Dangerous Love

by Jamie Begley

  “I’ll go get the coffee and food. Make fucking sure she doesn’t get away while I’m gone.”

  “I won’t.”

  Nodding, he went to the desk to slip her keys into his pocket, when Mary suddenly came out of the bathroom, giving him a curious look that he was still there. To cover up his actions, he went to Jonas’s jeans to take their room key out of his pocket. “I thought I’d change my clothes before going to the diner.”

  Innocently accepting his explanation, she took her suitcase out of the closet and placed it on the bed, needing a change of clothes for herself.

  Frustrated that she would be suspicious if he kept hanging around after telling her that he was going, Hammer started to leave the room without her car keys, meeting Jonas’s eyes one last time before heading out the door.

  Swearing to himself that he would have to change his clothes before getting the food, he hurried, not wanting to leave Jonas and Mary alone for long. He wanted it settled that they would be able to see her again before she left town.

  Taking a quick shower, he was in and out of their motel room within twelve minutes. However, he ran out of luck at the diner. There were several customers waiting for their orders, and the waitress took her time finishing his order. Irritated, he was rushing back to the Escalade when a thought occurred to him.

  Instead of taking a left toward the motel, he swung a right, going to the grocery store. Hurrying inside, he found what he was looking for sitting in a metal cart by the front entry. Picking up several items, he checked out and back was outside in minutes.

  Satisfied, he drove back to the motel, anticipating Mary’s reaction at what he bought her. It might be a day late, but the meaning was the same, regardless of the date on the calendar.

  He didn’t take a deep breath of relief until he pulled back into the motel parking lot and saw that her car was still there. Grinning in expectation, he knocked on Mary’s motel room door, waiting for her or Jonas to answer. When neither did, Hammer juggled the coffee and take-out in one hand as he twisted the doorknob. The door opened easily to an empty room, with the television left on to a game show.

  It wasn’t the sound of the game show that was filling the room, though. It was the sound of Jonas’s yells and bangs from inside the bathroom.

  “I fucking knew it!” Setting the coffee and food on the desk, he hurried to unwind the luggage cord from the doorknob that she had attached to the foot of the bed. The bathroom door flew open when he released it.

  Jonas’s face was filled with rage. “Where’s—”

  “She’s not here, but her car is still outside.”

  “Fucking hell….” Jonas dropped the towel he had wound around his waist to pull on his jeans.

  “Why in the fuck did you take a shower? I told you not to leave her alone!” Hammer strode over to the window, pulling the drape back to make sure the car was still there. Sure enough, it was gone. The wily woman must have made a run for it when he was getting Jonas out of the bathroom.

  “The car’s gone! Let’s—”

  Jonas was already grabbing his shoes and T-shirt as Hammer started for the door.

  “When I get my hands on her, she’s not going to be able to sit down for a week,” he snarled.

  Hammer would have laughed if he wasn’t just as angry.

  Heaving himself into the driver’s seat, he ignored Jonas’s growl when he saw what was on the passenger seat. Picking up the red roses wrapped in cellophane, a red stuffed mouse, and two large, heart-shaped boxes of candy, he tossed them into the back seat.

  “I’m going to use that luggage cord to tie her to the bed.”

  Hammer didn’t pay any attention to Jonas’s threats as he barreled out of the parking lot. There were only two ways out of town. One headed toward Jamestown and the other led to Virginia. There were easier ways to get to Virginia without traveling through Treepoint, so Mary had to be heading back through the thirty-mile stretch of road toward Jamestown. The problem was, if they didn’t catch her before then, their chances of finding her would become more difficult. She could turn onto a number of county roads that led to several cities in Kentucky or take another road that headed to Tennessee. If she made it to Jamestown, odds were, they would lose her.

  “Calm down.” Speeding up, he blew through town. “Call Knox before one of his deputies pulls us over.”

  Jonas was reaching for his cell phone when the blue lights and the sound of a siren came from behind them. “Keep going,” he said. “Knox can radio them to let us go.”

  “Dammit.” Hammer hit the steering wheel with his fist as he started to slow down.

  “Why are you slowing?” Jonas yelled at him. “Knox—”

  “Save your breath.” Hammer pulled to the side of the road, reaching for his wallet. “It’s Greer.”

  “Son of a fucking bitch!” Jonas punched the side of the door.

  He and Jonas both knew that Greer wouldn’t listen to Knox. In fact, if the sheriff tried to call him off, Greer would just as likely arrest them instead of giving them a ticket.

  “Here. Give him this. Tell him we’re in a hurry.” Jonas started pulling cash out from his wallet.

  Hammer was a step ahead of him, his own cash already in his hand.

  In his side-view mirror, he saw Greer saunter up to the side of his vehicle. Rolling the window down, he waved at Greer to hurry. Greer Porter went slower, pretending to peer through the dark, tinted windows.

  “Fuck!” Hammer grabbed Jonas’s cash, then got out. “Greer, we’re in a hurry.” Showing him the cash, he tried to give the deputy a smile, knowing if he irritated him, Greer would take his sweet time before letting them go.

  “Are you trying to bribe an officer of the law?”

  “Yes.”

