CHAPTER Two
Cole took Angel by the arm, and led her out of the clubhouse, and down the porch steps. She noticed the way the other guys there all stepped out of Cole’s way as if they didn’t want to mess with him.
He led her over to a table with a canopy tent over it. There was an older man with long gray hair and a gray beard selling stuff. He was packing it up to leave when he turned, and saw them.
“Cole! How ya been?”
“Fine. How ya doin’, Boze?” Cole nodded to him.
“Getting by. You need something? I got some real nice stuff,” the old man offered nodding toward the table.
Cole glanced down, his eyes running over the assortment, but not finding what he was looking for. “Got any boots that’d fit the lady here?”
Boze eyed her up and down, noticing the cuffs. His eyes cut back to Cole, but he knew better than to question him. “Yeah, yeah, sure. I think I do.” He turned, and shuffled through some boxes, finally pulling one out, and setting it on the table. “Try these.”
Cole pulled them out of the box, and bent to pull them on her. He slid his hand up her calf, lifting her leg to slide one boot on.
She touched his shoulder with her cuffed hands, trying to keep her balance.
He glanced up at her. He hoped she couldn’t see the effect she was having on him. The touch of her bare leg had sent a ribbon of desire shooting through him. Here he was squatting down next to the long, beautiful length of her bare legs, his eyes about level with her crotch, of course sex was running through his mind. But that didn’t mean he wanted her to see it. She was scared enough as it was. “Does it fit?”
Angel put her weight on it, testing. She nodded.
Cole bent, and slid the other one on, then stood up, and turned to Bozeman. “How much?”
“Hundred.”
Cole pulled the money he’d gotten from Chuck out of his hip pocket, and peeled off a hundred dollar bill, tossing it on the table. “Thanks, man.”
“Yeah, sure. Take care of yourself, Cole,” Bozeman replied.
Cole nodded, and led Angel across the grounds toward the long drive that stretched down to the road. They walked along the line of bikes parked there. Stopping in front of one of them, he turned, and looked back at her, his eyes dropping down to her cuffed hands.
As she watched, his hand moved to his side, and in the darkness she saw a flash of silver as he pulled a knife from the sheath at his hip. Angel took a step back, her eyes on the knife. It had a large, wicked looking blade. She thought it might be a Bowie knife, but she wasn’t sure. Her mouth went dry as she wondered what he was going to do with it.
She watched as he lifted his flannel shirt out of the way, and sliced about a two inch wide piece all the way across the front of his white undershirt hem. Then he cut the piece of fabric in two sections, and put the knife back in its sheath.
He looked up at her. “Come here.”
She hesitated a moment, and then took a timid step toward him.
He reached for her cuffed hands, and slid a piece of the soft, cotton tee shirt under the metal on each of her wrists.
She looked up at him as he worked at it, noticing the way the light from the bonfire highlighted the blonde of his hair. She also noticed how gentle his hands were as he touched her.
He looked up into her eyes. “That better?”
She was again struck by how blue his eyes were, and how long his lashes were. He’d asked her a question, was waiting for her answer. She nodded.
He turned, and reached for his helmet, taking it off the handlebar where it dangled by a strap from the handgrip. Stepping back over to her, he put it on her head, buckling the strap under her chin. Then he threw his leg over the his bike, and patted the seat behind him. “Come on, darlin’.”
She stepped over to the bike, slid her leg over the seat, and sat.
He glanced back at her, and realized that she wasn’t going to be able to put her arms around him with the cuffs on. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked naively, wondering if she’d done something wrong.
“I’ve got no back rest.”
She stared at him blankly, not understanding.
“You’re going to fall off, if you can’t hold on.”
“Oh.”
He thought a moment, then said, “Put your hands over my head.”
She lifted her arms as high as she could, and he ducked down a bit until she got them over his head. Then he pulled her arms forward, and slipped one arm and shoulder through the circle of her arms, and then the other. He slid her arms down around his waist. “You okay?”
“Yes.”
He looked over his shoulder at her. “Put your hands up under my shirt. It’ll keep ‘em warm.”
She did as he said, and he felt the cold bite of the metal against his stomach. “Shit, that’s cold.”
A small smile formed on her lips.
