Nolan by Lane Hart, D.B. West

Chapter Fourteen

Nolan

“Now, on to more pressing matters,” Roman says during our weekly Savage Kings MC meeting. “There’s a woman in a city a few hours away who has ties to one of our brothers. She’s in trouble with a member of another MC and needs our help getting out of town. We’ll need to vote on whether or not we, as a group, will come up with a plan to extract her from the situation, regardless of the consequences afterward.”

“Which brother?” Cannon asks as soon as Roman is finished talking.

“Does it matter?”

The blond surfer boy and his twin Conrad both stare down the table at me with the same sullen look on their identical faces, which is freaky as hell.

“It’s Nolan, isn’t it?” Cannon says. “Goddamn it. I had this feeling that he was going to bring shit down on us. Didn’t I tell you?” he asks Conrad, who nods his agreement.

“Wait a second,” Hugo says. “You’re going to help Rita? Again? Are you out of your mind?”

“I get it,” Abel says. Grinning, he asks, “You thought about it as a chick, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did,” I agree, facing down all of surprised, annoyed faces of the men at the table. “If you have a wife or a sister or even a mother, then imagine her being forced to screw the biggest, baddest motherfucker you’ve ever seen because he won’t take no for an answer.”

“So big they don’t even make leather cuts large enough to fit him!” Abel adds.

“Seriously?” Cannon asks.

“Seriously.”

The twins look at each other. “Well, fuck. We’re in,” they say simultaneously.

“Anyone opposed?” Roman asks, the grip on his gavel tightening until his knuckles are white.

I hold my breath because I don’t want anyone to get booted from the chapter just because my dumbass wants to save a woman who doesn’t want anything to do with me.

Marcus raises his hand. “Will we get to kick some ass?” he asks.

“It’s more than likely,” Roman answers.

“Then count me in!” he replies excitedly.

“Me too,” Leo says softly. “Sorry I gave you up the other day. He was scary as fuck, and I figured you had done something to deserve a beating. No hard feelings?” he holds out his fist in my direction.

“I get it. We’re good,” I tell him, bumping his fist with mine.

“I’ve got a newborn and an ole lady who is on a hormone rollercoaster,” Winston starts, making my stomach drop because he’s going to bow out of this one. I fucking knew it. “If something happens to me, ya’ll better take damn good care of them.”

Roman grins and sighs in relief as he reaches over to squeeze the shoulder of his right-hand man. “You know we will, but nothing like that is going to happen on my watch if I can help it.”

Verek cracks his knuckles. “These fuckers sound like they need to be neutered, just like the ones who hurt Tessa. You know I’m in.”

“Then let’s come up with a plan to get this done and keep everyone at the table breathing,” Roman says, lowering his gavel with a told-you-so smirk in my direction.

* * *

Rita

Friday night isas crazy as ever in the strip club.

The men show up after a hard week of work, ready to drink themselves into a stupor and see lots of tits in their faces.

One table in particular, a bachelor party with a group of, like, nine guys is the rowdiest of them all. Lila and Meg are both trying to keep up, but they can’t seem to get the beers to their table fast enough. They’re loud and disrupting the entire show. Which is why I’m not surprised when one of the members of the Rebel Henchmen MC goes over and tells them they need to settle down or they’ll need to leave.

When I hear the one with curly auburn hair stand up and say, “How about you make me, motherfucker!” I brace for impact.

“Shit’s about to go down,” I tell Joe, our bartender, as the scuffling, pushing, and shoving starts. I decide to wait it out at the bar. Meg and Lila have the same idea when they come up beside me.

“We’re about to lose all those great tips because of Brutus,” Lila huffs.

“Sorry it came down to a pissing contest,” I tell her with a sympathetic smile.

“Oh, Rita!” Meg exclaims. “That reminds me.” Reaching into her front apron pocket, she pulls out a small, sealed envelope with my name handwritten on the front. Offering it to me, she says, “This is from one of the guys at that table.”

“Which one?” I ask in surprise. “None of them look familiar,” I say as I watch a few fists go flying before the little round table goes down along with all of the drinks on it.

“Shit,” Lila huffs.

Curious, I decide to open up the envelope while waiting out the fight, knowing it’ll take the three Rebel Henchmen MC members on security at least half an hour to get the other five of their men out here to deal with the rowdy ones, if the eight of them can take those nine. It’ll be a nice reprieve from the MC’s usual grabby hands.

The seal peels right up and inside is a small piece of paper that says, “Meet me outside the back door” and is signed by…Nolan?

I glance up at the group of rowdy men again, searching him out, certain I haven’t seen him in here tonight. Oddly enough, most of the guys are wearing plain tees with jeans like something is missing…maybe a leather cut? Are these Nolan’s MC brothers?

“I, ah, need to step outside for a minute and get some air,” I tell the girls.

“Yeah, go for it,” Lila replies. “This is going to take a while.”

“You sure you want to miss the show? These new boys are hot!” Jenna says.

“Ah, yeah. I’ll be right back,” I agree as I leave my drink tray on the bar and slip into the kitchen, heading for the back door.

As soon as I open it and step down from the stoop, I nearly run into Nolan in the darkness. Management really should fix the light out here.

