Risking It All: A Hellfire Riders MC Romance (The Motorcycle Clubs Book 14) (9 page)

“All right then.” I roll my shoulders, loosen up my neck. “Let’s do this.”

I tap my lips and Jack cradles my face and kisses me, full on. Hard, quick. We haven’t done that in front of the brothers before. But right now? I don’t even give a shit.

The prez is waiting when I turn. I tell him, “I’ve got your back, boss.”

“We’ve got yours,” he says and bumps my fist. “And you’ve got this.”

Of course I will. And that’s not just bluster or confidence. I
have
to win. There’s no other option for me. If I don’t walk out of here the winner, I don’t walk out. It’s that simple.

My heart’s thumping as I get eyes on Croc again. Fuck, he’s big. Not as big as Jack or Saxon, but heavier than Gunner, my usual sparring partner.

I can’t let him touch me. And I’ve got to get him to make himself vulnerable to a strike that’ll end this.

“Zoomie.” The prez raises his voice behind me, loud enough for anyone to hear. When I glance back, he’s wearing that mean smile again. “Croc said there’d be some cock sucking tonight. So don’t leave him with any front teeth. I fucking hate it when they scrape my dick.”

And there’s the noise again. Riders laughing, Hangmen talking shit about how we’re going to be the ones sucking dick.

I ignore it all and give the prez a thumbs up. “You got it, boss.”

Croc’s waiting for me, his face red like a bomb’s about to go off in his head, and gritting teeth he won’t have for much longer.

Jesus, I love being a Rider.

• • •

Jack

Creek’s patting down Lily, taking the knife out of her boot when the prez says quietly beside me, “Did you think this all the way through?”

I always think it through. “She’ll win. If she goes down, she’ll get back up again.”

Lily doesn’t know how to do anything else.

“That’s not in fucking doubt,” the prez says. “If it was, I wouldn’t have laid this on her. What I’m asking is: Have you ever seen your woman get hurt?”

My back stiffens. “What?”

“Just that. You’ve seen her take hits. You’ve seen her bleed. But what if she goes down and gets
really
fucking hurt. If she’s on the ground and he’s kicking her face in.”

Jesus fucking Christ. Everything in me goes cold. My throat is like sandpaper when I say, “She’ll get up again.”

“I
know
that.” All at once the prez is in my face. “You know that. But you haven’t
seen
it happen, so I’m asking if you’re fucking prepared for it, Jack. Or if you need me to bring Gunner and Stone over to hold you back. Because if you went in, you’d rip everything out of her hands. She’d never hold her head up in this club again.”

A jagged pain fills my chest. I rub at it, keep rubbing as I watch Stone pat down Croc. The truth is, I don’t fucking know. It
would
destroy her if I charged in. No matter how bad she was hurt, how hard she was down. If I went in before she tapped out, that’d be it for her.

And Lily will never tap out. Never.

I was only thinking of her and what she can do when I tossed Croc in there with her. I wasn’t thinking of me.

The prez backs off a little. “I’ve got a woman who I love more than my own fucking life. So I’m just saying—I
know
. So do you need me to have the brothers come and hold you down? Or maybe you ought to take a walk.”

I’d fucking cut off my legs before I left her. And it wouldn’t do any good to hold me down. If I can’t deal, if I can’t stop myself from going to her, then I’d only rip through the brothers, spilling blood and cracking bones. They would barely even slow me down.

“No,” I say hoarsely. “I’ll hold back. Or I won’t.”

He nods and reaches for his beer, looking out over Lily and Croc again. “Bones heal,” he says.

But the rest of her wouldn’t. That’s what he’s telling me. I don’t hold back, I take away everything she’s fought for.

And I’d lose her, too.

Jesus. I rub my chest again, trying to push away this ragged fear. All this is nothing if the fight’s over quick.

