Savage Sacrifice: Savage Angels MC #5 (2 page)

Startled, she turns to me. “Dane!”

“Yeah, darlin’, it’s me. Remember me? Your fucking husband, you’re Mrs. Reynolds, or should I say, Ms. Saunders?” I thunder at her.

“What?”

“You heard me! Since when do you go by Saunders? Pretty sure, we’re married, darlin’, or did you forget?” I say, pinning Will with a look.

“Buddy, you had better let the lady go–“

Still holding onto Kat, I step toward the fucker. “Or what? What are you going to do? Have one of your security guards teach me a lesson? Where I come from, fucker, we fight our own battles, and we don’t fuck around with other men’s women.”

“Didn’t realize Kat was anyone’s property,
fucker,
” says a cocky Will Van Ryken.

I let go of Kat, grab him by the shirt and throw him back out through the doors, he lands on his ass on the sidewalk, and looks up at me with a surprised look on his face.

Kat gets in front of me. “Dane, what the fuck are you doing?” she yells.

“What am
I
doing? Kat, I was at the concert. I thought I’d fucking surprise you, but, darlin’, you surprised me by kissing this fucker on stage. Tell me, darlin’, do you like him better than me?” I yell at her.

“Better than what? What are you saying? As for the kiss–“

“Yeah, the kiss, in front of the whole fucking world. Would have been nice if you’d given me a heads up
before
you fucked him, darlin’.”

Kat’s face twists into a rage, and I suddenly think I may have misread the situation.

“How dare you!” Kat hisses at me.

Before I can respond, I am grabbed from behind and twisted around. Will stands in front of me and throws a punch. I catch it in my fist and smile at him.

“Fucking pussy,” I growl, as I crush his hand in my fist. “Try to sucker punch me from behind. Now, you’re going to bleed.”

I release his hand, make my own into a fist, draw back my arm and swing. Unfortunately, Kat gets between us, and as I realize this, I try to slow down my punch, but I hit her in the eye.
Fuck
. Kat screams, falls back onto Will, and both of them go down in a heap.

“Jesus, Kat, are you all right?” I ask as I fall to my knees and grab her face.

“No! I’m not fucking all right! Get your fucking hands off me!” Kat yells.

“I’m sorry, darlin’, I didn’t mean to–“

“Oh, you didn’t mean to? Tell me, Dane, how many times did your father say that to your mother?” Kat hisses at me.

All the air leaves my lungs as Kat gets to her feet. She’s right; my father was a cruel man who hit my mother, and I’ve just hit the only woman I’ve ever loved. I’m still crouched on the floor when Dirt holds out a hand to help me to my feet. Reluctantly I take it, suddenly feeling like I’ve been hit by a bus. I’m ashamed. I look at Kat, and Will is trying to see if her eye is all right. She twists away from him.

“
This
,” roars Kat, pointing at her face, “is all your fault. So, fuck off, Will!”

Will nods and walks toward the elevators.

Kat turns to face me; her eye is all red and starting to swell. “Go home. Leave me alone. I’ll call you in a few days. Cool off.”

I close the gap between us. “I didn’t mean to–“

“I know, but you did.” Tears well in her eyes, she shakes her head and walks away.

“Kat, I’m sorry. I only wanted to see you.”

She stops and looks back at me. “Well, you saw me.”

I watch her get into the elevator, once inside, she turns to push the button and glances up at me. A tear escapes her eye and runs down her face. I walk toward her but the door closes, and she is lost to me.

I turn to find Dirt behind me. I shake my head and walk outside. My only thought is to get away from here and what I’ve done. My bike is parked down the street, and I practically run to it. Kat’s words echoing in my mind,
‘Tell me, Dane, how many times did your father say that to your mother?’
She’s right, I’ve become my father, and I have no idea how I am going to fix this.
Can I fix this?
I climb on my bike and feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder.

“Dane, where are you going?” asks Dirt.

“Home, you heard her. She told me to go, and I’m going.”

“Dane, everyone in there knows you meant to hit that dick. Kat got in the way, that’s all. You’re not your fucking father, no matter what she says. She’s upset, if you punched me in the face, I’d be upset too.”

“I’m heading to the airport. Kat will call if she wants to see me.” I stare at Dirt, who frowns then spits on the sidewalk.

