Fire Inside (Chaos, #2)(80)

“Fuck off,” I shot back, came to a halt in the common room and looked at High, who was behind the bar. “My car?”

“Block north, turn right, two blocks up,” High answered, his eyeballs shooting from Hop to me.

“Thank you. I’d kiss you if I wasn’t so ticked off so you’ll have to take a rain check,” I told him.

“Lookin’ forward to that,” High told me.

“Fuckin’ shit,” Hop snarled from behind me and I whirled on him.

“Have a good life, Hopper Kincaid,” I hissed then turned on my boot and dashed out.

I got halfway through the forecourt when I was swung around with a firm grip on my arm. I stopped by crashing into Hop’s body, whereupon both his arms clamped around me.

“You get this drama, babe, you got until the end of Tack’s meeting to burn it out, but mark this, Lanie. After that meeting, I don’t give a f*ck if you’re strapped into a rocket to go to the goddamned moon, I’m findin’ you, we’re sortin’ this shit out and we’re movin’ on,” he warned.

“I just made a mental note to find a plastic surgeon who does emergency face alterations so you won’t know who to look for,” I shot back.

“Jesus, I’m pissed as all f*ck and still she’s cute,” he groused like he wasn’t talking to me but actually complaining to the Son of God.

“Jesus works on Sunday, Hop. You want a direct line, time to haul your biker ass to church,” I shared.

“You want me to let you go so you can burn this out, you better stop bein’ cute, lady. You keep bein’ cute, I’ll kiss you in the goddamn forecourt and I won’t give a f*ck who sees.”

I snapped my mouth shut.

“That’s what I thought,” he muttered.

“Are you going to let me go so I can burn this out?” I prompted.

“You gonna hide from me?” he asked.

“I haven’t decided,” I returned.

“This may help you make your decision. You hide, Lanie, you waste my time havin’ to look for you, you’ll be providing payback for that time. I’ll get payback and, in the end, you’ll like it, I promise you, but before that, I’ll make you beg to give it to me and you beggin’, baby, is gonna last a long f*ckin’ time.”

Oh my God.

How could I be that angry and still have a mini-orgasm in the forecourt of a garage?

“You aren’t letting me go,” I pointed out.

“You gonna be at your house when this meet’s done?”

I glared at him then bit off, “Yes.”

His eyes dropped to my mouth and he murmured, “Fuck, I wanna kiss you.”

Another mini-orgasm.

God, he was killing me.

“Hop—”

His eyes came back to mine. “You mean the world to me, Lanie. No one but my brothers knows the shit I did for the Club. No one. I didn’t trust a goddamn soul with that and that includes Mitzi. I trusted you because I care about you and I wanted you to have that part of me because I want you to have all of me. So while you’re burnin’ out your drama, think about that and also think about the fact that I feel it like a f*ckin’ knife in my gut right now havin’ to let you go and walk away without bein’ free to take your mouth to say good-bye.”

I stopped breathing.

Hop let me go.

“Think about all that, baby,” he said gently and finished, “I’ll be at your place in a couple of hours.”

Then he walked away and I watched him go.

He disappeared behind the door to the Compound and it took a while before I remembered where I was and that I had to get out of there.

So I turned and walked fast to my car.

*

Three hours later…

I was working in the kitchen when I heard the Harley pipes.

They stopped behind my house.

I washed my hands to clean off the dough for the homemade rolls I was making but stood behind the island and faced the sliding glass doors.

Hop’s eyes locked on me when he was in the courtyard and he didn’t tear them away as he walked in and slid the door closed.

When he came to a stop and crossed his arms on his chest, I was the first one to speak.

“You mean the world to me, too.”

The room infused instantly with sheer beauty.

“Get over here,” he growled.

I felt those three words in three very good places but I didn’t move.

“I’m dramatic,” I reminded him.

“Get over here, Lanie.”

“I go over the top.”

“Over. Here.”

“I create scenes.”

“Lanie. Now.”

“You have to get used to that. It’s part of who I am.”

Hop didn’t speak.

“I don’t like that you did what you did but I do like that you’re a man who’d fight for what he believes in in order to make it real.”

His eyes closed and his head dropped as his arms uncrossed and he rested his hands on his hips.

“Honey,” I called and his head came up. “You have a monster too.”

“I did. My woman just slayed it.”

It was my turn to close my eyes and drop my head because that felt so good, I couldn’t let anything in but the feeling.