back to Nick and watched him as he reclined on the hard wooden bench.

By the way he cradled his arm, I could tell he was in a lot of pain.

To my relief, the so-called doctor was at least washing his hands with bright yellow iodine soap.

“Don’t look so worried,” Nick said.

I shoved my hands in my pockets. Did I really look that concerned? I’d never been good at hiding my emotions, and I had a really bad feeling about this situation.

When I turned back to look at the doctor, I gasped. In his hand he held a huge needle.

“I’m just going to give you a little sedative,” the doctor said. “It will take the edge off.” He still had the damn cigarette in his mouth as he plunged the sharp needle into Nick’s arm.

“What sedative are you using?” I asked.

“Nothing for you to worry about sweetheart. It’s just something to make him a little sleepy.”

Although Nick’s eyelids drooped, he wasn’t completely asleep when the doctor started work.

He selected a sharp stainless steel scalpel and held it up to the light.

“I hope that’s sterilized,” I said and then bit down hard on my lip. It was crazy to care about Nick. He belonged to the gang of bikers who had just kidnapped me, but he was the one person in this whole place I felt like I could trust. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

I tried to convince myself that I had an ulterior motive for caring about what happened to him — I wanted to use Nick to get away from all this. But really there was something about the strong, intense biker that intrigued me and made me feel that deep down he was a good man.

The doctor moved forward and pressed the scalpel against Nick’s skin.

“You’ll barely feel it,” he said.

That was obviously a lie. As the sharp steel cut into Nick’s shoulder, his body jerked in response to the pain.

The doctor grunted and used his body weight to try and pin Nick’s shoulder back down on the bench.

“You,” he said to me. “Get on his other side and try to keep him still. It’s not easy to work in these conditions, you know.”

“Can’t you give him more pain relief?”

“No, it doesn’t grow on trees. A big tough man like him should be able to cope with a little pain. If they go around getting themselves shot, they need to deal with the consequences,” the doctor grumbled.

I froze with one hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Shot?”

The doctor smirked. “How did you
think
he got this injury? Falling off his bike?”

I hadn’t even considered the possibility that Nick had been shot. I’d been too caught up with my own problems. I looked down at Nick.

The drugs were obviously making him feel a little out of it. He licked his lips and started to say something, but then he groaned in pain as the doctor set to work again.

“Hold him still!” the doctor ordered.

I leaned down, pressing my body against Nick, trying to keep him steady, but it wasn’t easy.

My face was so close to his I could feel his hot breath on my cheek and see the sweat forming on his brow as he struggled against the pain. I grabbed hold of his hand, and he gripped mine tightly.

It seemed to go on for ages. The doctor had started sweating too.

Nick started to grow pale, and I was worried he was going into shock.

“Can’t you go any faster?” I begged the doctor.

He didn’t bother to answer me. He was so intent on pulling the bullet from the wound in Nick’s arm.

Then finally he said, “Got it!” With a pair of forceps, he wriggled the bullet free from Nick’s flesh.

The sight of the small nugget of metal covered in blood made me feel dizzy. My year of medical school hadn’t prepared me for this. I started to think I wouldn’t be much good in the operating room.

By the time the doctor had cleaned the wound and put on a fresh dressing, Nick was out for the count. I wasn’t sure whether that was because the sedative had kicked in fully or whether his body was just exhausted from the trauma.

I ran a hand through my hair and noticed that my hands were shaking, so I crossed my arms over my chest.

The doctor jabbed Nick again, this time with a smaller syringe.

“What are you injecting him with now?”

“Antibiotics. He should be all right now if he manages to keep the wound clean.” The doctor threw the dirty syringe onto the counter by the sink.

Then he walked towards me, so close I could smell the alcohol on his breath. “If
anything
does
happen to him, you weren’t here, he wasn’t here and you’ve never seen me before in your life, understood?”

I nodded, wishing I could tell the doctor exactly what I thought of him.

He turned away to wash his hands again, and I took another look at Nick. He was still sleeping… he wouldn’t notice if I left.

I tried to sound casual as I said to the doctor, “I’m just going to go and get a drink.”

The doctor didn’t bother to answer or even turn around, so as quickly as I could, I left the room, going back down the corridor towards the main bar.

