He dropped his hand and started to walk away, but she followed him.
“The reason I’m telling you now is that Bruce placed a bug in my jacket and now he knows where I am. For some reason he thinks that I’m with you, and he’s going where my jacket is which is in your house.”
“Son of a bitch,” he said as he stared at the ground. She knew just what he meant and was sad that she’d brought that to his door.
“The good thing is I’m not wearing it, so they couldn’t follow us here.” She tried for a bright smile, and he looked like he could break her in little pieces.
“So they’re waiting for me?”
“Yes. That’s why I wanted to tell you now. I’d hoped for more time with you, because I really think we are good together. I started this conversation trying to find a way to ask you to run away with me.”
“You think I want to run away with someone who is a liar and a sneak?”
“I was trying to help you the whole way. If you would just take a minute to think about it, you would see that it isn’t as bad as you think it is.”
“The girl I’ve been fucking for the last few days, the one I thought was so sweet that I didn’t deserve her turns out to be no better than a street walker. How would I be able to trust you?”
“Please, Tyson.” She started but didn’t have the words for anything else. What could she say? He was right about everything but the street walker piece. She had sex with him because she thought he was hot, she felt he was kind, and he looked at her like she was beautiful. Well, he did before he hated her.
“Thanks for the heads up. I’m going to find a way out of here and then work on building up my resources. Thanks for a good time, sweetheart.”
“I know why you’re leaving, and I get that. I don’t think I’d give me another chance either.” She pulled out the almost five thousand dollars and handed it to him. “Use this to get started.”
He looked down at the money but didn’t reach out to take it. “You keep that since you worked so hard for it.”
“I understand that you’re mad and feel like I’m not loyal or betrayed you, but everything that happened between us was wonderful, and I don’t want you to cheapen it by believing it was tied into finding you. If that were the case, I could have called Bruce as soon as I found you. Right?”
He didn’t look like he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, and she could understand that. She truly could, but she didn’t want it to end like this.
“Fine, doll face, whatever you say.” He was walking away with that swagger she’d enjoyed watching so much, but this time seemed final. It was the last time she would see him because there was no way he’d be around if he saw her first.
He was almost around the corner when he turned around and looked at her. She had hope that he would see how much she’d tried to help and know that the time they spent together wasn’t because she was trying to keep him complacent while she waited to turn him in. He stood there, and she smiled at him hoping that he could see the woman he’d fawned over the last few days but he just shook his head and turned the corner. She sat there until she heard his motorcycle roar away.
“Well, that was that,” she said to herself as she figured out what to do.
She could call Bruce and tell him that she’d lost him, or she could tell him where he was now and how to get to him. Tyson was going to save his own ass. Maybe she should do the same. It was a shitty way to go through life only thinking of yourself, but no one else was going to do it. She shouldn’t have been so ticked that Tyson had just left her there, but that he insinuated that she slept with him for the job hurt her feelings. Fuck that. She was made of tougher stuff than to let some old block head that couldn’t pay his debts make her feel like chewed up bubble gum on the bottom of her shoe.
Nobody got to make her feel like that. She wasn’t going to allow it. Ella pulled out her phone and was going to tell Bruce exactly what happened and free herself from this. If she had to pay back more money than she’d been given, that was her problem. You lay down with dogs, you wake up covered in dog shit. She was going to have to pick herself up, clean herself off, and start from scratch... again.
She called the last number that had called her, and Bruce picked up immediately.
“Where ya at Ella?” He sounded like he was tired of waiting and spoiling for a fight. She wanted tell him what had happened, but when she open her mouth she couldn’t find the words to explain. “Ella!”
She looked around and didn’t know what to do. It was the first time in a long while that she was just lost. Holding the phone away from her ear she could hear Bruce getting louder and louder as the frustration in his voice wrapped around her, and she felt like she was smothering. Pressing end on her phone and shoving it in her pocket, she walked quickly toward the sun. She thought that meant she was walking east… or was that west. Whatever it meant, she was getting out of town, taking the money in her pocket, and disappearing. She did the one thing you didn’t do in this town… double cross the Reapers, and she’d done it in splendid fashion.
The only regret she had was that she wished things had turned out differently with Tyson, because he was someone she could believe in; too bad he didn’t feel the same way about her.
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CHAPTER ONE
Fucked. That’s the word that had been swirling through Tyson Adler’s mind for the last forty five minutes. He’d been with lots of women, but the one night stand that had turned into a two day fling had him thinking that being a one woman man might not be such a bad idea. Little did he know that the woman of his dreams, Ella Louise, was the woman sent to turn him in to the Highway Reapers, his ex-motorcycle club. She was such a sweet little thing; maybe that was the reason she completely slipped under his radar.
