Chapter 15 Mountain
Cami knows I’m the scarecrow. I saw the recognition in her eyes through the scarecrow’s vision. I’m sure she also saw the tattoo on my neck, and that’s why she gasped.
I leave him to return to her, too worried about her shivering in the cold and traumatized to leave her alone. I race through the cornstalks, knowing exactly where she is, and shout her name. “Cami!”
“Rex!
She flings herself into my arms as soon as she sees me. I pick her up and bring her into the warmth of my body, hugging her tight. She’s too fucking cold.
Cami’s legs wrap around my waist. She’s clinging to me, blubbering about the dead stalker.
The crop circle doesn’t disguise much. I see the spray of blood and the headless corpse. He got what he deserved.
My gaze shifts to the scarecrow. He’s holding my axe and looks terrifying. In his gaze, I can see the pride he feels in protecting Cami. I’ll have to tell her the complicated truth, but right now, she needs to get warm.
Once we’re in my truck, I crank the heat. She’s shivering as I haul her against me, wrapping that blanket around her that I’m thankful I keep in my truck. It’s protected her twice now.
“You okay?” I ask, struggling with the rage that still simmers below my skin.
As soon as I knew she’d been taken, I lost my shit. Scythe called Virus as I ran to my truck. He let me know that Virus hacked a few nearby cameras, catching the stalker as he took Cami. We were able to trace him to the lumber mill, but by then, I had received a text.
He wanted me to come here and planned to kill me.
The fool didn’t know I couldn’t die easily, especially if I combine my soul with the scarecrow as I did tonight. It’s part of the connection the club shares with them and why they’re everywhere in our cornfields, protecting the town from every angle.
Cami doesn’t know that Virus found a connection between the stalker and the arsonist. It was the same guy. He had us fooled for far too long, but now we know that he’s one of the Allenites. Or he’s trying to become one.
Why they’re obsessed with our club, I don’t know. Virus is still checking that out. He’ll crack that information eventually.
For now, the threat is eliminated.
“I’m tired,” Cami murmurs.
“Rest, baby. I’ve got you.”
She yawns. “Thank you, Rex.”
“For?”
“Being the scarecrow tonight.”
That’s all she says before I hear her even breathing. She’s warm and safe. That’s all it took to knock her out.
But it’s just like my fierce ol’ lady to get the last word in.
I fucking love this woman.
CAMILLE
“THERE’S SOMETHING I want to show you,” Rex announces as he leads me upstairs to my room. He’s carrying a box under his arm that he says he’s kept in his closet at The Barn for a long time.
I’m curious.
Once we’re inside, he sits on my bed, and I join him. “Here. Take a look.”
I open the lid and gasp. It’s filled with newspaper clippings and printed articles, awards that I’ve won, and the picture of me they used for social media when I won the Hometown Bakers Championship. “Rex?”
“I’ve been collecting them since the day you left. Once I had them all, I started backdating to college and high school. They’re all inside. Everything you’ve accomplished.”
He sounds proud of me.
“And I’ve given a copy to your Granny. She has all of them, too.”
I glance at the board on my wall and the proud display my Granny posted for me to see. But it wasn’t her idea.
Rex made it possible.
“You’re too good to me,” I whisper, holding back the sob that wants to break loose. “Even when I thought you forgot about me, you proved that I’ve always been important to you.”
“And that’ll never stop, my Blissy Girl.”
I launch myself at his chest and tackle him to my mattress. “Then it’s a good thing I love you, Rex Coleman.”
“A very good thing,” he agrees before capturing my lips in the perfect kiss.
He’s a keeper, even if he’s sometimes a wild scarecrow dispensing justice in the cornfields outside Raven’s Crest.
“YOU’RE A SCARECROW.” It’s not a question.
Rex stretches out beside me on my bed. “Yes. Well, it’s a little complicated. I can connect with any of the scarecrows outside Raven’s Crest or within the vicinity.”
“Because of the Salem witches.”
He’s been explaining it to me for the last hour. It’s still hard to accept. “That’s right.”
“So, I’ll always have protection from stalkers and fanatics.”
“Yeah, baby. You will.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah?” He sounds surprised I’m accepting this so easily.
“I’ve heard the rumors since middle school. I just never expected they had a real component to them.”
“Damn, baby. You turn me on.”
“Because I believe you?” I ask with humor.
