He admired her strength as much as he laughed at her foolishness. She couldn't stop him from snapping her like a twig.
She bared her teeth. "I hate you."
"Everybody does." He lifted her higher, lowering his head.
A soft puff of air caressed his face. He pressed his lips against her mouth to shut her up. At one time, he craved a high that let him escape the world around him. He would've done anything to feel good.
Until that high wasn't enough.
He thrust his tongue into her open mouth. Tasting her was a euphoric behavior he could get addicted to. Once he started, he wanted more.
A sharp, violent pain filled his mouth. He jerked his mouth off Grace, tasting the metallic flavored fluid of his blood.
Grace's eyes rounded, and she rocked back on the heels of her feet. He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth and swallowed. She'd bit his fucking tongue.
"Please." Her brows pinched. "Let me go. I promise I won't tell anyone what you've done. I just want to go home."
He tested his tongue. She hadn't done much damage. He could still shove it down her throat if he wanted.
"You think I care what others think about me?" he asked.
She shook her head and whispered, "You don't care about me."
He squinted. There was never a time in his life when he cared about anyone. The Alpha Bio Project had stolen all his emotions and numbed him from reacting to others. But, he remembered what it was like to try and make himself happy.
He also remembered what it was like to make someone hurt.
Twenty years ago, he woke up every morning wanting to create more damage on anyone who got in his way. To inflict more pain than he lived with every waking moment. To witness someone else going through the same hell he'd gone through.
Wrapped up in a self-destructive state, he'd done what he thought was irreversible damage to his body, his mind. Something he couldn't promise wouldn't happen again if Grace kept pestering him about leaving.
"I'll let you go when I say you can go. Not a minute sooner." He stepped around her and went to the fridge.
Seeing beer stocked in the door, he took out every bottle, every can, and tossed them in the trash. His hands shook, and he hid the movement from Grace. Tomorrow, he'd find a fully enhanced member to watch over her while he handled club business.
He stuck his head under the faucet, washing the blood out of his mouth. As he watched the pink-tinged water circle the drain, he already wanted the taste of her back on his tongue.
Why her?
He could ride through town and take any of the women who regularly visited the members looking for sex. But since Grace rode up to the cabin like an angel coming to rescue him, he found himself drawn to her when he wasn't pissed off that she'd witnessed him at his lowest.
She had no idea how low he could go. He turned around. She'd left the room.
Going to find her, he understood that to keep her; he'd need to make the house more secure. But, she was a woman who would find a way out if given time.
Halfway down the hall, he stopped and tilted his head. The familiar shift of a motorcycle engine alerted him to someone coming. He found Grace locked behind the bathroom door. Knowing there was no window for her to escape through, he headed in the opposite direction to find out which member of AFMC was visiting him.
At the window, he spotted Trip riding faster than the posted speed limit. He moved to the door, dug the key out of his pocket, and worked the lock.
Trip should be halfway up the mountain and headed to the cabin with Speeder by now. Having him still in town wasn't good.
As he stepped outside, he frowned at Trip taking the turn into the driveway, leaving rubber in his wake.
Trip toed the kickstand and jumped off the motorcycle, striding toward him. Instantly aware of Trip's urgency signaling the switch was happening faster than he'd predicted, he realized he'd been wrong about his timeframe.
He'd missed a week of his life—the time from the cave to finding himself on the mountain.
"You need to help me, man." Trip grabbed the front of Keenan's vest. "Bonnie won't let me go."
"She can't stop you."
Trip pushed him, falling away and grabbing his head. "It's not her."
"What's not her?"
"She's not mine. Those kids aren't mine." Trip's gaze swung around, and his body tensed. "I'm not supposed to be with her or the boys."
"They're yours," said Keenan softly. "They're with you."
"No, there's another family. I had a family." Trip lowered his voice. "I remember."
"Listen to me." He grabbed Trip, holding him in place. "Don't go there. It's your mind playing tricks on you."
"I get..." Trip closed his eyes and winced. "Bits and pieces. I can see her. I held the baby."
The memories would come back. Sometimes faster than a person could understand. Other times, slower than he'd wanted.
The anger he'd gone through as he fought a battle with an invisible enemy had pushed him to the brink of insanity. There were still times, he believed he'd go crazy.
Over eighteen years of his life spent within an organization that'd tortured, drugged, and held him prisoner. All for his loyalty. His ability to kill. His fearless pathway to ending his life.
No one would believe what he'd gone through. What every member of Avery Falls Motorcycle Club lived through, day in and day out.
They sure in the fuck wouldn't understand his past before the project.
Sworn loyalty or not, nobody would accept a man like him.
He had to face reality. As soon as the other originals became switched, he'd lose them in his life. They'd all look at each other differently. The level of trust would be contaminated.
And that pissed him off.
Hatred toward those in control of the Alpha Bio Project grew inside of him daily. He was sick of others taking what was rightfully his and having no say in what happened to him.
They had no right to keep him alive.
"It'll all make sense...afterward." He led Trip back to his Harley. "Get speeder, and then the both of you get the fuck out of town. Don't go home. Whatever you do, don't go around Bonnie and the boys."
"I love Bonnie. I do." Trip straddled the bike. "This will destroy her."
"You won't let that happen," he whispered.
"How can I stop it?"
He shook his head. Answers weren't going to help his MC brother now.
Standing in the driveway, he watched Trip until he rode out of sight, assuming he was going to gather Speeder and get the hell out of Avery Falls before each of them put their family in danger.
The day's events weighed heavily on him. Through it all, he hadn't forgotten about Grace.
At the moment, she was sneaking out of the house, keeping cover behind the bushes that grew in front of the living room window because he'd left the front door open. He could hear her heart race. Whether in fear or hope, he would never know.
He inhaled deeply and turned around. She couldn't outrun him.
Chapter Ten
Grace's fingertips throbbed. She held them under the stream of cold water coming out of the kitchen faucet and hung her head. Having worked on the framing around the front door for the last four hours, all she'd managed to do was remove a piece of molding.