I paused in the doorway and took a moment to search the bar for the other bikers. Chad, Tom and Damien were sitting together at the same table. They each had a woman fawning over them. I was pretty sure they were paying for the company.

On the far side of the bar was a raised platform where female dancers wearing glitter covered bikinis were gyrating their hips in front of a crowd of bikers. The bikers waved dollar bills and called out to the dancers, encouraging them to remove more clothes.

Everyone seemed to be occupied. This could be my chance.

I needed to get to a phone.

I
stayed hidden
from view and studied them for a while. I wanted to get my hands on a cell phone, and I knew that my best chance would be to get one from someone in the bar. I’d need them to be drunk enough to let their guard down, so I could borrow their phone for five minutes without them noticing.

The only trouble was that Chad, Tom and Damien were all in the bar drinking, and I definitely didn’t want to attract their attention.

As I stood beside the doorway chewing my thumbnail, thinking hard about what I should do next, Chad got up from his seat. At least, I thought it was Chad. Those damn brothers looked so alike. He was a little unsteady on his feet, and I could see that he had already had a lot to drink since we’d arrived. That didn’t bother me one bit. The more drunk they were the less likely they were to be able to keep tabs on me. I knew that this was probably going to be my best chance of escape.

Then my stomach gave a sudden lurch as I realized Chad was heading straight for me. I dived back into the corridor and pressed myself up against the wall. The lights were dim in the corridor compared to the bar, and I didn’t think he could see me.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Chad leaned up against the bar and slammed his fist down on the polished wooden surface.

“Where is Johnny?” he yelled at the barmaid.

The girl behind the bar looked around my age. She seemed absolutely terrified of Chad, and I couldn’t say I blamed her.

“He is just out the back, getting the money.”

Chad turned and nodded and Damien, who now had two women fawning all over him, one perched on each knee as he caressed them.

A harassed looking man with a bald head and tattoos all the way up his arms came out from behind the bar carrying a messenger bag. He pushed it over the counter to Chad. “It’s all there.”

“Of course it is,” Chad said. “Because you wouldn’t be stupid enough to cheat us, would you, Johnny?”

Johnny scowled down at the bar. He looked like the last thing he wanted to do was hand over cash to Chad.

Chad reached across the bar and slapped him on the shoulder, almost sending Johnny flying. “Don’t look so depressed, Johnny. We’ve got your back now. It was good doing business with you.”

Chad poked his nose in the bag and rifled around. Then, looking satisfied with what he saw, he tucked the bag under his arm and staggered back over to the table where Damien sat.

They exchanged a few words, but from where I was hiding, I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I guessed Johnny had paid them some kind of protection money, or something like that. I already knew that the biker gang didn’t operate within the law.

“What are you doing?” A voice said behind me and made me jump.

I spun around to see a woman approximately ten years older than me, chewing gum and staring at me suspiciously.

She took the lump of gum from her mouth and stretched it out between her fingers, inspected it and then popped it back in her mouth. “Who are you spying on?”

I shook my head and tried to look innocent. I didn’t want her to say anything that would draw attention to us. “No one. I came here with those men.” I jerked my chin in Damien’s direction and hoped that I was coming across as confident.

The woman’s eyes widened slightly and then she looked me up and down as if she couldn’t believe I was really with them. “You are with Damien Blackthorne? With the Blackthorne crew?”

So that was what they called themselves. I shrugged as if it was of no significance. “Yeah, we arrived tonight. I rode with Nick.”

I glanced around the bar to make sure no one was watching us.

“You’re with Nick?” The woman’s eyes widened even further this time and she really did look impressed. I couldn’t say I blamed her. “Oh, my God, you lucky bitch! What’s he like in bed? I bet he is amazing, isn’t he?”

I flushed red and was glad that in the dim light of the corridor she wouldn’t be able to see my reaction.

I leaned closer and told her what she wanted to hear. “He’s absolutely amazing. The sex is mind blowing.”

She nodded slowly as if I was confirming her suspicions. “I can believe that.” She grinned. “Have you ever met Victor Blackthorne?”

She said his name in a reverential tone, and I felt shivers run up my spine.

