Beckham (Heartlands Motorcycle Club Book 10) Read online

“Oh my god!”

  They both turn to me, but they don’t stop. She’s sitting between the sinks with her legs spread open. He’s between them with his pants around his ankles, thrusting away.

  I turn back to leave when I see Gouge still watching me. Shit. I turn back and head to a stall instead.

  Grunts and moans fill the bathroom as I lock the stall door and step onto the toilet, squatting over it as I try to make myself as invisible as possible while trying not to cry.

  A minute of horrible grunting passes and just as they sound like they’re about to finish, the door bursts open and a man rushes in. My stomach is rolling nervously as I stare at him through the crack in the stall door.

  The panicked man slams the bathroom door closed and pushes all his weight against it, but someone on the other side forces it open, pushing him back. Two bikers enter. One is normal size and the other looks like his mother fed him steroids instead of breast milk.

  “The women’s bathroom, Mikey?” the smaller guy says with a look of disgust on his face. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Out,” the big guy says to the couple who are still having sex while they watch the commotion.

  They pull up their pants and quickly leave as Mikey pleads for his life.

  I’m still squatting on the toilet, so they don’t spot me when they glance under the stalls to make sure they’re alone.

  “Don’t, Travis,” Mikey begs when the smaller guy pulls out a gun. “Please! It was only twenty grand!”

  Travis, the smaller guy in the jeans and Iron Maiden T-shirt, rubs his goatee as he watches Mikey back up against the wall. “Only twenty grand?! That was my twenty grand.”

  “I’ll get it back for you!” Mikey says in a high-pitched voice. “I’ll do anything!”

  “You can do something for me,” Travis says as he lowers the gun.

  “Thank God!” Mikey says with a long exhale. “What is it? Anything…”

  “You can stay still so I don’t have to wipe your brains off this nasty floor.”

  “But you—”

  The huge guy lunges on him and shoves a Ziplock bag over his head. My jaw is clenched and my pulse is racing as I watch Mikey’s face turn blue while he’s gasping for air inside the clear plastic bag.

  “Hurry it up, Vince,” Travis says as he rushes to the door and holds it closed.

  Vince holds the bag tight around Mikey’s neck as he thrashes around in a panic, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish. It doesn’t take long before the fighting stops and Mikey’s wide eyes slowly close.

  I’m in a cold sweat with adrenaline pumping through my veins as he slumps to the floor.

  “Make sure he’s dead,” Travis says.

  The big guy, Vince, takes the bag off his head and checks his pulse. “Dead.”

  I just saw someone die!

  My hand is over my mouth and I’m choking back whimpers as they argue about what to do with him.

  “We’ll bring him to the car,” Vince says with a shrug. He doesn’t look like the brightest guy.

  “How?” Travis snaps as he holds the door closed. “We can’t exactly carry him through the goddam bar like this!”

  Vince rubs his chin as he thinks about it. “What if we Weekend at Bernie’s him?”

  “What?”

  “Like the movie! We’ll carry him like a puppet through the bar?”

  Travis watches in disbelief as Vince picks him up and puts Mikey’s limp arm around his neck. “Like this! And we’ll tie his ankles to ours, so it will look like he’s walking.”

  “We’d need some sunglasses,” Travis adds.

  Vince smiles as he pulls some out of his shirt pocket. “I have some right here!”

  Travis runs over and slaps them out of his hands. “Are you fucking kidding me!? There’s a dead body in here and your only idea comes from a lame eighties movie?!”

  Vince frowns at his broken sunglasses on the ground as Travis looks around the bathroom.

  “Up there!” he says, pointing to the small window near the ceiling. “Throw him out the window. He’ll land in the alley and then we’ll go pick him up.”

  Vince starts to help, but he looks disappointed. “It wasn’t the worst idea. I think we could have made it work.”

  “Shut up,” Travis says as he helps hoist Mikey’s dead body through the window. I can’t see it, but I can hear them as they push the body through. “It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “This is what I was talking about,” Vince says as they head for the door. “You’re always talking down to me. How do you think that makes me feel?”

