Chapter 18 ~ #2
“You tripped the silent alarm when you opened the front door,” Alec tells me. “It went off on all our phones.”
“How the hell did you get in?” I ask Drake, puzzled. I didn’t know there were perimeter alarms. I knew about the cameras but that’s it.
Drake grins wickedly but keeps his mouth shut.
“What are you doing here?” Luc says shortly, clearly sick of the lack of answers he’s getting.
Drake watches him, calculatingly before slightly turning his head to me. I nod and he sighs.
“Here to see Aurora. Check in. Since she’s the only person to ever show me kindness, I owed her an explanation on my sudden disappearance.
” Drake’s words are careful. They’re true, but it’s clear he’s leaving things out.
Despite his casual stance, coffee in hand, I see he’s still fingering the knife or some small weapon in his pocket—the telltale sign that he’s tense.
The bell shrills loudly. I throw my stuff in my bag and scram.
Friday could not have come any slower. After today, I just want to get to the clearing. I can’t go home but here is no better.
I get pushed and thrown around as soon as I enter the hallway. Not attempting to get shit from my locker, I head straight for the door.
I can’t help but exhale, relieved when I make it out without a confrontation. As soon as I’m far enough down the road, I let my hair down. The ache of having it up immediately leaves and I sigh, running my fingers through my long strands.
The rumble of a motorbike has me tensing. I don’t look up, begging it to keep going past me.
I am not that lucky.
It stops beside me but I keep walking.
“Aurora Winters,” the guy states. He’s not asking.
“It’s Rory.” I scowl at the use of my full name and continue walking, not turning to see who it is.
The voice swirls around my mind, seeming kind of familiar.
“No one walks away from me,” they growl, intrigue tainting their words along with fascination.
“There’s a first for everything.” I finally look up and my heart stops. Along with my legs.
My feet become stuck to the road as Drake King slows beside me. The beast he’s riding purrs to a low hum as he comes to a stop just ahead of me.
“Umm.” I slyly look around.
“Don’t even think about it,” Drake says. I bite my lip to keep from saying something snarky.
“You know who I am?” He swings his leg over his bike, rising up to his slightly terrifying six foot three height.
“Yes.”
Drake raises one eyebrow, a smirk curling up his lips. His sharp jawline could cut steel, those glacial, ice cold eyes narrow as he assesses me.
If I wasn’t worried about dying, I’d say he was pretty fucking hot.
“You’re The Bloodhound,” I relent, answering what he’s really asking.
His chest is barely an inch from mine when he finally halts.
I force myself not to cower in terror, and meet his strong, unnerving gaze.
“You kissed me.” Drake tilts his head like I’m a puzzle he’s trying to figure out.
“So you wouldn’t swallow a drug cocktail.” Flies out.
He just stares at me. I shift on my feet, uncomfortable.
“Why?” He asks simply. “You know who I am.”
I stay silent.
He growls, lowly. The small step he takes has our chest’s pressed together. He leans down, probably about to make some sort of threat but I involuntarily flinch away.
Drake freezes.
A moment later, he reaches out. His fingers curl around my chin, raising my head to meet his gaze.
“Why?” He says softly. My heart thuds, somewhere between scared and fucking terrified.
I swallow deeply. “That shit fucks you up. No one deserves that.”
His fingers tighten on my face. “They did it to you.” It’s not a question.
I pull away, taking a step back but I answer him all the same. “Not them.”
Drake and I just stare at each other.
I have a feeling he doesn’t really know what to do with me.
He takes one step, my feet and eyes are rooted to the ground. I prepare myself for whatever he’s about to do to me.
This time when his fingers grip my chin, he tilts my head up then his hand drops.
“Chin up,” he says roughly. “Don’t show anyone fear and they can’t control you. Including him.”
I draw on any strength I have left and stand straighter, looking directly into his steel gaze. He studies me for a moment before nodding.
“Let’s go, Hellfire.”
I set my cup down on the table.
“I need to speak to Drake alone, please.”
There’s a resounding different arrays of ‘fuck, no.’
“Okay!” I throw my hands up. “Whatever your problem is with him, he will not hurt me. You will be right there if anything could but won’t happen.” I stride over to Luc and take the handgun from him.
“Now I have a weapon. We good now? Think you can trust me?” I say maybe a little too harshly. The guys flinch back and guilt floods me. I sigh. Fuck.
“I’m sorry. I’m okay, alright? I swear, he won’t hurt me.” I say softly.
Mason’s the first to relent. He kisses my temple and murmurs to be careful before dragging Maverick into the living room.
