Page 18 of Ash (Dragon Riders MC 3)
“I take it something else happened.”
She swallowed hard. “I was moving in late at night into that new apartment in the old complex, you know? And I drag the last of my things up the stairs and boom! I run straight into him.”
“You’re kidding.”
She shook her head. “Nope. Not one damn bit. He asked if I needed any help and I told him I didn’t need any help from a guy who was stalking me, and that started an argument.”
“What happened with the argument?”
Her eyes fell to her food. “He, uh…”
The hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end. “What did he do to you, Hannah?”
She shook her head. “Just—took something that wasn’t his. That’s all.”
I wanted to choke that boy on his own entrails. “I’m so sorry, Hannah.”
She shrugged. “My mistake.”
“Look at me.”
“What?”
“I said, look at me, Hannah.”
She slowly lifted her eyes to mine. “Yeah?”
I gripped her chin. “It is never the victim’s fault. Ever. You hear me?”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “Yeah, I hear you.”
“Good.”
I stroked my thumb along her skin, reveling in how soft it was. I had to force myself to release her before I buried the instinct to pull her in for a kiss. Damn it, she had the most kissable pair of lips I’d ever seen on a girl. And I wanted nothing more than to see how they looked wrapped around my cock. I wanted to make this woman mine. I wanted to take her in every way and make sure she was safe for all eternity. She strummed something inside of me no one had ever touched in my life. Not a woman, not a girl, not a high school sweetheart… no one. And I never wanted it to end.
Until the doors of the bar burst open.
“Hannah! Are you in here!?”
She gasped. “Slash?”
I turned around. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Slash put her hand in my face as she charged up to Hannah.
“We have to go. We have to talk, now,” she said.
“What’s going on, Slash? What’s happening?”
I narrowed my eyes. “The fuck are you doing here? You’ve got no right—”
Slash held her finger up to me. “Dave knows you’re not in Hillridge Springs anymore.”
My stomach dropped to my toes as Hannah’s face paled.
“What?”
Slash shook her head. “The second I got word, I hopped on my bike. He came into the bar looking for you a couple of hours after you left with Ash, and he had a wild look in his eye.”
Hannah looked up at me. “What are we going to do, Ash?”
Slash shoved me in my chest. “He’s not doing anything. But you and I are getting as far away from here as possible.”
I growled. “Over my dead body.”
Slash shot me a piercing look. “This isn’t for you to decide. This is bigger than you, and bigger than our beef. Even bigger than Skeleton.”
Hannah shook her head. “I’m not leaving Ash’s place.”
Slash paused. “You’re staying with this asshole?”
She nodded. “Yes, I am. And I’m not leaving his place. I feel safe there, and he’ll never find us where Ash lives. I can promise you that.”
Slash looked up at me. “Oh, really? Can you promise that?”
I glared at her. “I can promise that if he does, he’s a dead man.”
Slash paused. “She told you, didn’t she?”
Hannah sighed. “Just did, actually.”
I pulled out my wallet. “Come on. We need to get you back there, anyway. Especially if this creep comes rolling into town sometime soon. For all we know, Slash was followed.”
She scoffed. “I’m never followed.”
I chuckled. “Rich, coming from a woman involved with what just happened with our last op.”
I pinned her with a look before I offered Hannah my hand. She took it and I helped her off the stool before the two of us headed outside. I had to get her back to my place. We had to hunker down for a while so I could put out feelers within the community. But I sure as hell wasn’t letting Slash come with us. That bitch could stay in a cardboard box for all I cared.
But I knew one thing was for certain. I knew I couldn't make Hannah mine anytime soon. I had to get her safe first. She had to feel safe before I could venture into anything like that. So, my own vices and my own daydreams would have to wait.
“Ash?” Hannah asked.
I opened my truck door for her. “Yep?”
“Look at me.”
I gazed down at her. “You all right?”
Her eyes held all of the longing in the world, yet neither of us could act on it. And it killed a part of me inside.
“I don’t know how I’m ever going to thank you,” she said softly.
I grinned. “Trust me, I’ve got a few plans of my own.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Really, now?”
“Mhm. Especially since we’ll be cooped up with one another.”