He’d parked his car when he got to his secondary apartment. The only reason Ella told him the whole plan to turn him in to his ex-club members was because they had put a tracer in her sweater that she’d left at his other apartment. One never knew when you’d need a backup home, and he was never so glad that he’d put so much thought into what he’d do if he’d been found out and needed another spot to lay low for a while. He should have felt proud of himself, but instead he only felt pissed and betrayed.
Walking up the stairs, he thought about the cute little hellion with the body of an angel and wondered what would happen to her. He could tell it was hard for her to tell him of her deception, but she’d done it. He didn’t want to think about that. What she didn’t know was how ruthless those sons of bitches she was reporting to were. Now, that they knew she’d been with him and that he’d eluded them again, it would be her blood they’d want. They always thought someone was trying to double cross them, and that was partially because they did it to others so often they felt like everyone was trying to pay them back. It wasn’t far from the truth. He put his key in the lock, and a sense of dread washed over him. Ella wasn’t safe. He knew she didn’t have anyone in the area and those jackasses she hooked up with that led her to him would know where she lived. They liked to leave no rock unturned, and he should know because that is the same job he used to have… obtaining monies due to the club by any means necessary. Any. Means. Necessary.
“Fuck!” He yelled out to no one in particular and was torn by indecision. It wasn’t something that he was familiar with because he made plans and he stuck to them. Did it matter that the plan sucked? Not really. If he came up with it, he followed through, but he didn’t think he could live with himself if he found out that Ella had been harmed because he’d left her. She did him a solid by telling him the Reapers were waiting for him at the apartment, so he figured he should do something for her. He could work out the rest as it came up, but if he didn’t get to her before they did, there would be nothing to work out.
Marching back down the stairs, he quickly got on his bike and then sent her a text message before taking off.
/>
Tyson - Where are you?
He hoped that she hadn’t gone home or to his apartment because that was where they were waiting. They hadn’t bugged her phone or they would have just met them where they were.
Ella - I’m still in the park. Why?
Tyson - Just stay there and keep yourself hidden. I’m coming to get you.
Just the thought of her still sitting where he’d left her made his stomach tighten, but he wasn’t going to get that way about her right now. He was still mad, and he didn’t know how to feel about the emotions she brought out in him. He didn’t like lies and liked liars even less, but he needed to see this through even if it was just getting her out of town and away from him.
The drive to his apartment seemed quick and easy, but making his way back to the city took forever. It was probably because he was afraid he’d be too late to find Ella and she’d have been picked up by the not so friendly Reapers. He circled around where he’d left Ella and found her sitting on the same bench where she’d shared her tale of woe followed by the drop kick to the balls that she wasn’t what or who she said she was. The expression on her face was wary, but she still offered him a smile and he could understand why, but this wasn’t the time to doubt him. If anything she should be grateful he came back, but he understood not knowing who to trust. He could have walked away from her, made a deal with the Reapers, and then returned to deliver her to them.
“Get on…” He didn’t have time for the happy smile or pretty words that may have sprung from those pink lips, because he was halfway kicking himself for returning to get her lying ass in the first place. She must have known how close to the breaking point he was because she dropped the smile and accepted the helmet he’d shoved at her. She looked at him as if she was torn. “What?”
“I know you’re mad and I’m not trying to tick you off further, but I have to touch you to get on.” Ella must have been able to read the ‘fuck you’ that had been plastered to his face since she’d told him her story, and he wasn’t going to be able to clear that for a while.
“I’m aware of that. Come on, Sunshine, I don’t have time for your bullshit. You can either get on and hold tight, or you can find yourself a way out of the shit hole you’ve dug for yourself.”
She nodded and he tried to shrug off the awareness he felt as she swung her leg around the back of his bike and settled into the seat, sliding her softest, warmest spot against him. He could almost feel her pussy on his ass. No. That wasn’t true; that was just his imagination and wishful thinking because she had the tightest, sweetest pussy he’d had the experience of sampling. His dumb libido didn’t care that she was a lying treacherous bitch; it just wanted one more ride with her hot wetness clenching his cock. This was not what he was supposed to be thinking about – he needed to keep his mind on the current situation. He waited until she finished securing her helmet and knew she was done when she tentatively wrapped her arms around his waist.
Taking off like a rocket, he didn’t know if he was trying to outrun the Reapers or the feelings this one lying, little lady had set off within him. All he knew is that he was happy they didn’t have to talk. At least for now, there was nothing but the buzz of his bike and noise of the wind. In no time, they were back at his second apartment, and he was starting to have second thoughts about bringing this sexy piece of trouble with him, because this was the auxiliary spot. If this one was discovered, he didn’t have another.
