Run To Me

by Erin Trejo

  RUN TO ME

  Run To Me

  By Erin Trejo

  Edited By: Elfwerks Editing

  Cover Design: Golden Czermak with Furious Fotog

  Cover Model: Joe Adams

  Photographer: Golden Czermak with Furious Fotog

  All rights reserved. Copyright 2019@ Erin Trejo

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written consent from the author, except in the instance of quotes for reviews. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the Internet without the permission of the author, which is a violation of the International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines and imprisonment.

  This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents and places are products of the author’s imagination, and are not to be construed as real except where noted and authorized. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events are entirely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, names featured are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 1

  Lynx

  She’s more than just a friend. We both know it. I watch her smile while we’re out with our friends, although I know that smile is forced. Inside, she’s slowly dying. She’s slipping through the cracks of a fucked-up legal system. They claimed to not see it, but I do. Every time she climbs in my bedroom window. Every time she cries in my arms. Every time I slip inside of her. I never knew that someone could become such an important part of my life but she is. Harper Gemston. She is everything yet doesn’t know it.

  “You gonna stare at the bitch all night?” I cringe when my dad says the word.

  “Watch your mouth, old man,” I growl low in my throat. I hate when he gets like this. It pisses me off. In seconds, he has my cut bunched in his hands, slamming me against the side of the clubhouse.

  “Watch yours, boy. You know who the fuck I am or do I need to remind you?” His eyes burn holes through me. He wants to fuck my world up and I may let him. My life is complicated. I don’t care what happens to me most days. I hate this place, this club. I want nothing more to do with them, but I grew up here. How the hell do you get away from that? The only family you’ve ever known.

  “You keep puttin’ your hands on me and we’re gonna have problems,” I grunt.

  “You two knock it off. I don’t know what the problem is between you but it needs to stop,” Vic, our VP, snaps at us. My dad chuckles and backs away, lowering his hands. He sneers in my direction before storming back inside.

  “What is with the two of you?” Vic asks as I pull out a cigarette and light it up.

  “Who the hell knows? He never has liked me.”

  “You’re his kid. He has to like you,” he adds.

  “Like fuck. He thinks I’m the reason mom’s dead. Always has. You of all people should know that, brother. Don’t matter now, right?”

  He cocks his head to study me, wondering where I’m going with this.

  “Meanin’?”

  “Meanin’ I put in for Nomad status. I want out of this shit. I want away from him.”

  “Jesus Christ, Lynx! You think he’s really gonna let that go through?”

  “That’s what I got you for! Make him let it go through, Vic! It’s either that or we’re gonna end up killin’ each other one day and you know it,” I hiss. We all know it. It’s in the air. Like a fucking chill that you can’t shake. We all know it’s inevitable. Vic runs his hand through his shaggy hair as he watches me.

  “This is gonna turn into a shit show, Lynx.”

  “I know that. Just do what you gotta do, brother,” I tell him before moving toward her. She doesn’t look up, not until I’m almost on top of her. Her head turns, her long red hair falling over her shoulder. Her eyes lock with mine and the air is sucked from my lungs. God, this woman is perfect.

  “You okay?” she asks sweetly.

  My heart pounds in my chest. This is what she does to me. I lean down, pressing my lips to hers. She tastes like home. Everything about her screams it.

  “No. I just…I just need you, Harper.” Her eyes sparkle as she smiles up at me. If it wasn’t for her, I would have left this place a long time ago, but she needs me as much as I need her.

  “Come on,” she says, grabbing my hand and leading me toward the side of the clubhouse and back through the tree line. Once we reach her favorite spot, she pulls me against her. Her lips claim mine, and for once in my life, I give into her. I let her take control. My lips slowly caress hers as she moans and pants. Her body is pressed against mine.

  “Happy Birthday, Lynx,” she whispers before stepping back. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small box, holding it out to me. I smirk at her, reaching for it.

  “You didn’t have to get me anything, Harper. You’re all I want,” I remind her, watching her cheeks turn pink. She’s pure perfection in her own fucked-up way.

