stupid either. How could I have been that gullible? Or maybe she wasn’t gullible at all. Maybe she’d chosen to ignore things because she harbored that deep fear of being alone that drove nearly every aspect of her life since her mother died. That feeling of being alone, that empty feeling inside, threatened to eat her alive sometimes, and she hated it. She didn’t understand why a woman with a father and boyfriend who loved her, a business of her own, friends…a woman who basically had everything…lived in constant fear that everyone would someday just up and leave her. Strangely enough however, even with a dead boyfriend and a father who didn’t seem to care she was missing, she felt less alone than ever. For some reason, the big man sitting in front of her on the Harley gave her a sense of peace deep in her soul. Things were a mess, but somehow when she looked at Razor and saw that compassion in his aqua-colored eyes, she knew that everything was going to be okay. He instilled a confidence in her unlike any she’d had before, and oddly, after only four days of knowing him, she trusted him with her very life.
Kayleigh Bonner didn’t trust easily. It was another hazard of being raised by a cop. But over the past four days, Razor had plenty of opportunity, and even ample reason, to want to hurt her, and he hadn’t. He could have stolen all that money she was carrying. He could have let the truck hit her or called 911 and left. He could have left her at the mercy of the Vipers, or even called the cops. He could have struck back at her when she attacked him. But he hadn’t done any of that, and the only reason she could think of was that he was doing it all out of the goodness of the big heart that beat inside of his giant chest.
Kayleigh hadn’t asked a lot of questions when they left Alabama. All she knew for sure was that they were headed for Tennessee and that Razor had a list of “safe places” for them to stay along the way. They had stopped twice for gas, and snacks, but otherwise made good time on the highway. Razor hadn’t said much during any of their stops, but she did notice that he never took his eyes off her when they were in public. Even when she went to the restroom, he was right outside the door when she came out. He reminded her of the giant in the old movie, the one that became the bullied kid’s bodyguard. She would have thought being watched 24/7 would be unnerving, but somehow her giant made it seem sweet.
Razor got off the freeway in East Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, and after a series of turns, twists, and a dirt road or two, he finally pulled the bike up in front of a cyclone fence out in the middle of nowhere. There was a big, open compound with a lot of separate buildings, and it was surrounded by trees. He turned off the bike and they were greeted by two men. Kayleigh felt herself automatically lean in closer to him when they approached. The first man was tall with shaggy brown hair and tats from under his chin down. The second had some kind of symbol, maybe a skull, carved into his black hair on one side and the other side was long and greasy. They wore leather vests with their names stitched into the front of them. The one with the shaggy brown hair was Striker, and the other one was Punch.
The one called Striker looked Razor over and said, “Joker?”
Razor nodded. “Blackheart said to ask for Winston.”
The man ran his dark eyes over Kayleigh before nodding and taking out his phone. It was a quick conversation, simply “Got the Joker at the front gates.” He listened for a second, nodded, and ended the call. Then to Razor he said, “Go on. He’ll meet you at that clubhouse.” The other man unlocked and opened the gate while Razor started the bike back up. Kayleigh clutched him a little tighter as they drove through. There were bikes everywhere, and small buildings surrounding a large shop in the center. She was filled with nervous energy by the time he turned off the bike again and told her to slide off. When she pulled the helmet off he looked at her