I can’t wait to see your pretty face, Nick types in the chat box on Meet My Match dot com. When I joined, I thought it would just be for fun. Oh, who am I kidding? A boyfriend was on my radar because well, I haven’t had one in forever and life gets lonely sometimes.

While I received some seriously weird messages, Nick wasn’t strange. He feels genuine, and I’ve loved talking to him. We have several things in common like music and movies. Talking for an entire month, we’ve learned a lot about each other, even that we both hate black olives.

Now the day has come for us to meet. I’m a little bit nervous, but my best friend, Bristyl, will be with me at the motorcycle rally here in our hometown of Crest, Florida. She’s been my rock, and I love her beyond reason. She’s probably going to be pissed off that I didn’t tell her earlier, but she’ll forgive me. That’s what best friends do.

See you in a couple of hours, I send back and head off to get ready.

* * *

“Don’t be pissed at me,” I start, knowing it’s not the best lead-off to what I’m going to tell her, but hopefully not the worst either.

“What am I going to be pissed about?” Bristyl asks from the driver’s seat as we cruise down the road heading to the rally.

I suck in a deep breath, ready for it—the anger. “A guy I met on that dating site is going to meet me there.”

“You’re shitting me, right?” She’s so angry I’m surprised she doesn’t slam on the brakes as she cuts a glare my way. Yep, knew I called that one right.

“No, his name is Nick, and he’s really nice. We’ve been chatting online, and he said he’s coming to the rally this weekend. I told him we could meet up.”

Bristyl’s grip on the steering wheel tightens, turning her knuckles white. “Is he with a club?” she clips out.

I click my tongue, in thought or maybe just to stall a couple of seconds, because I really didn’t think about that; which now that I look at it was pretty dumb. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask him.”

Bristyl grits through her teeth, “Leah, that should have been the first question. Hello, he’s coming to a rally. Yes, we have non-clubbers here, but what if…?”

“Relax. If it doesn’t work out, we go dance. It gives me an out.” Brushing this aside is going piss her off more, but she’s my friend doing what friends do. Plus, we’re already in this, may as well have fun with it.

She stares ahead out the window, probably plotting how she’s going to wring my neck. “You’re nuts,” she tells me.

“You love me.”

Her sigh is heavy. “Yeah, I do.”

The rest of the car ride is calm. We find a place to park at the packed rally and begin to check things out. I’ve been to one of these before a few years ago, and it was a blast. That’s what I need—to have fun and let loose, forgetting about life just for a little while.

Music from three large stages blares as men and women dance around, beers and cocktails in their hands sloshing them with each movement. A huge sign hangs above welcoming all bikers, and I’m going to assume non-bikers because that’s what we are.

The atmosphere is electric and pulsing with an energy you only get when coming to a testosterone-filled place like this. It’s exciting and a huge rush.

A burly man with leather chaps stops in front of Bristyl. He’s handsome in a hard biker kind of way. His beard is very long, and he has a red, white, and blue bandana over his forehead with a long braid going down his back.

“How you ladies doin’?” he asks in a smooth tenor.

Another man steps around and puts his hand on bandana man’s shoulder. This guy is mean-looking, hair cut to his scalp and tattoos covering scars. He screams danger and has a don’t-mess-with-me vibe, I do not want to mess with him at all. If Nick would’ve had a picture like this guy, no way would I want to meet him.

“Mearna, brother,” he says in a low voice.

Bandana man says, “I’m talkin’.”

“Yeah, and you fuckin’ told me to say somethin’ when you get like this. I’m sayin’ it and steppin’ back.” The scary man does just that, hands raised as he takes a few steps backward shaking his head.

Bandana man rubs his hand over his face. “Fuckin’ hell. My ol’ lady’ll cut my dick off. As you were, ladies,” he grumbles, moving out of our path.

We move quickly, taking the escape he gave us.

“What the hell was that?” I ask, a little freaked out.

“Just a big man seeing two chicks and hittin’ on them. Not a big deal,” she says as if it’s nothing, which in the grand scheme of things it isn’t. It’s just…

“I wouldn’t want to be the woman who’s gonna cut off that guy’s dick. And did you see that other man? I think he could’ve broken us like twigs. They remind me a lot of your dad and his crew.” Not sure about the cutting the dick off part, that’s what stands out. I hurt for the man even though I don’t have the appendage.

“Crew?” she questions with a laugh. “That’s one way to see it.”

“Drinks!” I yell out, needing something to calm my nerves. It’s not every day you meet face to face with someone you’ve chatted with on the Internet and hear talks of dicks getting chopped off.

My phone pings with a text message. “I got a text,” I tell her, looking down at my phone. “We need to meet him over at the beer tent.”

“Which beer tent? There’s, like, ten of them.” She looks around the place, and I have to agree with her—there are a shit ton of them, none with a big red arrow pointing at it saying ‘here’.

Looking back down at my phone, I inform her, “The one near the tire burnout.”

“Alright, but I’m not going to be hanging around you two if you’re going to be all over each other.”

