Chapter Two
Kyle
I have never experienced torture, but being locked in a car on a road trip with the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen must come close to it. It beats being caught in a cross fire with a rival gang.
For four long hours, I’ve had to bear her warm and intoxicating scent—soft cedar and wild jasmine.
Twice, I damn near ran us off the road as my eyes kept shifting to the girl sleeping through the early morning in my passenger seat.
Knox will skin me alive if I don’t get his sister to Chicago in one piece, but damn it I can’t help it.
Vivienne is so fucking beautiful, it’s unreal.
He should have warned me. Knox should have told me that this was no ordinary girl he was sending me to protect.
She’s gorgeous.
Vivienne’s face is a study of delicate features, from the gentle curve of her lips to the subtle blush on her cheeks.
Her long dark hair is a shade darker than her brother’s, flowing around her shoulders in a silken river with colors that shift in the light as the sun rises.
Sometimes it appears a rich dark brown, and other times it reveals the fiery depths of auburn.
But it’s those eyes that stole my breath when I first saw her.
I told her that her eyes looked like Knox’s but I lied.
They both have hazel eyes with deep, earthy browns and mossy green, but Vivienne’s eyes carry shimmering flecks of gold.
Hers are warmer, prettier, and shine with an innocence that calls for me to protect her from whatever the fuck she’s running from.
And what the fuck is she running from? Knox told me enough to know that her mom and this Rick character are bad news. But he was vague about the details.
I have questions.
Loads of them. More questions than I had when Knox first asked for my help.
As a prospect for the Rebels, I often find myself tasked with different roles ranging from making a simple pickup to backing up the club’s enforcers.
I’ve been doing this for two years as I wait to be patched as a full-fledged member, so when Knox asked me to pick up his sister from LA and bring her to Chicago, it felt like a way to finally prove my worth and earn my patch.
I figured his sister had to be in some difficult situation and needed someone to aid the move, but I didn’t ask questions. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve assisted the Rebels in protecting a woman in danger. Heck, the Steel Rebels MC manages a women’s shelter and protecting them is what we do.
But then Knox filled me in, and I realized this job would be a little more complicated than I’d originally thought.
Flying back to Chicago is out of the question since she doesn’t have an ID and it would take too long to get one. Traveling by road for twenty-nine hours is going to be a lot, but even more stressful than that is the thought of being stuck in close quarters with this girl.
“Are we almost there?” she mutters, her voice heavy with sleep.
“We’re in Vegas,” I tell her, turning a corner and pulling up to our destination.
I’m relieved that we’ve made it this far—this stop will give me a chance to get out of the car and be distracted by something other than the gorgeous, off-limits woman in the passenger seat.
“This is the Steel Sinners clubhouse. Knox has a contact here who’ll get us some supplies, and then we have another four-hour drive after that to get to the safe house he set up for us.”
Vivienne sits up, her hazel eyes going wide, instantly alert. She seems nervous, but doesn’t protest as we enter the clubhouse.
The Steel Sinners clubhouse immediately makes me feel right at home. The faint smell of gasoline lingers over everything, and motorcycles gleam in proud lines out front. The bar inside is filled with rowdy laughter and the clink of balls over at the pool tables.
I can tell Vivienne isn’t as comfortable as I am, as her shoulders are tense and she sticks to my side like glue, but she peers interestedly at the club paraphernalia that lines the walls, the photos that represent years of brotherhood.
Pope Bishop, the president of the Sinners MC, greets us warmly and sets us up with a new car, a duffel bag with clothes and toiletries, and cash, all pre-arranged by Knox while I was on my flight to LA. “Knox’s family is family to us too—we’re happy to help,” he says, waving off my thanks.
Vivienne relaxes a little bit when Knox’s name is mentioned, but then tenses up again when Pope speaks fondly of the Steel Rebels and his last visit to Chicago.
Before I know it, I’m in a new car with Vivienne for another four hours of driving. Another four hours of temptation, questions buzzing around in my head, and pretending that I don’t want her more and more each moment.
***
I glance at the GPS and note that we’re nearly at the first stop, a small cabin Knox rented for us. “Twenty minutes to go,” I tell Vivienne, keeping my eyes on the road and fighting everything that calls for me to look at her.
