Ox (The Devil’s Riders #5)

Chapter 1

ONE

Bolton, California

Kayla

Mel’s Diner was nearly empty. Al, an elderly man who rarely spoke and drank his coffee black, was the only patron left for the night. Which wasn’t surprising, seeing as it was past midnight on a Tuesday evening in December.

Glancing at my watch, I realized I had nearly an hour left to my shift and sighed. No customers meant no tips. Great. Just what every struggling college student who can’t afford to go back home for the holidays wants to hear at the end of her double shift.

When I heard the door jingle, I perked up. Maybe it was a party of good looking men who tipped well and kept their hands to themselves, coming for a late night snack after a fun work party? My heart sank when I saw who it really was.

No! What was he doing here? He hadn’t been around for months and I’d taken that to mean he was gone for good. The Devil’s Riders, the MC my friend’s boyfriend belonged to, had seen to that for me.

Ghost, the Road Master for the Watchmen MC, stepped into Mel’s Diner like he owned the place. Much like an apex predator, his cold gaze darted around the poorly lit room looking for something. Or someone. When his arctic green eyes landed on mine, my heart bottomed out and my pulse began to thump wildly.

What the hell was I supposed to do? Kim, the only other waitress on shift, greeted Ghost. Handing him a menu, she directed him to my section. Not because she had a death wish for me, but because it was my turn to be seated. Her last customer had left five minutes earlier and she was only being a considerate coworker by giving me this one.

“Kayla,” she called over her shoulder, “you got yourself a customer.”

Since I couldn’t yell across the room that I didn’t want him, I swallowed my fear and made my way over to his table with the same enthusiasm as an inmate embracing their last steps over to the electric chair.

“Welcome to Mel’s,” I began, my eyes too nervous to reach his and hovering at table level. “Can I get you something to drink while you look over our menu options?” The speech, something I’d uttered a million times before, nearly stuck in my dry throat as I forced it out.

Ghost didn’t speak. After several seconds of silence awkwardly stretched on, I was forced to look up. A terrible mistake. That’s what he’d been waiting for. The biker was staring at me harder than anything on the menu. His gaze consumed me from head to toe. I’d never been so uncomfortable in all of my life.

It wasn’t that the man was ugly. Far from it, in fact. Ghost, the biker whose real name I didn’t know, was actually very good looking. However, there was something so dark living inside the man that it was all I could do to endure his presence for mere seconds, let alone the many hours a date would require. Which was something he’d insisted we do, over and over again, despite my telling him I wasn’t interested.

“I’ll give you some time to decide,” I told him, wanting to run in the opposite direction, jump into my car, and speed back to my tiny apartment where I could lock the door and hide under the covers for the rest of the night.

As I turned to go, Ghost reached out and snagged my arm. His fingers tightened around my wrist, immobilizing me in place. “I know what I want,” he told me, his thumb stroking the pulse point at my wrist as I just stood there like a mouse caught in a steel trap. “I always know what I want.”

I swallowed, wondering how I should proceed. “Okay, I’m listening,” I replied, licking my suddenly dry lips.

“Are you, Kayla?” he ominously returned, his fingers inching up my arm. “Are you listening to what I tell you? It doesn’t feel like you are.”

Ghost’s mind games had creeped me out before. Now they downright terrified me. There was just something so vacant about his expression, that, for all his good looks, height, and bad ass biker status, left me feeling coldly repelled.

“Do you want coffee or a soft drink? You like Pepsi, right? I’ll go get you one now,” I prompted, willing to do anything to get away from him before the terrifying biker dragged me into the booth beside him, which I could feel was what he wanted to do.

Ghost smiled, but it had an even more chilling effect than if he hadn’t. “You remember what I like to drink, Babe,” he noted with satisfaction, as though we’d been lovers once and I was reminiscing fondly with him about it.

Far from it.

Ghost used to ride his bike past the public pool I lifeguarded at during the summer. Every shift I worked, he would stop and buy a Pepsi at the vending machine nearest my guard tower. At first, I thought he just really liked Pepsi and the location was convenient. I soon realized the soda was just an excuse to talk to me. And, after I told him I wasn’t interested, a convenient way to stalk me.

“Get something for yourself, too,” Ghost ordered, his green eyes looking right through me. “I want you to sit down and talk with me for a bit. It’s been a while and I want to know what my girl’s been up to.”

His girl. What the fuck? I knew Ghost wasn’t right in the head but those words let me know he was downright certifiable.

“I can’t sit with customers at work,” I told him, blaming my reluctance to socialize on my job to shift his anger away from me.

“If your boss says anything, I’ll have a talk with him,” he lowkey threatened.

“That’s not necessary,” I quickly returned, worried that I’d actually endangered my kind boss in this epic mess. “I’ll go and get your Pepsi.”

When I tugged on my arm, Ghost held it for a few extra seconds before letting it fall down to my side. “Be quick,” he warned.

Heart beating a mile a minute, I ran back into the kitchen and began pouring a Pepsi. Kim, a trim blonde twenty years my senior who appeared so much like me she could have passed for my mother, took one look at my shaking hand and said, “You all right, kid?”

“I’m fine,” I lied, not wanting to entrap anyone else in this terrible situation. I’d just deal with it until I could call Maddy in the morning. My friend would be able to speak to her boyfriend and he’d make this whole nightmare go away again like he’d done the last time.

Kim frowned. “Is that biker being rude to you, hun? I saw he was staring pretty hard at your ass when I seated him in your section. Do you need me to get rid of him or call the cops?”