He didn’t miss it. He returned it. “Okay, darlin’. You ready?”
She nodded.
He started the bike, slid a pair of riding glasses and gloves on, and pulled out.
They headed down the mountain.
It was a three hour ride back, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. What had been a warm day was turning into a chilly night. He felt her tuck in behind him, trying to stay out of the wind.
They rode for about an hour on the deserted, two lane highway. Cole took them down out of the mountains, and started across the flat desert lands before he finally pulled over, and stopped on the side of the road.
He could feel her trembling.
He twisted slightly to look back at her over his left shoulder, and frowned when he saw her teeth chattering as she shook with cold. “You okay?” As she tried to nod, he pulled the glove off his left hand, and reaching back, he ran his hand over her bare thigh.
It was ice cold.
“F*ck, baby. I’m sorry. You must be freezing.”
Cole slipped his hands down under her cuffed wrists, and lifted them up and over his head. Then he got off the bike, and helped her off.
She stood there, shaking.
“You ain’t gonna make it. We got two more hours to ride, and you’re freezing to death.”
Angel watched as he pulled his cell phone out, and flipped it open, looking at it.
“No service.”
She looked at him, wondering what the plan was.
He took a deep breath, and blew it out. “I guess we spend the night here, and head back in the morning after it warms up.”
“H-here?” she asked, looking around. They were in the middle of nowhere. It was desolate, desert scrub brush for as far as she could see in the silvery moonlight.
He put his hands on the hand grips, and began pushing the bike off the road. “Yeah. Here. Come on.”
She followed him until they were about fifty yards from the road.
He parked the bike, and began untying a rolled up blanket from the front of the handlebars. He reached down into his saddlebag, and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. The silver rings on his hand flashing in the moonlight. He grabbed her by the elbow, and pulled her along. “Come on.”
He led her over to some boulders.
“Is the part where you rape me, too?”
He looked over at her, trying to hold his patience. “No, this is the part where we get some sleep.” His eyes held hers for a moment, then he turned, and shook out the blanket.
As she watched him, flashbacks of what she had endured at the hands of Chuck came flooding back, and a gripping fear took hold of her. The fight or flight instinct took over, and she found herself running blindly. She didn’t care where, as long as it was away from him. She ran like a hunted animal. She only knew she had to keep running to escape whatever he might do to her.
After a few moments, she became aware of footsteps pounding on the ground behind her, closing in. Her hair fell in her face, and her breath rasped in her throat. She knew she was tiring, her steps beginning to slow and falter. No! Please, not again. She couldn’t let him catch her. She tried to turn back to see how close he was, and she tripped, and felt herself falling to the ground. She stretched her arms out to protect herself as she landed in the gravel and dirt.
She lay there, exhausted and defeated. She opened her eyes, and saw his boots coming to stand before her face. From above her, she heard him ask, “You done?”
Her chest was heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
“Did you really think you could get away from me? Did you think I’d let you go?” He reached down to pull her to her feet. “I know you’re not that stupid.”
As she slid up his body, she grabbed at the knife he kept in the sheath at his side. Hardly thinking beyond the blind desperation she felt, she swung the blade at him, slicing through the air, her cuffed hands making the movement awkward.
Cole managed to jump back, and the blade skidded across his vest leaving a thin scratch across the leather. She heard him curse under his breath as he grabbed her wrists, and slammed his boot against her ankles, knocking her off her feet. She landed on her back with him on top of her. He had her manacled wrists pinned above her head, and he slammed them into the ground twice before the knife went skidding out of her hands across the ground.
“Goddamn, woman! That’s twice now you’ve tried to kill me.” He stared down into her eyes. “I told you I wouldn’t hurt you. But you can only push a man so far, Angel.” Her face was illuminated by the moonlight. Her eyes were dark and liquid, her mouth slightly open, her breath panting. He watched as the fight went out of her. As the resistance in her ceased, and he felt her submit, his anger dissolved. He was breathing hard, his chest heaving, as he lay poised above her.
“Please-”
“Please what?” he snarled. His eyes dropped to her mouth, and desire roared through him. It was the chase, the violence, her lying here under him, subdued, and flat on her back. All that animal aggressive shit. He felt it surging through him, and he tried to fight it, to push it back.
