“What if I simply want to?” I asked.
“It’s still dark out,” she said with a groan.
“Then go back to sleep. Here, I can help wear you out again.”
I kissed down her body and she giggled that breathless little sound that made my cock ache for her. I kissed her breasts and ran my tongue around her nipples. I slid my hands down her curvy outline as my lips ventured to where they wanted to be. Brynn slung her arm over her face, groaning at the lack of sleep even as her hips rolled into me. I felt her pussy already heating. I felt her juices already dripping.
And when I settled between her legs, I couldn’t wait to feast on her body.
I didn’t know what time it was. Two in the morning. Maybe three. All I knew was her smell scent me wild and the glistening arousal between her pussy folds had me salivating. I lapped my tongue up her slit, listening to her moan as her hips rose to my lips.
Then, Brynn said something that set my heart pounding in my chest.
“Did you hear that?”
I paused my movements, moving over her pussy underneath the covers. I held my breath as my mind swirled a thousand times a second. I knew I had heard something. And now, Brynn had heard it as well. She shuffled away from me and sat up, the moment ruined as the two of us listened out.
“Did you lock the front door?” she asked.
In an instant, I was out of the bed. I heard Brynn scramble for the sheet as she searched for her clothes. I pulled my jeans onto my body and heard her beginning to pant. Not with need or want for me, but in fear. I reached for my bedside table and ripped it open, pulling out the gun I kept in there. I slipped the magazine into the bottom of it and cocked the chamber, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.
“Get in the closet,” I said.
“Diesel, are you sure there’s--”
“I’m not asking you again.”
I shot her a look and she quickly slid from the bed. Clad in nothing but her outfit she had rolled into town with, she silently slipped into my closet. I crept around my bed, holding my gun up and ready to take aim at anyone who managed to slip in unannounced. I had been so wrapped up in Brynn’s body I hadn’t even thought to leave the damn bed and lock the fucking door.
Then, I heard it.
The smallest footstep on my hardwood floor.
I turned to the closet and saw Brynn’s eyes poking out from the darkness. I put my finger to my lips, shushing her before I shooed her back in. Someone was in my fucking apartment, and unless it was one of the guys playing some sort of fucked up trick, I was about to blow them away. I turned off the only other light in my room, blanketing my entire apartment in darkness.
Then, I turned the corner and made my way into the living room.
Within seconds, I was surrounded. Something came out of nowhere and cracked me against the back of my head, tumbling me to the ground. I felt a boot come down onto my hand and I squeezed my gun, popping off a round that went splintering into the wall. My hand released the cool gunmetal as I stood to my feet, but an elbow quickly came down into my back.
There were at least three of them, and I knew then and there that Brynn was in trouble.
“Diesel!”
I heard my closet door swing open and crash against the wall. I flew up from my spot on the floor and threw punches, making my way through the throngs of people that had somehow settled themselves in my apartment. I felt blood splatter and bones crack. A couple of my fingers got dislocated trying to get back to her. I heard her struggling. Screaming. Calling out for me as a window busted in the distance.
“Diesel! Help me! Please!”
Blood pumped through my veins. My eyes bulged with anger. I felt a guy wrap his arm around my neck, trying to take me down and deprive me of oxygen. I sank my nails into him and threw him over my head, colliding him with the wall. I took a couple of steps forward before I felt something else crack against my back, sending me to my knees. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak. Another punch to my jaw sent me to the floor as Brynn’s voice faded into the distance.
Punch after punch. Kick after kick. I felt bruises already forming against my body as blood trickled from my lips. I felt another man wrap his arm around my neck and I tossed him forward, then dropped to my hands and bear-crawled into my bedroom.
“Brynn?”
“No! Stop it, you son of a bitch!” she exclaimed.
“Brynn!”
