Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
brINLEY
My stomach took a tumble down a cliff.
I was playing with fire. I knew I was.
But after the way Silas had me last night and then again this morning? I needed to regain control. Let this smug bastard know that he didn’t get to toy with me.
Up my game and in a big way. No question, since after he’d put on that stupid cut, my brain had nearly short-circuited.
Blitzed out by a lightning strike.
Bad boys were so not my thing.
Not at all.
I mean, that was if I ever actually went on a date.
I’d dealt with enough lowlifes thanks to Dereck that I knew precisely who to stay far the hell away from.
And the man who swung onto his motorcycle? He was nothing but a poster child for bad decisions.
Tattooed fingers curled around the handlebars.
Worn boots stretched out as he balanced the calamitous metal, the promise of anarchy and destruction billowing off him in waves.
Macabre faces rose up from Silas’s neckline, the tattoos covering his throat, and the sleeves of that Henley were pushed up his forearms, showing off the black feathers that covered his lower arms.
He had the same tattoo on the back of his hand as the rest of the Crows I’d seen.
A crow in full flight with a skull clutched in its talons.
Beneath his were the words, The Verdict is Death.
I didn’t know who that judgement was being delivered to. Him or the poor souls who got in his way.
Rays of sunlight slashed down to emphasize the severe edges of his harsh, unforgiving face.
His brow was knitted in something I couldn’t read as he stared at me.
I itched on my feet.
Crap.
Was I really going to do this?
“You gonna stand there all day, or are we going to go? I’ve got things to do.”
“If I’m putting you out, you could just have someone else take me.”
Hazel eyes narrowed to darts, and his hands flexed tighter around the handlebars. “I don’t want you leaving this property without me.”
I huffed. “I already told you I wasn’t going to run.”
“And I already told you that you’re safe with me, and I’m going to make sure of it.” Each word was stone.
Still, I was pretty sure I heard genuine worry woven with them.
My stomach fisted.
Did he care? Did he care at all what was going on here?
He hooked the heel of his boot to the kick starter, and he supported himself with the other foot as he rose up high.
Then he slammed it down and pulled back on the throttle.
The engine roared to life as he revved it.
So loud and heavy that I felt a pulse of power ricochet through my body.
A little breath heaved from my lungs.
He looked like mayhem and greed and lethal decadence.
He revved the throttle again while he glared at me.
It was a clear command.
I gulped down the reservations that told me I could do without the trip to the store and forced myself to take action on this perilous endeavor.
I needed to see for myself that I was actually allowed off the property. I needed reassurance this place really wasn’t a cell, and I was only there for my own good.
But I was pretty sure nothing good could come of this when Silas stretched out his hand so he could help me onto the back of his bike.
The power I felt a moment ago clapped through me like a sonic boom when he took my hand as I swung over.
My skirt rode up high on my thighs, and I did my best to keep from brushing against any part of Silas.
We did not want a repeat of last night.
“You’re going to need to get a whole lot closer and hold on tight.” He shouted it above the rumbling of his bike.
I hesitated before I scooched forward and wrapped myself around his back.
Flames sparked at every contact point.
Shock gushed out of me on a breath, and I started to scramble back.
His big mitt landing on my upper thigh stopped me in my tracks.
Tattooed fingers sank into my bare flesh to keep me steady or maybe just to keep me from running.
His grip both softened and deepened as he shifted enough so I could see the defined profile of his jaw. His ridiculously plump lips moving with his promise.
“Have you, and I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Need you to stick close, Brinley.”
I could barely hear him, yet somehow, I understood every word.
I knew he wasn’t only referring to holding on tight while he had me on the back of his bike.
A shuddered exhalation escaped from my lungs, and I surrendered.
Shimmying my butt forward until I was completely plastered against him.
My arms tight around his waist and my chin hooked on his shoulder.
My thighs wrapped around the outside of his hips.
That strange sensation between us whipped so fiercely I could hear it in my ears.
It was a buzz that both incited and calmed.
Every muscle in his body was rigid.
Hard and packed.
And I knew when he kicked the stand and swiveled the bike around and started us in the direction of the gate that I should be terrified.
I guess that I hated myself a little bit that I wasn’t.