“Nobody minds me. I’m a grown woman.?
?? A grown woman whose brother was likely to ground her. Only she didn’t tell him that. She didn’t want to detract from the brave, confident persona she was trying to project. Even though she was totally pissing herself on the inside.
“You’re a spoiled, impulsive little girl. And you’re also a liar since there’s no way your brothers know you’re here.”
Don’t show him any emotion. Don’t show fear.
Fuck, but that fear ran deep. She might not care much for her own safety, but no one threatened the people she loved.
“What do you know of my brothers?” Was he just mentioning them because she’d said something about them, which had been an idiot move, or did he actually know who they were?
“Girl, I can’t believe I’m going to have to point this out. We have your handbag. We have your phone. We know who you are. Who your family is. Given more time we can probably discover what you fucking ate for breakfast.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Leave my brothers out of this.”
He snorted. “Come on. Boss is waiting. He’s not a patient man.”
He stepped back and held open the door, it took her a moment to realize he was waiting for her to wheel herself out.
“What? Not going to just force me to go where you want,” she managed to snark even though her heart was still racing.
How could she have been so fucking stupid? Why had she come here? And why had she brought her handbag? She should have left all of her identification in the car. Then nothing could have been traced back to her brothers.
But then, she hadn’t been expecting things to go to shit.
Come on, Eden. This is your life, of course it’s going to go to shit.
“You don’t move then I will move you,” he stated. “But it’s not my style to put my hands on a woman without her permission.”
“A biker with morals,” she scoffed.
He shrugged. “We all have some sort of moral code, right? Just some of our morals aren’t what society accepts.”
“All you have to do is grab my chair, you wouldn’t have to touch me,” she pointed out. She didn’t know why the hell she was arguing. Maybe it was to give herself a chance to slow her racing heartbeat.
Fear was making it hard to breathe.
“You moving or not?” he asked. “‘Cause now I’m running low on patience. And girl, when I run out of patience, shit starts to get real bad.”
She heard the low warning and with no other choice, she rolled herself out the door.
Time to meet the boss.
7
As she followed the big guy down the passageway, she took stock of her surroundings. There wasn’t much point in trying to escape. By the time she turned her chair around, no doubt he’d be on her. Still, it kind of irritated her that he seemed to just expect her to follow him like a good little girl.
No one could ever accuse her of being that.
Well, once upon a time she had been. Longing filled her. Things had been so much simpler before her parents died. She’d lived a charmed life. She knew that now. She’d had two big brothers who had adored her, parents who loved her unconditionally.
Yep, life had been perfect. Until she’d ruined it.
And now she spent most of her time trying to forget. To outrun the past. But had she turned into a complete brat? How unfair was she being to everyone around her? She sighed.
“So, if I’m being led to my death could I maybe know your name first?” she asked to distract herself.