Angel sucked in her breath looking up at him, at the intensity of his face. His gaze was searing hot, wild and hungry. Angel’s pulse jumped. She looked at his mouth, and a wave of liquid heat washed through her. This was insane, how could she be attracted to him.
Angel swallowed hard as temptation swept through her. She wanted to tell him, ‘no, stop’, but her eyes fell to his mouth, and all she could think about was what it would feel like to kiss him.
She glanced up to his eyes, and realized he was thinking the same thing a split second before he lowered his head, claiming her mouth. His mouth was hard and merciless, forcing her mouth apart under the onslaught of his kiss. Crazily she noticed little details, like how soft his golden blonde facial hair was as it brushed against her skin, the feel of his tongue as it delved into her mouth, the male scent of him. He lay on top of her, and she felt crushed and completely breathless. When she would have moved her head away to escape, to breathe, to claim some sanity, she felt his hands release her wrists, and slide into the hair on either side of her face, holding her pinned. He kissed her roughly, wildly. Her body arched against him, and her lips softened under his as she felt the flame of desire curl through her belly. She raised her left leg, bending at the knee, pushing her boot heel into the ground, pressing her hips up.
Cole felt her melt against him in total submission, and he groaned deep in his throat. His mouth softened on hers, his kiss becoming gentle. He ran his right hand down her side, over her hip and bare thigh. His hand cupped the back of her knee, and pulled her closer, molding her tighter against him. This little wildcat, who was all claws, was responding to him with a sweetness that heated his blood. He wanted her. Right now, right here. He tried to tell himself he didn’t give a f*ck what she would think of him afterwards. She could think the worst of him, and it would all be true. He was a man who took what he wanted. There was no honor in him, he told himself as his hand moved to the buttons on her shirt. Why should he stop? He hadn’t been the kind of man that did the right thing for years now. His mouth trailed down her throat, and lower as he pulled open her shirt.
Angel’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at a sky full of sparkling stars, and suddenly felt Cole at her breast pushing her bra to the side, his mouth closing over her nipple. He sucked on it, and her back arched off the ground as the sensation tore through her. His palm moved over her exposed, smooth belly. She sucked in her breath.
Oh, God. She wanted him, wanted this. Yes. Yes. No. Not like this. Not on a cold desert floor. What was the matter with her? Panic, shame, guilt, all poured over her like ice water.
“No.” The word barely audible. She swallowed hard, and pushed against his back and shoulders with her cuffed hands. “No, please. Stop.”
Cole felt her hands on him. It was the feel of the cold metal of her handcuffs at the back of his neck that jerked him to his senses. His hand stilled on her stomach. He raised his head, and looked down at her.
She felt the cool night air on her nipple, wet from his mouth. Her stomach trembled under his hand. What had she been thinking? She didn’t know him at all, and she didn’t trust him. He was a stranger to her. And he was dangerous. Angel was aware of her position, handcuffed, helpless. He could do anything he wanted, and she couldn’t stop him. The thought scared her to death. The anticipation was just as terrifying.
Cole saw the panic take over her. Guilt washed over him. The small shred of conscience that he still possessed stopped him. Goddamn, what kind of animal had he become? What was he doing? He was no better than Chuck. He pulled back, and adjusted her clothing. He took a deep breath. The idea of hurting her cut deeper than he wanted to admit. He brushed her hair back from her temple, looking into her eyes. “I’m sorry. I swear I never meant for this to happen. I promised you I wouldn’t hurt you, and I meant it.” He found himself wondering why he was explaining anything to her.
He got to his feet, and pulled her up. Then he bent to retrieve his knife, returning it to its sheath.
She watched him silently, trying to figure him out. He’d backed off instantly when she’d asked. That surprised her. Shocked her, actually. Did he really mean it when he said he wouldn’t hurt her? Was he really just trying to help her?
“That’s twice you got the drop on me.” He admitted reluctantly. Then continued with a smile. “I guess that’ll teach me not to let my guard down around you. I underestimated you.”
She watched as his hand ran across the knife mark on his vest.
