He looked down at me. “I’ll give you a lift up. You’re gonna have to pull yourself over. Drop down to the other side. Soft knees when you land. Fall to your side immediately and roll outta the way.”
He didn’t say, “Yeah?” to ask if I got it, he just linked his hands and bent so I was guessing time was of the essence.
Therefore, I didn’t hesitate. I put my hands to his shoulders and my foot in his hands. I had misgivings about this mostly because I had limited upper body strength so I had the feeling there was no way I was going to be able to pull myself over that tall fence.
I didn’t have to worry. Hawk didn’t give me a lift up. He gave me a lift up. Well past his waist, straight to his shoulders, boosting me with such strength and speed, he nearly hurled me over the wall. I was on my belly on the wall before I knew it. I swung my legs around and dropped down, soft knees, fell to my side and rolled.
Wow. Easy.
Not two seconds later, Aunt Bette followed me doing the same thing except hers was practiced, thus cooler like it wasn’t the first time she did it. Or the second.
I was thinking I now had proof Aunt Bette had secret ways when she grabbed my hand and pulled me aside as Hawk followed her. Then he moved and we moved with him. The fence ran along the side of a sleepy road, sleepy as in, no traffic. There was a black SUV some ways away from where we jumped over the fence. Hawk bleeped the locks. I went to the passenger side back, Aunt Bette to the front passenger seat.
“Down, no one sees you,” Hawk ordered.
“Copy that but do you have a secure phone? I need to call my husband,” Aunt Bette replied.
“Glove compartment,” Hawk answered, turned and through the gathering darkness another commando showed, Hispanic, shorter and leaner than Hawk. He didn’t speak. Hawk nodded to him, turned and nodded to Aunt Bette, his eyes sliced through me and then he and the other commando moved away.
I scrambled into the SUV. So did Aunt Bette. I got low. So did Aunt Bette. I heard her searching the glove box, I heard beeping noises then I heard her talking to Uncle Marsh.
But all I thought about was Lanie. I was safe now. I was breathing. I was unhurt. The same with Aunt Bette. I just hoped with all I had that when our rescuers returned with Lanie, they’d do it in one piece and she’d be in the same condition. Then I was going to hunt down Elliott my own damned self and wring his neck.
“Tyra?” Aunt Bette called when she beeped off the phone.
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“It’s gonna be okay,” she whispered back.
I bit my lip.
Then I said, “I’m sorry, Aunt Bette.”
“You didn’t kidnap me and tie me to a chair.”
This was true.
We fell silent. Several minutes later, the door opposite me opened and Hawk deposited Lanie in the seat. I twisted and looked up at her, automatically reaching out to grab her hand.
“You okay?” I asked.
“No,” her voice trembled.
Oh God.
“Did they hurt you?” I asked.
“No,” her voice trembled more.
“Honey –” I started but Hawk was folding in the driver’s seat and he interrupted me.
“Debrief later,” he ordered, started up the car and we took off.
I wanted to ask who he was, how he knew we were there and why he’d rescued us but he scared me a little bit seeing as he obviously wasn’t the police and entered an uncertain situation somewhat heavily armed. Not to mention, he could scale a twelve foot wall without anyone giving him a leg up.
Since I figured Aunt Bette knew what she was doing, and she also kept her silence, I followed suit and held Lanie’s hand squeezing tight. She didn’t squeeze tight back and I heard a hitch in her breath so I knew she was crying.
I bit my lip again.
That was when I heard it, the familiar roar of Harleys. I turned and looked out the back window as I heard Hawk mutter, “What the fuck?”
I was right, Harleys and a lot of them. I saw Tack up front and it took everything I had not to cry out with joy or burst into relieved tears.
He’d been coming for me. Maybe he was the perfect man.
“One of you belong to Chaos?” Hawk asked.
“Um… I think that would be me,” I answered.
Aunt Bette twisted her neck and looked at me through the two front seats.
