Page 24 of Beyond the Cut
“Come.” Cade straddled his bike and held out his hand. “I can’t protect you if you’re not with me.”
How could she resist an opportunity to finally stick it to Jimmy and run him out of town? She’d never been on the offensive before. Even when she left him, she was running away. And how could she refuse the protection of the man who made her heart pound and her knees weak?
With one last look at the bus stop, she threw a leg over the bike and wrapped her hands around his waist. “Let’s ride.”
Cade cranked the throttle and the engine of his modded Harley Fat Boy roared to life, the sound echoing down the alley. Jimmy and Trey turned their bikes and sped away. Cade raced after them, veering out into the traffic and accelerating after the fleeing bikers as if there were no other vehicles on the road.
Dawn had ridden pillion on Jimmy’s bike, but she’d never experienced anything as breathtakingly exciting as riding with Cade. They flew through stop signs and traffic lights, wove in and out of traffic, and sent pedestrians scurrying off the sidewalk. Dawn clung to Cade as if she were a first-time rider, barely able to keep her balance when the bike tipped on hairpin turns that sent her stomach plummeting. The wind whipped through her hair, the motorcycle vibrated between her thighs, and the world became a blur once they hit the open road. She had never been as exhilarated in her life.
“Babe. Grab my gun from the holster,” Cade shouted over his shoulder.
Tightening her free arm, Dawn reached beneath his cut and removed the weapon, sliding it across his chest. She held it in front of him, but Cade shook his head.
“Going too fast to ride and shoot. You gotta do it. Shoot ’em.”
Dawn sucked in a sharp breath and pressed herself tighter against Cade’s back. Her legs clamped around his thighs when he suddenly changed lanes to accelerate past a truck. “I can’t shoot,” she yelled. “What if I hit someone?”
“That’s the idea. If you don’t, he’ll just keep coming back like a fucking roach.”
“I hate Jimmy, but I can’t kill him.” She slammed the gun into his stomach, her arm tightening around him to keep her balance when he hit a bump.
Cade grunted. “Well, then shoot out their fucking tires.”
Tires. I can do tires. How much harder could it be than trying to hit the tiny targets at the shooting range where Arianne had taken her for her birthday? She hugged Cade with one arm and peered around his side, aiming her weapon at Trey’s tires. Then she pulled the trigger.
Crack. The recoil almost threw her off the bike. The bullet pinged off the rocks and ricocheted overhead. Cade’s weapon was nothing like her .22. And clearly, she’d missed her target because Trey and Jimmy were still speeding ahead.
“Again,” Cade shouted.
Dawn’s hand shook as she tried to aim the gun, but with the wind whipping around her, and Cade leaning so far forward she could barely hold on, she worried her aim was off. And if the bullet hit one of the men instead of the bike… “You need to get closer.”
“What the fuck do you think I’m doing? They’re almost at the border.” He kicked up the acceleration and Dawn gave up any further thoughts of shooting out Trey’s tires in favor of making it through the ride alive.
But although Cade was fast, he wasn’t fast enough. Jimmy and Trey shot across the Conundrum border and Cade slowed his bike, pulling up in the empty parking lot behind Big Bill’s Custom Cycles and Paint.CLOSED ON SUNDAYS.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. Dawn’s heart thudded against her rib cage, the beat matched by the throb of the pulse at the juncture of her thighs and the heated rush of blood through her veins.
When she was able to loosen her fingers from Cade’s cut, she slid off the bike. Cade followed suit, and then he turned to face her.
“What the fuck kinda shooting was that?” His voice rose in frustration. “When I give you an order, I expect it to be carried out right away.”
Shocked by his anger, a curious mix of adrenaline and desire boiling through her veins, she answered him back with the same vehement tone. “Don’t shout at me. I spent two days at a shooting range with Arianne. That’s all the experience I have. I couldn’t get a clear shot, and I didn’t want to take the risk I’d hit one of them. And I don’t take orders from you.”
His eyes glittered in the setting sun, his body quivering with unspent adrenaline. “If you’re gonna ride with a biker, you’re gonna have to suck it up. The man is the boss. And you’re gonna have to learn how to shoot in a straight fucking line.”
“I did the biker thing,” she spat out. “You saw how that turned out. I don’t know why I got on the back of your bike, but I’m sorry I did. I should have just taken the bus.” Her voice rose in pitch as she struggled against the conflicting needs to slap some sense into his thick, chauvinistic skull, and to tear off his clothes and soothe the ache between her thighs.
“Jesus Christ.” Cade whirled around and thudded his boot into the brick wall of the store. “Don’t be so damn difficult. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”
“Difficult? I don’t spend my time taking shooting lessons because I don’t want to shoot anyone. And this ride was a onetime thing. I’ve never been in position to act against Jimmy before, much less run him out of town. But it wasn’t an invitation to be bossed around.”
Damn it felt good to shout and stand up for herself without being afraid of the repercussions. Jimmy would have beaten her for much, much less. But Cade stared at her, feral hunger in his gaze, burning her with its intensity.
Then he turned and walked away.
“Where are you going?”
“Wound up too tight,” he muttered. “And you… that fire… those green eyes… your hair wild around your shoulders… fucking beautiful when you’re angry… too damn hot. Need to cool off.”