“Not yet.” I knew they were taking me to see him, but if I had anything to do with it, I’d escape and never have to meet him.

“Oh.” She look disappointed and then frowned. “So why
are
you hiding in the corridor?”

I blinked. That was a good question. I tried to think of a good answer but it wasn’t easy. I wasn’t used to this. “I just got a bit hot,” I said, holding my hand to my face and fanning myself.

She looked at me suspiciously again, and her eyes narrowed, but then she seemed to get distracted and said, “Where is Nick anyway? I’d love to say hello.”

I bet she would.

“He’s getting some rest,” I said. “In fact, I’m just about to join him. Nice meeting you.”

As I walked away from her down the corridor, I heard her whistle behind me and then cackle with laughter. “I don’t blame you, girl,” she said.

I managed to get away from her and then took a different turn along the corridor. Instead of heading for the back room where the doctor had made his makeshift operating theatre, I took a right turn and ended up on the far side of the bar. A couple were passionately making out beside the door and two huge bikers were guzzling from bottles of beer and having an intense debate about somebody called Marie. But those people faded into the background as my eyes focused on a pay phone. I couldn’t believe my luck. Everyone had cell phones these days and pay phones were rare. I didn’t have any coins to operate it, but surely that didn’t matter if I was going to call 911.

I didn’t want anyone to overhear my conversation and go telling tales back to Damien and the others. But it was a risk I would have to take. The overpowering music would mean I would have to shout so the person on the other end of the line would hear me.

I stood there for a moment debating what to do next. Then I moved forwards towards the phone. I had to take the chance. It could be my only chance to get away from them.

I was so focused on the phone I didn’t realize I was being watched.

I picked up the receiver and put it to my ear, but I couldn’t hear anything — no dial tone.
No! Don’t do this to me
. I had to make it work. I pressed a load of random buttons, but nothing seemed to work.

Suddenly, I was aware that I wasn’t alone. I felt hot breath on my cheek and got a whiff of the distinct smell of body odor.

My hand was shaking as I replaced the receiver and turned around to be confronted with a bald, angry looking biker. He wore a denim jacket with the sleeves cut off and he smelled really bad.

I tried to duck past him, but he quickly put an arm against the wall, blocking my path.

“That phone has not worked in ages,” he said, licking his lips. “But if you ask really nicely, I’ll let you borrow my cell phone.”

My heart was hammering in my chest. What should I do? I really needed to make the phone call, but what would he expect in return? From the hungry look in his eyes as his gaze travelled down my body, I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that question.

We had attracted the attention of the couple next to us, who’d been making out, but were now looking at us curiously.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m good,” I said, again trying to move away, but this time his arms wrapped around me, pulling me close to him as he ground his body against me.

I could feel a hardness pressing against me that I was pretty sure wasn’t his belt buckle. A wave of disgust passed through me as I tried to pull away from him. My arms strained against his bulk, but I couldn’t get away.

“Let me go!” I shouted, stamping down hard on his foot. But that only seemed to turn him on more.

“I love it when a girl plays hard to get, sweetheart.”

He grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled it down hard, so my face was tipped up to meet his and then he pressed his lips to mine. He tasted of beer and stale cigarettes and it was all I could do not to retch. I struggled wildly.

Suddenly, I was free of him. The biker was on the floor, and Nick stood beside me looking absolutely furious.

Humiliated, the biker scrambled to his feet and shoved his face close to mine. He bared his teeth and said, “You’re opening your legs for
him
, are you?”

Before I realized what was happening, the biker was whirling away from me. Nick had pulled him by the shoulder and spun him round. He hit him with an uppercut to the jaw that sent him sprawling onto the floor again. This time he slumped against the wall, not moving.

My hands flew to my mouth, and I started shaking. All I wanted was to get away.

Nick was shaking too. I didn’t know whether that was because he was sick or because he was so mad, but it looked like I was about to find out.

He tugged on my arm, pulling me along the corridor away from the interested eyes that the fight had attracted. The crowd started to disperse now that the action was over.

“What the hell were you doing? Could you not just keep out of trouble for one night until I was better? I can’t look after you if you insist on doing stuff like this!”