He parked and waited while she jumped off before he got off and steadied the bike. The sun was setting, and he watched her standing there with her hands linked in front of her while she looked at the ground. They were going to have to talk about this when they got in the house, because she looked like he felt: awkward, unsure, and questioning what they hell they were doing. He walked up the stairs without a word knowing she would follow him, and when he reached the door and unlocked it, there was a peace that he’d not had the first time he’d attempted to enter. It just felt right that she was with him but damned if he could figure out why.
She’d walked in behind him and stood in the middle of the floor while he moved around turning on lights and opening blinds. He ended up in the kitchen and was grateful that he’d stashed most of his cash in this place, but it wasn’t stocked up on food like his other apartment. He knew she was close to him, and he wasn’t ready to turn around and look into her beautiful eyes while she tore him apart with whatever she was going to say, so he just opened up random cabinets to see what was available for tonight.
“I’m sorry,” Ella said with a voice so broken it felt like she could slice him with it. “When I met you at that bar, I didn’t know it was you, but when you told me who you were, I was so torn. Everything I’ve said was true. I just got out of prison, and I couldn’t find a job. The Reapers stashed a substantial load of coke in my purse, and that is what got me a prison sentence, but I got out early because of good behavior and assistance from a friend I made on the inside. I never should have had anything to do with them, but it was hard making any money when I got out, and I agreed in a weak moment.”
While she talked, he continued to look through the cabinets hoping she’d get the hint that he didn’t want to be bothered. That’s what he told himself anyway, but the real reason was he didn’t want to lose his anger. Just listening to her talk was hard enough, but if he had to look into the same eyes he gazed into while he’d had his cock in her mouth earlier that day, he didn’t think he’d be able to deny her anything. He needed to keep some distance to be objective. That was something he’d never had to work at before. How did she manage to get so deep under his skin in such a small amount of time? He wasn’t sure but he knew that made her… quite dangerous.
He slammed the last cabinet door a bit harder than he intended because he was startled with how much he was torn between wanting to comfort her and wanting to get away from her. Before he could walk off, she slammed herself against his chest and stuck to him like fly paper. To physically remove her would have been dangerous to both of them. He’d never hit a woman, but he was so mad he was not sure what would happen if she decided to fight him when he tried to remove her. There wasn’t anything he could think of to say to help this mess, so he just stayed still, but he sure as hell hoped she wasn’t crying. No way was he going to be able to handle that shit. He knew she wouldn’t hold him hostage like this forever, and she probably had a point she was trying to make, so he thought he’d just wait her out. The sexy, sweet smell that always accompanied her was making him hard. His stupid cock didn’t know this wasn’t fucking time. It needed to remember they were pissed, but the longer she held on, the more his cock could care less.
“I know you hate me right now, and I don’t blame you for that,” she said as she held on to him. He allowed it, but that was all he was prepared to do. “Thank you for coming to get me. I didn’t know what I was going to do next. My grandmother always said ‘sometimes you just need to sit still and let the answer come to you.’ I was unbelievably surprised when you texted me to say you were coming back. ”
“Why didn’t you just tell them where I was?” Tyler was somewhat surprised at her lack of self-preservation, because he didn’t know if he’d have done the same for her in her same predicament.
“I knew you didn’t have the money, and I didn’t want to think about what they would do to you.” She let him go and walked over to the table looking like she wanted to be anywhere but having this conversation. He didn’t understand her embarrassment over not wanting to see him hurt, but he recognized it. She was way too soft for this game she was playing and the people who were playing it with her. Ella was out of her league. These men didn’t do business like she did, and he hoped it wasn’t too late for her to get that message.
“You know that now that they are going to see this as a betrayal and you the betrayer.” He didn’t know if she’d gotten that far in her thought process or if she knew how the bad man system worked, but he felt he had to put that in her mind.
> “I got the memo,” she said as she walked aimlessly around the room.
There was nothing to eat but snack food. He didn’t want to eat or prepare anything at this point, so he took out a few menus from local restaurants, placed them on the counter, and scanned them for food choices.
“What do you want to eat?” he asked her because she looked like she was going to create a path in the plush carpet of the living room. He sighed and wondered what the hell he was becoming. He was one of the bad men, but this scrap of a woman had turned him into a sentimental fool who was trying to please her. He should have just made the decision and gone with it. The thing was he knew she loved to eat and wanted her to have at least this for comfort. He’d think about the reason why he was affording her such wide berth later.
She looked over at him as if she was surprised that he’d asked for her suggestion. “Can I have whatever I want?”
“I guess.” He thought she was acting strange, but what really did he know about this woman? Ella walked toward him, and he put his attention to straightening all of the menus out so she could see what was available.
Tempting Trouble (Highway Reapers Motorcycle Club Book 1) Page 8
