The man next to her, his lips move, but hers press into a straight line. Then, Mountain guides us into a building and I lose sight of her. I don’t know what I expected, but a dirty bar wasn’t it at all. I wrinkle my nose at the smell that surrounds me. There’s music playing low in the background, and it looks like every biker bar I’ve ever seen on television.
I try to take in the room, but Mountain is moving far too quickly for me to be able to see much of anything. I do think that I see a flash of naked skin, but I can’t be sure. Mountain flings my body forward and into a small room.
A small filthy room.
“Oh gross, what’s that smell?” I ask.
He chuckles from behind me as he closes the door. Turning around, I pinch my nose closed as I attempt to breathe out of my mouth. For a guy so hot, he’s a fucking animal. “This is really gross, seriously, what is it?” I ask through my pinched nose.
“Who knows,” he says with a shrug as I watch him take a duffel bag out of the bottom of the closet and toss it on the bed.
I stand there, taking him in, wondering if I’m going to have to stay in here, and for how long? I’ll have to figure out how to clean it enough to find the stench. He laughs as he shoves some things in the bag. I watch as he throws the strap of the bag over his shoulder, hiking it up before he turns to me.
“Ready?”
“For?”
He grins, shaking his head a couple of times. “Home, Leighton.”
“Home?”
He nods once, taking a step toward me, then another before he closes the distance between us. He lifts his hand, wrapping his fingers around my wrist and tugs it down, forcing my fingers to leave my nose.
Then, before I can ask any more questions, before I can say another word, he leans down and touches his mouth to mine in a swift, hard kiss.
“Home,” he repeats.
“I think I’m confused,” I breathe, my legs a little shaky from the kiss.
His lips curve up into a small grin. “That’s okay, babe. We’ll get you straightened out.”
“Straightened?” I exhale.
He laughs softly, his black eyes glittering as he takes me in. “Yeah, Leighton, straightened,” he says, his voice gruff and husky.
“Okay,” I whisper.
He shakes his head, hiking the strap of his bag up his shoulder again before he slips his hand in mine and turns around, tugging me behind him. I don’t get to see the rest of the bar area on my way out either.
He shuffles me through the dirt, and I try really hard not to complain about my suede white platform sandals getting ruined, but it’s the hardest I’ve ever had to bite my tongue. Ever. Finally, he stops next to a motorcycle and I stomp my foot.
His gaze flicks up to meet mine and he’s got a grin playing on his lips. “Yeah, mi reina, you got a problem?”
“You drug me through all that dirt and my shoes are white suede, and well, they’re ruined,” I point out as I lift my foot for him to see.
His gaze shifts to my feet, then he lifts it back to meet mine. “They’re gonna get trashed on my bike, babe,” he grunts.
I let out a growl, then stomp my foot. This is all that I have, these shoes and the clothes on my back are it, if they get ruined, I have absolutely nothing to replace them. I might even have to go shopping and honestly, I don’t even want to deal with that, plus I have no way to pay for anything.
“I’ll take you for clothes and shit tomorrow, buy you some more.”
All of my frustration and irritation leaves me immediately. “What?” I breathe.
“Buy you some more, babe. Not a big problem.”
Pressing my lips together, I tilt my head to the side. “Shopping?” I ask.
He chuckles. “You like to shop?”
I guess I thought he had my number, like he knew my entire background and took me for a reason. Now, I’m wondering if that wasn’t the case. Maybe he doesn’t realize that I lived in shithole after shithole, paid cash everywhere I went, and worked my ass off doing anything and everything to make a buck.
He thinks I’m Tom Richardson’s spoiled little princess. He has no clue that I haven’t been living the life of luxury the past five years and even before that, when I was, it wasn’t all that luxurious a life to live.
I watch as he climbs on his bike, then starts the engine. He looks back at me and jerks his chin as he adjusts his duffel bag.
Climbing behind him, I wrap my arms around his waist, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip and wondering what the fuck I’ve just gotten myself into. He revs the engine, the bike rumbles and then we zoom forward.
I try to look around at the people around us, but the bike moves too quickly. Closing my eyes, I decide it doesn’t matter who was looking at us or why they were watching.
The wind is in my face, I’m pressed against a gorgeous mountain of a man, and I’m free. I’m not free of this man, but I’m free of my father, free of the disgusting future he had planned for me.
I’m free to breathe again.
MOUNTAIN
Pulling up to the house, I don’t disengage from my bike immediately. It looks like shit on the outside. Apparently when Silver said that prospects had been taking care of the place, it only included a basic mowing of the lawn.
Moving the bike to the driveway, I kill the engine. Leighton climbs off of the bike before I do. I don’t look at her, too afraid of what her first impression is, though should I really care? I’m not sure. There is nothing I can do to change it, this is my house, my entire family abandoned it years ago, but it’s mine now.
Walking toward the front door, I stop at the little frog beside the door and grab the key. “That’s a terrible hiding spot,” Leighton points out.
Looking over my shoulder, I smirk at her as I straighten my back and stand tall. “My mother did that shit. I thought it was stupid when she did, but when I left here, I didn’t take a key with me.”
“Wait,” Leighton calls out when I turn the knob. “Your mother isn’t here, is she?”
I let out a snort. “No. She ran off with some rich fucker years ago, haven’t seen her since.”
Twisting the knob, I push the door open and step inside. She’s close behind me, I can feel her right at my back, almost feel her tits pressed against me, but she’s not quite touching me.
All I want to do is turn around, push her up against the door, and bury my dick inside of her. If my imagination is anything close to the real thing, being inside of her is going to be fucking amazing.
Flipping on the light, I don’t do what I want, I don’t fuck her. Instead, I face my nightmares head-on. Looking around the room, I’m surprised to see that it looks so much different than when I lived here as a kid.
There is no sofa, no television, there isn’t even a kitchen table. It’s all, just, empty. Making my way farther into the house, I can feel Leighton close behind, but she’s not too close, obviously feeling my mood on this situation.
Reaching for my old bedroom doorknob, I open it and turn the light on. This is a room that hasn’t changed. I don’t know why my brother didn’t throw all my shit out, but it’s here. Everything from high school, as if I’m just coming back from a day of class, is right here.