  They’re still arguing as they disappear through the door and into the bar.

  There’s silence in the bathroom, except for the pounding of my heart as I squat over the toilet.

  Okay. Think, Fawn.

  My mind is racing. I have to get out of here. I have to get to safety.

  I’m going to rush out there, grab Nicole, and tell her we have to leave now.

  But what if she doesn’t want to leave? Shit!

  I suck in a breath and keep thinking.

  Then, I’ll grab the baddest looking guy I can find and get him to take me out of here.

  That’s one option, but what if he’s worse than these two killers, which is definitely a possibility considering the clientele in this bar?

  I’ll just have to take the chance.

  I hop down from the toilet and rush out of the bathroom… and immediately make eye contact with the small killer, Travis.

  My body freezes. I always freeze when I’m afraid. My dad used to make fun of me. ‘Like a fawn in the headlights,’ he’d say.

  Once I was supposed to get on a rollercoaster with him and I froze. I still remember him yelling at the technician to stop the ride as he rolled away, leaving me there in a cold sweat.

  Now, I’m standing in front of the door to the ladies’ bathroom, feeling even more terrified as Travis hits Vince’s arm and points at me.

  I don’t wait around to find out what they’re going to do to me. I run over to where Nicole is still making out with Spider-Neck. She’s practically lying on a table with him on top of her as they go at it. His hand is all the way up her shirt.

  “Hey!” I say as I poke the living graffiti wall on the shoulder. He doesn’t move.

  I put my lips right next to Nicole’s ear and scream. “Nicole!”

  “What the fuck?!” she shouts as they both get up, looking confused.

  I grab her wrist and squeeze it hard. “We have to go! Now!”

  “All right,” Spider-Neck says with a grin. “Threesome time.”

  I’m pleading to Nicole with my eyes. “Please! Let’s go!”

  She doesn’t move fast enough. Travis and Vince arrive.

  I look around for help in a panic, but all I see is another beast of a man walking toward the steel cage in the back. He’s shirtless and looking ready to fight. A boisterous man with long hair is talking shit to everyone as he follows him to the cage.

  The fighter’s face is pure intensity. He definitely looks like the baddest guy in here. I wouldn’t mind being under his protection right now.

  “You!” Travis snaps as he grabs my arm. He rips my purse off my shoulder and shoves it against Vince’s chest. “You were in the bathroom.”

  “Hey!” Spider-Neck shouts as he squares up between me and the killers. “I got dibs on this girl.”

  “Not anymore,” Travis says as he yanks me toward him. “She’s coming with us.”

  Spider-Neck punches him in the face and the tight fingers wrapped around my arm loosen. I immediately yank my arm back and start running as they explode into a brawl behind me.

  “We have to go, Nicole!” I turn and beg when she doesn’t follow me.

  “Are you kidding me?” Nicole says. “He’s fighting for us! This is so hot. I’m not missing this.”

  She turns back to the fight and I keep moving. I gave her a chance. If anything happens, it’s her own
damn fault. I’m done hanging out with her.

  Besides, she’ll be in more danger if she comes with me. I’m the only one who witnessed the murder. They’re only after me.

  Bikers are grunting and cursing as I push past them, trying to get to the emergency exit in the back.

  “Watch it!” someone shouts in a deep voice as I bump into their arm and spill their drink.

  “Sorry!” I shout back as I quickly turn. When I turn back, I slam right into the massive naked chest of the fighter walking to the cage.

  He doesn’t move except to grab my arm as I stumble back. I’m looking up at him and all I can see is a wall of pure muscle. He’s so tall, with short dark hair and even darker piercing eyes. Cold eyes. But I can see a flicker of heat in his stare as he looks me up and down.

  “You don’t belong here,” he says. It’s not a question, and he’s absolutely right. “Why are you in such a hurry? Why are you even here?”

