Knight (22 page)

I didn’t weep in pain or fear, but utter relief.

He was
alive
.

But the fairy-tale ended too quickly. The roar of another bike careened from the highway to the oil-drenched wreckage of our crash.

Lash hopped from his bike, his smile sluggish and half-assed. I was surprised he even held his own gun—a man like Lash was too damn lazy to jerk himself off. He had one of my dancers do it for him. Shannon lusted after the psychopath, but she liked the bruises as much as Lash liked to give them.

“Car trouble?” Lash pushed Rose from Keep’s arms and aimed his gun at his temple.

At least Keep wouldn’t feel the bullet. I rushed to help, but Luke held me firm. He called to Lash. His man ignored him in favor of the prey before him.

“Last fucking Darnell,” Lash said. “It’s a shame to put you down.”

“Then don’t.” Keep watched Rose. So did I, and I didn’t trust a goddamned thing she did. “I’m sure we could make this fight more fun, man-to-man.”

Luke cracked his hand over my mouth before I called to her.

“But this
is
my kind of fun.” Lash ignored Rose as she scurried backwards to the truck. I saw what she was after, but so could Lash if he looked. “I’ll kill you and I’ll kill Rose. No sense taking her to Temple now. I had no
fucking
idea she got ruined by your father.”

Wrong thing to say to both Darnells. She found the gun in the dirt. The weapon gleamed in her hand. Christ, I hoped Keep and Brew taught her how to shoot.

She hopped to her feet, gun raised. Luke swore and pushed me away, casting me into the dirt. He lifted his hands in brief surrender.

Rose didn’t aim for Lash. She pointed the gun at Luke.

“Don’t fucking move,” she whispered.

Lash turned, eying the trajectory and taking his chances. “You’d never hurt Lancelot, little girl.”

I wouldn’t take that bet. Rose scowled.

“That asshole
kidnapped
me. You think I give a damn about him?” She trembled. The gun didn’t. “But you care about your president. Drop the gun and get the hell away from my brother.”

“Is he really your brother?”

“None of your business. Get on the ground. Hands over your head.”

Lash didn’t move. “Think I’m gonna listen to a little slut like you?”

The gun fired. The bullet cracked the dirt at Luke’s feet. Either she was a bad shot or she bluffed, but the straining heartbeats between Lash’s resistant profanity and the moment his arms finally raised in surrender ached my chest.

Lash sunk to his knees. Luke waited for Rose’s instructions.

But Keep wavered on his feet and crashed then too.

“Goddamn it, Tristan.” Rose jabbed at his knee, refusing to take her eyes from Lash.

Keep jarred awake, but the blood on his nose and slur in his voice only got worse. It wasn’t an OD, but Keep was too fucking gone to be of any use to us.

Rose glanced at me for permission. At least one of us could get out of here. I nodded.

“Lash, give me the keys to your bike,” Rose ordered. He swore at her. “
Now
.”

The gun glimmered. Her finger tucked against the trigger. Luke growled, low and rough.

“Let her have the bike. We’ll get it back.”

Unlikely, but I wasn’t arguing. Lash tossed her the keys. She trained the gun on Luke and hauled Keep to his feet. No way he was riding her out of the ditch.

And he’d never live this rescue down.

Rose forced him onto the bike and snuggled in front of him, threading the engine and lowering the gun only once they rode to the asphalt. She removed the clip from the gun and handed it to Keep. He dropped it before she rode him out of the crash.

My heart ached a little less now that she was safe.

Lash swore in the dirt. He punched the ground and probably broke a finger. It didn’t faze him.

Luke pulled me from the ground. “Call the guys. Get a ride to the safe house and stay out of sight.”

“You fucking kidding me?” Lash spat blood.

Luke forced me to his bike. I might have argued if I hadn’t nearly tripped over my own feet.