I look up just in time to see someone rip her through the broken bedroom window in my apartment. I scrambled to my feet, my body surging with yet another rush to get to her. I lunged for her body before the guy fell two fucking stories, falling to the ground and taking Brynn with him. I reached for a gun that should’ve been on my hip, but there was nothing there. And the second I turned around to go find the gun I stashed in my sock drawer, I was met face to face with a fucker I recognized.
Fang.
“Rex is coming for you,” he said with a grin.
“Diesel!”
I whipped my head around and watched a Black Saddle stuff Brynn into a car before he rose his gun up to me. He fired off two shots that caused me to duck, and the second I hit the ground something sharp pierced the side of my neck. The room spun and my limbs went weak, and suddenly my body felt as if it was sinking in cement. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. My body ached. The smell of Brynn’s womanhood still swirled around my head as I dropped to my hands and knees.
“We got her. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
And then, the entire world went black.
Chapter 14
Brynn
The second I heard the fighting happening, I knew we were in trouble. I heard several pairs of boots falling on the floor and I knew Diesel was drastically outnumbered. My hands searched around in the closet for anything I could defend myself with. Anything I could use to gain the upper hand if they got to me.
Because I knew they would. Diesel was strong, but he wasn’t that strong.
I moved around on the small closet floor, my hands rumbling over all sorts of things. Shoes. Socks. Dirty fucking underwear. Yikes. So gross. I reached up and felt around in the clothes hanging from the hangers, but the only thing even remotely close to a weapon was the hanger itself. I pulled shirts from them, trying to find a nice heavy wooden one or a wire one I could untwist and stab into someone’s stomach.
But all he had were the cheap plastic dollar-store ones.
Fucking hell, Diesel. Really?
The sound of crashing glass made me jump and I looked through the slats of the closet. I saw someone coming into Diesel’s bedroom through the window he had pressed me against earlier. I shuffled to the back of the closet, scooting off to the side so I had the slightest bit of wall to cover me up. I held my breath, trying not to cry as I listened to Diesel fight off what seemed like three or four different men.
I dug into my pockets to see if my cell phone was there, until I looked through the slats of the closet and saw it on the floor.
Of course, it would be on the damn floor.
I heard footsteps approaching me and I fell as quiet as I could. Every muscle in my body tightened as a war raged outside Diesel’s bedroom door. I curled my legs against me, making myself as small as I could within the shadows of the closet. The only defense I had was camouflage. The only thing I had at my disposal was not being seen. Because if they saw me--whoever they were--I had no way to fight them off.
I saw their shadows. It darkened the already-dark bedroom. It cast a heinous darkness upon the closet through the small slats. My entire body shook as I bit down onto my lower lip. Every time I heard Diesel grunt or groan, I wanted to rush to him. To help him in any way I could. I knew he was hurt. I knew he was aching. And I wanted to help him. To get to him. To save him in any way I could.
But I was trapped by the predator standing outside of the closet.
When the shadow shifted, I thought I was okay. I figured whoever it was had turned their sights onto Diesel. Until the closet d
oor ripped open and a body stepped in. I looked up and saw a face staring straight down at me, and I did the only thing I knew to do.
“Diesel!”
The man grinned at me before he reached down and wrenched at my arm. I struggled to get away from his grasp, but he slammed the butt of his gun against my head. My body fell limp as he dragged me out behind him, like a fucking caveman with the woman he had claimed as his own for the night. The room spun as my legs stumbled underneath me, but I somehow found the strength to call out for him again.
“Diesel! Help me! Please!”
I looked over briefly and saw Diesel on the ground. Men stood around him, kicking him and spitting on him. I tried to scramble to him, but the man had a grip on my arm so tight it brought tears to my eyes. I knocked up against Diesel’s dresser and felt the sharp corner penetrate my skin. Blood trickled down the back of my arm.
“Brynn?”
Diesel’s voice caught my attention before the man shoved me towards the window. I sure as hell wasn’t going out that thing with him. It was a fucking two-story drop! I planted my hands and knees into the wall and pushed back into him, forcing him to use all of his strength to get me to move.
