by Zoey Parker
My days of running cross country paid off, even though they were years earlier. My feet flew over the concrete. If only there was a passing car or pedestrian! But no one, no one at all. There were lights up ahead, and I knew it was a major intersection. Someone would help me there. There might even be a cop car parked at the corner. I prayed there was.
I heard my pursuer behind me, but he wasn’t very close. I just had to keep up my pace.
I still held my camera, its weight heavier the usual in my hand. What had I seen? I couldn’t take the time to think about it as I fled in terror.
My foot got caught up in a broken bit of pavement, and I stumbled, almost going down. I caught myself before falling and kept going, but I was slower now. He was catching up to me.
My hat had fallen off at some point, and I felt my ponytail swinging behind me. That ponytail was what did me in. He caught hold of it, yanking me back.
At first, all I felt was pain. Searing pain in my scalp. My head was jerked back and I lost balance. More pain as I fell to the ground. A crashing sound. My camera. The overriding feeling of terror.
It all happened at once. I was on my ass, crawling backward to escape the knife-wielding maniac who loomed over me.
“What’d you see?” he snarled.
I blinked up at him. There was a street lamp just over his head, casting his face in shadow. My hands skittered over bits of broken glass and jagged shards of concrete as I backed away from him.
“N-nothing,” I stuttered, my eyes darting around. Wouldn’t someone see us?
“Nothing? You always scream at nothing?”
“I had tripped,” I said. “I tripped and fell.”
“Try again.” He kicked at my leg—not hard, just enough to frighten me even more.
“I swear!”
“So if I look at this camera of yours, I won’t find any pictures of me on there?” He kicked the now broken camera with the toe of his boot. He wouldn’t find anything on there now.
“I swear you won’t,” I said. It wasn’t a lie. The camera was toast. He wouldn’t know what to do with it. I couldn’t feel worried about the camera, or upset that it broke. I’d never use it again anyway. I was about to die.
He came closer, about to crouch down. I flinched back, covering my face with my arm. I was too scared to scream. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting to die.
Then I heard a grunt and a surprised cry. I opened my eyes to find a second man, one who hadn’t been anywhere near us before. He was fighting with my attacker.
I curled into a ball, still too scared to move. I wanted to run, to scream for help, but I couldn’t. All I could do was stare at what was happening in front of me.
My attacker swung at him, but the blow was easily blocked. My “savior,” or whoever he was, was a head taller and much more muscular. I saw his biceps ripple as he rained one punch after another. Now the man who’d followed me looked much weaker. Anyone could look strong when they were menacing a woman, I guessed.
They were both wearing leather vests, with different patches covering the back. The one the attacker wore had a picture of a wolf and said Vicious Wolves. The other had a motorcycle and said Fury Riders. Gang members. Jesus, what had I gotten myself into? Some sort of gang war?
I bit my lip, watching them fight, hearing my attacker’s grunts as the other man made contact with his face, his stomach. Blood poured from his mouth. He was staggering on his feet, unwilling to go down, but hardly able to stand. One eye was swollen shut. I was sure I’d throw up from either fear or disgust. It was an ugly scene.
Then he went down. But the other man, the Fury Rider, wasn’t finished. I crawled further away, still too shaky to stand. I didn’t want to see what would happen next, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off them. I watched in fascinated horror as the Fury Rider kicked the Vicious Wolf in the ribs. When the bloodied man rolled onto his side, curling up defensively, the Fury Rider kicked him in the back. My kidneys nearly hurt for him.
The man on the ground stopped moving. The man on his feet was clearly tired out, or tired of fighting someone who was no longer fighting back. He stopped kicking, towering over his foe with his fists clenched. Breathing heavily, but not hurt in the least. I couldn’t remember seeing my attacker land a single blow.
Conflicting emotions rushed through me in the span of a few seconds. Horror at what I’d seen. Relief at being saved—if that was what I was. And a strange sort of victorious feeling that made me want to jump to my feet and pump my fists. That son of a bitch had gotten what he deserved.
My eyes flickered down to him, then up again to the man who’d beaten him. I was breathless, grateful to him and afraid of him. My dark savior.
He looked at me, our eyes meeting for the first time. I had been an afterthought to him, I realized. He wasn’t fighting for me, so much as he was fighting an old fight. I remembered the conflicting patches. They were from opposite sides. If I was the prize, if the Fury Rider was trying to save me, he could have done that with one or two blows. The pummeling was personal.
His eyes were dark, but it could have been the shadow in which he stood. Still, I felt an electricity in them. It flowed from him into me. I’d been breathless already, but he nearly made my heart stop. I froze again, this time because I was taken aback by him. He had a strong presence. He would have been intimidating even if I hadn’t just watched him beat a man nearly to death.
We were connected through our eyes until he looked away. He then looked around, as if just remembering that we out on the street. He looked back at me.
“Come on.” He extended a hand down to me.
“What?”
“Come on!”
No way was I going with him. I had no idea who he was or what he wanted with me. He might not have saved me at all; he might have been out to hurt me, just the way the man on the ground had been.
“I just want to go home!”
He glanced at the ground, then at me. “Right now, you need to get out of here and go anywhere else. You have to come with me. Now. Before they find you.”
“Who?”
“I’ll tell you, just come now.” He was pissed now, and not taking no for an answer.
It was either wait here to die or go with him. I could go under my own power or let him drag me bodily. I swiped the broken camera from the ground and gave him my other hand so he could pull me to my feet.
I wanted to ask who he was but was too afraid to speak. I wanted to know where he was planning to take me. Wherever it was couldn’t be worse than the trash-strewn street I could have lost my life on.
I had to jump over the body of the man who’d nearly attacked me. He wasn’t moving. I wondered vaguely whether he was still alive—and I knew I didn’t care.
