Sin & Savage (16 page)

Tears continued to flow down her cheeks and for the life of her, she couldn’t make them stop. A wave of hot embarrassment at having him see her like this swept through her again. She bit her lip, trying to control the next sob threatening to spill out.

“Don’t cry, please, Tori, please! I’ll find her for you, I promise. Just don’t cry anymore, okay?”

She wiped her tears again with her trembling fingers and shook her head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’m not usually like this and I’m making such a fool of myself,” she half cried and half laughed. “It’s silly, really.”

Savage’s strong arms wrapped around her back and drew her against him. His unzipped black leather jacket parted, as did his open vest, and she found her wet cheek brushing his chest, the soft cotton of his white t-shirt soaking up her hot tears.

“Don’t ever apologize for being honest with me, no matter what, understand?” he grated roughly.

Tori nodded yes against him, the only movement she had enough strength to do right now.

“I’ll move heaven and hell to find her for you, I
swear
I will,” he continued harshly, as if making the promise to the heavens as well as to her. His arms tightened around her even more. “Do you believe me?” He muffled the question into her hair.

“Yes,” she whispered, snuggling deeper into him.

He relaxed, as if she had given him the right answer. But she didn’t stop to examine why that answer mattered so much to him because all she could think about right now was how safe she felt in his arms, like he could make all the bad go away and all she had to do was just trust him.

Soothed by the steady beating of his heart drumming beneath her cheek, her tears subsided. The scent of his leather jacket mingled with his clean, fresh soap smell, and the dizzying, erotic combination enveloped her senses, making her feel protected and as crazy as it sounded—cherished too. She could have gladly stayed in his strong, tattooed arms forever.

His hands caressed her back with unexpected gentleness and the gesture was her undoing, as she subconsciously surrendered her body and all her worries to him. She threaded her own trembling hands underneath his jacket and clung to him like a lifeline. He was so strong, and his sheer physical power began to seep into her too, giving her the support she needed right now.

She lifted her head, her tear-stained eyes meeting his intense, burning ones. “Thank you, Matthew Monroe,” she whispered.

Savage gazed down at her sweet, upturned face and then closed his eyes for a brief second, savoring the exquisite feel of her against his body. He reopened them and zeroed in on her rosy, pink lips, made even fuller by her crying jag. Blood pounded in his veins, as his throbbing need for her spiraled out of control.

“Ah shit, Tori! I know I’m no-good trash and I am trying to be good right now, but when you look at me like that, there’s only so much a man can take.” His hungry lips suddenly sought hers, brushing against them in a gentle, barely-there, back and forth motion.

She tensed in his arms, her lips resisting and stiffening beneath his, but he couldn’t stop himself. His desperate lips continued to move against hers, pleading in their own language, to
please please
respond to him. But they didn’t, remaining taut and rigid.

Who could blame her, really? After all, she was right—this was slumming on her part because she deserved so much more than a worthless piece-of-shit like him; but damn it—he just couldn’t help himself. He just had to feel her soft lips beneath his again, joining his flesh to hers in some way, even if it was with only a little kiss.

But there was nothing little about it because the second his lips had touched hers, he’d known that this was right and true and good. Together, they were something grander than each of them could ever be separately. But he also knew that she didn’t want any of this and because of that, he pulled his mouth off of hers. He stared down at her, trying to gauge what she was thinking, but her own eyes were frozen and giving nothing away.

“Fight for me, Tori—please,” he whispered in a tortured, strained voice, begging her to not give up on him, even if he was the scum of the earth.

Suddenly, a quiet strength flowed into her eyes and her body relaxed against him. A smile flitted across her full lips and her hands travelled from his back, languorously across his chest, and up and around his neck. Leaning into him, she brought her own lips up to land softly on his firm ones, capturing his mouth with a leisurely back and forth motion.