I laugh as we make our way through the horde of people, trying not to get run over. No way I’m making out with someone I just met like that, especially in front of all these people. The burnout is a busy place, and there are a ton of people on the ground. The crowd is so thick you can’t see much beyond them.

Bristyl pulls my arm, motioning for me to follow her up the metal risers. The clank of our shoes hits the metal as we sit down.

My phone dings again. We’re here, the text says, and I look out among all the people hoping the picture he sent me is really him and not some fake he got from Google.

I spot him and wave my arm, thankful he looks like his picture. Brownish hair, light eyes, and cute in a bad boy kind of way. “There he is!” He’s not alone, but he said he’d be with his friends. I guess I just didn’t expect the friends to look so… rough.

Bristyl leans into me. “If this is a set Bristyl up thing, I’m going to kill you.”

“Go with it. They don’t look bad.” I’m pretty sure those words were just meant for me to hear out loud for reassurance because the friends don’t look so friendly.

“Leah, you’re more beautiful than the picture,” Nick says smoothly as he touches my cheek. Little prickles hit my face. It’s always nice to have a man tell you this, especially when you first meet him.

“Hi.” My heartbeat picks up, and I can feel my hands starting to sweat.

Nick smiles. “These are my boys, Poe and Len.” He motions to his friends then looks over at Bristyl. “And you are?”

I can already tell she doesn’t like them. She has that look on her face that is screaming, Leah, I’m going to fucking kill you. I’m not sure I can blame her on this one, just because of the guys with Nick.

“This is Bristyl,” I introduce as the guys sit down. Nick sits next to me with Poe sitting next to Bristyl. Len takes a seat above us.

Poe puts his hand on Bristyl’s thigh, and immediately I know things are going to go south and fast. My girl doesn’t take shit from anyone, and this display will not fly.

“Get your hands off me,” she growls low. Everything from this moment on happens so quickly I can barely breathe. It’s a movie reel playing in my head.

Bristyl stands up quickly and moves down a riser, Poe’s hand dislodging.

“Come on, Leah, let’s go. Now!” she orders. Knowing my best friend and what she’ll put up with and what she won’t, I start to rise from my spot, because she’s my girl and we stand together. Not to mention, a man doesn’t lay his hands on a woman unless it’s invited and that didn’t happen.

Nick grabs my upper arm hard, squeezing it tightly as he pulls me back down to the seat with a thud. I try to break free as panic sets in, moving and trashing my arm. People don’t just touch you like this. They don’t grab you like this. What is wrong with these two? Assholes.

“Let me go!” I cry as Bristyl reaches up for me, but Nick has his grip so tight I can barely move. Poe comes up behind Bristyl and wraps his arm around her waist. She does some moves that have him squirming backward and her breaking free.

Nick stands abruptly, again taking me with him. I feel the tears spring to my eyes. His grip is so damn rough and ridged my arm is starting to go numb. The more I fight and pull, the harder he grips me. “Bitch, don’t you know who we are?”

“I don’t have a clue who you are. Now let go of her, and we’ll be on our way,” Bristyl orders.

All I feel is fear. How could I have been so wrong about this guy? We talked every day for about a month. He never acted remotely like this or gave me any indication this was his personality.

I did this. I came to meet this guy, and he’s an asshole, along with his friends. Now, my best friend is in trouble too, and it’s all my damn fault. Shit!

Nick shakes me, my body jerking. “No, you’re makin’ a scene, so you’re gonna come with us nicely so we don’t get shit from anyone around us. Then I’ll show you exactly who we are.” The menace in Nick’s tone scares the shit out of me. I don’t want to know who he is, not anymore.

“If I have to scream from the fucking rooftops, you better believe I will. We aren’t going anywhere with you.” Bristyl glares, and I have no doubt she’ll do it. I keep trying to fight and get nowhere.

Suddenly, a group of bikers show up and Bristyl appears surprised to see them. One I recognize as the guy with the beard who’s going to get his dick chopped off because he talked to us. Their cuts read Ravage MC.

There’s so much going on. The pain Nick is inflicting on my arm is dragging me down, and it’s hard to focus on everything that’s going on. What the hell!

“These are our bitches. Go find your own,” Nick yells, and I feel the tears falling down my cheeks. I’ve never had a man touch or treat me like this before. It’s horrible and I want it to go away, never to experience it again.

Bristyl comes out of nowhere, getting between me and Nick. Her head is down, and I think she’s biting him because he growls and lets go of me. I quickly move out of reaching distance from him.

Nick lifts his hand like he’s going to hit Bristyl, but then one of the Ravage guys comes up and punches Nick in the face. He pulls my best friend behind him, and I follow. The Ravage guy hits Nick quite a few times, causing him to groan miserably while holding his face.

“What’s going on?” a very large and intimidating man says. He looks similar to the one we’re hiding behind except much older.

“Assholes are putting their hands on women who don’t want to be touched,” the guy says.

The older man says, “Let’s move this away from prying eyes.”

