Gravel (MC Biker Romance) (10 page)

Tense silence filled the space around us
all as we waited for MJ’s next move. The slightest tremble of her finger
could’ve meant a fatal demise for all of us, but instead she pursed her lips,
dropped the gun, and bolted up the stairs. We listened for the backdoor to slam
shut before we wallowed in any sort of relief.

“Marina,” Ash said as he rushed over to
me. He pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the zip tie, freeing my hands. He
scooped Tuck up into his big, strong arms and kissed his chubby cheeks. “Tuck,
my sweet boy.”

“We have to get out of here,” I said, my
eyes urging Ash to move quickly.

The three of us ran up the wooden steps
and flew out the back door. It all felt like slow motion and we couldn’t move
fast enough. I climbed in the backseat of the Ford and buckled Tuck and I
together as Ash peeled out and got us the hell out of there.

I spun my head around to see that awful
house growing smaller in the distance. “How’d you find us?”

“You gave me that information about the
businesses and the streets. I did a search, and then I pinged your phone,” he
said, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. “Lead me straight to you.”

“I thought it was a
Trac
Fone
?” I asked. “Untraceable?”

“It was a
Trac
Fone
,” he said. “I put a tracking device into it. And thank
God I did.”

“But
LeRoy
smashed my phone into pieces,” I said.

“I pinged it the minute I knew you were
taken,” he replied. “Led me to that warehouse. Got there just in time to see
them moving you and Tuck to another location.”

I covered my mouth with my hands. Had he
been a minute later, he might not have found us.

“Is it all over now?” I asked. I stared
up at Ash, my hero, as I raked my fingers through my sleeping Tuck’s hair.

“I think so,” he said. “I think we sent
our message loud and clear.”

“What’d you do to those men?” I asked.
“Wait, maybe I don’t want to know…”

Ash’s fierce eyes squared. “I’m sure you
can imagine, Marina.”

“Mom! Dad!” I yelled as I burst through
the doors of my parents’ home.

“Marina!” my mother came running and
wrapped her warm arms around me tight. “Oh, my goodness. I was
worried
sick.”

My father stepped out from behind her and
placed one strong hand on my shoulder, giving me a half smile. He rarely showed
emotion, but I knew he was glad to see us.

“You did good, kid,” my father said to
Ash. “You saved my daughter and my grandson. For that I owe you everything.”

“Nah,” Ash said. “I just had to protect
the two people I love the most in this world.”

He wrapped his arm around my waist and
pulled me into him.

“You mean the three people you love
most,” I said to him as I patted my belly.

“What?” he asked, his eyes wild with
excitement. “You’re…?”

“Yep,” I said with a reserved smile.
“Number two is due in May.”

I patted my belly as Ash pulled me in
tight for an enormous bear hug.

“I’m so happy, Marina,” he said as he
cupped my face in his hands and kissed my lips. “For the first time, I feel
like we can finally move forward from everything that’s happened. We can live
our lives happy and free.”

I nodded and kissed his delicious lips
once more. “I can’t wait for our lives to truly begin.”

Alicia Tell is a writer with a love of
all things romance. She can’t get enough of otherworldly love stories involving
protective alpha males, brave heroes, and crazy in love couples.

When she’s not thinking up crazy stories
and slinging words onto pages, she loves to bake (tarts and pies are her
specialty), sew, paint, sculpt, scrapbook, and anything else that involves using
her hands.

She lives in New York State on a century
farm with her husband, twin tornadoes, and various cute and quirky animals.

Page ahead for a bonus MC romance
novella!

Collateral

Black Ice MC

a
novel by

Blakeley Wilde

Copyright
2014 Blakeley Wilde

All
Rights Reserved

DISCLAIMER

The characters and events
portrayed in this book are purely a work of fiction and used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended
by the author.

MATURE CONTENT

This short story contains
sexually explicit material and is intended for persons over the age of 18 only.
By downloading and viewing this book, you are stating that you are of legal
age. All of the characters involved in the sexual situations of this story are
intended to be at least 18 years old or older, whether they are described as
such or not.

DESCRIPTION

Living life along the razor’s edge, you’re bound to
get cut eventually. I never should have fallen in love with him, but I just
couldn’t help myself.

