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  We were closing in on midnight and the casino was surprisingly empty for a Thursday night. A few diehards still sat at the machines, spending their hard-earned money, but I definitely stood out as I wandered the casino floor and watched Amber work from afar. And yet in all my time here I hadn’t once been approached by security. Even after my sparring match with my mom. Apparently management didn’t give a shit that a menacing biker had nowhere else to be on a Thursday night. The Mother Lode had a really crack security team.

  I did get to watch a lot of Amber’s interactions during my hours and hours in the casino. She was bubbly and sweet with everyone around her—guests, coworkers, everyone she met got a sweet smile and her full attention. Most were polite in return. Only one guy got a little handsy, but before I could close the distance between us, Amber had stepped away and said something that made the guy laugh and lift his hands in innocent surrender. She smiled charmingly at him, then walked away.

  So far it appeared that I was the only one who received her squinty glares and pissed-off attitude.

  Unlike my previous guard duty details where I sat around and thought about the weekend or shit with my family, this time all I could think about was her. What made her laugh? What did she like to do for fun? What did she look like naked? Were her nipples the same soft shade of pink as her lips?

  It was the latter turn of my thoughts that had me adjusting my pants and hoping like hell no one noticed the sudden bulge.

  I watched Amber walk around the superhero slots and slowly make her way toward me. Despite her approach, I didn’t move from my slouch against the wall.

  When she was ten feet away, she raised her eyebrows and spoke. “Aren’t you sufficiently convinced of my safety yet?”

  “Kitten, I’ve been here almost seven hours watching you, and no one seems to give a shit. That’s not safe. That’s fucked up.”

  Amber crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. “That would be because I alerted security to your presence and told them you were okay. As long as you don’t cause any problems, they’re happy to leave you be.”

  “Huh.” I shoved my hands in my front pants pocket and cocked my head. “Nice to know you’ve finally come around.”

  “I haven’t. And don’t call me kitten.”

  I had to smile at her show of attitude despite how tired she looked. “I’m open to suggestions.”

  Amber’s lips quirked, but she didn’t raise to my bait. “I worked through my break so I get to go home early. Bye.”

  “Thanks for letting me know. Makes it much easier to follow you if you tell me where we’re going. I’ll meet you outside the locker room.”

  Shaking her head, she turned toward the casino and walked away.

  The view of her going was just as enchanting as the view of her walking toward me. Despite spending seven hours watching her prance around in that tiny outfit, I wasn’t sick of the sight. Actually, I wouldn’t mind viewing it for another seven years. With a sigh, I pushed off the wall and dogged her steps. In less than an hour I’d finally be in the place I’d been fantasizing about all night.

  Unfortunately for me, I’d be all alone.

  Chapter 5

  Amber

  I felt a bit conflicted as I stood in front of my locker and reached for the dress that Sydney had begged me to wear tonight. For the first time since I took this job, I’d felt confident and…well, sexy, as I walked around the casino floor in my tiny uniform. Usually I had all these voices in my head telling me I wasn’t tall enough or that I didn’t fill out the top of my bustier enough to warrant the kind of tips the other girls got. But tonight, I could feel Bam’s eyes on me the entire night. And the few (okay more than a few) times I peeked in his direction, his hooded gaze made me feel alive. Hot and bothered, actually, if I were honest with myself. Confident, even.

  And when that one guy got a little handsy, the menace emanating from Bam was intense. I knew I had to handle the situation quickly before there was bloodshed. He was ready to go to battle—for me.

  But the conflicted part came in toward the end of the night when there was that weird confrontation with Bam and one of his girls. They were obviously arguing but had been quiet enough that I couldn’t make out the words. Right up until Bam sarcastically shouted “Love you,” as the woman walked away.

  Dick.

  Okay, I might’ve been a bit curious as to what that’d been about. Who was she? A jealous ex? But then why did he shout love you? Maybe she ended things and he was heartbroken about it?

  And maybe I’d be going to college next semester. Both were just as likely to be true.

