Rake's Redemption (Wind Dragons MC #4)(12)

“Let go of me,” I say so only he can hear.

“Not a chance,” he growls under his breath. “You came back here, into my f*ckin’ territory, with my people, now you and I are going to have a little chat.”

“You don’t own this bar,” I say snidely, narrowing my eyes on him. “How is this your territory? Just let me go. I’ll go home and we’ll pretend this never happened.”

“Yeah? Think I’m going to forget you kissing a guy I can’t f*ckin’ stand any time soon? You know nothing about loyalty, do you? Maybe hanging with Anna and them will be good, maybe you’ll even learn something.”

He’s such a dick.

I kick him in the shins. He looks down at me but doesn’t even flinch, so either it didn’t hurt, or he’s just not giving me the satisfaction of knowing that it did.

“Mature, Bailey.”

“So much bad shit to say about me, yet you’re still holding on to me. Why?”

“Like I said, we need to talk.”

“Talking is the last thing we need to do,” I fire back. The time for talking is over.

“Bailey!” Talon calls, taking my attention away from Rake. Rake stiffens as he approaches us. He and Talon stare at each other, the tension between them making the air feel thick and uncomfortable. I can tell that this has to do with more than me. I try to pull my arm from Adam’s grip, but he just holds on tighter. Slice steps up next to Talon, having his back if anything goes wrong, I guess.

“Do we have a problem here?” Adam asks.

Talon tilts his head to the side. “You tell me.”

“Rake, let’s go!” Arrow calls out, turning to Anna and saying something in her ear. Was he doing Anna’s bidding? Something about that amuses me, the big, scary-as-hell man trying to appease his woman.

“Let me go,” I mutter, tired of their posturing. “I need to go home.”

They both look down at me, as if they only just remembered that I’m here.

“I’ll take you home,” Adam commands, then looks at Talon. “This isn’t over. I don’t want to ever see you near her again, do you f*ckin’ understand me?”

Talon however, ignores him and looks at me. “You can go with him, or I can take you. Say the word.”

The air thickens again.

Shit.

I don’t want a fight to break out because of me, and I don’t want Talon to think I like him more than I do. He’s a nice guy, but I have no intention of sleeping with him, or dating him.

“Thank you, Talon,” I tell him. “I’ll be fine. I don’t want to cause any more trouble.”

Talon nods slightly, his eyes telling me that if I need him, all I have to do is speak out.

But I don’t.

I wave ’bye as Adam pulls me to his bike.

Talon and Slice don’t leave though—they stand there watching.

I’m handed a helmet, which I put on. Adam makes sure our hands don’t touch.

“Get on,” Adam demands, without bothering to help me up. I’ve never been on a bike before, and I’m pretty sure he knows this.

“I’ve never ridden on the back of a bike before,” I admit quietly, not knowing how to feel about it. Is it safe? As a single parent, I can’t exactly afford to do anything reckless. My daughter needs me, and if she doesn’t have me, she has no one.

He licks his bottom lip. “So? The old Bailey would have loved this shit. The old Bailey made Anna look like a saint. Have you changed so much?”

I stare daggers at him. “I grew up, Adam, perhaps you should try it?”

He makes a scoffing noise but says nothing while I awkwardly straddle the bike and reluctantly wrap my arms around his waist.

I have one question running through my mind.

Why did he want me to leave with him?





FIVE




WHEN we come to a stop, I almost want to kiss the ground. Anna and Lana come over to me as I fumble off the motorcycle and take off my helmet. They obviously made it here before us.

“You okay?” Anna asks, glancing between Adam and me.

“She’s fine,” he answers for me.

The jerk.

“She can speak for herself,” I snap, turning my back to him and facing the girls. “I’m fine. I just want to go home. Could you give me the address for this place so I can call a taxi?”

Anna and Lana turn their heads to look at each other.

Are they not going to help me? It’s Anna’s fault I’m here in the first place.

“They can’t save you, Bailey,” Adam rasps, coming up next to me. “I warned you; you didn’t listen. Now you gotta deal with me.”

I lift my head to look at him. Was he always this damn tall? “I don’t have to do any damn thing I don’t want to, Rake.”

I need to remember that that’s what he goes by now. Also so I remember that I don’t know the man standing next to me.

He laughs without humor.

And I’ve had enough.

I turn and start to walk down the road, pulling out my phone. There has to be a street sign somewhere around here. Suddenly I’m grabbed around the waist and pulled back into a hard body.

“We’re going to talk, Bailey. Then I’ll take you home, all right?” he murmurs in my ear.