Kane's Ransom: A BWWM Mafia Romance Novel (6 page)

"Listen, about this, um, problem," Alicia started. She looked around at the diner. "Maybe we could talk about it somewhere else? It's kind of, well, personal. I really don't want anyone else to listen in."

She half expected this to scare Killian off, for him to tell her to forget the whole thing and that he had to get going. Instead, he just nodded, picking up his laptop and sliding it into the bag sitting on the seat beside him.

"Where would you like to go?" he asked.

Alicia considered the question. Ideally, she'd choose to go back to her house, where she'd know for certain that no one else was listening in. But she couldn't ask Killian to wait for her to catch her bus back home, and telling him to show up at her house at some later hour just seemed a little too uncomfortable, like asking him on a date.

Not that she'd mind dating the man, she briefly thought to herself. He definitely had a few years on her, but he looked fit and strong and hearty, still. She'd never really considered dating a white man, before, but she liked how Killian never seemed to look at her as different, never seemed to notice the color of her skin.

"Um, I don't know," she finally replied, dragging her mind back to the present and hastily scrubbing away any thoughts of how Killian would do as a romantic partner. He probably wasn't at all interested, anyway. "I don't go to a lot of places around here. A lot of them are tough for me to afford on my diner pay budget," she threw in, immediately regretting the lame joke.

But Killian didn't seem bothered. "What about your house, or apartment?" he suggested softly, sliding out of the booth but waiting for her before turning towards the diner's front door.

"No car," Alicia commented shortly. "And my next bus doesn't come for-" she glanced up at the clock above the door, "-forty minutes or so."

"What if I give you a ride?"

Of all the responses she'd expected, this man offering her a ride was not one of them. For a second, Alicia just gaped back at him, her mouth hanging open. "On... on the motorcycle?" she asked faintly, glancing out the windows of the diner at the two-wheeled vehicle in question.

When she looked back at Killian, the man wore a wide grin. "Trust me, it's not as bad as it looks once you're riding on it," he promised. "Heck, a lot of women really enjoy riding on it!"

A second later, he frowned and blushed, as if he'd only just heard his last words. "Um, I didn't mean it like that," he offered lamely, making Alicia laugh out loud.

That awkward little joke helped her decide. From the blush blooming on Killian's angular face, he couldn't mean her any harm, she decided. He'd always treated her with respect, and she didn't suspect him of changing that approach now.

"Okay," she gave in, swallowing and trying to not think about balancing on the back of that scary motorcycle, with nothing but air between her and the very hard, very painful road rushing by on both sides.

Trying to keep her breathing steady, Alicia followed behind Killian as he strolled over to his motorcycle, watching with trepidation as he threw a leg over the machine and settled comfortably into the seat.

"Just put your feet here, and here," he told her, turning to point to a couple little pegs on the back of the motorcycle, one on either side. "You'll probably want to wrap your arms around me to hold on, especially at first, but it won't be too bad once we get rolling. Just hold on to me and keep your body in line with mine, and we'll handle the curves just fine. I'll go extra slow on the turns."

"Er, okay," Alicia faintly replied, caught for a moment between transportation and humility as she tried to simultaneously keep her skirt down while straddling the bike. After a couple seconds, she realized that she couldn't manage to do both, and instead scooted forward to lean up against Killian's backside, hoping that no one following behind them would see her underwear if her skirt fluttered up.

Killian slid the key into the ignition, but then turned and glanced back at her. "You sure you can handle this?" he asked. "Trust me, just hold on. Tap me on the shoulder if we need to turn, and we'll head right back to your house."

For a moment, Alicia's mouth felt too dry for her to respond, but she nodded, fighting the heartbeat echoing in her ears. "Yes," she managed after licking her lips. "I can do this."

"Okay. Then here we go."

Killian turned the key in the ignition and pushed down on a button on the handlebars. Immediately, Alicia felt the engine beneath her roar into life, vibrating and growling with a low rumble that seemed to reverberate through her entire body. Her grip, already tight around Killian's waist, ratcheted even tighter. Oh god, what had she been thinking?

"Remember, just tap me on the shoulder whenever a turn is coming up!" Killian hollered back over his shoulder to her. "Left shoulder if we're turning left, right shoulder if we're turning right! Simple, right?"

Biting at her lip to keep from screaming, Alicia nodded. Simple, he said. Hah! What had she agreed to?

And then, before she could change her mind and climb off of this death-trap of a machine, Killian gunned the engine, and they rolled forward!

They moved slowly through the parking lot, probably no more than ten miles per hour, but it already felt too fast to Alicia. With the wind whipping at her hair and catching at her dress, apron, and skirt, she felt far too exposed. Even the rather pleasant vibrations coming up from the seat between her legs reminded her of the danger all around her. The hard, rough pavement was just a few inches away from the tips of her shoes!

She opened her mouth to say that no, maybe this wasn't a good idea after all - but before she could speak, Killian turned out of the parking lot and gunned the engine.

Oh my god! Trying her hardest not to scream, Alicia buried her face into Killian's shoulder, feeling the wind whip at her hair. This was even scarier than she'd ever imagined! How in the world did the man not lose control and crash, at this speed?

But after a minute or sheer panic, she finally realized that they weren't crashing, and she managed to pry her eyes open.