Alec hugs me, whispering that he trusts me.
Jace dips his head for a brief kiss, not saying a word.
His eyes tell me everything. Luc follows after Jace, possessively commandeering my mouth before telling me to use it if I have too.
It takes me a moment to figure out he means the gun.
“You fucking touch her, King,” Luc warns, The Slayer shining through, “and I’ll put a bullet through your head. Truce or not.”
Drake’s silent but nods. Luc gives me one last look before following the others out.
Drake relaxes the second they’re gone, removing his hand from where it was clenched around his knife.
“Bit protective, eh?” He says lightly but the questioning eyes give his concern away.
“I don’t need a lecture, Drake,” I warn him. I place Luc’s gun down on the counter.
“You weren’t going to get one. If you trust them…then good on you,” Drake tells me with a straight face.
Is he…is he serious? That’s it?
“Wait, really?” I ask, dumbfounded.
Drake chuckles. “Hel, you can handle it. I know you can. After you met Linds, I pretty much expected her to corrupt you. What I want to know is how you got mixed up with Lucifer.”
I scrunch my nose at the use of his full name.
When Drake waits patiently for me to start, I realise he isn’t letting this go. I pull myself up onto the island slab and tell him the whole story. Leaving out a few details.
“Which one’s Jace?” Drake’s eyes darken.
“Did you miss the bit when I told you that I forgave him?” I stretch out the word.
“Rather quickly it seems,” Drake scowls from where he’s leaning against the bench, opposite me. “All the pain and resentment but you took one look at him and melted.”
“That is not what happened,” I argue, weakly.
That’s totally what happened.
“A few weeks and you trust them this much?” Drake asks seriously, like he actually wants to know.
“I do,” I say honestly. “Just like I knew I could trust you when you kidnapped me that first day.”
“I didn’t fucking kidnap you.” Drake groans. A grin tugs at my lips. We often have this argument and it always ends the same way.
I give him a soft smile. “What are you really doing here, Drae?”
He sighs and comes to stand in front of me. He braces his hands on either side of me, bowing his head before me.
“Your father,” he murmurs. I freeze. My heart starts pounding. “He’s wormed his way up the ranks and he’s drawn the attention of the president.”
The president. Giovanni King. The president of the Dark Riders MC. Aka, Drake’s father.
I haven’t told him I already knew this.
“With all the kids related to MC members around here…you shouldn’t return to Cattle Creek high.” Drake raises his head. “I’m trying to find out what I can but Marcus has people in the Dark Riders looking for you.”
Marcus. My father.
I take a shaky breath, fear slithering into my bones. Drake watches me carefully for any indication that I’m losing it. I inhale. Then exhale. And repeat. I do this until my vision is no longer blurred.
“Okay.” I rub a hand over my face. “So if he’s got people looking for me then clearly he doesn’t know I’m here.”
Drake shakes his head. “He doesn’t know for now, Hel but in a town this small, he can find you here.”
He can find you here…
He can find me. Get to me. To my guys.
I can’t go back to that life.
“Hellfire.”
My vision blurs.
“Come on, Hel. Breathe.” Drake leans down so I’m looking directly into his eyes. Concern fills his features as he forces something into my hand. His knife…
He wraps my whole hand around the supple leather handle. I stare at it.
The handle is engraved in symbols that cut deep into the soft, smooth leather.
I don’t understand their meaning but they’re stunning.
The short blade is gorgeous with twin swirls racing each other to the point before curling in opposite directions.
I flip it over and on the other side the lines curl in to meet each other. The steel is shiny and well kept.
As I’m entirely focused on the knife, my vision clears and I suck in the deep breaths my lungs allow me to take.
“Good job, Hellfire,” Drake murmurs when he sees me come back to him.
Drake gently grips the back of my head, guiding me to his chest. I exhale shakily and lay my head on the soft material of his shirt.
One hand slides through my hair, the other flayed out across the middle of my back.
“If it goes to shit, Hel and they come for you, go to the cabin. You remember how to get there?” Drake says lowly in my ear.
I nod into his chest. I’ve only been there once but I memorised every turn, every tree we passed to get there.
“No one but you, me and Lindsey know so you’ll be safe there.” Drake promises.
I realise that I still have Drake’s knife clenched tightly in my hand. Lifting my head off his chest, I try to hand it back to him.
He shakes his head, insistently. “It’s yours.”
My mouth drops open and I attempt to push it into his hands. He takes it and flips it over to the side with the initials. “Look, Hel.”
I furrow my eyebrows. H.F? Then it hits me.
Hellfire.