Page 5 of The Big Bad's Claim
Todd:I heard you leaving the apartment. Didn’t you hear me call you?
Todd:We have to talk, Kenna.
Well, there goes my one hope. Fear slithers down my back. He knows. He heard me leaving. Several other messages follow, my sense of dread growing with each one. Todd changes from convincing me to talk to him, to threatening me. He says he knows where my mother lives, my friends’ addresses, and my job. He promises he won’t hurt me, then twenty minutes later vows to ruin my life before ending it with his hands if I tell anyone.
A bitter taste fills my mouth. Bile rises in my throat, no matter how much I tell myself I’m safe here. I might be, but what about my mother and my friends? And for how long do I have to live in this bedroom, caged from the outside, while Todd runs free?
A knock on the door makes me jump out of my skin. My heart pounding, I grip the knob, pull the door open, and find Blaise standing in the doorway, the top of his head brushing the jamb.
He takes one look at my face and frowns. “What?” he roars, but I can tell he’s not mad at me.
Stepping back into the bedroom, I release a defeated sigh and give him my phone. Much easier to let him read it all. I cross my arms and wait for him to be done with it. The more he reads, the darker his features grow. By the end, the crease between his brows is so deep I’m sure it will never smooth over again.
“What do we do?” I ask him, my foot tapping the ground. What I have at the moment is a mysterious deal with a muscular biker and no solution to my hitman ex-boyfriend. The wordexrattles through me. That’s it, I’m also single now because my boring boyfriend is a hitman. There’s no way this can end well between us. The one thing I’m sure of is that there’s no happy ending waiting for us at the end.
Blaise hands me the phone. The device is so tiny between his meaty fingers that it looks like a toy. He shakes his head once, his dark hair dancing around his ears. “We haven’t found him. A couple of guys are doing rounds about your mother’s place, and the two friends you indicated. If anyone sees him, they’ll let me know.”
I chew on my bottom lip. There’s a quality of reassurance in his baritone voice that forces me to relax. I guess that’s what it means to lead so many men for so many years. Tucking my hair behind my ears, I meet his gaze again. “Do you think I could go home, then? To pick up some clothes, at least?”
He cocks his head, studying me for a moment. “Okay.” He shoots a glance at his phone, then turns around. “Come on.”
I grab my purse and pick up my pace to follow him out. “You’re coming with me?”
“Of course. I would never let you out in the open alone. Not with this man out there.”
My heart skips a beat, even when I tell myself this is all for the deal. He has to keep his end of the bargain so I can pay him back later... And whatever the price, I’ll have to pay. I follow Blaise out of the empty club to a parked bike. The monstrous metal piece is all slick black, threatening and massive like its owner. Blaise fishes a key out of his pocket and motions for me.
I arch an eyebrow. “You know, I live two blocks away.”
He shakes his head. “The bike makes it easy to escape if we have to. I told you, I won’t risk you like this.” And he presses a hand to the small of my back, urging me to hop on. A shiver of warmth races throughout my body. It’s getting harder and harder to remember this is all about the deal.
I nod, then awkwardly throw a leg over the bike’s body. Shouldn’t Blaise sit in front to control it? Just as I’m turning to ask him, he sits behind me, brawny arms embracing me. Wow, he’s big. He’s much bigger this up close, his biceps encapsulating me from all around. My heart pounds against my rib cage. It’s getting so hot here. I think I’m overheating.
Even when he’s sitting so close, his scent all around me, his chest pressing to my back, there’s nothing perverted about it. He doesn’t fondle me or hump me, keeping his body a safe inch from mine. I won’t admit to the seed of disappointment in my chest.
Blaise reaches out for a helmet hanging from the handle, then gives it to me. “Put this on,” he breathes against my hair.
I take it, glancing at the object in my hands. “What about you?”
He urges me to put the oversized helmet on, his arms coming around me in a protective, unmoving wall. “You’re all that matters here,” he replies in a whisper I almost don’t hear above the purring of the bike, and then we’re off, racing down the streets as fast as the pumping of my anxious heart.
4
BLAISE
As the captain of the Waywards, I’m used to my fair share of maddening situations. Fights break out all the time, sometimes someone’s especially drunk and destroys the furniture. I’m the one keeping track of our spending, so it’s obvious I’ll get mad at them for breaking a table I just bought.
But nothing, and I mean nothing, drives me as crazy as seeing them talking to her.
Half the club is dedicated to fixing Kenna's problem. Her ex has a price to his head, and the reward would do us good, so I put several men on the job. Searching for him, staking out her mother’s place. The other half is here, though. At the bar. Too early, chatting her up, making questions. They want to know where she works, and what she likes to do. Now that she has her clothes, several of them stop to compliment her. Kenna smiles and thanks them, not even blushing at the comments. She doesn’t see what I do. She thinks it’s all harmless, but I know these fuckers better.
It makes me so fucking mad, even when I shouldn’t.
“Wrath,” I bark at my second, and he takes a moment to glance my way. That tiny hesitation makes my heart almost burst through my chest. “Get the sweetcheeks.”
He cocks his head, then glances at his phone, resting next to his hand. “They’ll be here in an hour or two.”
“Get them,” I roar. “Now.”
