Cole blinked up at me as I slid from the bed. He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “Really, Amelia? You couldn’t just slide out of bed without making a huge departure?” he grumbled.
I ignored him and slid my clothes on. I sat down in the recliner near his dresser and slid on my boots. Once I found my phone, I slid it into my back pocket. He was watching me silently the entire time. When I placed my hand on the doorknob, he finally spoke. “What is it with you, Amelia?” he muttered quietly, almost to where I didn’t hear him, but I did.
What was it with me? It was times like these when I questioned if he really did have feelings for me. It was times like these when I wondered if I was just digging myself into a hole that I was going to spend a long time dragging myself back out of.
I wiped my face clean of emotion and made sure my eyes were blank when I turned to look at him. Letting my cold eyes meet his, I smirked at him. “Cole, don’t read too much into this.”
His eyes flashed with anger, and before he could get off the bed to stop me, I was out of the room and headed outside to my bike. I got stopped halfway by Travis, Katie, and my dad. I glared at them. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone’s shit. I was setting myself up for heartbreak with Cole, and I hadn’t realized it until today. I just wanted to ride out of here and put some distance between me and this hell I called my life for a while.
“What?” I spat at them.
Cole walked up beside them, and I tensed up. Even though he hadn’t yet showered and he just threw on his clothes to come out here, he still looked and smelled great. “What’s going on?” he asked them, his eyes flickering between me and them.
Travis ran a hand through his hair, and his eyes met mine. “Amelia, we need you to get out of town for a while. The ATL are everywhere, and we need you to be safe. You’ll possibly get killed otherwise.”
“What?!” Cole barked before I could say anything. “Hell no! She fucking stays here where we can protect her!”
I ignored Cole. “Not a problem. I was leaving anyway,” I told them.
I walked past them and over to my bike. Before I could get on, Cole wrapped his arms around my waist and yanked me backward. He then proceeded to kick my fucking bike to the ground. I screamed in aggravation once he set me down and turned around to slap him. His face snapped to the side, but just as quickly, he looked back down at me.
“What the fuck is your problem?!” I screeched.
“You’re not riding out of here!” he roared, towering over me, glaring into my eyes. I wasn’t intimidated though. I was fucking pissed. “It’s out of the fucking question!”
I turned around and looked at my bike. I wanted to hit Cole on the fucking head with a tire wrench. How dare he throw my fucking bike on the ground like that?! Was he out of his goddamn fucking mind?!
He turned me back around to face him with his hand on my arm. “Amelia, I can’t let you ride out of here like that,” he told me, his voice softer now, desperation in his voice as he tried to get me to understand his point of view. “You’ll get yourself killed. You need to stay here where we can protect you. No matter what everyone else thinks, you’re safer here.”
I glared at him. “I didn’t ask you what the fuck your problem was about me riding out of here,” I snapped at him, not giving a fuck about him or his stupid fucking feelings. “You just fucking shoved my fucking bike on the ground and most likely broke something on it. I take as much pride in my bike as you men do. That was a fucking dick move, Colton. So, I hope you fucking accomplished what you aimed to do.”
I shoved him away from me and turned around, lifting up my bike. I rolled it to the garage, getting even angrier at the scratches I saw to the paint job and the messed-up parts from being kicked to the ground so roughly.
I wanted to do nothing more than punch Cole in his fucking face for this. You just didn’t pull this kind of shit on anyone’s fucking bike—man or woman.
* * *
I rubbedmy greasy hands on a towel. I had been doing nothing all day but working on my bike. It was dark outside, and I was the only one left in the garage. I could hear music pumping from inside of the clubhouse and everyone’s loud laughter. I was glad they were all having fun. Instead of having an opportunity to get laid and drink myself sick tonight, or hell, maybe even riding off into the sunset, I was having to fix what I could on my bike while waiting for the other parts I needed to get shipped in.
“I love a girl who can fix a bike.”
I snapped my head over to where the voice came from. My eyes trailed up boots, to jean clad legs, up a t-shirt, to a cut that was clearly not ours, and finally to a face I really wished I could just fucking forget.
I scrambled up from my sitting position, grabbing the blow torch and pointing it at him. It was my only fucking weapon in here. I had to have some way to protect myself from him.
No, it wasn’t the leader of the ATL that was here. It was his Sergeant at Arms, Todd. Todd was given an opportunity to rape me, too. Not only that, but he helped deliver some blows to my body.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ground out.
He stepped forward, and I let flames shoot out of the torch. He took a step back. “I just want to talk, Amelia. I was told that Travis, Katie, and daddy dearest would like you to ride off into the sunset away from us. I’d just like to let you know that it will never happen, dear.”
I cursed. We obviously had a traitor in the club that was ratting everything to the fucking ATL. When I found that bastard, I would kill them with my own goddamn bare hands.
Suddenly, I remembered the goons on the gate. He was able to get past the members. The gates were also closed and locked.
“How did you get in?” I snapped at him.
He pulled a gun out of his cut, smirking at me. “It’s called a clean shot to the forehead using a silencer,” he informed me. “You’ve pulled a trigger and used a silencer before. You should have known that, love.”