FLASH (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 15) Read online

  “You look incredible,” Ashley reassured her as she held onto her shoulders and gave her a bracing squeeze. “Now, I better get the hell out of here before he arrives.”

  She squealed with excitement and grabbed her purse from the corner of the bed and turned back to face Kady.

  “Honestly, Kady, you better call me the second you get home tonight… If you get home, that is!” she winked and Kady felt her jaw sag.

  “There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be coming home, don’t you worry. And yes, I will be alone.”

  Ashley rolled her eyes and pinched her lightly on the arm.

  “No one would judge you for bringing him back again,” she teased. “He’s fucking hot.”

  “Ashley!” Kady protested, half with embarrassment and half with exasperation. It was so close to eight o’clock and for all either of them knew, he could have been waiting right outside the door at that very moment. The idea made Kady want to cringe.

  Imagine if he had heard them going on like that. Surely, he would think she was massively immature and silly.

  Got to pull it together, Kady, she coached herself. He will be here any second.

  She walked down the stairs to the porch with Ashley and saw her out the front door. The sun was low in the sky, dipping down behind the houses and casting a pink glow across the neighborhood.

  “Perfect night for it,” Ashley winked as she crossed over Kady’s lawn and blew a kiss over her shoulder. “I shall await your call.”

  As Ashley walked away into the growing night, Kady hugged her arms around herself and smiled. There was something different about this night than any other she had spent in her hometown. For the first time, she had watched the sun go down and she didn’t feel lonely. She had a great career, some wonderful friends, a home of her own, and now she had the added excitement of a date on the horizon. A man literally on his way to find her at that very moment in time.

  She left the front door ajar and slipped back through the hallway and into her kitchen. She tidied a few remaining bits and pieces away and looked at herself again in the mirror, adjusting the straps on her top and smoothing the corners of her lips to ensure there was no lipstick smudges in sight.

  She smiled at her reflection, and then, as if on que… the roar of the bike’s engine thundered toward her from the other end of the street. She felt her heart do a little dance in her chest and the butterflies she had worked so hard to subdue came beating their wings forcefully back to her as she turned off the lights in the kitchen and made her way toward the front of the house.

  She waited for a moment until she heard him stop the bike and dull the engine, and then she stepped forward and opened her front door.

  Flash was sitting there on the back of the Harley in the setting sun, the glow of pink and gold cascading behind him and making him look even more like a god. Her breath caught in her throat as she stood there and took him in, and when he turned to her and caught her eye, she noticed how his jaw sagged down a little too.

  He looked so damned good. Better than she thought he had ever looked. His leathers were open and she could see his muscles ripping underneath the t-shirt below. His hair was windswept from the ride and he slowly pulled his sunglasses down off the end of his nose and smiled at her widely.

  “Hey, babe,” he said as he held out his hand.

  Kady faltered for a moment, wanting to let this moment drag out as long as possible.

  She had thought about Flash so often since their wild night six weeks before, and even though it had been fractured and she hadn’t been able to recall it all in perfect detail, she had still built up seeing him again. She had thought late at night of this moment many times. She had wondered if he would ever ask her out again after she had denied him brutally the first time, and if he did, how it would feel when he came to collect her.

  She wanted to savor every second.

  She wanted to remember how this felt, to be looked at in such a way it made her palms sweat and her heart race even more.

  She walked slowly toward him and slipped her hand into his. When she felt his touch and he stared into her eyes, it was something else. Like it was a brave new world for them both. She dipped her gaze shyly and he helped her onto the back of the bike.

  “You been on one of these before?” he asked her.

  Kady laughed and shook her head.

  “Well,” he began as he grabbed her hands and locked them around his waist from behind. “You better hold on tight.”

  Kady grinned and held him when he had placed her palms on his stomach.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked coyly.

  “Well,” he said with an arrogance that was more endearing than off putting. “I didn’t think we’d go in for hearts and flowers. Plus, we’re only friends… So I thought maybe we could head on over to Faith’s. What do you think?”

  Kady smiled and felt a rush of relief. There had been a small part of her that had been worried he would take her to a fussy restaurant and they would struggle with conversation. She knew that if she sat opposite him, all she would be able to think about was the fact that she had already seen him naked. That she’d had him inside of her. That he had rocked her world.

  “That sounds good to me,” she said as he revved the engine and it made Kady jump. “But take it easy, yeah? I don’t want to fall off.”

  Flash threw his head back and roared with laughter.

  “Fall off?” he looked at her over his shoulder. “Come on, Kady, as if…”

  He revved the bike again and it growled so loudly it made the tiny hairs on the back of Kady’s neck stand on end. She couldn’t help but laugh and let out a small shriek as he floored it and the incredible machine burst to life between her legs. He spun them around the end of her street and then headed out toward the highway.

  Kady felt the wind whipping past her and she hugged him tightly. Just being this close to him again was bringing back memories and sensations from that night, and it felt good to have him there with her.

  He made twists and turns effortlessly around the desert roads, and it wasn’t long before he was coming up against a huge rise that was going to take them toward Main Street.