  I open my mouth to speak but no words are coming out. People are shouting all around us but I can barely hear them over my own heart beating like it’s going to jump out of my chest.

  His enormous hand is still on my arm, but his strong grip doesn’t hurt like Travis’s did. He’s just supporting me, just holding me there—almost protectively. I look down at his hand but my gaze is immediately drawn instead to the bright colors on his bare feet. His toenails are painted all different colors. Blue, black, pink.

  I blink as I stare at his toes.

  Either this guy is some kind of scary monster who likes to get his freak on or he has a softer side—a girlfriend or maybe a daughter? It’s hard to imagine but this has been such a crazy night that I’m not ruling anything out at this point.

  “Hey,” he says, his expression softening slightly as my eyes snap back up to meet his. “Tell me why you’re here.”

  I feel my cheeks flush with heat as I belatedly realize I’ve just been staring at him with my mouth hanging open for God-only-knows how long. I snap out of my daze as I remember all of the reasons why I’m trying to get out of here as quickly as possible.

  “Can you help me?” The words slip out before I can stop myself. The biggest, baddest-looking guy in the whole place has his hand on my arm and is looking at me with those dark, piercing eyes and I know I’m completely at his mercy. “Please?”

  “Anything,” he says, simply. “Tell me what you need.”

  “Get me out of here.”

  It’s the only thing I need right now, and the words are barely out of my mouth before he’s lifting me off my feet and literally carrying me through the crowd.

  The long-haired man who came in with him is next to us, grabbing my savior’s arm and shouting about losing a hundred thousand dollars, but my guy doesn’t even slow down. He’s holding me tightly against him and the crowd around us is falling away as we move toward the door.

  “Oh my God, thank you so much,” I say, starting to squirm a little as the cool night air hits me. “You can go ahead and put me down now if you—”

  I gasp as he sets me on the seat of a motorcycle and then swings one of his tree-trunk legs over the side, straddling my body and pinning me there in front of him. His strong arms are on either side of me and I can feel the heat from his body as he leans in and revs the engine.

  “Hold on,” he growls as we shoot off like a rocket out of the parking lot.

  I don’t know where we’re going. I don’t even care, as long as I never have to go back to that place again. I open my mouth but the wind in my face takes my breath away. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m still completely at this guy’s mercy.

  An hour ago, that thought alone would have been enough to terrify me. But now? After witnessing a man get killed right in front of me? After very nearly getting killed myself?

  No, I’m not scared of this hot, shirtless mountain of a man with his intense eyes and brightly painted toenails. I want to know his name. I want to know his story. I want a chance to thank him again.

  Mostly, though? I just want this night to be over.

  Chapter Three

  Beckham

  I’m speeding into the night but I don’t know where I’m going. My only concern right now is keeping this girl safe.

  I don’t really know why. I don’t even know her name. All I know for sure is that she needs me. I saw it in her gorgeous eyes and heard it in her sweet-as-sin voice.

  Fuck if I can concentrate on driving while she’s pressed against me like this. I’m way too aware of the feel of her breasts against my arm and her ass grinding against my crotch. I have a hard-on that won’t fucking quit, and there’s no way in hell she hasn’t noticed.

  Her brown hair smells divine. I can’t get enough of it as I suck in one long breath after another.

  I pull over to the side of the road and help her off the bike, willing my raging cock to settle down a little as I stay seated.

  “Thank you so much.” She’s breathless and her voice is trembling as she looks around. “Where are we?”

  “Far enough away that we can stop and talk for a minute. What’s your name? Why were those guys after you?”

  “Fawn,” she answers as tears instantly well up in her eyes. “And I… I don’t know. I mean… I do know, but…”

  I instinctively reach out to wipe away one of the tears that’s streaming down her cheeks. Jesus, she’s beautiful. She’s dressed like a school teacher with her buttoned-up sweater that fits her perfectly but looked so out of place back at the bar. But even that sweater can’t cover up the curves that I felt when her body was pressed against mine.

  My cock throbs again. Fuck. I need to focus on what she’s saying instead of how she’s making me feel.

