She woke with a headache the next morning and, for a split second, she thought it had all been a crazy dream. But, as the minutes passed and she became more awake, she realized what had happened and her mouth became dry with nerves.

Her and Brick had kissed.

And it hadn’t just been a kiss. It had been something intense… Something powerful.

She rubbed her forehead and tried to bury her head under the pillow, but she knew, deep down, this wasn’t the way to handle this situation. She had to own it. She had to not hide away.

She rolled over and picked up her cellphone and the first thing she saw was his name illuminating the screen.

He had texted her.

Her mouth went even drier with nerves and she took a sip of water. She realized her hands were shaking as she punched in the code to unlock the phone and then she took a deep breath before she opened to read it…

 

B: We need to talk. If you can make it for 4pm, I’d be grateful…

 

So, he was back to being cold and blunt with her, and now her mind was on overdrive. Did he want to talk to her about last night? Or did he want to talk because he was going to fire her? He’d be “grateful”? What the hell did that even mean?

She got out of bed with a scowl on her face and began to pace the room. She felt full of fire and rage, but she was also nervous as hell.

How had she let herself get into this situation?

She had found the perfect job, and she had gone and fallen for her boss and now, she felt vulnerable and at risk.

She kicked the edge of her dressing table and winced before she bent down to clutch her foot in pain. This was not the way she had wanted to start her day, and as each moment passed, she was becoming more and more irate.

She walked to the kitchen with her arms folded and her head pounding with stress, and just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door.

She jumped and turned around to glare at it and held her hand up to her chest, barely able to breathe.

“Jas!” a familiar voice came from the other side. “Jas! Open up! I need to talk to you!”

It was Cadence.

“Oh, well, isn’t this just perfect,” she whispered to herself, still feeling angry and worked up over how they had left things the previous evening.

The knocking kept on coming, and Jasmine knew Cadence was fully aware she was inside. Just like the situation with Brick, there was going to be no hiding from this one.

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and then she walked reluctantly to her front door. She peered through the peephole and could see Cadence on the other side, she looked panicked and troubled.

She braced herself for the argument she could tell was coming. Her and Cadence’s friendship had always been fiery, they were like sisters, but sometimes, when one really hurt the other, it went from intense fire to explosion.

Cadence had hurt Jasmine the previous evening. She had worked her up, mocked her, and then she had taken great pleasure in sending her away, making it perfectly clear she had intended to watch everything that happened with Brick.

Brick.

Cadence had been there when he had gone to meet the other Forsaken Riders.

And with a flash of realization, Jasmine grabbed the handle and flung open the door.

“Oh my God,” Cadence said as she pushed her way inside. She was all worked up, swinging her handbag around and crashing it down on the countertop in the kitchen. She was breathing rapidly and fanning her face with her palms.

“Do you get a kick out of ignoring me?” she gasped as she took a minute to get some air.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jasmine asked. “It’s eight thirty in the morning.”

“And you’ve been ignoring my calls and texts since you stormed off last night,” Cadence said as she sat down on one of the bar stools and started to run the tap to splash water on her face.

“I was working,” Jasmine said sternly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Oh, I know you were, and that’s why I called you! I saw your man turn up… And holy hell, did shit go down!”

“What kind of shit?” Jasmine asked as she took a step forward.

In the back of her mind, she still had the very fresh image of Brick and his injuries. She could still feel him, the way she had taken his hand and started to clean up the cuts for him, the way he had gripped her wrist and pulled her close. She felt her heart start to race instinctively. The moment he came back into her consciousness was the moment she began to unravel.

“Jasmine, that guy is insane… He’s dangerous…” Cadence was looking at her with a serious amount of worry. And Jasmine felt tears welling up behind her eyes.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, I was just sitting where you left me, and it must have been maybe fifteen minutes after you’d gone. Suddenly, this roar came from behind me, and this guy flew down Main Street on a huge motorcycle. He was driving like an absolute maniac, swerving from side to side, and the rage on his face… Jeez… I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She paused for a moment and Jasmine could barely stand the suspense. She had to know what had happened, even if she couldn’t bear to hear it.

“How did you now it was Brick?” Jasmine whispered. Trying anything to make this awful story sound less frightening than it so clearly was.

“Jim, the old man who owned the restaurant, he told me so…” Cadence looked at her sternly. “He said, here comes that lunatic, Brick. Another Forsaken Rider, another dangerous soul…”

Jasmine shook her head and smiled.

“He can’t know him,” she said. “He isn’t dangerous.”

Cadence’s mouth sagged open and she looked annoyed.

“Jasmine, you didn’t see what I saw. I know he’s dangerous… Hell, I saw him practically beat some guy to a pulp right in the middle of Main Street.”

Jasmine wasn’t surprised but she still didn’t like to hear the facts.

When he had heaved himself out of the truck and tried to climb the steps, she knew he had been in a serious brawl. Luckily, he seemed to have come out on top.

“What happened?” Jasmine whispered.

The tears were still welling behind her eyes and she felt beaten and bruised herself. Her soul, her feelings, her heart… they had all taken a pounding in the past twenty-four hours. And now, she felt lost and she didn’t have a clue what to do for the best.

