Page 13 of Snake (Road Rebels MC 3)
“Laiken,” I said. “Are you hurt?”
“It would take a hell of a lot of force to hurt someone with so much padding.”
“No. No, no, no, no… Jace!”
I slipped my hand from Laiken’s cheek and balled up my fist. I connected my knuckles with the man’s face, dislocating his jaw on the spot. People in the bar shrieked as the bartender fired off a blank warning shot, trying to get everyone to settle the fuck down. Devon was on his back, cradling his jaw as it swung from his face.
My hand was trembling with unused energy. I could feel Laiken’s wide eyes on me as I stood over the guy. He was whimpering as tears streamed down his cheeks, and all I could do was smile. He got what was coming to him, and I was ready to give him more. I was ready to tear into that pretty little face of his and claw out those mischievous, manipulative eyes.
I wanted to make sure this man could never do to a woman what he just tried to do with Laiken.
“Jace!”
Her voice pierced my beast-like haze, and I turned my eyes towards her. Her beautiful hazel eyes were wide with shock, but she hadn’t yet run. She was still standing there, watching my every move.
“Get the fuck out of here,” the bartender said.
I walked back over to the bar and grabbed my leather jacket. I threw it over my shoulders and watched as people tried to help Devon up off the floor. He was moaning and gurgling as blood and spit spilled from his lips, and I grinned at the mess that asshole now was.
One fucking punch was all it took for wusses like him.
Then my eyes settled onto Laiken. She was staring at me from the middle of the floor, gazing at me in the shadows. I locked my eyes with her and straightened my back as the bar erupted into a disaster zone of people taking pictures and others making phone calls.
I had to get out of here, and I wasn’t willing to leave Laiken to fend for herself.
I stepped from the shadows, and I saw something like relief flood her features. I stood there at the corner of the bar, waiting for her to make a move. To run out the door or come over and slap me. To get her stuff and get out or sit down and order another fucking drink. I didn’t know what she was going to do and I didn’t know where to go from here, so I did the only thing I could think of.
I held out my hand for her.
She looked at it momentarily before her eyes made their way back up to mine. There was a mixture of disbelief and curiosity racing behind her eyes. I stood there, waiting for her to make her choice as my mind screamed at her for her to take my hand.
Then, the flashing and sounds of sirens raced into the parking lot of the bar.
Everyone began to scatter, and Laiken lunged for me. Her hand slipped into mine, and I pulled her towards the back exit. We barreled out into the alleyway and took a hard right, wrapping around the building to where I had parked my bike.
In the shadows, so I could come and go unannounced.
I unlocked the cargo container and removed two helmets. I handed her one as I slid mine on, but she just looked at it like she didn’t know what to do. Conflict roared in front of her eyes as she looked at the helmet.
The same helmet she’d worn all those years ago. When we were young and in love.
“Put it on,” I said. “I need to get you out of here.”
And without a second thought, she obeyed.
Chapter 12
Laiken
As I clung to his waist on the bike, more memories resurfaced. His bike was the first, and last, motorcycle I’d ever ridden on. So many times had his bike taken me away from my abhorrent household. So many times had his bike rescued me from my mother. His bike became synonymous with freedom and happiness and joy when I was with him. I would hear him rumbling down the road, and my skin would pucker. I would hear him strike it up in the parking lot of my school building and a smile would cross my face.
And his bike still had that same effect.
Throwing my leg over the back of his bike, I slid my arms around his waist. I could smell him. Every single scent he had on his body. The smoke from the bar and the beer on his breath and the cologne he swore he never wore. I laid my head against his back as we roared off down the alleyway. Away from the police cars and the illegal activities and the flashing lights.
I was in disbelief. I felt the rumbling of Jace’s bike between my legs, and I shook my head. The streets and the trees were whizzing by our bodies while the wind whipped around our legs. When I entered the bar that night, the last thing I expected was to come face-to-face with my sordid past. To be reminded of the things that once were. The things that once brought me happiness. The one thing I would’ve never expected from a night like this was to find myself wrapped around the one man I couldn’t let go.