Shaking my head, I pasted a fake smile onto my lips. “It’s not a problem. He’s just a little weird is all. Just don’t leave me in the dining room alone with him if you can help it.”

“Okay,” Kim agreed, placing a reassuring hand on my back. “I’ve had those types of customers before. I won’t leave you alone.”

We exited the kitchen together and Kim promptly began to clean the tables nearest my section as I walked over to Ghost with his soft drink. Placing it before him, I reached into my apron and pulled out my notepad to take down his order. “Have you decided what you’re in the mood for yet?”

As soon as I’d said the innocent words, I realized how poor a choice they were when uttered to the likes of this nasty man. His feral smile and wandering eye let me know exactly what he wanted, and it wasn’t any of our blue plate specials.

Toying with the string of my apron, Ghost twirled the cord in his fingers. When that didn’t earn him the reaction he craved, he wound it around his hand and tugged me closer. “I thought that was obvious, Babe. I want you. And I’m not going to take no for an answer this time.”

Well, shit. No one can say the crazy man wasn’t direct. “Look, Ghost, I’m not?—,”

He gave my apron a harsh jerk and I nearly tumbled into his lap. Grabbing my hips to stabilize me, Ghost’s fingers bit into the pads of my hips and I stifled a whimper. “Don’t fucking say you aren’t interested in dating right now, Kayla! I don’t want to hear that shit again. Do you understand?”

Nodding quickly so I didn’t anger him further, Ghost smiled his predatory grin.

“Good girl. You take direction so nicely,” he complimented, his fingers working lower to my ass where he gave it a harsh squeeze. “I can’t wait to see how well you take directions in other areas.”

Kim looked up then and shouted, “Kayla, the boss said you need to complete all side work before you leave for the night. He won’t be happy if it goes undone again.”

Taking a step backward, I tucked my pad back into my apron, grateful that Kim had created an excuse for me to exit this terrible situation. “I’ll order you the Shepherd’s Pie. It’s our Tuesday Night special and customers really seem to enjoy it.” I didn’t give a shit if that was true or not. It was what he was getting because it was already prepared and could be served faster than anything else in the kitchen.

Ghost shrugged. “Sure. I’ll eat whatever you want to feed me, Babe. I’m not picky.”

Nodding, I cleared away his menu and rushed back into the kitchen. A few minutes later, I brought out Ghost’s Shepherd’s Pie. As I approached his table, I noted he was talking on the phone. Thanking whoever was above that he was occupied, I wordlessly set his order down and left him to his private conversation. Even as I walked away, I could feel his eyes crawling over me and I had to suppress a shiver of disgust.

Kim and I actually began to perform our side work then. When I went into the kitchen to start refrigerating the remaining ketchups, I came back out to an empty table.

“You can relax now, hun,” Kim told me, clearing the dishes from Ghost’s abandoned meal. “He’s gone. But he left you one hell of a tip,” she told me, waving a hundred dollar bill the biker had placed under his empty Pepsi glass. “Not bad, for a creep.”

“Thanks,” I said, making my way over to the register to cash him out.

I hated taking the money, but I needed it. Leaving it behind was not a protest statement this poor college student could afford to make. My replacement, Daisy, walked in the door a little after one, and I told Kim I was leaving.

Fetching my coat and my purse from the back room, I zipped up my heavy fleece to prepare for the chill outside. It was at moments like these I wished I could afford some fancy car that had one of those built-in automatic car starts that made warming up your vehicle a breeze. No such luck. I had exactly one-hundred-and-eight dollars in my checking account at present, all of which was already spoken for with upcoming bills. Fancy electronics weren’t in my budget or the budget of my foreseeable future.

Fumbling inside my purse for my keys, I finally located them and unlocked my sedan. My apartment was only twenty minutes away, but I was so tired tonight it felt more like hours. Not having a lick of patience, I didn’t warm up my car before I exited the parking lot and headed home.

Glancing in my rearview mirror, I saw a single headlight pull behind me from a side road. Not thinking much of it, I cranked the stereo and began to sing along, badly, with Halsey as she proclaimed to the world she was “bad at love”. Same girl. Same.

The headlight behind grew closer and suddenly flashed on high. Somewhat blinded, I swore and squinted into my rearview mirror. What the heck was this guy doing behind me? Was he drunk? He certainly was acting that way.

Suddenly, the motorcycle sped up and drew up beside me. Shocked at such a dangerous move, I looked over at the rider in disbelief. To my horror, Ghost stared back at me, a malevolent smile on his twisted face.

What the hell was he doing? Trying to get us both killed? Up ahead, a car barreled toward us. To make matters worse, another vehicle was coming up behind me, effectively trapping both me and Ghost in this ultimate game of chicken. Thinking I was going to see the man become road pizza, I hit my brakes so that he’d shoot ahead of me and be able to survive this disgusting round of Russian Roulette.

To my ultimate relief, Ghost swerved in front of me and didn’t collide with the oncoming motor vehicle. But the car behind me wasn’t happy when they had to jam on their brakes to avoid crashing into my bumper. As the male driver swerved around my car, he laid on his horn and mouthed “bitch” as he shot me the middle finger.

Sitting there stunned, I tried to get my erratic heartbeat under control. After a minute or so, I lifted my foot off the brake and headed to my apartment. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight in fear that the insane biker would kick in my door, I decided to call Maddy. I hated to wake her, but this felt like an emergency and I knew she’d forgive me the late hour.

With shaking hands, I scrolled through my phone for her number. Hitting send, I took a deep breath and told myself not to cry as I anxiously waited for her to pick up.