Chapter 5
Emily
He knows. Onyx, the big, bad biker with a heart of gold knows that I’m in danger. I can tell by the way he looked at me when I called him by his given name instead of his club name. He told me he was here to mow the grass when that man has never mowed my grass a day in his life.
When he stepped back, I recognized it as a strategic fallback, not an abandonment.
He’ll be back for me. I have to believe that.
I don’t know when, but I know Onyx. Growing up he was always protective of girls, and he even beat up my bully in middle school.
He once told me that all the Jackson boys fought a lot anyways, so fighting a little extra for me was no trouble. Onyx always had a good sense of humor.
Maybe I’m being way more hopeful than I should be but I’m desperate, especially because he’s still holding Frisky at an odd angle. I want this unhinged lunatic out of my house as soon as possible.
I can hear the intruder muttering something about how if he’d gone north instead of south, he could be in Silverwood instead of this dump. I don’t care if this asshole thinks my home is a dump. It suits me just fine.
My heartbeat quickens when I hear a noise coming from the back of the house. It’s a tiny scrape that ends abruptly. It’s so faint that I almost think I imagined it. Then there is the faint sound of creaking floorboards.
My home invader hears it as well, and his entire body tenses.
He turns and listens for further evidence that someone or something has slipped into the house.
Frisky lets out a small, pained hiss as his hands tighten around him.
When we don’t hear anything else, he starts pacing again with my cat in his arms.
Meanwhile, I realize with mounting hope that the pressure in the house changed, like someone opened a door or window.
Memories of Onyx sneaking through the back window to play with me as a child rise in my memory and then suddenly there he is.
His bulky shape is filling the doorway between the kitchen and back hall.
Everything explodes into action at once.
Onyx runs full throttle into the living room just as my unwanted visitor turns to see whose footsteps are coming towards him.
His eyes go wide, and he opens his mouth to shout something, but Onyx rams him hard with one beefy shoulder, taking him down to the ground.
Thankfully, he misses my cat and Frisky bolts away.
When the intruder staggers to his feet, Onyx grabs him.
Although the man tries some martial arts moves, it’s clear that Onyx fights for keeps.
He shoves him into the wall, which rattles a shelf full of glassware hanging on the wall and sends a framed photo clattering to the floor.
I scamper back away from the fray. The last thing I need is to be caught up in the brutal fight between these two men.
The intruder struggles to his feet, and lunges for Onyx, jabbing one closed fist after another at his face and head.
Onyx is a good fighter though. He brings his fists up, like a boxer, blocking most of the punches that come his way.
I hear the thud and realize Onyx has caught him with a right hook to the side of the head, sending him staggering.
When he realizes that he’s not going to be able to fight his way out of the situation, he reaches into his coat pocket. I yell out a warning, “He’s going for a weapon!”
My words cause Onyx to begin fighting in earnest. In an instant, he’s all fists and fury.
He slams his fist into his opponent’s jaw so hard I can hear the sickening crunch when the bones shatter.
The man screams and tries to retreat, but Onyx grabs him by the back of his shirt and slams him against the wall again.
This is the most violent thing that I’ve ever seen in my life.
I can’t watch anymore but I can’t stop looking either.
My feet keep taking me backwards until my back bumps into the door and that’s when my knees unhinge and I slide down the wall.
I curl into myself instinctively even though I’m not in immediate danger.
My arms clamp around my middle, and my head shakes back and forth.
This isn’t what I wanted. I wanted the intruder out, not beaten to death by my overprotective neighbor.
It’s not a real fight anymore because although the intruder is still fighting back, none of his punches are really landing. Meanwhile, Onyx is tearing him up. His fists are relentless. The man tries to crawl away, but Onyx grabs him by the collar and hauls him back for another punch.
“Onyx!” I choke out, though I don’t know if I’m begging him to stop or to finish it. Onyx is in a blind rage, and I don’t think my voice got through to him.
Just in the nick of time, his brother Mica barrels through the door and hauls him off the intruder. “Onyx! That’s enough! Morgan wants him alive.”
He grabs Onyx around the waist and hauls him back with both arms. It takes everything he has. And Onyx fights to get back to the intruder. He yells, “Who in the fuck do you think you are rolling up on a woman’s home and taking her hostage, you ignorant fucker?”