And now that I had my arms around him, it was going to make that concept even harder.
But I loved the feeling of him. I had missed the feeling of him. The chiseled abdomen I clung to when I was younger was still there, and the breadth of his strong back was still supporting my cheek. My thighs were pressed into his as I straddled his bike… the same one we’d ridden together on so many occasions. We’d made love on this bike. More times than I could count. I’d sucked his cock, and he kissed me from head to toe. We tainted alleyways with our professions of love and spilled cum onto the grounds of cities we got lost in.
This bike held special memories for us, and I could feel myself drowning in them.
We drove through the back streets of Henderson, trying to get away from all the drama. My hands began to roam up his body, feeling the divots and peaks of his chiseled form. I felt the heat growing between my legs as my body responded to his movements. The way he leaned into the turns and the way he mindlessly scooted back into my body. I clung to him as we rode in the dark, our bodies magnetized to one another as I tried to talk myself out of the one thing that was racing through my mind.
My lips were so close to pressing in between his shoulder blades.
I hated that I wanted him. I hated that after everything he put me through, I still cared. I hated myself for growing warm for him. I hated my body for wetting itself for him. I’d encountered more men in my line of work than any other gender to speak of, and never once had I felt this pull towards them. Never once had I felt the desperate need to cling to them. Or hold them. Or scoot closer to them.
Like I was doing now. With Jace.
As much as I wanted to keep denying my want for him, I no longer could. My body was betraying me with every turn we took. Every road we turned onto held another secret. Another signal that my body threw out to show me that I wasn’t going to win. To show me that my logical mind wasn’t going to rule this scenario. And the, a terrifying thought occurred to me. One I tried to stifle by screaming at myself inside my mind. But as my hands ran back down his abs and sat dangerously close to his cock, I found my lips silently whispering the phrase.
“I love you, Jace.”
I still loved him. I had convinced myself I had stopped, but that wasn’t what had happened. Every time I compared a man to Jace, I was convincing my heart that Jace was still the best. Every time I shrugged off a man’s advances, I was giving Jace power over me. Every time I turned down a man’s want to go home with me, I was le
aving myself open to the idea that Jace would come knocking on my door.
And now that I was here with him, I could no longer deny what I was doing.
The lights of Henderson passed us by as I closed my eyes. I could feel Jace’s heart beating in his back. I could feel it strumming against my cheek. My arms tightened around his body, and my legs pressed mindlessly into his. Arousal was pooling in my underwear, and my tits were rising to peaks I didn’t want to acknowledge. The way Jace moved with his bike… it was like he was a part of it. One of the gears or the motor or the oil running through the pipes. The road thundered underneath us as Jace had our getaway quick, and soon the sirens of the corners of Vegas could only be heard echoing off the recesses of my mind.
Everything smelled and felt so familiar. From the way, Jace’s muscles twitched to the way the rubber on the road smelled. I could feel freedom sinking beneath my skin. I could feel those phantoms pangs of wild nature thrumming throughout my body. This bike could take me anywhere. Jace could take me anywhere. All I had to do was lift my lips to his ear and whisper, and it would be all mine. We could travel to California like we did one weekend after my mother called me worthless. We could travel into Mexico and bask in the sunlight like we’d always talked about. We could travel to Utah and ride up to the tallest peak in the state.
Then we could make love underneath the setting sun before we set up camp.
There were so many things we promised to do together. So many things we dreamed about in between the lies and the fighting. When I wasn’t reminded of the fact that he was ashamed to have me in his life, we talked of road trips and dingy motels. Crossing the country to see New Year’s Even happen in the brightest city the U.S. had to offer. We talked about traveling to Florida and having actual key lime pie and venturing to New Orleans and seeing who could hold out the longest during Mardi Gras.
We were wild and free and not tied down by adult responsibilities. I had my whole life ahead of me when I’d met Jace, and by the time I fell in love with him, I could see him at my side. Walking me through life and supporting me through the hard moments.