From her look, I was seeing that during our Nordstrom’s talk I probably should have told her Tack was the president of a motorcycle club. However, I didn’t expect us all to be kidnapped and then have Tack, and what looked like the entire club, come to my rescue (after an unknown commando rescued us, that was).
I looked out the windows and saw the Harleys overtaking the SUV, three bikes closing in at the front, two positioning on each side of the SUV, more at the back. I saw brake lights on the Harleys that held Tack, Brick and Dog in front of us, all of them coming on simultaneously as if they had biker brainwave synchronicity.
“Fuck,” Hawk muttered on an annoyed growl, he slowed and moved to the narrow shoulder. He didn’t try to evade them. He just stopped, commanded, “Don’t move,” into the cab and knifed out.
I watched as he met Tack in front of the SUV. There was a boot to boot, nose to nose conversation that didn’t look happy. Then Tack’s head jerked to the SUV, Hawk’s head turned and he looked our way. Then he lifted his chin and Tack instantly moved away from him, prowling to my side.
I had my hand on the door handle but before I could open it, it was opened for me. Then I found myself yanked out to my feet, the door was slammed and I was shoved back against it.
I lifted my eyes to his face, about to throw my arms around his shoulders and maybe dissolve into tears or perhaps declare that I was falling in love with him again because he turned my world to color and he’d been coming for me when his hand weirdly lifted to wrap around the front of my throat like he was preparing to strangle me and all movement and declarations of love died at this aggressive gesture.
“They touch you?” he barked, his tone sharp with what I belatedly saw in his face.
Rage.
I shook my head fighting the urge to shrink back. “No, not really, they… they just… just, hooded me, made me go unconscious, bound me and put me in a room. They did something to Lanie though.”
With a quickness that stunned me, he let me go, jerked his head at Dog who was standing beside him and then I watched him round the back of the SUV. Dog had hold of me by my upper arm and was dragging me toward his bike but I had my head turned and I watched Tack open Lanie’s door and yank her out.
Uh… what?
Dog tugged me to a stop by his bike and threw a leg over it.
“Climb on,” he ordered.
I kept staring at Tack who was now dragging Lanie to his bike.
Why was he dragging Lanie to his bike? Brick or Dog could take care of Lanie. Tack was supposed to take care of me. Wasn’t he? I mean, just that morning he’d declared me his woman. Didn’t he?
“Cherry, climb on,” Dog repeated but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Tack who was already on his bike, and Lanie, who was climbing on behind him.
“Cherry…”
I looked back at the SUV in time to see Hawk driving away with Aunt Bette who was giving me a sharp look incongruously mixed with a finger wave.
“Hey,” I whispered, feeling the need to say something like “thanks” to Hawk or “where the hell are you taking my aunt” but not able to get anything more out and not knowing what the hell was happening.
“Cherry, get your ass on my bike,” Dog demanded, my head swung back just in time to see Tack, with Lanie on his bike, arms tight around his middle, cheek to his shoulder, take off on a roar.
Bile filled my throat.
“Cherry –”
My eyes sliced to Dog.
“Right,” I murmured then I climbed on the back of Dog’s bike.
Chapter Fifteen
Three Hours
&nbs
p; I woke when I felt hands turning me and my first thought was panic. Not exactly panic, as such. Extreme panic.
Therefore, I pulled violently free from the hands and scooted swiftly across the bed. Too swiftly and too panicked. I landed on my ass on the floor, cracking my head against the nightstand.
I didn’t react to either of these things. I heard movement on the bed so I twisted and scuttled backwards on hands and feet like a crab except not sideways. I hit wall and pushed up as the dim light coming from street lamps filled the room and I saw a big, shadowed man heading my way.
I raised my hand to ward him off, his chest hit it, hands spanning my hips and I heard, “Baby, you’re safe. It’s me.”
Tack. It was Tack. Not a bad guy there to hood me and hurt me but Tack.
I relaxed and the panic slid out of me.
