Burned: Devil's Blaze MC Book 2 (22 page)

I stretch my body, feeling delicious pings zap through me. Torch… No,
Hunter
. Hunter loves me. Me. Even with everything wrong with me, he loves me. Well, he doesn’t know about the dyslexia or my ADHD, but he knows about my leg and he didn’t even blink. It didn’t even make a difference to him. He asked for my heart. He asked me to let him in, to trust him, to take care of me and my sister. He’ll protect Beth as his own, too, because she’s important to him. The same with Gabby. I’m still worried, but he has been telling me over and over that Skull wouldn’t hurt Beth. He’s right. It’s safer for her to be with us than out there where Colin might get to her. I was going to tell him that last night so we could go get Beth and Gabby together, but once I told him I loved him, we both kind of got off track.

I grin. Not that I would change a damn thing.

I sit up in bed, the chill in the room causing goosebumps to break out over my skin. I reach over and feel his pillow. It’s still warm. The movement causes my body to tighten, soreness and delicious tingles of need moving through me. It seems weird without the plug he’s been making me wear. Last night before I passed out, he said I was ready for him. I expected him to claim me then. He wanted me to sleep, though. I thought he’d wake me up this morning. It’s barely dawn outside.

I stand up and look around for something to put on. His silly shirt is on the floor, so I grab it, bring it to my nose, and breathe it in. I love the way Hunter smells. His cologne is this scent that’s definitely all man, but there’s just something about the way he smells generally that makes me weak in the knees. It’s this intoxicating aroma of outdoors, leather, and wickedness. I don’t know how else to describe it. I just know I could get drunk on it.

I tiptoe to the bathroom, stopping to look at the mirror with a grin. My pussy clenches in memory, instantly wanting more. I need Hunter. Maybe he’s in the shower. Mmm… shower sex. 
Yes, please!
We can have some fun, then find food, because I’m famished! Then, I’ll ask for his help in bringing Bethie and Gabriella home with us.

I’m about to open the door when I hear voices inside. It takes me a minute to realize it’s just Hunter I hear. He’s obviously on the phone. That explains why he’s in the bathroom. He didn’t want to wake me. I should reward him for being so thoughtful.  A nice hummer in the shower. Heck, maybe I’ll even swallow. Normally I’m not a swallower, but Hunter has made me like everything.

Before I turn the knob, I hear Hunter call me a runner. Then I hear how he wants me home before I can run. I thought I made it clear to him that I wasn’t going to run anymore last night. I thought he realized I was surrendering to him… to
us
. I guess I’ll just have to make sure he knows it now. I trust him. He loves me. That makes me smile.

Then I hear a new voice.
Skull’s.

I halt my movements, interested to know what they’re talking about so early. He calls me a bitch. It’s going to take a lot for me to like that man, despite Hunter’s assurances that I will. What I hear next kills every trace of happiness I was feeling. It’s cold and lodged inside of me now, choking me. When Skulls asks him if he was using his dick to keep me distracted, I want to scream. I fully expect Hunter to beat him down and stop him. Instead, he continues working on something, then offers to help him. No defending me. No denying that horrible claim.
None of that
. Skull’s next words are what brings me to my knees.

“Keep playing Beth’s sister, you’re doing good there. She’s letting her guard down with you. I could tell while you were letting me listen in last night. Keep working her…”

The words rip out my heart. They destroy me. Playing me? Using me? Will I never learn? Oh, God, Hunter… No, no, never Hunter.

Torch.
Torch
let Skull listen to us. My hands shake and I back away from the door like the Devil himself is behind it. And he is. The cruelest, most horrible…  

He used me.
I quickly find my pants. I get to my duffle bag, which has my clutch purse in it. I thought it was a sign of trust between us that Torch gave it back to me. I was an idiot
. He used me.
I feel the tears. They’re there, but I refuse to give into them. I can’t.
Not right now.

I run outside and find the jeep locked. Torch didn’t give me back my key or the spare.
That
should have clued me in on the whole trust thing. It doesn’t matter. I know something about my jeep that he doesn’t. One of the reasons I kept the older models is that they’re easier to break into and use in a jam. For instance, the passenger side door of mine doesn’t lock. The knob goes down saying it does, but it never actually locks.

I jump in on that side and climb over the gearshift. I push the driver’s side seat all the way back and then maneuver so I’m hanging upside down. Under my seat are the only three things I’ve ever needed to get me out of a mess. I sure never needed a man. Not now,
not ever
. I grab the screwdriver, black tape, and the pen knife, and within a second I’ve got the cable-tied wires down from under the dash.

I’ve done this so often I could do it in my sleep. I find the starter wires and the power wires that come from the battery. A few flicks of my wrist and I’ve got the insulation stripped. I connect the wires. There’s a sizzle, then a spark. I almost smile as the engine comes to life. I quickly tape up the ends of the start wire, resituate everything, then turn myself around. I adjust the seat and, before I can think about it, I jerk the car into reverse, squealing my tires and raking gears as I push it into second. I’m already in fourth, which is crazy for a parking lot when I whiz by Torch, who’s standing at the opened door to our room. I flip him off and pull out onto the highway.