“Bristyl, you and your friend follow us,” the guy blocking us says. My body starts to tremble as we walk down the bleachers. The men move us under the bleachers, and Bristyl and I take a seat on the wooden bench. Tears cascade down my face, and I’m unable to stop them. Whether they are relief that this situation is over or the guilt riding on me, I don’t know.

A few of them are talking, but I’m not paying attention to what is said. I just can’t believe that happened. I’m not even sure where those three guys are at the moment. All I can do is hold on to Bristyl who has her arms around me while we sit.

“Green!” I somehow hear over the roar in my ears. A large, bulky man approaches me. He has blondish brown hair, and his smile is very easy going. He doesn’t give off any vibes like the trio started to give off when it all went downhill fast. I don’t know why, but this man seems very different from the others. I could be totally full of shit too, considering my take on the last guy.

“Bristyl, come here so I can find out what happened,” the guy who punched Nick says. I think I heard his name was Cooper, but I could be wrong.

Bristyl doesn’t leave my side until a much older man says, “Promise nothin’s gonna happen to her.”

Bristyl turns to me. “Leah, I need to talk to these guys. Breathe. Everything’s gonna be fine. I’ll deal with this, and then we’ll get the fuck out of here.” I nod just as Green takes her place.

“Got yourself in a bit of a pickle, huh?”

I breathe out, not wanting to be a sobbing mess in front of this guy. Hell, I don’t want to be a sobbing mess in front of anybody.

“Something like that.”

Green chuckles, “What’s a beautiful woman like you gettin’ mixed up with assholes like that?” His question makes me feel very stupid, but I answer honestly.

“Stupidity. Thought he was a good guy. Guess my take on men sucks,” I blow out, getting my tears in check.

“Let me take a look at that arm.”

Tentatively, I move so he can examine my arm. His touch is like an electric current and feels absolutely nothing like what Nick did to me. He moves it this way and that. It’s sore, but without the pressure of Nick’s hand, it feels better.

“Got ya good,” Green says, releasing my arm. Something crosses his eyes, but he taps it down quickly. “Give it some time and it’ll heal up.”

“Thanks.”

“Gotta promise me somethin’.” His smile makes his face come to life.

“What?”

“How’d you meet this guy?”

Shaking my head, I look up to the sky. “Online dating site.”

He bursts out laughing, and I’m trying to figure out if he’s laughing at me or with me at this notion. “Beautiful, you don’t need no fuckin’ datin’ site to find you a man. Any man would break his back to get you. And, baby, you only want a man who will.”

My insides grow warm. Green puts his arm around me, and instantly I fall into him. There’s no rhyme or reason. It just happens, and I like it.

“Green and Coop will walk you to your car,” the older man says and while I’m happy to be getting out of here, I’m kind of sad too. Green’s a really nice guy. But no man wants to have drama at his doorstep, and that’s what I brought tonight. And that’s all I am right now. Drama.

He wraps his arm around my shoulders, and the comfort is appreciated as we walk up the large hill to Bristyl’s car.

Green moves me over to the passenger side, while Cooper takes Bristyl to the driver’s side.

I turn to Green. “Thank you for your help tonight. I’m really sorry about it.”

He brushes my hair behind my ear gently in a move of kindness. “My pleasure helpin’ a beautiful woman. You take care of yourself, and no more online shit.”

A smile graces my face. His gaze is intent, and I feel as though he wants to kiss me. That can’t be true. My mind is just messed up from the situation I caused, and I’m reading more into it.

“It’s gone.” It’s more than gone. It’s erased from my computer forever. Terminated. Never again. I’m not a woman who has to learn a lesson twice. This was a very large learning experience. One I never want to repeat.

With a finger under my chin, he says, “Stay safe, beautiful.” I melt for a brief moment. He opens the car door, and I just know that I’ll never see this guy again. It’s such a shame. Why couldn’t he be on the site for me to meet?

“Thank you,” I whisper and get in the car, and he shuts the door behind me. A few moments later, Bristyl gets in huffing out a breath. The small space feels claustrophobic all of a sudden, the air pressing down on me. Her grip on the steering wheel is so tight, and her knuckles are white reminding me of the drive here.

I breathe in deep knowing it’s coming, and it’s not going to be pretty.

“No more,” she rumbles low. “Get away from that damn computer. There’s no more meetings, no more chatting, no more period!” Her voice rises, and I flinch. “This shit could’ve been so much worse, and we got lucky.”

She’s right. If it weren’t for the Ravage MC, who knows what would’ve happened to us. I hang my head in shame.

“Stupid! That’s what this was, Leah!” she screams, the sound reverberating in the cramped car. “I can’t believe this shit! I love you, but this was ridiculous!”

Tears well in my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, sorry. Promise me. No more.” Her face is tight and preparing for my answer as if I’d dispute it.

“Promise.” Only after that word does the air between us simmer down. Twenty minutes on the road, Bristyl reaches over and grabs my hand, squeezing it. It’s just the reassurance I need that we’re good. That’s what friends are for and she is the best.

Little did I know, none of this would be over.