Sexy Bastards Anthology: Bad Boy, Biker, Alpha, Motorcycle Club, Contemporary Romance Collection (27 page)

Chapter 11

Back in bed, tucked up tight against Cash, Willow struggled with the fear still rolling through her. If it hadn’t been Greg himself, then it had been someone he sent. There was no way it wasn’t.

For all Cash’s reassurances, she couldn’t believe that it was anyone else. She wasn’t safe here and neither was Cash. Not until Greg was taken care of.

She wished he was dead. That was her fear speaking. Except she needed to be free of him somehow.

But it hadn’t happened yet, and she wasn’t going to do anything that would put her in jail for thirty years. Neither did she want to see the same thing to happen to Cash.

Greg had a lot of friends. Many she’d had over at their house. None she liked. They were all of a similar mindset to Greg. In other words, they were scum and users. Bullies. At the same time, they weren’t the same dangerous personality as Greg. They didn’t have that same dead look, that same inside emptiness she saw in Greg.

At least she didn’t think so. Who knew who these people really were? None were married and they all had girlfriends, only it seemed the girlfriends went from one to the other like a favorite coat to be passed around.

The girls never seemed to mind. It was something Willow didn’t quite understand. She’d had one abuser, what would her life have been like if she’d had several?

If she wanted to change her life and get the hell out, what about those girls? Did they want the same, too?

She knew there’d been a fair bit of drugs and alcohol involved in the relationship swapping. That was one thing about drugs, Greg refused to have any in the house. He hated the way drugs made him feel and refused to let anyone use them around him. Of course alcohol was different. He loved vodka and often drank it straight. Alcohol made him ugly, but he felt empowered by it.

Scary memories.

“Forget about him,” Cash whispered beside her, his hand gently stroking her back.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “It was him, I know it.”

“Then I’ll have to have a talk with him then.”

His words were so comforting, so calm. But he was
so
wrong. “That’s just going to let him know you saw him.”

“Good. Then he won’t try to sneak in anymore.”

“But then he’ll know I’m here. If I wasn’t here, you’d have said something to him at the time.”

A deep chuckle rumbled through his chest, making her ears tingle. Lord, he was special. Now if only he’d listen to her. Greg was dangerous and not someone to brush off or ignore. He was not normal. She tried to make him see reason.

“He’s not like other assholes. There’s something wrong with him.”

Large hands stroked up and down her back. Cash had stripped the clothes off her on his way to tucking her back into bed. She lay across his chest and tried to get him to understand. “Like maybe dead animals type of sick.”

Cash stilled for a moment. “Do you think he’s ever killed anyone?”

“I don’t think so, but I don’t know that. He threatened to kill me several times but preferred to keep me around as his punching bag.”

"That is over,” Cash said firmly. “He’s not going to get his hands on you again.”

She wasn’t so sure about that, but Cash wouldn’t listen anymore.

He rolled over quickly and pinned her beneath him, and with one hand he grasped both her wrists and held them above her head. With his other hand, he pushed her legs apart and settled into place, his heavy erection prodding her tender flesh.

She gasped.

He stilled.

She chuckled. God, she loved the care and concern he had for her.

He plunged deep inside.

She groaned, her hips instinctively lifting to meet his thrusts. He was more than ready and ahead of her, and she was good with that. Except… his urgency was a turn on in itself. He surged once more, the tendons on his neck corded and stiff, and he found his release. And triggered her own, milder, calmer, and yet so sweet release.

She held him close, loving these moments.

“Sleep,” he whispered when he could. “It’s going to be fine.”

She’d trusted him so far, and she’d trust him again.

With a happy sigh, she curled up against his side and slept.

Had it been Greg? If so, he was a dead man. But he might have just as easily hired someone to come in and check the house.

The question was – what had the intruder found? Not Willow obviously, but definitely confirmation that a woman was here.

Interesting that Greg had targeted Cash’s home so fast. They must have been seen coming home from the bridge. He had been worried about his passenger at the time, not spectators.

Why? They knew of each other. Saw each other at a couple of hangouts. Shared a couple of beers, but not more than that.

They weren’t friends. Never would be. Greg was someone Cash ignored. Greg wasn’t into making something of himself. He was into keeping others from making something of themselves. He wanted everyone to be unhappy and live shitty lives. It made him feel better.

Cash wasn’t into that shit.

And Greg might not have been into drugs, but he wasn’t above selling them. And he thought there were a few other things Greg was into. He wracked his brain, trying to remember exactly what it was, but came up blank. It wasn’t big time, might just be a little B&E for alcohol money. Greg would never make it big time. He didn’t have the skill or the balls.

