Burned (Devil's Blaze MC #3)(20)

“Is that a fact?” asks Torch, and the tone of his voice makes me nervous.

“Afraid so, but hey, maybe we could meet up later at the bar for lunch.”

“Where are you headed… Holly?”

The way he stressed my fake name doesn’t escape me, but I soldier through. I just have to commit to my lie; I have to get to my car and get the f*ck away. I know these back roads better than anyone. I can lose them; I just need to get to my jeep.

“Headed?” I call back. “Oh, my grandmother’s. She lives in Odessa and she’s feeling pretty bad. She caught a stomach virus and can’t seem to shake it. I’m going to go be with her for a little while, you know? Help go take care of her.”

“That’s awful sweet of you.”

“Well, I care for her. That’s what you do for family, you know?” I figure I’m about ten steps away from my jeep. Ten steps and I can find freedom. Ten steps.

“Yeah, I get it. But hey, I have a question.” I ignore the way my heart speeds up in panic. Five more steps, just five more.

“What’s that?” I ask, still walking. Four steps…

“How were you going to have lunch with me if you’re going to Odessa?”

Fuck! Three steps… Deep breath, Katie… Deep breath…

“Okay, well, I guess I wasn’t really planning on meeting you.”

“I bet,” he says snidely, but I’m jumping up and down inside because I’ve made it to the jeep.

“Well, you have to admit, you finding my address and just showing up here, that kind of stuff screams stalker, Hunter,” I tell him, unlocking my jeep. I open the door and remove the strap to my laptop off my shoulder so I can throw it in. Torch grabs it, and that’s when I realize he’s beside me and not in front of me. “I could have got that,” I grumble. He doesn’t say anything, but he does slide my overnight satchel off of my shoulder. “Whatever, just put them in the back, will ya? I need to get going. My aunt needs me.”

“Your aunt? I thought you said it was your grandmother?”

Fuck!

“That’s what I meant,” I insist. “You have me all flustered. Can you just put my stuff in the back so I can get going?”

I don’t know what I expect, but it isn’t the feel of cold metal latching around my wrist. I look down to find Torch putting a handcuff on one of my arms, then deftly latching the other to his own wrist. “What—What are you doing?” I ask stupidly, because it’s pretty clear what he’s doing.

“The jig’s up, Katie.”

My heart turns over at his words.

Fuck. I should have run.





I watch as Katie does her best to get out of this situation. It won’t do her any good. The minute she opened the door, it clicked. On the surface, thanks to hair dye and colored contacts, she looks nothing like Beth, but once my brain had made the connection, I could see it. Beth is skinnier and less curvy than Katie, but their facial expressions, the lines of their face, and the mannerisms are so similar, I could kick myself for not noticing sooner. It’s no f*cking wonder that I hadn’t seen eyes like hers before. The f*ckers weren’t even real! The first real peace I’ve had all day is when I handcuffed her to my arm. She won’t be getting out of this shit anytime soon.

“Hand me the keys, Katie.”

“I told you I’m not—”

“Drop the f*cking act. In case the handcuffs didn’t clue you in, sweetness, I’m not buying. Now hand me your f*cking house key.”

She looks at me. If looks could kill, I’d be toe-up, six feet under, pushing up daisies. She slams the key in my hand.

“Sabre, Latch, go check the rest of the house. Find Beth,” I order, tossing the key to them. I barely look at them, my eyes are glued to… Katie. Jesus, everything she told me was a lie.

“Bethie’s not here,” she announces with a look of pure triumph, which irritates the f*ck out of me.

“Then we’ll find her, sweetness. Just like I found you. Fuck, you can’t even keep your lies straight. I’m sure there’s something here that will lead us to her.”

Something flashes in her eyes, which aren’t green anymore. They’re more gray, and it’s irritating how much more I like that, even when it hits me that the emotion in her eyes right now is hurt. What the f*ck does she have to be hurt over? I didn’t lie to her and I sure as hell didn’t sneak out on her.

“You won’t find a thing. We’re good at hiding from Colin and Matthew. You aren’t the first *s he’s sent after us,” she growls, jerking against the handcuffs.

“Jesus, you’re so f*cking out of your head. Do you have any brains in there? Sorry, sweetness, we’re not here on behalf of the f*cking Donahues. Your sister nearly destroyed my brother. The only reason we’re here is revenge.”

Her body jerks as if she took a heavy blow. My eyes jerk up to hers and the pain in her gray eyes is huge. I see it and I’m pretty sure I could glimpse into her soul, then it’s just gone.

“Your brother is a f*cking *. I have plenty of brains.”

“Whatever you say,” I tell her, tired of the conversation. I can’t believe the woman who I spent one of the best f*cking nights of my life with is Beth’s sister. I can’t believe she has Donahue blood, and the thing that really, really pisses me off the most right now is that my dick is hard and already wanting another night with her, even while she’s standing there with hate coming off of her in waves at the mention of Skull.