It won’t be. I see that right away. Maybe Valentine shared just enough information to let Croc know how to approach her, or maybe the fucker can see it for himself. But as they start in, he just circles her, keeping his fists in close. Not giving her an opening, not giving her anything to grab onto. She goes straight into the defensive, blocking his punches.

Waiting. Playing it smart. That’ll be what gets her through—she’s so fucking smart when she’s up against an opponent. But the longer this drags on the more it’ll wear them both down. Lily relies on her speed. When exhaustion sets in, the advantage almost always goes to the muscle.

She’s smart enough to know that, too.

And I know what she’s doing but I’m not fucking ready for it when she takes a lazy swing that gives Croc an opening. Two sharp jabs, his big fists snapping against her ribs. Her body almost folds from the impact, and I
know
those ribs cracked, fucking know it, and the blood’s pounding so hard behind my eyes and I’m seeing so much red that I almost don’t notice her head whip forward.

Croc staggers back, blood spurting from his nose.

A hard hand clamps over my shoulder. I almost rip it off before I realize it’s the prez’s. I’ve taken a step forward without even fucking realizing it.

His eyes meet mine. I nod and step back, my chest heaving harder than it ever has during my own fights.

“She’s got this,” he says.

I know she does. But I wish she wasn’t so damn smart. Because she knows that every hit she gets in will come with a sacrifice, bringing Croc in close enough for her to tear him apart, a little bit at a time. Fucking with his breathing and making his eyes water by going for his nose. Slowing him down with a blow to the knee. Weakening his strongest arm by sweeping his elbow with hers. Each one is a calculated risk and soon he’s broken another of her ribs and she’s bleeding from her mouth.

But she’s smiling. She drops to sweep his leg, and I’ve never seen her move so slow. It’s like a goddamn invitation and Croc accepts, slamming his boot down on her ankle and when her leg folds under her—that fucking scream is
real
—he moves in for a kick to the face and she has him.

She catches him off balance, with one foot coming at her. Her expression goes stone cold. She’s quick, so goddamn quick, tipping him. His back slams into the floor and she rams her elbow into his throat. His body convulses, feet kicking as he chokes.

Her bleeding mouth’s in a thin line, her eyes like shards of flint. Weaving in place, she says, “You tapping out?”

Though he’s choking, though he’s done, Croc shakes his head.

Lily straddles his chest and goes at his face with her fists. The whole fucking place is silent. Not a single sound except the thud of flesh, the crunch of bone.

Some of that bone is probably in her hands. “Bring her out of it,” I say quietly.

The prez takes a long swig, watching her. Finally he calls out, “Can he tap out? Or is he done?”

Her knuckles bleeding, Lily pauses. Her reply comes on a sharp, breathless pants. As if she can barely get air into her battered chest. “I…don’t have…all his teeth…yet.”

“I only wanted the ones in front.” The prez looks to the Hangmen’s veep, whose face is stark white. “You calling it done?”

The veep nods.

Not good enough. The prez barks “Say it!” and the boy does.

“Then you get that bleeding trash out of my joint.” He glances at me. “Unless you want him?”

No. I just want Lily.

And Croc’s done. I won’t even need to touch him. His own club will finish him now.

Lily staggers to her feet as I head across the floor. She looks ready to fall over but I know she won’t. Not while the Hangmen are still here. She simply takes the kutte I hand to her, wincing as she slips it on. Her jaw is swollen, her lips bleeding. She’s not moving her fingers, just holding them carefully still. She’s got the toe of her left boot on the ground but her weight’s all on the right side.

And she’s grinning like she just won the lottery.

“You’re fucking amazing,” I tell her. “How’s the breathing?”

She manages a pained laugh. “Not so good.”

“All right.” Gingerly, I slip my fingers through her short, short hair. “We’ll get you out of here soon.”

And in that time, there’s not a brother who doesn’t come up to her. Not a brother who doesn’t see exactly what she took on herself to bring Croc down. I’m about to bust all their fucking heads for taking even a little more of her energy, but when I finally get her into my arms, helping her limp out to the Escalade that the prez rounded up, she says softly, “Do you suppose they finally think I belong?”

