Spider standing next to it. Tattoos covered his neck, and he looked big against the bike. Two trucks were behind him. “Spider,” I said quietly, edging in front of Pauley. “You’re away from your garage.”
Spider smiled, revealing a gold front tooth that was brand new. “Pauley? I need some help with your equations. Get in the front truck.”
Chapter 30
It might’ve been my Irish blood, or maybe my Italian, but sometimes righteous fury felt good. Proper. Energizing. Especially if somebody was doing something rather stupid, which I was in challenging Spider. Pauley was more important than anything. This late on a Friday, the parking area of the college was mainly deserted as darkness fell quickly, but even so, I planned how to get to the gun in my car. “He’s not going anywhere with you.”
Spider crossed huge arms. “Get out of the way.”
“It is okay.” Pauley moved around my car for the truck before I could stop him. “I will be home soon, although I am supposed to meet my mother and go home.”
“No.” I made a move.
Spider ended up in my space, smelling like motor oil and oddly enough, soap. He towered over me by at least a foot, and he was broader than I remembered. Muscle combined with a bit of fat, but he looked really tough. Strong. His eyes were dark and his features blunt. “I’m the president of this club. How about you and I go for a ride? Devlin ain’t interested.”
“You take my cousin anywhere, Spider, and I’m calling the cops.” I levered up as close to his face as I could get. “It’d be kidnapping and child endangerment charges, for sure.”
If I’d hoped to scare Spider, I failed. He didn’t even twitch. Instead, he poked at one of the many bruises on my face.
Pain echoed behind my left eye. I slapped his hand away. “Knock it off.”
He grinned. “You need some protection, sweet thing. Anybody who’d hurt you like that should have a nice hole in his head.”
My stomach dropped. “In exchange for what?” Yeah, sometimes curiosity was a killer.
“Sex. A lot of it.” He dropped his hand. “You need a new man. Devlin ain’t interested for some reason.”
“Not true.” Aiden stepped out of the passenger side of the farthest truck, winding around to prowl toward us in the darkness. He wore faded and ripped jeans and a leather jacket over a light T-shirt. His boots were black and big, and they made an ominous sound over the still wet asphalt.
I hadn’t seen he was there. Everything inside me halted and then a rush of feelings hit me so hard I almost doubled over. Relief and gratitude were first. Maybe a slight tingle where he’d bitten my left buttock the night before. Then I doubled down on the fury. He was there to get Pauley? Definitely not.
“Hi, Aiden,” Pauley said almost cheerfully as he levered up into the truck, which was driven by another huge guy wearing leather. This one was bald with an interesting skull-shaped ring taking up half of his substantial left nostril.
“Hi, Pauley,” Aiden returned, his gaze remaining on me as he reached us.
Spider sighed. “You said she was fair game.”
Hurt hit me through the fury. Why, I don’t know. But still.
Aiden shook his head. “Not fair game. Just said I didn’t want her.”
Ouch. Even though I wanted to kill him, that kinda hurt.
“That makes her fair game,” Spider said reasonably.
Lava boiled through me. “I’m not a pet, you assholes.”
“She’s spunky and cute. I like her,” Spider said, completely ignoring me.
My fingers curled into a fist, and Aiden quickly wrapped his entire hand around it. “Claimed.”
One word. Just one word.
A shiver took me, and it wasn’t fear.
Spider sighed and his shoulders went down. “Fine. Geez.” He shifted slightly to the right, and sliver glinted near his hip. A gun. He had a gun tucked in there. “Stop changing your mind, would you?” He nodded at my aching face. “You’re not taking very good care of her.”
“I plan to,” Aiden said grimly.
I tried rather uselessly to tug my hand free. “Pauley? Get out of that truck,” I yelled.
Spider went from playful to deadly in a second. “He’s coming with us, but you have my word he’ll be safe. We’ll get him home before dark.”
I grit my teeth. “You drive one inch out of this parking lot with him, and I’m calling the police.” I vibrated I was so angry.
Spider looked at Aiden. “You claimed her. Control her.”