But coming into Cash’s house – yeah, that took balls.

Therefore, it hadn’t been Greg.

So who was the stranger? And what part did he play in all of this?

He was sure Greg was involved somehow – but how? Cash was going to track him down and take him out before he did anything else to scare Willow.

Greg had been doing that for a long time. It was time someone turned the tables on him.

Chapter 12

She woke slowly, her eyes lifting to the birds singing outside her window. What window? Where was she? She sat up slowly, her mind still trying to grasp her surroundings.

An unusual sound had her turning, still wiping the sleep from her eyes. Cash was reclining in bed with glasses on, his laptop open, a mug of coffee in his hand. How mundane and absolutely perfect. He was such a contradiction. Rough biker, caring lover, sexy businessman.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked, his gaze assessing.

“Much better.” The night’s events came flooding back, dropping her mood slightly.

The intruder, the hot sex before and after, and the several other times in the night. Yet the intruder had sent her back into fear mode. Even in Cash’s arms, her subconscious had regressed to the bogeyman in her world. Greg.

Lord, she hated that man.

“I’m okay,” she murmured. “I didn’t sleep all that well.” That was an understatement.

“Not too surprising.” He clicked the laptop several times.

She was curious to know what he was looking at. It was the first time she’d seen him with electronics of any kind. She presumed he had a cell phone but she didn’t know that, not having seen one. And sitting nude but in business mode – well, he was too sexy to believe. Where the hell had he been all her life? She wished she’d met him years ago. Then again, he wouldn’t have looked at her sideways back then.

She slid to the edge of the bed and stood up, feeling tender and achy. But there was no pain. He’d been a smooth caring lover and eyeing him sideways, she wondered if she could coax him into another session. However, her bladder came first.

She padded to the bathroom and when she was done, she stared at the shower. She’d love one. She was a guest, so should she ask to use it? Her manners had been formulated a long time ago, but Greg had tweaked them to suit him. She figured Cash wouldn't mind if she used his shower. He'd shared everything with her. She opened the door and turned on the water. When it was warm, she stepped inside, almost moaning in joy. The heat on her sore muscles was delicious. After standing under the spray as long as she felt she could, she quickly washed then used his shampoo to clean her hair. She had no trouble using his toiletries in the short term, but she'd rather have her own.

She needed a few personal items soon and didn’t have a dime with which to purchase them. Nor did she have a bank account any longer. Greg had insisted that they share one and had made her close hers down. Her paycheck had gone to him and he’d doled out what he considered she needed – which hadn’t been much.

As she stood in the shower, the spray pouring down her face, she realized how different her life was now – and yet still the same. She had no money. No paycheck. No clothes, and she was still dependent on someone else for her needs.

And another man.

By no means was she tarring Cash with the same brush as Greg, but the fact remained – she needed supplies for her upcoming menstrual period, and she’d have to ask Cash for them.

A rather humiliating issue.

But apparently not for him.

Dressed and sitting at the kitchen table over coffee, she broached the concept of getting a job.

“I might be able to get a job at the corner store a couple of blocks over. Do you think it’s safe or is Greg going to come after me?”

Cash just stared at her then pushed his chair back and clasped his hands together on the table. “You know he will and that he’s just looking for such an opportunity. What brought this on?”

She flushed. She turned the coffee cup around in her hands. “The usual reasons. I need money.”

“Right.” He stood up and walked out of the room. He returned a few moments later and put a stack of bills in front of her. “Will this do for the moment?”

She stared at the pile in shock. “There has to be a couple of hundred dollars here,” she exclaimed. She'd never had that kind of money before. "I can't take that."

“If you need money, then you need money. I want to make sure you don’t feel like you have to come begging for a few pennies.”

She could feel heat climbing up her neck under his astute gaze.

“I was afraid of that.” He sighed and sat back, studying her. “Now that you have money, what do you want to do with it?”

“I need supplies,” she mumbled.

“Right. So do we need to go shopping right now?”

Her face bright red with embarrassment, she shook her head. “No, but likely soon.”

He nodded. “Do you want to stay here and I’ll go, or do you want to come with me?”

She froze. “I don’t want to be here alone.”

“Right. Then let’s head across the river. We’ll have lunch out, and it will be easier for you to get what you need without being afraid that Greg will see you.”

She flashed him a brilliant smile. He actually understood. “Thank you.”

He smiled. “I’m really easy to talk to, you know. You just have to try.”

