The Beast (The Bad Boys Series) (6 page)

I’d
been travelling for nearly half an hour and was starting to get tired when I heard the first bike roar up the road. It made me stop and duck behind a tree even though they wouldn’t have been able to spot me yet. When the engine roared away, I exhaled, before continuing.

As the bike returned, this time I
didn’t jump, instead I stood still, now close enough to be able to watch it as it sped past. Another bike followed it in quick succession and I used the noise of the motor to my advantage to cover the sound I made as I stepped closer to the road.

The bend was just ahead. I could see one biker on this side of the road. He was off his bike, similar in
color than the one I’d stolen from Nick earlier, but without an insignia painted on it. He leaned against it as he smoked a cigarette. The bright red tip glowed and lit up his face so I could see his deep sun etched leathery skin. A shudder went through my body. Hanging from his black studded belt was a knife sheathe on one side and a holster on the other. He did not attempt to conceal them.

I grabbed my own knife and wrapped my fingers around the handle as I snuck closer. While I knew I
wouldn’t win in a knife fight with this mountain, I would be faster and more agile.

Not that I wanted a fight.
I wanted stealth.

All I had to do was get behind him and make a break for it across the road without him turning around. I knew I could be quiet enough, but I
couldn’t guarantee that I’d make it all the way. It was a risky proposition, but it was the only one I had and there was no way I was going to return to Nick’s house, not after the argument we’d just had.

Who did he think he was anyway? Trying to tell me what I can and
can’t do, when he’d already seen that I could look after myself. It wasn’t like I’d put myself in harm’s way on purpose, but staying there wasn’t any safer than trying to escape. They’d find me there eventually if they kept looking. Sure, they might give up soon, but what if they didn’t. I couldn’t guarantee that Nick would be able to hold them off with a simple lock on the door. 

Hiding away might have worked for him in healing his broken heart, but hiding away with the risk of getting broken bones, or worse,
wasn’t something I was going to wait around to find out about.

I snuck closer to the biker with only one tree and a few feet in-between us.

He’d finished his cigarette and flicked it forward onto the black-top road where it fizzed then blinked out. He ground his teeth in a sickening scrape. That meant he must be bored and distracted, I could use that to my advantage.

I bent down and picked up a small rock that fit neatly into my palm and slowly stood up, inching around the tree. I threw the rock over his head so it landed near the tree line.

“What the fuck?” said the biker, as he jolted upright. He took a few steps in the direction the rock had bounced. “You in there, pretty girl? Come out, come out, wherever you are.” He moved closer to the trees, his attention focused into the darkness.

Once he stepped inside the tree line, I ducked around the one
I’d been hiding behind and took off, hoping he was too busy to turn around and see me dash across the road.

“Shit balls!” he said.

I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, he was looking in my direction. Before I made it to the other side, he’d drawn his gun and aimed it at me.

A loud bang reverberated through the night as I sped up, taking deep gulps of air so it would help me run faster. Intense pain ripped my shoulder as I
was knocked forward onto the edge of the road. I cried out at the burning that was spreading through my arm.
Damn it
. I rolled over as he advanced, my knife poised to defend myself. Not that I had a chance against his gun.

He kept the barrel pointed at me as he lifted his phone to his mouth.
“Got her. Got the bitch! Yeah. Come quick.” He slid the phone into his back pocket and smiled so wide I could see the gold glint on one of his back teeth fillings.

I whimpered as he came closer, his gun waving up and down my body as if trying to decide whether to shoot me again or trace my outline.

“How about we work something out?” I smiled at him through gritted teeth. “You could say I got away and then we could have some fun. Just you and me.”

He laughed, throwing his head back.

Someone else was running toward us. At first I thought it was another biker, but it was Nick. He held a long wooden branch and swung it hard, hitting the biker in the head and knocking him out cold. As the man fell to the ground, Nick helped me to my feet.

“You’re hurt,” he said.

“Just a scratch.” I winced as he touched my arm.

“Come on. I’ll carry you.”

“Over my dead body.”

“That might be the case if you lose too much blood.”

“I’m fine,” I said. Even though I had no idea what the damage was, it didn’t feel too bad.

He placed his arm around my waist and led me back into the cover of the trees. “They won’t know which way you went. They might think you escaped and give up.”

I doubted it.

We hurried as much as we could. The burning pain in my shoulder was now throbbing, made worse with each footstep on the ground. Limping helped some and I leaned onto Nick with my good side, my other hand clenched over my shoulder to try
to stem the bleeding.

I could wiggle my fingers - that meant there
wasn’t too much damage. I couldn’t tell if the bullet was still lodged inside me or not. I’d have to get it out if it was, otherwise the infection would be worse than the blood loss.

“Wait,” I said. I leaned against a tree to catch my breath. Nick attempted to pick me up but I pushed him away. “I just need a minute to catch my breath.”

He ignored me and scooped me up. I didn’t have the strength to struggle. I continued to hold my shoulder as he carried me the rest of the way back to his house in his arms.

Nick carried me up the stairs to his bedroom and sat me down at the edge of his bed. I stood up immediately, not wanting to bleed over his soft blankets. I held my arm close to my body, trying to stop the blood from leaking onto the carpet as well. The last thing I wanted was for his room to look like a crime scene. Especially with my
blood that could be traced back to me with one DNA test. This was not good.

I looked up and saw that
he’d removed the newspaper clippings from the notice board above his desk. Not even the photo of his ex remained. They weren’t in the bin either.