His own lips tingled beneath her velvet, unhurried ones and he responded gently at first, not wanting to scare her away with the fierce need for her that was already coursing through his body. Her delicate fingers threaded through his hair, and then brought his head down, planting her lips more firmly onto his.

Her mouth caressed his, slowly at first and then a little faster and a little harder, encouraging him to reciprocate. Quick as a flash, his own lips responded in kind, lapping up the throbbing warmth being created between them. Groaning, he finally let himself forget who he was and who she was. All that mattered was the sweet tenderness rocketing through his damaged soul.

Suddenly, the kiss morphed from gentle to raw at the speed of light. The spark that had ignited between them fanned higher, engulfing them both in a fiery flame, as their mouths rubbed and teased and pulled and sucked—faster and faster and harder and harder, consuming them both in a sensual heat that was growing hotter and hotter with each second.

Savage’s hands ran up her spine and then came around her body to her breasts. Round and firm, they strained against the thin cotton material of her shirt. He ached to touch her bare skin, and in one swift, desperate move, his hand dipped inside, shamelessly feeling his way up to her right breast concealed by her silky bra cup. His warm palm cupped it and her breath caught in her throat. A sense of regret shot through him. Maybe he had gone too far and pushed too fast? But he was relieved when, instead of shoving him away, she tightened her hold and her hot tongue dipped into his mouth, encouraging him on. God—she took his breath away. His heart pounded harder in his chest, making him dizzy with need.

A soft moan escaped from between her lips. The sound of it was his complete undoing and he surrendered his body, soul, and spirit to her—something he’d never done with anyone before in his life. She had become the only light of hope for him, shining brightly inside his cold, black heart, and his thirst for her was unquenchable.

Savage pulled his lips a fraction off of hers. “I want you, Tori. Tell me you want me too. I have to hear you say it,” he rasped, his voice husky and uneven, his breathing ragged and quick, like a man who’d been running for his life forever.

Tori’s heavy breathing matched his, as she tried to get her bearings. Her brain had stopped working a long time ago—the second his lips took hers, in fact. No, she couldn’t deny the powerful chemistry between them any longer. She wanted him so badly and wanted everything his kiss was promising her. He was her shelter and her hope and her heart—even if he was a man with no future, her cynical inner voice suddenly added. But that fact wasn’t stopping her. It should have—but it wasn’t going to.

“I want you too, Matt,” she whispered.

On hearing his name, Savage let out a low groan before grasping her right hand and leading her out of the bathroom and into one of the bedrooms. In one swift motion, she found herself back in his arms, his hands splaying against her ass and pressing her hips forward, making her feel his rock hard erection straining against his tight jeans.

His hungry mouth swooped down, capturing her full lips again in a powerful, all-consuming kiss that thundered through her veins and made her body quiver. Her knees trembled with anticipation when he would be inside her and hot blood pounded in her brain at the thought of it all, shocking her senseless that it could be like this between them.

All of a sudden, a muffled ringing tone shrilled between their sandwiched bodies. What the hell was that, her befuddled brain asked, a second before she felt Savage drag his lips off of hers?

“Shit!” he rasped. He released his hold on her and moved away. He reached into his jacket’s inner pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “Savage.” His voice turned all-business again.

Tori had felt the coolness of the air in the room whooshing against her overheated body the second he released her. It felt like a sharp, stinging slap across her face, bringing her to her senses. Dumbfounded that he could have let her go just to take a stupid call, she stared in disbelief as he turned his back on her.

“Yeah, okay,” he said into the smart phone. “Where? Hang on.”

He glanced around the bedroom before his eyes lit on a pad of paper and pencil on one of the nightstands. He moved to it and sat on the edge of the bed to scribble on the pad. Ripping the paper off, he folded it and stuffed it into the same inner pocket that had housed his phone.

“Okay, later.” He shut his phone off. It was then that his eyes turned back to Tori. “I’m sorry, Tori, but I have to go out for a while.”

