HAMMER (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 16) Page 3

  Shelby sighed and nodded. She had to give him that, he was just looking out for her.

  “You won’t go back to the apartment,” he reiterated. “I have to go out of town on business for a few weeks and I want you at the house. It’s safer there, and more secure.”

  Shelby had to physically stop herself from rolling her eyes. She hated being at that goddam isolated mansion, manned by security and trapped in her gilded cage. But she knew she couldn’t argue with him, not right now.

  “You’ll go there straight from here,” he said as he took a step toward the door and straightened out his suit jacket and tie. “And you will never put yourself in such a risky situation ever again, do you hear me?”

  Shelby swallowed and nodded as she wiped away a tear.

  “Hammer will stay with you, he’ll be your own personal security.”

  “Hammer?” she asked with confusion as she looked up at him and shook her head. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  Her father closed his mouth tightly and glared at her.

  “Does it, in any way, sound like I’m joking?” he asked her.

  He was a strong and brutal man for someone approaching his sixties, and he still scared Shelby, so she could only imagine what he was like with his enemies.

  “I’ve arranged for you to have a bodyguard, his name is Hammer and he’s right outside that door,” he pointed behind him. “He’ll be there until you’re discharged and then he will drive you back home, where you will stay, until I say otherwise.”

  Shelby felt as if she had been slapped in the face, but she bit her tongue and didn’t say a word. It would be better, all the way around, if she accepted her punishment and just admitted she had been in the wrong. Then maybe, just maybe, she would even be allowed back to the apartment before the end of the month, if she was lucky. Maybe her independence wasn’t all lost just yet.

  “Okay,” she said quietly, even though, inside, she was screaming and kicking and wishing none of this was happening.

  “I’ll be back in a few weeks,” her father said as he reached for the door handle. “I don’t ever want us to be put in this situation again, Shelby,” he looked back at her sternly. “I thought, by now, we would be on the same page with how everything operates in our family.”

  “What family?” she snorted bitterly and looked down at her hands.

  Her father breathed in and out deeply and, for a second, she thought he was going to retaliate, but instead, he swung open the door and marched outside before letting it bang behind him.

  Shelby breathed in and held her hand up to her heart. It was racing from the nerves and anger. She couldn’t believe this had actually happened. Her father had always warned her when she was younger that if she ever stepped out of line he would come down on her like a ton of bricks. When it came down to it, she was all he had, and he knew as well as his henchmen, that Shelby would be a prime target for anyone seeking revenge. And it seemed to terrify her father more than it did her.

  She rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes.

  No more apartment.

  No more freedom.

  Locked up in the family home.

  She moaned and rolled to her side.

  This was all her fault for going against her better judgement, but she still couldn’t help but feel mad at Molly. If she hadn’t listened to her and gave in to her peer pressure, then none of this even would have happened. And the men who had mugged them probably wouldn’t have been anywhere near as violent either.

  She pouted and pulled the covers up around her shoulders, feeling the tight pain thunder through her ribcage.

  “Ouch,” she hissed as she rubbed them and tried not to cry out any more in pain. “God, get me out of here…”

  As she said the words, she found herself looking at the door and at the little window in the top of it. Through it, she could see the back of the man’s head. The man she could only assume had been the one in the room with her who had summoned her father when she had woken up. She didn’t recognize the back of his head or his voice, so he was either a new bit of muscle her dad had hired, or he was the special bodyguard he had found for her.

  Knowing her father, she could only assume it was the latter.

  There was no way, after something like this, he would just leave her with one of his regular goons. He would have gone and found someone in particular. Someone especially dangerous and dedicated.

  She hadn’t even seen his face but she already hated him. She let her eyes bore into the back of his head and she imagined she was burning holes into him, right into the back of his brain, making him scream and quake so she could disarm him and make a run for it. Right out of the hospital, right out of the town, right back to somewhere where she could live freely and finally be herself.

  His hair was dark and short, and she could see from his neck and shoulders that he was clearly ripped. He was wearing a t-shirt and his neck was wide and thick. She looked away in anger and bit her lip.

  This man on the other side of the door was, basically, her jailer. He was going to be ruling her life now, day in and day out, until her father returned and he decided what the next course of action would be.

  He turned his head slightly and she tried to make out his features, but the way he was angled just wasn’t good enough. She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest and winced again at the pain in her ribs. She was really going to have to try and remember about that before she did herself even more damage.

  She sunk down in bed and looked up at the ceiling. She could only imagine how the next few weeks were going to pan out, and she wasn’t looking forward to them. All she knew was she hadn’t been back to her family home, properly, in months and she was dreading it. It may have been big, beautiful and surrounded by amazing grounds, a practical mirage out in the desert, but she still didn’t want to be there. For her, that house was just a constant reminder of what she had never had and wanted the most.

  A mother.