  But seriously, was that who his type was? She looked older than him. Was he into chasing cougars? Even given the age difference, she was gorgeous. And tall and built and everything I wasn’t.

  So, I felt especially silly when I left the locker room in the dress my bestie had chosen for me to seduce Bam with. She’d been so certain that he was the one, and that my reaction to him was different. Special. Now I knew better. If that was the type of woman Bam wanted, I’d never had a chance.

  Not that I wanted one, of course.

  Bam’s eyes ran the length of my body before meeting mine. There was a flat, soulless quality that hadn’t been there before. His voice was barely a rumble when he finally spoke. “You know you never told me where you’re going after work. Who are you meeting up with?”

  “No one.” I took off down the hallway toward the parking garage with Bam hot on my heels. At least he’d dropped the talk about my horrible uniform. But then I imagine after seven hours of watching me prance around in it, the uniform had lost its zing.

  “Yeah, you said that. I didn’t believe you before, and I sure as hell don’t believe you now. Who are you meeting tonight?”

  I’d reached the double doors at the end of the hallway, so I turned around to face Bam. A quick glance over his shoulder told me we were alone for the moment, so I let him have it. “No one, okay? There’s no one. I work crap hours at a job I don’t particularly like—the outfit is ridiculous, my feet hurt, and the tips suck—then I go home and pick up the pieces of my family. I don’t have time to meet anyone, so there’s no one in my life.”

  “Then why the dress?”

  “My best friend, Sydney, thought…You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m going home, and that’s all you need to know.” I turned around and waved my key card at the sensor.

  “You’re only, what? Twenty-one? Two? You got plenty of time to meet someone.”

  I really hated the sensor on this side of the door. It always took forever for me to find the sweet spot that activated it. I continued to wave my card at the obnoxious thing. “Well, you would know.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “The blonde? From earlier? It was obvious that she wasn’t happy with your…services.” I glared at the sensor and barely suppressed the urge to give it a roundhouse kick. Stupid machine. “You know what? I give up. Let’s go out through the casino and walk around.”

  “ ‘The blonde from earlier?’ The one at the bar?” Bam’s eyebrows met his hairline. “You mean my mom?”

  I froze. His mom? That woman with all the hair and dirty sneers was his mother? I slowly turned around to face him. He did that annoying thing where he raised only one eyebrow.

  “I thought…”

  “Yeah, I know.” An undercurrent of laughter tinged his words.

  “It’s just…She was all…And you were all…”

  He smirked then nodded slightly.

  I sighed. “I’m sorry. I assumed, and I guess I shouldn’t.”

  “I’m not gonna deny that I have been known to have some slutty ways, but no one has ever complained about my…services.” He paused while he took in my flushed cheeks before continuing. “But that—tonight at the bar—was a whole diffe
rent shitshow.”

  I looked down at the floor. “I have some experience with family shitshows.”

  “I remember.” Bam’s voice was just as soft as mine. “But at least you know your family’s dysfunction is rooted in love. Your mom fell apart because she couldn’t handle moving on from your dad. That is…a special, intense kind of love. The kind we all dream of having one day.”

  I shook my head. “Not me. No love could be worth the pain my mom is going through. It’s stupid and painful and…and just not worth it.”

  Bam laughed quietly, and I couldn’t not look at him when he made that sound. It was soft and sweet and so damn tender. The same as the expression in his eyes. “Good luck with that, kitten. Because there is no way a girl like you will be able to get through life without making every damn man you meet feel like that about you.”

  My heart melted. That was singularly the nicest, most romantic thing a guy had ever said to me. And it came from Bam. Maybe I had to rethink my whole stance on no bikers. I stared into his soft, sweet expression and couldn’t come up with a single thing to say. Instead I stupidly whispered, “Wow. That is the most romantic thing I think I’ve ever heard.”

  Bam’s eyes immediately lost that tender look and went blank. I mentally cursed myself. Why did I say that? Why?

