Rush - Blue Devils MC Book 2 (Book 1 Included FREE for a short time only!) (34 page)

Chapter 20

~ Ella ~

Ella stared up at him, lost. After the last couple of days together, and certainly after the most amazing sex she’d ever had, she hadn’t expected him to try to get rid of her.

Why the fuck would Lain want me gone?

And then her brain caught up. Of fucking
course
it was Brock. Lain had torn out of here earlier tonight, yelling something about club business, and then an hour later, he came back. He came back tonight not to take her to dinner or to make love to her, but to do Brock’s dirty business.

He came back to get rid of her. Not in a freaky Mafia hit sort of way, by slitting her throat and throwing her into a ravine, but by sending her back to New York. Out of Brock’s reach.

She wondered if Brock had threatened her life. She wondered how Lain convinced him to let her go.

“You were originally supposed to go back tomorrow,” Lain said, interrupting her internal questioning. “I think you should just go. It…would be better if you did.”

“But Dan will want to know why,” Ella protested. “I had to twist his arm pretty hard to let me stay longer.”

“You can think of something,” Lain said, frustration creeping into his voice. “Tell him Brock would be gone longer than you’d realized, and it would be better if you just went back to New York. I don’t really care. But you
have
to go.”

“Okay,” she said in a hollow voice. “I’ll go. Let me just go call Dan and tell him to change the plane ticket back. It’s late in New York - I’ll have to call him at home.”

She slipped out of bed and grabbed her cell phone.

~ Lain ~

Ella hung up and said dully, “Dan’s got it changed. My flight leaves at 11:06 a.m. tomorrow.” She had her arms crossed defensively across her chest as she stared across the room at him. He felt a stab in his chest, as if she’d just shanked him.

Like he’d just stabbed her.

“Baby, I’m sorry,” he said, slipping out of bed and walking over to her. He reached down and tucked a piece of silky blonde hair behind her ear. “I wanted this to end differently. I wanted…”

He bit off, unsure of what to say. “I wanted you to stay here forever,” was a lovesick, pansy-ass thing to say, and after all, he knew it wouldn’t happen. He knew it from the beginning. But somehow he’d…temporarily forgotten. Somehow he’d pushed this ending from his mind. Somehow, he’d made himself believe that miracles really did happen.

That good shit really did happen to him.

“I’d like you to leave now,” she said, her voice tight and high, squeaking out. She cleared her throat and tried it again. “Go home now, Lain. I’ll be ready in the morning for you.”

He gave an abrupt nod and left.

Left before he could say something stupid.

Left before he could apologize.

Left before he could beg her to stay.

***

Morning came way too early. Lain had drunk himself into a stupor after going home, in an effort to make it all go away. But it hadn’t. It was morning and the sun was bright and he would have to drive Ella to the airport.

Fuck my life
.

He dragged himself out of bed after beating his alarm clock into submission, and after a quick run through the bathroom, he was ready to go. This time, he remembered not to wear his leather chaps – Ella may enjoy a motorcycle ride to Phoenix but it’d be hard to get her Louis Vuitton bags there on the back of a Harley. So the truck it was.

He knocked on Ella’s door, and this time she opened up without the chain in place. She must’ve decided that Brock wouldn’t try anything if she was on her way out of town. She turned back and walked into her motel room without saying a word. No greeting. No smile. Lain felt sick. Every moment that passed, Ella pulled farther and farther away from him.

He had to let her, though. In fact, he should encourage it. This was the end. He needed to come to that same realization that Ella had, and protect his heart.

Too late
.

He shoved the thought away, and instead grabbed the bags off the bed. He could at least carry her bags for her.

After one last pass through the room to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, they walked out into the hot Arizona sun, even this early in the morning, and Ella locked the door behind them.

“I need to run this to the office,” she said, holding up the key. “I’ll be right back.”

They were the first words she’d spoken to him that morning, and, as Lain soon found out, they were going to be her last for quite a long time. His paltry attempts at conversation met her brick wall of silence, and he quickly shut up. The two-hour drive back to Phoenix was long and painfully quiet, in stark contrast to their ride from the airport to Copper just seven days ago. That first ride in his truck was when he started to discover that Ella Anderson was so much more than he ever could have expected.

And now…it was done.

As they got into the snarl of traffic that was Phoenix, Lain felt his blood pressure rise. He’d always hated driving in Phoenix, but today was especially awful, with Ella’s frosty anger coming off her in waves as she sat in the passenger seat. He wanted to beat up every driver on the road who dared to drive at the same time as him.

