Wild Nights(37)

“It’s Blaze,” he mouthed to me. “I just need you to play along.”

I nodded, letting him know that I understood, as my heart raced. I mussed up my hair to give it that bedhead look and hid my body under the rumpled covers.

R.J. unlocked the door and let Blaze in.

“Twenty minutes are up,” Blaze said as he forced his way past R.J. His eyes landed right on me before surveying the room.

R.J. pretended to adjust his belt and pants.

“She pretty good or what?” Blaze asked, sticking his hand out for a high-five.

R.J. returned the juvenile gesture before straddling his hands on his hips and taking a wide stance. R.J. towered over Blaze, and I could tell Blaze sort of looked up to him. R.J. was like some sort of hero to Blaze, and it would make sense that he wanted nothing more to join his big brother’s gang.

“I’m going to need more time with her,” R.J. said.

“What do you mean?” Blaze asked. I could hear his breathing grow labored. He really didn’t want to let me out of his hands.

“I need to break her in some more,” R.J. replied. “I want to take her back to the house with me tonight.”

“No,” Blaze said. “Absolutely not.”

R.J. looked at me, and I looked back at him in shock. I thought for sure Blaze would do anything in the entire world to get into the club.

“It’s not a question,” R.J. said. “It’s an order.”

Blaze stood silent as he thought about it. He glanced over at me and I could just feel the jealousy oozing out of his pours. That or he was afraid he was going to get caught for kidnapping me. I truly believe he thought he could make me fall in love with him and that the kidnapping would be justified.

Blaze took a deep breath as his nostrils flared.

“Fine, whatever,” he said. “Bring her back by eight tomorrow morning. I don’t want a single scratch or bruise or cut anywhere on her.”

“Of course,” R.J. said.

I hesitated before slipping out from under the covers. It felt so weird to be walking around freely in front of Blaze. I went to the bathroom and changed into some clothes from my suitcase. I zipped it up and wheeled it out to where the guys were standing.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Blaze asked me.

I shrugged. I had no idea what he was talking about.

“The suitcase stays here,” he said as he pointed to it. “Where do you think you’re going? On some little vacation?”

Oh, shit, I thought. I hoped I didn’t tip him off or make him suspicious.

I glanced up at R.J. who had sort of a cringed look on his face.

“Sorry,” I said. “I just wanted to be able to wear clean clothes in the morning.”

I hoped my lie sufficed, but I wasn’t sure.

“Don’t worry about all that,” Blaze said. He seemed annoyed, but I was pretty sure he bought it.

“Let’s go,” R.J. said to me. I could tell he didn’t want to waste another precious moment in Blaze’s company.

I slipped past Blaze, who grabbed me by my arm and whipped me around, jerking me hard. He pressed his mouth up to my ear.

“Don’t do anything stupid now,” he threatened me. “I mean it.”

He pulled his face towards mine and locked eyes with me, trying to show me that he meant business.

“I know,” I said back to him with shrugged shoulders. I was trying to make him think he still had power over me, but the truth was, I was now the one with the power. If only he knew.

I followed R.J. out to the parking lot where his shiny, black and chrome Harley-Davidson motorcycle waited for us. It was probably one of the nicest motorcycle’s I’d ever seen, and I wasn’t really even into those sorts of things.

He climbed on and started it up. The engine roared loudly then came to a loud, constant growl. I climbed on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

We both glanced up at the hotel room and could clearly see Blaze watching from behind the pulled curtains. I hoped to God that was the last time I was ever going to see his face ever again.





CHAPTER 20





As the cool night air blew through my long, blonde hair, I knew I was riding to freedom. Every stop light, every stop sign, and every car we passed was just one step closer. I was sure that that time the next night I’d be sleeping in my own bed.

R.J. seemed to drive carefully with me on his bike. Blaze was always a bit of crazy driver, at least in his truck. I barely remembered the time I rode with him on his bike.

We pulled into a bit of a rundown little neighborhood and pulled up to a big, gentrified Victorian house. It looked like a typical party house you’d see in a college town or one of those massive old houses that people turned into 8-plexes.