Page 10 of Ash (Dragon Riders MC 3)
Slash butted in. “She’s fine, Ash. Now, back off.”
A blonde-headed man stepped up beside him. “You don’t get to talk to my men that way. Not after what just happened. Not after we just saved your asses.”
Slash snickered. “And what do you expect us to do? Fuck you in gratitude?”
The lean guy came up to my side. “Nah, you’re not really our type, Slash.”
I giggled, but my cousin wasn’t happy about that. She shot me a look that told me to “cork it,” so I ended up laughing harder.
I loved crawling underneath my cousin’s skin.
She was so easy to piss off.
“Did anyone bring our bikes?” Slash asked.
The lean man snickered. “You think that in saving all of your asses we thought to bring your bikes?”
The blonde-headed man shook his head. “We still have to get you guys back to the bar before you’ll have your bikes.”
Slash nodded. “Good. I need to debrief the girls and my cousin before we do anything else.”
Ash piped up. “I’m sure you do.”
The two of them stared off with one another and it was mesmerizing to watch. Everything this man did caught my attention, from the way he looked, to the way he talked, to the way he carried himself, to the sound of his voice. There wasn’t a thing about him I didn’t like, and that worried me.
Because the last time I got caught in a man’s net like this, I got my heart broken.
And my future demolished.
“So, do we want to get out of here so we aren’t sitting ducks anymore?” I asked.
The blonde-headed man pointed to me. “She’s got a good point. We need to get back somewhere that’s considered familiar territory. We’ll have an advantage there if we get hit again.”
I blinked. “Get hit? You think those idiots will come after us?”
The lean man chuckled. “Not after all the men Ash put down.”
Ash shook his head. “Come on, in front of the girls?”
My cousin rolled her eyes. “Women, thanks.”
I clicked my tongue. “Quit being so damn sensitive about everything. You tell me I’m sensitive then get pissed off at shit like that.”
“Because I’m not a damn girl, Hannah.”
“Then stop acting like it, Dorothy.”
Ash paused. “Did she just say ‘Dorothy’?”
Slash glared at me. “You’re going to pay for that.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Oh, really? And how is that?”
The guys chuckled to themselves as I cocked my head off to the side. If my cousin thought she was going to override me because she was some president of some stupid club that made stupid-ass decisions, then she had another thing coming. I turned my back to her and walked over to Ash, who stood by his bike. I threw my leg over the back end of the bike and settled myself in the passenger-seat, then turned to face the crowd.
“So, are we getting out of here or what?” I asked.
Everyone looked around at one another before Ash grinned. And that small little crook of his lips lit up his entire face. He looked like a completely different person, and I wondered what he’d look like with a full-blown smile on his face. He walked over to me and dug around in a little compartment off the side of his bike before he pulled out a helmet.
Then, he settled it over my head.
After we all got ready and my helmet was good to go, Ash slid back onto his bike. I gladly wrapped my arms around him and attached my thighs to his. I fisted his jacket like I had before and rested my head against his back. Only this time, I heard him murmuring and talking to himself.
Courtesy of the connected microphones in both of our helmets.
“I can hear you, you know,” I said.
He nodded. “Good. Glad it's working.”
He struck up the engine of his bike and tore off, following the other guys off in the distance.
“So, how long have you been with your crew?” I asked.
He sped to catch up with them. “Uh, six, seven years.”
“Nice.”
“What about you?”
“What?”
“How long have you been with the—”
I shook my head. “No, no, no. I’m not part of the crew.”
He paused. “You’re not?”
“Nope.”
“But you were running an op with them.”
“You make it sound so official. My cousin roped me into doing a favor for her in exchange for money I really needed. Then, shit went haywire.”
“Do you know why they went haywire?”
I giggled. “My cousin pissed someone off. That’s always how things go haywire. She’s got a temper she doesn’t know how to keep in check.”
“I figured as much. Glad to know my hunch was right, though.”
“What hunch?”
“That you weren’t part of the Red Pythons.”
I paused. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or offended.”
He chuckled, and the sound pulled me beneath its warm current. It rushed through my body like angry, ebbing waves, drowning me in the wondrous sound. I wanted to hear it again. I wanted to make him chuckle as much as I could on this trip back to my hometown.