It’s only when I get three or four miles down the road that I realize I’m crying.

I drive for two hours straight before I’m brave enough to stop. The first thing I do is enter a store and buy a prepaid phone.  Then, I dial Bethie.

“Katie? Are you okay?” Bethie asks. I can hear Gabby crying in the background.

I want to pour my heart out and tell my sister I’m not alright, that I’ll never be alright. I want to tell her that I fell in love with an idiot who thought it would be fun to tear my heart out of my chest and stomp on it, but I don’t give in to all that. Instead, I concentrate on her.

“Are you and Gabby alright? Where are you?”

“We’re not in Tennessee yet. We should be there tomorrow. Gabby got sick.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah. She has an ear infection. She’ll be okay, she’s just grumpy. It makes it hard to travel.”

“Where are you? I can come to you. We’ll change our travel plans. Maybe it’s time we consider going across the border.”

“Where? We both decided it would be easier to get lost
here
because we knew the land so well and didn’t need additional documentation.”

“I know, but… Canada is sounding better and better.”

“We’ll see. I really want Gabby to be close to—”

“That bastard doesn’t deserve to have Gabby in his life.”

“Katie.”

“Listen, tell me where you are.”

“Mississippi. I figured the safest bet was to travel in the opposite direction of you.”

“Okay. Shit, I’m over a day away from you. Alright, I’ll drive as far as I can tonight and then I’ll meet up with you tomorrow. Do you need me to bring you anything?”

“No, I have Gabby’s medicine and the hotel we’re in has a kitchenette. I stocked up for a few days when we stopped,” she says and then gives me directions to her hotel.

“Okay, sis. Call this number if you need me. Love you bigger than outer space,” I tell her.

“Moon and back again. Be safe, Katie.” 

We hang up. Emptiness fills my heart. I hate being apart from Bethie. Since she found me again, we’ve been everything to each other. She’s my confidant, my best friend, and my sister. She’s also the only person I will ever be able to trust.

I shouldn’t have forgotten that.

* * *

I’m killed when I finally pull into the Mississippi state line rest area. I couldn’t go another step if I wanted to. I’ve traveled through the bottom half of Kentucky, from end to end of Tennessee, and finally hitting where I’m at now. With everything I’ve been through and all of the shit with Torch, I’ve got a migraine from hell. My leg is killing me, and my vision is blurry.

I’m a total train wreck. I didn’t think I could even find a hotel. I doubt Torch is looking for me, but if he is, he’ll scour the hotels. It’d be safest here, at least from Torch.

I get out of the jeep and limp towards the restrooms. There’s a greasy-looking guy in a blue windbreaker eyeing me as I walk by. He looks like he hasn’t bathed in a month. I don’t look at him. No need to encourage the guy; he gives me the creeps. I keep my eyes straight ahead as I pass him. I feel prickles of awareness spread over my skin, and I know he’s staring at me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to close and lock a door in my life. I do my business, then grab a rubber band from the three or four I have around my wrist and pull my hair up in a messy bun. When I leave, the greasy guy is still there.
Great.
I keep ignoring him, grab a water so I can down some pain pills, then head back to my jeep. 

I take my medicine and feel instant relief that the guy hasn’t followed me out. I was worried he would. I lock my doors. To secure the passenger side, I take a piece of sea grass rope and tie it from handle to seat belt cover. Once I’m sure that it holds tight enough that no one can get in easily, I stretch my seat back.

Sleep can’t come fast enough.

“It was smart to put a tracker in that chick’s boot,” Shaft says. 

Skull sent him down to pick me up after Katie left me stranded. The fucker’s blathering on and on in my ear now as I drive one of the club’s trucks down the interstate.

“Her name’s Katie,” I snarl, not bothering to take my eyes off the road.

I’ve been driving nonstop, which would be good, except so is Katie. Even with her leg, she’s pushed through Kentucky, and in another twenty minutes or so, she’ll have driven all the way across the state of Tennessee. When I see her again, I’m going to blister her ass. It will be so fucking red she won’t sit down for weeks. She has to be miserable. 

Jesus with a hangover, why wasn’t I more careful? I should not have put Skull on speakerphone. What the fuck must she be thinking? Oh, that’s easy. She’s thinking that I’m an asshole and a moron, and she’s
damn right
.

“Torch, brother. Look. Her car’s stopped.”

My attention goes back to the phone I have mounted on the dash. Fuck, it has. Good. Only problem is, it’s stopped in fucking Mississippi. I knew she was a few hours in front of me, but I didn’t realize she’d be
even more than that
. I step on the gas, hoping I can get there before it’s too late. At best, it will be three hours before I get to her, and that’s only if I peg the speedometer to get there.

My cell phone rings, making my track go blank. Even though it’s a matter of pulling it back up, it’s annoying as hell.

“What?” I roar, needing this conversation done.

I know it’s just a blue dot on the screen, but when I see it, I feel closer to Katie and not quite so out of control. That’s the major thing right now because I feel completely out of control.