  Greer took the cash, counting the bills. Satisfied, he stuffed it into his shirt pocket. “Works for me. I’ll give your ticket to Killyama. Make sure you don’t miss your court date.”

  Hammer was so frustrated that he was about to rip Greer a new asshole, but Jonas’s yell stopped him.

  Getting back inside, he slammed the door. “That son of a bitch shouldn’t be a deputy,” he snarled, putting the Escalade back into gear. “He should be the governor.”

  Jonas didn’t respond, his eyes on the road ahead. “Mary’s going to get away. She got too big of a head start. She could turn down any of these side roads and we wouldn’t know. She could have family in the area and might not even be on the road anymore.”

  “I know.” Jonas’s thoughts were echoing his own early ones. “You want me to keep going to Jamestown or turn back?”

  “Keep going to Jamestown. If we don’t catch up with her, we’ll stop at the gas station at the turnoff. Maybe she doesn’t have much gas, and we could luck out and catch her there.”

  Hammer pressed harder down on the gas, knowing deep down it was useless.

  “How did you get yourself locked in the bathroom?”

  “She tricked me.”

  “No shit.”

  “I forgot to take a condom to the shower,” he admitted.

  “Let me guess; she offered to get it for you?” he said snidely.

  “Yes.”

  “She would have gotten me that way, too.”

  Hammer wasn’t angry anymore. Jonas wasn’t ready to drop his anger, though, and Hammer couldn’t blame him. It had to have hurt his pride that she had taken off when he was buck naked.

  “We’ll find her.”

  “Yes, we will,” he seconded. “You can count on that. And when we do, I’m going to give her two choices.”

  Hammer knew how Jonas’s mind worked too well not to know their future plans.

  “Stay tied to our bed or marry us.”

  “Exactly.”

  “When she does, can I tell Killyama how Mary got away from you?”

  “Only if you want to die.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Mika kept hidden against the side of the vending machine as she watched for Hammer’s vehicle
to pull into the parking lot. Gripping the handle of her suitcase, she wanted to go back inside her room and pretend she was just playing a game with Jonas.

  She wanted to go back to the day before and do a re-do. She would never have gone to the bar. Hell, she wouldn’t even have gone for the soda. Because her plan had backfired. Her heart was breaking in two, and each part had a name: Jonas and Hammer.

  She had wanted a simple one-night stand, yet it was anything but. That’s what her friend Julia had been trying to make her understand, yet she hadn’t seen the full picture because her heart hadn’t been involved.

  There was no such thing as a one-night stand. You might only have one night in someone’s bed, but the memory of it lasts a lifetime. The casual encounter she planned had become so much more than she could have anticipated.

  She deserved a broken heart. Jonas and Hammer had made it plain that they wanted an open and honest relationship, yet she wasn’t able to give them that. She would have only made it worse for them all if she stayed. It would have been like building a house of hay and not expecting a hard wind to blow it away.

  Besides, Mika had no intention of leaving her job and moving to another state. She had worked too hard to get where she was at now. She couldn’t throw all her plans away because of the two men she just met.

  What if they only wanted a one-night stand and all their talk was just a ploy to get laid? Instead of being angry that she had taken off, would they be relieved that she was gone?

  “This is why one-night stands don’t work.”

  Beginning to feel ridiculous that she was blowing the night out of proportion, Mika started to step out of her hiding place when she saw Hammer’s Escalade turn into the parking lot. She would have been able to face an angry Jonas for locking him in, but confronting two angry men in a motel room wouldn’t be a wise choice.

  Holding her car keys ready, she held her breath as Hammer got out and walked toward her room. Giving him a few seconds to get inside, she then took off at a run.

  Unlocking the car, she jerked the back door open and tossed the suitcase inside before getting in the driver seat. She didn’t start breathing again until she was on the main road heading out of town. When she did, hiccupping cries filled the car as she imagined Jonas and Hammer hurt.

  What if they were as upset as she was? But what if they weren’t? It would have put them on the spot when they explained to her that they weren’t interested in a relationship with her. So, had she really done them a benefit by leaving first?

  The drive back to Lexington and the flight home seemed to last for an eternity. Returning to her lonely apartment made it even worse. How could two men that she had only spent a few hours with change her life so drastically?

  After unpacking, she went to her spare bedroom that she had used as an office. Turning on the computer, she buried herself in work. Normally work held her full attention, but now her thoughts were centered on Hammer and Jonas.

  Looking at the time on the computer screen, she wearily turned it off, then went to her bedroom. She had to be at work in a few hours, and unless she got a few hours’ sleep, she would be useless.

  Crawling into the empty bed, she told herself that she would get over the men. It was just that she had enjoyed their encounter. She reminded herself that after a couple of days in their company, they probably would have hit the door anyway. This way, she saved them all the heartache by skipping out on them.

  Whacking her pillow with a pounding fist, Mika couldn’t believe she was making such a big deal out of a casual encounter. Thousands of women did it all the time. Was it because that night had been her first time?

