She awoke with her hands bound high above her against an iron railing. She was shivering and the cold bit her skin as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes and groggily tried to figure out what was happening. She wasn’t at home. She was somewhere she didn’t recognize.
“Hello?” she croaked as she forced her eyes open fully and looked around.
The room was bare and dark. The mattress she was lying on was supposed to resemble a bed but it was patchy and hard. A sharp spring poked out of the foam next to her on her right side and she could see that it was dirty.
She shifted her weight and tried to move herself off it, but her hands were bound so tightly above her that she couldn’t shift an inch. As she became more conscious and more aware that she was trapped, her pulse raced faster and she began to panic.
“Help!” she screamed and she kicked out her feet trying to free herself but failing miserably.
She looked down at the floor and at how cold and gray it looked and it made her shiver even more.
Oh God, she thought. What the hell am I going to do? Where am I?
Her mind raced and she remembered the man… the cracking of the bat in the alleyway… the figure looming above her as she should have been safe in her bed… and now she was here, in a dark, cold room that she didn’t know. She tried to pull her knees up to her chest but her energy was fleeting. She was exhausted as if she had just run a marathon, but she knew it was from trauma.
She had been scared half to death.
She began to cry quietly to herself when she heard the sounds of heavy boots coming towards the doorway and she held her breath. As the door began to open she knew instantly who was going to come inside, and when the long beard came into view she couldn’t help but wail.
“Please,” she begged. “Don’t hurt me!”
The huge hulking man, clad in leathers and with the meanest look on his face that Eve had ever seen, snarled as he closed the door behind him and stood staring at her.
He folded his arms across his chest and breathed in and out deeply.
Eve was petrified. She stared back at him in terror and didn’t dare move. He was so big and intimidating that she didn’t dare speak. She watched the way his eyes glossed over her. He seemed to be taking in each little detail on her face, as if he was taking a snapshot of her and committing her to memory.
“I heard you were my audience in the alleyway,” he spoke finally. “What did you see, girl?”
His voice was deep and menacing and Eve trembled as she looked up at him.
“Nothing,” she finally stammered. “I didn’t see anything.”
She shook as she remembered what it had looked like as the man that was now stood in front of her had swung the bat high over his head before crashing it down onto the face of another.
He was a brute.
A criminal…
… and quite possibly even a murderer.
“Well, we’ll find out I suppose,” he said with a sneer before he turned and heaved the heavy metal door open before letting it crash closed behind him.
Eve let out a lung full of air and panted. She was dizzy and disorientated and could barely comprehend what was happening.
She had been kidnapped by the criminal she had accidentally stumbled upon on her way to the New Year’s party. She was being held captive for information, or worse. She was completely screwed.
Shit, she thought as she bit her lip.
Just when she was about to try her luck with the restraints on her wrists again and attempt to wriggle free, she heard another set of steps coming down the hallway. They were just as loud and heavy as the bearded man, but she knew they weren’t his. There was just something about the way this person moved with less urgency and aggression. She knew that whoever was going to come through the door this time was either coming to break her, or save her.
She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she looked up towards the door with wide eyes. And as it creaked open and the figure on the other side came into view, she was sure her heart stopped for a moment.
He stood tall at over six foot and his sandy blonde hair fell down around his eyes as he stepped through the doorway, letting in a slice of light. He looked down at her and as his dark eyes found hers she sensed a warmness in them that she hadn’t been expecting to find in this situation. His frame was huge. His muscles were ripped and seemed to swell out from under his clothes. But unlike the man with the beard, he wasn’t all clad in leather, he wore a pair of ripped, low slung jeans and a vest.
Eve swallowed as she stared up at him, her eyes wide with more than fear. She knew the second she laid eyes on him that he was going to be trouble for her in more ways than one. He was like a God stood above her. He was incredible.
Oh my God, she thought trying to force the naughty ideas from her mind. You’re at the mercy of these men… don’t get turned on.
She shuffled back on the mattress and waited for him to come closer, but he stood in the doorway as if he didn’t know what to do or how to act.
Finally he stepped further inside and closed the door behind him. He cracked his knuckles and Eve winced. Maybe her initial impression had been wrong. Maybe he was there to break her.
“You’re in a lot of trouble,” he whispered through the darkness.
Eve sobbed quietly as her hopes of a savior faded away.
“Mack and the boys saw you watching and sent one of the prospects to follow you home.”
Eve closed her eyes. She didn’t want to know what was coming.
“Prospects?” she finally managed to speak.
“One of the boys trying to get into the club.”
So she was right, they were bikers. She looked up at the handsome man in front of her who seemed so different to the one with the beard. He seemed softer even though she could tell he was bad to the bone and so strong and powerful he could tear her in two.
“It’s a good job I’m here,” he said finally with a wry smile. “Otherwise you really would be fucked.”
Eve’s ears pricked up and she stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” he whispered before he held a lone finger to his lips in a hush. “Do exactly what I say and everything will be fine.”
Eve’s heart swelled with thankfulness and she was about to plead with him to untie her right then and there when another set of steps started down the hallway outside of the room.
“Shh,” he said to her. “Don’t say a word.”