  “I know. Open it,” she urges.

  I shake my head and pull the tiny bow off before pulling the lid from the box. My heart beats a little faster as I look at it. A necklace with a motorcycle hanging from it.

  “Harper.”

  “Flip it over,” she says softly.

  I lift the charm in my fingers and flip it over. Inscribed on the back it says, With you always. I bring my eyes back up to meet hers and I lose myself. Right there in her green eyes, I lose me. No one has ever given a shit about me the way she does. I reach for her, holding her around the back of her neck, dragging her lips to mine. This kiss is heated but also gentle.

  “Thank you, Harper.”

  “I’ll always be with you, Lynx.”

  I sigh, knowing the truth. She’s mine and always will be.

  “What do you see in the future?” she asks, intertwining our fingers. I lick my lips and give her all my honesty.

  “You. Us. I see us.”

  Chapter 2

  Harper

  Lightness settles in my chest. Lynx is everything I could ever want. His way of life is scary at times, but I’ve known him for years. He isn’t as bad as everyone thinks. He does what he has to do in order to stay alive. We all do.

  “I wish I didn’t have to go back there,” I whisper into his chest.

  “Not much longer, babe.”

  I fist my hands in his shirt and just savor the moment I have with him. In a few minutes I will have to return to my own hell. My own darkness. I’m an orphan. I was put up for adoption when I was ten weeks old. I never knew my real parents. I was never adopted. I’ve bounced from foster home to foster home. I always thought it was because of my heart condition. I had a transplant when I was four. I’ve had a handful of complications since then. Sometimes I’d
spend more time in hospitals than I did at foster homes but that was okay with me. Until I moved here. My foster parents’ house is right behind the clubhouse. That’s where I met Lynx. He was sneaking around in the trees that separate my house and his. I was out one night just trying to catch my breath and take a moment to myself when he found me. I’ll never forget that day. It changed me forever.

  “I know, but…”

  “Don’t do that, Harper. I get it’s bad, fuck, I get it more than anyone, but after I put in for Nomad status and you turn eighteen, we’re out of here,” Lynx reminds me. I can’t stop smiling when the words fall from those beautiful lips.

  “I know. That’s the only thing keeping me going,” I admit to him. He’s my world. He’s my rock and he’s my protector. I would follow him to the ends of the earth if I had to.

  “Just stay quiet and in your room, yeah?” He leans down pressing his lips to mine once more. I slip my arms around his neck, wrapping my hands in his long dirty blonde hair. His lips move down my neck, licking and sucking when I hear him roar.

  “Harper!” my foster dad, Dave, screams from the back porch. I flinch and wince.

  “I swear to God, Harper. I wanna kill that bastard,” Lynx growls, his hand tightening on my back.

  “If only that were legal.”

  “Don’t give two fucks if it’s legal or not. I hate him,” he hisses between his teeth. I reach up and grab his face in my hands, forcing him to look at me.

  “You can’t do it, Lynx. I need you.” My voice is nothing but a whisper.

  “I need you, too. Always.”

  “I need to go,” I tell him when I hear Dave screaming louder. My chest tightens to the point of pain. I hate this. I hate leaving him. I hate living most days. Lynx holds me a little tighter before I feel his arms slowly relax.

  “Run to me,” he whispers the words that always make my heart leap. The words that always soothe me and let me know that he’s here for me whenever I need him.

  I nod my head and kiss him once more before walking away. I can hear Dave mouthing off and cursing. I wonder if he’s already beat on Cheryl, my foster mom. It wouldn’t surprise me. That’s usually when he comes looking for me. As I clear the trees, I spot him on the porch. I crouch low and try to sneak past him to the front of the house. Moving quickly yet silently, I sneak around the house and head in the front door. Cheryl’s on the floor, blood pooling around her. I gasp but then hear her murmur.