“I’ve told Judge to stay; he wants to spend more time with Jasmin.” Dirt gets on his bike. “Brother, you’re making a fucking mistake. You should track her down and make her listen to you. The longer you leave this, the worse it’ll get.”

“You heard her. Let’s ride.”

Thankfully, Dirt doesn’t argue with me anymore. I start my bike, and he starts his. The ride to the airport is done at breakneck speed as I weave in and out of traffic. My only thought is to get home and away from this fucking city and all that I’ve done.

I’ve never laid a hand on a woman. My father hit my mother, brutally, for years. I swore I’d never hit a woman, and now I’ve hit Kat, the woman I’m in love with. And even if she is fucking that pussy Will, I’d take her back.

I pull up at the airport, get off the bike and walk into the terminal. I’m heading to the check-in desk when Dirt catches up with me.

“You trying to get yourself killed?” demands Dirt.

“Just want out of this fucking city,” I reply.

“You nearly got hit more than once. You almost left this fucking earth, let alone this fucking city.”

“Stop being a pussy and let’s go home.”

Dirt shakes his head at me and motions toward the check-in desk. I grunt at him and continue on my way.

I
leave it fifteen minutes then make my way to Kat’s room. Her fucking husband is huge, the next time I go out, I’m going to double my security, making sure they all have a detailed description of him. Have to admit, I’m glad he hit Kat and not me. I could tell he tried to slow it down, but it was too late. If he’d hit me full force, he’d probably have broken my jaw.

After the incident, I went straight to my room to get some ice. I have it wrapped in a towel, and as it melts, the cold water drips down my hand. I take a deep breath and knock on her door. Kat flings it open and looks disappointed that it’s me.

I hold up the towel, and with my other hand, I touch her face. “Ouch. You’re right, this
is
my fucking fault. Here, put this on it, so it doesn’t swell too badly.”

Tentatively she takes it from me, and dabs it on her face, she winces and moves so that I can enter her room.

“Thanks, Will.”

“He lose his shit like that often?” I ask.

She waves a hand in my face and walks to the couch. “No, and yes. He’s a proud man and in his world, you don’t touch what’s his. He’s never hit me before, and we both know it was meant for you.”

“So, it’s true what they say about bikies, they own their women, like property?”

She looks at me with contempt. “First of all, they aren’t
bikies,
and no, Dane does
not
own me. He’s an alpha male who knows how to take what he wants, and I’m what he wants.”

Kat drops my gaze and tears fall on her cheeks. I move closer to her and grab her hand.

“A real man doesn’t own a woman, and a real man would never hit the one he loves.”

She raises her eyes to mine. “You don’t understand. You–“

“Let me guess, I don’t know him like you do, no one does.” More tears fall, and I know I’ve said the right thing. I grab the towel with the ice in it and, place it against her eye the move makes some strands of hair fall around her face. Inching closer to her, I cup her face with my hand, then I lean in a little more, I’m about to try to kiss her when there’s a fucking knock at the door. The moment is lost as Kat jumps and twists her head away from me.

“I’ll get it.” My mood one of veiled anger, I almost had her. I open the door and Truth is standing on the other side. “Truth, come to check on our girl?”

“No, come to check on
my
friend,” is his cocky reply. This fucker has never liked me, and I know he thinks he’s better than me. I move out of the doorway and motion toward Kat on the couch.

“Hey, my black-eyed beauty, how do you feel?”

Truth sits down next to her and feels around her eye.

Kat winces. “Ow! I’m fine, nothing some makeup won’t cover.”

“That’s not what I asked Kat. How are you feeling?” repeats Truth.

Tears course down her face. “Truth, how do you think she feels? That barbarian hit her in front of everyone and then he just left. He didn’t even come up here and check on her,” I interject.

Truth looks at me and stands. “First of all, from what I’ve been told, it was
your
fault that Kat got hit, and secondly, how do you know he didn’t check on her?”

“He’s not here is he? But
I
am. I came to check on her and make sure she was all right.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you did it out of the goodness of your heart. Just making sure our girl is doing okay.”

“Actually, Truth, yes, that’s exactly why.” I sigh and look down at Kat. “See you tomorrow. Feel better and if you need to talk, you know how you can reach me.” I bend and kiss her on the cheek, give her a small smile and leave the room.

