After about five minutes, I noticed the sidewalk wasn’t as populated, and I worried I’d gone too far. Looking all around for something familiar, I turned my head at the next cross street when I smacked into a body. I felt their arms wrap around me and I panicked. My reflexes went into overdrive, and I attempted to kick them in the shins, my arms having been secured to my side.
“Ssh, ssh, Kitten. It’s me.”
Blinking, I looked up and found chocolate eyes looking down at me and his familiar smell of leather and mint breaking through my fear. “Wells,” I breathed out, my body finally relaxing into his hold. He held me close, pushing my head against his chest, and I went willingly, wrapping my arms around him. I didn’t care that I was pissed at him. Right now, he was safe.
I started crying, not even knowing it, but everything had come to a head, and it bubbled out of me. I’d stood up for myself, but I wondered if I might’ve made it inevitably worse in the process. Nothing made sense.
Who was that man? Why did he threaten me? Had he been the one to hurt me? Why? Why? Why?
The ‘why’ was all I could think of as it swirled around in my head on repeat.
“Kitten, I don’t know what happened, but I’m guessing it was big because I know how fucking strong you are. You’re safe now. I’m going to take you somewhere safe. Do you trust me?”
I felt his words through his chest, the sound a dark rumble against my cheek, a little deeper than usual. I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of this moment. Standing on a street corner, wrapped in Surly’s arms willingly. His grip was solid, his hand on my head and his arm banded around my waist, and even without thinking about it, I knew it was true. I did trust him.
I might hate him at times and become so angry with him that I wanted to throttle him, but he’d never made me fear him. If anything, he’d helped me find my strength. Even during our disastrous kiss, he’d been protective, stopping me from doing something I might’ve regretted.
I hadn’t seen it that way at the time, our usual stubbornness fighting against one another, but he’d protected me from myself that day. Not every guy would’ve stopped. Wells was surly, rude, and a massive pain in my ass 98% of the time. But I think I could see the version of him that Monroe loved. The man he was in those moments when it mattered.
It wasn’t enough to forgive everything between us, but it was enough for right now.
Without even lifting my head, I nodded, his hand moving with the motion, and I said an honest truth. “I do.”
I felt his body relax, a tension I hadn’t noticed until it was gone at my response. His hand smoothed over my hair, and I could’ve sworn his lips brushed my temple, but it was gone before I could question it. He let go, and while I knew he’d have to, I missed being cradled in his arms. Wells had held me like I was the most precious thing in the world, and it was a heady feeling.
“Come on.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me around the corner, a bike parked there. He lifted the helmet and gave it to me before straddling the hunk of metal. And it was a hunk of metal. It wasn’t pretty like Nicco’s had been. Instead, it was an assortment of mismatched parts with multiple colors.
“We don’t have all day, Kitten. You said you trusted me. Prove it.”
His voice snapped me out of it, and I slid the helmet on before straddling the seat behind him. Wrapping my arms around him, I settled in, thankful this wasn’t my first time. For some reason, it felt like Wells would rub it in if it had been. His hand came down on mine, briefly caressing them before pulling them tighter.
The engine roared to life, and again, I noticed it wasn’t as quiet or smooth as Nicco’s, but it sounded strong, and I relaxed against his back. We took off, whipping around the city, and I held on tight to him as we went. He started to head out of downtown, and I wondered where we were going, a little anxiety creeping in.
After all this time, maybe he’d led me into a false sense of security and was taking me out to kill me somewhere. What if he’d been involved with that man? What if…
Shaking it off, I reminded myself of all the things I’d realized earlier. This wasn’t time to start catastrophizing and thinking of the worst-case scenario. It seemed my present state was already dangerous enough for me. I might even need to tone it down on the murder mystery shows if I was beginning to see everything as a conspiracy.
When we started down a gravel road, we slowed until we came to an end where an old house sat in complete darkness. Wells parked the bike, kicking out the kickstand before getting off. I looked up at him, taking him in for the first time.
He looked good. His injuries had healed, and his muscles even looked bigger. Wherever he’d been, it had done him well. Licking my lips, I watched as the edges of his lips lifted in a crooked smile, and holy hell, it was sexy.
“You know the helmet doesn’t have a visor, right?”
It took me a second to realize what he was asking. He reached down and unclipped the strap, and I instantly understood. Heat crept up my neck at not realizing the intensity of the moment and fear having muted some of the details. My processors weren’t firing, having been spent on dealing with the sleazy stalker douche.
“I know,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes to hide my embarrassment. “I can still appreciate the whole bad boy thing you have going on even if I don’t like you.” I waved my hand in front of his body, and he caught it, using it to pull me off the bike and into him.
Leaning down, he seductively whispered into my ear. “If that’s what you have to tell yourself, Kitten, go ahead. But we both know you’ll be moaning out my name tonight when you touch yourself.”
He dropped my hand and took off, leaving me standing with my mouth open, and maybe a little wet between the legs. Wells had the sexy asshole thing down. Sleazeball could learn a thing or two from him. Scratch that. I didn’t need the creeper improving his skills to hit on me.
When I didn’t immediately follow, he stopped, sighing before turning back.
“Loren, come on. I need to do something before we can talk about what happened. Can we make something simple for once? The dogs get antsy if I don’t come in right away.”
His bravado was gone, and I could see the real man under it. I assented, realizing he’d called me Loren. As much as I’d hated Kitten when he’d initially called me it, I kind of hated not hearing it from his lips now. What a tangled web we weaved. When his words penetrated my brain, I picked up my speed, passing him as I ran to the front door.