Claiming Crusher (Savage Brothers MC #4)(40)

“And, D?”

“Yeah?” I asked feeling a little lighter and more surprised at the invitation to come home. Is Kentucky my home?

“We don’t hurt women, ever. You feel me?”

“I…well…”

“I’m saying you’re safe here, D and I’ll be cool as long as you don’t pull that shit again.

“I’ll think about it.” I answer, wondering if I will ever really be safe again.

“Fair enough,” he says and the phone goes dead. Guess Dragon ain’t one for goodbyes.

I hang up and take a deep breath. I’m feeling at loose ends. Paul had work tonight. He’s a bartender at a local club. Ray is working there too, as he does every night. He’s the bouncer. He’s also convinced I should go there tonight. I’m not. He’ll probably win though, because I have no desire to sit home alone.

“You about ready, Kitten?”

I look up to find Ray standing in the door way. He’s literally gorgeous. He’s got eyes so blue you’d swear the sun was behind them making them shine. This perfect angular face that shows off his five o’clock shadow perfectly. His body shows that there is a reason he is a fitness trainer. His arms are muscles galore, abs that make women and men drool, and finally there’s his laid back, don’t f*ck with me, but I’m the guy next door attitude. Ray has it all, including a heart that is so giving I think he must be from another planet, because they just don’t make people like that here on Earth.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“That’s your problem, you think too much,” Ray says looking like a giant kid.

I shake my head and pull myself off the bed. I’m ready as I’ll ever be. When I make it to my bedroom door, Paul pulls me into his arms and holds me close and kisses the top of my head. I’m not exactly short, but Paul towers over me. It doesn’t intimidate me though, I feel…safe. The only other time I’ve felt that way in my life has been with Zander, and doesn’t that just suck.

An hour later I’m standing by an old cement column in the corner of a busy bar, listening to music and watching the dancers. It’s not my cup of tea. Some man is whaling on a juke box about a woman’s sundress and how he’s going through withdrawals over her. I refuse to think of Zander. This is probably why I never listen to country music. It’s damn depressing. I’m still nursing the same rum and coke that Paul sent over when we got here an hour ago. I don’t really drink a lot these days. I’ve learned that drinking might numb me, but in the long run it makes the nightmares worse.

“Seems like I’m always chasing you, Hell Cat. One of these days, I may just get tired of that.”

My body freezes. My heart races. It’s been a month, why now? More importantly, how? I don’t ask. I still my reaction, as best I can. I don’t need to show him any weakness.

“No one asked you to, Crusher. I think you just can’t take a hint.”

“I can baby, I absolutely can.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I missed you,” he says and it’s said in a quiet voice, but there’s…feeling in it.

“I doubt that. I’m sure you and Gun found a new play toy before I even crossed the state line,” I say bitterly, because I am bitter.

“I was a f*cking ass.”

I still haven’t turned around to talk to him. I’m afraid. I kind of hate him for that too.

“You won’t hear an argument from me,” I respond, taking a drink. Zander’s arm comes around and takes the glass away from me. I still can’t turn around to see what he’s doing.

I think I’m frozen, afraid to move. If I do, will he really be there? If I do, will I see the truth in his eyes, that I was just a lay and I was right…I meant nothing to him?

“Hellcat, we need to fix this, I’ve missed you and I think you’ve missed me too.”

“We barely had any time together, and we were just f*ck-buddies.”

“I think it was more than that.”

“No, it really wasn’t, Cowboy. I’m not even sure why you made the trip.” Or how you found out where I am.

“Because your lips might be saying no, but your body is saying something completely different.”

“I think you’re delusional, Zander.”

My heart is beating hard against my chest. It should freak me out that Zander is here—that he found me. I know Nic would have never told him. We agreed a long time ago to never tell anyone where Ray lived. So, I should be worried about being tracked here, instead I feel this small ball of hope inside because Zander came to find me. He moves closer to me and I feel like I don’t have any control of my body when he gets this close. I do my best to calm my heart. I don’t want to betray what his closeness really does to me. It’s not easy. Especially when his body pushes against my ass and I can feel his hard erection brush against me. A minute later the heat of his breath fans my bare shoulders.

His hands loosely hold my hips, while I try to look out over the crowd in the bar and find Paul or Ray. Someone to save me, because I know if Zander is involved I can’t save myself. I feel the tips of his thumbs at the top of my blue jeans, brushing the skin exposed between it and where my tank top begins. My brain is screaming danger, because that’s what Zander is. He is danger with a capital ‘D.’