At first, Jenna was glad for the interruption by whoever had just burst through the door. She was bumbling her way through what should’ve been a normal conversation with Cade, thanks to the secrets she wasn’t willing to give up, and she felt like the most socially awkward person in the world. So the loud bang that cut off whatever Cade was about to say was a welcome distraction, because she assumed that they were about to get an entertaining show from some drunken regular strolling in like he owned the place—which gave them things to talk about that didn’t involve their personal lives.

Oh, how wrong she was.

Jenna peered around the end of the booth to see a group of tall, broad, and all-around imposing men loitering in the doorway, searching the interior of the bar for something. Or someone. A small spike of fear curled in Jenna’s stomach, but she pushed it away. The men, who looked as if they belonged to some sort of criminal biker gang, didn’t appear to be armed, and while they could certainly do damage with their fists, she doubted their anger would be directed at her. Clearly, they’d come here to settle some score, and whoever was on the other end of…

Cade made a faint choking noise.

Jenna glanced at him.

All the color had drained from his face, and he looked absolutely stunned.

She glanced back to the bikers, just as the man at the head of the group, who had a broken nose, stopped scanning the room. His attention landed on Jenna’s table. On the man sitting across from her. On Cade, who, Jenna realized, recognized the biker with the broken nose.

Oh, no.

Jenna opened her mouth to say something—she didn’t know what—but just as a low whine emerged from her throat, Cade moved. First, he tossed a wad of cash onto the table, having seemingly pulled it from his pocket. Second, he grabbed Jenna’s purse, stuffed her phone into it, and slung it over his shoulder. And third, he sprang out of the booth, grabbed Jenna’s wrist, and yanked her up from her seat.

Jenna stumbled five steps before her legs got the message that Cade was dragging her across the bar toward a back door that must’ve opened into an alley. Jenna almost tried to pull free from Cade’s grasp, because she didn’t want anything to do with whatever this conflict was between Cade and the bikers. But then the injured biker shouted for his colleagues to “get them,” and Jenna figured out why Cade had grabbed her.

They’d seen her sitting with him. They thought she was a friend or girlfriend.

She was marked.

Jesus Christ!

Cade tugged her through a narrow gap between two vacant tables that blocked off the exit and kicked the back door open, and she followed him out into a musty alley that smelled like rotting trash. As the door swung shut behind them, she glimpsed three of the bikers quickly catching up, while the other two, including the injured one, had vanished from the front door. “They’re trying to cut us off,” she said to Cade, who was in the middle of turning left to take them back around to the main street.

He skidded to a stop. “Damn.” He swiveled around to the right. “Long way then. Come on.” He took off down the length of the cramped alley, with her in tow, weaving around piles of trash bags and dumpsters left askew on the dirty concrete.

Jenna pushed her legs harder so that she and Cade were moving at the same pace, side by side, then she yanked her wrist free from his grasp. “Why are those guys after you?” she hissed.

“I punched that one guy in the face earlier.”

“Why?”

They reached the end of the alley and took a hard left, racing down a single-lane backstreet that let out onto another, bigger road half a block away.

“He took a swing at me first,” Cade said. “Guy was shitfaced. He was hassling a cashier at a convenience store.” He peered over his shoulder and cursed. “I didn’t mean to break his face. It was self-defense.”

Jenna could hear the three bikers huffing and puffing as they raced out of the alley, their footfalls heavy and quick. “Obviously this guy doesn’t care about your intentions.” She felt the seams of her aging sneakers threatening to give way, and prayed her shoes didn’t get completely shredded by this crazy pursuit. If they did though, Cade was buying her a new pair. It was the least he owed her for making her a target of some insane biker gang.

“I don’t know how the hell he found me,” Cade said. “One of the others must’ve been in the parking lot and gotten my plate as I was leaving. But still…to follow me all the way here? Over a two-hit fistfight in some nowhere town for no good reason? Talk about a short fuse.”

They barreled out of the backstreet, and nearly ran into two people who were walking down the sidewalk. Stammering out apologies, they pressed on, jaywalking across the street and avoiding oncoming traffic—including a bus that honked at them—by a matter of seconds. Then they sprinted at top speed through the small parking lot of a closed hair salon, illegally crossed another street, and finally reached the sidewalk that would take them back to the motel. By this point, they had a solid gain on the bikers, but all five could still see them, and there was nowhere to hide.

“We can’t just barricade ourselves in our rooms,” Jenna said. “They’ll wait.”

“Not the plan,” he replied.

“What is the plan?”

“We take a ride.”

Jenna sucked in a deep breath, trying to ignore the sharp stitch in her side. She hadn’t run this much since high-school gym class. “On your motorcycle?”

“Well, since you don’t have a car, I guess that’s the only viable option.”

They leaped over the small patch of limp grass between the sidewalk and the motel parking lot, landing on the asphalt and kicking up bits of loose gravel that skittered away.

“How do you know I don’t have a car?” she asked.

“There’s not one in the parking lot that matches you.”

“Matches me? What does that mean?”

“There’s nothing pink and sparkly, like your backpack.” He threw her a wink, even as he wheezed from the exertion. “Anyway, I have a vehicle and you don’t.” He pulled a key from his pocket, and used it to point at his bike, which was now only fifteen feet away from them. “So hop on and hold on, because we need to get out of here fast.”

“I…” Jenna choked on her words as anxiety exploded in her chest, sucking up all the oxygen like a brightly burning flame. “I’ve never ridden a motorcycle.”

Cade patted her shoulder. “First time for everything.”

They skidded to a stop next to the bike, and Cade climbed onto it without hesitation. He made a few swift motions, and the vehicle growled to life. Jenna gawked at the open space on the seat behind him, then looked to the angry bikers, who were closing in on the motel parking lot, faces red and contorted in a mix of embarrassment and rage. The guy with the broken nose appeared ready to kill somebody with his bare hands, and given the size of his biceps, Jenna was pretty sure he could snap her like a twig. Instant death by motorcycle crash or horrible slow death by beating? Make your choice, girl.

Not much of a choice.

Jenna jumped onto the bike and wrapped her arms around Cade’s waist, closing her eyes and holding on for dear life as he spun them around in a sharp arc that nearly threw her onto the pavement, then hit the gas. They lurched forward, the bike flying across the lot to the exit that was farther from their pursuers. Without even yielding to oncoming traffic, they careened out into the street, several cars and trucks screeching horns, banked to the left, and shot away from the motel.

Jenna’s heart was pounding so hard in her chest, she was sure it was going to burst right through her ribcage and soar off into the wind that was tearing by. But as the minutes passed, and she didn’t die in a terrible accident, the anxiety burning through her veins slowly cooled. And Cade, who was breathing hard but wasn’t shaking, not one bit, despite their near disaster, seemed to be unwinding into total ease as they cruised along the busy streets. His shoulders relaxed. He sighed in a manner that distinctly implied relief.

So Jenna, despite the voice shrieking in her brain that she was going to die horribly because she wasn’t wearing a helmet or any other protective gear, cracked her eyes open and lifted her head from where she’d had her cheek pressed against Cade’s broad back.

And for the first time since she’d flown into LAX, Jenna truly saw the City of Angels.