Page 25 of Ember
“Leave it alone,” a man said from behind her. “I’ll get you a new fucking purse, but we need to get on the road.” She turned around to find the big guy who had been standing in the corner, minutes earlier, right behind her.
“That’s not necessary,” she insisted. “I can purchase my own purse. It’s a matter of principle. If the officer who arrested me took my purse, then he should have to replace it.”
“Now wait a minute,” the officer releasing her shouted.
“Sir, I forgot to give you this. All her items wouldn’t fit in one bag, so I put her purse and a few other things into this second bag,” the clerk from behind the desk said. He handed it to the officer before he could continue with the rest of his lecture, and Rebel smugly took it from him.
“Thank you,” she spat. She really didn’t mean it, but she also knew that accusing the arresting officer might land her in more trouble than the speeding ticket she was currently facing.
“Yeah,” the officer grumbled. He handed the guy behind her a few papers and told him that she had to appear in court in one week. He promised to text the guy the details and sent them on their way. Honestly, Rebel couldn’t get out of that building or away from those officers fast enough. She had almost forgotten to find out who was bailing her out.
They walked out into the cool night air, and she stopped dead in the parking lot. She turned to find the big guy looking a bit confused. “Did you forget something?” he asked.
“Nope,” she said, “I’m just wondering who the hell you are and why you bailed me out. The only people who knew that I was in there were the officers and my brother, Jace. Care to tell me who you are?” Rebel didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she was free and capable of taking care of herself from there.
“Jace sent me,” the big guy said. “My name is Henry, but everyone calls me Bolt.”
“Well, Henry, that is a very strange nickname,” she said. “How did you get it?”
“The guys down at the Royal Bastards gave it to me. It’s my biker name.”
“That still doesn’t explain the unusual nickname,” she insisted. “What does it mean?”
If she wasn’t mistaken, the big guy actually blushed, although it was hard to tell in the dark. “It’s a long story,” he insisted.
“Well, I have no place to be,” Rebel said.
“I do,” he said, “I promised Jace that I’d get you back to the club safely.”
“You talked to my brother?” Rebel asked. “Is he okay?”
“For now,” Bolt said. She hated how cryptic he was being with her. All she wanted was some answers.
“What the hell does that mean?” she asked.
He grabbed her hand and tugged her along to the bike sitting back in the corner of the parking lot. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“You ask a lot of questions,” Bolt insisted.
“And you don’t answer any of them,” she spat, pulling her hand from his.
He opened one of the containers on the side of his bike and pointed to it. “You can put your stuff in there,” he offered.
“I’ll just put it in my car,” she said. “I can follow you wherever we are going.” There was no way that she was getting onto the back of that death trap. Rebel never liked motorcycles, and when Jace told her that he was getting one after he graduated from high school, she wanted to tell him that if he did, he’d be grounded for a month, but threats like that didn’t work on him at that point. And when he rode away on his motorcycle, all she could do was hold her breath and pray that he didn’t do anything stupid.
“Your car is impounded, honey,” Bolt said. “Plus, it’s not safe to drive.”
“My car is perfectly safe,” Rebel insisted. “Why would they impound it?”
“Because it’s evidence now,” he said.
“Evidence for what?” she asked.
“Again, it’s a long story and one we can get into once we reach Savage Hell. For now, I just need you to trust me when I tell you that staying here only puts us both in danger.” She wanted to ask more questions, but Rebel knew that he wasn’t going to give her the answers that she was looking for. Her only option was to trust the man that her brother sent to bail her out, and then,hopefully, someone would be able to clear a few things up for her.
Bolt
Bolt knew that Rebel had questions. Hell, she had asked him a dozen of them since they met. Jace owed him big time for picking up his inquisitive older sister, but then, his partner hadn’t really asked him for a lot of favors over the years. One thing was clear—Jace had never told his sister that he was an FBI agent and telling her for his partner wasn’t going to happen. That was between Jace and his sister, and getting in the middle of family issues was something that Bolt tried to avoid at all costs.