Earlier, Dog had taken me to the Chaos Compound, dragged me with a hand on my upper arm to Tack’s room and he’d locked me in. Not a word of explanation. Not a, “Have you eaten?” Not a, “Don’t worry about your beloved aunt and best friend, all is well.” He just walked out, locked me in and I heard his booted feet walk away.
Now it was the dead of night and Tack was back from whatever he did with Lanie. Not me. Lanie.
Reminded of this, my hand stopped going slack at the knowledge that nothing else terrifying was happening to me, it strengthened and tried to push.
Tack wasn’t in the mood to be pushed away. I knew this because he leaned into my hand and my elbow buckled at the pressure just as the pads of his fingers bit into my flesh.
“Tack –” I started to say, what, I did not know, but he cut me off.
“Three hours,” he growled.
These words were so strange, said in a growl so low it was almost guttural, and his tone had changed so significantly from his previous quiet words, I stopped putting pressure on my hand and blinked at him in the shadows.
“Pardon?”
My arm got crushed between our bodies when his invaded my space and his hands slid up my hips, into my shirt, pulling it up, skin to skin.
“Three hours,” he repeated, his voice still that fierce, guttural rumble that kind of scared me and I didn’t know why. It was like the tone communicated that he was trying to control something, some emotion, and he was failing.
“Three hours?” I asked.
His shadowy face got close to mine. “Yeah, Red. Three. Fuckin’. Hours.”
Then his hands flew up, taking my top with it with such force I had no choice but to lift my arms. It was gone for nary a second when his fingers gripped me at the waist, I was up, twisted and he was walking, taking me with him. Then as quickly as I was up, I was down on my back in Tack’s bed and he was on top of me.
All this happened and I didn’t even have a chance to take a breath.
My hands went to his shoulders. “Tack –”
“Three hours.”
“Why are you saying –?”
I didn’t finish my question, his mouth crushed down on mine and there was no gentle coaxing to open for his tongue. It spiked out, forcing itself between my lips and then it was in my mouth. His kisses could be hungry, they could be demanding but he’d never kissed me like this. No one had ever kissed me like this. I didn’t even know you could kiss like this. It drained me dry at the same time it filled me up. Filled me full of what, I wasn’t sure except all of it was good.
Then his fingers were in my bra, pulling the cup down, they curved around the bottom of my breast and lifted it. His mouth released mine and he twisted his torso down and sucked my nipple into his mouth, hard.
“Oh God,” I moaned as the heady sensations tore through me, my hands lifted, fingers sifting into his hair to hold him to me.
His other hand went to my shorts, he unbuckled my belt, unbuttoned the top button and pulled the zip down maybe half an inch before his hand was in, sliding through the instant wetness his mouth at my nipple created. His middle finger slid through, I gasped and then stopped breathing when it filled me.
Then it started moving as Tack released my nipple and demanded, “Get your other tit ready for me.”
I didn’t hesitate. He sucked my nipple back into his mouth, more wetness surged between my legs and my hand left his head, my fingers went to the other cup of my bra and pulled it down. Then my hand curved around the underside and his head shifted, his finger between my legs still moving, he sucked my other nipple sharply into his mouth as his finger and thumb rolled the one his mouth left behind.
God. God. Amazing.
My hips bucked and my back arched. Then my hips moved with his hand, fast, hard, demanding.
His mouth left my nipple and came to mine.
“Greedy,” he growled, fingers at my nipple and between my legs still working.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“You want more?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now.”
“What do you want, Tyra?”
My arms moved around his shoulders, my hips still moving with his hand. “Your cock, Tack, I want your cock,” I breathed against his lips.
His hands left me instantly then the zipper on my shorts zipped down. Tack tore them off, taking my panties with them.
He got on his knees between my legs and I watched him tug off his tee and toss it aside as I lifted up, my hands moving directly to his jeans. I opened them and tugged them down his hips, my eyes glued through the shadows to the beauty of him.
“Lie back, spread wide for me, baby,” he ordered, my head tipped back and my mouth went dry with want.
