Alexia
I was in a storage unit.
Or maybe it was a small warehouse, I wasn’t sure.
They left me in the trunk for a while, even after we stopped. I wasn’t usually claustrophobic, but when they finally opened the back of the car, I didn’t need to be convinced to keep my mouth shut and not to scream. They were letting me out, and they promised to remove the hood if I behaved.
I didn’t want to be in the trunk with a hood over my head for a second longer, so I obeyed.
For an hour, maybe more, I was alone with my captors. One of them was the scary crony who’d been to my office twice before. The other was uglier, bigger, and scarier. I surmised he was the one who grabbed me initially—which meant it was my old acquaintance who punched me.
As soon as I was free, I backed myself into a corner. Neither of them seemed to care. There was only one way out, and I already lost one fight that night. We all knew I wouldn’t start another. The closest thing I had to a weapon was my one remaining shoe, and I didn’t guess that would get me very far.
After a while, there was a banging on the other side of the garage-like door. I was on the ground, hugging my legs to my chest, peering around the car I hid behind when I heard his voice.
“Where is she?”
I didn’t hear a response, but the heels of his dress shoes clicked against the dusty, concrete floor until he came into view. Rocco looked down at me and smirked.
“Lovely to see you again, Alexia Torres.”
I said nothing in reply, holding myself tighter as I glared at him coldly.
I really did hate the way my name sounded coming out of his mouth.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” he said mockingly, a disingenuous frown tugging at his lips. “I warned you it wasn’t over. But don’t worry—after tonight, we’ll have worked it out.” His expression grew hard as he continued, “Alejo has until ten o’clock to bring me my ten grand, or a new deal will be struck. And if I’m being honest…” He took a step toward me and grabbed himself between his legs. “I’m kinda hoping he doesn’t show.”
With a furrowed brow, I shut my eyes closed tight and told myself to breathe. I didn’t have the luxury of tears. I couldn’t cry, I had to think —because there was no way Alejo was showing up with ten thousand dollars. I didn’t know what time it was. It was like time didn’t exist in whatever black hole I’d been sucked into. But whether Alejo had twenty minutes or two hours remaining, he couldn’t save me anymore than he’d been able to save himself.
I didn’t know what to do, so I did the only thing of which I could think.
Pressing my forehead against my knees, I concentrated on my breaths, and I prayed.
I recited the rosary in my head. I hadn’t done it in years, but I remembered every step—the repetitive nature of the prayer hard to forget. I chose to focus on the glorious mysteries, needing to cling to the hope of resurrection and the belief that Mary was up there, too. She would hear me. She would pray for me. The Lord would help me. He had to help me.
As I repeated each hail Mary, I felt a little less panicked.
I still didn’t have a solution to my problem, but I knew I wasn’t going to surrender to Rocco. No matter what.
“We’ve got company.”
I lifted my head and listened closely, my spine straightening when the sound of an approaching motorcycle reached my ears.
No. It wasn’t just one motorcycle. It sounded like two, maybe three of them.
My heart was suddenly racing.
As far as I knew, Alejo didn’t have any friends who rode. And he certainly didn’t.
But Jed—Jed did.
Jed was also the last person I contacted before I was taken.
Except, it didn’t make any sense that it would be him outside.
He had no reason to look for me, but I felt desperate enough to hope he had.
“Open it,” Rocco demanded.
As one of the men began to roll open the door, I stood to my feet—one bare, one still tucked inside of my remaining stiletto. I saw the beam of approaching headlights, and my breath caught when Alejo’s car came into view. He stopped, and then three men on motorcycles trailed up behind him.
My eyes jumped from man to man, but none of them looked familiar.
The first guy who climbed off his bike was older looking—his long beard, curly mustache, and clean-cut hair a mixture of salt and pepper. More salt than pepper. Though, he didn’t look worse for wear. He was tall and toned. Not as big as Jed, but formidable. He wore a Wild Stallions leather vest and a long-sleeve tee he pulled up over his forearms, both covered in tattoos.
The guy who rode at the front of the pack was the next to dismount. He was tall, too—taller than the older guy—with long, curly hair. He wore a backwards, trucker-style baseball cap, and he, too, was wearing a Wild Stallions vest.
The last guy was a big, intimidating man with a thick, russet beard and overgrown wavy hair to match. His eyes found me first, and he dipped his chin in a subtle nod, as if to signal I was going to be okay.
Even though I didn’t know him, I really wanted to believe him—I just wasn’t sure how.
Alejandro was the last to show himself, one of Rocco’s men dragging him from out of his car.
“Bull, didn’t expect to see you here,” said Rocco, obviously not pleased.
“Yeah. Seems there’s been a bit of a mix-up.”
Rocco shrugged. “I have no business with you. In fact, your being here is interfering with my work. I don’t know what association you have with Alejo, but a little bit of Stallion muscle is not going to make me forget his debt.”
“Didn’t think so,” replied Bull coolly.
I was still trying to figure out what was going on when the rumble of an additional approaching motorcycle drew everyone’s attention behind Bull and the others.
The moment I laid eyes on him, I forgot how to breathe for a second, my insides resisting gravity at the mere sight of him.