  “Come on.” Bam grabbed my key card out of my hand, then waved it at the door. It clicked open after the first pass, and Bam pushed the door open. “I gotta get some sleep tonight. Work starts stupid early for me.”

  I followed silently at Bam’s side as we walked to the employee parking structure. He’d opened up to me in a way I doubted he did with anyone else, and I had to go and ruin it. There was a reason why I was still so inexperienced at twenty-one, and it had nothing to do with my religious beliefs. Self-confidence issues combined with my foot-in-mouth disease had me woefully unprepared for the likes of Bam. Not that anything was going to happen with us. Despite the intense attraction I felt between us, he was still an arrogant biker. And that was one self-imposed line I wasn’t going to cross in this lifetime. If there was one thing I’d learned from watching my mom fall apart, it was that men like Bam were never around to deal with the fallout. That was left to the girlfriends and family members.

  I was better off alone.

  Bam didn’t pause at the elevators once we reached the parking garage. He led the way to the stairwell, and we climbed four flights of stairs, my panting breath and the clunk of our steps the only sounds to break the quiet night. But when we reached the landing, it was my gasp that pierced the ringing silence.

  Because there was a brand-new Cadillac Escalade parked in the spot where my ancient Camry should’ve been. And leaning against the gleaming black paint was Ruslan.

  Fuck me.

  He stood upright with a grin when he saw me enter the parking level. His eyes danced down my dress to my legs before resting on my face. I had no doubt that he—unlike Bam—approved of my choice of outfit. Okay, technically Sydney’s. But his smile quickly slipped off his face when Bam’s hulking form popped out of the shadows behind me.

  “And here I thought you had better taste, moya zvezda.” Ruslan’s drawl belied the tension lining his body.

  “I, uh, I’m sorry?” I walked toward him, unable to wrap my brain around the fact that Ruslan was here but my car wasn’t. Our footsteps echoed in the garage as Bam walked a little bit in front of me. I stopped a few feet away from Ruslan with Bam close to my side.

  Ruslan nodded toward Bam’s silent figure next to me. “The company you keep doesn’t bode well for you. Guys like him…” He broke off and shook his head ruefully. “Guys like him are not worthy of you.”

  “Guys like him? You mean like my father? The only man I’ve ever loved? The man who sacrificed his life to keep my mom and her friends safe? You mean a man like that?” I said it in reflex. I didn’t have time to wrap my mind around the fact that I was defending Bam. All I wanted to do was take these damn shoes off and collapse in my comfortable bed. After I picked up the pieces of my mom, of course. But I couldn’t do any of that because this crazy guy had done something to my car. “I don’t have time for this. It’s late, I’m tired, and my feet are aching from being on them all day. Where is my car?”

  Ruslan spread his hand out in front of him. “Right here.”

  “Cut the bullshit, malcik.” Bam’s quietly menacing voice rang through the structure. “Where is her car?”

  “Towed to a lot for those less fortunate, as a charitable donation. It was unacceptable for someone like you, Amber, to be driving such an appalling vehicle. And not very safe, either.”

  My heart dropped. “You can’t do that. You can’t just give away something that’s not yours. How am I going to get to work? I need my car!”

  “No, moya zvezda. You need a car. Which is why I’ve purchased a new one for you.” Ruslan tipped his head toward the gleaming black Escalade. “Come. Let’s take it out for a spin.”

  “Oh fuck no.” Bam snorted. “She’s not getting inside your car.”

  “It’s not my car. It’s my gift to her.” Ruslan crossed his arms over his chest. “And I don’t believe anyone here asked for your opinion, dyebil.”

  He bought me a car? That was crazy. He bought me a car. The sentence circled nonstop in my head as the two men stared each other down. It felt like at any moment a full-out brawl would break out. Meanwhile all I could think was that Ruslan had bought me a car. A car.

  “I…It’s too much. The flowers were lovely, and I had every intention of thanking you, but I can’t accept a car. I mean, we hardly know each other. You can’t just buy me a car.”

  “Flowers? What flowers?” Bam demanded.

