Property Of Drex #2 (Death Chasers MC #2) (5 page)

His sexy smile slowly curves up, and he tugs me to him.

“Good. Because I don’t want to let you go.”

The way he words it makes me feel as though he would have let me go if I had just asked him to. It means something when he kisses me this time, as though he’s speaking without words, showing me appreciation and gratitude.

My fingers thread through his hair, pulling him closer, and I don’t protest when he lifts me onto the sink’s ledge.

My legs wrap around his waist, and he continues kissing me for so long that I lose track of time. I could get used to this life as long as I can detach myself from his reality.

I think.

Hopefully.

Because I don’t want to let him go.

Chapter 6

DREX

Following her feels wrong. Not telling her what I’m doing feels shitty. Lying to her is the fucking worst.

But Eve sucks ass at acting, and Pop has some of his guys who will be watching her, even though he said he trusted me to have my guys do it. I now know Pop doesn’t care to lie to me.

And here I am fucking doing the same thing to her.

Fuck my fucking life right now.

Eve is driving a BMW toward town, and I’m riding toward the end of the long row of Harleys behind her. I kissed her goodbye this morning, watched as she smiled, excited about going shopping just because she was getting out of the damn warehouse.

My life involves a lot of security measures. My life involves a lot of sacrifices to the normal person. Sacrifices I never realized I was having to make. Sacrifices I still don’t care to make.

But Eve having to make those same sacrifices…

Axle and I waited until she and the others had a head start, then we loaded up and drove like hell to catch up… So I could spy on my fucking girl who trusts me.

As we enter town, people turn their heads, watching us with just enough fear. Axle and I are in street clothes to attempt to blend in while we follow my girl from a safe distance. The others are in their cuts though, and everyone knows who they are.

Eve pulls over to a curb, and like the good girl she is, she immediately feeds money into the meter. Axle pulls off to the side, and I follow suit. I keep my helmet on until Eve disappears into a store, then I turn my back on the store and tug my helmet off.

Two of our guys lounge on their bikes, ready to watch all the rides to ensure no one tampers with them, while the rest of us walk off to do our own thing.

Axle doesn’t say much, and we silently watch Eve through the glass while she grabs a few things from the weird store full of bad girl clothing. She was wearing prissy sweaters and elegant camisoles when she came to me. Her bag was full of that shit.

It’s one more thing I’ve stolen from her.

“Why do you look so guilty right now?” Axle asks as Eve walks out, not even looking around to see me stalking her.

I don’t answer. Instead, I motion with my head for him to start walking as we stay across the street and follow her. There’s enough traffic on the sidewalks to keep us from standing out too noticeably, but she’d sure as hell notice me if she looked back.

She’s not like me though. She’s not looking around for someone to be following her or checking over her shoulder for threats. She’s innocent. Naïve. Blissfully unaware of all the shit that comes with being a criminal.

She’s a good girl. And I’m the devil who stole her from grace.

After walking in silence for so long, Axle blows out a breath.

“Are you going to tell me why it looks like you’ve had the hell beat out of you?” he asks me.

Eve is laughing with the woman behind the sales counter as she hands her cash. She was worried no one would take my card since it didn’t have her name on it, and she only took the money because I told her she had to. It’s not like I’ve given her a chance to make her own money.

She looks carefree and all smiles. My eyes move around at all the other people living their lives without looking over their shoulders. I don’t fit in with those people. I don’t even want to fit in with them. But Eve looks at ease amongst them as she walks out, loaded down now with four bags.

“Damn it, Drex,” Axle growls.

“She wanted to be a school teacher,” I tell him quietly, watching as she eyes a diner, licks her lips, and heads in.

Axle and I sit down on a bench, staying across the street and adjacent to the diner she just went in. He blows out a breath while taking in what I just said.

“And she can’t be a school teacher and be with you. Your position is too dangerous for her to be so exposed.”

I nod slowly, watching her as she sits down and pushes her bags in on the other side of the booth. She beams up at the waitress who comes to take her order, and something squeezes inside my gut.

“She can’t be anything outside the club if she’s with me. She’d have to give up her entire life and dreams. If I was just a low-level nobody within the outfit, she could be any-fucking-thing she wanted.”

“She set fire to her dreams and future when she signed herself over,” he points out.

“She did that for her family. Not because she wanted to.”

I heave out a heavy breath and run my hand through my hair. Eve looks out the window, but she can’t see me from this angle well enough to know it’s me without actually
knowing
it’s me.

She just seems to be taking in all the sights around her, not studying them for potential threats. My life is bars, strip clubs, and lots of business with shady fuckers from all over. Her life is camisoles and daisy picking.

It’s easy to forget all that when she’s submerged in my world with nothing else around. It’s hard to ignore it when I get to watch her from afar in her own element with all the other innocent people.

Dash appears in front of us, wearing his own set of street clothes, and he leans against a pole while pocketing his hands.

