Tank
Igrip the handlebars and try to control my rage. Ava is a small woman. Hell, she probably couldn’t even fight off a teenage boy, let alone a grown man. The fact that she’s traveled across the country to seek safety has me going crazy. I don’t know her story, but I’ll know it soon enough, and then I’ll take care of it.
I try to keep my focus on the road in front of us, but I can’t get my thoughts off Ava. Her body is pressed against my back, and her thighs are holding me with each turn we make. I felt it when she laid her cheek against my back, and if I didn’t know it already, I do now. Ava is tired. Not just from the ride but tired with whatever the hell is going on in her life. A possessive feeling that I’ve never felt before surges through my body.
I want to drive straight past the clubhouse and to my own, but I know if I did, Ruin would send someone for us. No, the best thing to do right now is to stop at the ranch and get it over with. Plus, I always follow orders. I’ve never had a reason not to.
I stop the bike and hold my hand out to help her off. When she’s off, I stand beside her and put my hand at her waist to steady her. I can still remember the spaghetti legs I had after my first ride. I look down at her and search her tired face. “The Pres wants to see you.”
I start to walk when she grabs my arm. When I stop, she drops her hand. “What for? I mean, why does he want to see me?”
I shrug my shoulders. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Why though?” She holds her hands up and starts backing away. “Look, I don’t know what you all got going on here, but I’m not into whatever this is.”
I make myself stand perfectly still even though what I want to do is pick her up and reassure her. I keep my tone calm. “What do you think this is?”
Her face turns pink under the lights of the lot. “I’m not some Twinkie, or whatever you call them.”
My forehead creases. “Twinkie?”
She makes a big to-do of nodding her head. “Yes, you know, some girl you all pass around.”
I grit my teeth because the thought of anyone touching her has me seeing red. I reach for her, and amazingly, she doesn’t pull away. I point to the clubhouse. “None of the men in there would mess with you, and no one is going to be passing you around. You’re under my care.” She still looks doubtful. “I promise you, Ava. You’re safe here with me.”
There’s not a lot of people that would believe that if I said it to them. Sure, we do bad things but not to women.
She still doesn’t budge. “So you’re like in a motorcycle club, right?”
I nod patiently.
She puts her hand on her hip. “Right, well, I’m not completely dense. I know how this works. You all are like a brotherhood or something. If one of them doesn’t like me—or hell, if they do like me, you can’t do anything about it. You all don’t go against each other.”
Fuck, this girl has trust issues. I’m still holding on to her hand, and instead of pulling her to me, I walk closer to her so she can feel the warmth of my body against hers. “My club doesn’t hurt women. Ever!” That should be enough to appease her, but she’s still looking at me with that stubborn look on her face. “But I promise you right now, I will not leave your side the whole time we’re in there. You want to bounce, we’re out of here. You won’t have to do anything in here that you don’t want to do.”
She searches my face, and she must see the sincerity there because finally she nods her head at me. Her hand grips mine even harder, and I don’t let her go.
I push open the big door of the clubhouse and walk in with her side by side. There’s a party tonight, and she burrows herself against me when the guys look at her. I lean down and whisper in her ear, “I wouldn’t lie to you. You’re safe.”
She nods, and I release her hand, putting my arm around her shoulders and tucking her against my side. That right there is enough for the guys to look at her differently. No one here is going to go against me.
Ruin is in the conference room, and I knock on the open door. “Pres, we’re here. This is my sister’s friend, Ava.”
Ruin can be a tough guy, but he’s mellowed some since he met his ol’ lady. He asks Ava to sit down, and she looks at me.
My chest swells, and I nod at her. She sits down, and I stand behind her, my hands on her shoulders.
Ruin looks between us, and I know exactly what he’s thinking, but he doesn’t say it.
He sits down at his desk and leans forward. “What are you running from?”
She shrugs her now tense shoulders. “I just need to lay low for a while, and it will blow over.”
Ruin just smiles at her. “You’re here now, needing our help. I need to know what we’re up against.”
She takes a deep breath, and I feel her body shudder. She crosses her arms over her chest. “My boyfriend started making a habit of beating me. I left him, but he was not happy about it. The day I left, he’d threatened to kill me. That’s when I knew I needed to leave.”
Ruin nods, not the least bit surprised by her confession. Hell, it just proves that we’ve seen a lot of shit through the years. But even so, my blood is raging, thinking about some college motherfucker thinking it’s okay to put his hands on her. Never again.