“The other bikers that were there when you were, they were waiting for someone to arrive. A big, black car pulled up with darkened windows and this man got out. He was well dressed, and I mean impeccably, he was wearing a pin stripe suit, polished loafers, he was smoking a huge cigar and his head was shaved. He had a tattoo by his eye… even from across the road, I could tell he was a killer. He looked like an assassin. He was wild, shouting in Russian… and then the bikers, they all surrounded him, they held him there until…”

“Until what?” Jasmine could barely breathe.

“Until Brick came hurtling down Main Street,” she said with defeat. “He practically jumped off the damn bike before it had even stopped moving, he jumped through the crowd and laid into the skinhead before I even really had a chance to figure out what was going on.”

“Holy shit,” Jasmine exhaled.

“Exactly,” Cadence shook her head. “It was bad, Jas, I mean really bad. There was blood everywhere. He was so strong, you should have seen the way he worked his fists. I’ve never seen a fight like it,” she broke off and rubbed her temples. “It gave me nightmares.”

Jasmine’s heart was racing so hard she could barely hear anything over the sound of the blood pummeling through her ears.

What had she gotten herself into?

And did she even want to be out of it?

She started to pace up and down the apartment and she could feel Cadence’s eyes on her. She knew the reaction Cadence wanted. She wanted Jasmine to be horrified, to be afraid, for her to curse and shout and berate herself for falling into a trap. She wanted her to quit her job, she wanted her friend back.

But it wasn’t going to happen.

What Cadence had seen, and what Jasmine knew Brick to be, were two completely different people.

She had spent time with him at home, she saw how he was with Maddy. He was a loving, caring and wonderful father. He had raised that child on his own, and she was an absolute dream. He had done so many good things, all Cadence had seen was one bad.

He may have scared Jasmine a little, but she liked him more.

“He nearly killed the guy, Jasmine!” Cadence said for dramatic affect. “I mean, come on, you can’t seriously consider going back to work for this guy? I was terrified for you last night… When he drove off in a truck, all I could think of was what if he’s going back to that house, where you are, in that rage. What would he do to you?”

Jasmine felt herself blush.

What Brick had done to her and the horror that Cadence had imagined couldn’t have been further from each other.

All Brick had done was make her feel alive.

“You don’t know him like I do, Cadence,” Jasmine said calmly. “I know what you saw must have been shocking, and I have to admit, I’m a little stunned too. I saw him come home and I know he was injured… But really, I don’t think he’s the monster you’re painting him out to be.”

Cadence snorted with a laugh and shook her head in disbelief.

“I am like family to you,” she said. “And you’re dismissing what I’m saying?”

“I’m not dismissing it,” Jasmine snapped. “But I can’t just quit my job. I need to speak with him and find out exactly how close all of this danger could be. I have a duty of care to Maddy now. I don’t want her to feel like she’s been abandoned.”

Cadence pouted and sighed.

“Well, you will only do what you want to do, I guess,” she said. “I just wanted to warn you. Seeing what I saw last night scared me shitless.”

“It was work,” Jasmine said. “I’m sure he’s done much worse…”

She bit her lip and felt her hands shaking again. She was trying to play it cool in front of Cadence, but to know a man she had kissed only minutes after he had done something like that was totally terrifying.

He was strong, he was big and brutal, and now she knew he was capable of serious physical harm.

He could have snapped her like a twig as the adrenaline coursed through his veins last night… But instead… well, he had been tender and had made her feel like no one ever had.

It was all just too confusing.

She stopped by the window and looked out across the alleyway and the little slice of Main Street she could see. She had a whole day to think about what in the hell she was going to do next, and she didn’t know how she was going to wait until 4pm before she went over to see him.

“I’m just looking out for you,” Cadence said as she took a step toward the door.

“I know you are,” Jasmine smiled. “And I’m not dismissing what you’re saying… my head’s just a mess… that’s all.”

Cadence nodded and reached for the doorknob.

“Well, you know where I am,” she said.

Jasmine nodded and gave her a grateful smile as Cadence backed out of the door and let it swing closed behind her.

Jasmine exhaled and collapsed down on the couch. It was only just approaching 9am, and she knew Brick would be getting Maddy to school, but she couldn’t wait until four o’clock before she saw him. She needed to speak to him soon. And without Maddy there.

She reached for her phone and opened up the text message before she hastily typed out her reply…

 

J: I know we need to talk… I can’t wait until four. Can I come over this morning?

 

She hit send and her heart pounded in her chest. She had never been so nervous in her entire life, but she knew this was the right thing to do. She had to make the move now, she had to see what was happening and know truly how she felt. Or she couldn’t continue to work for him. She had to make a decision once and for all. 

Within a split second, she had a reply.

 

B: Yes. I’ll be home in ten minutes.

 

She exhaled heavily and held her palm over her heart so she could feel how fast it was beating. Brick made her so nervous, it was as if

He was just out of reach, and it was so frustrating.

She typed one single sentence in reply…

 

J: See you soon…

 

Spinning on her heal, she dove into the bathroom. She was going to have a race against time to get herself showered and ready and over to him as quickly as she could.

Her heart couldn’t wait any longer.

She had to know…