***
Growing up, Kristin had fallen hard and fast for Dan. He was her next-door neighbor and one of the hottest guys at her high school. He was a few years older than her and she had watched him from afar while she matured. She had seen him go from being the boy next door to something else entirely…something frightening. She had heard the arguments. She had watched him come home tattooed and liquored up, and saw the bruises and the scars. Whatever he was doing, it was bad. And what surprised her even more than the fact that he kept doing it…was the fact that she liked it.
He never seemed to really realize that she existed until one afternoon when she came home from school when she was about seventeen and he was out on the driveway having a screaming match with his parents. She pulled up in her car and parked it down the street before meekly walking up the path to her front door. He was screaming, spitting hate and anger at them. He had a red raw scar right down his face from the corner of his eye to his chin, and she knew she was gawping but she couldn’t stop.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” he spat as she tried to reach her front door and pretend like none of it was happening.
His parents rounded on him, his mother trying to pull him back from the truck that was waiting for him. Inside, a man tipped his hat and smoked a cigarette while laughing and cranking up the heavy rock he was listening to.
“Please, Dan!” his mother called. “Don’t do this!”
He stuck his middle finger up at her and strode down to the truck before pulling open the door and jumping inside. The driver pulled out of the driveway with a wheel spin and they shouted something at Kristin that sounded like “Show us your pussy!” and then they were gone.
Kristin went inside, flushed red and turned on. She had no idea what had just happened, but it had woken something inside of her. From that moment on, Dan Lockhart, the dangerous boy from next door, was all she could think about.
He came back a week later, black and blue and miserable. She watched him from her bedroom window as he lay in the backyard sunbathing with his shirt off, exposing his rippling abs and tanned chest. His tattoos were fierce and they covered him from neck to waist. Kristin bit her lip as she watched him and wondered what it would feel like to be swept up in his arms. When he caught her looking, she was so embarrassed she didn’t know how she would ever face him. But luckily for her, Dan wasn’t as shy.
The following evening, she was down in her own backyard and he stuck his head over the fence and dangled a bottle of beer.
“Care to join?” he asked her.
Kristin was a mess of nerves and excitement inside, and although she knew she should stay away and go back inside, she just couldn’t. She had to get to know him some more.
She went to his yard, and they sat on deck chairs and drank straight from the bottle. He barely spoke to her, but he eyed her continuously and kept flashing her a mischievous smile. She knew it was the start of something, but she also knew she couldn’t let it happen. She was a good girl. She was on course for bigger and better things than her dumb small town, and she couldn’t let a bad boy hold her back… No matter how much she wanted it.
She went to leave, but he pushed her up against the wall of his garage. “You’re all I’ve thought about since the moment we moved here, did you know that?” he said. His knuckles were skinned raw and the smell of stale smoke clung to him, oozing out of his pores. Instead of turning her off, it made her even hotter for him.
“I’m going to get you one day,” he grinned. “Little Miss Good Girl… you’re not even going to know what’s hit you.”
Kristin’s heart pounded as she ran back home and locked herself in her bedroom. She stripped naked and ran a cold shower before jumping in and cooling off. Dan Lockhart was such bad news, the worst kind…
She didn’t seen him again after that night. Her mother told her that he had been arrested and that he’d got involved with a gang. Kristin left for college a year later and trained to be a lawyer. She heard snippets of information from her family and his about what he was up to, and it was never anything good. Their mothers had become good friends, and they regularly chatted about both Kristin and Dan, but the last she had heard, he was heavily involved with bikers and organized crime. When she got the call from him, she was more surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. She was pretty sure she would be the only lawyer he knew.
***
As she pulled up outside of the station, she looked into the mirror again and reapplied her lipstick. It had been over ten years since the night in the yard that summer, but after hearing his voice again, it felt like only ten days. She was excited to see him but also apprehensive. He’d been her first crush and completely forbidden because of his edge and criminal ways. She had no idea what to expect. He could be anyone now. He could be married for all she knew. But there was something deep inside her that had the feeling he was about to make good on his promise.
I’m going to get you one day… Little Miss Good Girl…
3.
Kristin walked into the station and buttoned up the middle of her jacket. She groomed her hair behind her ears with her long, manicured nails and clipped down the hallway in her stiletto heels. There were cops swarming the reception area, and as she placed her briefcase down and announced who she was, a few of them turned to look at her up and down and check her out. She was used to being stared at. Kristin was petite but curvy and had incredibly large breasts. They were like a bull’s-eye for leery men.
“I thought you were off criminal cases?” a familiar voice chimed in behind her.
Kristin spun around to see Jonny, a cop she was used to dealing with when she had represented the majority of the city’s criminals.
“This is a one-time thing,” she raised her eyebrows. “Take me to Dan Lockhart?”
“Yikes,” Jonny whistled. “Locke, huh?” He shook his head and nodded reluctantly. “If you say so….”