  Pictures and paintings of her mother lined every wall and even though she loved to look at them, they also cut her right to the heart. She had no memories of her mother, only grainy old VCR footage of home movies and the paintings her father had had made of her long before she died. The photographs were a comfort, and she carried one inside a special locket at all times, but to be surrounded by them constantly always drove her to tears.

  She regularly wondered what it would have been like if her mother had lived. If there had been more than just her and her father. Shelby often thought she may even have had a brother or a sister and the heat wouldn’t all be on her. But no, her harsh reality was that it was just her and her dad. The only remaining members of the Petrov family, all of the others were all dead, or still lived overseas, far, far away.

  She looked back up to the door and this time, he was looking in on her. He was peering through the glass, his eyes the only thing she could see piercing through at her and holding her there, as if she had been startled into submission. They were just as blue as hers and they sent a shiver right through her entire body.

  She pushed herself back in the pillows and broke his gaze. She felt instantly uncomfortable and exposed, as if she were on show for him and him alone. It was as if she were an exhibit, something to be caged and observed. And she didn’t like it. Not one bit.

  She bit her bottom lip in frustration and rolled over so that she couldn’t see him anymore. She put her back to him and buried herself down and closed her eyes. She would lay quiet and ignore that he was even there, and she could only hope that when she was finally let out of the hospital, she would get back to her family home fast and not have to make small talk with him.

  There was nothing she wanted to say to someone who had basically been hired to track her every move and not let her live her life.

  She hadn’t even seen his face, but she knew she already hated him.

  This Hammer was going to do nothing but get on her last nerve.

  4.

  “Miss Pe
trov?” the voice was coming from above her and was soft and soothing. It was so nice after the argument with her father it was almost like liquid silk running into her ears.

  Shelby slowly opened her eyes and blinked as she looked at the woman peering down at her, she was surrounded by white light which seemed to glint off her long white robe.

  “Yes?” Shelby asked through her half asleep daze.

  “I’m Doctor Watson,” she smiled as she ran her hand across her forehead to sweep away a strand of hair. “You’re about to be discharged. You can go home now.”

  Shelby rubbed her eyes and pushed herself up with her hands so she could slide up against the pillows and the headboard. The dizziness had subsided and the ache in her ribs was still there but didn’t feel half as bad as it had earlier.

  “What happened?” she asked shakily as the doctor flipped through her notes.

  “You were severely winded,” Dr. Watson said as she flicked her eyes up to meet hers. “And you were knocked unconscious by the impact of that and the fall. No head injuries but you do have some bruised ribs, which will be painful for a week or so. You’ll have to lay up and take it easy.”

  Shelby reached instinctively for her side and winced as she touched them. The man who had punched her really had done it hard. She felt a rush of annoyance at someone thinking they could treat other people that way.

  “You’ve been very lucky,” she said as she looked down at her. “There have been a string of violent attacks around the town lately and some others have gained much more severe injuries.”

  The doctor was very serious all of a sudden and it made Shelby feel embarrassed. She must be looking at her and thinking she was a spoiled little girl, tottering around town and acting the fool. She felt herself blushing.

  “Thank you,” Shelby said, trying to change the subject. “For looking after me. I’d like to get dressed now and go home.”

  The doctor smiled and nodded and started to scribble on her clipboard.

  “I’ve written you a script for some strong pain killers,” she said as she signed her off to be discharged. “And if you have any concerns, you can come straight back here, okay?”

  Shelby nodded and smiled.

  The doctor turned on her heel and made for the door and as she opened it, Shelby caught sight of his foot. A big black boot was sticking out to the side as if he were still guarding the door and had his ankles crossed over. She sat up quickly to try and see more of him, but the door closed before she got a chance.

  That boot.

  Big and black and with a steel capped toe. It looked scuffed and leathery, as if it had kicked its way through the desert for miles at a time. Dusty and well worn, she could only imagine the things it had seen and been a part of.

  She shuddered.

  She waited until she was sure the doctor was long gone and then she pulled the curtain around the bed and wobbled slightly on her feet as she stood. Her ribs were aching but she could handle it, it wasn’t anything that would disable her totally. And as she reached down for the long black duffle bag by the floor, she did so slowly and carefully to limit any other aches and pains.

  She dressed as quickly as she could. She slipped on a pair of jeans and a t-shit and wondered who had picked them out for her. Surely, her father hadn’t had time to go to her apartment and look through her closet, and then she felt a rush of panic.

  It was probably him…

  The bodyguard…

  She felt her cheeks flush red and she remembered the state she had left the place in. Her bedroom had been covered and strewn with old clothes and underwear. Her make-up and hair accessories were all over the floor and she had left discarded glasses and bottles of gin littering the kitchen.

  “Oh gawd,” she moaned as she tried to banish the paranoia from her mind. “For once, I really do hope it was Dad going through my things.”

  She swept her hair up into a high ponytail and tied it carefully. Her ribs ached the more she moved and she knew she wouldn’t be able to lift the bag. She was going to have to bite the bullet and call for him.