“ATF was following Lyn. Once they hear of the fight, every fucking Fed who ever vacationed on the West Coast will set up camp in the Valley. Get a ride and tell the guys to find somewhere safe for the night.”

“Where the fuck are you going?”

Lash stepped too close. Luke didn’t hit him. His voice deepened—a challenge of authority that’d slay the bastard where he stood.

“I’m getting Lyn out of here before ATF hauls her in. She talks, and we’re all fucked.”

“Better kill her.”

I flipped him off. “Then I’ll see you in hell.”

Luke had more patience than me. He helped me to the bike—borrowed from one of his men. I gripped him as it burst to life and blitzed onto the road.

I waited until Lash couldn’t see before resting my head against Luke’s back.

Maybe it was weakness. Maybe it was dangerous. But the only thing I needed was to hold onto him, feel his warmth, and know that we survived for another round of bloodshed and horror.

I clung to his strength and savored this spicy, cedar scent as we rode. No idea where we’d find any safety, but, for the first time, I let a man take me home.

And on the brink of war, it was the first, last, and only time I’d let him stay.

My head throbbed. My body bruised. Only my heart ached more.

Broken. Terrified.

Offered—to the only man who would both protect it and destroy it.

He didn’t break into my home this time. I welcomed him.

But I passed out before he carried me over the threshold.

Lyn wasn’t badly hurt, but I suffered her every scratch, bruise, and swelling.

It was my fault.

Lyn was too beautiful for scars, and she knew it. She’d remember every strike, every reason for the pain.

So would I.

I never met a woman like her before. She wasn’t as unbreakable as she believed, didn’t have to be as independent as she thought, and never should have faced two biker clubs with a shotgun to defend her territory.

She fought because she didn’t dare ask for help, and she leapt into the fight so no would accuse her of being afraid. But there was no shame in fear. Recognizing fear kept people alive when guns pointed and trucks rolled. It also pumped my heart through my own pain while I rescued the only woman I couldn’t live without.

Lyn either slept or the world got fed up with her bullshit. I carried her to the bed, and she nestled almost peacefully in the white sheets. I didn’t envy her headache. She’d probably castrate me, but I hunted through her bathroom for aspirin and stole a bottle of water from her fridge. She didn’t wake when I place it on her nightstand.

Now what?

I was finally at her side, the only place I wanted to be and exactly where I didn’t belong. It wasn’t safe for either of us here, but I wasn’t leaving until she woke—until I knew she could take care of herself if my mistake turned into a massacre. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my cell, and, judging by her friends at ATF, calling from her home phone was too risky.

Then again, what did I have to return to? War. Bloodshed.

Lyn tucked in the bed. It was a vision of heaven, and she patrolled those sheets like the devil. I’d suffer the crack of her whip just for having such thoughts, but Christ, I’d take any punishment if it ended with us tangled, wrapped in each other.

We might have enjoyed that sin and made our own paradise.

I settled beside her. My weight shifted the bed. Lyn rolled, and I braced for her to wake with a profanity and slap. Instead, she cradled against me, rested a hand on my chest, and slept.

If only Anathema knew a head injury was the easiest way to tame Lyn. Thorne might have smacked her with a 2x4 years ago.

A year had passed since she first let me touch her, kiss her, sheath inside her. Those tiny moments fueled a thousand thoughts, stirring my blood for an entire goddamned year. I remembered her scent. Felt her touch. Savored the memories of her body.

We wasted time.

She was right. I was a martyr. Idealistic. A fool. I spent my life chasing ideals that had never been as real as the feelings I had for her.

Lyn slept next to me, black and blue but unbroken. Even struck with a bruise on her cheek, she was still the most beautiful woman I ever saw—or paid money to see.

She knew it too, but that was no secret. Her beauty, her strength made her untouchable. Confidence was sexy in a woman until she used it to collar the man who wanted to love her. I’d never trust her with that leash, but she’d never trust herself unless she held it.

