Chapter 20 #2
“I hid it, it’s safe, but I highly recommend keeping it hidden for now. He’s looking for it,” he warned, scowling as the door opened and Marco stepped in. “I fucking told you to stay at the warehouse.”
Marco smirked, closing the door behind him and walking towards me, dropping down on my other side and putting his feet up on the coffee table.
“Hey, Princess. You totally wanted to see me, right?”
“You’re so full of it,” I grumbled, but I really had. As much as he pissed me off, he’d broken into the fucking hospital to see me, and I’d really needed that.
“Did he tell you yet?” he asked, looking a little nervous.
“Yeah.”
“You’re taking it quite well,” he hummed, seeming surprised. “I kind of expected you to murder both of us.”
Hunter groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face as I glanced between them.
“Why would I?” I asked slowly.
“I mean, we were going to tell you, but then you kept going missing and it made sense to keep it. I’m just relieved you’re not blaming me,” he replied, confusing me more.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“The tracker,” he said like I was stupid, and I grabbed the front of his jacket in my fist and yanked him closer so that our noses were almost touching.
“What fucking tracker?”
“I hadn’t told her that part yet, we were talking about Slash’s things,” Hunter said dryly, but Marco didn’t seem to care as he grabbed my waist and pulled me onto his lap. I tried to pull back, but he wrapped his arms around me with a grin.
“You thought I had some kind of telepathic connection to you or something? C’mon, how do you think I kept finding you so easily?”
My fingers went to his throat and his damn dick jerked under my ass.
“I figured you were using your hacking stuff to find me. Tell me what tracker you’re talking about,” I demanded, and Hunter pulled me to my feet and gave Marco his back to look me in the eyes.
“I wanted to talk about this calmly and without him here. I ordered him to plant a tracker on you before we became friends,” he explained, and I shoved him back a step.
“What does that even mean? How did you plant one on me? You always found me even when I didn’t have my phone, so how—”
“When I broke in and drugged you, I injected a tracker under your skin,” Marco stated, getting to his feet and walking closer, and I was so dumbfounded that I didn’t swat his hand away when he reached out to press his finger lightly against a spot on the back of my neck. “Right here.”
“You put a tracker under my skin?” I repeated, mistrust filling me. “All this time and you never said anything?”
Hunter had the decency to look ashamed of himself, but Marco didn’t seem to give a shit as he dragged me a little closer with his hand still on the back of my neck.
“Do you know how many times we’ve needed to find you with this thing? You run off without your phone all the time.”
“Give me a knife. I’m cutting it out,” I spat, trying to shove him away, but he was like a brick wall.
“Sit. You’ll kill yourself if you start blindly digging around your neck with a knife,” he scoffed, ignoring my protesting as he pushed me to the floor and sat on the couch behind me, his legs on either side of me.
Hunter rolled his eyes but let him handle it, and when I tried to stand, Marco crossed his legs over my front to pin me in place.
“I’ll handle it!” I bit out as he fisted my hair, hissing when something sharp pricked the back of my neck.
“Don’t move,” he warned, loosening his hold with his legs when I gave in.
It stung like a bitch and I felt blood drip down my spine, but he finally put his bloodied fingers in front of me to show me the tiny chip. “There, you’ve seen that I took it out with your own eyes.”
“I can’t believe you two put it in to begin with,” I scowled, my entire body tensing as I felt his tongue lick the back of my neck. Was he seriously licking my blood?
It took me a second to convince myself that I didn’t like it, jerking forward to escape his touch.
“I was just cleaning you up,” he murmured, my pussy clenching as he licked some off his finger next.
“That’s disgusting,” I growled, Hunter giving a grunt of agreement as he handed over a few things, including a Band-Aid.
“Ignore him. Put this on your neck so you don’t bleed all over yourself. Please don’t stab us, I’m very sorry about the tracker,” he said seriously as I snatched the Band-Aid.
“You’re sorry?” I scoffed, not caring that I was still bleeding as I held a hand out. “Give me your keys. I’m leaving.”
“Let me drop you off,” he insisted, wincing when I shot him a dirty look.
“If I’m in a small space with you, I’ll definitely stab you. Give me your fucking keys, asshole.”
He didn’t move, but keys jingled behind me for a moment before Marco held out his.
“You can take the Ducati, if you think you can ride it. Helmet’s on it.”
“She can’t take the fucking bike. What if someone thinks it’s you and shoots at her?” Hunter bit out, but Marco shrugged.