"It’s hard. Many men,” and of course she meant Greg, “won’t even talk about a menstrual cycle, never mind buying supplies.”

"And there are many men who have no problem with normal everyday necessities like condoms and tampons,” he said dryly. “I’m not ‘many’ men. I'm me.”

She flushed. “Speaking of which…" and she let her voice trail off. Shit, another tough topic. “I was on the pill but… they are back at Greg’s house.”

His eyebrows rose. “That is definitely something we need to take care of. Are there other items from that house that you want back?”

“I didn’t have much.” She considered the few clothes she’d had and the odd toiletry that she loved, but there was nothing she couldn’t walk away from. “No. I don’t need or want anything from there."

Better to make a clean break and start again. The stack of money in front of her would more than replace what she'd lost.

“Then do you have a prescription you can get refilled or do we need to find a doctor?”

“I think I can get the prescription filled again.”

He nodded. “Then let’s get going. Sounds like we have several stops to make.”

“Right.” But she didn’t move. He sat back down again. “What else is bothering you?”

She gazed under her lashes at him, took a deep breath, and let the words pour. “It’s just we didn’t use any protection last night."

He looked at her directly. “You’re right, that leaves us open to an interesting situation. However, there is no point in discussing it further until we know for sure one way or the other. Just know that I wouldn’t turn you out on the street and regardless of what you’d want to do down the road, I take care of my own.”

She beamed at him. Of course he would. She stood up, her heart and soul resting easier.

He hadn’t made any promises in any direction, but he would stand by his word. She knew that deep inside. Somehow, after the shittiest of lives and only meeting the worst of men, she’d landed in a bed of roses with a man of integrity.

God, how had she gotten so lucky?

And would it hold?

Or would she wake up from this dream to find she was still Greg's prisoner?

She was such an interesting mix of bravado and innocence, and he was loving every minute of it. He had to keep her safe while she worked through this healing process. It was going to take years, perhaps her entire lifetime, to deal with all of it as people had the habit of burying bits and pieces deep into their psyche, and that was okay, too. She just needed to be strong enough to keep going, and he’d do everything he could to help her out.

At this point, he wanted her to stick around forever. He'd never met anyone who touched him like she did.

He drove through town and across the bridge to the neighboring town. A favorite luncheon spot was around the corner. A wonderful spicy curry house. He had no idea if she liked curry or not, but he hoped so. She’d been nervous upon first leaving the house, sitting slumped low down inside his truck cab.

Since leaving the town limits however, she’d relaxed and appeared to be enjoying the outing.

“It’s so beautiful.”

“The valley is that and so much more. The lake is one of the largest in Canada,” he murmured. The turnoff to the restaurant he wanted was just up ahead. He slowed his truck down and made the turn. He caught her watching him. “Something wrong?”

The briefest of smiles flashed before she murmured, “No, you just do everything as if you were born to it.”

Nice. “I wasn’t, but I do love to drive.”

“And the truck?”

“I’ve always owned a truck. It just seems like every time I trade one in, I end up with a bigger one.” He grinned. “They are very useful.”

She snorted. “Sure they are. They are also big toys.”

He laughed. “And the rest of that quote fits too – big toys for big boys.” He pulled the truck to the side of the restaurant and parked. “Come on. Lunchtime.”

“Great, I’m starved.”

He hoped so – the buffet here was really good. Hot and spicy and fresh. He walked around the truck and held out his hand. No hesitation, she placed her hand into his and they walked into the restaurant together.

She was doing so unbelievably well given where she’d been just a couple of days ago.

It made his heart ache. He knew there was a hell of a good chance she’d leave him well before he was ready for her to go. Hell, he wondered if he’d ever be ready for that.

In his heart, he knew he’d found the one woman he’d love to stay with for the rest of his life, but he knew she not only didn't have that same connection, she also hadn't had a chance to make a choice.

He had.

She'd been everything but free. And now that she was, he was still the main provider. So how free was she? He had money. He worked hard and invested well. Making money had been easy once he’d figured out how. Not that he let anyone know how well. He had plans, and moving to a job in his field was one of them. He'd taken a few days off work once he'd found her, but he'd be going back soon. He just had to make sure she was safe first.

He also needed to give her enough money that she could leave if that’s what she wanted to do, yet not so much that she’d decide to stay with him because she thought of him as a sugar daddy. That was the last thing he wanted.

She had to be able to make a choice. So far, he was looking like a pretty good deal.

Then again, she’d lived in hell up until now.