by Kasey Krane
It felt as if suddenly, the bar was flooded with people. Faces I didn’t recognize. I couldn’t see the women. I searched for Spike, but couldn’t see him either. My heart was thudding frantically in my chest. I felt dizzy and faint.
None of those crazy alcohol and drug-fueled raves I attended with Brett’s friends in Paris even came close to the atmosphere in here. I was sure I would cry now. I was overwhelmed and afraid. Nobody knew me here. What if something happened to me? I was about to scream for Spike. He was supposed to be here with me. Protecting me.
My knees were buckling, I was spinning, I was going to fold to the floor and then I felt hands on my shoulders.
“Spike!” I shouted his name but when I spun around, I saw it was actually Sophie.
“Hey, it’s okay, calm down,” she said and pulled me into her arms.
“That man. What happened to him? Who was he? Is he…is he…dead?” I pressed my head to Sophie’s shoulder. I didn’t want to look. I didn’t want to know the answers to my own questions.
“Hey! Look at me! Look at me!” Sophie made me look up and meet her eyes. “This is a celebration. Okay? Trust me, it’s the best thing that could happen for everyone. That man is now our captive. He is alive and he deserves everything that’s coming to him. You don’t know the whole story but maybe someday you will. Until then, you will just have to trust me. Okay?”
Sophie was shouting to make herself heard over the thumping music. My heart was beating so fast but I stared into her eyes and had no choice but to believe her, and already, I could feel myself starting to calm down.
But I still couldn’t see Spike. I didn’t know where he was, but I didn’t want to ask her any more questions.
Sophie pulled me to the bar after giving me a few minutes to recover. She said she needed to start serving the drinks before all hell broke loose, and she needed my help.
I had never worked behind a bar before. I had never had any kind of job before, so I had no idea how this was going to go. But at this point, I would have done anything to not be by myself.
Sophie ran behind the counter while I followed her and stood back, staring in awe. There were big biker men hanging off over the counter, shouting enthusiastically for drinks.
Sophie made playful and flirty comments while she started pouring. She was working expertly, filling up shot glasses and popping open bottles. I didn’t know what to do or how to help. I was beginning to feel useless. But this had a calming effect on me. Standing behind the bar, behind Sophie, I knew nobody could come close to me.
At one point, Sophie turned and handed me a shot glass.
“Here. Drink this. It’ll help you feel better.”
“What is it?” I asked and held the glass up to my nose.
“Tequila,” Sophie replied with a smile. I had never tried tequila from a shot glass before. I had only ever had it mixed in cocktails. But I trusted Sophie and knocked back the drink in one quick gulp.
It burned my throat for a second and I was about to cry out, till it hit the pit of my stomach and I felt good. Sophie threw me a look over her shoulder. I managed to smile at her.
“Good? Now grab those glasses and give them a rinse in that sink. You’ll find some towels in that drawer. Dry them up and put them in that rack.”
I nodded and followed her orders. I tried to drown out every other sound and just focus on the job. Wash. Dry. Set aside. The supply of glasses was endless and Sophie kept bringing them over for me to wash. Very soon, I fell into a kind of rhythm and I was much calmer now. Having something to do gave me focus. I didn’t have to think about anything else. Or anyone. Sophie offered me a few more shots of tequila and I drank all of them. They loosened up my limbs. I felt lighter and better. I wasn’t even looking for Spike anymore.
I finished another load of glasses and started to carry them to the rack. When I turned with four glasses stacked in each hand, I saw Spike standing there on the other side of the bar. His eyes were on me. Focused directly on me. How long had he been watching me?
When I saw him, I was instantly filled with relief. It was like a shock to the system. He was here. He was actually here, and the best part was there didn’t seem to be any wounds or scars or injuries that I could see.
I walked slowly to the rack and put down the glasses. He was still watching me. In the midst of the party and music and celebrations, I went to him. My chest was heaving…
“Are you okay?” Spike asked. Loud and clear over the music. My nostrils flared. I wanted to scream and tell him how worried I was, and how happy I was to finally see him.
“Yes, I think so. Are you okay?” I asked. He ran a hand through his thick dark hair and nodded. That was it? Nothing more? No explanation?
I looked past him to where some people were dancing. Men sort of swayed to the music while girls draped themselves around them, grinding against them.
“Do you wanna dance?” I asked and Spike just looked confused, as if he had no idea what that word meant.
I was holding Spike’s hands while I led him to one corner of the room. I swayed to the music and I knew he was watching the way my hips moved.
“Don’t worry, nobody can see you here. You can make an attempt to move,” I said with a grin. I was amazed he was even letting me hold his hands. He hadn’t made a single attempt to do anything that came even close to dancing.
The music wasn’t my type, but I made good use of it. The other girls were doing it, so why wouldn’t I?
