10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
She fucking fit. She fucking fit just right behind me. Her soft breasts smashed against my back, and her arms wrapped tightly around my waist.
I never thought I’d enjoy a woman riding on the back of my baby, but Lyra Demery belonged there. I wanted to rub her knuckles with my fingers when I felt them tremble against my middle. She was scared, and I didn’t blame her. First, someone tried to grab her off the street, and just now, she was involved in a high-speed chase with two men who were after her.
This didn’t scream random to me. Lyra Demery was on someone’s shit list. There was no mistaking it.
I slowly pulled into the parking lot of LeBlanc Gator Tours. Wires’ bike was parked outside. Hopefully, Remy gave him the rundown of what was going on when we called him. I wanted to know who these guys were, and hopefully, our resident hacker could help with that.
I drove around the main building to a dirt road that led away from everything. Trees encroached on the road, giving the illusion that the swamp was closing in on you. Then, the road opened to a clearing where mine and Remy’s houses sat. We had our own little compound with a pristine lake nestled in the back.
Lyra had been alert the entire ride, although she had to be tired. The fact she didn’t hesitate when we pulled them out of the car was a relief. I didn’t feel like chasing her. She said she recognized me from the other day, and that was in my favor.
The garage at my place was open. I pulled next to my blacked-out Indian Scout and cut the engine. Lyra’s hands unclamped from around my waist and moved to my shoulders. I grasped one of her hands to help her off the bike.
She groaned. “Aghhh. I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.”
I chuckled because, in a sense, she was. “That roll couldn’t have been comfortable,” I said, climbing off my bike. I twirled my keys in my hand and led her through my garage to the door that led into the sunroom.
“Nice bikes,” she called out from behind me.
I smirked over my shoulder. “Thanks.” A proud grin spread across my face. “They’re my babies.”
I was proud I could afford and customize them how I wanted to.
“I’m Lyra, by the way,” she said when we entered the sunroom. I toed off my boots, and she followed suit with her heeled sandals. I hadn’t gotten a good look at her when she crawled out of the back of that SUV, but now I could see her in the overhead lights of my sunroom. Even with the cuts and bruises and her wild wavy hair, Lyra was even more stunning in person than in those pictures Ace sent me or that first time I’d saw her on the street.
“I know,” I said, “Ace sent me. I’m Dragon.”
She gasped, and her steps faltered as I led her into the kitchen. She had to be starving.
“Dragon,” she whispered. “You’re the one Stanton told me to call if I got into trouble.”
“Lovey, you’re in all kinds of trouble. Now, ain’t you?” I laughed, going to the sink and washing my hands before I pulled a bottle of water from my fridge and handed it to her.
I ducked my head back into the refrigerator, trying to find her something to eat, when she sniffed. I stood slowly and faced her.
Tears trekked down her already dirt-streaked face. Her hands were covered with the blood of her friend who had been shot. I closed the small space between us, pulled her into my arms, and buried her in my arms.
She broke. The inside of my chest constricted like I couldn’t breathe.
What the fuck?
Truth was, I didn’t know what the hell to do with women and their tears. My mama didn’t cry, and I hadn’t spent enough time in any relationship to dissect a woman’s emotions, so I just awkwardly patted Lyra’s back.
“We’ll get whoever is after you,” I promised. And we would, but I needed to question her.
“I don’t understand why I’m being targeted. I’m a nobody. I’m literally here on vacation,” she said, sniffling and extricating herself from my arms, then wiped her tears.
“That’s what we are going to find out. And why you. There are fresh towels and washcloths in the bathroom upstairs, second door on your right. When you’re done, I want you to get some rest,” I said, heading back to the door to the garage.
“Wait. Where are you going?” Lyra asked.
“Club business,” I groused, then slipped on my shoes and opened the door. “You’ll be safe here. I’ll be back in two hours. Make yourself at home.”
I took my truck this time. I sped down the dirt road away from her. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hard. There was something that kept telling me not to leave her. To wrap her in my arms and keep her where she’d be safe, but that was out of the question. I needed Wires to tap into the street cameras from earlier today when she was almost taken.