“No! Stop it, you son of a bitch!” I exclaimed.
“Brynn!”
I whipped my head around at the sound of his voice. He was closer. No longer impeded by a wall or a structure. But the distraction gave the man behind me what he needed, and soon my body was falling out the window with his. I reached up for the window, my body plummeting to the ground as the man kept a tight hold on me.
We hit the grass in the back of Diesel’s apartment complex and I felt my ankles burning. The man continued to tug me towards a car and I lost all sense of what was happening. I was scared. My body ached. My heart thundered in my chest and my body felt heavy and lighter-than-air at the same time. The apartment grew farther away, and I watched as Diesel’s face appeared in the window.
“Diesel!”
Then, someone appeared behind him.
I tried to call out to him, but the man stuffed me into the back of a car. The door slammed and I scrambled to my knees, pushing myself towards the door on the other side. I reached for the handle and jiggled it, trying to open it as best as I could. I rose up onto my elbows and fiddled with the lock, pressing down onto its feature to get the damn door to open up for me.
But it wasn’t budging. I couldn’t unlock the door.
I was trapped.
I heard the driver’s side door open up before the man got in. He cranked the car up and sped away from the apartment complex, the tires of the car squealing. I laid there for a second to catch my breath and gather myself. Because in the grand scheme of things, this wasn’t the worst situation to be in. My arms weren’t bound and neither were my legs. There were no bars or cage separating me from the man driving. All I had to do was find a way to incapacitate him, then I could toss him out and ride the car back into town.
I gathered myself, walked myself through my own plan, then threw it into motion.
I bolted upright and wrapped my arm around the man’s neck. He began to choke and weave, the car tires careening us in all sorts of directions. His nails raked along my forearm and I tried to ignore the pain. Tried to ignore the searing, burning sensation that came with him tearing my flesh open. I switched arms when the pain became too much and he continued to choke. What I wouldn’t give to press his own damn gun to the side of his head. I saw his hand trying to reach out for something and I figured that was what he was going for. His gun.
But the second I saw his gun still holstered on his hip, I began to worry.
My eyes looked around the car as it weaved and bobbed out of the complex. The man was almost out. All I had to do was keep up my strength long enough to get him to pass out. My mind wafted back to Diesel. To the man that had appeared behind him. Was Diesel dead? Had those men killed him? The idea made me sick to my stomach. But allowing my mind to wander loosened my grip around the man’s neck just enough for him to breathe and catch his strength.
And soon, I felt a needle being jammed into my arm.
“What the fuck!?” I exclaimed.
I ripped back from the man before my head started feeling fuzzy.
“Sit the fuck down, bitch,” the man said.
My body wavered. My head spun. The world felt like it was tilting on its axis and my limbs felt heavy. I slumped against the backseat of the car, trying to fight the drug as best as I could. What had he shot me up with? Was it poison? Was I about to die? My body fell to the disgusting seats of the car as crumbs stuck to my face. I heard the man laughing to himself. Like he was proud of his work.
“Rex mentioned how feisty you were,” the man said.
Tears rushed my eyes as I finally put all of the pieces together. Diesel was right. The Black Saddles had been after me, and we’d left ourselves vulnerable. We spent too much time wrapped up in reliving the past and licking old wounds closed that we hadn’t thought about protecting ourselves.
Tears dribbled onto the seat as my eyes grew heavy.
I tried to stay conscious. I tried to stay alert. My hand reached out for the door to try and pull myself up to see where we were going. Anything to give me any inclination as to what would happen next. I breathed heavily with exertion. The drug was spiraling me into a darkened abyss I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight. If I could just… pull… myself…
“Fucking hell, Rex was right. You really do know how to put up a fight.”
I felt another piercing needle blow straight into my side. Right between my ribs as I moaned out in pain. Tears flooded my vision as more of the sedative rushed through my veins and I tumbled to the seat. I knocked my cheek on the handle of the door on my way down, my cheek slumped as drool and tears poured down my skin.