“Then she’d better get home fast. What do you say, Princess? Can you handle my baby?”
I snatched the keys, silently telling myself it was a stupid idea, but if I didn’t get the fuck away from them, someone was going to end up dead.
“I don’t forgive you,” I warned, a slow smirk spreading across his face.
“I hope not. I was praying for some hot angry sex.”
I punched him in the stomach, only making him huff out a laugh as I stalked off, having zero idea if I could even ride the damn bike.
I knew they were over four hundred pounds with a full tank, and as much as I’d spent a lot of time working out while locked up, a couple of months wasn’t going to turn me into a lifting machine.
If I dropped it, there was no way I could pick it back up.
I felt around to put the stupid Band-Aid on, the helmet going over my head once I’d shoved the rest of my things into my pockets. The gloves wouldn’t fit me, so I put them in my pocket too. If I went down, it was going to fucking hurt.
I’d ridden bikes, but nothing like this.
I straddled it and put the kickstand up, starting it and enjoying the sound as it roared to life. It was really hard to remember that I was mad when I was sitting on something like this.
I almost dropped the fucking thing when Marco appeared and scared the shit out of me, a jacket in his hand.
“Put this on over your hoodie. It might be a little big, but it’s better than nothing to protect you if you slide,” he said over the noise, pushing a leather riding jacket at me. It looked old, so it was probably one of Hunter’s older ones.
As much as I wanted to tell him to take a hike, I definitely felt better with some kind of protection, letting him help me into it.
“Hey. Take it easy and don’t die. It’s got a quick shift too. Remember, it won’t corner like a car, so be careful,” he warned, taking a step back. “Can you text me when you get there? Just so I know you made it?”
“Worried about your bike?” I answered, and he raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, I’d be sad if you broke it, but I can always replace it. I’d just like to know you’re not a human crayon on the road.”
I revved the bike a little, giving him a small nod before easing it forward to the road and taking off.
It took a little bit to get used to, but once I was on the main road heading towards Ashburn Valley, I felt more comfortable. At least my feet reached the ground. That had been my main concern about a bike this big and heavy.
I somehow made it home without dying, taking the keys and helmet inside and almost getting knocked over by Josie as she hugged me.
“Oh my goodness, you’re here. I thought Hunter was picking you up in his car?” she exclaimed, eyeing the helmet and jacket as she stepped back. “Did you ride here?”
“Hunter did pick me up in the car. We were at his house filling each other in on a few things, which ended in a fight. Marco let me take his bike before I killed them,” I said dryly, earning a flat look in return.
“That’s not funny.”
“I wasn’t joking,” I scowled, running my hands through my hair to get the knots out. “I need a long shower before anything else.”
“Of course, honey. You go and relax. Karl has promised to make you whatever you want for dinner tonight, and I’ve warned the boys to give you some space if you need it. I’ve also told Caden his attitude isn’t welcome, so he might not be here. Don’t let it get to you, okay?”
It was easier said than done. I hadn’t seen him or Skeeter in almost two months, and as much as it had been easier to ignore while locked up, it was really difficult now that I was out and could potentially run into them.
Maybe they’d calm down now that we could talk?
“He can fight with me tomorrow. Tonight, I’m just looking forward to sleeping in a comfy bed and having Karl’s cooking again,” I smiled, giving her another hug. “Thank you for the lawyer.”
“I’ve always got you. Go enjoy being home,” she murmured, letting me go so I could head up to my room.
I powered my phone on and waited for it to wake up before texting Marco, knowing he’d probably already hacked the security system to check that I was okay anyway, but I had told him I’d let him know.
Rory: Your bike survived.
I tossed the phone aside now that I’d messaged him, and then I shrugged the jacket off to place it on the chair in the corner with the helmet before hiding the key in the bedside drawers, ending up having a long soak in the tub with my arms out of the water to keep my tattoos dry. It was bliss.
Once my skin resembled a prune, I showered, washed my hair, and cleaned my tattoos before pulling on some sweats and a tank before climbing into bed to take a nap to kill a few hours. My bed was so comfortable, I never wanted to get out of it again.
My bedroom door clicking shut woke me up some time later, my eyes flashing open like I hadn’t even gone to sleep. Prison habits.
“Sorry, just me,” Diesel murmured, my heartbeat slowing when I realized it wasn’t an inmate sneaking in to shiv me.