Then I did as I was told, lying back and spreading my legs wide and at first, Tack didn’t move. He just kneeled between my legs and I felt his eyes on me. Then he leaned in, put a hand in the bed beside me, arm straight. He lifted the other hand and trailed his fingers from my throat, down my chest, between my breasts, down my ribs, belly, down, sliding between my legs.
“Tack,” I whispered, my voice urgent, my hips lifting to deepen his touch.
His finger slid inside and a moan slid out of my throat.
“Greedy cunt,” he muttered and his thumb hit me right where I needed it, my body jolted and my neck arched. “My girl’s got a greedy cunt.”
I didn’t respond. His thumb was moving. It felt good, unbelievably good, fantastic. So good, I was close to climax.
“Look at me, Red.”
I dipped my chin, tried to focus on him as his thumb went away but the tip of his cock slid inside.
“Yes,” I breathed, grinding down and taking him inside.
The minute I did, his body covered mine and he started moving, fast, hard, rough and deep.
“Yes, baby,” I breathed in his ear, “fuck me.”
My hips moved with his thrusts, my knees lifting, thighs tucking tight to his sides, my hands slid down his back so my fingers could dig into his hard ass.
God, he felt good. So good. And he was good at it. Great. Unbelievable. No one better. No one.
I felt his teeth nip the skin of my neck and it arched as that and his driving cock took me, already primed, crashing over the edge.
One of my hands released his ass and lifted, grasping his hair as I cried out. I lifted my hips, wrapping my legs around his back. I held on as he rode me through my orgasm, harder, harder, my body jolting, my limbs tightening, the beautiful pressure released only to build again instantly.
“You’re done and your pussy wants more,” he growled in my ear, his hands spanning my hips, yanking me up to meet his deepening thrusts.
“Yes…,” I gasped through his grunts as I started coming again, the beauty of it rolling over me, “Yes.”
My neck arched and my heels dug in his back as I lifted my hips further and he drove harder.
I was coming down, holding him tight, Tack thrusting deep, grunting with the effort, my tongue at the skin of his neck when his rhythm changed, slowed, but all the power of him shifted to his hips as he pounded hard and his grunts turned
to groans.
Then he stopped, buried deep inside me, and gave me his weight. I liked his weight, his warmth, his smell, his body connected to mine and I held on tighter.
In my life, I’d had five lovers and I had chosen them all carefully. I thought all were close enough to perfect before I took them to my bed. And none of them gave me what Tack gave me. Not even close.
He shifted some of his weight to a forearm in the bed as his other hand drifted up the skin of my side and with his lips at my ear he whispered, “Three hours.”
My limbs convulsed and I whispered back, “Why do you keep saying that?”
He lifted his head and I felt his eyes on my face through the darkness. “That’s how long they had you.”
I forgot how to breathe.
Tack did not. He spoke.
“They’re gonna bleed.”
It was a vow.
My body went as still as my lungs.
He went on. “Rivers of blood.”
That was a vow too.
Oh. My. God.
“Tack –” I forced out.
His body shifted slightly to the side and his hand curled around my throat like it did outside Hawk’s SUV. His fingers flexed in but the touch was light.
His tone was not.
“They took you,” he stated.
“Yes, but –”
He interrupted me. “They hooded you.”
“I know, but listen –”
“They touched you.”
“Well, only to –”
“They bound you.”
“Uh …”
“They scared you.”
“This is true, but –”
“No,” he ground out, his fingers flexing deeper into my throat, no pressure, no pain, his word final, his touch communicating the same – no response necessary.
My hand went to his cheek and I whispered, “Handsome.”
It was like I didn’t even talk. Tack stayed on target. “Had Roscoe on you. They clocked him with the butt of a gun. Six stitches. Shoulda put Hopper on you. Brick. No one would get the jump on Hop or Brick.”
“Roscoe?”
“Recruit. Not fresh, he’s been around a while. Smart kid. Seen some action. Done his part. Thought he’d do good. Fucked up.”