“What’re you doing here?” Axle asks him.

“Figured I’d lend a hand in case Benny tries something.”

I don’t speak to him. It’s not hard to figure out that I’m still royally pissed. He finally addresses it.

“I’m sorry, D. How many times are you going to make me say it?”

My eyes tear away from my girl to narrow on him. “You shouldn’t have to be apologizing. You’re supposed to have my back. Not Pop’s. If I’m unconscious, you don’t fucking threaten my girl; you take care of her. That’s how it’s supposed to work. She was fucking scared enough; she had miraculously survived my house getting sprung full of fucking bullet holes; and she risked her life to try and keep me safe. Then you threaten her?”

My jaw grinds and my fists start to ache from their tight squeeze. He looks away, moving his eyes toward the window.

“I do have your back, brother. That’s what I thought I was doing. I didn’t know I was getting played.”

I open my mouth to retort to that, but a breath hisses out of Axle’s lips before he mutters a curse. My eyes dart back to the window just in time to see a familiar face hugging my girl.

“Whatever you do, don’t shoot him in public,” Dash says, grimacing when Ben Highland—Benny’s bastard son—kisses my girl’s forehead.

Axle is jerking me back down to the bench before I even realize I’ve stood up.

“Let’s watch how this plays out,” he says quietly, almost regretfully.

My stomach is in knots, but I do sit down.
They’re just friends.

It doesn’t stop me from remembering Ben was her first and only before me. It also doesn’t make me feel less murderous when he sits down beside her in the booth and tosses his arm around her shoulders.

“I hope there’s a damn good reason for this coincidence,” Dash says tightly. “Herrin isn’t going to like this one bit.”

“Take my gun,” I tell Axle, ignoring Dash’s comment as my focus zeroes in on how close Ben is to my girl, “before I do something stupid.”

Chapter 7

EVE

Ben showing up is a surprise, and the squeeze he’s holding me in almost hurts too much to be called a hug.

“I’ve been so fucking worried,” he says as he holds me tighter.

“Can’t breathe,” I wheeze, maybe doing it a little more dramatically than necessary.

He pulls back, grinning down at me before kissing my forehead. For some reason, I wince. It feels wrong for him to touch me like that.

“Glad to see you still have your sense of humor. And to see that you still look like you.”

His eyes rake over my clothes. I had to wear some I originally brought to the warehouse. Sarah’s stuff was too tight for me to even try to melt my body into.

“Um… Yeah. How did you know I was here?” I ask, confused as I sit down.

Unsurprisingly, he sits down right beside me and tosses his arm around my shoulders like he’s scared I’m an illusion.

“I have friends, Eve. I’ve been trying to figure out where you’ve been. People told me you were with Drex, but I never heard for sure. Some said you even seemed happy about it, which I knew was total bullshit. What the fuck has been going on? Your phone has been off since you left.”

I try to scoot away, but he has his arm locked around me. It feels like a betrayal to be so close to someone I’ve been with intimately. I sure as hell wouldn’t want Drex to have an ex’s arm wrapped around him.

“They took my phone on day one.” I don’t mention I have another phone, because he’d be upset I didn’t call. No way in hell could I have called the son of Benny Highland while everyone suspects me as a spy.

“Can I get you anything, sugar?” the syrupy sweet waitress asks Ben, biting her lip as she drinks him in with her eyes.

She’d keel over if she saw Drex.

Drex
. He’d kill Ben if he saw this.

While Ben is distracted with ordering, I manage to scoot over and put some distance between us. I even manage to settle one of my shopping bags in the space I’ve created.

When he turns back around, his eyes drop to the bag before coming back up to meet my gaze as he frowns.

“What’s wrong? Are you mad at me because of this? I begged you not to do this, Eve. I could have—”

“I’m not mad,” I tell him quietly, noticing a few eyes have drifted toward us, considering Ben is a little loud.

“Then what’s wrong? What have they done to you? I swear, Eve, I’ve been going out of my mind with a thousand possibilities. I’ve went to all their public businesses, and even tried to discreetly ask questions, but—”

“Ben, I’m okay,” I tell him, unable to stop the smile that spreads.

Confusion crosses his features.

“You’re okay? The fuck does that mean? They let you go?”

I shake my head while sighing.

“No. You know your father wouldn’t like that. It’s safer for me if I stay put. But… I want to stay put.”

Anger replaces confusion, but I don’t know why. If anything, he should be relieved that I’m not living through hell right now.

“You
want
to stay? They gave you the option to leave?”

“Well, not exactly, but I think Drex would have if I’d told him I wanted to go. I know he wouldn’t force me to be there. I was once afraid he’d give me back to Benny, but now I know he wouldn’t. And… anyway… I should probably get going.”

The waitress seizes that inopportune moment to bring me the food I ordered, and Ben’s eyes drop to the plate.

“Looks like you need to eat first,” he says bitterly, glaring at me.

