Chapter Six #2
Fear gave me a burst of strength. I bucked beneath him, managing to free one arm. I gouged at his eye with my thumb. He reared back with a howl, giving me just enough space to suck in a desperate breath.
Footsteps pounded heavily in the distance and closing fast. Then the guy was pulled off me and another man’s roar echoed off the walls of the parking structure.
The sound of flesh hitting flesh smacked close by. A grunt of pain followed, and I wasn’t sure if it was me or someone else. All I could make out was a silhouette backlit by the harsh beam of afternoon sunlight. Sully. I didn’t have to see him clearly to know the man coming to my rescue was Sully.
My body felt leaden as I pushed myself up to sitting position, back against the cold wall. Sully slammed my attacker into the opposite wall with enough force to knock the breath from the guy, Sully’s forearm pressed against the man’s throat.
“You do not touch a woman like that,” Sully growled, his voice menacing. “You especially don’t touch my woman. For any reason.”
The man tried to swing at Sully, a wild, desperate punch Sully caught without effort.
He twisted the man’s arm until something snapped, the sound turning my stomach even as a dark satisfaction bloomed in my chest. The scream that followed echoed all around us.
I thought I heard sirens in the distance, but my ears were still ringing from nearly being choked to death.
Sully fought like something primal and vicious. He drove his fist into the man’s face once, twice, three times, each impact punctuated by a wet thud. Blood sprayed in an arc that caught the lamplight, looking almost black in the dim glow.
When the man slumped, Sully didn’t let him fall.
Instead, he drove his knee up into the man’s stomach, then slammed his head against the wall again.
The brutality should have frightened me.
Instead, I felt a surge of fierce pride.
This violence was for me, because of me.
I guess I was a sick bitch, but Goddamnit, no one had ever defended me before!
How the fuck was I not supposed to lap up the attention?
“Sully,” I tried to call, but my voice came out as a croak.
If I really had heard sirens earlier, they weren’t getting any louder.
In fact, they were all but drowned out by the loud rumble of motorcycles coming up the garage ramp.
They stopped a few feet from us. As I looked around, I noticed for the first time, there were no people around us watching or taking pictures or videos.
There were only the men on steel horses circling around us.
I was dimly aware of Tiny directing the men on what to do.
Sully’s gaze found mine where he now sat next to me. The fury I saw there, which softened immediately to concern as he reached for me.
“Jesus, Darby,” he whispered, hands hovering over me as if afraid to touch me. “What were you thinking, coming out here alone?”
I wanted to be angry at the question, to maintain the independent facade, but I couldn’t summon the energy. Not when he looked at me like that, not when his hands were bloody from defending me.
“I needed to breathe,” I said simply. Then a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob broke free. “And I’m a firm believer in credit card abuse as retail therapy.”
His jaw tightened, but he nodded once, accepting my answer without lecture. His fingers ghosted over the bruise forming on my temple, feather light but still making me wince.
I glanced at the motionless form Tiny and Ranger were loading into a trailer. “Who is he?”
“Friend of one of Jenkins’ crew. Knight heard rumors someone was looking for you, seeking revenge.
” Sully pulled out his phone, his thumb leaving a smear of blood on the screen as he dialed.
“Knight? Found her. Send someone to take out the trash.” He paused, listening.
“She’s hurt but walking wounded. We’ll need Pain to look at her when we get back. ” Another pause. “I’ll drop you a pin.”
Sully helped me into a black Bronco before Knuckles and Griffin climbed in the front and we all sped off.
I have no idea how they managed the whole kicking-ass situation or the blood or anything else; all I knew was Sully had come for me.
He might be angry with me, might even yell at me for disobeying him, but he’d come for me. And I knew he always would.
“I’ve never been so glad to have Knight tell us someone had stolen a brother’s bike. It wasn’t until Ranger realized the bike was gone that he put together who’d taken it.”
“When all my shit was waiting on you guys at the front and I didn’t show up, Knight tracked my phone, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, honey. I was tracking your phone and your watch.”
“Tell Knight he’s more than welcome to put trackers on my person anywhere he sees fit. My clothes. My phone. My shoes. My favorite hair clip. I don’t care. Thank him for viciously invading my privacy, but I draw the line at video. He cannot spy on me.”
All three men tried hard to stifle laughter or grins, but it was a hopeless battle.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, and meant it. “Not for leaving, but for scaring you.”
He gave an exasperated sigh but chuckled just the same. “I am so fucked.”
“Definitely agree with that statement.” Knuckles mumbled. “Girl’s gonna run circles around you.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Sully’s breath whispered against my hair. I wasn’t sure if his reply was meant for Knuckles, me, or himself.
It wasn’t long before we all rolled into the Kiss of Death compound. Instead of stopping at the main clubhouse, however, Knuckles drove through the canopied streets between the warehouses to the building with our apartment.
“Go get cleaned up and get some rest.” Knuckles held the door while Sully scooped me up from the car. “Tonio’s waitin’ in the main clubhouse. I’ll tell him she needs a minute, but he’s gonna to want to see her.”
“Tell him I’ve got her. I’ll call him once she’s asleep. Tell him I swear I won’t keep him in the dark any longer than I have to, but Darby comes first.”
Knuckles brushed his hand over the top of my head gently. “You take care of your woman, Sully. Tell us what you need and it’s yours.”
I lifted my head, looking up at Knuckles.
“Tell Tonio I’m not sorry for the shopping spree and that all that stuff is mine and I’m giving some of it to the girls here.
” My words were running together, but not because I was tired.
The adrenaline was dissipating quickly, and I was beginning to crash.
I also found myself very much in need of being in our apartment with the door firmly shutting us in.
“I’ll tell him exactly that, honey. Though, to be honest, he seemed genuinely relieved to see your haul.”
I frowned. “That wasn’t supposed to make him happy.”
“No?” Knuckles held my gaze. “I’m guessing the six-figure credit card bill was supposed to make him cut you off.”
“Well, I’d at least hoped he’d be mildly irritated,” I grumbled.
“Sorry about your luck. The way Tonio sees it, he’s missed out on the first twenty-three years of your life. He’s not going to miss out on a second more.”
“Tell him I’ll try harder next time.”
“I’ll tell him exactly that, Lil’ Bit.”
We took the lift to our floor then Knuckles held our apartment door open. Once we were inside, he shut the door and left.
Sully carried me to the bathroom. He put me on my feet before starting the shower, then stripping us both.
We stayed there for a long time. Sully washed me from head to toe. Then he just held me under the spray and let me feel the steady beat of his heart until I was drooping with exhaustion.
“I wanted you to fuck me, but I’m not sure I still have the energy.”
“Plenty of time for that later, honey.”
He dried my body, then brushed my hair until I was so relaxed and boneless I don’t even remember getting into bed. I assume he carried me, but I wasn’t certain.
I knew I needed to, maybe, just a little bit, apologize to Tonio for spending his money.
But I meant it when I said I was keeping all that shit.
Except I really wouldn’t. Much as I wanted to just to fuck with the guy, stealing his money wasn’t fair.
He hadn’t known I existed and when he’d found me, he’d done what needed doing to protect me. How could I really fault him for that?
But most of all, I just wanted to lie here with Sully. Just for a while. A short nap maybe. For the first time in my life, I understood what it meant to belong to someone by choice rather than circumstance or coercion.
I belonged to Sully, and he to me. Everything else was just details we could figure out later.