Okay. By the time that they reached the little road with her house on it, Alicia didn't feel nearly as terrified. In fact, she told herself, she was starting to come to see why Killian liked riding a motorcycle!

After she'd gotten over the initial scare of feeling the wind whipping through her hair, the vibration of the heavy machine between her legs, she started to enjoy cruising along the road and feeling the sunlight on her face and arms. She tapped Killian on the shoulder for each of the turns, and he expertly used the brakes and clutch to slow the machine down just enough to smoothly bank into each turn. The first time they leaned over to turn, Alicia heard a little shriek escape her mouth, certain that they were about to topple over, but the bike pulled them back upright as they accelerated out of the turn!

Riding on the motorcycle reminded her of the time when, as a little girl, her school class took a field trip to an amusement park, she realized. She'd finally built up the courage to ride on one of the big roller coasters, and although she'd been scared out of her mind for each second on the actual ride, she couldn't wait to go on it again as soon as the ride ended! Riding on a motorcycle felt the same way, with the rushing air and the banking turns.

But now, they were at her house. She pointed out her little place to Killian, and he let the motorcycle roll up next to the curb in front of her house and hit a button to turn off the engine. For a moment, before climbing off of him, Alicia had to fight against her tightly intertwined fingers to let go from around his waist.

"So," Killian remarked, as she stood up shakily from the motorcycle, wondering if her legs were about to collapse out from underneath her. "How'd you like riding on a motorcycle?"

Alicia stared, wide-eyed, back at him, but although her mouth opened, she couldn't manage to form a sentence.

Chapter seven

Killian's grin didn't fade off of his face until after Alicia had shown him into her tiny little house, pointing out a cramped little living room and promising in a wavering voice to make them some tea. He usually didn't drink tea, but he decided not to refuse the hospitable gesture.

She'd definitely gotten a kick out of riding on his motorcycle, that much was for certain! Killian smiled briefly again as he remembered her wide-eyed look after they pulled up at her house. He'd offered a couple other girls rides on his bike over the years, and he'd come to recognize the look of someone who'd never touched a bike before. That expression, he'd decided, was a mixture of utter fear and pure delight.

Almost invariably, there was also a little bit of arousal mixed into that blend of feelings, but he tried not to think about whether Alicia felt that way. He was just here to listen to her problem, politely apologize that there was nothing he could do to help her, and then leave, he reminded himself.

This wasn't going to turn into anything more.

A minute later, Alicia emerged from the narrow hallway that presumably led to a kitchen, holding two porcelain cups with tea bags sitting in them. "The water's on the stove right now, but it takes a little time to heat up," she explained in an apologetic tone. "It will whistle in a minute, and I'll go grab it."

"Um, thank you," Killian responded awkwardly, accepting the cup from the younger woman's hand. The porcelain in his fingers felt old, almost as thin as paper. He wondered where she'd gotten the cups and saucers. After a moment, he set his down on the little coffee table in front of him, worried that he'd end up accidentally cracking the china by accident.

An awkward moment of silence followed. "So, do you want to just start at the beginning?" Killian finally asked, not sure how to break the uncomfortable silence but afraid of what could happen if he let it continue on for much longer.

Alicia jerked slightly, but nodded. "Um, yes. Sorry, I just don't know how to start. It's all so new, and scary..."

"Start from the beginning," Killian repeated, trying to keep his voice soothing. He remembered the years of working on his bedside manner, learning how to make his patients feel at ease. Almost instinctively, he channeled that same tone now as he gazed at the nervous young woman sitting in the armchair across from him.

The calm voice seemed to help. Alicia nodded again, taking a deep breath. "I, um, I have a brother," she began. "He's two years older than me, and his name is Marcus. He lives in Dallas, in the downtown area, where we both grew up."

Killian nodded, keeping his mouth shut as Alicia gave a rough outline of her history, her childhood. She didn't paint a pretty picture. From the sound of her story, she and her brother had both grown up in extreme poverty, with next to no chance of ever making it out of the inner city ghetto.

As he listened, Killian couldn't help thinking back to his earlier days, back to when he'd been doing his rotations, before his life and career went careening off of the tracks. He remembered sometimes seeing inner city gangsters brought into the hospital, often strapped down to the gurneys despite the half a dozen gunshot wounds in their thin, skinny bodies. Sometimes, those gangsters had barely been more than kids.

From the sound of Alicia's story, she and her brother had barely escaped a similar fate.

"As long as I can remember, he's always been willing to do anything to support me," Alicia went on, tears shining brightly at the corners of her eyes. "He worked day and night to help save up enough for me to get out of there, for me to go make a better life for myself. This-" she gestured around at the little house, the cramped but cozy and clean quarters, "-isn't much, probably, to you. To me, though, this is a million times more than what I had as a child, and I'm proud of earning this, of being able to pay my bills and live on my own."

"It's a nice little house," Killian offered, feeling as though he needed to say something at this point. He still didn't understand what Alicia's problem was, but he believed that she'd get to it when she felt ready.

She nodded. "I don't get to see my brother much," she admitted, shaking her head and looking down at the empty teacup sitting on her lap. "But he calls me every now and then. I want to help him, now - he freed me from all of the violence and abuse in the ghetto, and I want him to get free of it too. I owe him everything."

"Did something happen to your brother?" Killian guessed, trying to figure out where the story was leading.