by Brook Wilder
“What is it?” he asked, noticing her stare, and Elsie forced a shrug.
“It’s just that… you’re nice, for a kidnapper,” she said softly, and her words earned a scowl from the big man sitting behind her.
“I’m not nice, darling, don’t you ever forget that. I’m not a kidnapper, either.” The last bit was said under his breath and she had the feeling he was talking more to himself than her.
“Then let me go,” she pleaded, some sense of self-preservation forcing her to speak. “Let me go and we’ll just forget all about this. I won’t say anything, I promise.”
He gave her a long look before finally shaking his head. “I don’t think so, sweetheart. It’s far too late for that. You’ll stay with me until I figure out what to do with you. Make things easier on yourself and stay quiet.”
“You have to let me go!” Elsie said, a sudden panic making her lurch in the saddle. The horse beneath her gave a snort of displeasure, shaking his head.
Hatchet quickly snaked his arm around Elsie’s waist, holding her tight against him. He took a moment to calm the animal before growling in her ear. “If you try that again, I might just let Samson here throw you. I might not be there to catch you in time again. Now, I don’t want any trouble.” He cut off abruptly as they trotted out of the tree line and onto an older access road. At this time of night, it was completely deserted of cars, but as they crossed the pavement Elsie could just make out a large ditch that ran along the shoulder and at the bottom of which was a beat up old truck with a trailer attached. Beside it were two motorcycles and one very impatient looking man.
“Jesus, Hatchet! It’s about fucking time!” the man exploded, sounding angry while at the same time somehow managing to keep his voice down. Elsie saw the exact moment the new man’s eyes found hers in the dark. She could see the way he stiffened and then turned a deadly glare towards the man still sitting behind her. “A girl? Hatchet, we had a plan. Who is she? And what the fuck is going on?”
Chapter 4
Hatchet had to force himself not to flinch under Jackrabbit’s pissed off stare. It made it even worse knowing that he deserved it.
“Here, give me a hand, will you?” He nodded towards Elsie who had practically frozen in shock in front of him. “I’ve got the cattle back here.”
“Why, Hatchet?” Jackrabbit asked, and Hatchet knew he wasn’t asking about why he needed help. But all he could do was shake his head, at a total and complete loss for the first time in a long while. If he was being honest, he couldn’t even answer that question for himself. So Hatchet did what he’d always done when backed into a corner. He bluffed.
“She was out in the field. She saw me, Rabbit. I didn’t have a choice…” Hatchet started. But Jackrabbit held up a hand, pausing whatever he was going to say next.
“I’m sure I’ll get the full story in a minute. Just help me get the cattle loaded. Ricky nearly pissed himself waiting for you and I nearly fell into a coma from boredom.” Jackrabbit stepped forward, reaching his hands up to grab the girl’s arm. Before realizing it, Hatchet slid off Samson’s back, putting himself between his captive and his best friend.
“I’ve got her, Rabbit,” Hatchet said quickly, unable to quell the need to protect her as he nodded behind the horse to where the cows were standing. “Why don’t you get what we came for?”
Hatchet didn’t know why he hated the idea of the other man touching her, but he did.
Jackrabbit stared at him long and hard before he finally shrugged, walked around to untie the cattle, and led them towards the waiting trailer.
“Wait a minute! What are you doing with Lily, Trixie, and Pearl?” the girl suddenly yelled.
Hatchet gave her an odd look as he reached up and grasped her around the waist. “Who?”
“Them. The cows.” She nodded towards where Jackrabbit was having a hard time leading the suddenly stubborn cows up the ramp into the trailer, “Lily, Trixie, and Pearl are their names.”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course they are. I’m surprised you didn’t name them pig, chicken, and donkey, like your horse.”
“You’re being an asshole,” she said.
Suddenly, Hatchet found himself fighting a grin. What the hell was going on with him? He was a member of the Roadburners, one of the toughest motorcycle crews in West Texas, and here he was drooling over some girl. Jackrabbit cleared his throat to draw Hatchet’s attention.
“You just gonna stand there all night, Hatchet, or are you going help me load this haul?” Jackrabbit’s voice held a caustic edge that Hatchet did his best to ignore.
“Yeah, Rabbit, just hold on a damn minute,” Hatchet muttered towards his friend before turning back to the woman. “Now, I’m going to help you off, alright? Don’t do anything stupid.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything else, so he took that for a good sign whether it was or not. This heist was supposed to be a simple job, in and out, and it was already FUBAR—fucked up beyond all recognition. Here he was with an extra witness, and he still hadn’t figured out what he was going to do with her.
With her hands still tied, it was impossible for her to get down by herself, but it was easy for him to lift her from Samson’s saddle. The well-trained horse stood still, waiting patiently while she threw her leg over. Her body slid down his as he lowered her gently to the ground, and he noticed for the first time just how much smaller she was than him. It distracted him for a moment, as did the memory of her lush softness sweeping down his still hard body.
