“You can still run, pretty girl.” Marcus is giving me my out.
I should run, but like I said before, there’s something about Marcus I just can’t seem to walk away from.
And for me to run, that would be weak. I don’t consider myself weak. And I want what I want, and what I want is him. So, here I stand, in a place I never want to be, all because I want the man attached to the saw.
Marcus watches me, saw in hand and a smile tilting on his lips, and I cement myself to the spot.
“I’m glad it’s not white you’re wearing.”
And then he does the unthinkable—he starts cutting off the man’s hand. The minute I hear the saw slicing through flesh, I have to turn away. But the sound—fuck, I can still hear the sound.
It’s a sound like I’ve never experienced in my life. To describe the sound of flesh being torn apart, then the crack when it hits the bone, well, I have no words. I cringe and wish I had run, wish I was not a brave girl today, and didn’t want what I want.
My hands cover my ears, and I silently scream for that noise to stop. Turning, going toward the door, I reach for the handle but it’s locked. The sound penetrates my ears, and this time I do scream, but he doesn’t stop. Not even when I lean against the white door screaming a little bit louder to rid my ears of that sound. My screams intensify and drown out the sound of the flesh tearing apart.
When my throat becomes dry, I look back up.
Marcus has his mask off and a smile is playing on his lips. “I warned you, pretty girl.”
“Unlock the door,” I say, with more strength than I thought I could manage right at this moment.
“Don’t you want to fuck now, pretty girl?”
My head starts shaking. “No. Open the damn door.”
He smiles as if he’s won this round, and he did. I knew he was unlike anyone I have ever met. But this? This I do not understand.
Marcus removes his gloves, takes off his apron, and starts walking toward me. My back goes against the door as he gets closer. When he reaches me, that smile is still playing on his lips. He leans down and his lips connect with mine, hard, unforgiving, and breathtakingly spectacular. He tastes like peppermint and something else I can’t quite name. My body, which was tense, relaxes as his lips torture mine. Then as I go to reach for him to pull him even closer, that’s when I hear the click of a lock and the door is open behind me.
Marcus stands tall, smirks, and walks back to the body. I watch him, unsure of what just happened, and stand there shocked.
“You better leave before I remove the other hand, pretty girl,” he says, putting his apron, mask, and gloves back in place. I look up at him to see the saw in his grip. And just as he lowers it, I turn and leave.
Only looking back once to see him watching me exit.
That sinister smile never leaving his lips.
Chapter Five
Rochelle
To say I forgot all about Marcus over the next month would be a complete lie, but I have avoided driving near the crematorium as much as humanly possible, especially at night.
That kiss! That kiss will not leave my head. No matter how hard I try.
“Barbecue. Come on, Rochelle, get fucking dressed,” Tanika yells at me.
I flip her off and quickly get changed into a swimsuit and a cover dress. Tanika is waiting out the front in her car, the music blaring and head-bopping as if she’s a teenager, which makes me cringe. Car parties used to be our favorite thing, cranking the music and dancing around like idiots while the people next to us would simply stare. I outgrew it, Tanika never has.
“It’s late, should we really be going now?” It’s a Saturday night, and my plan after working all week was to do fuck all. Literally.
“You’ve been doing fuck all for ages. It’s been too long since I saw you. Live a little, girl. Plus, there are people I want you to meet tonight.”
“Oh no, who have you fallen in love with today?” I ask with a moan.
Tanika is a hopeless romantic. She puts the ‘L’ in love, even if her preferred victim at the time does not see it that way.
Tanika flicks her long, black hair behind her ear as we pull up at the lake. There’s a park and a few barbecue areas scattered around.
“Gosh, how many people are here, Tanika?” She switches the ignition off and smiles at me. “And why are there so many motorcycles?”
“Well, about that…” She doesn’t continue, just gets out of the car. I follow her, then walk around to meet her. Tanika’s eyes are set on where everyone is standing or sitting. The sun is starting to set, so I can’t see them clearly.
“Tanika.”
She bites her lip, then her eyes flick to me. “Just don’t judge, okay? But they are a biker gang.” She turns away from me, grabbing a bag and throwing it over her shoulder.
“A biker gang?” I hiss at her. She loves some stupid people, but this? Holy fuck. “What is their name?”
She starts walking, so I have to follow her. “Exile MC.”
I stop.
She stops.
She looks back at me. “What you hear about them isn’t all true, Rochelle. Please, give them a chance.”
“They’ve been under investigation for a month now. I know because I work for one of the lawyers who’s trying to prosecute them, Tanika.”
She waves her hand at me. “It won’t stick, you know that. Now, come on and have some fun with me.” Tanika grabs my hand and skips toward the music. I follow behind her, watching as we get closer, and their eyes turn toward us despite the music blaring. Somehow, they can still hear us or know we’re coming.
“Girl.” A man stands, walks over and picks Tanika up, and spins her around. He’s a large man, not in that he has a belly or anything, he’s simply large—larger than life. And by the looks of it, all fucking muscle. If he wasn’t smiling right now as he spins Tanika, I would be terrified.
“Snow, put her down,” a voice booms from behind him.
I look toward that sound and hear the man now known as Snow drop Tanika back to the ground.
He looks past her to me. “You brought a friend?” he asks, eyeing me with curiosity.
“Why, Snow?” I ask him straight up. He chuckles, and Tanika groans and covers her eyes. Before I know it, he reaches for his pants, undoing the zipper, and his dick is flopped out, white hair surrounding it. It’s quite an impressive dick.
“My birthmark makes my hair white. First woman I fucked called me Snow and it kind of stuck.” He puts his cock back in his pants and winks before throwing an arm around Tanika, leading her off to the group sitting at a picnic table.
Tanika bounces to the middle of the table. All the men are sitting around it, most of them in vests with their logo on the back and a name on the front. The one Tanika slides in next to reads ‘Blaze,’ then under that is ‘President.’ I don’t bother sitting, as the music is turned up, while Tanika leans down whispering in his ear. Blaze’s eyes lock on mine, and Tanika kisses his neck before she bounces her way over to me.
“Blaze doesn’t really like strangers,” she says. Looking back over her shoulder at him, she offers him a wave, then pulls off her dress and nods to mine. “Come on, let’s go for a swim.”