Women yelped, screamed, and swore at her as she invaded their privacy to find her friend. She didn't care. All that mattered was that she had to find Alessandra before Joe did, because, given what she knew of the heat that penetrated between her and Devon, those two would most likely be in a very uncompromising position.
Annoyed, Sammi climbed onto the sink countertop. "Seriously? On my wedding day, Mr. Hot and Sexy shows up and you disappear? What or who has gotten into you, girl? Come out now before you make him go off."
More women made their way into the bathroom to see the spectacle. Some laughed, but most were appalled by her behavior.
"Get down from there!" An angry redhead shouted.
"You can't climb on there. What's wrong with you?" Another scolded Sammi.
She wasn't making any friends. She was just a desperate bride, still wearing her wedding gown, climbing onto the bathroom counter tops like her life depended on it because if Robert or Joe found out about Devon, they would be livid.
Sammi looked down at the wide eyed crowd and tried to explain, "Look, my friend came in here to change and now we can't find her. You could glare at me and waste time or you could help me find her. She was wearing a bridesmaid dress. A very expensive bridesmaid dress." Sammi added, pointing out that Alessandra would have stuck out like a sore thumb in this crowd. Someone should have seen her.
A small woman, who was more breasts than body, spoke up. "Wait! I saw that girl." She nodded at a woman standing by the sinks. "She was the one with Devil."
"That's it! You know Devil?" Sammi leaped down off the counter, wanting to hug the woman. "Yeah, she was talking to him. Did you see which way she went?"
Both women started laughing, giving each other knowing looks. One answered, "Knowing Devil, probably the nearest hotel."
Sammi's heart sank. "Funny, but did you happen to notice if she walked out?"
This time, more women started laughing.
"What's so funny? I can't find my friend and you think there's humor in that." Sammi's face reddened with anger.
The red-haired woman stepped closer to Sammi, her warm breath on her face. "Sweetheart, your friend made a deal with the Devil. He doesn't always play nice."
Sammi backed away, unsure whether to be angry or terrified. "I don't know what that means."
The woman laughed, prompting all of the other women to laugh heartily.
"I'm just messing with you. He's not going to kill her." She snorted. "You don't know who he is, do you?"
"No." Sammi took another step back, leaning on the counter top.
"He's the Devil. He's President of the Devil Riders. I don't know who your friend thought she was talking to, but she's about to find out. That's why you shouldn't talk to strangers." The woman smiled a near toothless smile.
Sammi inhaled, feeling like she might be sick. She didn't know how she was going to tell Joe and Robert this information.
"Thanks," she murmured as she walked out of the bathroom. Robert and Joe stood behind the women in line, anxiously waiting for her to give them some news.
"We need to talk." Sammi looked around. "Outside."
*
Joe looked at her with fire burning in his eyes. "What? She has to be around here somewhere. She wouldn't just leave with the guy? Help me look."
Sammi closed her eyes for a moment. She could feel Robert's eyes on her.
"She's here somewhere. Don't worry. But, why would you leave her alone with the guy? Isn't that the guy from Florida you told me about?"
Sighing, Sammi answered, "Yes, but I didn't know she was going to take off with him. I thought they'd talk and go about their business, not--"
Robert interrupted, sneering, "They went about their business all right. I just hope we find her before Joe does. Here, take my hand and let's go help him look. There's so many people here, it's hard to see anything."
Sammi searched the crowd, hoping that she'd just missed Alessandra because she knew there was no way she'd miss seeing Devon. Her eyes were trained to hone in on handsome men. Alessandra always teased her about that.
"Where are you," Sammi whispered, her eyes wide, searching for her friend.
Joe was inside the gas station, moving frantically through the crowd, asking if anyone had seen her, but no one remembered seeing her.
"How can you not remember a Black woman in a bridesmaid dress in a gas station in the middle of nowhere? How often do you see that?" Joe's emotions were all over the place. His senses told him that something had gone wrong. He tried to ignore them, but the longer he searched to no avail, the angrier he became. Finally, he walked to the front counter, frightening the clerk, "I can't find my girlfriend. She came in here and never came out. The last person she was seen talking to was some guy named Devon. Has anyone seen her?"
There were murmurs from the crowd, heads shaking, indicating no on saw her. A couple of men took charge and started barking orders at others to go help look for her on the grounds, then, others followed suit.
Sammi gasped when the crowd migrated outside, forming a perimeter around the gas station.
Joe walked out with two men and they took charge of the search. He motioned for Robert and Sammi to come over.
"Okay, she's not in there. No one remembers seeing her. They are going to help us look. She couldn't have gone too far. It's only been like twenty minutes or so." Looking at Sammi, he asked, "Tell me everything you know about this Devon guy."
