That night, Chaser stopped at a little motel outside some nondescript town on the ass cheek of Middle America.

Since he wouldn’t let me drive, we were forced to camp out so he could get a little shut-eye.

Fossicking through my duffel, I took out some clean clothes and set them aside for the morning. Making a pile, I arranged everything else while Chaser banged about the room behind me.

When my hand knocked against the heavy books I’d brought along for the ride, I paused.

I’d already forgotten about my Poli Sci textbook and the week of lectures I’d missed while we were on our cross-country road trip from hell. Still, I carried my work with me on the off chance I would be able to catch up at some point. I knew a part of me was still holding onto the life I wanted to have even though it’d been snatched out of my grasp.

This was one of those crossroads moments, wasn’t it? I was perched on a fence that was wobbling underneath my ass, forcing me to choose. If I didn’t, it was threatening to toss me wherever it pleased.

Glancing at Chaser, I could still feel his lips on mine. His touch had forced a lot of things on me—desire was one of them but the other… I couldn’t quite articulate what it felt like. It was kind of like a video game where the main character leveled up and was able to face tougher enemies.

Chaser had somehow forced me to see my situation in a different light. He’d given up something when he kissed me by the side of the road. I wasn’t sure what it was yet, but it was something he valued. The way he’d closed down once we’d gotten back into the car was a glaring indicator.

Watching as he unfolded a map and laid it on the table, I raised my eyebrows.

“Wow, I haven’t seen a map like that in forever,” I said, speaking for the first time since our conversation on the roadside.

Chaser grunted and leaned over the table, studying the lines. All those roads dotted America? Considering how devoid of life it was outside, it boggled my mind how surrounded by people we really were. Even if it felt like we were in the wilderness, civilization was never far away.

Standing next to him, I tried to find where we were on the map, but I soon gave up.

“We’re so far off track I’m not sure where we are anymore. Are we in Missouri?” I asked.

“We’re stuck,” Chaser replied. “There’s only one way from here.”

“Then we go that way.”

“The likelihood of trouble—”

“Is a risk we need to take.” I nodded at the map. “Where are we?”

“Here.” He jabbed his finger at a point in the middle of nothing. It fit the scene outside, but he could’ve pointed anywhere and I would’ve believed him.

“So we either go back the way we came or go forward.”

“They’ll be expecting it.”

“They’ll be expecting both courses of action,” I shot back. “So we just have to deal with it. Be smart. Keep our heads down until we can shake them.”

“We go forward,” he said after a moment of deliberation. “Nonstop.”

“If that’s the way we have to go, then so be it.”

He grunted and sat on the edge of the bed.

Standing over him, I went for the higher ground tactic. I wasn’t sure if it would override his alpha asshole aura, but it was worth a shot.

“You know, it would be much easier for me if I knew who we were dealing with,” I declared.

He stared at me, saying nothing.

“I told you I was ready to drop the ‘too stupid to live’ act,” I said giving him a pointed look. “Give me something to arm myself with.”

“What’s the catch?”

“The catch is me having a chance to fight back and not rely on you. If I know who I’m looking for, it might be the difference between living and dying.”

Chaser ran his hand over his face and glanced away.

“I can fire a gun.”

“I’m sure you can,” he said.

“I’m not the kind of woman who just sits back and waits for the cavalry.”

He turned his gaze on me, and they burned right through me. Damn, those eyes.

“Fortitude is in something,” he said slowly, choosing his words precisely. “Something big. It stretches beyond the normal dealings of a motorcycle club. Your father saw an opportunity… Now they’re coming back twice as hard.”

“I knew it,” I exclaimed. “Power hungry son of a bitch.”

“There’s a debt to be paid, Sloane. I’m sorry you had to be dragged into this.”

I snorted and shook my head. I was the payment owed? Fucking hell.

“Blood for blood,” I mused aloud. “After seven years, they think I’m important to him?”

“I’m here,” Chaser said, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees. “If he didn’t give a shit, I’d be someplace else, and you’d be dead already.”

“Thanks for the sunshine and rainbows.”

“You’re welcome.”

He spoke to me plainly for what felt like the first time since we’d met. Like I was an actual person and not a piece of cargo. Maybe the kiss had dislodged a little of the asshole in his brain. He was softening toward me, and it made all my lady bits tingle.

“You saved my life twice. It’s time to start playing the game.” I sat beside him. “Sloane has arrived. Boom.”

“What was your name before?” he asked.

“You’re changing the subject. Don’t be such a blatant asshole.”

He raised his eyebrows and waited.

