Riding Darkness (Back Down Devil MC #4.5)(9)

Ares led the way out of the building and pulled harder. Brooke almost fell and reached for Ares to keep herself from going down.

“What the hell?” Ares bellowed.

“I can’t keep up.”

Ares stopped and turned. He put his hands to Brooke’s waist. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Inside the warehouse more gunshots rang out. The backdoor opened with a rusty squeak. Ares threw Brooke behind him and lifted his gun.

“Easy. Just me.”

Brooke watched one of the guys from Back Down Devil approach.

“Fuck, Bale,” Ares said. “Gunner is down.”

“He’s dead,” Bale said. “We have to get him.”

“No. We can’t. You know the rules. He’s a prospect. That’s it. We report it and they make the call.”

“Fuck,” Bale said. “Gunner was my…”

“We have to go,” Ares said.

“We… what the f*ck is this? You bringing presents to the clubhouse?”

“No. Her f*cking brother is the one who started this shit. She’s ours until we get the truth.” Ares looked back at Brooke. “And if we don’t, she’s not going to make it to the next illegal poker game.”

Ares turned and lifted Brooke off her feet. For a moment, Brooke wanted to scream. But she couldn’t find the breath to do so. Her mind and heart battled each other between what Ares had said and the way he was touching her. The feel of his hands on the back of her legs. His hands were way too far up her legs, but that was the dress’s fault. His hand at her upper back and shoulders. Walking fast, his strength so eminent.

It wasn’t the right time for it, but Brooke felt really sexy right now. Being carried in mostly darkness toward a motorcycle. Ares was so damn big and sexy looking, in a mean way.

At his ride, Ares helped Brooke on. He touched her legs and looked at her. “Got a shorter dress?”

“I don’t wear this stuff,” Brooke said.

“There’s nothing I can do about it right now.”

Brooke looked down. She gasped. She looked back up and saw Ares smiling at her.

“You can see my thong,” Brooke whispered.

“Right between those legs,” Ares said.

Ares climbed on his motorcycle and started it. Next to him, Bale started his ride. Next to that one was a third motorcycle. It was unmanned and would remain that way. The man meant for it was dead in the warehouse.

The motorcycle started to move and Brooke looked back. She wasn’t comfortable leaving Armen behind, but she couldn’t go back inside there. Not with the bullets. Not with the bodies. Armen was smart. He’d get out of there alive.

Right now Brooke had no choice but to go with Ares. He had a gun, he had orders, and being with him felt safer than being with Armen.

It also didn’t hurt matters that he was really sexy and smelled like muscle, man, sweat, and steel.





seven.



Ares held Brooke by her elbow and walked her toward the door. He didn’t care how hard he was gripping and he didn’t care that she was struggling again to walk. He pulled, she almost fell, and their journey continued. Bale stood at the door and held it open.

“I can walk on my own,” Brooke snapped.

Ares pulled her close and gritted his teeth. “I don’t give a f*ck right now, darling. I need to get you into the f*cking clubhouse and figure out what the f*ck happened tonight.”

“They’re going to eat her alive, bro,” Bale said.

The words went through Ares like knives. He looked at Bale. He looked at Brooke. Her f*cking tits were pouring from her dress and she couldn’t help it. Her body had curves in all the right places and the f*cking dress hugged them in a way that almost made Ares jealous.

He dropped to one knee and looked up at Brooke.

“What are you doing?”

“Proposing,” Ares growled.

He grabbed Brooke’s left foot and pulled. She gasped and then reached down to Ares to keep her balance. He tore one of her heels off and threw it across the parking lot. Brooke then offered her right foot. When Ares touched her foot, his eyes crept up and he could see right up her dress. The sight of her legs lead way to a black pair of panties that were killer small, only covering the narrow slit of her *. Everything else was exposed to Ares’s eyes. Her inners thighs looked delicious. The curve of her body gave way to temptation, leaving Ares’s mind racing.

After throwing the second heel, Ares stood back up. He pulled Brooke to him. “You keep your eyes down and don’t say a f*cking word. Don’t look at anyone. You go where I take you. Got it?”

“What’s my other option in all this?” Brooke asked.

“You get spotted and claimed by one of the guys. Then you’re their property for the night.”

“So if I go with you, I’m your property for the night?”

Ares didn’t respond. He turned and walked into the clubhouse.

The place was bustling and thanks to whiskey, music, and relievers working their magic, a lot of eyes didn’t spot Ares and Brooke.

Of course, Blaine did. He let out a whistle and started to clap, calling at Ares. That attracted the attention of Gaige, Shay, and Erik. They started to circle in, putting the pressure on Ares to stop walking.