“What do you mean doing stuff like this? I just went to get a drink.” I lied. I wasn’t going to tell him I was trying to make a phone call to escape. I wasn’t that stupid. I knew it would get straight back to Damien.

He shook his head. “I know you don’t trust me. I get it. I really do. You don’t have any reason to trust me. I don’t know what to do to prove it to you, but I promise you that while I’m around, you won’t get hurt. But you’ve got to try and help me out with this. You’ve got to keep your head down and not attract attention.” He stared down at me. “And you have to promise not to try and escape,” he added pointedly.

I shook my head. This situation was ridiculous. “I don’t need you to look after me. At least I wouldn’t if you hadn’t kidnapped me from hotel in Las Vegas. I don’t know who any of you are. I’ve only just met you, so why the hell would I trust you?”

Too late, I realized I’d raised my voice. I was practically screaming at him. Nick looked anxiously around.

I’d gone too far. I’d drawn the attention of Damien Blackthorne, and he was walking down the corridor towards us.

I had to act quickly. The only thing I could think of doing was telling everybody in the bar what had happened and hope that there was some good Samaritan who would have the courage to stand up to Damien and help me.

“They’ve kidnapped me,” I yelled.

“They are holding me against my will. I just want to get home. Can somebody call 911 for me,
please
?”

I yanked my arm from Nick’s grasp. He looked so disappointed, but I ignored him and ducked past Damien.

I was surprised that they hadn’t tried to stop me, but I kept moving and ran into the main bar. Somebody had turned of the music and everyone was now looking at me curiously.

I saw the man Chad had spoken to behind the bar. I ran up to him.

“It’s Johnny, isn’t it? Please let me usual phone. I just want to call 911. I won’t get you in any trouble I promise. I just want to get home.”

Johnny made no move to get the phone, and there was no change in his expression at all to even indicate that he’d heard what I’d said. He just kept polishing the glass he held in his hands. I reached out to try and grab him and get his attention. But he stepped back, and at that moment, his eyes met mine, and I saw something in them that made me realize that none of these people here would help me. I saw absolute terror.

They were all scared of the Blackthorne gang. That much was obvious. None of them would go against this gang in order to help one girl they’d never even met before.

Behind me I could hear boots stomping on the wooden floor, but I was too scared to turn around and see who they belonged to. Every person in the room stopped looking at me and looked at the person behind me, but I still refused to turn around.

“Well, that was one hell of a show, Ella,” a voice said in a low gritty voice that I recognized as Damien Blackthorne’s. “I guess you’ve had a fair bit to drink tonight. You’ve never been able to hold your liquor, have you?” He put a hand on my shoulder and I flinched.

He pulled me closer to him and his fingers gripped into my shoulder, pinching my flesh.

“Everyone can go back about their own business,” Damien said. “Ella can be a little odd when she’s had a drink. There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll look after her.”

And just like that somebody turned the music back on and the general buzz of conversation in the bar started up again.

I swallowed and looked up at Damien. His eyes glinted dangerously.

“I see we’re going to have to keep a closer eye on you, Ella. I was considering giving you a room of your own tonight, but I think that’s out of the question now, don’t you?”

I couldn’t reply. I was devastated that nobody in this whole bar would help me, and I was absolutely terrified of what Damien was going to do next.

What the hell kind of place was this anyway? A whole bar under the control of a motorcycle gang! And what did any of this have to do with me or my friend Claire? I felt tears prick my eyes as I thought of Claire. Was she safe at home now? Was she worrying about me?

Damien shoved me forward so that I was facing back towards the corridor. Nick stood in the doorway. His face was expressionless, his skin was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes.

“As you two seem to get on so well, you can stay with Nick tonight.” He gave me another shove in Nick’s direction and then he said as he walked off, “Don't let her out of your sight.”

I waited for Nick to speak. I expected his words to be full of anger and reprimands, but instead his voice was soft when he asked me, “Are you okay? Do you want to go somewhere quiet?”

“I just want to go to sleep,” I said, and that was the truth. I was absolutely exhausted after everything that had happened today. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get to sleep with all this stress, but right now, lying on a bed with my door locked against Damien Blackthorne, Chad and Tom seemed like the best idea in the world.