“It’s me,” says Skull. “There’s shit going on. I’m flying into Mississippi. I’ll be there about the time you are. I got information back from our mole inside the Chrome Saints.”

My heart stalls.
Fuck.
“What the fuck’s going on and why Mississippi? That’s where Katie is.”

“I know, and apparently the Chrome Saints do, too.”

“What? How?”

“They have a low jack planted on the jeep.”

“Motherfucker! I saw them around it at the diner and I didn’t even think to check. Fuck, I’m an idiot!”

“Too late, now. We need to hurry. They’ve been trailing it. They followed your girl into a store where she bought a phone. Unless I miss my guess, she’s off to meet Beth.”

“Motherfucking craptastic load of shit! I’m about two and a half hours out. I’ll intercept her.”

“The fuck you will! You’ll not stop her from going to Beth and Gabby, and that’s a fucking
order
.”

“Boss, I can get there and protect Katie and—”

“And
nothing!
As mad as she is at you, she’d never tell you where Beth is, and I can’t risk losing her again.”

“I can’t let something happen to Katie!”

“We’ll have enough men there. Nothing will happen, Torch. Just don’t fuck it up. I think a lot of you, but you try to come between me and my family and I
will
fuck you up.”

The phone goes dead.

Motherfucker.

* * *

I drive the next three hours in silence. I drive as fast as humanly possible and I ignore every fucking thing that Shaft says. Not that he’s said much. Ever since he asked me to stop two hours back so he could use the bathroom and I told him to hang his dick out the window and let it fly, he shut the fuck up. 

I don’t breathe normally until I’m staring at the exit for the rest area. I pull into it slowly, hanging back and trying to find Katie’s jeep. As soon as I spot it, I park as far away as possible. Shaft jumps out at the same time I do.

“Where the hell are you going?” I ask.

“To the bathroom,” he answers, “and fuck you very much, asshole.”

I let him go. I’m glad he’s leaving. I walk towards Katie’s jeep, and that’s when I see a motherfucker casing it out. I’m going to make sure she pays for worrying my ass. Anyone knows not to hang out at a motherfucking rest stop. I expect her to jump out of the jeep and confront the motherfucker. When she doesn’t, I get worried. I see that the asshole’s holding something, and then notice light reflect off of the silver blade in his hand. Now, I’m beyond worried. I inch up by the back of the jeep. I look inside and, from this angle, it’s hard to tell, but it looks like she’s
sleeping
. She needs to be punished for a fucking month.

I finish circling around the jeep. When the son of a bitch turns to go to the driver’s side door, I come up behind him, wrap my arm around his neck, and cap a hand over his mouth. I pull him away from the jeep and behind another car, wrestling. It costs me because he cuts into my hand with that fucking knife. I don’t stop until I have him completely pulled away.

Suddenly, he breaks away, spins, then comes at me with the knife. I deflect it, but I’m losing blood from my arm, and if I don’t hurry and put an end to this, I’m going to get weak fast. I dance around him for a minute, then ram at him. I grab his arm, trying to keep the knife away from me as my other hand wraps around his neck and I slam him against a nearby pickup. I choke him, determined to keep him from getting air. The arm holding his shakes, and he slowly wins that battle as the knife gets closer and closer to me. He gets away from the truck and I back up a few steps, allowing it. I need to regroup. My fucking arm is losing blood pretty damn quick. This fight may get dirty.

I’m just about to junk-punch him with my knee, since my hands are a little busy, when the guy falls to the fucking ground like a piece of lead. Standing behind him is Shaft, who holds a big ass rock he just swung into the man’s head.

Once he makes sure the motherfucker’s unconscious, he drops the rock on the man’s gut. The guy’s body jerks, but shows no other signs of consciousness.

“About damn time,” I growl, pissed off that I couldn’t finish the motherfucker myself.

“If a son of a bitch had let me leak my lizard earlier, I would have been here, so shut it. What do we do with the son of a bitch?”

“Kill him.” 

“Wouldn’t it be, y’know, smarter if we just tie him up and deliver him to the cops?”

“Not as much fun.”

“Whatever, man. I’m not the son of a bitch who’s leaking blood all over the place and starting to look like I haven’t seen sun in a couple of years.”

“Fine. Tie him up and we’ll call 911 anonymously. There’s a first aid kit in the car. I’ll see about fixing my arm up.”

“Got it. You going to get your woman?”

“Skull told me not to, so no, but we sure ain’t letting her out of our sight.”

“Joy,” Shaft grumbles. “I’ll be back. Gonna get some rope out of the truck.”

I follow him after making sure that the asshole hasn’t come around. He’s still out cold, so I start walking back to the truck. I stop mere feet away from Katie’s jeep. She’s still sound asleep. She better be glad Skull forbade me to grab her tonight, because if he hadn’t…
fuck
. I was already pissed. After seeing how close she got to some pervert raping her—or worse—I’m not sure how gentle I’d have been with her. I give her one more glance through the window of her jeep, then walk back down to my vehicle.

It’s gonna be a long night.