He had stabbed and maybe killed someone, and could easily have killed me. I wished I had the time to hit him myself, but I was being dragged away by my savior…who seemed just as dangerous as the man on the ground.
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OTHER WORKS BY ZOEY PARKER
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Ravage
I’m a man of few words. The ones I use are violent:
Brawl. Claim. Ravage.
It was lust at first sight.
She looked too damn nice up on that stage to pass up.
A body that curved in all the right places.
Skin demanding that I seize it and squeeze it.
And those eyes…
Eyes I’d never forget.
What would you have done?
I know what I did: I bought her.
Then I took her home and let her know who she belonged to now.
She screamed my name until the rafters shook.
Don’t act like you would have done anything different.
That should have been the end of it.
But if she was just an expensive lay,
you wouldn’t be reading this story.
There was a whole lot more I had yet to find out.
Only one thing I knew for certain:
I hadn’t had my fill of Michelle.
Not. Even. Close.
Bounty
A picture is worth a thousand words, but I only need three:
You. Are. Mine.
The life I lead isn't for the faint of heart.
A man like me has to say what he means.
Take what he wants.
And fight to keep what he has.
Erica thought she would be safe behind her camera.
Little did she know she was teetering on the edge of the rabbit hole.
When she sees something she shouldn't have,
she falls in.
She's lucky I showed up when I did.
Without me, she'd be thrown to the wolves.
Torn apart.
Devoured.
But it doesn't take long before she starts to wonder.
Is she better off on her own…
…or at the mercy of the beast inside me?
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter.
I tell her how it is:
"Moan as loud as you want, babe.
You aren't going anywhere."
Trouble
He took my sister.
I’m next.
My baby sister went missing over a month ago, and I’d give anything to find her. After countless hours of searching, the trail of clues leads me to Gabriel Hunt, leader of the Crooked Souls MC.
He’s sexy, strong…
…and the last man to see my sister alive.
Before I know it, I’m tumbling down the rabbit hole. I’m being chased, threatened, and almost killed. There’s only one place to turn: right into Gabriel’s arms.
He is a danger unto himself, but I can’t stop myself from craving his touch. Only time will tell whether he’ll be the key to solving my sister’s disappearance, or the last stop before my downfall.
I thought I was doing the hunting. But I'm coming to find out that I'm the one being hunted.
Monster
I thought he was my savior.
If only I’d known he was a murderer, too.
Getting trapped in the snow was my own fault.
For a moment, I thought I would die out there.
So when the sexiest man I’ve ever seen pulls me back from the brink of death,
I suppose I should be grateful.
He takes me home, warms me up…
…and lights a fire inside me that only his touch can heal.
Now I’m burning with desire for Jax —
his hands, his mouth, his body.
I know he’s no good for me,
but nothing can stop me from craving him.
That is, until his past rears its ugly head.
But by the time I learn he’s truly a monster,
it might already be too late.
At first, she wanted no part of me. But some kinds of darkness are hard to resist…
I know I’m not a good guy.
Ever since my wife died, I’ve had a single rule when it comes to women:
One night only.
In all these years, I’ve never broken it.
That is, until I met Christina.
She’s got a body like sin and a sassy mouth to boot.
I want to f**k her until she’s hoarse from screaming my name.
She doesn’t know I have secrets.
She doesn’t know what I’ve done.
And even after she discovers who I really am, it won’t matter anymore.
She’ll have to find out the hard way:
once you come home with me,
there’s no going back.
A Broken Vow
She’s a fragile little thing.
I just might break her.
I thought I’d seen the last of her.
Rose had run from danger, right into my bed.
It didn’t take long before she was moaning my name.
But you can’t outrun your shadow.
When the devils of my past catch up, they take her away from me.
I’d hunt them down, but there’s a war going on, and my club needs me home.
Back in Texas, I follow the thread of betrayal that threatens to shatter my world.
I should’ve known it would lead me back to her.
This time, though, she’s on an auction block.
I may be the one doing the bidding, but the bastards who stole her will pay the ultimate price.
There’s no other girl I’d fight through hell for.
This one’s different —
She’s carrying my baby.
A Secret Vow
I wanted safety.
He wanted a baby.
An abusive fiancé had me trapped in a life I hated.
He hit me often. Hurt me plenty.
I knew one thing: I had to get away.
I took the first chance I had to escape:
With a mysterious biker I hardly knew.
He promised to protect me.
But when I hear what he wants in return,
I freak.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I’m just praying I don’t get burned.
Growing up on the streets taught me one thing:
when you want something, take it.
I play fast and loose, not nice. My job running street races for the Inked Angels MC isn’t for the lighthearted.
The women are just a perk. I’m with them for one night only — then they’re in my rearview mirror, never to be seen again.
Until Kendra.
There’s something about her.
Something fragile. Royal. Worth protecting.
Lucky for me, that’s just what she wants.
I make her a deal: protection for a baby.
I’ve spent my whole life untamed and racing time.
But when it comes to Kendra,
I’m ready to do things slowly…
One f*ck at a time.
A Sinful Vow
I'm about to marry a monster – and there's not a thing I can do to stop it.
Olivia
I don't deserve this.
All I wanted was to escape my past.
But when my brother needed me to get him out of trouble,
I didn't have a choice.
Now I'm standing at the altar with an animal...
A handsome, rugged animal.
He's going to bend me over.
Break me.
Swallow me whole.
And I'm about to be his...
'til death do us part.
Blaze
I don't chase girls – I replace them.
And I thought I'd seen the last of Olivia.
But when the survival of the club depends on it,
I didn't have a choice.
But now that I'm about to marry her,
there's only one thing on my mind:
Finish what I started.
She might hate me, but I don't give a damn.
I'm going to make her MINE.
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