I skidded to a stop and rushed inside the main lobby of the farm, then went straight to the office. Wires lounged on the couch, looking at his phone.
“Hey, thanks for waiting,” I said, greeting him.
“No problem, VP. What do you need?” Wires asked, sitting up on the edge of the couch.
“A few things. I need you to find this girl on the Quarter’s Street cameras.” I took my phone from my pocket and scrolled to the picture Lyra. “Someone tried to grab her off the street around two this afternoon. They tried again about an hour ago.”
Wires looked at the picture and whistled. “Damn, she’s fine. Who is she?”
“The cousin of the wife of a brother from the Oakland Chapter,” I answered, trying and failing miserably to keep the vitriol from my words.
I didn’t like Wires commenting on Lyra’s looks, although I agreed with him. The fact she was in my house right now, naked in the tub or shower, was doing crazy things to my body right now.
“You alright there, buddy?” Wires smirked.
“Fuck you,” I growled. “Just see if you can find her on any of the cameras. Call me when you find something. We caught one of the guys who tried to run her off the road tonight, and I want to be there to question him before he dies.”
“Will do. I’ll text you anything that’s weird,” Wires said, sitting behind my desk and tapping on his keys. I knew if I said or asked for anything else, he wouldn’t hear me. The guy zoned everything out when he was working.
I left Wires to his work and headed back out to the parking lot. I pushed open the exit and paused in my tracks.
Lyra was leaning against the grill of my truck, and fuck if she didn’t look good in my gray sweats that were rolled a few times at her waist and one of my t-shirts that she’d rolled up just under her breasts and tied in a knot at the back so it would show her mid-drift. She had on those damned strappy high heeled sandals that miraculously survived the crash.
I perused her body from head to toe. She didn’t try to hide. Knew she was a goddamn vision to look at. She had confidence. I loved it.
Fucking sexy.
“You walked through the swamp?” I asked, a smirk playing on my lips because this girl had walked all the way from my place down a dirt road in heels.
“I didn’t want you to leave without me,” she explained, pushing off my truck and walking to the passenger side, giving me the best damned view of her round ass that jiggled at her stride.
I couldn’t wait to grab a handful of each cheek and slam her down on my dick because there was no mistaking it, my body knew it, and now my head did too. Lyra Demery was mine. She was mine, and fuck it, I just might be hers.
I strolled to the passenger side and pulled the door open for her. I lifted her by the waist and placed her in the seat, then I reached over and hooked her seatbelt.
“I could’ve done that myself,” she huffed, her arms crossed over her chest.
Stubborn. It was cute.
“I know,” I said before I closed the door, then walked around the front and to the driver’s side. I climbed in and switched on the truck. It rumbled to life, and I put it in drive without another word.
***
The silence was driving me insane. I didn’t expect him to be the strong, silent type. When we met on the sidewalk that day—well, not really meet, I more so crashed into him—he seemed like the confident borderline cocky type. He was definitely confident. I saw that part of his personality during both encounters.
I reached over and turned the knob on the radio. He stared at me wide-eyed but didn’t say anything. I found a hip-hop and R&B station, settled into my seat a little further, and breathed. I was sore and exhausted. It had been a day. This was a fucking nightmare.
I had to get to my friends. For all I knew, DeArie, was dead, and I didn’t have my phone to even call Jevry. She was going to shit bricks when she found out what happened, but I needed to call her anyway.
“Can I use your phone?” I asked, breaking the thirty-five-minute silence. “You burned mine.”
He cut his eye at me and smirked, then reached into the inside of his vest and pulled out his cell. He unlocked it and handed it over.
Hesitantly, I took it, astonished at the fact he would give it to me so easily. And to someone he didn’t even know.
“You don’t have a girlfriend who’s gonna be pissed I’m using your phone and wearing your clothes, do you?”
While I was in his bathroom, I didn’t see any signs of a woman who lived there, and I also didn’t see any sign of a woman when I went through his dresser looking for something to put on.
He huffed, and there was that fucking smirk again. I didn’t know if I wanted to slap the shit off his mouth or kiss him until it was gone. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the image that was there from the second thought.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, now is it?” he drawled and chuckled when I rolled my eyes.