The intruder chokes out, “Do you know who I am?”
“Charles fuckin’ Brennan. A rich asshole currently on the run from the law. I saw your arrest warrant with my own fuckin’ eyes. And I’m not done with you, not by a longshot.”
Onyx turns his attention to Mica. “Let me go,” Onyx growls, twisting to break free.
“Cut it out, brother. If you kill him we can’t hand him over to the cops,” Mica snaps, shoving him another step back. “You want to explain that to Jasper? You want to tell him you went rogue and ruined the agreement between our club and Detective Morgan?”
Onyx lets loose with a string of curses that would surely make his father proud, but he reluctantly steps back away from the intruder.
The dude is wallowing around on the ground, trying to get his legs under him.
If I’m being honest, he’s looking more like a downer cow than a man who just got his ass beat by a bigger, better opponent.
Onyx’s knuckles are raw, and there is a wildness in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. He glares at the intruder on my floor, the man who invaded my home, hurt my cat, and tried to trap me. I almost want Onyx to hit him again and that thought scares me.
Now that Onyx has gotten a hold of himself, Mica drops to his knees beside the bloody mess that was once a guy who thought he held all the control. He pulls zip ties from his pocket and yanks the man’s wrists behind his back. The plastic cinches tight with a harsh snick.
Onyx stands a few feet away, temporarily out of breath from his fight. When his eyes finally find me, his expression is fierce, raw and terrifying in its intensity. It makes me feel things for him that I haven’t felt in a long time.
Before we can connect after this fairly significant trauma, Frisky shoots out from beneath the couch. Mica almost trips over him as he drags the intruder away. Frisky runs straight to me. His small body is trembling. He lets out a broken meow as he jumps into my lap. The poor thing was terrified.
“I’m here,” I whisper, cuddling him up against my chest. He presses his face into the crook of my arm, and goes still, like he’s hiding from the world. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.” I don’t know if what I’m saying and doing is making it better or not. I feel so helpless right now.
I hear footsteps, and then Onyx drops down on one knee in front of us. He’s a bloody, battered mess, but he finds a comfortable position and settles down on the floor with us.
“Em,” he says. His voice is rough, but so gentle it unravels the last of my defenses. “Talk to me. Are you hurt anywhere? What did he do to you?”
I try to answer. My mouth opens, but nothing comes. I clear my throat and try again. “I’m fine. He didn’t touch me. He just smashed up all my electronics and threatened to hurt my cat if I didn’t do as he wanted. He’s an asshole and deserved every punch you gave him.”
Onyx gives me a tired, lopsided grin. “He’s also a fugitive with a warrant out for his arrest over a missing girlfriend.”
I gasp. “Really, they think he did something to his girlfriend?”
Onyx nods, flexing one bloody hand. “Yeah, that’s what our police contact said. You’re lucky our club was notified and agreed to search our land for him.”
“This isn’t your property,” I tell him sharply.
He lifts up both hands in a placating gesture. “I get that. Our family owns every piece of land for fifty miles in every direction around your place, but you’re right, this is in your name.”
I relax a bit. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to jump down your throat. It’s just that this is all I have left of my grandfather, and I don’t want to lose it.”
“That won’t ever happen, Emily,” he says with a note of finality.
“Thank you, Onyx,” I tell him, meaning it. “I’m glad you came here today.”
“You should thank Forge. We gave her that asshole’s shirt to sniff and she led us right to him.”
I can’t help the faint smile that curves up my lips. “You still have that big black German Shepherd?”
He flat out grins at me. Even with a busted lip and bruised up face, he’s still the most handsome man I know.
“You better believe it. I like her better than most people in my life.”
Onyx has always been like this, down to earth and easy to talk to. It’s too bad we drifted apart when I went off to college and he joined the military. We see each other on occasion, but it’s not like it was before.
Lights flash through the trees outside. I know it’s the police, so I try to pull myself together the rest of the way. “It’s our contact, Detective Morgan,” he states quietly. “I called him when I realized the man was in your cabin.”
“I guess they’re gonna want me to give a statement, right?”