He turned and motioned for her to follow him. She swiped her visitor’s badge from the reception desk and pinned it to the side of her skirt. Jonny slowed down and said discreetly over her shoulder, “What you getting mixed up in that for?”
“Excuse me?” she demanded.
“I know it’s none of my business, but… Well, I mean… Lockhart… you know who he is right?”
Kristin pushed her tongue up under her front teeth.
“Yes,” she said irritated. “He’s my old neighbor.”
“No,” Jonny laughed and pulled her by the forearm to one side. “He’s more than a bit dangerous, Kristin…”
“I’m sure I can handle him.”
“Well, I’m not,” he said seriously.
“Jonny… He’s a client, I’m just doing my job.” She tried to move past him, but he kept his grip on her arm.
“All I’m saying is guys like him don’t need lawyers… even when they are up for murder… Keep your wits about you.”
Kristin stopped and took in what he had said.
Murder.
She took a few deep breaths and nodded her head.
“Like I said, he’s a client… This is business… I’m just here to advise him today.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Jonny said as he opened the door to the interior cells where the interview rooms were. “There you go, door five.”
Kristin stared down the hallway and saw the two cops flanking the doorway.
“Thank you,” she smiled, and then she turned and began her slow walk down.
***
The door creaked open and she stepped into the cell. Dan Lockhart stood with his back to her. She couldn’t see his hands so she knew they were probably handcuffed in front of him.
“Dan?” she said quietly as she walked forward.
“No one’s called me that in years,” he said.
He was taller than she remembered, and his shoulders were broader. He looked like a great hulk of a man in that room, his head almost skimming the ceiling. He began to turn slowly, and Kristin held
her breath.
His eyes caught her first. His deep blue eyes that had always made her weak at the knees. She was instantly floored that they hadn’t lost that effect. The scars on his face had faded, but they were still there. Instead of making him look mean, they added to his raw sexiness, creeping along his skin in crisp, faded lines. The tattoos had extended up his neck and across his knuckles. He smiled at her from beneath his floppy dirty blonde hair and it lit up the room. He didn’t look like the sort of person who would smile that way, but it instantly pulled her in.
“It’s good to see you, kid,” he said and he took a step toward her. “Now are you going to get me out of here or what?”
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Kristin found herself putting a hand on her hip.
“Set up,” he said as he lit a cigarette. A cop entered the room and motioned for him to extinguish it, but he brushed him off and stuck up his middle finger.
“Set up?” Kristin asked as she pulled up a chair and took out her Dictaphone.
“Yeah, I didn’t fucking do it.”
“Okay…” she said as she crossed her hands on the table in front of her. “So, can you tell me everything that happened?”
“Naw,” he exhaled and started to laugh, “I didn’t do it, that’s all you need to know, now post my bail and get me out of here.”
“You’re not taking this seriously,” she snapped.
“Because I don’t fucking need to,” he said, leaning forward with a smirk.
“Well, then why did you call me?” She was already packing her things away. “I came here to help you, thinking you were in trouble… which you clearly are… And now you’re just making a joke out of wasting my time.”
“Spoke to my mom for the first time in years last week and she told me about you being a lawyer,” he said coolly. “Just had to see it for myself. I don’t need your fucking help.” He lit another cigarette and clamped it between his teeth.
Kristin stared at the man in front of her. He looked wild and intense. His danger had been turned up a notch and for the first time, she felt frightened of him. Genuinely frightened.
“Always knew you were a good girl,” he said as he exhaled a plume of smoke across the room. “Always got me going, too.”
Kristin swallowed and got to her feet.
“I don’t think I can be involved in this,” she said, “It’s not appropriate.”
“Sure,” he took another drag, “I didn’t expect you to. I was just interested, that’s all.”
Kristin walked to the door and looked back over her shoulder.
“Take care of yourself, Dan,” she said.
“It’s Locke,” he smirked. “Just call me Locke.”
“Well then, take care of yourself, Locke,” she smiled and then let the door close behind her.
As she walked back out to the reception, Jonny was behind her and calling for her to stop.
“What happened?” he asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“You were right,” Kristin admitted. “He’s dangerous… I’m not getting involved.”
“Good choice!” Jonny called after her as she burst through the front doors of the station and disappeared out onto the street.
4.
When she got home that evening, she had to pretend like it hadn’t bothered her. She had foolishly and blindly gone over there out of curiosity and stupidity. Her teenage self had ruled her adult head. She had made a fool of herself in front of Locke and now she was going to have to hope that he wasn’t mad and going to come looking for her. Jonny had been right… He was like something else completely above the law and frightening. She double locked all of her doors and went upstairs. In the bathroom, she turned off all of the lights before she lit scented candles around the room and ran a deep bath filled with oils. She needed to unwind more than ever, and she knew she only had a short window of opportunity before Pete came back and ruined the tranquility.
