Page 2 of Ember
“And what the fuck happened between the two of you yesterday, Ember?” he asked. She knew that denying that anything had happened between the two of them was pointless. She hadn’t even spoken to the guy, but Marco would never believe her.
“Well, that would be none of your business, Marco,” Jack spat. Yeah, he was egging on her ex, and she didn’t know him, but she hoped like hell that he was able to handle himself in a fight, because she was sure that Marco was about to give him one.
“She’s mine,” Marco shouted.
“See now, I don’t believe you. In fact, I’m sure that the lady told you that she’s not yours and that she doesn’t want to go with you. So, let’s make this easy, and you hand her over to me and be on your way.”
Marco’s laugh was mean, and all Ember could do was close her eyes and pray that whatever was about to happen would be over quickly. “Or what?” he taunted.
“Or we’ll have to get involved,” another man said, stepping in through the busted back wall of the church. Two more massive guys stepped in behind him, and she was beginning to like herodds. Who was she to argue if the big, bad bikers wanted to help her out with Marco?
“Well, this hardly seems fair,” Marco insisted. “Tell them that you’re okay, and that you want to go home with me, honey.”
She shrugged his hand off her arm, and this time, he was smart enough to let her go. “I told you that I’m not your honey or your woman. And the last thing I want to do is go anywhere with you.” She looked between him and the four bikers standing on the other side of the church, trying to figure out what her next move should be.
“My pickup truck is just out front,” Jack said. “Go on and get in, and I’ll be there in a second. I’ll take you someplace safe where you can clean up and get a good meal.”
All of that sounded too good to be true, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Thank you,” she whispered. She didn’t bother to look over at Marco again. She knew that he’d be furious, and she had seen enough of his anger to know that she didn’t want to ever see it again. Ember walked out into the morning sunlight and blinked at the brightness. She hoped like hell that she wasn’t making another giant mistake by going with a bunch of bikers while believing that they’d keep her safe, but what choice did she have? Going home with Marco wasn’t an option for her. She’d never go back to him or that life.
Spark Plug
Jack watched the little blond walk into the back of the church, and he knew that she was probably up to no good. His club was a few blocks down the road, and the last thing the Royal Bastards wanted was trouble so close to home. He followed her into the abandoned church, only to find that she had practically disappeared. He knew that she had to be hiding somewhere in the darkness, but she had hidden well and was quiet as a church mouse—pun intended. He almost made himself laugh, but nothing about this was a laughing matter, and he didn’t want to scare her off.
He tried to talk her out of the dark corner that she was crouched in, but he knew that it was pointless. He could barely make out her eyes, but he could see the fear in them. She reminded him of his younger sister after she came home from her first semester at college. She had been attacked by one of her roommate’s friends, and when she told him that the guy raped her, he wanted to drive the five hours to campus and kill the fucker, but Josie convinced him that the asshole wasn’t worth doing prison time. He tried to disagree with her, but the sane part of him knew that she was right. The woman hiding in thecorner of the church might have been older than his sister, but she had that same fear in her eyes, and it was nearly his undoing.
Jack decided that the best way he could help the woman was to leave her alone and come back in the daytime to try to help her again. The guys at the club liked to tell him that if there was a damsel in distress, he was itching to be her knight in shining armor. Maybe they were right, or maybe growing up with three sisters and a mom was what made him want to help every woman that he saw in distress. His dad took off when he and his sisters were still little. Most of the time, he had trouble remembering what his father looked like. If it wasn’t for the picture that he had of him and his dad fishing when he was about four, he’d probably forget him altogether.
When he got to the church the next morning and saw two guys hanging around the back of the building, he knew that he needed to call in Hurricane, Yonkers, and Reacher. They were his best friends, and he knew that he could call them for anything. No favor between the four of them was too much to ask. Well, except for when he asked them not to call him Spark Plug. They each had their biker names, and when he was about to get his, he hoped for something cool—like Panther, or Reaper, but that’s not what the guys had come up with for him. Instead, they decided to call him Spark Plug because they joked that he could start a woman’s engine in sixty seconds flat. Sure, he should take it as a compliment, but he didn’t, and after a while, he was ready to give up his nickname, not that the guys would allow that to happen. So, they compromised—they started calling him Spark, and that worked for him. And staring down the asshole who was trying to drag that poor woman away, he felt about ready to set the whole church ablaze with his “sparks.” Jack just hoped like hell that the guy was willing to accept defeat, tuck tail, and head out of town, but the way he watched his ex leave the church, that wasn’t going to be the case.
“So, what’s it going to be, Marco?” Jack asked.
“Well, it seems that you haven’t given me much choice,” he said. That was the first smart thing that he had heard the guy say all morning. “Where’s my friend?” Marco asked.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Jack assured, “Keith is taking a little nap in your car.”
“What did you do to him?” Marco asked.
“He didn’t want to cooperate, so I put him down for a nap. I’d be happy to demonstrate for you.” Jack knew that his smile was mean, but the asshole didn’t seem to notice. His problem, that Jack knew his guys would back him up if he needed help.
“Not necessary,” Marco said. The guy was smart to back down because they were all itching for a fight.
“Good call,” Hurricane said. Jack appreciated his club’s Prez letting him take the lead in all this. He knew that Hurricane usually liked calling the shots. “You get the girl someplace safe, and the guys and I will make sure that this asshole heads out of town.” That sounded like a great plan to Jack. He had a feeling that his chances of walking out to his truck and finding the girl still sitting in it were going to be pretty low.
“Thanks for the backup,” he said to the guys. “I owe you three.”
“Not a problem,” Reacher assured.
“Yeah, I’m going to use the favor when it comes time to take my wife out. We could always use a babysitter,” Yonkers teased. Jack rolled his eyes at his friend and shook his head at him.
“You don’t want me for that job,” Jack promised. “Kids don’t seem to like me.” He looked over at Marco, who was watching the three of them as though they had lost their minds, talking about babysitting and favors.
“I do have one piece of advice for you,” he said, nodding to Marco. “Leave town and don’t come back to bother her again.” The guy was smart enough to simply nod his agreement andkeep his mouth shut. Jack didn’t bother waiting for an answer. He knew that there would be none from the asshole. His priority now was getting the woman out of there and finding someplace safe for her to lie low. They needed to be sure that her ex would keep to his promise and leave her alone because if not, the Royal Bastards would be ready for him.
Jack walked out of the church and found his pickup empty. It didn’t surprise him, really. He would have actually been surprised to find her waiting for him as he told her to. She didn’t seem like the type of woman who followed orders, no matter who was giving them.
He looked down the street to find no one around, but when he turned back toward his truck, he spotted her dark hoodie. She was standing by the side of the church, watching him. Maybe she was trying to figure out if he could be trusted, and why wouldn’t she want to know that? They had just met yesterday, and they were virtual strangers.
“Hi,” he breathed, “I promise that you’re safe now,” he assured.