“I hope you realize that you came just a couple inches from finding yourself all alone out here.” He gave a short laugh. “Who’d have guessed a little spit fire like you would almost be the death of me.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, realizing what she’d almost done. Wondering how he could joke about it.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not the first time I’ve cheated the reaper.” He grabbed her by the upper arm, and yanked her to him as he turned, and walked back toward his bike.
She submitted as he pulled her along, back to where he had left the blanket. She had begun to shiver uncontrollably.
He let her go, and grabbed up the blanket.
“I thought you were going to rape me. That’s why I ran,” she suddenly felt the need to explain, her teeth chattering from the cold and exhaustion.
He looked over at her. “I almost just did.”
She said nothing, just stared at him.
“You don’t trust me. I guess I can’t blame you. But it won’t happen again. You have my word, for whatever it’s worth.”
She looked in his eyes, wondering if he could lie to her, and stare right in her eyes while he did it.
“Come here,” he demanded, holding his hand out to her.
She backed up a step shaking her head.
“C’mere,” he repeated threateningly.
She looked down at his hand knowing if she didn’t come to him, he’d just come after her, and she’d already pushed his temper to the limit.
He stared her down. He could see the defiance in her eyes. He could see she was going to challenge his authority at every turn. She needed to learn to submit. The sooner, the better. They were going to have to work on that. He blew out a breath, his patience about at an end. “Look, Angel. It’s been a long f*cking day, and I’m beat. I just want to get some rest. That’s all. I swear. Don’t fight me, sweetheart.”
Hesitantly, she went to him.
Cole sat down, and leaned back against the boulders. He pulled her down in front of him, and nestled her between his legs covering them both with the blanket.
She began to struggle again.
“Quit!” He tightened his arm around her, holding her close, and after a while she stopped struggling, and sat there stiffly. “Body heat’s all we got to keep warm,” he said tersely.
She waited but he did nothing, and so she began to relax as the warmth of his body began to seep into hers. She watched as he took a long drink from the bottle he’d brought, and then he held it up to her.
“Here. Take a drink.”
She turned her head away. “No, thanks.”
“I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. Take a drink,” he ordered.
She looked over her shoulder at him defiantly, but made no move to take the bottle from his hand.
He shook his head. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, darlin’.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can pour it down your throat, if that’s the way you want it.”
Her mouth parted. He was serious.
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m waiting.”
She took the bottle, and drank, choking and gagging on the raw, burning liquor. She handed the bottle back, glaring at him through watering eyes.
“You need to learn to do what you’re told.”
She stiffened.
He smiled. Yep, they were going to need to work on that. “It’ll warm you up, okay? That’s all. I’m not trying to get you drunk, and take advantage of you.”
She looked away.
“You don’t have much of a sense of humor, huh?”
She didn’t say anything.
“Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t either in your position,” he admitted.
She felt the whiskey warming its way down to her stomach. She watched him take several more hits off the bottle. When he noticed her watching him, he held the bottle out to her, and this time she took it eagerly.
Cole leaned back, and could feel her body relaxing in his arms. Her soft curves felt so good pressed up against him. He was going to have a hard time keeping his hands off her.
F*ck.
It was going to be a long night.
He looked up at the sky. It was pitch black, but there were a billion stars and a low hanging moon. Tucking the blanket tighter around her, he bent to her ear, and whispered, “You warming up?”
She nodded, and took another swig from the bottle before handing it back to him. They drank half of it in silence before she spoke again. “What are you going to do with me?” she finally had the nerve to ask.
All the mental images of what he wanted to do with her flashed before his eyes, desire shooting through him. But he’d made her a promise, and he intended to keep it. He took a deep breath. “If I let you go, you’ll tell your dad, ‘the cop’. And there ain’t no way,” he nodded back toward where they’d come. “you tell that story, that there’s anything on this earth that would keep him from coming for all our heads. And I wouldn’t blame him. But, babe, I can’t let that happen.”
“So I’m supposed to say nothing? You think I’m just supposed to forget what they did to me, what he did to me?” she whispered brokenly, shivering with the memory.
Cole felt the tremble move through her body. And it affected him. More than he wanted to admit. “Look, I understand retribution. Retaliation. Shit, I know all about it. I know you want them to pay for what they did to you, but-”
“But, what?” she broke in, anger flaring through her, pushing out the hurt and fear. “I’m just supposed to let it go?”
