That’s when I heard it. The thunderous roar of a motorcycle coming down the street. My heart began to hammer in my chest in tune with the sound, creating a symphony of doom. As though my fear was audible, Kelly stood in front of me, arms folded, his bulk wiping out my view of the front door.
There was arguing out the front of the house, then suddenly the front door slammed. I flinched. I wasn’t sure my heart could hammer any harder until it suddenly hit warp speed.
“Where is she?” I heard Morgan hiss.
“Move,” boomed a gravelly voice from the door. There was a shuffle and Morgan came into view, moving sideways as someone came in behind her.
Kelly jabbed a finger at her. “Keep out of this, Morgan.”
Yeah, bitch, I added silently from behind the tape.
“This her?” boomed the voice, louder now because it was closer.
Kelly stepped to the side, still keeping guard, but revealing me to the big biker boss dude.
My mouth fell open as I took him in, from the buzzed hair on his head, to the mammoth, woolly beard, to the leather that covered his entire body and down to booted feet that would crunch bones beneath them with ease.
My eyes flew back up, meeting his dark brown ones. That’s when I knew that before, when I thought I was dead, I really wasn’t. Because that was before I saw this man. Now I was whatever was worse than being dead, because I knew this man.
From the flare in his eyes, I knew he knew me too. The last time I saw this badass biker was at the bonfire after our photoshoot for the Hendrix label. I’d tossed water all over his burning beard before careening away in a hail of gravel, John sideswiping a bunch of Harleys with his car as we made our rapid escape.
“Grace.” The single word on his lips was a ball of dread in my belly.
He reached forward and ripped the tape from my lips. I ignored the sting because it was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Not when death was here, knocking on my door.
I breathed his name with horror. “Bingo.”
“This is the bitch you ordered a hit on, Morgan?” he thundered, looking at me while he spoke.
“That’s her,” she replied, her lips pressing in a smirk that I wanted to smack from her face.
He spun around. “What the fuck? Who do you think you are, traipsing around ordering hits on people? What are we? The fuckin’ mafia? You want every single fuckin’ fed in Sydney tacked to our fuckin’ asses? Goddammit!” He jabbed a finger at Kelly. “You shoulda just fuckin’ told me what the bitch was up to.”
Kelly held up his hands. “You were out of town. I had to do something to keep her safe until I could get a hold of you.”
Bingo turned back around to face me. “No one’s touchin’ this classy piece of ass. Call the hit off,” he ordered, staring into my eyes.
“Why?” I blurted out.
“You saved my motherfuckin’ life,” he boomed.
Morgan’s mouth fell open. “She did?”
“I tossed water at you,” I told him as if he needed reminding. It was hardly life saving. “Then I broke all your motorcycles,” I added. Then I shut my mouth before I could mention the slapping of his sister. Otherwise he might change his mind and put the hit back on.
“You scratched a couple,” Bingo admitted, then rubbed at his epic facial hair lovingly. “But you saved me from goin’ up in flames when I was being a fuckin’ idiot. You didn’t stick around to let me thank you. I owe you big, ” he boomed.
Bingo turned back to Morgan. “Touch a hair on her pretty head and there’ll be trouble.” He jabbed his finger at Kelly again, who’d been standing there watching our exchange without a flicker of emotion crossing his face. “I need to take a piss. When I come back, I want her out of that chair and gone.”
Bingo disappeared down the hallway.
“Fuck,” Kelly growled suddenly as he stalked to the window. “Casey’s here. You let him follow you,” he accused Morgan.
My heart leaped instantly. Then Kelly snatched the gun from the back of his sweats and engaged the slide. My heart plummeted just as fast.
I opened my mouth to scream when suddenly Morgan was slapping another piece of tape across my face.
Godfuckingdammit!
The butt of the gun jammed harder into the back of my head. I blinked and Grace came back into focus. I wanted to turn around, to see my brother, but I wouldn’t take my eyes from Grace for anything.
“I should’ve known the police would let you off quickly,” Kelly growled.
“You did this?” I whispered because suddenly it hurt to talk. Every piece of me hurt knowing my brother was alive and hid from me all these years. That he would do something like this. “You took my girl and you made it look like I killed her?”