7. Rue
RUE
I am completely filled with dread as we walk across the gravel parking lot toward my sister and the gigantic biker she’s standing with.
Gunnar doesn’t let me get more than a few inches from his side, even though the silly skirt of my dress is pressing all over his legs. He doesn’t even grumble.
When Claire sees us approaching, she smirks. “I swear I never would have thought I’d see this. The little zombie found her a biker.”
I groan inwardly and stiffen my spine. “Claire, enough. I just came to tell you that I won’t be getting an Uber home with you tonight.”
Claire snorts. “Oh, this is a turn of events. Little innocent Rue?—”
“Enough,” Gunnar snaps, his voice booming across the compound. “Quit antagonizing your sister.”
Claire’s gaze sharpens until she’s glaring at him. “And who are you to tell me what to do?”
“Anything that has to do with Rue comes through me.”
I have to lock my legs to keep from falling right onto my face as his words register. But he did say he was my guard dog.
Claire sputters, “Oh, are you telling me I can’t talk to my sister at all?”
“If you’re gonna be a smart-ass bitch, no, you can’t.”
I cover my mouth to hide my shock. “Gunnar, it’s okay. She’s my sister. We…”
“No,” he grits out. “I’m not letting anybody else run you into the ground. This ends now.”
The silence is crackling with their anger until Claire clucks her tongue. “I figured tonight would be the same old thing. No one would be interested in my sister because she’s boring.”
She drags out the word boring. My anger surges. I don’t know what happens, but I snap and I lunge forward, slapping my sister’s face.
For one stunned second, no one moves. Claire stares at me, her hand on her cheek.
“What happened to you?” she asks, disbelief in her voice.
I bite my tongue and hold in the apology I should give. I’m the good girl. The one who stops fights. Peacekeeper.
Not anymore. Gunnar made me realize I’ve been letting both Claire and Mallory walk all over me, and I don’t have to take it.
“You deserved that,” I say, my words sharp with anger. “You were being mean. I don’t know when I’ll see you again. Don’t come looking for me.”
With my stomach in a knot and my hand still stinging, I turn around and walk off. It’s the hardest and easiest thing I’ve ever done.
Of course the crunch of boots on gravel follows me. There’s no question who it is. Gunnar’s warm, heavy hand circles at the base of my neck under my hair. “That’s my girl.”
“I don’t know. I’m probably going to regret that, but it felt right in the moment.”
“You’re a badass, Rue.”
His words are like warm honey and I’m in a daze as I walk. Everything that’s happened tonight has my head spinning.
Gunnar walks me to a darker part of the compound where a stack of hay bales sits just outside the light.
The farther we get from the confrontation, the more I sag. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I did that. I smacked my sister.”
Gunnar turns me around to face him. The calluses of his fingertips brush my skin as he tilts my chin up.
“You’re beautiful, Rue. You’re brave, smart, and you deserve to be treated like gold. If she can’t do that, then she doesn’t get to talk to you.”
I want to cry. Tears bead on my eyelashes, and I force them away.
With a sigh, I mutter, “I just made a huge mess out of my life by confronting my sister. Claire holds a grudge. There will be hell to pay,” I tell him.
He pulls me to the hay bales and gently pushes me down until I’m sitting. He straddles the bale so he’s facing me.
“I meant what I said, Rue. They come through me now.”
My heart wants to hold onto that, but it’s ridiculous. We just met.
His thumb drags over my bottom lip, a rough sound leaving his throat. “I see the doubt in your eyes, but I’ll prove it to you, Rue. I fucking promise.”
Gunnar takes off the lower part of his mask and slowly leans down to kiss me. This kiss and the reverent way he touches me is something much deeper and much more profound.
It feels real.
When he lets go, I close my eyes. I can’t believe I’m falling for an outlaw biker in a mask. My heart is already involved in a big way.
“I need to show you something,” he says in a gruff voice, and he shifts closer.
“This dress,” he grumbles as he gathers the fabric and angles himself so he’s close to my knees.
For a beat, he just rests his palms on my thighs, looking down at his hands. He draws a big breath, lets it out, draws another.
“It’s time for you to see this,” he says as he reaches back to unclip the upper part of his mask.
What’s below surprises me.
His jaw is angular and covered with a dusting of dark hair, but it’s the scars that make my heart squeeze.
My hand automatically raises, and my fingertips brush over the long, angry scar that runs from his eye to his jaw. The others crisscross. There are more than a dozen, some deep, some dark, some shallow and lighter than his complexion.
“Oh, Gunnar,” I whisper. My voice comes out light and husky, and his eyes search my face for my reaction.
“I can understand if you don’t want to go through with any of this,” he says. “Not after seeing this.”
My brows pull together, and I shake my head. “Why would you say that?”
“Because I’m ugly. I’m a beast. I’m?—”
“You’re beautiful.” I cut him off. “You’re absolutely gorgeous, and I just want to press my lips to all of these scars. I want to feel them. I want to kiss them to erase the pain that put them there.”
He makes a rough sound and looks away. “I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure. Women like to fuck me for two reasons. One, the scare factor. They also like the fact that I’m big. But they like to do it with the lights off because they don’t want to look at this.”
“No!” I make a choking sound. “They’re so wrong. They don’t know what they were missing, because I can’t think of anything sexier than having you look down at me while you drive me crazy.”
Gunnar’s entire body shudders. Then he meets my gaze, and he says, “I’m not letting you go, Rue.
I know you think that probably didn’t mean anything when I said that, but it’s true.
Tonight I’ve felt more alive than I have in a decade.
I’m gonna do whatever it takes to have you fall in love with me. ”
He swallows hard and continues, “When you laughed tonight in the maze, I felt like I’d been sliced in half.
Then you ran from me in the forest and got excited about me chasing you and got off on me taking you roughly.
You trusted me. The beast in the mask. You sealed the deal. It’s done. You’re mine.”
My heart beats faster. The inside of my chest feels like a thousand butterflies are taking flight. “I loved it,” I whisper.
He leans in and kisses me, and for the first time, I feel his face against mine without the mask, and it is heavenly.
“Fuck,” he growls against my mouth. “You’re so sweet. God, I can’t get enough of you.”
He kisses me harder, slipping his fingers into my hair, just enough bite to be delicious from the way he tugs at my hair.
And I unravel in his hands.
I want to climb him. I want to drag him to the bed. I want to get on top of him and ride him, and I don’t even know what I’m doing.
He moans roughly and pulls back. “We have to wait.”
I groan. “Okay. Be warned, I’m not responsible for what happens when we are finally able to lock that door and stay inside.”
Laughing, he adjusts his cock and stands up. He puts his mask back on, transforming into the scary biker. Then he drags me against his body and whispers in my ear, “I’m gonna love you so fucking hard, Rue. I promise you that.”
Gunnar holds me tightly for a few moments at the edge of the darkness as some of the partiers make their way toward the gate, while others ride the hay wagon.
But even with all that’s going on, it feels like we’re alone.
Somewhere in the distance, a phone is buzzing and I barely realize that it’s in his pocket until he pulls it out.
“Duty calls,” he says. “I’ve got to get back to work. But we’re not done. Tonight, we have a lot more to talk about.”