HANNAH
Brandon watched me rebutton my dress through the mirror. I pretended not to notice, but his eyes on me always left my skin feeling tingly. Running my hands through my hair, I looked him in the eye.
“I can’t see you anymore,” I announced.
He spun around and faced me. His jaw tense, eyes narrowed. “That’s not the solution.” He shook his head.
“Just for a little while,” I assured him. He needed to understand. “Brandon. He killed Lisa. She died because she walked out on Hunter. Imagine what he’ll do when I say no to him.” I stepped to him, resting my hands on his chest. I could feel the tension there, the stiffness in his muscles, the irritation seeping through his skin.
“I won’t let him hurt you.” He sounded like a rabid animal, the way he growled his response.
“You won’t be able to stop him and keep the clubs from going to war. Finish this thing you have going. When you’re ready, when I'm ready, we’ll leave. Put all this bullshit behind us.”
“And in the meantime? I’m supposed to just let you go fuck him?”
I winced at his words. That’s exactly what I was telling him he had to do. “If I’m his old lady, he won’t let anyone else touch me.” I rationalized the irrational. I moved my hand to his cheek, running my thumb over his bottom lip, just as he had done to me so many times already. How this man had left my life off-kilter. “If he goes through with his threat, everyone will be at my door.”
“I can protect you.”
“I know. But right now I need you to protect us both. Maybe I can get him to let me get a real job, so I can stow away some cash. When the time comes, when it’s safe, we’ll be okay.” I kept my voice as flat as I could, trying to hide the fear and sadness boiling in my chest.
He grasped my wrists with his hands, and pulled them to his mouth. His lips were warm against my palms. “You don’t take any risks. You just stay under his radar as best you can.” The authority returned to his voice. “And you find a way to meet me. Every Saturday morning, here.”
I shook my head. “He’ll notice. What if he sends someone to follow me?”
“Here,” he said again.
“In the bathroom?” I wanted to laugh. How romantic our relationship had turned!
He nodded. “You got a phone?”
“Yeah, he gave me one. He checks it constantly. And I don’t have it with me.” In my haste to get inside I'd left my purse in the car.
“That’s okay. Give me the number.” He pulled out his own phone from his back pocket and I rattled off the number for him as he entered it into the phone. “I’ll shoot you a text this afternoon—just make my contact name something else. A girlfriend maybe. Someone you may have met at the diner?”
“I can try.”
He pulled my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Don’t try. Just do.” He softened his command with a warm smile. Every muscle in my body relaxed when he smiled at me like that. Like there wasn’t anything to worry about. He would handle it all. There was no cartel to worry about, no Carter to hide from, everything just had hope attached to it. But reality was reality, and losing myself in his eyes and his protection couldn’t be the only thing to count on. I had to do my part.
“Carter’s going to start coming to my room, Brandon.” I pulled away from him. “What happens then?”
“I want to tell you to deny him, but I’m not that stupid. He won’t take no for an answer. Right now, we deal with the shit we’ve been given. But soon, soon you’ll be free of him. I promise. And never again will you have anyone other than me between those delicious thighs.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes before reaching for the door. He didn’t get it yet. He didn’t fully understand that I had turned into a whore. I was no better than the girls in the back building, giving blowjobs for a few dollars. I may have been given a room in the main house, but that didn’t make me any less like them. Brandon would wise up to that one day and he’d toss me aside.
“Hunter is probably still out there.” I changed the direction of his thoughts. I could see the desire building up in him again. The man was insatiable.
“I’ll go out first. You hang back here.” He gave me one more kiss. A tender, sweet kiss on my forehead, and then he was gone.
I leaned my back against the door, trying to wipe away the memory of his touch. I had to forget it, I had to. This couldn’t go on. Someone was going to get killed if we kept it up.
After a few minutes there was a soft knock on the door. “Hey, Hannah.” Hunter’s voice didn’t sound angry. “Hannah, you in there?”
I looked around for another escape, but the tiny window was too high up and too small to be of any help.
“Yeah.” I finally answered, unsure of what to do next and not having many options.
“You okay? The waitress said you’ve been in there awhile.”
I turned the water on in the sink and washed my hands. “I’m coming.”
When I pulled the door open Hunter stood in front of the door, looking at me with a mixture of annoyance and concern. “You okay?”
“What? Yeah. That coffee just hit me too hard this morning. I should have eaten first.” I tried to walk past him but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him.
“I saw those Riders in here. They talk to you?” His grip bit into my skin, pinching the tender spot under my arm.
“Who? No one talked to me, Hunter.” I wanted to look around the restaurant, to see if Brandon was still there, but I couldn’t feel him.
“Good. You stay away from those pricks.” He pointed his fat finger in my face, inches from my nose. What had Lisa seen in him? Spit pooled in my mouth, begging to be hurled at his face, but I resisted the urge. We may have been in public but that wouldn’t stop Hunter.
“I got that message already from your brother.” I yanked my arm out of his grip and headed toward the door.
“Didn’t you order breakfast?” he called after me.
I ignored him and kept walking.
He followed me the entire drive back to the compound.