“God, I haven’t had sleep like that in forever.” She yawns. “And in front of a stranger, no less.”
I pretend to be offended. “I’m completely harmless!”
“Harmless?” She chuckles, but the sound is dry. “No one in the Steel Rebels can be considered harmless.”
I frown. “I don’t know what Knox has told you about the Rebels, but—”
She cuts me off. “He’s never told me anything. I didn’t even know he was part of a motorcycle club, let alone the Rebels.”
“Then how do you know about the Steel Rebels?”
She shrugs. “I’ve just heard about them.”
Something about the way she says it raises even more questions in my mind, but before I can pursue that line of thought, she lets out a gasp.
“Oh my God, look at the view!” she cries out as she peers out the window. There’s snow on the ground around us now, the clear sky and surrounding mountains making the scenery truly spectacular. “Wow, where are we?”
“Utah,” I tell her, but it doesn't escape my notice that she’s just as elusive as her brother. How would she have even heard about the Steel Rebels, especially enough to form such a negative opinion of us?
And what have her mother and this Rick asshole done to her to make her jump every time her phone vibrates? I recognize the kind of fear I see on her face.
I glance at the girl next to me who’s still transfixed by the passing scenery.
She doesn’t have any visible scars on her.
Not the bruised eyes or the broken lip I’ve seen one too many times on the women at the shelter, but…
I know better than to judge scars by their visibility. I have some of my own that I hide.
With a sigh, I keep my focus on the winding road, one that curves into the mountainside. As the car climbs, the world opens up. The air is crisp, carrying the scent of pine. Sunlight dances through the trees and glints off the snow, dappling the road in shifting patterns of light and shadows.
“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” Vivienne whispers as she leans on the dashboard and stares ahead.
You, I resist the urge to say. The woman seated next to me is stunning in her own right, but she’s right—the view comes pretty close.
Initially, it’s glimpses through the trees—flashes of a turquoise lake, a distant mountain peak.
But as the road switchbacks higher, it all unfolds and even I can barely hide my surprise.
“Wow.”
The lake before us, a vast expanse of shimmering blue, reflects the sky. Mountains loom in the distance, their ridges softened by the haze.
“What is this place?” Vivienne whispers, her voice light and dreamy.
“Knox booked us a cabin near Fish Lake Regional Park for the night.”
The car crests a final hill, and the cabin comes into view.
It’s nestled amongst the trees, a cozy single-story structure built from rough-hewn logs with a stone chimney rising from the roof.
The porch wraps around the front, complete with a rocking chair and a weathered swing.
I pull up to the front and cut the engine.
“This place is so pretty, I want to look around,” Vivienne says excitedly, opening the car door and jumping out before I can stop her.
My hand is already on my gun as I step out to follow her.
Knox had someone deliver a gun to me at the airport with enough ammunition to fight a small army.
The duffel bags Pope provided us held even more ammunition, so I’m prepared for anything.
Though I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to be protecting her from, other than this Rick asshole, since neither she nor her brother have been forthcoming with the truth about her situation.
Still, after the fear I heard in her voice from the other side of that motel door when she thought I was her mother’s boyfriend, I’m prepared to use a few of these bullets on Rick if he dares to show up.
Vivienne is delighted with the cabin. “I’ve only ever seen places like this in the movies. I can’t believe this was only a drive away from LA.”
“Eight hours,” I say, trying not to sound grumpy, but it was such a long fucking drive and we’re not even halfway home.
“That’s quite the distance if you ask me.
” A small lock box is mounted on the side of the door, so I pull up Knox’s text for the code.
When I enter the numbers, I hear a satisfying click and the box pops open.
Inside, nestled on a small hook, are the keys to the cabin.
“I probably couldn’t come here on my own since I don’t drive, but even if I could, Rick would never have let me drive off without…
” Her voice trails off and her panicked eyes turn to look at me.
“I…I mean…uh, open it. I want to see the inside. Do you think they have a hot tub? It would be cool if they had one, right?”
It’s tempting to push the truth out of her. I don’t suppose it would take much to ask her about her past, but the thought of Vivienne in distress as she relives painful memories twists something inside my chest and I find myself unlocking the door without a word.