His name was Raze, short for Razor he told me,
though he never told me why they called him that. I could only assume it was
because he was razor sharp. Fierce. Unafraid.
A force to be
reckoned with.
The VP of the Black Ice Motorcycle Club, no one ever
crossed him. Everyone knew better. Everyone, that was, except the rival Marquis
Devils MC. When Raze least expected it, they came to collect their dues. And in
a simple twist of fate, I became the collateral.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This novel contains graphic themes
and suspenseful situations and is intended for a mature audience. A (much)
different version of this story was previously published as “Riding Free”.

DEDICATION

To my readers.
Thanks for letting me take you away to
another time and place.

- BW

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

“Ma’am, I need to speak to your
manager,” the man standing in front of me said as he clenched his jaw and
slammed his fist on the counter. “Right NOW.”

He’d been standing here going
rounds with me for the past ten minutes. He wasn’t about to leave anytime soon.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I said. My bottom
lip quivered. “M-my manager is not here.”

I tried to hide my trembling
fingers but it was nearly impossible. The man standing before me had crazy in
his eyes like I’d never seen before. He was about two seconds from flying
across the counter and clocking me in the face if I didn’t give him what he
wanted.

“I knew I never should’ve stayed
here,” he said. “This is such a rat hole, shit infested motel.”

“I-I’m sorry, sir,” I stammered. “I
can give you a free night’s stay if you’d like.”

“Why the fuck would I want to stay
another night in this dump?” he said as he squared his shoulders back and shot
me an incredulous glare. “I’m only going to tell you one more time. Get your
manager here. I don’t care if you put him on the phone. I want to talk to
someone. NOW.”

“Is there a problem?” another man
said as he walked in behind the crazy guy.

The jingling of the bells on the
door had never sounded so sweet.

Standing by the doorway was a guy,
not much older than me, dressed in head to toe black leather. His dark hair was
slicked back under a blue bandana and his full lips were surrounded by a hint
of stubble.

“Yeah,” the disgruntled customer
said as he turned around to face the mysterious guy. “Someone jacked my car up
in the parking lot overnight and this bitch won’t do anything about it.”

“Excuse me?” the leather-donning
man said as his face twisted into an angry contortion.

“My car-,” the guy started to say,
but he was immediately interrupted.

“Did you just call this nice, young
lady a bitch?”

As he took a step closer to the
crazy guy, he began to tower over him. He had at least five inches on the
douche bag and about thirty more pounds of muscle.

“Care to tell me why it’s her fault
your car got damaged?” the hunk in leather asked. His stare was intense, as if
he was burning holes into the crazy guy.

Silence.

“I’m going to give you three
seconds to get your sorry ass out of this motel,” he said through gritted
teeth. “Don’t ever speak to a woman like that again, and don’t ever show your
face around here again. You hear me?”

The crazy guy glanced outside to
see a line of bikes parked outside the building.

For a second, I thought the crazy
guy was going to challenge him, but the moment he saw the bikers outside the
building, he practically sprinted out of the lobby.

“Are you okay?” the guy said as he
approached the counter. “Did that guy touch you?”

I tucked a strand of wispy blonde
hair behind my ear. “I’m fine. No, he didn’t touch me.”

“I’m Raze,” he said. “Raze
Ganoway
.”

“Mia,” I replied, sheepishly
realizing I was donning a tacky, plastic name badge on my shirt.

His lips curled into a sweet smile
as his face softened and our eyes locked.

“Now that that’s settled,” he said.
“I’d like to book some rooms. My guys and I will be coming through here every
couple of weeks. I’d like to set up an ongoing reservation.”

“I can help you with that,” I said
as I turned towards the computer. My face turned beet red. I was suddenly
flustered in his presence. In the quiet motel lobby with the ancient, peeling
wallpaper and chipping ceramic tile floor, it was just
us
.
I could feel him staring at me.

He leaned up onto the counter,
resting his strong arms just mere inches from me. The creaking of his jacket
and the smell of polished leather took me far away to a place of adventure
beyond these four walls.

In my mind I was riding on the back
of his bike, arms gripped tightly around his waist, the rumble of the road
beneath us and the wind in our faces
.

“Mia?” he asked with a puzzled
look.