Page 2 of Rodeo (Marked Skulls MC 2)
“Fuck this,” I muttered under my breath and kicked the door with my foot. It rattled and I realized that the chain lock had been pulled into position. So, she was clearly inside.
“Open the fucking door!” I raged and I didn’t care who else could hear me. I kicked the door again and it rattled once more. Next, I threw myself against the door and this time it caved. One more time and it was going to break open.
I was seeing red. All I cared about was getting the information I needed out of the woman on the other side. At whatever cost.
I flung myself into the door again, and this time, it did more than rattle. The door broke open, sending the chain lock flying inside.
With my jaws clenched and my fists bunched up, I swung open the remaining section of the door and stepped in.
I didn’t expect to see her. I didn’t expect to see a woman who looked like her on the other side.
She was standing in the middle of the room, clutching herself tightly and shivering from fear. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, she was bawling her eyes out.
She was a voluptuous woman, with thick thighs and wide hips. The blouse she was wearing stretched tightly over her juicy swinging breasts, and her jeans were tight on her legs, accentuating the curves of her hips and her butt. She had the most exquisitely tanned olive skin, and beautiful wide dark eyes. She was raven haired, with her hair messily tied up in a bun on the side of her head.
I had stopped in my tracks when I saw her. I had been pissing mad a moment before that. I couldn’t feel a single thing on my body, even though I had just broken a door down and burst through it. Now, I suddenly felt tongue-tied, like I couldn’t move. Just watching her standing there, with tears streaming down her cheeks was enough to immobilize me.
“Please, don’t hurt me,” she cried and clamped her hands over her mouth. I gulped. My throat had gone dry. Fred was still at the back of my mind, I remembered why I was here but I couldn’t get the words out of my system.
I had caused this. I was the one who had scared her and never before in my life had I felt so suddenly weak. I wanted to pull her into my arms, I wanted to hold her to my chest and stroke her hair. In a matter of seconds, the tables had turned on me. I didn’t want to hound her for information, I wanted to protect her.
I stepped towards her slowly and she grew rigid and gasped.
“No! Please…I don’t know anything. I didn’t see anything,” she cried and took a step away from me.
I stretched my hands out towards her. I needed her to see that I wasn’t holding any weapons.
“It’s okay, it’s all right. I’m not going to do anything,” I said and took another step. It was like I was a hunter and she was the prey. I knew that if I made one wrong move, she could slip out from my hands. I was trying to back her into a corner so that I could calm her down.
“No, please no!” she squealed, and I noticed the way the tops of her cheeks had turned red. Her cheeks were damp from all the crying.
“I’m not going to do anything. Nice and easy now,” I said and stepped closer to her slowly. She was shivering like she was freezing. I felt a strong sense of guilt in my heart. This woman deserved to be protected, she didn’t deserve to be scared out of her wits like I had just done to her.
“No!” she screamed when I took another step, and before I knew what she was going to do, she had whipped around from me and was running into her bedroom.
***
She had run into the bedroom and I chased after her. Suddenly, I was panicking that she was going to try and jump out of the window to get away from me!
“No, please, no!” she squealed and I saw her reach for her cellphone on the bed. I knew what she was about to do, she was going to call the cops.
I strode into the room as she dialed the three numbers with shaking fingers. She looked up and saw me approaching her and let out another cry. I saw the sheer fear in her eyes. I wanted her to stop running away from me, to stop being afraid of me, but she was refusing to just calm down and listen.
I reached for the phone, walking right up to her and I snatched it out of her hands. She squealed but couldn’t do anything.
“You have got to stop,” I said, looking her straight in the eyes and then I slid her phone down the pocket of my jeans.
She watched me doing it and clamped her hands over her mouth and let out another cry.
“I told you, I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, trying to hold her gaze but she ducked and tried to swerve around me. I grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back in front of me.
When my hand touched her body, I felt a sizzle. Even though she was afraid of me and trying to run away from me, I couldn’t help but be attracted to her. I plonked her down in front of me and placed my hands on her quivering shoulders.
She couldn’t stop crying.
“Look at me, look up at me!” I barked while she blubbered. She slowly raised her eyes, her long dark eyelashes were damp from all the crying. Her cheeks were flushed and her red cherry lips were quivering. I had to do everything in my power to not kiss her right then.
“What is your name?” I asked and she took in a shallow shaky breath.
“Okay, you can call me Rodeo. What should I call you?” I said, still holding her tightly by her shoulders.
“Jordan,” she spoke meekly. She was still shaking, but at least now that I had gotten her talking, she was crying a little less.
“Okay, Jordan, tell me you believe me that I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, looking at her intently. Her dark eyes were wide and watery. I could see that she was trying her best to not burst into another volley of tears. She wasn’t going to respond.
“I’m going to take my hands off your shoulders, but you have to promise that you won’t run or scream or cry. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise,” I said. I knew I was speaking like I was speaking to a child, but I had no other option. I had to get her to trust me. That was the only way this was going to work.
“Do you promise?” I asked her and finally, Jordan nodded her head. Her hair had come undone from the bun she had tied, and the dark raven strands fell in waves around her slender shoulders.
“Okay, that’s good,” I said, and slowly, I let go of her. She sighed loudly from relief but just like she had promised, she didn’t run or make a sound. I stepped away from her, but her phone was still in my pocket. I lifted my hands up in the air.
“See? Not doing anything,” I said and she clasped her hands together, then lifted up her shoulder and turned her face to dab at her damp cheeks. She was beautiful and looked vulnerable as she stood in front of me. She had no idea how badly I wanted to protect her. She thought that I was going to harm her.
“Okay, I’m sorry about the door. I shouldn’t have broken into your apartment like that. I needed to talk to you,” I said and she shook her head wildly. Her nostrils were flared and I could sense another burst of tears coming on.
“I don’t know anything to talk about. I haven’t spoken to the cops. I’ve told them nothing. I didn’t see anything!” she was screeching as she spoke and I took in a deep breath and nodded my head.
“It’s okay, Jordan, just relax. I know you haven’t spoken to the cops. One of them is a friend of mine and he told me that you didn’t tell him anything,” I said and that seemed to calm her down.
“Then why are you here? I promise I won’t say anything to anybody. I’ll leave this apartment, I’ll move out of this place. I’ll do anything, just leave me alone!” she was crying again and I had no choice but to step towards her again.
“Jordan! Hey, hey!” I called out to her and she clamped her mouth shut, with tears still rolling down her cheeks.
“You said you’d trust me. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m not here to silence you. I’m just here to ask you a few questions about what you saw, that’s all,” I said. She pursed her lips together, her nostrils were flared—she was trying to stop herself from crying again. Then slowly, she started to take steps aw
ay from me till her back was against the wall of the bedroom.
“I don’t know who to trust, I don’t know what to believe,” she said, in a soft meek voice. I gulped as I stared at her. I didn’t want her to feel this way. I wanted to do everything I could to make this feeling go away. I wanted to keep her safe, and even though I didn’t think that I could hate the Dark Legion any more, now I did. I was fucking furious at them for putting her in this position.
Chapter 4