Once out in the hallway, I curse Truth under my breath. That fucker cock blocks me at every fucking opportunity. I feel pretty confident if he hadn’t knocked on her door, I’d be so far up inside her she’d be screaming my name.

Angrily I hit the button for the elevator when the doors open two beautiful looking women are standing inside.

“Oh my God, it’s Will Van Ryken!” screams one and dissolves into tears.

“Aww, honey, no tears. Let’s get a drink, and you can tell me how fabulous I am.”

The doors shut, her friend licks her lips, and I know someone will be screaming my name tonight.

W
ill leaves the room and doesn’t look back. Takes a player to know a player, and that fucker is trying to get into Kat’s pants. He’s smart, I’ll give him that. He’s putting a wedge between Kat and Dane. Kat’s vulnerable right now, but Will’s a dick. Will’s the type of guy she used to date, all flash, and no substance.

I look at Kat, and her soon-to-be black eye, she looks miserable, time to cheer her up.

“Coffee, or something harder?” I ask her.

Kat sniffles and says, “Coffee with a dash of whiskey.”

“See, that’s why I love you, my delectable diva.” I stand up, move to the phone and call down to room service. I order a bottle of first class whiskey and the largest pot of coffee they have.

“Want to tell me about it?” I ask her.

She shakes her head and looks down at her shaking hands.

“Tut, tut, tut my princess. You know Dane loves you. You’ve been away too long.” I walk back to her. “I spoke to a reporter downstairs, he showed Dane a picture of you from a few days ago, holding hands with Will and coupled with him kissing you on stage tonight, how did you think Dane was going to react?”

“I have never held hands with Will, and you know that kiss was nothing! I didn’t kiss him back, he did it for the crowd. It was a dick thing to do, but Dane over-reacted!”

“Okay, let's look at this from Dane’s point of view. You’ve been on the road for nearly a year, every time you two talk on the phone, you fight.” Kat looks up at me. “You’ve told me that yourself,” I remind her. “He finally gets on a plane, comes all the way down here to surprise you, and you’re on stage kissing another man. Then he comes here to talk to you about it, and you walk in arm-in-arm with that man. What would you think?”

“I wouldn’t think I was fucking him. He should know
me
better than that,” she whispers.

“Yeah, he should, but he’s a big macho guy and bottom line? He misses you.”

There’s a knock at the door and I move to open it.

“Room service.”

I step out of the way as the man wheels in the trolley. Kat stands and goes into the bathroom.

“Will that be all, Sir?”

“Yeah, thank you.” I hand the guy a twenty and he scurries out the door.

Kat comes back into the room with a washed face and pours both of us a coffee with a dash of whiskey in both.

“What happened between you and Dane?”

She chews on her lip and brings me a cup.

“Lots of things. I really don’t want to talk about it, honey. Thank you for ordering coffee,” says Kat.

“Nice deflection there, Kat. I’ve left you alone and haven’t pushed, you can thank Rosie for that, but it’s time, what happened?”

“Rosie has been really good for you. You seem more centered, calm, and dare I say, happy?”

She’s right, Rosie has been good for me, but she’s avoiding the conversation again.

“I am happy, and I seem to remember a time when you were with Dane,
and
it wasn’t that long ago.” Kat sips her coffee and doesn’t respond. “Was it the violence that followed Dane to Tourmaline? The drive-by?”

“No, it wasn’t that.” She puts her cup down and looks at me. “He stopped sharing stuff with me. He lied about a...friend that went missing and he wouldn’t speak to me. Then there was the doctors appointment he didn’t go to after he said he would.”

“A friend that went missing?”

“Fith, he lied about Fith. He didn’t want to upset me by telling me he was dead.”

“So he was trying to protect you?” I ask.

“Fuck that. No, you men can’t use that as an excuse every god-damned time you don’t want to see your woman upset. Grow a set and deal with us. I don’t need protecting, I need to have a partner who will share everything with me, or I walk...and I guess that’s what I did.”

Her last few words come out on a whisper, and she drops my gaze. I sit down and wait for her to get herself back under control.

“He’s a protective man, he doesn’t want you hurt or upset, and I get that. But I also understand that you’ve been on your own and taking care of yourself for a very long time. But, Kat, when he met you, you were broken. Dane helped fix you, and
you
let him, his normal response is going to be to protect you. Did you
ever
think you’d be back on the road and touring after your accident?”