Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Naomi
Kolter barely lets me get dressed before he’s dragging me out of that room. I feel… sticky. From the man’s blood, from Kolter’s cum… I’m not sure which is more prominent.
He hauls me through the club by the arm then shoves me through a side door into what looks like a service elevator. A heavy sense of dread fills me as he punches one of the buttons and the elevator begins taking us down.
My body is shaking—I think mainly from shock.
I’m having difficulty understanding everything that just happened.
I mean, I lived it, but I also sort of didn’t.
It was like I was an observer, watching everything occur.
One moment, I was ready to have a no-strings-attached hookup to rid myself of my virginity once and for all, the next Kolter is killing the man and tearing me in half while he claims my virginity for himself.
You were ready to hand over something that has always been—and will always be—mine.
His words echoed in my head the entire time. Each thrust seemed more punishing than the last, like he was trying to hurt me. Physically, yes, he absolutely met the mark. Emotionally? He never could. Not when real truths like that bubble from his lips before he’s able to stop them.
Despite the pleasure he took in the act, I know Kolter Mayhew better than anyone in the world.
Better than he knows himself, I’d guess.
It doesn’t matter that he’s been gone for years; it doesn’t matter that he’s involved in this…
gang, or whatever. He will always be my Kolter, and I’ll always be his Peaches. He made that abundantly clear tonight.
The question is, how far is he willing to go to prove me wrong? That thought alone is the cause of the growing knots in my stomach.
After all, he killed a man right in front of me.
No hesitation. No regret. I have no doubt it wasn’t the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. If I was smarter, I’d be terrified that I was about to meet the same fate, but I know that’s a line he could never cross.
Then again, maybe I’m holding a little too much faith for the boy I knew instead of the man before me.
When the elevator doors open, we step through a back room then out into an alley, where Kolter’s bike is ready and waiting.
He grabs the helmet off the handlebar and slams it down on my head before swinging his leg over his bike and firing it up.
I hesitate for a moment before I realize that he won’t wait for me.
Quickly, I jump onto the back of the bike and wrap my arms around his waist before he tears out of the alley and merges onto the main road.
This isn’t a soft and easy ride like before.
He’s unleashing the throttle, leaning into turns so deeply I feel like we’re going to crash.
The thrill I felt during that first ride has been obliterated, replaced by fear of the unknown.
Kolter navigates us through town for what feels like ever before he pulls up to a run-down-looking bar.
Or is it a saloon? Do those only exist in old western movies?
Whatever it is, it looks like the kind of place where a bunch of old cowboys would go for their whisky.
Or, based on the number of motorcycles out front, a bunch of bikers.
Kolter kills the engine and jumps off the bike, then pulls me down next to him, grabs the helmet off my head and tosses it to the ground before dragging me up the front steps and into the bar.
The smell of stale beer and cheap liquor hits me, and I can’t help but wrinkle my nose.
All eyes swing to us as Kolter hauls me through the bar, his boots thundering against the wooden floors.
Men dressed in matching leather cut-off jackets and riding pants all watch me carefully, while several women barely wearing enough to cover their nips and slits shoot daggers at me with their eyes—especially one woman with bright-red hair.
“Blade, what’s going on?” a guy asks.
He looks familiar, and it takes me a moment to place him. The club. That first night. After the… glory hole.
What was his name again? Axle? Arson?
“Not now, Ace,” Kolter snarls before tugging me into a back hallway.
He kicks open a door then shoves me through the gap onto the single bed in the middle of the room. The door slams shut, and I hear the sound of a key turning in a lock.
Panic fills me as I rush to the door and try the knob, but sure enough, he’s locked me in.
What the heck?
I look around the windowless room, trying to work through my options, and then the door reopens. Relief fills me as Kolter steps inside.
“What’s going on? Where are we?” I ask.
“Where’s your phone?” he asks shortly, moving towards me.
I frown. “My phone? I-I don’t know. Back at the club, I think. Crap, so is my purse.”
I shake my head, trying to gain some perspective as I stare at Kolter. “What’s going on? Are you, like, holding me hostage or something?” I throw out, mostly kidding.
When he doesn’t smile or smirk, that heavy feeling of dread drops into my stomach once more.
“Until further notice. Don’t try to run—you won’t make it.”
The emotional whiplash has my head spinning. What the hell is happening? Is this not the same man that tore through my virginity like it was his lifelong destiny to do so? Is this not the boy I’ve loved all my life?
“Kolt,” I whisper.
He tenses for a moment, his jaw tightening as he shakes his head.
“Don’t.”
Then he turns on his heel and slams the door shut behind him—so hard the walls shake—before locking it once more.
Kolter’s voice grows quieter as he moves away, but I do hear him shout at someone to watch the door.
I’m left standing there in a daze of confusion.
Did I just get kidnapped?