“Didn’t my darling daddy tell you?”

He shrugged. “Guess he knew it wasn’t important to you anymore.”

“Betty,” I drawled.

“You’re kidding?”

“Biker Betty. Lame.” I rolled my eyes. “He chose it, not my mom.”

“Your mother… You said…”

“I know what I said,” I drawled. “He killed her. Not directly, but he may as well have. A little bit of history repeating.”

Chaser tensed but didn’t ask for an explanation. He was a good soldier. Keeping his mouth shut and his nose out of other people’s business was the hallmarks of a career criminal. Chaser probably had his eye on leadership. Second-in-command.

“It’s just one thing after another,” I went on. “This isn’t anything new. Not really. Gravitate around my dad, and after a while, you’ll end up as collateral damage. It’s just reality. I’d hoped by leaving…”

“I know.”

Maybe it was time to resign myself to the fact I wasn’t going to escape all of this chaos. Being pulled back into Fortitude business was inevitable. If it weren’t Chaser and the mystery murder men, it would be someone or something else.

“These people…” he began, his tongue loosening. “They could be anyone and anywhere.”

“Mafia?”

“Something like that.”

“It sounds more sophisticated than a bunch of thugs. Those guys at the gas station looked like bikers. And Pube Face…”

“Appearances can be deceiving. Next time, we won’t be so lucky.”

I rolled my eyes. Looked like I’d been living in a bubble of false hope if I thought giving Chaser the slip had been a good idea.

“What now?”

“The safest place for you is with Fortitude. I still stand by what I said to you today.”

“The lesser of two evils.”

“Yes. It’s a matter of survival.”

Thinking about his hands on my waist and buried in my hair, I squirmed and leaned back against the headboard. The fire in his eyes had been something else. I mean, I’d seen murder and mayhem in them but lust like that? Shit.

“Are we going to talk about what happened?”

“No.” He bit back so hard a little part of me withered and died.

I should’ve backed down and forgotten about the attraction I felt toward him, but I couldn’t. My bits had juiced up the first moment I’d seen him, but it wasn’t until now that I’d sat up and taken notice. A complicated man lay underneath all that rugged handsomeness, and I wanted to crack him open and make him mine.

Too bad exploring Chaser’s broken past was akin to taking a chisel to a nuclear warhead.

“So what now?” I asked instead.

“I’ve already told you—”

“No sex, I’ve got it,” I snapped, glaring at him. “I mean, what happens after we get out of this? Do I just sit around locked in some room at Fortitude? Do I just go back to the life I ran away from?”

“What you do then is up to you and your father.”

Great.

Standing, I gave him the dirtiest look I could and rounded the end of the bed. Shucking off my jacket, I curled my fingers into the hem of my T-shirt and pulled it up over my head. Walking past Chaser in my bra, I kicked off my boots and undid the button on my jeans.

“Whatever,” I said, baiting his cock. “I’m having a shower.”

“Sloane.”

I turned, giving him an eyeful of black lace. His gaze dropped, and he shifted uncomfortably. Snap, Goddammit. Take me.

“I…” He closed his mouth, and his jaw tensed.

“Say it,” I murmured. “Just fucking say it, Chaser.”

“I care about you. That’s why…”

“I don’t believe you. The way you kissed me today… Shit.” I shook my head, shoving down the urge to slam my fist into the wall. “I’m not asking for marriage.”

“You’re asking me to run away with you,” he shot back. “You’re asking me to walk away from Fortitude. What you want me to do will put a target on my back. I can’t…”

“You’re not stuck, Chaser. You can leave, you know. You can choose to take the risk if you wanted it badly enough, but I can see you don’t. You’re too cowardly to walk away from something that’s destroying you.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know more than you’ll ever realize.”

I backed into the bathroom and slammed the door closed, shutting him out. Fuck, I wanted him so bad it was twisting me up inside.

Falling in love in the middle of a shit storm was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth. It would be better if we just fucked to get it out of our systems, but Chaser was determined to keep his hands off. Something had happened to him. Something bad, but it didn’t make him special. Everyone had their own sad and broken origin story.

Taking off my jeans, I rubbed my palm between my legs and moaned. I had the biggest case of blue clit ever documented.

Chaser had fucked me with his eyes for a week straight, he’d molested my mouth with his tongue, and had whipped me stupid with his attitude. Either he was the world’s biggest asshole or he had the restraint of a saint preaching abstinence.

It would be nice to orgasm with a cock inside me once more before I died. Preferably, Chaser’s cock.

Fuck, why did I always have to fall for the broken bad boy?