Tori blinked in confusion at the transformation in him. What in the world had happened to the sweet, caring, hot-for-her Matthew Monroe, the one who’d been about to make sweet, passionate love to her? Well, he had disappeared apparently, because the man standing in front of her was the cold, ruthless, Son of Perdition, outlaw biker named Savage Monroe.

“Now? You have to go—now?”

“Yeah, sorry, baby. I’ll be back soon—in a couple of hours.” He moved out of the bedroom.

What the hell,
she thought, before following him out the same way.

In the living room area, she saw that he had already moved to the back door and was about to leave.

“Wait! Where are you going?”

“It’s just business, Tori, that’s all. Listen, I want you to wait for me here. Lock all the doors when I leave. I’ll only be a couple of hours. You’ll be safe here. I’m sure of it.”

A thought popped into Tori’s mind and a surge of anger lit into her. “Just a cotton pickin’ minute, mister! That call you got? That was about Joe Sorelli and my Nana, wasn’t it? You know where they are!”

His brows creased. “No, it has nothing to do with them.”

“I think it does. I’m coming with you.”

“Tori, no! This has nothing to do with your grandmother. I told you already, it’s just business—my business.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “Fuck!” he mouthed, half to himself, as if cursing the situation he was in, before his cold eyes swiveled back to her face. “Look, sweetheart, I won’t be long. Just lock the doors and wait for me.”

Then he was gone, just like that.

As the deathly silence of the cabin seeped into her bones, Tori’s stunned gaze roamed around the empty living room. Seconds later, his Harley roared to life and he drove away down the drive, the sound of the bike’s engine getting fainter and fainter until she couldn’t hear anything anymore.

“What the hell just happened here?” Tori shouted to the heavens, shocked at the way he had so casually dismissed her, as if she was just a toy he wanted to amuse himself with for a while in between his precious business deals, none of which were legal and on the up and up—she was sure of that!

A hot wave of sheer humiliation washed over her and Tori suddenly felt like the biggest slut on the planet. Oh my God, she had been about to have sex with him—with that bastard—something that went against all of her morals and everything she believed in. What had she been thinking? Obviously, she hadn’t because if she had been, none of this would have happened tonight. She had let him into her heart, in a moment of weakness but thank heavens for that stupid phone call he’d gotten. Because it had put a stop to her making the biggest mistake of her young life so far and that included her ill-fated marriage to Tod.

Tori frowned as her mind replayed his half of that telephone conversation. You know what? That call did have something to do with Sorelli and her Nana, it did! It had probably been from one of his many criminal ‘business associates’ that he had peppered around the Las Vegas area, informing him where the couple was hiding out at.

Her temper flared all over again. The creep had lied to her! He knew where her Nana was, she was sure of it! But how was she going to find out where he went? He was long gone so following him with her car was out of the question. What was she going to do?

The idea came to her, fully formed and in a flash, like a bolt of lightning from on high. Just like in the movies, she would take the pencil he’d used and shade in the top sheet of paper on the pad he’d scribbled his information on. Maybe the indentation he’d made would clearly be visible, exposing whatever he had written down? It was worth a shot, at least.

Purposefully marching back to the bedroom, she plopped on the edge of the bed, and reached for the pad. With the side of the pencil, she began shading the blank top sheet. Sure enough, his strong, masculine penmanship appeared as if by magic.

And there it was…868 Gable St.

That’s where the bastard had gone!

That’s where Sorelli and her crazy Nana were hiding out at!

And that’s where she was going too!

Chapter 36

Friday – 11:12 p.m.

868 Gable Street, Las Vegas

The murky, evening
sky blanketed the bleak rundown street on the outskirts of Las Vegas, like a demon’s black cape. Tori had driven about twenty minutes on the highway before reaching this place, after having Googled the directions on her smart phone.

As she passed the derelict bungalow for a second time, she eased her foot on the gas, slowing her rental car to a crawl. Her eyes darted to the house once more, taking in the six motorcycles parked in a row, off to the side of the broken concrete patio stones leading up to the front door. A solitary brown van was parked in the driveway too, its windows blacked out, concealing whatever was locked inside.