“There. That’ll do you a bit of good,” the man said.
Darkness took over my vision and my fear grew. I was helpless. Defenseless. And now? I was without Diesel as well. All of the things my father taught me to use to defend myself in situations like the one I’d found myself in were worthless if I couldn’t move. My breathing became numb and my body went ice cold. The car careened to a stop and I tumbled off the seat, falling to the floorboards. My spine cracked against the seat and I groaned. It was the only thing I could do. Make pathetic sounds in a feeble attempt to get someone to hear me.
But the darkness was closing in, and no amount of fight I had within me would rush that drug through my system any quicker.
“Diesel,” I said breathlessly. “Help.”
Then, darkness swallowed me whole.
Chapter 15
Diesel
I woke up panting with my cheek planted into the carpet of my apartment. Birds started chirping even though the sun hadn’t risen yet. I pressed my hands into the floor and groaned as I hoisted myself into the air. What the fuck had happened? Why the hell was I on the damn floor?
Then, everything came rushing back at once.
I looked up and saw my broken window and scrambled to my feet. I stumbled over to it and leaned out, looking every which way I could. My mind was still in a haze. My legs still felt weak. My jaw hurt and my ribs hurt and my back fucking screaming out in pain.
“Brynn!” I roared.
But all I heard were the chirping of birds.
I pushed myself off the railing of the window and stumbled over to my phone. Fucking hell, I needed to get my feet underneath me. I scrolled through my contacts and pressed down onto Grave’s number before I held the phone to my ear. It rang and it rang, and I almost hung up to try and call back.
Until his gruff voice came over the phone.
“What?” he asked.
“Brynn’s gone,” I said.
“What?” he asked again.
“They came into my fucking apartment, drugged me, and took her,” I said.
I heard shuffling and the sound of Everly’s muffled voice before Grave came back on the line.
“What hap
pened, Diesel?” he asked.
“I don’t have time. Call the guys. Get their asses to the lodge. Once I can shake this drug from me, we have to figure out where the fuck we go from here. Get Rock’s ass out of bed. We’re going to need his help.”
Then, I hung up the phone and blasted a text message to the Black Hornets.
I sure as hell wasn’t about to tell Dean over the damn phone that his daughter had been taken. I reached down and pulled a shirt from my floor and slid it over my head. The more I walked, the more I got my legs underneath me. But I grabbed the pot of stale coffee and tossed it back anyway. I tossed my leather cut over my shoulders and grabbed my shit, then looked around for my fucking gun.
I grabbed it and holstered it at my side before walking straight out of the front door those assholes had walked through.
The faster I rode to the lodge, the higher the sun became. And every minute I rode through the desert was a minute Brynn was still in their grasp. The wind whipping through my hair and wrapping around my body pulled me from my drug-addled state, and I pushed my bike as fast as it could go to get to the guys quicker. Motorcycles rumbled off in the distance, revving their engines at top speeds. Dust kicked up and the wind circled it around, causing sand tornadoes I dodged at every turn.
Even the Earth was rebelling at the fact that Brynn was gone.
I skidded into my parking space and kicked down the kickstand of my bike. I strode up to the lodge and burst through the front door as anger rushed through my veins. The guys were all there and they stood to their feet, taking me in as I drew a deep breath through my nose.
But before I could address them, I heard a very familiar voice.
“Where the fuck is my daughter?”
“Dean, now isn’t the time to argue. We have to find--”
His fist connected with my jaw and the brawl began. I stood to my feet and cocked my fist back, bringing it down into the old man’s cheek. He fisted my cut and barreled me into the wall of our lodge, knocking over chairs and breaking dishes. The Black Hornets tried to peel him off me, but it was no use. His fist came down into my chest before I head-butted him, busting his nose and watching his blood flow forth.
Diesel (Dead Souls MC Book 5) Page 9