I spun around so my back was to him. I leaned into him, pressing myself to his chest and rolling my hips to match the rhythm. Spike was still unmoved. He just stood there like a block, but it didn’t matter; I loved feeling his body against mine. Maybe the tequila made me brave. For whatever reason, I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t care about the consequences.
I spun around again, placing my hands on his chest. I lifted myself up on tip-toes, bringing my face closer to him. Spike didn’t move and he didn’t move me away.
I brought my lips even closer to him and that was when I felt his hands on me. His hands were on my hips; he yanked me to himself and I gasped with excitement. My mouth was parted and he pushed his tongue into me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and our lips were fused. Waves of desire rushed through me. We were entwined together. His hands moved down my hips till he was cupping my ass, pressing me to himself so I could feel his hardness.
He pulled his mouth away from mine and then kissed the side of my neck. I reached for him, cupping him through his jeans. He sucked on my skin. I cried out with delight and then in the very next moment, he pushed me away.
“I need to get you home, you’ve had too much to drink.”
I stared at him in shock. Seriously? What was going on? How did I talk myself into letting things get this far?
I had never felt more humiliated in my life.
11
Spike
She was finally on my bike again. I needed to put a stop to it. Things had escalated very quickly. One moment we were just looking at each other, and then we were kissing. I couldn’t stop myself. I thought I could control myself around her but I couldn’t. I was wrong about everything.
The right thing to do would have been to walk over to Ghost right now and tell him I was quitting. He would just have to find someone else to do the job.
But instead, I ordered her to get on my bike and I was going to take us back to the house. Lock her in her room and force her to stay in there till I was able to figure this shit out.
Professional distance, right? I needed to put some professional distance between us.
I was expecting Sabrina to react badly to my command. She looked like she was having fun. When I got back to the clubhouse, it seemed as if she had formed some kind of connection with Sophie, maybe with the other girls too. In fact, since the first time I saw her—this was when she’d actually looked happiest.
Who would have thought that working behind a bar in an MC Clubhouse would make Sabrina Wyndham content?<
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But she didn’t fight me on this. When I told her we were leaving, she just hung her head down and followed me out of Fifth Gear. I told her to get on the bike and that’s exactly what she did. No protest, no fight.
I could still feel her lips on my mouth and it was driving me crazy.
Then she wrapped her arms around me on the bike. I hadn’t taken this into consideration. How close we were going to be, forced to be, on our way back to the house. She was stuck to me. We were stuck to the bike.
As much as I tried to forget about it, I couldn’t. She was right there. I could feel her breasts pressed to my back. Her hands on my abs. The warmth of her body. I wanted her more.
Kissing her had been even more explosive than I expected it to be. She was soft and delicious. My hands were on her ass. That perfect round ass. I was seconds away from grinding my cock into her. Unbuttoning her jeans. Pinning her to the wall right there in the middle of the bar.
I made a fool of myself. Now, everyone who saw us would know I wanted her. The girl I was supposed to protect. This was supposed to be my job. I couldn’t even do this right.
We rode into the house’s premises and Sabrina was already getting off the bike before I’d parked it. She jumped off, making a run for the house. Now I could see we were going to have a battle. I knew it was coming.
“Sabrina!” I thundered as she stormed away from me. I jumped off and ran after her.
Sabrina was zooming into the house, hurrying up the stairs. For a moment, I was worried that she might trip and fall.
“Stop!” I growled and lunged at her. She cried out when I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to myself. She struggled for a moment, thrashing her arms about, and then punching my chest lightly with her balled-up fists.
“Calm the fuck down!” I shouted.
I wasn’t sure if the house was completely empty. The housekeeper had to be around, right? But she hadn’t made an appearance. Maybe she was purposely giving us our space.
Sabrina stared into my eyes, her chest heaving, her nostrils flared. She was close to me now. I wanted to kiss her. We had the house to ourselves. I could fuck her right here on the stairs if I wanted to.
Slowly, I let her go and she stepped away from me.
“What do you want from me, Spike?” she asked. Her voice was low and weak.
“I don’t want anything from you. I’m supposed to be keeping you safe. I’m just trying to do my job.”
She looked away from me, up toward the hallway. She nodded and started slowly going up the stairs again. I wasn’t sure what was going on. What was she going to do next? Did she understand?
We couldn’t hook up. I was her father’s employee. She had to understand that.
I watched her ass moving in those tight jeans. For a second, I let my mind wander to the thought of peeling those pants off her. Feeling her smooth skin in my hands.
That was what she wanted, too, right? That kiss was electric.
I followed her up the stairs. She was walking slowly toward her room. Making sure that our eyes never met. Just outside her door, she stopped and turned to me. Her dark eyes were big and soft. She was trying to read me.
“I don’t think this is working out for us, right? It’s getting complicated.”
I clenched my jaws. I had never been fired from a job before. How the fuck was I supposed to explain it to Ghost or the rest of the MC? Maybe I wouldn’t need to if some of them had seen us kissing tonight.
“So, what do you want to do?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.