Jed.
He came for me.
I didn’t know how or why, but he came for me.
He got off his bike and immediately reached inside one of his saddlebags. He pulled out a thick, manilla envelope and a shoe. My shoe.
I was beside myself with disbelief.
He made his way between his fellow Stallions into the storage unit. When he crossed the threshold, his eyes hit me, and he gave me a proper once over—his gaze traveling up and down the length of me. Satisfied I was still in one piece, he focused his attention on Rocco.
He held out the envelope as he spoke.
“Ten grand. His debt is paid,” he said, nodding back toward my brother.
The muscles at my jaw stopped working, and my mouth hung open as I watched the exchange.
“As far as you’re concerned, Alexia Torres doesn’t exist. Am I understood?”
Rocco didn’t respond but stared at the envelop between them. When Jed lost his patience, he pressed it flat against Rocco’s chest and let go. The man caught it just as Jed looked at me and called, “Come on, darlin’. Let’s get you home.”
It took me a second to move my feet, my knees a little weak with a mix of relief and an obscene amount of attraction, definitely fueled by the fact that Jed Barker had rescued me from a fate I didn’t even want to imagine.
He held out his hand, and I nodded, forcing my feet to move. I hobbled toward him, extending my arm to reach for his fingers as soon as he was close enough to touch. He swallowed my hand with his own, and I held on tight before he handed over my shoe.
Jed Barker was my real-life Prince Charming.
“Thanks,” I whispered as I accepted it. Using him to help me keep my balance, I fit it over my foot. I had so many questions, but as soon as I had both feet on the ground, Jed started for his bike.
I’d never been on the back of motorcycle. Given the events of my night, I felt pretty confident I could handle it. I wanted to get out of there, and it didn’t matter how.
“Alexia!” my brother cried. “Alexia, melliza .”
I jolted at the sound of his voice, the first I’d heard it since he arrived. I then glanced in his direction, but I didn’t say a word. It had been more than a week since we last spoke—and things had gone from bad to worse. Way worse.
I looked away from him, my focus directed toward the Harley Davidson I was about to ride and the feeling of the hand that held mine, making me feel safer than I had all night.
Maybe safer than I’d felt all my life.
“Lexi! Lexi, please—I’m sorry. Are you okay? Tell me you’re okay. Lexi!”
He was sorry.
He was sorry?
It shocked me a little, but his apology was my breaking point.
My hand still clinging to Jed’s, I stopped, looked around his massive frame, locked eyes with my brother and screamed, “ You got me fucking kidnapped! ”
Saying it out loud was like kicking down a wall inside of me, and the tears I was keeping at bay clogged my throat and made it difficult for me to breathe. Just that quick, I was practically panting, trying to contain all of my emotions as my vision grew blurry. This was all his fault, and the best he could do was say he was sorry.
It wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t nearly enough.
I shook my head. I had no more words. At least, not for him.
Peering up at Jed as my first tears fell, I found him staring back at me with nothing but patience in his gaze. Reflexively, I squeezed his hand and murmured, “I’d like to go, please.”
He responded by continuing toward his bike, and I followed after him, completely ignoring Alejandro.
When we reached his black motorcycle, Jed let go of my hand. While he threw his leg over and settled himself on his seat, I wiped at my cheeks and tried to gather myself. Before I could swallow the rest of my cry, he reached his hand out in invitation.
“There’s a foot peg for you, darlin’. Use it and my hand to help you climb on.”
The other Stallions had already mounted their bikes, and their engines were roaring to life around me. I glanced over my shoulder. Rather than the other bikers, my eyes landed on Rocco, who was watching me intently. Without another moment of hesitation, I turned back toward Jed, grabbed his hand, and mounted his Harley. He then guided my hand around to his front, suggesting I wrap my arms around him. That familiar sensation of weightlessness made my breath catch. I could hardly keep up with all the things I was feeling, but I did as he instructed and clung to him as he started the engine, causing the beast beneath us to rumble to life.
I’d never been so close to Jed—so close I could breathe him in.
He smelled like leather and sandalwood with a hint of smoke.
I had only a moment to enjoy the scent of him, and then we were moving. My grip around him tightened as we followed the small pack of Stallions out of what, I then realized, was a self-storage facility on the outskirts of town. The experience of riding was enough to suppress my urge to cry, and I concentrated on the thrill of it, embracing the literal freedom found on the open road.
As the wind blew through my hair and kissed my cheeks, goosebumps crawling up my arms from the chill of the night air, I tried to piece together how it was that I was riding on the back of Jed’s motorcycle. I remembered our short exchange regarding Rocco, and I was sure I hadn’t told him the details of Alejo’s dealings with the man. Yet, somehow, he found out. Not only did he find out, he paid my brother’s ten-thousand-dollar debt for me .
‘ As far as you’re concerned, Alexia Torres doesn’t exist. Am I understood?’
The last four hours were too much to process all at once. It was hard to even conceptualize it had only been four hours. It felt like an eternity. That was, until Jed showed up.