Fucking Phoenix. God, I hate—

“So what was I to you?” Ella said, finally breaking the silence hours after she’d started it. Lain was so surprised to hear her voice, he almost swerved into oncoming traffic.

“
What??
” he demanded.

“Was I just your plaything? Your biker bunny to fuck and then leave?” she asked, her voice hollow. Dull. Heavy.

“They’re called
sheep
, lady, not biker bunnies,” Lain said through gritted teeth. “You’re the reporter - get your shit straight.”

“So was I just your
sheep
?” she asked, sarcastically emphasizing the term. “Did you ever think that I was anything more than a quick tumble in bed?”

Lain saw the exit sign for the airport and dove for it. He just wanted to get off his own personal highway to hell. The traffic, the knowledge that Ella was leaving, the worry about her safety with Brock around, and the complete
fuck you
in her tone, all combined together to make Lain snap. He literally saw red and the words tumbled out before he could stop them. Before he could want to stop them.

“You were just a quick fuck - sure as hell weren’t nothing else to me. And how could you be? You’re a fucking New York City reporter. What did you think would happen? Did you think I would goddamn
move
to New York City and get a job as a car salesman or some shit? Huh? Huh!!” His voice grew louder as he shouted past his inner anger…at himself.

“We had no future. We never did. You didn’t even make a very good sheep - you didn’t fuck anyone else in the club. All the guys will be disappointed that you left without giving a blowjob as a goodbye present.”

He screeched into a parking spot, the sudden slam of the brakes throwing them forward against their seat belts.

“Now fucking go back to where you came from,” he said quietly, and she nodded her head once, abruptly, and then jumped out. She got her bags out of the bed of the truck, and then walked away.

Back to New York.

Out of his life.

His tires squealed as he tore out of the parking lot, and back to Copper. It was time to stop being a jackass and mooning over a girl. It was time to start being a Blue Devil again.

Chapter 21

~ Ella ~

Ella walked into the heavenly cool of the Phoenix International Airport and straight into a women’s bathroom. She went into a bathroom stall, pulling the door closed behind her, and then she sat on a toilet, pulling her legs up to her chest, and cried.

She cried it all out. She cried until she hiccuped, and then she cried some more.

The most fucking awful part of all was, everything had gone just how she’d planned it. She’d known that being in Phoenix traffic would shorten Lain’s temper. She’d known that asking him nasty questions about their relationship would push his buttons. She’d known he’d roll up into an emotional porcupine, all spines and anger sticking straight out at her.

She’d known he’d storm off and leave her at the airport. Alone. Without making sure that she got on a plane.

She’d gotten exactly what she wanted, and yet, it was hell on earth.

Sometimes, getting exactly what you wanted was the most awful thing in the world.

Eventually, her flood of tears slowed to a trickle, and her hiccups faded away. She dashed the back of her hands across her cheeks, and pulled out toilet paper to blow her nose.

Ppsshhhhh…

Oh, so lady like. She threw the wad of tissue into the toilet, and then took another handful off the roll and wiped her face off the best she could without a mirror. She threw that used tissue into the toilet too and flushed.

Opening the stall door, she hoisted her bags up and walked out of the restroom. It was time to put Part Two of her plan in place.

***

Forty-five minutes later, Ella walked out of the Phoenix International Airport, rental car keys in hand. She did a quick search on her phone and found a hair salon only 15 minutes away. Using GPS, she headed towards it. She had to stay focused. She couldn’t replay Lain’s words in her head over and over again. She had to keep her head in the game.

She sat in a cheap plastic chair, leafing through an old copy of
Pout
. There were her amazing insights into picking a hemline that best flattered your figure.

All of that was about to change. She was going to write a story that would blow her previous career out of the water. She was finally going to be the investigative journalist she’d always wanted to be. In the end, Lain had chosen his club over her. Now, she needed to pick her career over him.

All was fair in love and war, right?

“Ella?” A hair stylist with rainbow-colored spiky hair came out to the front waiting area. Ella stood up.

It was time to change her identity.

***

When Ella walked back out into the sunshine, she hurriedly pulled out her sunglasses. She looked to the south and saw boiling dark blue clouds rumbling her way.

Shit!

Copper Lode was south of Phoenix. She was going to have to drive into that.

Fuck my life
.

The wind picked up, whipping her t-shirt against her body, and Ella automatically held up a hand to hold back her hair as she used her other hand to hit the unlock button on the remote.

Beep beep
.

But there was no hair to hold back. She stared at her reflection in the driver’s side window of the sedan for a moment. Distorted, it was like a fun-house version of her, except this version of her had short black hair. She patted it for a moment, pushing at it. Her short, spiky hair was stiff from the gel the stylist had used. For the first time, Ella felt like she fit the stereotype Lain had been so sure she’d be, before meeting her. Now all she needed was a Chihuahua.