  Out to the side of them, the sun was setting over the desert sand and she turned her head to look. It was such a beautiful sight as the mountains and terrain were all illuminated in the most incredible colors, it was like nothing she had ever seen before and it gave the moment a certain romance that Kady craved.

  She had never realized how much she wanted it before, but now that she was there with Flash, she knew what it meant to yearn for love. She knew what it meant to want someone so close you couldn’t imagine a life without them.

  Hell, Kady, she scolded herself. This isn’t even technically a date. You’re going to have to pull it together or this guy is seriously going to break your heart.

  Flash slowed his pace and Kady’s hair stopped whipping so much around her face and settled to trailing out behind her. It felt so exhilarating being on the back of the bike, she felt higher than she had ever been and it was almost as if she were flying. She still kept her hands tightly clasped around his waist, and when she saw the opening to Faith’s bar up ahead, she was both relieved and disappointed that her first ever ride on the back of a motorcycle was coming to an end.

  Flash pulled over to the side of the street and parked. And when the engine of the bike dulled and she was still once more, Kady realized how hard her heart was pounding. She reached up and pushed her palm against her chest and looked up at Flash with shock as he climbed off ahead of her and smiled.

  “It’s a rush, isn’t it?” he asked as he held out his hand as an offer to help her down.

  “Damned right it is,” she laughed. “I didn’t realize how much it had shaken me until we stopped just now.”

  Flash nodded.

  “I remember my first ride,” he said as he pulled off his shades and tucked them down the neck of his t-shirt. “That sort of thing, it nev
er leaves you.”

  She looked into his eyes and was caught off guard at how deep and dark they were. Every time she looked into them, she seemed to see something new in him and it always startled her.

  She found herself nervously casting her eyes to the ground and Flash began to walk on ahead of her toward the open door of Faith’s Speakeasy. It was propped open and the dulcet tones of jazz worked their way out into the street.

  “Sounds like she has someone playing,” he said as he looked back over his shoulder.

  And Kady couldn’t think of anything to say or do but to nod. Suddenly, she was lost for words and incredibly nervous.

  They stepped inside and the sweet smell of liquor and smoke mixed in with the sugar from the cocktails came drifting over to meet them. Flash strode strongly over to the bar and nodded to a table in the corner.

  “Want to grab a seat?” he said to Kady.

  She liked that he knew what he wanted and he wasn’t afraid to direct her, and she did as he asked and went to bag them a booth in the corner of the room.

  She watched him from behind as he slipped off his jacket and exposed his wide, strong shoulders. Kady bit her lip and tried not to stare, but she couldn’t help it. The more she was seeing of him the more she was remembering. Flash leaned across the bar and spoke to Faith. From past experience, Kady knew they weren’t the best of friends, she had seen them wind each other up and Faith was in the same position as Kady in the respect that she leased the space for the bar from The Forsaken.

  Faith nodded sweetly and started to pull out some glasses before she looked past Flash and noticed Kady sitting in the corner. She raised her eyebrows and gave her a little knowing smile, and Kady instantly felt as if she wanted the ground to swallow her up.

  Slate Springs was basically a goldfish bowl. For someone like Faith, who was in the middle of town life each day and all night, it sure wouldn’t take long for wild whispers to become rife. She rubbed her forehead and tried to calm herself down.

  Come on, Kady, she told herself. What does it even matter if anyone knows? You’re a grown woman and you’re entitled to go on a date. You’re not doing anything wrong…

  She twiddled her thumbs nervously and tried to keep her cool. She hadn’t been on a date in such a long time, it was almost as if she had forgotten how to act. She wanted to be herself, funny and full of life, but she also didn’t want to act a fool. What if she was overly silly and it made him think she was an idiot? Or what if she was too cold with him again and he thought he was being rejected. It all felt like such a delicate balance, and it wasn’t until he came walking back over with a large grin on his face and two drinks that she realized she didn’t need to worry. He sat down and passed her a beer, and then he sat back with his arms wide open and acted more relaxed than she had ever seen him, and it put her at ease too.

  “So,” he started as he took a swig of his drink. “Thanks for coming out.”

  “Thanks for inviting me,” she smiled.

  “Well, I almost didn’t,” he looked at her cheekily out of the corner of his eyes and then he started to laugh. “You know what I mean.”

  “Kind of…” she said as she eyeballed him back. “I wasn’t exactly very welcoming the last time we saw each other.”

  “You certainly weren’t,” he said with a smirk.

  “Well, I’ve said I’m sorry about that already,” she said cockily. “So I think it’s about high time we drop it.”

  Flash grinned and nodded his head and then he turned his body to fully face her.

  “I was just playing with you,” he said warmly. “I can’t help it, you’re too easy to wind up.”

  “Likewise,” she took a swig of her drink and raised her eyebrows. “Clearly.”

  Flash threw his head back and laughed and then he nodded his head in acceptance.

  “Fair play,” he smiled.