He opened the bathroom door to reveal a small but functional room. Above the sink on the opposite wall was a mirrored bathroom
cabinet that he opened. Aftershave, a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a first aid kit in a bright red metal box. He grabbed the medical kit, some towels, and bought them over to me.

He laid all but two of the towels on the floor to catch any blood drips as I carefully began to peel off the leather jacket, trying not to move my arm too much because each time I did so it stung like hell. He wheeled his desk chair over to me, making me sit down,
and then proceeded to help me remove the jacket.

As soon as the jacket was off me, the blood began to run down my arm soaking my black t-shirt and jeans.
Damn it
. I didn’t have another spare set of clothes. A few drops fell on the towels on the floor.

“I’ll need to wipe away the blood so I can see the damage,” he said.

“I can do it, it’s my arm.” I twisted it away from his fingers and wiped away the blood myself with one of his towels so I could see the wound. I could only partially see the damage as most of it was at the back of my shoulder. “I need a mirror.” I stood up, wanting to go into the bathroom. The room where we should be right now instead of in his bedroom. Bathrooms were much easier to clean.

“No, you need to sit down.” Nick pushed me gently back onto the chair and bought out a small pair of scissors. The snip was sharp as he cut the fabric of my t-shirt away from my skin so he could attend the wound easier. “Just let me do it.” There goes my t-shirt.

I grunted and leaned forward so he could have better light to see what he was doing. He pressed on my shoulder and a sharp pain screamed through me. I jumped up. “What the hell?”

“Sit back down. I had to check there was no bullet. There
isn’t. It’s clean.” He picked up a bottle of antiseptic and began to dab it over the wound. “You were lucky it wasn’t lower.”

“I wouldn’t call getting shot, lucky.”

“You know what I meant.”

I winced as the antiseptic stung worse than
being shot. “Does it need to be sewn up?”

“No, you’ll be good with a strong adhesive bandage.
It’s just the top layers of skin. A graze, like you said.” It stung more than any graze I’d ever had, but at least it wasn’t worse. That was one thing in my favor.

I relaxed and let him continue to attend to my shoulder wondering what to do next. His touch was gentle and soft, unlike the roughness of his lips earlier. I wondered
who the true Nick was - the gruff beast that took the pleasure he wanted, or this softer man who acted if he genuinely cared about me. I winced again, but not from the pain which was dulling, instead from thinking about Nick in a way I shouldn’t. I already had enough to worry about. “They’ll be doubling their efforts. Searching further in now that they know I’m here.”

“They might not.”

“Come on, you know they will. Neither of us is safe here.”

“We have no choice but to stay here. I can defend us here, I can’t out there.”

“This isn’t your fight.”

“What do you want me to do, Belle? Let them have you?” He picked up a small white vial. “This is numbing
lotion; it’ll dull the pain until you almost won’t feel it. He applied it generously. It was cool to the touch and tingled, but there was immediate relief. He blew on the lotion, warming it with his breath.

I closed my eyes and tried to shut the sensations out. When I opened
them, he had unraveled a white bandage ready to wrap around my shoulder. I needed to focus. “What do you care, anyway? You wanted me gone. I need to get back to Owen. He’s expecting me, he needs me.”

“I’m not going to let you get killed.”

“Let me? You’re not going to
let
me?”

He
tied off the bandage and snipped the end with the scissors. “That’s right. I will not let any of those men harm you. Not if I can stop it.”

“Oh right, so you’re my hero
savior now are you? Because I don’t need anyone to save…” But before I could finish my sentence, Nick kissed me. It wasn’t the same as before, this time his lips were softer, yet more urgent. I could feel my body responding immediately, my pulse quickening.

He lifted my blood soaked t-shirt over my head.

This time, I didn’t stop him.

This was the worst possible time to have sex.
I’d been shot and was still in pain, even though the numbing lotion was working its magic and the pain had almost disappeared. A biker gang was hot in pursuit with revenge on their minds, and yet, I could think of nothing else I wanted to do right at this moment than lose myself in Nicks embrace. His touch was making me forget all about the bad stuff.

He lifted me up and I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. I pulled him closer to me so I could feel his lips press harder against mine. We walked backwards to his bed and almost fell onto his smooth velvet blanket. I could barely feel my shoulder now and
wasn’t sure if it was the lotion or my lust.

He was on top of me, his hands exploring my body as they slid over my bare chest, his mouth still on mine.
I’d never kissed someone before that had made me as hot as I was right now. Maybe I was so messed up that they only time I could truly lose myself was in impossible situations. A warm shiver ran up my spine as his hand grazed the side of my hip.

Soft kisses planted on my lips, then my chin, settling on my neck just below my earlobe. I moaned and grabbed his hair, tangling my fingers in it, as his tongue swirled in tiny circles.

His fingers were circling my breasts now, his palm gently gliding over my hardening nipples. God, I wanted him to taste them, suck on them, bite them gently. Or perhaps not so gently. I didn’t care anymore.

His voice
was husky and deep as he whispered my name against my skin. His warm breath sending my core into a throbbing, aching mess. I gripped his hair harder, arching my back closer to his body. I needed to feel his flesh against mine. Moving my hands lower, feverishly clawing at his clothing, I ripped the shirt he was wearing.

The tear caused us both to startle and he pulled away as he looked at me. His dark blue eyes piercing mine with intensity. Then he continued ripping his own shirt away until it was a ragged mess. My hands flew to his chest, gliding over the muscles, the small tuft of hair.