  “Run away,” she pleads. I shake my head, drop to my knees, and try to cover the gash on her head.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone out,” I whisper when I hear the back door slam. I jolt, looking over my shoulder as Dave comes into view. He’s not a big man but he is strong when he’s drinking.

  “Where the hell were you?” he hisses as he looks down at me. I keep my hand pressed on the mess he made of Cheryl’s head, trying my best to keep it from bleeding more.

  “Why did you do this to her?” I scream at him.

  He just smirks at me. He moves closer, throwing a beer bottle that I can’t avoid. It slams into my eyebrow, blood immediately starts leaking down my face. I suck in the sob as he makes his way closer to me. I’m panicking. I don’t know what to do. He’s going to hurt me. I know it. Stupid, Harper. So stupid. You should have kept your mouth shut! Yanking me by my hair from the floor, I cry out from the pain. My scalp hurts but not worse than my face when he punches me. I cry now. Hot tears falling down my face. I try to fight back but I can’t. Dave back hands me, sending me falling into the cabinet. My body aches when he comes back after me. I cover my face trying to avoid any further pain.

  “You little bitch!” he roars.

  Before he reaches me, I hear the back door crash in. Dave moves and I jerk my head up. Lynx is there.

  “Lynx?” I ask as if he’s not real. He is real though. He has to be. I knew he’d protect me. His eyes move over me before his face hardens. He turns away just as Dave moves toward him. It all happens in slow motion. Cheryl’s on the phone. I can hear her calling for help. Lynx beats Dave until he isn’t moving, and I stay cradling myself against the wall. Tears and blood mix as they fall down my face. In seconds, Lynx has me lifted in his arms, cradling my face in his hands.

  “Take this and run. Do you hear me? Run!” he hisses, stuffing money in my hand. I shake my head confused.

  “I’m not leaving you!”

  “You have to go! The cops are comin’, baby. Just run! Don’t look back. They’ll just give you back to this sick fuck, Harper. Fuckin’ run!” I shake my head but Lynx kisses me and shoves me toward the door. In a haze-filled state, I do as I was told.

  I run.

  Chapter 3

  Lynx

  My knuckles burn but I welcome that fire. It’s all I’ve known for the past five years of my life. It was this way or death. I wasn’t ready to die. No, I had far too much to live for.

  “You about done?” Vic asks as I pound the man’s face again.

  “Not yet,” I growl breathlessly, throwing another punch. When the man’s body can no longer be held up, Vic lets him slide to the ground. “I wasn’t done!” I roar.

  “Yeah, well he was.” He nods toward the lifeless fuck on the ground. I grit my teeth, pissed off that the asshole didn’t make it longer than he had.

  “Fuck this,” I grumble, wiping my hands on my jeans as I storm toward the door. I’m pissed off, so much rage burning inside of me I’m finding it hard to control.

  “What is with you? Didn’t you get enough fightin’ in the pen?” Vic asks as I light up a cigarette and look up at the stars. That’s something I haven’t seen in the last five years while I was in the pen.

  I beat Dave. I beat him to near death and didn’t blink a fucking eye. All that mattered was that Harper was out of there and he couldn’t touch her again. I took the prison sentence for beating him and she disappeared. It was like a fucking punch to the gut every time I thought about it. Every day I would wonder where she was, when she was going to come see me. Every night I’d fall asleep with visions of her in my head only to wake up and do the same thing the next day. It was pure fucking hell.

  “That’s all I did. It’s all I’m used to.” Vic nods his head puffing on his own cigarette.

  “You sure this is still what you want, Lynx?”

  I glance over at the man that’s been more of a father to me than my own ever was. Vic’s a good guy when it comes down to it. Actually, he’s one hell of man in my book. He’s always taken me under his wing and showed me the way, but more than that, he’s the only one who ever came to see me while I was locked up.

  “Come on, Vic. I’ve been out for six months. Been ridin’ around the country for five of them. Hell yeah I love it.” I flick my cigarette to the ground and walk toward the bikes. I’m thankful for Vic. I’m glad I have one friend who stayed true to me, because he was the only person who did.

