Page 12 of Ash (Dragon Riders MC 3)
Hannah stepped in between all of us. “Can we cut the shit now? Yeah? Because it’s getting old, I’m hungry, and we need to figure out what to do now.”
Slash gripped her arm. “Come with me.”
I shook my head. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”
“What? You think I’m just going to let her go home? Or better yet, go with you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, better yet. I could do a much better job protecting Hannah from Skeleton now that you’ve roped her into this mess. All of those men that work for him have gotten a good look at each and every one of you. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that Skeleton will—”
Sly clicked his tongue. “Maybe slow down a bit, Ash.”
Knuckles chuckled. “Never heard him talk this much in all his life.”
I looked over at Hannah. “If you want to stay here, I get that. But if you want to come with us—with me—I can make that happen. All you have to do is say the word.”
Slash pulled Hannah to her side. “She stays with family. End of story.”
Hannah blinked. “Well, what if I don’t want to?”
Her question silenced all of us as rage passed behind Slash’s eyes.
“What did you just say?” she asked.
Hannah sighed. “Can you give my cousin and I a few minutes? Please?”
I nodded. “Take as long as it takes. I’ll be here.”
Link piped up. “We’ll all be here.”
Slash whistled. “Girls! With me.”
I watched as Slash dragged Hannah into the bar by her arm and it took everything inside of me not to go after her. Not to pick her up, toss her back over my shoulder, and plop her right down onto my bike. I felt the guys staring at me as the last of the Red Pythons walked into the bar. And as Link patted me on my back again, I let out the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.
“You good, man?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m good.”
Sly chuckled. “You sure about that?”
I looked over at him. “Yep.”
Knuckled smiled. “And back to the cropped responses? After all of that talking?”
I shot him a look. “Shut up.”
Bowser snickered. “I think he likes the girl.”
Link rolled his eyes. “You think?”
I licked my lips. “I said, shut up.”
I stared at that front door, counting down the seconds in my head. I strained my ears to hear anything that might even resemble a fight and was prepared to storm the place. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I wanted in. Whatever Hannah was saying, I wanted to be privy to that information.
Then, the door eased itself open.
Revealing the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.
“Hannah, are you okay?”
She walked up to me and nodded before she heaved a heavy sigh.
“Look, Ash. Your offer is way too kind. But I can’t burden you like that.”
“You wouldn’t be a burden. You’d be under my care. There are a lot of things you don’t understand about—”
“She drew her gun at the campground and ruined the plan because someone called her fat.”
I paused. “What?”
I sighed. “At the campground, where the first fire-fight was. When we were all captured? My cousin drew her gun and was the first to fire because someone called her ‘fat’ in her outfit.”
Link stepped up beside me. “You’re kidding?”
Hannah shook her head. “I’m not. Now, I don’t understand specifics, but I’m pretty sure that you guys had one plan and they had another. I haven’t worked out all of the kinks yet, but that’s what my gut is telling me. This job was much more complicated than she made it out to be. I was hired as an outsider to throw off this Skeleton guy you’re talking about, but I was also told that we wouldn’t go any further than the first campground we ended up at.”
Link nodded. “There’s a lot we need to fill you in on, especially if you want to make sense of things.”
I quickly jumped in. “But you’ll have to come with us if you want that information.”
Sly murmured. “You don’t bribe a girl like this, Ash.”
Hannah quirked an eyebrow. “And you think I’m just going to hop on the back of your bike because you have answers to a few questions? What am I, some southern bumpkin idiot?”
Sly whispered. “Told you.”
I waved my hand at him. “What do you want, Hannah?”
She blinked. “Come again?”
“In all of this, if you had your choice in the matter, what would you want?”
“Don’t I already have a choice? It’s not like anyone owns me.”
I groaned in frustration. “Drop the tough girl act. We already know you’re stronger than most of the girls still in that bar. Just tell us what you want. What do you want out of all this?”
I stared into her beautiful amber eyes before she drew in a deep breath.