Her hair covered her face. I brushed the blonde locks away. My finger grazed her skin. The softness of her cheek was rivaled only in the swell of her chest or the bump of her hips. Every part of her perfect, dangerous, and honed to drive a man like me to my knees.

But I needed a word from her before I’d finally collapse at her feet.

A
yes
.

A vow.

A promise.

A single breath of truth that whispered the same feelings I felt for her. Feelings she refused to admit.

Why did we still deny each other? I caused our rift, but she fed it.

Lyn woke. She caught me staring at her. I braced for the rage of a jungle cat. Instead, she stretched like a kitten.

I had no idea what to do when she wasn’t mad at me. What to say. How to handle the instincts I had and the desires I ignored.

“How’d you score this apartment?” A safe topic. “It’d take a lot of laps to get this place.”

“Just one,” she said. “I called him Daddy.”

I’d kill the fucker. Lyn felt me tense. She arched an eyebrow.

“Have some respect for me. My father left me a trust fund.”

Oh. “Really?”

“
Hart
isn’t a stage name.” She wavered as she attempted to sit up. I offered her a steady hand. She seized it. Didn’t let go. “My family owns half the Valley.”

“Holy shit.” I counted the car dealerships and factories, opera houses and little parkettes with the Hart name on them. “So…why do you…”

“Strip? I have my reasons. Most of them stem from when I was sixteen and decided I knew better than my father.” Her voice hardened. “I still do. But then I was looking for fun, liked the bad boys, and exploited a very profitable talent.” She strengthened as she woke. “Besides, I like it.”

So did the men who came to Sorceress. “You like the attention?”

She would have kicked me from the bed if she had the strength. “The
power
. Thanks though.”

“You have plenty of both.”

Her eyes darkened, green—like a fistful of hundred dollar bills. “Yeah, well. After tonight I’ll be lucky if I have a place to dance.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Where have I heard that before?” She folded her fingers through mine. “Here’s some free advice, Luke. Stop making promises and start looking after yourself.”

“I was trying.”

“It was stupid of you to kidnap Rose,” she said.

Hindsight was a bitch. “I didn’t think Temple would find us. And I didn’t know Brew-
fucking
-Darnell was her real father.”

Lyn raised her eyebrows. “Surprise, surprise. Just another complication.”

A complication made worse by her secrets. I didn’t let her shift off the bed. I offered the bottle of water and aspirin. She eagerly drank and took the pain-killers with a murmur of gratitude.

“I’m sending a message to Temple as soon as I get back,” I said. “I’m telling them I killed Blade.”

The bottle tipped over, and water spilled on her carpets. Lyn didn’t care. She stared at me, lips puffed in a gasp.

“Are you insane?”

“It’ll keep them focused on me and off the MCs.”

“Luke,
stop
.”

She reached for me, brushing her fingers over my hands, my arms. She grazed my cheek as if it were the last time she’d ever touch me.

It probably was.

“You can’t fix this,” she said. “The clubs are at
war
. You have to leave. Go someplace safe and get away from Temple.”

“I’m not leaving without you.”

She tried to rise. I didn’t let her. Her balance wobbled, and she plunked onto the bed. I thought she’d fight.

But her hand found mine again.

“I have twenty girls contracted to Sorceress,” she said. “If I go, what happens to them? I’m their only safe place to dance in the Valley. I gotta take care of them...” I recognized the crushing defeat, the way she shut down when I got too close.  “That’s why this is so hard.”

“Don’t fucking say it.”

“We can’t do this. You can’t be here.”

Like I hadn’t heard it before. Every time we had a chance to ignite the passion, she stuffed out the embers before anything kindled. “Why the fuck are we fighting this?”

“Because we have no
choice
.”

“You could choose
me
for once. Let yourself be happy.” I pulled her close. She permitted me, and that was a mistake both of us made. “You aren’t in a cut, Lyn. It
doesn’t
matter.”