Shit.

“I don’t think we should be talking. At least not right now. Your dad—”

“Isn’t me,” he reminds me. “Since when can’t we be friends? Since Drex? Does he really have you?”

He grabs my arm so hard that I cry out, and he roughly turns my wrist toward him. I bite back a whimper when he shows my other arm the same harsh treatment, practically jerking it toward him so he can study that wrist.

Pissed but satisfied, he tosses my hand away, and it slams into the table. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him like this. He’s always treated me with kid-gloves.

“Obviously they don’t plan on keeping you. At least that’s good news.”

I’m glad he can’t see my shoulder right now. If he’s going this crazy over thinking I’d have the typical DD initials on my wrist, he’d flip out over that.

His jaw is tight and his eyes are blazing with fury. He’s cracking his knuckles while staring at nothing in particular.

“I should go,” I say quietly, hoping he just gets up.

“You should eat the fucking food you ordered,” he argues, not budging from his spot.

“Ben, this is just weird. I’ve never seen you like this.”

“Apparently you like guys this way if you
want
to fucking stay with Drex. Like it rough nowadays, Eve?” The bite to his tone is harsh, and I shrink back, feeling trapped.

Fuck this.

I’ve dealt with much worse lately than Ben in a pissed off mood. He might be acting like a jerk and handling me too roughly, but he won’t hurt me.

“Get out of the booth. Let me out,” I tell him a little firmer.

He cuts his eyes toward me, and I swear there’s a coldness there I’ve never seen before. I didn’t even know he was capable of it.

“No.” He turns more to face me. “Tell me what the hell is going on with you. What’s up with you and Drex? Why are you with him instead of working for Herrin? Esmerelda would never let you in Herrin’s bed, so I figured he’d put you to work. What happened?”

I can’t tell him. Even if I could tell him, I wouldn’t want to at this point. He’s not acting like my friend right now. He’s acting jealous and crazed. I could have been a sex slave and getting used and abused by the entire club, but all he’s concerned with is the fact I’m happy with Drex.

“I’m getting up,” I mumble.

Gasps ring out as I stand up in the seat, and I start to crawl across the table, but Ben grabs me at the waist and jerks me back down to the seat until my ass is pressed against the bag I put between us.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he says against my ear. “It’s me, Eve. Same guy you’ve always known. Same guy you’ve always trusted. Not the guy who murdered your father.”

My eyebrows go up in confusion at the random statement from nowhere, and I twist toward him.

“What did you say?”

He almost looks pleased. “You heard me. Do you really think your father—the guy who panicked when he took a Tylenol because it made him feel loopy—would kill himself by overdosing? No. He pissed off that club. It’s why they even went along with the trade. They just want a little more revenge. You’re getting played, Eve. Played hard.”

I clear my throat and shake my head, struggling to get away from him. “You’re lying. The medical examiner said it was an overdose.”

“No doubt,” he agrees. “But your dad didn’t shove those pills down his throat without coercion. It was kill himself or watch you be killed. I know. I didn’t know how to tell you, since you’re so fragile, sweet Eve. It’s why I’ve been trying to get you out. Think Drex really wants you? Or do you think he’s having fun with his enemy’s daughter?”

I’m still struggling to get free, and he releases me so abruptly that I accidentally launch myself against the diner window with enough force to almost knock myself out. Spots speckle my vision, and I blink rapidly while feeling my head.

Ben doesn’t even seem to give a damn that I’m barely staying conscious. He’s still ranting.

“You’re fucking your father’s killer. Herrin doesn’t do the dirty work himself, Eve. He unleashes his little attack dog that he calls his son. Think about that when Drex is putting his dick inside you.”

My ears are ringing, and my neck is on fire. My head is thudding from the window attack, and I taste blood in my mouth. It registers that I’ve bitten my tongue when a subtle sting forms.

“Drex, don’t!” I hear someone yell, but I’m too busy trying not to blackout to see anything or even comprehend what’s going on around me.

“Fuck!” Ben yelps, as something that sounds like a hit collides against the white noise playing on a loop in my ears.

Something resembling a fight takes place before my blurry eyes, but it’s hard to focus on the figures in the struggle. Glass shatters violently somewhere in the room, and more things clank and rattle. Axle. I hear Axle, I think.

“Drex! Damn it, check on her. He’s down for the count. We have to get out of here. Dash, grab her shit.”

My head is throbbing when two familiar arms wrap around me, tugging me close to a body I’ve learned just by touch.

“He’s fucking dead.” That’s definitely Drex’s voice. And he’s definitely pissed.

“Not here,” Dash hisses close by.

I continue blinking, trying to get the blurry scene back to clear, but it’s no use. My eyes feel heavier and heavier.

“She may have a concussion. That bump looks bad.”

The grip on me tightens, but I don’t realize I’m being carried until I’m being placed in a seat. Everything is disorienting. Everything is…