She slid into the car, leaving the door open as she turned the car on, wanting to get the AC running before she closed the door. Goddamn, it got hot quickly inside of cars in Phoenix, even white cars, as she’d so carefully chosen for her rental car. The idea of driving a black car in the Sonora Desert was unfathomable to her.

She made a quick run to Wal-Mart for different makeup, new baggy clothes, a baseball cap with the Arizona Diamondbacks logo on it (only because Lain would
never
guess it was her with that on), styling gel, and new sunglasses. As she stood in the checkout line, she felt like she was in a Hollywood movie, getting ready to do a hit on a bank,
Italian-Job
style. Except the people in the movies always seemed to know what the hell they were doing, and she had
no fucking idea
.

After making it through the interminable lines -
why does Wal-Mart have 27 cash registers but only two cashiers working??
- she headed out of town. Just as she hit the edge of Phoenix, she saw a curtain of rain head up the freeway towards her, and then whoosh! The raindrops hit the windshield in a sheet, pouring down as if she’d just entered a car wash. She fumbled for the windshield wipers - she’d been sure to ask where they were at before leaving the car rental agency at the airport - and turned them on high.

Even powering through the rain as quickly as the wipers could, all Ella could see was a bleary mess. With a sigh, she pulled over to the side of the freeway with her emergency flashers on, waiting for the monsoon to abate. The occasional car or even semi tore by through the rain, scaring her every time they did, drenching her car with even more water as they splashed through the torrential rain and resulting puddles. The violence and pure power of the monsoon was stunning to Ella. New York sure as hell didn’t get rainstorms like this.

And then, as quickly as it started, the rain disappeared. The sun broke through the clouds and steam started rising off the black pavement almost instantly. Turning off her now screeching windshield wipers, the glass squeegeed clean, Ella eased back onto the freeway, joining the other vehicles in their journey south.

It was time to find out the truth about the Blue Devils.

***

She checked into the Y-Inn, the
second
-cheapest motel in town according to Trip Advisor, since her boss had so kindly booked her in the cheapest motel in town the first time around. She groaned inwardly as she swiped her card through the machine. At this rate, she’d
better
write an exposé to end all exposés, or her credit card bill was going to eat her alive.

After changing into her new shapeless, dark cheap clothes, she decided that reconnaissance was in order. Isn’t that what everyone in the spy movies did? Since that was about all the guidance she was going to get in this venture, she figured she’d might as well follow the tried-and-true tropes.

Parking down the street a little ways from the clubhouse, she slumped down in her seat, trying to keep any casual observer from seeing her. The all-pervasive heat made the interior of the car almost instantly unbearable without the engine running though, so she rolled down the windows and slunk down even further.

Dammit, this looks like a lot more fun in the movies
.

She could feel the sweat rolling down her sides, her back sticking to the car seat…to call her a “hot sweaty mess” was being generous.

Finally, as the sun started to set, she saw the members emerge from the clubhouse. Lain came out and Ella felt her heart constrict and her eyes fill up with tears. Angrily, she wiped the tears away. She wasn’t going to go soft on Lain now. He could’ve told her the truth. He could’ve stopped acting like Brock’s lap dog for five minutes and have faith in her.

Because he didn’t, she wasn’t going to have faith in him.

Lain backed a semi into place, the grille’s teeth glowing in the semi-darkness, terrifying as hell. The Blue Devils started filling up the trailer with boxes. She squinted in the twilight but there were no hints as to the contents of the boxes. Lain walked over to Brock and they discussed something, then Lain gave a sharp whistle, and everyone dispersed. Lain pulled the tractor-trailer door closed, locked it, and tore off down the street on his Harley. Watching him leave, Ella couldn’t help but think that he was dragging her heart along with him.

Eventually, everyone was gone. Only the street lamps lit the street. It was eerily quiet.

Ella started her car and headed back to the Y-Inn. As she laid in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling, she turned the problem over and over in her mind. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen soon. She had to be there when it did, or she’d have no story.

Suddenly, it struck her - the police!
Of course
. She’d go to the police station tomorrow and start asking questions there. Maybe they could help her, or at least guide her in the right direction. Surely they kept tabs on all of the local groups and crime bosses. They had to know
something
was up.

Finally, with a hint of an idea in place, Ella could drift off to sleep. Tomorrow, come hell or high water, she’d find out what the fuck Lain Abernathy and the Blue Devils were up to.