“I’m just saying. I don’t wanna have to beat nobody’s ass, is all,” I shrugged, then tuned him out as I dialed Jevry.
It was late, but I was hoping she’d answer anyway. I listened, nervous energy coursing through me as the truck slowed down to make a turn.
“Hello?”
“Jevry?”
“Lyra? Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me, Jev.” I sighed, exhausted all of a sudden.
“I’ve been fucking calling you, and your phone’s going straight to voicemail. Is everything okay?”
Is everything okay?
That was the million-dollar question right now. I pulled my lip between my teeth to stave off the onslaught of tears that threatened to stream down my face when I thought about all we’d been through today.
“No,” I answered through the tears. “No. It’s not okay.”
So much for not crying, damn it!
“Lyra, what happened?”
I heard the fear in Jevry’s voice. I didn’t mean to get her riled up, but DeArie might be dead, and I didn’t know how to handle it.
“It’s…” I started but couldn’t get the words out because of the tears.
Suddenly, the phone was being taken from my hand and then Dragon was speaking with Jevry.
“Put me on speaker,” Dragon ordered, and I was relieved that he took over this conversation because I didn’t know what to do.
“You’re on speaker,” Jevry answered.
“Ace?”
“I’m here.”
“Yes, he’s right here. Now, what the fuck happened?” Jevry asked.
“Lyra and her friends were chased through the on the highway. They were shot at, and one of the girls was hit and the driver is dead. We’ll ship him home to you Ace. I’m sorry for your loss,” Dragon said, giving him my condolences. “The girl is with the club doctor right now,” he informed them.
“Wait, Lyra. Who was it?” Jevry sniffled through her question.
I swallowed, trying to get past the lump in my throat from my tears so I could answer her. Tears streamed down my face, and I shook my head because I couldn’t believe all this was happening. A light squeeze of my thigh brought me somewhat out of my sorrows as I stared at Dragon’s hand. A comforting and warm feeling ran through me somehow giving me the courage to say what I knew would break my cousin because it was breaking me.
“DeArie,” I whispered, and Jevry wailed.
Stanton muttered something to her, but I wasn’t able to make it out. Like Jevry, I was sobbing now. Unexpectedly, we had pulled over, the phone was disconnected, and my door was wrenched open. Dragon unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me out of the truck and against one of the hardest chests I’d ever had the pleasure of being plastered against.
This man didn’t even know me, and yet he was so gentle and caring when trying to comfort me. I felt the pressure of his lips at my temple. His hand snaked up my back to my neck, where he massaged as I cried my eyes out.
“It’s okay to be sad,” he said, his words soft and gentle. “Let it out. I got you. I’m here.”
Those words were the exact ones I needed to hear to help me dry my tears. I believed in the security the Sinners represented. I saw up close how Stanton loved my cousin. I saw what kind of men the Sinners were when it came to women.
“Okay?” he asked, holding me at arm’s length, then held my face in his hands, peering into my eyes. I couldn’t look away. His green eyes darkened, and I felt like he was peering into my soul.
I didn’t know who moved first. If I went up on my tiptoes or he bent slightly to reach me, but when our lips met, it was like the warmth that had moved through me earlier now centered right at my core. I felt my pussy flutter as he licked the seam of my lips, asking for permission to deepen the kiss. I opened, and he took me to another plane of existence.
If the kiss is this good, what will the sex be like?
The thought, although lovely, was almost like a splash of cold water on my face, and I broke our kiss and stepped back from Dragon.
“I’m sorry about that,” I apologized. “I don’t know what came over me.”
He stared at me and then adjusted himself right there in front of me. And damn it if I didn’t look. No, actually, I stared. It was long and hard and thick. And I swear I moaned, but it wasn’t on purpose.
“You alright there?” he asked, with a grin full of mischief.
Damn him! He knew exactly what he was doing. I rolled my eyes, and I really wanted to read him for filth, but we had to go.
“I’m fine.” I cleared my throat. “But we need to get going. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to DeArie and I wasn’t there because I was letting you stick your tongue down my throat.”
That seemed to do it because those dark eyes full of desire cooled quickly, and he turned and got back into the truck. As soon as I shut the door, we were on our way.