  “I haven’t heard from her,” Vic adds almost sadly.

  “Didn’t figure. She’s nothin’, brother. A ghost of my past,” I remind him.

  “Like fuck she is. She was more than that to you back then, Lynx.”

  “Yeah, five years ago. I was nothin’ but a kid, man. That was all it was.” That’s another fucking lie that I keep telling myself. I’ve told it enough over the last five years you would think it would stick, but it hasn’t. Truth is, it nearly broke me when she didn’t show up day after day. I always thought I’d wake up the next day and she’d be in that visitation room. She never was and that killed me more than being locked up.

  “Keep tellin’ yourself that,” Vic grumbles as I grab my helmet.

  “Thanks for this. For everything,” I tell him nodding toward the warehouse.

  “Don’t matter if you’re a Nomad now, Lynx. You’re my family and always will be, brother. I watched you grow up and become a man. That patch changes nothin’,” he says, nodding toward my cut. I nod my head feeling the same way about him. “Where you headin’?”

&nb
sp; “Tennessee. Got a few jobs lined up out there. A friend of mine from the pen has family there. He got out recently and asked if I wanted to come work,” I tell him.

  Vic nods his head. “That’s good man. Real good. Just wish you’d stay longer.”

  I hate to leave Vic. I really do, but this is my life now. I don’t like being back in Texas. I hate it if I’m being honest. Every bit of my past is here. Too many memories that unsettle me.

  “I’m not dead, brother. I’m a call away,” I remind him with a chuckle.

  “You’re different, Lynx. Closed off even. That bitch messed your head up.”

  I close my eyes so that I don’t slam my fist into his. I take a deep breath and calm my nerves before opening them and looking back at him.

  “It is what it is, yeah? We always knew somethin’ was bound to happen, Vic. It was either Dave or my dad, right?” He nods his head but I can see the anger in him. He’s still not over all the bullshit and hell, maybe I’m not either. It was a shit path that I walked down, but it was mine nevertheless. I made the choices I did and now I have to live with this reality.

  “Don’t take another six fuckin’ months to come see me, yeah?”

  I smirk and nod at him. “I won’t.” Pulling the helmet on my head, I climb on my bike and rev the engine. Pulling out, I give him a salute before I head on my way.

  I’m not sure what my place is anymore. I wasn’t sure my place was to even be a biker for a while there. My head was a mess when I was sent away. Cut off from the outside world that I’d barely even been living in. I was eighteen. On my fucking birthday, I nearly killed a man. Yeah, he went down with me, but that wasn’t what bothered me. I was happy to do it, to save her. But I lost her. That’s what killed me. The five years I’d spent dreaming of her, wishing for her was all a waste. We were supposed to be together. We had plans to run this country and be free when she turned eighteen. That all changed when I heard screaming coming from over there. I knew what was happening, and for some reason that night just pushed me over the edge. It isn’t as if I didn’t know he beat on them - I did, but that night was different. I’d always known he hurt her, I saw the bruises she tried to cover up, but she was young, still not old enough to leave that house on her own and I knew if they found her they would take her straight back to him. I know how the foster system works. Dave had been in trouble for hitting her before and they would send her back every time. It pissed me off, angered me to no end. It wasn’t just that either. When Harper was a just a little kid, she had a heart transplant. That in itself leaves her vulnerable to so many other things aside from that asshole’s fists. She’s delicate and should be handled with care. Something deep inside of me said that he would kill her this time. It was a gut feeling, one I couldn’t ignore. I couldn’t let that happen. I ran over there and straight in the back door. She was crying, bleeding, and I lost control. I thought telling her to run was the best. I would never change what I did to him. Well, that’s not true either. If I could go back in time, I would have killed him. In retrospect I would have still been in prison, only serving a life sentence, but at least I’d know he was dead. As for Harper? I have no idea where she ran to that night. I never heard a word from her or anyone else about her. Vic looked for a while, but when he came up empty-handed, he gave up. I couldn’t ask him to keep looking for her when he had his own life to live.