“You always did,” I tell her and my voice is rough. I help her stretch out on the backseat, cradling her head in my lap. Gunner jumps in the driver’s seat and barely waits for Stone to hop in on the passenger side before taking off. “Now just rest. We’ll take care of you.”

She nods, her breath just a tight rasp in her chest. Her eyes close.

Thirty minutes to the hospital. I hold her all the way.

Lily

Everything hurts.

I wake up in my bed. The sun’s bright and peeking through a slit in the curtains. The other side of the mattress is empty but I can hear the shower running.

Jack. Naked.

The image always makes me smile but this time pain shoots through my jaw. Fuck. Groaning, I roll onto my side and wish I hadn’t. Vaguely I remember the hospital, sitting through x-rays. The way I’m feeling, I’m guessing it’s time for more drugs.

The water turns off. All that bare skin is wet now. He’s probably rubbing a towel over every hard muscle—and here I am, laid up and unable to do a thing about it.

The one drawback to kicking Croc’s ass. A big drawback. Shit.

As soon as Jack comes through the door, I rasp, “How long until we can have sex again?”

He grins. Holy hell, I hope it’s not long.

“I didn’t ask the doc,” he says. “But even if I had a time to give you, you probably wouldn’t wait that long anyway.”

No, I wouldn’t. “If I promise to give you a blow job on that day, will you help me up to pee?”

His hard face abruptly softens. “Any time you need, Lily. I’m here for you.”

And he’s careful, so careful as he lifts me. I was wrong about everything hurting.
Now
it fucking hurts. And there’s a cast on my ankle. Jesus. I don’t remember that happening at the hospital. I almost ask him to list the damage, then decide I really don’t want to know right now.

Because Jack looks like he’s in as much pain as I am, and I suspect there aren’t any drugs that can help him.

Gently, I touch his face. “I know how hard it must have been.”

“What?”

“Watching that fight go down.” I stop him when he shakes his head, as if trying to deny it. But I know. Of all the things I thought would be rough when we got together, I didn’t think of this. But I should have. “You know why I’m not scared of you like some of the brothers are?”

“No.” His voice is a rough mess that tears right at my heart.

“Because you kill easy. But you only do to protect what you care about. You think I don’t know that?” I slide my aching fingers over his firm mouth. “You could have ended Croc so fast. You could have come in, torn him down. And because I was getting hurt, I bet there was nothing you wanted more than to do just that. To be my shield. Am I wrong?”

His jaw clenches for a long second. Finally he shakes his head.

“But you didn’t.” I lay my head on his broad shoulder. “You let me be who I am, let me do what I needed to do. I love you so much for that.”

All the air leaves him on a shuddering breath. “Jesus, Lily. You fucking kill me every time you say that.”

“Does it scare you?”

He stops and looks down, meeting my gaze. Once upon a time, those dark eyes were empty. Now I see everything I could want in them.

“It terrifies me,” he says, then l
aughs. “Just fucking terrifies me.”

I grin and don’t care that it hurts. Then I pull him down for a kiss and don’t care that hurts even more.

Jack fucking Hayden loves me. Against all odds, he fucks me
and
loves me.

And being here in his arms? Was worth every single risk.

• • •

Want more Hellfire Riders? On April 1, Jack and Lily will be BURNING IT ALL after the Devil’s Hangmen come for the woman who humiliated their prez... Keep turning the pages for a list of available and upcoming titles from Ruby Dixon, Ella Goode, and Kati Wilde. The Motorcycle Clubs series — for readers who want all of the heat and emotion, but who don’t have all of the time.

Every month Ella Goode, Kati Wilde, and Ruby Dixon are delivering two short, sexy novellas for
when you want all of the heat and emotion but don't have all of the time.
Each book is 99¢ for the first month and
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