“No, because you trust me and know I love you.”
“I do.”
“Get naked,” he orders.
I blink. “What?”
My Granny is downstairs.
“Get naked,” he repeats. “I want to lick your pussy until you come all over my lips and beard.”
God. He has such a dirty mouth.
I reach for my shirt, and he helps me undress, sinking to the mattress on his stomach once I’m nude. He hauls me closer, holding onto my hips as he kisses my mound.
“You’re all the sugar I need, baby. Gonna worship every fucking inch of you, and when I’m done, you’re gonna take my dick like a good girl. Aren’t you?”
I open my legs wider, eagerly giving him access. “If you don’t prove all those words are true, I’m going to find another biker—”
His growl cuts off my words as he dives between my thighs.
I jolt as the first swipe of his tongue spears through my folds, and then I forget everything but the warm, wet tongue licking at my core.
Rex’s hands curl around my hips, drawing my pussy against his face as he begins to suck on my clit.
His tongue flicks the bead, and my head falls back as I gasp at the sensation.
“You taste better than I remember, Cami.”
I stare into the intense desire filling Rex’s gaze as my elbows rest against the sheet.
“I’m formally staking my claim right here, right now. I’m gonna make you come on my tongue and then on my dick. You’re mine, Camille Parker. I’m never letting you forget it.”
A part of me revolts at the idea. I’m not property to be owned and used at his whim. But that isn’t what he means. I finally understand what it means to be property of a biker.
“Yours, but with rules,” I concede.
A smile widens his lips. “Didn’t think it would be any other way, darlin’.”
“As long as you understand this goes both ways. Cheat on me or flirt with another woman, and I will chop off your dick and stuff it down your throat.”
He groans. “Goddamn, you’ve got such a vicious, perfect little mouth.”
“That means you agree?”
“Fuck yeah, it does. Now, lie back and give me your cum, baby.”
I rest against the sheets.
“Just remember I’m good with morning wood.”
I groan. He’s terrible at jokes.
“Let me show you how good I am.”
“Stop talking and make my thighs shake.”
“Oh, you’re gonna be quaking all over.”
I can’t reply because he’s already proving it.
IT’S EARLY IN THE MORNING when I wrap a robe around my waist and head downstairs. I want to talk to Granny, and I know she’s an early riser. There’s already a pot of tea on the stove, and she’s sipping from her mug as I enter.
“Morning.” Her lips twitch. “Vigorous night?”
I duck my head as I snicker and grab a mug, pouring my own pot of tea before I join her at the table.
“You’ve got something on your mind.”
“I do.”
“You met the scarecrow.”
I blink in surprise. “Yes. He saved me. Well, it was Rex, of course. But wow, Granny. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I experienced it myself more than once.”
Really? “When?”
She gives me a warm smile. “With your grandpa. His family is one of the founders.”
Oh, wow. I didn’t expect that.
“Did you know they’re cursed?” The question is casual, but I know it’s not.
“No.”
“They can’t leave town for longer than a week or two at a time. If they do, the curse begins to fester in their blood. Symptoms emerge. I saw your grandpa once. They get so itchy that they want to claw their own skin off. It makes them moody and restless. Some develop gut issues.”
“Wow. That’s awful.”
“It worsens the longer they’re away from home. Their blood will get tainted and make them sick.”
“Why are you telling me about this?”
“Because you need to know that Rex wanted to go after you and bring you home once he realized his mistake. He couldn’t, Cami. It would have killed him.”
Yet he came to me when he heard I was in danger, risking all of that to be sure I was safe. “I love him, Granny.”
“I know, sweetheart. That man is totally in love with you. He always has been. I knew you’d end up together.”
That doesn’t surprise me. Granny Jo’s intuition is legendary.
“We’re witches, Cami. Don’t forget we came from Salem. The ancestors’ magic courses through us. Someday, when you’re ready, I’ll be here to guide you.”
“I appreciate that.”
She doesn’t push me, knowing I’ll come to her when the time is right.
“I love you, Granny. I’m staying home. With your permission, I want to run the Butter Bliss.”
She nods, a pleased smile on her lips. “As you should. Love you, my Blissy Girl.”
The nickname Rex gave me makes perfect sense. It’s a prophecy come true.
The Butter Bliss Bakery is where I’m supposed to be.
And Rex? He’s my lumberjack biker, my lover, and he’s my property as much as I’m his.