He had texted her when she was on her way home from the station, saying that he and the other partners were heading out for drinks after hours. As usual, she hadn’t been included on the memo, and even though Pete was being liberal with the information, he too didn’t extend the invite.
She slipped into the water and closed her eyes. She was livid with him but she wasn’t going to add to the emotions she had experienced since that morning. The added stress of Locke’s call had provided enough drama for one day. She rubbed her plump, soft skin and massaged in the oils. They made her feel silky smooth and weightless as she floated in the water. She sunk down even further and breathed in deeply. They smelled so divine, she could have easily been at a spa.
She thought about Locke’s hands. They were so big…so masculine…so rough. She traced her fingertips up her side and up to her breasts and imagined that they were his. She bit her lip and slipped down further into the water. She opened her legs slightly and imagined him sliding between them. His huge frame opening her up and pinning her back against the porcelain. She gasped and opened her eyes. She couldn’t fantasize about Locke… if she did, she knew there would be no way she would be able to stay away from him.
A bang downstairs snapped her out of her daydream. She could hear Pete cursing and jingling keys as he tried to get in through the front door. She smirked as she remembered that she had double locked it.
“What the fuck,” he called up the stairs. “Did you lock me out?”
She rolled her eyes and pretended she hadn’t heard him.
His footsteps came pounding up towards the bathroom door, and he shoved it open before entering the room with a cloud of stale smoke and booze. It cut through the scented oils and made her wince. It simply didn’t smell sexy on Pete… Not like it did on Locke…
“Skipped out the office early today, huh?” he asked as he undid his fly and lifted the toilet seat.
Kristin covered her eyes with one hand and sighed. “Do you have to?” she asked, unimpressed.
“Are you serious?” he slurred. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.”
He started to piss and Kristin wished he would just vanish into thin air. She was so done with him, she didn’t know how much longer she could pretend to tolerate him.
When he left the room, he left the seat up and the bathroom door swinging open. As he passed, he knocked one of the candles and the wax extinguished it. A smoke trail filled the room and stung her eyes. She pulled the plug, stood up and wrapped herself in a towel. By the time she walked through into the bedroom, Pete was flat on his back in the center of the bed snoring and still fully clothed. Instead of helping him undress and into bed she left him where he was and made her way to the spare room. She turned on the side lamp and crawled into bed with a book. She looked up at the ceiling and made the decision…
Tomorrow, you’re asking him to leave, she told herself, and if he won’t, you’re going to pack up his things and throw them out onto the street.
She rolled onto her side and propped up the book on the pillow. As she read she didn’t take anything in. All she could think about was Locke. The words morphed into his face and in the end she threw the book down onto the floor and turned out the light.
5.
The following evening Kristin sat at the kitchen table, nervously waiting for Pete to get home. He had never even moved in officially. One day it just seemed like most of his things were there and he never went back to his own place. He had a penthouse apartment on the other side of the city and it was a long drive. Kristin’s house was closer to the office, so after a while it just seemed to make sense that he spend the majority of his time there. Even if she hadn’t specifically consented to it.
She heard his keys in the door and braced herself. He came inside, hot and flustered, his hair windswept and greasy from the day before. She’d heard him that morning and knew he hadn’t showered. He’d rolled out of bed late, spritzed himself with cologne and changed his shirt before heading out of the door.
“Fucking Clarke,” he said a
s he threw his briefcase down on the table in front of her, “Wasting my fucking time…”
Kristin didn’t respond, hoping her silence would break him out of his self-obsessed drama.
“What’s the matter with you?” he looked up finally and snarled.
Kristin breathed in and got to her feet.
“I don’t want an argument, but I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few weeks, and I don’t see this going anywhere.” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the backlash.
He curled his lip and sneered.
“Shut up,” he turned his back on her and walked over to the refrigerator. From all of the responses she had been expecting, that certainly wasn’t one of them.
“I’m being serious Pete,” she said, “I want you to leave. Now.”
He stopped in his tracks and cricked his neck before he turned back to her with rage in his eyes.
“I told you to shut the fuck up,” he spat. “Now move out of my fucking way before I open the door with your face!” He shoved past her and Kristin fell into the kitchen table. She was shaking and the tears welled in the corner of her eyes.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
She didn’t know what else to , so she reached for her purse with shaking hands and pulled out her cell. She furiously hit “dial” and held the phone up to her ear.
“Jonny,” she said as she heard him say hello, “I need you to get me Dan Lockhart’s phone number… fast.”
***
When she called him, she didn’t know what she expected, but Locke was a lot different to how he had been at the police station.
“I’m glad you got in touch,” he said as he sat opposite her in a park on the edge of town. He was clad in leather and big heavy boots, sitting on top of his motorcycle and smoking a cigarette.
FLASH (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 15) Page 134