  At the same time Ruslan replied, “I’m glad you enjoyed them, moya zvezda. I hope you will enjoy this car just as much.”

  He was certifiable. Who does that?

  “What. Flowers.” Bam’s voice rang with his intensity.

  “Um.” I paused and crossed my arms over my chest. “Early this morning Ruslan sent me a lovely…bouquet isn’t quite the right word…arrangement? Of flowers. Red roses and white hydrangeas. They take up, like, half of the kitchen and are really…pretty.” I finished lamely. I couldn’t stop. My mouth kept going even as my brain screamed for me to shut up. I could tell by the menace emanating from Bam that each word pissed him off more and more, and yet I kept going. “No one has ever sent me flowers before.”

  Ruslan’s eyes gleamed at that last bit. I could tell he was pleased that he’d been my first. Bam growled a low ominous sound that made a wave of goosebumps prickle the back of my neck.

  “Go to my bike, kitten.” That growl sound came again when I didn’t immediately jump and do Bam’s bidding. “Now!”

  I jumped when he bit out the last word and all but ran to his motorcycle a few rows away from where I’d parked. I tossed a glance over my shoulder and watched as Bam took a few steps closer to Ruslan. I couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other, but in a matter of moments Ruslan ripped open the driver’s door of the Escalade and climbed inside. The roar of its powerful engine vibrated through the parking garage, and a few seconds later Ruslan left in a squeal of tires, taking a route that wasn’t anywhere near me. Bam had obviously embarrassed him. And my refusal of his “gift” hadn’t helped, either. But a car? Really? In what universe was that an acceptable gift for someone you’d known less than a day?

  Thank God Bam had been here with me. I don’t know how I would’ve handled that on my own. Ruslan was clearly certifiably insane. He went from flowers to a car. Who does that?

  Now that he was gone, my adrenaline leached out of me, and the enormity of the situation sank in. I had an admirer. And not a sweet, pass-you-notes-in-class kind, either. What would he do next?

  “Your car—not that fucking SUV Ruslan drove—will be in front of your house tomorrow morning.” Bam
stopped in front of me. The muscle in his cheek flexed as he paused. “If he sends you anything—and I mean fucking anything, even if it’s a goddamn piece of gum—you will tell me. Immediately. No more fucking around.”

  I bit my bottom lip and nodded tightly. He was pissed, and I didn’t want to say something stupid—again—and add to his anger. And honestly I was more than a little scared about the whole thing. I had a Russian mafioso after me. Me.

  I tried to fight the wave of shivers that racked my body. I closed my eyes against the storm, but a few tears leaked out of my eyes. I was just so fucking scared.

  “Ah, kitten. It’s gonna be okay.”

  My eyes were still closed so I didn’t see it, but a moment later I felt the comforting warmth of Bam’s body as his arms closed around me. I rested my cheek on the firm muscle of his chest. A soothing scent of leather and bergamot enveloped me. I felt something touch the top of my head.

  “I am going to do everything I can to make sure that sick fuck stays away from you. I promise.” Bam’s voice was quiet as he made his vow. In that instant I felt as safe as I ever had. After a few breaths, the shudders eased, and I just enjoyed the sensation of having a man’s arms wrapped around me. I wished it wouldn’t end.

  Bam would keep me safe. I believed him.

  “Okay,” I whispered back.

  He squeezed me one more time then took a step away. Despite the summer heat, I immediately missed his warmth.

  “You okay?”

  I nodded silently as I wrapped my arms around my torso.

  “Good.” He grunted at me, then tossed his leg over his bike and climbed on. Unhooking his helmet off the handlebars, he all but tossed it at me. “Take my helmet. I’ll drive you home tonight.”

  I gnawed at my bottom lip as I struggled with the helmet. Tonight had turned out so weird. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Bam had had me off-kilter all shift, then Ruslan appeared with that car, and then I actually compared Bam to my father.

  And that hug.

  If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was the one drinking tonight. Either that or I was still asleep. None of it made sense.