All shades had been drawn over the windows. Tori sensed that whatever was going on inside, was dark and sinister. After all, what did the Bible say: Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed? How true was that!

Driving past the house, she sped up again until she was about a block away. Pulling over, she parked beside the curb and got out, locking her car doors securely.

A chill went down Tori’s spine. No—this didn’t look like a very safe neighborhood, and yes—she did have a really bad feeling about this. In fact, her sixth sense was screaming at her to get into her rental and drive like the wind back to the hotel. But no, she couldn’t do that. What if her Nana was in that house? She couldn’t just drive away and leave her there!

Her sharp, assessing eyes darted around the street again, studying the row of low-income bungalows peppered along the road. Okay, this was going to be her plan of attack, she reasoned…she would leave her car here and walk up the block to the bungalow, being as unobtrusive as possible. Then, concealed by the darkness of night, she would have a quick look around the property to see what she could uncover.

But having spotted those bikes, she was having her doubts that this location had anything to do with Sorelli and her grandmother. But would she stake Nana’s life on that assumption? Hell no! After all, this was definitely the address Savage had written back at the cabin and having seen those Harleys outside, she was positive that he was in there—or at least, had something to do with whatever shady dealings were going on in there.

Looping her purse diagonally across her body so that her hands were free in case she had to run away, she walked back towards the Gable Street home. The bitter, desert wind cut through the thin material of her yellow sweater and another shiver went down her spine. But had that been due to the chilly weather or was it a foreboding, warning her of danger to come?

Near the bungalow, she glanced around the desolate street one more time but everything was silent and still—with not a soul to be seen anywhere.

Stepping onto the property, she took care to stay concealed by the shadows of the night, away from the glare of the streetlamps that flooded the road with light. Approaching the parked motorcycles, she checked for Savage’s bike, but it wasn’t there.

As silent as a black cat at midnight, Tori crept to the side of the bungalow, her white sneakers barely making a sound on the hard packed, desert dirt. Her heart hammered with fear, as her nerves stretched to their limit. She had no idea who was in that house or what the hell was going on, but if bikers were involved, it couldn’t be good. She definitely didn’t want to get caught for trespassing by any of them either, but she just had to somehow find out if her Nana was in there.

Tori skulked to the base of a window. Tentatively popping her head up, she peeked through the corner where the glass pane met the pulled-down shade, but all she could see was a sliver of bodies moving around inside.

Scrunching back down, she crept along the side of the brick walls until she reached the backyard. Straightening, she peered into the darkness, her eyes becoming accustomed to the blackness.

Suddenly, she recognized Savage’s Harley near a dark alley that led to who knew where. Three other bikes were stationed nearby too.

Okay—she was positive now that he was in the bungalow. But were Nana and Sorelli in there too? If they were, what were they doing in a house full of bikers? It didn’t make sense. Maybe this whole thing really had been about business—illegal, criminal, biker business—for Savage Monroe, just like he’d told her back at the cabin? But could she be 100% sure about that? No, she couldn’t, not until she’d somehow looked inside the place.

Crouching back down, she crept along the rear of the home to one of the windows facing the backyard. Slowly straightening up, she peeked in but again, everything was obscured with the shade.

She could, however, hear several gruff, male voices and sensed movement inside, as if people were walking around the place. Closing one eye, she focused through a small opening the window shade had missed. She could just make out the shape of a couple of men wearing black leather jackets, talking to each other. But she couldn’t make out a word of what they were saying.

Suddenly, something cold and metallic was shoved roughly against her temple. “Bitch, don’t move!” a low, coarse, male voice growled in her ear, as the object was pressed deeper against her skull.

Tori’s heart stopped beating.

And her breathing froze.

For the second time that night, a loaded gun was being aimed at her head only this time it wasn’t Savage Monroe who was at the other end of the barrel.