KENNICK: A Bad Boy Romance Novel (31 page)

“Something else, indeed,” he
said.

~
7
~

“And…I mean, you don’t feel
bad? Being a one-percenter, or whatever? Doing criminal stuff all the time?” We
were still lying in bed, had been for hours, minutes dripping away as we talked
about everything and nothing at once. He had been telling me about the Black
Smokes, his club, apparently trusting me enough – or at least not threatened by
me enough – to let me in on some of the grittier details of their operation.

“Well, I don’t know, you
gotta look out for your own. I don’t like doing bad things, but if someone’s
gonna do something bad to you and yours, well…better to beat them to the punch,
I guess. We aren’t such bad guys, we aren’t out there feeding drugs to kids.
Hell, we take care of drug dealers, you know? Rip ‘em off, keep ‘em from
getting people hooked, I see it as being Robin Hood,” Reign said, eyes
half-lidded. I was surprised he was being so open. I guess I wasn’t much of a
threat.

“Well, Kant would have a lot
to say about that,” I said with a laugh. Reign looked at me puzzled.

“Can’t would? Yeah, I guess,
if you aren’t in the life you don’t have much of a right to say anything…”

“No, no, not ‘can’t’. Kant.
Like, Immanuel Kant. He was a philosopher,” I said, trying to hide my
amusement. Reign looked slightly offended.

“Got no use for
philosophers, big talkers. None of his damn business, if you ask me,” he said,
seeming upset to be told something he didn’t know. I got the impression that
Reign wasn’t used to “chicks” who knew more than him about any subject except
lipstick shades.

“Well, I guess that’s true,”
I said, conceding that it really wasn’t any of the long-dead German’s business
what a modern-day biker dude’s personal philosophy was.

“What about the cops around
here, though?” I asked, thinking about Jeremy, his cop friends, the way they
seemed to rule every aspect of my life. It’d been no less than a miracle that
I’d snapped and taken the money and run when I’d been too afraid to even tell
anyone about Jeremy’s nasty habit of speaking with his fists. Reign scoffed.

“We own the cops in this
town. Shit, they love us. We keep the drugs out of town, we bring money in.
Someone tries to come in here and start messin’ around, we take care of ‘em.
This is the wild West, sweetheart. Vigilante justice is our bag,” he said, a
confident smile coming over his face. He was bragging, like he was trying to
impress me.

“I don’t think I could live
like that, myself,” I said, hoping to stroke his ego a bit. He deserved it,
after all the ways he’d stroked me. “I don’t even really know how to live on my
own.” Now that I’d started speaking, I was saying things that I hadn’t realized
I’d felt before they left my mouth.

“I’m sure you know more than
you think. You’re just confused right now, you know? It’s a tough thing, what
you’re doin’. Ain’t got no one to help you along the way?”

I shook my head. Both my
parents had passed, I had no siblings, no other family, and my friends…well,
I’d stopped having friends the longer I stayed with Jeremy. Because he didn’t
trust me to go out with them on my own, and thought they would poison me
against him. He’d never said those things, of course, but he made my life such
living hell whenever I tried to keep up my friendships that I eventually
stopped trying.

There was no one on this
earth I could trust anymore. That thought made me want to start crying. But I
didn’t want to do that here, now, in bed with this mysterious stranger who’d
helped me climb that final mountain. Attain that last peak, if you’ll excuse my
mixing metaphors.

“No, no. And it’s not just
my husband,” I said, lifting myself up onto my elbows as my mind turned. Should
I tell him the whole truth? About the money and everything? Because it really
wasn’t
just
escaping Jeremy that was
plaguing my spirit. If anyone would understand, it seemed he would. But he was
basically a stranger, still, and he wasn’t being very secretive about his
criminal habits. I’d be stupid to tell him about the money. He might not turn
me in, probably wouldn’t, but he’d probably take it for himself and his club.

“Oh?” he asked, and I
realized I’d been silent for a while, thinking of how to tell him that I was in
trouble with the law without telling him exactly why. The solution, as most
things in life, was actually simpler than I made it out to be.

“I just…I had to do
something to get away, and it’s not exactly legal. I can’t stick around. I’ve
got to get somewhere safe, and soon. I need to get to Mexico. I have…I have
money,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t ask for more details.

“And you think Mexico is
gonna be safe? Darlin’, do you know anyone in Mexico? Do you even speak
Spanish? You look like you might,” he said. I was relieved he didn’t pry into
exactly what it was I’d done; then again, it seemed like that might be some
sort of criminal code. If you meet a like-minded (or luscious-bodied) person on
the run for something bad, you helped before asking questions. I shook my head
at his queries.

“What do you think is gonna
happen? You get ‘cross the border, they hold a party for you, welcoming to the
great country of Mexico? Shit, the way you look, you don’t wanna take two steps
in that place unless you got bodyguards. They’d eat you up, honeybuns,” he
said.

I bit my lip. He sounded
like he knew what he was talking about. Then again, after so many years of mind
games from Jeremy, it was hard to tell when someone was being genuine and when
someone was being manipulative.

What if he was just trying
to get me to stay so he could find out what it is I’d done; maybe he had
suspicions about how much money I had? I cursed myself for telling him I had
any money at all. But what other reason could he have for not wanting me to hit
the road as soon as possible? Surely, he had plenty of girls to choose from,
what with his kiss-me lips and honey-come-here eyes.

“I don’t know. I just
figured I’d be better off living free in South America than on the run here…”

“Sure, but you can’t just go
barging down to no man’s land in a beater. You even have a passport? I mean,
not
your
passport? They track that
shit, you know. Girl, you best to stick around a few days. I can help you. With
the car, sure, but I know people down there. Let me make some calls. And we’ll
get you some clothes, a new ID, all that,” Reign said, leaning back and closing
his eyes as though the discussion was done.

