Page 3 of Crush's Fall

His chuckle was low and sexy. “Oh yeah, you do. I can practically see the sexy thoughts swirling around in that fucking gorgeous head of yours. What position were you thinking about?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she bit out as she crouched in front of where he was sitting and finished tying his feet together, using the rope that Ranger had tied around his wrists before she cuffed him. Then she shifted to her knees and checked to make sure the handcuffs were securely fastened to the bar. Doing that brought her chest closer to his face, and she felt his breath against the tops of her breasts.

“Fuck,” he mumbled under his breath. “You smell good.”

Crush jerked back and cleared her throat, ignoring the way her tiger stretched and whined, wanting to play with their new toy. “You realize you’re going to die, right?”

One of his brows popped up. “Has that been decided?”

“Your club has to pay for the shit you guys pulled,” she spat at him, irritated that she wanted him, while at the same time wishing she could give in to her desires.

“What shit did I pull?” When he met her gaze head on, there was a fire in it that made her tiger want to sit back and purr at it.

“Whatever.” She stood and headed for the front of the van. As she made her way to the front, she bent forward a bit to avoid hitting her head, groaning at the situation she was now in. Bullet and Axle were going to have her tiger’s hide for this.

“Even the fucking government tells you what you did before they strap you to the injection table or the electric chair,” he called from behind her, but she ignored him.

Slipping into the driver’s seat, she glanced over at Pinky sitting in the passenger seat and ignored the smirk on her best friend and vice president’s face. “Ready?”

“Should we gag him?” Pinky asked.

“Kinky,” he said with a chuckle, “but I’m game.”

“We don’t have time,” Crush replied, ignoring him. “We need to get out of here in case any police show up.”

“What about cleanup?”

Crush shrugged. “What about it?”

“Pike’s blood.”

Crush grinned. “I might have quickly covered that entire area in bleach.”

Pinky let out a sigh of relief.

“And started a fire in the trashcan on the other end of the bar.”

As Crush put the van in drive and pulled away from the compound, the smell of smoke and the sound of windows shattering filled the air.

CHAPTER TWO

Crush

Backatthehotel,Crush didn’t answer any of the silent questions swirling around her. She knew the Howlers and her club sisters were curious and wanted to know what she was thinking, but she wasn’t about to lay that out for them. She was the president of the Claws, and her sisters wouldn’t push it.

Instead of addressing the elephant in the room, they discussed what to do now, while Pike rested in one of their hotel rooms. He had passed out from his gunshot wound in his shoulder during the getaway. While they waited for him to recover a bit, they decided to see if they could load Pike’s bike into the back of the van with Lucifer. If they could, Nails would drive the van while Pike rode along in the passenger seat. It took some effort and some shuffling, but they managed to get the bike in the back.

Crush ignored Lucifer as he tried to talk to her through the open van doors as she stomped over to her bike and mounted it. How in the world was she going to make this work? She couldn’t let them kill her mate, but she couldn’t put her selfish needs over the well-being of her club and the Howlers. Judging by the prowling and mewing of her tiger, Crush knew she was going to be fighting strongly conflicting instincts.

Pike came down as she stared at Lucifer in the van. She heard the Howlers talking off to the side of the parking lot, but she didn’t pay attention to anything they said. Lucifer’s dark eyes were locked on hers, and she was having a hard enough time fighting the urge to climb in that van and…

She watched as Pike walked up to the open door. Forcing herself to listen in, she heard Pike say, “There are some fucking rules. I’m not in the damn mood to deal with bullshit. So, you’re going to accept that you’re not getting away. You’re going to realize I have no problem killing you without whatever knowledge you have. And you’re not going to cause me evena headache. Do you understand? Nod your head if you fucking understand.”

Crush knew Pike meant every word. Being the sergeant at arms, Pike took his job to protect the club, especially his president, seriously. That duty extended to the Claws only because Pike wanted it to. It wasn’t required of him, but he required it of himself. Vixen, the sergeant at arms of the Claws, felt the same way about the Howlers. When Vixen needed a stand-in, Nails always stepped up, and she wasn’t much different.

With both Pike and Nails in the van with Lucifer, it was going to be a tense drive. Crush could only hope Lucifer kept his damn mouth shut, at least until she figured out what she was going to do.

Lucifer

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