She looked to Robert for reassurance. He nodded at her. "Tell him. It's okay."
"What? Tell me, what?" Joe's voice shook.
"His name is Devon Matthews. We met him in Florida. She--" Sammi started.
The two men standing with them interrupted her as they started talking to each other, seeming to know something about Devon.
One spoke up, "Hell. Um... I know him. You sure that's who your girlfriend was talking to?"
Joe's mouth went dry. "That's what I was told."
The man took off his cap and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "That's Devil." Sammi swallowed hard, afraid of what he was going to say next. "He's a... Well, let's just say, he's not someone you want to leave your girl with. I saw him. He was here when we pulled in. I didn't see him with the girl, though. His crew was parked right there." He pointed to an empty space in the back of the lot.
"His crew?" Joe asked, hoping he hadn't heard right. "They're gone?"
The other man nodded. "Yeah, they left out of here like fifteen minutes ago. I didn't pay attention to if they had your girl with them. I don't run with them. I got a job, kids, a wife. That's a different crowd. Sorry, man. Have you tried calling her?"
Sammi answered, "No. Our phones don't work out here. We lost our signal as soon as we hit Nebraska. Do you have a phone and a number for him?"
Both men laughed. One answered, "No, sweetheart. This isn't the kind of guy you want to have connections with. That crew is... Well, like I said, I got family. I just ride. What they do, they do. I mind my own business."
"We have to call the police." Sammi looked at Robert.
Joe answered, "Why would she go with him?"
Sammi didn't have an answer for that. Alessandra was usually so level headed. There had to be a reason, but for the life of her, she couldn't think of one that was good enough to constitute leaving her boyfriend and her best friend behind, especially somewhere she's never been with a man she swore she never wanted to see again.
One of the men chimed in. "Look, you do what you have to do, but just be warned, if you start something with Devil and his crew, you better be prepared for the consequences." Sighing, he offered some advice, "Maybe, she just went for a walk. Maybe she just needed to clear her head. We'll help you look too. Not everyone here is like them. Bikers are good people."
Joe looked at Robert. "What do I do here?"
Robert raked his hand through his hair. "We'll find her. I'm sure she didn't leave with him."
"I'm sorry," Sammi offered, but Joe didn't respond.
Alessandra looked back at him. "What are you doing?"
"Watching you," Devon answered.
"Well, don't. Leave. I don't need him to see you. This is crazy enough as it is." Alessandra started on the dirt path leading back to the gas station. She could hear bike and car engines roaring.
"Hey, it's not like I kidnapped you. You were a willing participant, if I remember correctly." He rubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin, smirking.
Alessandra fought to control her nerves. She knew she'd been gone too long and that everyone would be worried. Now, she had to come up with an excuse as to why she wandered off without telling anyone. Devon wasn't doing her any good by taking pleasure in her predicament.
He called after her, "Don't forget. You can call me on that phone anytime, day or night. Don't lose it."
She put her hand over her handbag to make sure the cell phone Devon had given her was still there, but she didn't turn around to respond back to him. She feared that if she did that, his handsome face and the magnetic pull that existed between them would force her right back in his arms and she'd never be able to pull herself away from him again.
The roar of the engines ahead got louder. As she kept walking, she could hear the sound of voices. She took a deep breath, partially relieved that she had found her way back through the trees and partially disappointed that she had to say goodbye to Devon again. He was a hard man to resist and he knew it.
"Okay, get it together. You're fine. You just went for a walk. No big deal," Alessandra tried to convince herself that all was fine and that she’d be able to get Devon out of her head. She loved Joe. He was solid and kind and generous.
"What were you thinking?" Alessandra asked herself as she made it back to the gas station and saw Joe standing with his back to her, looking through the trees on the other side of the parking lot.
Some people nearby caught sight of her and started shouting, "Hey, is this her? She's right here."
One of the women in the crowd, a redheaded woman approached her, speaking in a gruff voice, "You the one the bride is looking for?"
Alessandra swallowed the lump that formed in her throat, answering feebly, "The bride?"
Sammi rushed at her from behind a truck. "Where the hell did you go?" She ran over to Alessandra and hugged her tightly, whispering, "I thought you were gone forever. What the hell happened? You weren't supposed to take off with him."
"I... I... " Alessandra started, but she couldn't find the right words to explain.
Robert and Joe were running in their direction. A broad smile splashed across Robert's face. In Joe's eyes, all Alessandra could see was anger.
"Where were you?" Joe asked, stopping steps before reaching her.
"I went for a walk." Alessandra hated lying to him.
"Where?" He asked, looking past her into the trees. "There? By yourself or with him?"
Alessandra looked at Sammi.
"I didn't know what happened to you," Sammi answered, tears in her eyes.
