Dark Temptation (Dark Saints MC Book 2)(30)

We didn’t talk much as the day wore on. We just touched each other. Benz brushed my hair out of my face. I ran my fingers through his beard. I looked at the scars and tats that covered his body. I memorized them. Someday down the road, I hoped they’d bring me some comfort.

If being with Benz became a memory, I wanted all the details. I wanted to be able to take that memory out and get lost in each second. What had happened between us wasn’t the real world. It was a bolt of lightning and it was soon to pass. I knew that and savored every second in that bed with Benz.

Eventually, the sun set and Benz started packing up.

I considered running. What if I just headed out to the woods?

But the reality was, we were in the middle of nowhere. If I called for help, could anyone here it out here? If I did that, would the cops come and arrest Benz for kidnapping? What would I say?

I was prepared to testify against Bear if it came to that, but Benz? I wasn’t ready for that. I didn’t think I ever would be.

“It’s time.”

Benz had packed up his bike. I looked around the odd little cabin. It was almost a dream what we’d done here together. We’d committed ourselves to each other in a way that was physical, spiritual, real.

Benz helped me on the bike and handed me the helmet. He was protecting me still.

It got darker and darker, and we got closer and closer to the mess that I’d made in Port Az. Closer to the history of my family tied up with the history of his. I wished we could stay in the cabin forever, together. But that was a memory now too.

With each mile, things got more real. I held tight to Benz. I wasn’t without resources and I’d have to use them if Benz couldn’t get out of this.

As scary as the idea of returning to Port Az was, I wouldn’t be cut off like I’d been with Benz in the cabin.

I could get to my place. I could get to my car and out of Port Az on my own. I wouldn’t be running into the woods or driving in the dark. I was willing to let Benz’s plan pay out, to a point.

E.Z. was the first part of Benz’s plan.

When we were within sight of his place, but not too close, Benz cut the engine.

We were about ten miles outside of Port Az.

E.Z. had a ranch house on acreage.

“Stay behind me and quiet the entire time.”

I nodded. Then he took out his gun, the one I’d only glimpsed when he was at the warehouse.

“You know how to use a weapon right? Police training?”

“Yes.”

“If something goes bad, shoot E.Z.”

“Is that likely? Jesus Christ, Benz.”

“If I thought it was likely you wouldn’t be here. But I also want you to defend yourself if I can’t. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go.” I had the weapon behind my back. I did know how to shoot. I was good at it. Benz was not leading me into some sort of slaughter; he was making sure I had options.

If his argument didn’t work, I had an escape hatch.

We walked up the long dirt drive to the house. It was dark, but there was a light on inside.

Benz knocked on the door and waited a few seconds before a woman came to answer it.

“Hi, Charlene.”

“Benz.” The woman was hard looking. She had a tattoo of a rose over her breast and smeared eyeliner under her eyes.

“I need to talk to E.Z.”

“Yeah, I heard some shit was going down.”

Then a man with a shotgun came down the hall. The barrel was pointed down. He was gray-haired like Bear, but much more wiry. He seemed to be made of bone, sinew, and motor oil. I was more scared of E.Z. than Bear. Whereas Bear seemed to make hot-headed decisions, something about E.Z. was as cold as steel.

E.Z. looked us up and down and then issued an order.

“Charlene, make yourself scarce.” He had a thick Southern accent. He wasn’t as tall as Benz, but the shotgun made up for that. He looked like he could easily able snap my neck. All The Saints did really, even Benz.

There was a mean quality to the way he had ordered Charlene out of the way. He’d spit it out and she was used to it. That’s what stuck with me. She just walked down the hall and back into the house.

Though I supposed he was trying to keep her safe. That made me think I could be looking at Benz and me in twenty years. It wasn’t a good thought. I brushed it off. I had enough to worry about right now.

E.Z. raised the barrel of the shotgun and backed us out onto the front porch, as though he didn’t want to have to clean up in the house if this got messy. I kept my hand on the handle of Benz’s gun.

“She doesn’t look too dead to me.” E.Z. glanced at me and then back at Benz. I was an incidental problem to him. Not a person.

“This is Jen. I’m not killing her.”

E.Z. put the barrel of his shotgun to Benz’s chest.

Benz stood there and stared the Veep of his club right in the face.

The two men didn’t exactly seem like brothers to me. I’d seen his bonds with Kade and Zig. But this was different. There was something else here.

Benz was a wall between E.Z., that shotgun, and me. I was scared as hell, but Benz was stone cold and ready to handle whatever happened next. Even with a shotgun to his heart.

I knew in that moment, if E.Z. shot Benz, then I’d kill E.Z.

Part of me wanted to circumvent the entire thing and kill E.Z. right now. How dare he threaten Benz?