In spite of my attraction to him, I spent the last week and a half doing my best to keep things between us professional. I had a job to do, after all. Moreover, the same motorcycle club who just banded together to rescue me had a possible job opening I was incredibly interested in. Now, even more so.
Yet, all of that paled in comparison to the longing I now felt for Jed.
It was un-ignorable. There was no place for me to shove it to contain it. All I could do was feel it.
We stayed with the others until we reached town, and then everyone went their own way. Before I was ready to let Jed go, we were pulling into the parking lot behind the office building where I worked. Mine was the only car left in the parking lot, and he stopped right next to it, killing the engine of his bike.
Before I could even think to move, one of his large, warm hands covered one of mine as he turned to look at me from over his shoulder. “You good to drive, gorgeous?”
My goosebumps got goosebumps, and it wasn’t from a chill.
“Yeah. I’ll be okay. I—well, actually, my keys are—”
“Grabbed your purse and your phone earlier. Got ‘em in my saddlebag.”
Of course, he did. He thought of everything .
“I’ll follow you home. Get you to your door,” he said before I could respond.
I nodded, wanting that very, very much.
“Alright, then,” he replied.
Once I maneuvered myself onto the ground and he extracted my purse with all my belongings, we both took our respective seats behind the wheel. Jed followed me the five minutes it took to reach my apartment, then parked directly behind me, as if he didn’t want any significant distance between us before he got me to my unit.
He was making his way toward me as I got out of my car. No sooner had I closed the door than his hand was swallowing mine.
I looked up at him, and he jerked his chin as he insisted, “Lead the way.”
We walked the short distance to the stairs ascending to the entrance of my building, and he held the door open for me as we passed through it. As I guided him to the first unit to the right on the second floor, I tried to figure out how I was going to say goodnight. I had questions, but I didn’t think now was the time to ask them. I wasn’t sure how my predicament may have altered the course of his night, and I didn’t want to keep him. Plus, we had his custody mediation in the morning, and my questions would keep.
But even more than my questions, I wanted to say thank you . Except, the words felt too little—too insignificant in the face of what he’d done.
I stopped in front of my door, and he squeezed my hand before letting me go. “Borrero shouldn’t have any reason to come at you again. After tonight, he knows if he does, he’ll be startin’ a fight with the Stallions. That said, you get spooked or start to feel suspicious, you call me.”
I nodded, still searching for the right words to express my profound gratitude.
“If we need to reschedule tomorrow—”
“What? No. No, absolutely not,” I interrupted resolutely. “You’ve done—I mean—I can’t believe what you’ve done for me. I will be there in the morning completely prepared. It’s the least I can do by a longshot.”
“Alright, darlin’. If you say we’re on, we’re on.”
I stared up at him, wishing to say so much more, but too distracted by the sight of all that was him and all I was feeling. His wind-tousled hair. His biker ‘stache. His itty-bitty freckles. I thought he was beautiful before, but now—he was so much more.
With still no words to encompass the depth of the thank you on the tip of my tongue, I did the only other thing I could think to do.
He mentioned my lips the moment we met, and I was going to give them to him. Boldly, I reached up, grabbed the back of his neck and pulled. I knew I was no match against his strength, but he didn’t resist. As soon as he was close enough, I lifted up onto my tiptoes and sealed my mouth with his.
His mustache tickled my upper lip.
That was the only thought I had time to think before he hooked an arm around my waist and hauled me tight against his chest. I gasped in uncontainable excitement, and that was all the opening he needed to seek entrance into my mouth. When the tip of his tongue grazed mine, nothing else existed in the whole entire world except him and me and this kiss.
It was everything .
All the words I couldn’t say, I sighed into his mouth. All the feelings I didn’t have the capacity to process, I poured into our kiss. My lips moved with a desperation I’d never experienced before.
And he took it—all of it.
His kiss was wet and deep and so, so, so good.
I held on and gave him all I had to give, completely uncaring that we were making-out in the hallway outside my door. I needed this as much as I wanted to give it, and so I took as much as I gave until I felt faint. I had no idea if it was the aftermath of being kidnapped, the fact that I hadn’t eaten since lunch, or just Jed Barker who made me lightheaded. Perhaps it was all of the above. Whatever the case, if I didn’t take a breath, I was bound to pass out.
When I broke our kiss, we were both panting, still clinging to one another.
For a moment, we simply stared at each other.
No longer distracted by our kiss, I tried not to be consumed by the feeling of my body pressed against his.
He was as solid as he looked, but warm and secure.
There was still so much to say, but my adrenaline was fading. Fast.
I didn’t want to get it wrong. Whatever came next—I didn’t want to screw it up.
My heart pounding and my lips swollen, I whispered, “Thank you.”
I didn’t wait for him to respond but let him go and turned toward my door. He released me, and I felt his eyes on me as I rummaged through my purse for my keys. Once I found them, I let myself inside my unit then spun to catch one last glimpse of him.
He was still precisely where I left him.
“Tomorrow?” I murmured, hopeful he understood what I meant.
He flashed me a crooked smile, dipped his chin, and muttered, “Tomorrow, gorgeous.”
He understood.
I nodded, closed my door softly, and slid the deadbolt home.