Chapter 16
16
M y night had started in a trunk, progressed to a motorcycle ride, then rapidly ended up with me hiding in a bathroom at a motorcycle club with a phone I’d stolen from a man named Thor.
You wanted an adventure…
Hell, maybe sex with Thor would be fun, a change from what I’d experienced with Kevin. But kissing Thor hadn’t been fun. If he fucked like he kissed, I might as well be a blow-up doll.
I was in so far over my head, I couldn’t see the surface, and it would only get worse if someone recognized me. Was being forced to fuck Thor better than having my fiancé find out where I was?
It was devastating to realize it probably was.
I stared at Thor’s phone, trying to think of who I could call. I didn’t dare put my sisters at risk by calling them, and I wasn’t even sure what they could do to help. One call to my father would probably have Thor returning me safely to one of Daddy’s properties, but I didn’t have any way of knowing how things stood between them. For all I knew, Thor would deliver a ransom note and hold me prisoner, and all hell would break loose. Or worse, it was possible that the Serpents of Death had grown tired of being my father’s expendable infantry , and they’d hurt me to punish him. I could call Josh, but he’d either have to tell Kevin what was happening, or I’d be putting him at serious risk by forcing him to lie to his employer. I couldn’t put my safety above his, not when he’d always been kind to me.
There was another desperate option. Someone whose safety I was significantly less concerned about; someone who hadn’t always been kind to me.
I dug through the jacket pockets until I found the card Reaper had left for me the night I’d met him. I started to dial before I could think about all the reasons it was a bad idea.
I was surprised when Reaper came up as a saved contact on Thor’s phone as soon as I dialed the number but didn’t have time to think about it because he picked up on the second ring. “The fuck are you doing calling us tonight? Do we have a problem?” Reaper’s unmistakable sultry tone was seductive even when he sounded angry.
Fuck. Fuck!
Shit…what was his relationship to Thor? Would they both turn on me and call my fiancé to gloat? No, Reaper didn’t operate like that. There’d be a price for his help, but he wouldn’t rat me out. I was only useful to him if I married Kevin.
“ Thor ,” he barked when I didn’t respond.
“It’s Juliet Bryson,” I whispered, hoping he’d be able to hear me over the loud music in the background wherever he was. “I need a favor.”
For an agonizingly long moment, there was only the sound of that heavy bass thumping at half the speed of my heart, as though it were mocking me with its languorous rhythm.
“Care to tell me why you’re calling me from Thor’s phone, princess?” His tone was tight and even angrier.
“I…went out. Ended up at the biker bar off Forty-Seventh. Long story short, I took a motorcycle ride with Thor, and he brought me back to his clubhouse. I need to get out of here, but he’s…insistent that I stay.”
“I take it your fiancé doesn’t know you went out ?”
I exhaled slowly, audibly shaking. “No. I just…I don’t have anyone else I can call.”
He cursed, but it sounded far away, like he’d put the phone down to do it. “Does Thor know who you are?”
“I don’t think so.”
He let out a breath. “Listen to me very carefully, Juliet, because if you don’t play this right, you’ll get us both killed. The risks of coming to get you tonight are astronomical. The price for this favor will be too. But we have to get out of there in one piece first.” There was no longer music behind him, and an engine hummed to life in the background. He was on his way.
It was a bitter pill to need to be rescued by a man who’d set out to ruin me and ended up blackmailing me, but I almost cried with relief. I’d been holding it together, trying not to admit how scared I was.
“The only way this works is if he believes you’re mine. So you better be comfortable acting like you’re mine…and like you’re fucking happy about being mine. If you’ve got any reservations about that, tell me now. I’ll come up with another solution, but it’ll take time.”
“Whatever it takes. But he knows I’m engaged. If someone recognizes me, they’re going to know it’s not to you.”
“Darling, no one in my world would think marriage could stop you from being mine.” His engine revved like he was flooring it.
“How long will you be?”
“Ten minutes, maybe twelve. Stall.”
“Thank you,” I said softly.
He laughed. “Let’s see if you’re still thanking me after this little charade…”