  She rolled her eyes and shuffled toward the curtain, peeled it back slightly and stepped out into the hospital room. It was all white and clean, a stark contrast to the memories of how she had left her own apartment.

  She made her way toward the door and took a deep breath as she waited to open it. She really couldn’t be bothered with this. All she wanted to do was get the hell out of there, back to her family home, and lock herself away in her room and never come out again.

  “Hammer?” she asked shakily as she opened the door and peered around the edge.

  The first thing she saw was his feet again, big and leather clad, the boots were even more intimidating close up, and she let her eyes travel, next, to his jeans. They were battered denim and torn on the knees, and as she went higher, she swallowed as she saw the bulge in his pants. His belt buckle was big and silver, and his rough manly hands were gripping the belt loops on his jeans. They looked like a real man’s hands. The kind of hands that were tough and well used, as if he had spent day after day working outside doing hard manual labor, but they were adorned with silver rings. Skulls shone on his knuckles and she was sure, beneath them, she could see a smattering of tattoos that worked their way up his wrists, toward the tops of his arms.

  By the time she reached his chest, she was almost breathless. His torso was big and muscular, and it was clear he was some kind of heavyweight god. She was intimidated and she hadn’t even seen his face, but she knew that when she did, it was only going to frighten her more.

  “Miss Petrov?” his voice came out deep and gruff, and their eyes met as she glanced past his dark stubble and perfectly tanned skin.

  He was devastatingly handsome, in a completely unconventional way, and it was alarming her even more.

  “I want to leave,” was all she said as she glared into his deep blue eyes. “Can you get my bag?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and she saw the veins on them bulge and it made her step backwards with nerves. He looked down at her with the same contempt she was showing him and he strode past her strongly and into the room behind her.

  As he passed, she felt her breath catch in her throat and she clenched her hands into little fists.

  She had been right when she had known he was going to do nothing but get on her nerves. He was nothing but a glorified muscle man and it was clear he thought a hell of a lot of himself, and not a lot of her.

  She looked down at the floor and felt her mood dive even further. She shoved her hands into her pockets and shuffled down the corridor, letting him gather up the rest of her things as she made her way to the nurse’s station.

  When he came out after her, their eyes met briefly again before she quickly looked away and turned her back on him. This was going to be tough. Her heart was already racing and her palms were sweating. She was angry but intrigued.

  “Thank you,” she said to the nurses as she walked past them. And suddenly Hammer was there again, right upon her and striding past with an air of authority.

  “This way,” he said as he turned sharply down another hallway and left Shelby standing there with her mouth sagging open and the feeling of rage building rapidly inside her.

  “Prick,” she whispered to herself as she sulked after him as he made his way to the door at the end of the hall.

  In the parking lot, she followed him begrudgingly to a big black van that looked completely impenetrable. It had heavy sliding doors and all the windows were blacked out. It was one of the vehicles she had seen many times around her father’s estate, but she had never had the displeasure of being chauffeured around in it before.

  She waited as he heaved the doors open and threw her bags inside before he held his hand out to offer her help to climb in.

  “I’m fine, thanks,” she said as she ignored his offer and walked straight past him to the door frame. She reached up and took hold of it and winced with a gasp as the pain shot thro
ugh her ribs.

  “Here,” he said with irritation as he took hold of her arms and helped to pull her up into the van.

  His touch wasn’t as rough as she had been expecting, and he lifted her effortlessly and helped her into the seat. The sensation of having his skin against hers was enough to make her own rise into gooseflesh and she had to look away so that she didn’t catch his gaze.

  “You shouldn’t be stretching,” he said. “You have to rest for a while.”

  Shelby didn’t look at him but she nodded and buckled her own seat belt before she looked out the window and he climbed out the back of the van, slamming the doors closed behind him and then got into the driver’s seat.

  She relaxed back into the black leather and didn’t once look at him, even though she really wanted to. The back of his head was just in front of her, but she was determined that she wouldn’t. He started the engine and pulled quickly out of the parking lot, through the barriers and out onto the roads that led away from the hospital.

  Nerves began to mount inside her as she really let it sink in that she was about to go back home. Growing up in the house had been fascinating and she had enjoyed the vast, long hallways, but going back as an adult always made her sad.

  Tears were threatening to burst free but she wasn’t going to let them get the better of her. She bit her lip and clamped her eyes shut and took a deep breath. When she opened them again and instinctively looked forward, she realized she could see Hammer’s eyes in the review mirror as he watched the road ahead.

  They were so blue, and his eyelashes so dark and harsh in contrast. His brows were thick and heavy on his head and he appeared to wear a permanent scowl. She was getting so enveloped in watching him and the way he furrowed his forehead that when his eyes flicked up into the mirror and met hers, it actually made her gasp as she sat back quickly in her seat and looked away.

  Dammit, she thought. He caught you looking. Now his ego will go through the roof.

  It was clear he had a certain amount of arrogance about him, and the last thing she wanted to do was fuel that fire, but she had gone and fallen at the first hurdle.