  Unable to answer her own question, Mika forced herself to close her eyes, promising herself that within a few short days she would get over meeting Hammer and Jonas. If not, well, she had wanted more experience, and she did what she’d set out to do. The problem was she realized she’d gotten more than she had bargained for, and the cost was much higher. It was a cost that she was afraid came at too high of a price.

  Her heart.

  Mika waited impatiently outside the restaurant. It was freezing.

  When she texted Julia that morning, she hadn’t expected an answer. Surprisingly this time, Julia texted back, asking if she wanted to have lunch. Hopefully, their friendship would be on the mend.

  She counted Julia as the only close friend she had in town. They had met freshman year in college and, while she was older, they had shared the same interests. Julia loved biking and hiking like she did, and they had gone on several camping trips together. She missed riding with her in the mornings.

  Seeing Julia approach, Mika waved and smiled as she started to walk toward her to meet her halfway. Her smile then slipped when she saw the dark circle under Julia’s eye that her makeup had no hope of concealing.

  Hiding her concern, she hugged Julia when she came within reach. “Hi!”

  “Hi!” Julia’s self-conscious smile wavered. “I’m sorry I was such a bitch—”

  “Don’t,” Mika cut her off. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” Hooking her arm through hers, she pulled her in the direction of the restaurant. “You know I hate this restaurant. Only you can get me to brave the traffic to get here. Next time, I get to choose.”

  “Okay. I can live with that.”

  Mika bit her lip at Julia’s choice of words.

  It didn’t take long for them to get a table and order their food and drinks. While Julia was placing her order, Mika tried to come up with a way to ask her about the black eye. Before she could ask, though, Julia brought it up herself when the waitress walked away.

  “Go ahead and ask. I know you’re dying to.”

  “What happened?” she asked gently.

  “Another argument with Dillion, of course.”

  “It’s not of course this time. He hit you!”

  “Yes.”

  “Are there other places he hit you?”

  “Nothing that won’t heal,” she admitted.

  Mika reached across the table to take her friend’s hand. “Did you report it?”

  “Yes. He’s in jail. He gets out tomorrow. I have a restraining order, so he has to stay away from me.”

  “That’s going to make it difficult with you living in his house,” she ventured.

  Several times she had tried to talk her friend into leaving the toxic relationship. Dillion was overly possessive, monitoring every move Julia made.

  “Yes, it does. I have to find a new place to live before he gets out of jail.”

  “You can come and stay with me.” It wasn’t the first time she made the offer, but Julia always refused.

  Her friend gripped her hand back. “I wanted to ask, but I’ve been such a bi—” Julia hastily cut herself off before continuing. “I would appreciate it. I won’t stay long, just until I can find myself my own place.”

  “You can stay as long as you want. You can have my spare bedroom. I’ll move my computer and desk to mine, so you’ll have plenty of space for your things.”

  Julia looked out the window, evading her gaze. “You warned me, and I didn’t listen.”

  “You love Dillion. You wanted to give him a chance.”

  Julia swung her gaze back to hers, giving her a strange look. “You never said that before.”

  Mika moved the napkin so the waitress could set her plate down. When they were alone again, Julia didn’t make a move to touch her food.

  “You always asked how I can keep loving someone that I fight with so much.”

  “Oh, I see. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that to you. Whatever you want to do, I promise I’ll support your decision.”

  Julia smiled and picked up her fork, but Mika didn’t move to pick up her own.

  “Unless you decide to go back to him,” she told her honestly.

  Julia laughed. “You won’t have to. I learned my lesson. No more Dillion.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” she warned her friend.
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  “Go ahead.” Julia shuddered. “He hit me, Mika. He’s never done that before.”

  Mika grabbed her free hand that wasn’t holding the fork. “I’m glad you’re moving out and in with me. I’ll have someone to watch movies with. Have you seen the new Avengers?”

  “No, but I’ve seen Death Day 2.”

  Mika zoned out as Julia started describing the movie. It didn’t sound like her kind of movie.

  Trying not to stare at the bruise on her friend’s face as she pretended to listen, she worried that Julia wouldn’t be strong enough to stay away from Dillion for long. They’d had several fights before, and she didn’t know if she believed that Dillion hadn’t hit her before. But she was willing to let it go since Julia said she wasn’t going to be with him anymore. Hoping she would stick with her decision when he was released, Mika would stick by her friend regardless. That was what friends were for.

  CHAPTER 10

  “Any luck?” Hammer asked as Jonas got back in the Escalade.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “He wasn’t exactly in a cooperative mood after you threatened to rip his windpipe out.” Jonas sent him an admonishing look as he buckled his seat belt.

  Frustrated, Hammer leaned his head back on the headrest. “I know. I should have let you handle it. I just lost it when he kept shutting me down. He was being a dick. So, what were you able to get out of him?”

  “Nothing,” he told him as he started texting on his phone. “Let’s go.”

  Hammer started the vehicle. “Where are we going?”

  “To The Last Riders. We need Killyama’s help.”

  “Fuck. Do we have to?”

  “Do you want to find Mary?”

  “Dammit.”

  “It could be worse.”

  “How?”

  “At least it isn’t Greer.”

  “Why aren’t we meeting Killy at her house?” Hammer asked as they walked up the back walkway behind the clubhouse.