“Hatchet! Fuck man! A little help?”
He turned at the angry pleading in Jackrabbit’s voice to see him trying to shove the cows by the back end into the trailer. It would have been comical had he not been so god-damned unnerved by this girl’s powerful effect on him.
“Stay here. Don’t move,” he ordered the girl, who just gestured to her still tied hands in lieu of a response. After giving her one last, hard look, he jogged towards where Jackrabbit was still ineffectually trying to get the cattle loaded.
“You push. I’ll pull,” he said, grabbing the lead ropes. Jackrabbit rolled his eyes.
“You try pushing a half ton of cow,” he growled and Hatchet couldn’t keep the grin off his face or the laughter out of his voice.
“Just do it, okay? We need to get this done and get the hell out of here.”
“I know that, Hatchet,” he growled again. “I’m not the one who’s running two hours late. I’m not the one who decided to pick up a stray along the way. I’m not the one…”
“Yeah, I read you, Rabbit. We can stand here and argue about this or we can get the fucking job done. Your call.”
“Yeah, right,” Jackrabbit sneered. “Let’s just fucking do this so I can go home and get drunk, alright?”
Hatchet didn’t say anything else. He just grabbed the rope and started to pull. The cows didn’t budge. He pulled again, almost swore that they had taken an extra step backwards out of spite.
“Fucking cows won’t move,” Hatchet ground out between clenched jaws, his muscles bulging as he pulled on the ropes connected to the cattle.
“No shit, Hatchet. This is all your fucking fault, you know that, right? You’re such an asshole,” Jackrabbit said as he took a step back and threw his hands up in the air before planting them on his hips. “You screwed us over.”
“No, I didn’t!” Hatchet dropped the ropes as his own temper flared. He dropped the makeshift reins and stalked over to where Jackrabbit was still standing behind the stubborn cattle. “I didn’t do shit!”
“Shit is exactly what you did do, Hatchet.” Jackrabbit’s eyes narrowed on him as he walked closer. “What the fuck were you thinking? We’ve been working these jobs for over three years now and you’ve never pulled anything like this.”
“You don’t understand, Rabbit. She saw my face. She’d seen me with the cows’ trackers. What was I supposed to do, just send her on her way and hope that she didn’t call for help? Or the god-damned cops?”
<
br /> “Like Sheriff Donohue could have tracked us down. A sleepy sheriff of a sleepy small town. He’s not a threat.”
“Well, Mad Dog seems to think otherwise,” Hatchet replied and Jackrabbit flinched.
Mad Dog was the president of the Roadburners crew, and Jackrabbit had a good reason to flinch. Though he may be the vice president, ever since a job went south the year before there had been some bad blood between the two of them. And Mad Dog had gotten his nickname for a reason. He had a quick-fire temper that turned deadly, often without warning. He wasn’t someone to cross.
“You think he’s going to be particularly happy when he sees what else you brought home with you?” Rabbit asked, one eyebrow arched. Hatchet just shrugged.
“Look, she’s my problem. Not yours. I’ll deal with her, okay? Just lay off the lecture. I don’t need this shit from you.”
“You need it from someone, Hatch. You’ve been reckless.” His friend stared at him.
Hatchet couldn’t form an answer. He’d known the other man for over fifteen years. They’d served together overseas, and Rabbit was the one who had helped him dig his life out of the shithole he’d found himself in after McLaurel had fired him. Rabbit was the one who’d introduced him to the Roadburners. Hatchet owed the other man his life, but he still didn’t have an answer for him.
“Just leave it be, alright?” Hatchet demanded. “I’ll figure this shit out.”
“Well, you better, man. I don’t want to be pulled down with you… What the hell?” Hatchet turned to follow Jackrabbit’s wide-eyed gaze and it only took a minute to find the source of his surprise. The cows were moving, happily following the woman up the ramp. Her hands were still tied but she seemed to be holding out a piece of fruit to lure them inside the trailer, and they followed like little kittens after a bowl of cream.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Hatchet said. He watched the odd parade as the petite girl easily led the cows into the trailer, coming out by herself a few minutes later. She gave him an exasperated look.
“I was getting tired of listening to you girls argue. Now, if you’re done bickering, can you… can you let me go?”
There was a pleading in her voice that was hard for Hatchet to resist. He looked to Jackrabbit for help, but the man was already loading up Samson next to the cattle and closing the back of the trailer.
Jackrabbit got on his motorcycle, which had been parked and waiting next to Hatchet’s, before finally looking over. He glanced from Hatchet, to the girl, and then back again before he just shrugged.
“I’ll see you later. Figure it out,” Jackrabbit said. He turned the throttle, and a millisecond later the engine purred to life and he rode out onto the road along with the truck and trailer carrying their haul.
Slowly, Hatchet turned back to the woman, whose hands were still tied and who was looking up at him with those big innocent eyes.