“No, but you need to learn something, and learn it quick!” Cole snapped back, anger rising in him just as quickly as it did in her. “You don’t rat on us, and live to tell about it. Got that? You could end up dead if you try to bring charges against anyone in the club. You hear me? Dead. They don’t give a f*ck if you’re a girl. If they think you’re gonna rat, they’ll kill you, and not think twice about it.”
“They? You mean you, don’t you? You’d kill me?” She turned to look back at him, almost daring him to confirm it.
He stared at her. “You gonna make me say it?”
She gasped, “So all this ‘I’m not gonna hurt you’ stuff is bullshit?”
“No. Look, I don’t want to see you hurt. I’m trying to think of a way out of this. What he did to you-”
“You don’t know what he did to me. Don’t pretend you do,” she snapped back, turning in his arms to face forward again.
What could he say to that? Not a damn thing. He took another swig of whiskey.
“I can’t let it go. Could you?” she asked in a whisper after they’d both had a moment to cool off.
“No,” he exhaled. “No, I don’t suppose I would,” he conceded.
They sat quietly.
How the hell was he supposed to reason with her? Make her see? He thought about what he’d do if he were that cop. If he had a daughter that this happened to. He didn’t have to think about it long. He knew what he’d do, and it would have nothing to do with the law, but everything to do with justice.
An idea began to percolate in his brain. He mulled it over, analyzing it from every angle. This whole situation was f*cked. There was no good answer, only the lesser evil. He considered it long and hard before he thought about suggesting to her the solution he’d come up with. Hell, it was the only option he could think of, at least the only option he could think of that he could actually live with. The two of them were gonna have to come to an understanding first, if they had any chance of working this shit out. He took a deep breath, and blew it out. “Maybe I’ve got a solution.”
She didn’t respond, but she turned her head a couple of inches to the right to let him know she was listening.
“If I find this Asian guy, and make him and Chucky pay for what they did to you, would that satisfy you? You leave your father out of this. Let me handle it. Could you do that?”
She still wouldn’t look at him.
He sighed. “Look, it’s the best deal I’ve got for you, baby. The other options aren’t so appealing.”
“Other options?”
He took a moment to answer, letting it sink in. “I think you know.”
She got real quiet.
Cole hated making her afraid, but in this instance, a little fear was probably a good thing. She needed to realize just how precarious a position she was in.
Finally, she turned back to look at him. “What do you mean, ‘make them pay’?”
He looked in her eyes. “Exactly what you think I mean.”
She stared at him a moment, and then nodded her head. “Okay.”
He nodded his head. “Okay.”
And as simple as that, the deal was struck.
She stared off in the distance wondering if he’d keep his end of it.
“Come here,” he said softly, pulling her back against him. “Everything’s gonna be okay. You just gotta trust me. Okay, babe?”
She nodded. She didn’t really have a choice.
They sat quietly for a while.
“Look at all those stars,” she murmured, as if just noticing them.
“Umm hmm.” He could tell the liquor was relaxing her, at least she was letting her guard down some.
“I saw the milky way once,” she whispered.
“Really?”
“Ever seen it?”
“Nope.”
“I was a little girl.”
“So, not so long ago then, huh?” he quipped.
She turned to look at him. “How old are you?”
He looked down at her upturned face. God, she was young. “Too old for you.”
She studied his face in the moonlight, her eyes traveling over his features. God, he was attractive. “Tell me.”
“Thirty.”
She smiled. “Old man.”
He smiled back. “Yeah. Some days I feel it, too.”
“Like today?”
“Yeah. Like today. Now try to get some sleep.” He raised his left hand to the back of her head, and pulled her back against him.
She twisted slightly in his arms and laid her head down on his chest, tucking her head under his jaw, her forehead up against the warm skin of his neck.
Cole set the bottle down, and put his arms around her. Soon he could feel her breathing change, and knew she had drifted off. He stared up at the stars wondering how in the hell this was all going to end. He could get caught up in her. He felt it every time he looked into her eyes.
And that was a dangerous thing.
He couldn’t let that happen. Nothing good could come of it.
After a while, and still with no answers, he rested his cheek against the top of her head, and fell asleep.