“Well, thanks for the offer,
but I really feel more comfortable…”

“You think you do, but you
won’t. Trust me. Nasty guys down there at the border. You don’t wanna risk your
pretty little neck. Let me get it all set up for you. C’mon, let me be a good
Samaritan. You did me a favor tonight, let me repay you,” he said, opening his
eyes slightly, looking at me through the corner.

“What kind of favor did I do
you tonight? Seems like you did all the work,” I said, unable to keep the blush
from my face and the excitement from my voice as I remembered what had brought
us to our current, naked, lounging state.

“Just trust me, you done me
a whole lotta good,” he said, suddenly reaching out and grabbing me around the
shoulders, pulling me into his broad, tattooed chest. I breathed deeply,
savoring the smell of him, the musky, leathery odor, so masculine and rough.
They should bottle that scent, it’d get guys laid a whole lot more than Axe.

Suddenly, the alarm clock
next to the bed went off. I looked over; it was 8am. I’d set the alarm as soon
as I’d gotten into the room, meaning to be on the road as soon as I could. 8
was the latest I’d wanted to sleep. Now, I hadn’t slept at all. Regardless of
whether or not I wanted to take Reign up on his offers, I wouldn’t be going
anywhere that day. Not on zero hours of sleep. Not with my mind as screwed up
as it was.

“Shit,” Reign said, rolling
over. “Is it morning?”

The heavy curtains blocked
the entirety of the sun, keeping us in the illusion of constant evening. I
nodded, suddenly feeling very, very tired. Reign’s hand crept up my thigh,
slowly. My body shuddered, but I put my hand on top of his, halting his
progress. I couldn’t do that again now, as much as my body might want it. I
needed sleep, and a shower, and time to think without oxytocin flooding my
neurons.

“Sorry,” I said, hoping to
sound as genuine as I felt. “I need…I need to be alone for a bit. I didn’t
realize…”

He nodded.

“Sure, you had yourself a
hell of a day. Don’t worry about the room; no one gonna come kick you out. I’ll
make sure of that. You get yourself some sleep.”

I could hear disappointment
in his voice, but his eyes were all understanding. It almost made me want to
change my mind. But, no, I needed to deal with my shit. Reign rolled out of
bed, landing on his feet like a cat, his magnificent manhood dangling between
his legs. It would have looked comical if it didn’t flood me with memories of
what he’d done to me with it.

I clenched my legs together,
biting the inside of my cheek as I watched him get dressed. His lean, toned,
gorgeous, tattooed, hairy, oh-so-edible body disappearing one garment at a
time. I just sat there in the bed, covered to the chest, watching him, hoping
that I’d get to see him without his clothes again sometime. If I was going to
be there another night…

“Mind if I come by later?”
he asked, the question sounding not like a question at all. He knew the answer.
Damn, but that cockiness was just as hot as his body. It was different from
Jeremy’s confidence, which was inflated beyond reason. It was a cockiness that
was backed up by…well, cock. There, I said it.

I nodded. “Much later,” I
added, meaning to sleep the whole day if I could. I needed it.

“Trust me, I won’t be
opening my eyes before 9,” he said with a chuckle.

“Are you…are you sure I’m
safe here?” I asked, panic setting in as the warmth of his body left the bed.
When he’d been lying next to me, it was easy to chase away my fear. Now, I was
going to be alone again. Alone in this room, with no one to protect me.

Images of the body under the
mattress in the other room, Jeremy’s squad car pulling up, the cocaine stashed
in the drawer, my phone in pieces on the passenger seat of the car, began to
flash in my head, as though I’d blacked out for the past twelve hours and was
trying to piece everything together bit by bit. Reality came in a rush. And it
hurt.

Reign looked at me as though
he could see right through me into my head. He dropped his hands to his sides,
came to sit on the edge of the bed beside me.

“Do you want me to stay?” he
asked. I could see it wouldn’t be an imposition on him. I shook my head. He
couldn’t just stay forever. At some point, I’d have to be on my own. And that
might as well start now. And, I figured, I was so exhausted I would probably
pass out quicker than I thought, anyway.

“I’m okay. But…you…no one
will tell anyone where I am, right?”

“Of course not. We’re not in
the habit of selling people out. And I’ll make sure everyone knows you ain’t
even here,” he said, then paused, seeming to think. “Give me your car keys.”

My chest constricted. What
did he want those for? What, was he going to steal my car? But then why would
he ask for my keys? What if he wanted to strand me here? What if, under all
that charm and sincerity, he was just like Jeremy – worse? What if he was going
to make sure I couldn’t leave?

“I’m just going to move it
to the municipal lot down the block,” he said, as though reading my thoughts.
“That way, if you’re right and he’s tracking your wheels, he won’t know where
you are, just that you’ve been here at some point. But if you’re parked right
outside your room…”

“Oh. Of course,” I said,
still not entirely sold but also seeing the logic in his proposal. Besides, if
I was going to be stuck with an abusive man, it might as well be an abusive man
who was willing to give me mind-blowing orgasms than one who just wanted to
give me reasons to wear concealer. I gave him my keys from where they sat on
the nightstand.

“You won’t…you won’t, like,
steal it or anything?”

Reign smiled, finding humor
in my panic. I’d have been offended but that smile was like a
get-out-of-jail-free card.

“What would I do with a
junker like that? I only need two wheels. But I am gonna see if we can’t get
you something new to ride around in. Even if you decide to go through with this
fool plan of yours to head to the border, we’ll make sure you get there as
incognito as you can,” he said, reaching out to stroke my cheek. My eyes
closed, my head lolled against his palm, the warmth of him like a panacea for
my fevered mind. He rose, jangling my keys.