  “Tell me, Fawn,” I prompt her, doing my best to soften my tone. “My name is Beckham and I want to help you, but I need to know the truth. Who were they? What do they want with you?”

  I need to know because I need to make them pay. For chasing her. For scaring her. Fuck, if they hurt her… I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do. I know I’m capable of a lot of bad shit, but knowing they put their hands on this innocent goddess would drive me to places even I didn’t think we’re possible to go to.

  “I don’t really know who they are,” she says as she wipes the glistening tears from her eyes. “I honestly don’t. But I… I saw them kill someone in the bathroom. And now they’re after me.”

  Shit.

  It’s worse than I thought.

  But hearing her trembling voice and seeing her breaking down in front of me only makes me more determined to help.

  I step off the bike and pull her in for a hug without thinking. “I’ve got you. I’ll die before those guys hurt you.”

  For a split-second, she starts to melt against me. I can feel the moment she stops herself, though. Her whole body goes rigid and she looks up at me with those big brown eyes full of fear. “What can we do? Do you know them? Are you… a biker?”

  The way she says the word would have been funny under any other circumstances. A biker? Judging by the way she’s looking at me, she might as well have asked if I’m a fire-breathing dragon.

  “I am,” I nod. “But I don’t know those guys and I’m not like them.” Not really. Not anymore. “Being a biker isn’t just what you saw back at that bar. That’s part of it, maybe, but it’s more about loyalty. About family. About knowing there are a handful of people in the world who you can trust with your life—and knowing they trust you with theirs.” I search her eyes, hoping I’m getting through. “That’s what I value. That’s what my friends value.”

  “Okay,” she says, her voice still sounding quiet and uncertain. At least the tears have stopped for now. That feels like a win. “But what am I going to do? They have my purse. My ID. They’ll be able to find me.”

  I let her go for a moment, then motion for her to get back on the bike with me—but behind me this time. Her eyes go wide as I say, “We’re going back.”

  “What?” She shakes her head.
“No. Are you crazy? I mean, obviously you’re crazy, right? We can’t go back. They’re dangerous. They’re murderers.”

  “Fawn, there’s nothing more dangerous than me when it comes to protecting you.” I mean every word but decide to back off a little as her eyes grow even wider.

  We must look like two different puzzle pieces trying to fit together. I’m sitting on my bike barefoot and shirtless, tattoos and muscles on display for anyone driving by to see, and she’s standing in front of me, holding her cardigan closed, probably wondering why she ever stepped foot in this part of town.

  “Nothing bad is going to happen, okay?” I tell her softly. “Well, nothing I can’t handle. We need to get your purse from those guys and my wallet from my brother.” She still looks reluctant. “Listen, Fawn. I won’t let those guys hurt you. I promise. Okay? Do you understand? I’m going to protect you. You’re mine now.”

  She swallows hard and finally nods as her eyes dart down to my naked chest. Eventually, she comes to me and swings her leg over the side of my bike, taking her seat behind me where she belongs.

  “Hold on tight,” I tell her, loving the way she instantly responds by locking her arms around my thick torso. Fuck, I could stay right here all night, just like this.

  Maybe later.

  Hopefully.

  But first, we have some unfinished business to take care of. And I have some men to hurt.

  I’m wishing we had a few more minutes on the bike as we pull back into the parking lot of the bar. Feeling her thighs around me and her breasts against my back… fuck. It’s more intoxicating than what Buzz sells in the parking lot, but I need to clear my head now.

  I park the bike and help her off, then take her hand and tuck her behind me as we walk through the door. The place is still loud and busy, but a girl approaches before I can even really get a good look around.

  “Hey, what the hell?” The girl in tall boots and a too-short skirt stomps over and looks past me. “Fawn, I’ve been looking all over the place for you. Where the fuck did you go?”

  “Oh thank God, you have my purse!” Fawn dashes out from behind me to grab her bag, then turns back to me. “I’m ready now.”