Hatchet wracked his brain, but he just didn’t know what the fuck to do with her. It didn’t help that her subtle perfume, something light and sweet all at the same time, was getting into his head and doing all sorts of things to his ability to think straight.
“You have to let me go now,” she said, and it wasn’t a question. It was a demand. Hatchet cocked his head, looking down at her. “Your friend didn’t seem to mind.”
“And what if I don’t want to do that?” His voice dropped an octave, turning rough and gravelly as his spoke. His thoughts were filled with all the things he would much rather do to her than let her go.
“You have to! Let me go right this instance, or I’ll… or you’ll regret it!” She was glaring now, and Hatchet couldn’t keep his mouth from curling up at the edges as amusement rolled through him.
Here he was, at least twice the size of her, and she was threatening him. It was funny, and endearing, and if he wasn’t careful he had a feeling that this little woman would have him on his knees. A flush of arousal at the thought left his pants feeling tighter than before. Yeah, kneeling would put him at exactly the right height… Stay focused, asshole. This is about the job. That’s all. Nothing else. Stop letting your dick do your thinking for you.
Finally, Hatchet sighed, moving more from instinct than anything else as he reached around her for the rope that bound her hands together. Before he could let himself think twice about what he was doing he tugged at the knot keeping it secure and a moment later it fell to the ground.
“Are you letting me go?” She rubbed at her wrists.
He felt a pang of guilt but shoved it away. He was a criminal for Christ’s sake. He couldn’t let himself feel bad about doing what he had to.
“No. I’m giving you a choice.” The words came out harder than he had intended, and he hated when she flinched at his tone. But her big eyes never left his. He wondered briefly at their color once more, wondering what it was. He would find out soon enough.
“What choice?”
“You can turn around right now and walk back to the ranch, or you can come with me. Those are your only two options.” Hatchet stared down at her, forcing his hands to stay still at his side. “Decide now.”
She looked around nervously at the deserted old road surrounded by miles and miles of empty land. He saw her hesitate and he knew what her answer would be. But, just as she opened her mouth to speak, a haunting sound rose from the tree line that circled them. Coyotes. And by the sound of them, it was a large pack, and hungry.
Hatchet saw the fear creep into her eyes as the pack howled again, drawing closer this time, and he saw the exact moment her answer solidified.
“Alright,” she said, nodding once as she stepped towards him, “I’ll come with you.”
“No second chances,” he said gruffly. He didn’t think he had it in him to let her go twice. Anger flashed like quicksilver across her features, but it fled as the hungry howls broke the quiet once more. This time, it sounded like it was coming from right behind them.
“Let’s just get out of here, okay? I’ve seen what a small pack of coyotes can do to a cow four times my size.”
“Whatever you want, darlin’,” Hatchet said, walking towards his motorcycle. “Whatever you want.”
Chapter 5
Hatchet revved the engine, a part of himself finding peace as it always did when he was on the back of the motorcycle. To him, his motorcycle was freedom and power all wrapped into one. It took him a long moment to realize that the woman hadn’t followed him. He looked over to see her standing still in the middle of the road, looking at him with hesitation.
“Come on. Get on the bike. Those coyotes sounded pretty hungry.” As soon as he spoke the pack of wild animals howled again.
The woman cast an apprehensive look behind her, and then shot an equally nervous one towards the bike.
“Never ridden on a motorcycle before?” Hatchet asked.
She slowly shook her head no. He cocked his head, just to look at her for a moment, trying to figure her out. Here was a woman who had risked her own safety to go searching for a few cows in the dead of night, who had stared him down with more courage than good sense when he tied her up and dragged her with him. A woman who, just moments ago, had stared him down and demanded that he let her go.
Now she was afraid to ride on the back of a motorcycle.
It was oddly endearing, and what was even odder was the instinct rising up inside him to ease her fears. He didn’t get involved with women. He’d learned the hard way over the years that in the end they only brought him pain and he had a feeling that, if he let his guard down, this little slip of a girl would hurt him worst of all.
But he ignored the warning as he slid off the bike and held out a hand towards her.
“Come on,” he coaxed her gently, a small lop-sided grin drawing up one corner of his mouth. “It won’t bite, sweetheart.” She drew closer and electricity shot through him when she placed her delicate palm against his. “But I will.”
Her eyes flew to his with a sharp breath and he’d bet his bottom dollars that she w
as blushing. Hatchet slid his thumb across her cheek to see if he could feel that tell-tale heat, but he lost himself in the silk-soft feel of her skin. They stood there for a long moment before another haunting howl from the coyotes broke through the lust-induced haze that had practically turned his world upside down.
Hatchet drew his hand down her body, breathing heavy as he took both her hands in his and led her to the bike.
“We got to get out of here.” He had to swallow his arousal when she took a step closer to him. Her intoxicating perfume invaded his senses. Hatchet didn’t waste any time lifting her up and helping her on small back seat of the bike before sliding into the saddle in front of her.
