hands on the steering wheel tightened so much I could see the whites of his knuckles.
We were now in August. The calendar. Oh…
“You know what calendar I’m fuckin’ talkin’ about?” He was still staring out the windshield.
“Um… Biker Babes of South Dakota?” I guessed, my voice kinda sounding small.
He gripped the wheel tighter somehow. “So, sit there and say fuckin’ nothin’ for a bit. Okay? Because, baby… the rage right now?” He let that hang.
“Okay,” I whispered and swallowed. Cold shot up my back and shoulders
My heart was beating really really fast.
He growled. And I was also turned on. Like, a lot.
He pulled back onto the road. So did our biker escorts.
I had no idea where we were going, but I knew one thing. I definitely had Christian Forker’s attention.
***
Half an hour or so later, he pulled over again and Nico and Jesse had a conference of some sort with him. It was a brief one with bro shakes.
He got back in the truck and then we kept going. The guys did not follow.
“Where are they going?”
He flexed his jaw muscles.
“Ho-kay… where are we going?”
Nothing.
Okay, still not interested in talking to me.
I didn’t have a purse or a phone. I’d left my phone in my room on the charger and I got busy in the kitchen for the bar and completely forgot about it when Ella came in to grab some food for lunch and told me that she had a big stock delivery to put away, that Spence had been inundated with customers. I went to help her, not even thinking about bringing my phone.
***
“Um, Christian?”
He turned the radio on as a reply.
“I have to pee!” I told him over the sound of Iron Maiden blasting Run to the Hills.
He huffed.
“Like… bad,” I added, bouncing for effect.
We’d been on the road for hours so far. It was getting dark. He pulled into a gas station and convenience store.
“Do you have money so I can grab a drink?” I asked.
“Do not test me, woman,” he warned, opening his wallet and passing me a $20 bill.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means hurry the fuck up and get back here.”
“You thirsty? What do you want to drink?”
“Whatever.” He waved at the door and then thrust his hand through his hair, pulling out the elastic and letting it fall loosely around his shoulders.
God, he was hot.
He gave me an irritated look and pointed to the building.
“God, you’re hot,” I told him and then got out of the truck without waiting to see what his reaction was.
I came back with two waters, two orange Crush bottles, and a bag of salted peanuts as well as a bag of Jelly Bellies. I handed him his minimal amount of change.
He stared at the pile of snacks in my hands.
“I didn’t know if you wanted water or something fizzy. And I got peanuts because salty snacks are essential for road trips. If you’re gonna kidnap me, you have to provide me with snacks. On top of salty snacks, I always always want jellybeans. Birthdays, Valentine’s Day, my Christmas stocking. Just so ya know. If the question is jellybeans, the answer is always yes. Unless, you know it’s, do you hate jellybeans.”
He threw the change into the cupholder and stormed inside, leaving me there.
I mean, I could take the wheel and leave. The keys were right there in the ignition. But nope. Not a fucking chance. I was exactly where I wanted to be. I fiddled with the radio station until stopping on Earth, Wind, and Fire’s September. Night Fever by the Bee Gees started as soon as he got back in the truck. Funnily.
“Are you gonna tell me where we’re going?”
“You’ll see.”
“Are you kidnapping me?” I asked, with a big smile.
“Yep.” He stared ahead.
“I was joking.”
“I wasn’t.”
I felt my eyebrows knit together.
I shook the pang of panic off because my brother Deacon watched him take me.
“Ha ha, very funny. No, really.”
“Really.”
He turned the radio off. “Your music taste sucks, woman. Fuckin’ disco.”
I laughed while I opened my orange Crush. I took a big sip and let out an exaggerated “Ahhhh…”
He reached across and swiped my drink from me and gulped half of it back.
I smiled when he passed it back to me.
We were not even spitting distance from the store we’d been at when he crossed all the lanes to pull into the parking lot for a motel across the way. I gave him a confused look.
He got out, stomped around, and hauled my door open.