  “So, where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around town since… since…” she felt her face begin to burn. Even just referring to that night sent her into a frenzy. Even if she couldn’t remember most of it, she knew what they had done, and it made her very hot under the collar.

  “Yeah,” Flash smiled as he looked down at the table. “A few of us have been out of town.”

  She could see that he felt a bit embarrassed too, but he certainly wasn’t shy about what had happened between them. She could tell it was more her embarrassment that was catching on to him. He looked straight back up and into her eyes.

  “I don’t know how much you’ve been told about what’s going on around here…” he began. “But our club has been having some serious problems.”

  “I know about the bikers from Iron Hill coming over here, because of Ashley and the fact that she came to town,” Kady confirmed.

  Iron Hill was a town around fifty miles away and it was home to a rival gang, The Iron Riders. Ashley had arrived in Slate Springs looking for her Iron Rider brother and had ended up falling in love with Breaker, Flash’s fellow Forsaken Rider.

  “Yeah, the guys from Iron Hill are cool,” he said with a half laugh. “I never thought I’d hear myself saying that.”

  He raised his eyebrows and took another drink.

  “But the truth is, right now, there’s a lot of other things going on out here that are more dangerous. And us bikers are having to stick together.”

  Kady had heard whispers that had filtered around town but she couldn’t be sure if there was any truth in them. She scratched the back of her neck and waited for him to continue.

  “We had to get out of town because we wanted to keep the wolves from the door,” he said seriously as he looked into her eyes. “The last thing I wanted to do was take off, especially after what had happened with us, but I had no choice.”

  Kady’s heart skipped a beat. He had longed for her too.

  “I had to get out of here with everyone because if we didn’t, then things were going to get very bad, indeed. We needed to head over to Iron Hill to gather up the others and then we all headed out into the desert to keep these goddam Russians away from our towns.”

  “Russians?” Kady asked, wide eyed.

  She had heard whispers of these mythical Russian gangsters for several months, but she had no idea what was going on with them, who they were, or what they wanted.

  “They’ve been picking off towns like ours, and they were in the midst of taking over Star Valley when we had to intervene,” he said. “It worked out well because it kept them away from here. We were worried if they came to town they would never leave.”

  “What would they do?” Kady asked with confusion.

  “Well, they want our land and our businesses,” Flash said ominously. “And they have the backing and fire power to potentially take them. That’s why we’ve had to join forces.”

  “Yikes,” she said with an exhale.

  “Yeah, it’s all been pretty tense,” he nodded. “And dangerous.”

  Kady felt a chill roll over her.

  “With guys like that, you just don’t know what they’re capable of,” he also looked worried. “They’ve been bandying threats around to do with people’s families and all sorts. Nasty pieces of work.”

  He took another swig of his drink, and Kady felt the need to have one of hers too. Suddenly, she felt at risk and uneasy.

  “Doesn’t sound like much fun,” she said sympathetically.

  “No,” he agreed. “It hasn’t been. Not at all.”

  “And what was the outcome?”

  “Well,” he sighed. “We’ve managed to keep them at bay, for now. But we decided to shut down the motel and some of the other avenues into town for people to potentially slip through the net. We discovered a few of them had been staying there, and we wanted to make sure no one was taken advantage of, especially Sarah.”

  Kady nodded, suddenly things were starting to make sense. Sarah was vulnerable when it came to being on her own out there at the motel, and she could easily imagine her being intimidated into letting s
omeone stay, even if she had been told otherwise by The Forsaken.

  “So, where’s Sarah?” she asked.

  “She’s fine,” Flash laughed. “In fact, she’s living the dream. We sent her off on a coach to some hippy spa for a few weeks out near Sedona. The last we heard, she was trekking around vortexes and dining every night with the resident Native American chief.”

  Kady laughed.

  Even though Sarah was a Slate Springs gal through and through, she could imagine her loving an adventure like that. It was the sort of thing Kady herself would have liked to have done at some point. To go out into the desert and reconnect with the land. To feel the power and vibrations of the earth. She smiled, and liked the thought of Sarah being safe and out of harm’s way. Especially, if the Russians had been sniffing around the motel already.

  Flash grinned down at her and, already, Kady had forgotten they were sitting in the middle of one of the most popular bars in town, with some of the people they knew surrounding them. It could have easily just been the two of them and no one else in the room.

  “And how has Kady been?” he asked genuinely.

  She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. She almost felt embarrassed that she didn’t have anything exciting to tell him. She had worked and she had thought about him, and that had pretty much been it. With Ashley being out of town, she hadn’t even had her best friend to hang around with, so it had been a lonely few weeks.

  “I’m good,” she smiled. “Business is great. As busy as ever. And I’m looking into starting some new avenues shortly.”

  “Oh yeah?” he asked with intrigue. “Sounds good, what kind of new things?”

  “Pamper parties,” Kady laughed. “I can’t imagine they’d be your kind of thing exactly, but I’m sure the ladies of Slate Springs may find some fun with them.”

  “Pamper parties?” he nodded his head. “Yeah, I can’t imagine many of the guys over at the clubhouse wanting to be signed up. But I’ll let you know.”