“Jesus!” I exclaim as he grabs both of my upper arms to steady me. “What are you doing here?” I ask him. “Are those your friends in there raising hell?”

“Ah, yeah,” he replies.

“Do you know how long it’s going to take us to clean up the mess they’re making?”

“You won’t have to worry about the mess,” he says.

“Yes, I will!” I tell him, pushing him away to go back inside.

“Rita, wait,” Nolan says, grabbing my elbow to turn me back to him. “Have you fucked him yet?” he asks in an almost growl.

“What? Who?”

“Leroy!” he exclaims. “Unless there are some other assholes trying to screw you?”

“Oh,” I mutter in understanding, wrapping my arms around my waist. “No. Not yet. Not that it’s any of your business! I told you I would take care of it and he wouldn’t bother you again!”

“No,” he says simply.

“No what, Nolan?”

“No, you’re not going to take care of it. I am.”

I bark out a laugh as I look him up and down. “You’re a tough guy, but not even you could take Leroy.”

“Good thing I don’t plan to do it on my own,” he says. “Now, are you coming with me or not?”

“Coming with you?” I repeat. “Are you nuts? I’m working!”

Sighing heavily, Nolan looks up at the sky for a moment before lowering his eyes to mine again. “Rita, I can help you! You don’t have to be with the giant if you don’t want to. You can stay with me at a safe house in Myrtle Beach until you find another job or two, however many you like. I’m trying to help you.”

My arms fall as I stare at the man who I thought loved me, the one who made me believe he cared to the point I practically let him move in with me. Then, just as suddenly as he showed up in town, he disappeared just a few weeks later without a word.

“No,” I reply with a shake of my head as I swallow around the knot in my throat, remembering those first shitty months after he left, the waiting and wondering. “I don’t need your help. I’m not trading one prison for another.”

Nolan chuckles loudly in the quiet night. “Funny choice of words. But I’m not asking you to give me anything in exchange for my help. Trust me, the last thing I want is to be wrapped around your little finger. I’m not getting fucked up with you all over again.”

“I…what…no!” I stammer, not even sure how to respond to that. I turn back to the door to leave, but Nolan slams his palm over it above my head, pressing the front of his body into my backside.

“I can’t leave you here with him. He’ll hurt you,” he whispers, his lips near my ear. “I can give you the time, money, and resources to start over some place new. Why do you have to be so stubborn about this?”

“Why do you want to help me now of all times?” I ask without turning around or even moving. I’m afraid to breathe and can’t figure out if it’s because I want Nolan to leave or I want him to stay.

“Because not even you deserve to be that asshole’s fuck doll.”

The air rushes out of me, my lungs deflating at the reminder of what my future holds. Damn him for coming here like some white knight on a horse, as if he can slay the dragons. He thinks there’s just one big one, when there are eight. This idiotic plan of his isn’t going to work. “If I leave, he won’t stop until he finds me like he found you. You can’t stop him or the seven other guys in his crew that’ll have his back.”

“You’re right,” Nolan agrees, making my shoulders slump in disappointment. “I can’t take him out on my own. But there are a lot more Savage Kings than there are…whatever the hell they are. If they want a war, then we’ll call in every patch in the country.”

“Why would anyone be crazy enough to risk their life for me, a woman they’ve never even met?” I ask when I spin around to face him. God, he smells good, like leather and motor oil, the masculine combination oddly just as delicious as I remember.

“Because I asked them to,” he says simply. “Now go get your shit, so we can get out of here before someone gets shot.”

He can’t be serious. Why would he or anyone else go against some of the biggest, meanest sons of bitches I’ve ever met for me?

“I’m not worth the fallout, Nolan.”

“I wish I agreed, but here we fucking are!” he shouts. “If you’re not out in five minutes, we’ll leave and you’re on your own,” he says as he takes a step away from me. Just that small space of distance between us makes my heart gallop into a near panic that he’s not bluffing. He’s here trying to help, but he’s not going to twist my arm and wait forever.

For just a second, I quickly consider my options. The first one is to go back into the club, keep busting my ass until Leroy takes me home where I may or may not ever be able to leave alive. It’s hard to make money and pay tuition when you’re a sex slave for a controlling monster. Then there’s the second option – leaving with Nolan, moving to a new city, hoping he’s right about being able to keep me safe physically while doing a number on me emotionally, drudging up all the feelings I had for him in the past.

A broken heart is infinitely better than an abused and broken body any day of the week.

“I…what about my things at my apartment?” I ask him as my front teeth bite brutally into my bottom lip as I actually contemplate leaving with him.

“What do you think the van is for?” he asks, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to what I assume is the vehicle behind him. I can’t see it around his large frame, or maybe I just don’t want to look away from his handsome face, afraid he’ll disappear again if I even blink too long.

“And I won’t have to fuck you or anyone else?” I ask softly.

“No one will lay a fucking finger on you,” he promises in a deep grumble that I think I can trust. “In a few days, you’ll have a new identity and can leave if you want…”

“Okay,” I say on a sigh. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Nolan replies with a heavy exhale that sounds like relief. “Hurry.”