Page 105 of Arturo's Temptation

Dread, fear, and nausea filled my gut as we seemed to fall in slow motion. I hadn’t even had time to see where the bike landed, but judging by the crunching and screeching sound it made when it made impact told me it was unfixable.

A sharp judder jolted up my spine and elbow as we landed with a grunt, Bella safe in my arms. Her scream was now embedded into my memory and I never wanted to hear it again.

“Are you okay?” she whispered. Naturally, she wasn’t bothered about herself.

“I’m fine. Grass broke my fall, are you okay?” I pulled her head away from my chest with both hands, yanking off the helmet. “Bella?” I searched her beautiful face as I asked the question again. There was no sign of any visible injuries but her eyes looked frantic.

“I’m fine, shaken up, but fine,” her eyes roamed over my face. “You were the one who landed on your back. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Bella, I’ve been through a lot worse, you don’t need to worry about me.” On a huff, she scrambled to her feet and held out her hand. “What are you?—”

“Arturo Ramos, give me your damn hand or so help me god, I’ll?—”

“Alright, alright!” I took her waiting hand as she tried her best to pull me to my feet. I knew I was no featherweight, so I used my legs to help her pull me up. No sooner was I upright did I wince.

I hid the discomfort as I straightened but Bella was more observant and switched on then I gave her credit for. “You’re hurt, aren’t you?” she gasped, her hands landing on my shoulders.

“Estoy bien, hermosa, te prometo que estoy bien.” I kissed her forehead, as she let out a shaky breath. “Estoy aquí, siempre estaré aquí para protegerte. Eres toda mi puta vida.”

“Let’s get you home, I can check you over properly then,” she tried to drape my arm over her shoulders but I didn’t let her. I inhaled a deep breath then lifted her into my arms. “Arturo, put me down! You’ll make your injuries worse!”

“The injuries are minimal. Now stop squirmin’ and let me carry you home.” I felt her smile against my chest until suddenly it slipped.

“Arturo, your bike… I’m so sorry.” A sob escaped her as I refrained from turning back to look at my pride and joy.

I didn’t understand what had happened. Nothing like that had ever happened before, I was too careful. I checked it regularly, I’d even given it a once over today.

“Bella, my bike was nowhere near as important as your life,” I sighed.

“But it was your father’s bike!” she exclaimed, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“And my father would have told me to do the same thing,” I whispered, pain prickling through my heart as she slid her arms around my neck, breathing me in deep.

“D-Do you know what happened? One minute everything was fine and then the next you were telling me to jump.”

“I don’t know, the brakes must have failed.” I knew they hadn’t failed. They’d been fucking tampered with.

Do you really want to be the one responsible for that beautiful woman’s death?

One of the old text messages repeated itself in my head. They knew. They must have.

My head throbbed as anger filled my veins.

Those wankers must have fucked with it somehow.

“We need to go back and get it!”

“Shh, it’s fine. I’ll come out with Red and Ty tomorrow. I can assess the damage then. Right now all I want to do is get you home, and check you’re alright. The bike can wait.”

“But Arturo, your bike is im?—”

“Fuck the bike.” I whispered. Bella immediately stopped breathing. Sighing, I stopped, to give her my full attention. When I looked down I could tell she was upset. “Bella, please just let me get you home. I can replace the bike, but I can’t replace you, can I?”

34

We finally madeit home and just as I’d expected the house was empty. They’d be out for hours. Arturo didn’t put me down until we reached my bedroom. He dumped the helmets on the floor in the corner before shrugging off his jacket and letting it fall to the floor. His brow ticked with a barely contained wince. No matter how much he tried to hide it, his pain was as clear as day.

“Arturo, sit down… please,” I reached up to stroke his elbow that was already starting to turn different shades of purple. “We need to get this checked out, it could be broken,”

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