"By myself. I’m allowed to do that you know," Alessandra answered, defiantly.
Joe turned around, saying to Robert. "Let's get out of here. Check the bikes and let's go."
Robert placed his hand on Alessandra's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "You okay?"
She nodded, tears welling in her eyes. Behind her, in the distance, she heard the roar of Devon's bike and her heart sank further into the pit of her stomach. Sammi took her hand and walked through the parking lot with, nodding at the people who had helped them search for her. Alessandra felt like the worst person in the world.
When they reached their vehicle, she and Sammi got in while Robert and Joe checked the trailer hitch and the bikes in the back. Alessandra sat clutching the dress she had on, while Sammi tried to find the right thing to say.
Finally, Sammi asked, "So, what happened?"
Tears fell from Alessandra's eyes. She glanced back at Joe and answered, "He wanted to talk, so I don't know. I went with him. We were just over there in the trees and we talked."
"Is that why your makeup is smeared?" Sammi asked.
"We just talked." Alessandra sighed before continuing. "I don't know. It's like I can't resist him. He is so... I don't know."
"He is trouble. He may be sexy as hell, but he's trouble. When we mentioned that he was the one you were talking to, all these bikers freaked out or shut down. You know he has a crew? That redheaded lady told me that he runs a crew or something like that. Honey, I know he makes your panties all wet. I get it, but maybe you should just leave him alone now. I'm sorry I got you into this in the first place." Sammi reached over the seat and started primping Alessandra's makeup.
"I know. Now, Joe's mad at me and I ruined your wedding day," Alessandra answered.
"Joe will be fine and you didn't ruin anything. We're good. You're safe and that's all that matters. Now, you better pay some extra special attention to that handsome man back there or you'll break his heart. He loves you, girl. He was worried and prepared to kill Devon, if he hurt you. Let's just forget this happened and have some fun." Sammi tried to console Alessandra.
"Devon's going to the rally," Alessandra answered, flatly.
Sammi contemplated for a few minutes before answering, "If you see him, avoid him like the plague. Focus on Joe and only Joe. Have some fun and relax. Hell, spend the whole weekend locked in your hotel room with Joe. I'm sure he won't mind, but whatever you do, avoid Devon like the plague. You don’t need none of that in your life right now or ever."
*
"Wow, look at all those bikes parked out there," Alessandra mused as she looked at the hotel room window.
Joe hadn't said more than ten words to her all night and usually only one word responses each time he did speak He looked out, making sure not to touch her as he did. They'd spent a tense night together, sharing the same bed, making sure neither crossed the invisible line that formed between them.
Alessandra hated herself for being so careless and letting Devon and his all-too-sexy ways lure her off the property and into the woods. She should have known better. It didn't matter that nothing had happened between the two of them. At least not anything that she could bring herself to admit to happening, but just the mere fact that she'd walked away with another man was enough to have created a sudden wedge in her relationship with Joe.
Alessandra wasn't used to being on this side of things. She was usually the one left with hurt feelings and feeling betrayed, not the one doing the harm. She had no idea how to recover from this. Despite the desperate pleas, she had made in past relationships, begging her ex to explain why he did the things he did, she now found herself unable to find the right words to say. She knew she was wrong on so many levels and knew that she'd broken a trust that would never fully repair itself, but telling him the truth would hurt Joe even more and that's the last thing she wanted to do now.
Clearing her throat as she watched a sulking Joe walk away from her, she asked, "So, what are we going to do today? I imagine Sammi and Robert will probably stay in their room all day."
Joe shrugged, not looking at her. "Eat."
"Oh, okay, where? What do you feel like eating? I saw a lot of little dive restaurants as we drove into town. Want to try one of those?" She asked.
Joe nodded in response.
"Well, what do you want to eat?"
He shrugged, still not making eye contact with her.
Feeling defeated, Alessandra said, "Well, okay, I'll hop in the shower, then, we can go."
Joe didn't answer.
She gathered her clothes, making sure to walk close to Joe, hoping he'd reach out to her like he always did when she got anywhere near him, but he didn't. Instead, he threw himself on the bed, covering his eyes with his arm and pretended not to notice. Her heart sank. She wanted to reach out to him and feel him wrap his strong arms around her, but she feared he'd reject her and she didn't blame him.
A lump in her throat, she left Joe on the bed alon
e and walked into the bathroom, so he wouldn't see her tears. Looking at herself in the mirror, she scowled. She wished she could take back everything that she did and start this trip all over again.
Outside, in the room, she could hear Joe moving around. It broke her heart that he'd averted his eyes and pretended like he didn't care while she was in the room with him, but moved around freely as soon as she left the room.
"Joe?" She called out, desperate to apologize again.
Devil's Ride Page 5
