the ground. I held her close to me as her soft body trembled against my own, cursing Slash in an uproar. A shadow moved just beside the cabin and I took aim, popping a bullet off straight in its gut. And when the shadowed figure fell to the ground, I faced Hannah.
“You ever been on a bike?” I asked.
She snickered. “What am I, a princess? Yes, I’ve been on a bike.”
“Great. Come with me.”
I picked her up over my shoulder and she screamed. Her fists beat against my back, and it made me grin. It was a cute endeavor, trying to hurt me. But she wouldn't have enough strength in four of her to hurt me the way she thought she was.
“Fall back! Fall back!” Bowser yelled.
I continued dropping shadows to their knees as we scrambled to get back to our bikes. We let the woods and the brush cover us as we backtracked, following the path of glow-in-the-dark paint Knuckles sloshed on the ground for us to follow. It led us all the way back to our bikes, where I planted Hannah firmly on the back.
And even though her eyes were wild with anger, it didn’t make me want to kiss her any less.
If anything, it made me want to kiss her more.
4
Hannah
I didn’t know what just happened and I sure as hell didn’t know who the fuck this mountain of a man was. But all I knew was that I needed to cling to him for dear life. As the engine rumbled between my legs and my hands fisted his leather jacket, I squeezed my eyes closed. My thighs clung to him, trying to stay on the bike as we tore through dirt, rocks, and potholes. I buried my face into his back, hoping and praying we made it out alive long enough for me to slap this man for handling me the way he did.
I mean, who the hell told him he could toss me over his shoulder?
Gunfire rang out in the distance and it scared me. It genuinely scared me. What the hell had my cousin roped me into? What in the world did she expect us to weather for some cash? This was supposed to be an easy in and out sort of thing. No muss, no fuss. Her words, exactly.
I’m never trusting Slash again.
Wind whipped around us as the trees finally broke. The bumbling around of the bike’s tires against uneven dirt finally settled down as we hit the first paved road in four miles. I released my thighs while my legs burned. It felt like a million needles were poking into the tops of my hands. I’d clung to this man so hard everything in my body went numb. And I wanted to tell him to pull the hell over so I could get off.
But he must’ve had the same idea.
The bike slowed down before we eased off to the side. I heard other bikes in the distance, but none that surrounded us. The motorcycle slowly rolled to a stop on the side of a deserted road so old the yellow and white lines had faded into nothingness. Only splatters of old paint remained of the once-decorated road.
Then, the man I clung to shifted in my arms.
“Oh. Sorry,” I murmured.
I released his body as he slid off the bike. He lumbered in his footsteps and moved slowly with his turns. But as my eyes climbed up and down his body, I found him staring down at me from his perched height. My God, the man must’ve been at least six-and-a-half feet tall. His stoic brown eyes shimmered in the blue glow of the moonlight and his jet-black hair sparkled with the reflection of stars in the sky. His chest was broad, and his shoulders were mounting. The veins bulging from his neck ran just underneath the collar of his white t-shirt, forcing me to wonder how many other veins popped against his body.
Everything felt like a blur, except him.
Everything felt like a dream, except him.
Everything scared me right now… except him.
“Are you okay?”
I swallowed hard as his voice fell heavily against my ears. I saw his lips moving, but the resonant sound falling from his lips sounded like it came from somewhere else. I mean, this man was a behemoth. Stacked with muscles, chiseled angles, and rippling muscles beneath his clothes. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that fact. And as I licked my lips, trying not to imagine the man