Sabrina gulped and then shrugged.
“Once Daddy gets back, I’m going to speak to him. If he is really that desperate for me to have a bodyguard, he’ll find someone else to do the job.”
I stared at her. I wasn’t going to agree with what she was saying because I wouldn’t admit to giving up. But if this was what she wanted, then she was probably right. We needed to stay away from each other.
She waited a few moments for a response from me, and when she didn’t get it, she turned and pushed open her bedroom door.
“Wait!” I growled, stopping her in her tracks. She looked at me hopefully, but I hadn’t asked her to wait because I wanted to talk. I needed to make sure her room was safe first.
She stared at me while I pushed past her into the room. Sabrina remained standing at the door. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was fuming.
I looked around the room. Everything looked as if it was in place, except the curtains that hung from the window near her bed were fluttering in the wind.
“Did you leave the windows open?” I asked.
“No. Why would I do that?” she replied in a clipped voice.
I walked toward it and then there was a crunching sound under my boots. I looked down. I was standing in the middle of a scattering of broken glass.
“What’s wrong?” Sabrina asked. She was coming toward me.
“Stop! Stay back!” I growled and she didn’t move.
The window had been smashed through. That was where the glass came from and why the curtains were billowing.
“What’s going on, Spike?” Sabrina sounded concerned now.
I looked around the floor till I found the edge of a brick. It had slid down underneath the bed. I bent to pick it up.
“Spike?” she cried.
There was a note attached to the brick in my hand. She could see it now too.
“Oh my God, somebody threw a brick through my window?”
I didn’t answer her question. I pulled open the note instead.
We are watching you
I crumpled the piece of paper into a ball in my hand and strode to the window. Pushing the curtains aside, I looked through and couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. There was nobody else in sight.
“I want to see that!” I heard her voice. Sabrina had walked up behind me and grabbed the note out of my hand before I could stop her.
I was about to demand that she give it back to me, but she read it. Her eyes widened and she looked up at me as if she’d seen a ghost.
“What is going on? Who is watching me? What is this about?”
The crumpled paper fell out of her hand and on the floor.
I clenched my jaws. I wasn’t expecting this either. Her father had mentioned bad business but he’d never gone into detail. I thought this job was going to be a piece of cake.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she demanded.
“I need to get you out of here,” I said.
Sabrina had her lips pursed tightly together while she watched me.
“Is someone trying to kill me? Is my life in danger? Did you know this all along?”
We didn’t have time to stand around here and chat. I grabbed her by the elbow and started pulling her out of the room. We had to go.
We were on the bike again. This time, it wasn’t as difficult to stop thinking about Sabrina’s body wrapped around mine. She was in real danger and I didn’t have the full story. I didn’t even know what or who I was supposed to keep her safe from. All I knew was that her life had been threatened and I had to get her away from her house.
“Where are you taking me?” she shouted over the roar of the bike’s engine. For a while, as we rode, I didn’t know where we would go. I needed to find her a place I was familiar with. Somewhere I could keep a strict surveillance on.
I didn’t reply to her question till we finally got to the apartment building downtown.
“Where are we?” she asked as she got off the bike.
“It’s my place. I have an apartment here. You’ll be safe,” I said.
Sabrina looked up. I could see her gulping nervously, pushing the lump down her throat. She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about anything.
“Spike, you have to tell me what’s going on. Please.”
I grabbed her elbow lightly again.
“Come on, we need to get you inside,” I said.
She followed my lead
all the way up the stairs to my apartment. She watched in silence as I unlocked the door and we went in. When I locked the door behind us, she turned to face me again.
“Don’t you think I have a right to know what’s going on? You ordered me to leave my home. Come here with you. There was a threatening note in my room. My window was smashed. But you still won’t tell me what’s actually going on.”
I walked past her to the fridge in the corner of the kitchen area. Sabrina was following me with her eyes.
“How much danger am I really in?” she hissed.
I needed a drink. I pulled out two cans of beer. I threw one in her direction and she fumbled a little as she caught it. She watched, fuming, as I popped the can open. She didn’t do anything with hers.
“This is unfair. This is crazy. You won’t tell me anything. Daddy won’t tell me anything. It’s as if I have no control over my life. It’s not even my own!” she cried out.
She threw the can of beer to the floor and covered her face with her hands. I was in the middle of taking a sip of my drink but now I had to lower it.
For fuck’s sake!
If she cried…if she had actual tears, I knew that would be the end of me. I did not want to see her cry. I’d give anything to have her not cry.
“Sabrina!” I almost shouted her name. She looked up at me with red, swollen eyes. Any moment now, there were going to be tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I’m going to keep you safe; you believe me, don’t you?” I said.
She was staring at me as if she didn’t believe a word I said.
“I want to know the truth,” she finally replied. Her eyes were blazing hot, her palms clenched in tight fists by her sides. If she had horns, she would have pointed them at me right now.
