Page 30 of Cinder (MC Fables #2)

E lla

He walks toward me, and I can’t take my eyes off him.

He’s so handsome.

So dangerous.

He ignores the crowd he cuts through, keeping his beautiful blue eyes fixed on me like I am the prize at the finish line.

He’s coming for me.

And it steals the air from my lungs.

When he reaches me, he smiles, and it lights up my body.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he says, leaning against the bar.

I try to ignore my racing heart and the way a bright excitement flares in my stomach when I catch his smile .

My entire body is so critically aware of him.

Even my hands shake.

Needing to do something with them, I grab a beer from the fridge behind me and flip the lid.

“I didn’t think you were due back until tomorrow,” I say, handing him the beer.

“What can I say, I got homesick.”

He takes a long pull from the beer bottle, and I try not to focus on his throat working as he drinks it down. But all that ink on his throat is mesmerizing as it moves.

“ You got homesick?” I ask.

His gaze meets mine. “Some things are worth riding through the night for.”

The way he says it. Makes me think he’s not talking about the clubhouse.

And a million butterflies take flight in my stomach.

I don’t want to react. Don’t want to read more into it. But wild horses couldn’t stop the grin on my face.

“You rode through the night?”

He answers with a grin. “You think you can take a break and have a drink with me?”

Before I can answer, Demri walks up and stands close beside him. “You’re not distracting my girl, are you?”

“I’m not distracting her, I’m outright stealing her away from the bar for a while,” Lars says .

“Well, before you do, tell me why you and Beast rode all through the night to get back here?” she asks, concerned. “Is everything all right?”

I glance across the bar at Beast and Belle in the corner. He’s towering over her, one arm draped on the wall behind her head, the opposite hand on her waist, while she looks up at him with adoring eyes. His expression is one of pure hunger for her. Which tells me they won’t being staying long.

“We wanted to get back,” Lars says. “The others wanted to stay for a patch-over party.”

Demri looks surprised.

“The Rattlers are having a patch-over party, and you didn’t hang around to enjoy the local cuisine?” She puts the back of her hand on his forehead. “Is my son feeling okay?”

Her son.

“You’re his mom,” I say, stating the obvious.

“Yeah, and that blond-haired neanderthal is his father,” she says with a smile, nodding toward Viking who is sitting at a table drinking beer and playing cards with Stone.

Stone is in a wheelchair with his wounded leg extended out in front of him.

“A ride that long is risky,” Demri says, fussing like moms do. Despite her sexy biker-chick vibe, she’s clearly a mom before anything.

“It wasn’t a problem. Beast and I made good time.” He kisses her on the cheek. “And now I’m stealing Ella away, and you’re going to let me. ”

“Fine,” she says with a smile. “You two go have some fun.”

He reaches for my hand and guides me out from behind the bar.

“Where are we going?” I ask, enjoying the warmth of his fingers clasped around mine as he leads me away from the bar and into the clubhouse foyer.

He’s taking me to his room.

Where he’s going to kiss me.

He stops walking. “I’m going to do what I’ve been thinking about doing since I left for Florida.”

He cups my face, and I lick my lips nervously.

I’ve kissed him before.

Several times. But this time it feels different.

More intimate.

Real.

“Which is?” I ask breathlessly.

My heart beats wildly.

I look up at him.

And then his lips are on mine and we’re kissing each other like we’re absolutely starving.

I melt into him. Clutch his shirt. Breathe him in. The warmth, the need, the faint taste of something dangerous and addictive.

And God, I want this .

I want this so bad it aches in my chest.

I’m gone, completely lost in him, when the sharp buzz of my phone cuts through the haze.

Which can only mean one thing.

Luca is ringing me.

I break off the kiss and step back from Lars, plummeting back to reality.

I pull my phone from my pocket, a cold trickle of fear replacing the heat of Lars’s kiss when I see a familiar number on the screen.

It’s Lucretia’s number.

A zip of panic races through me.

Because she doesn’t know this number.

With a shaky hand, I raise the phone to my ear. “Lucretia?”

But it’s not Lucretia.

It’s Luca.

He’s found her secret phone.

Alarm crawls along my skin when I hear his voice.

“This was your one and only pass,” he says.

Fighting to keep calm, I move away from Lars and turn my back so he can’t hear the fear in my voice. “I understand.”

“Any more fuckups and Lucretia will have you to thank for what comes next. ”

While I listen to Luca, Rogue walks by and starts to talk to Lars about something. Which is good because I don’t want Lars to hear what I say next.

“Please don’t hurt her,” I beg quietly into the phone.

“Well, that’s up to you, isn’t it,” Luca warns.

Lars is listening to Rogue, but his eyes are trained on me.

“I will do what you want. Just keep Lucretia out of this.” Anger and fear bubble to the surface. I am afraid of this man. But there is still a lot of fight left in me. Perhaps Luca should know there are consequences too. “If you don’t, things might go wrong for you too?—”

“Like what? You have no power here. There is nothing you could do to me.”

“If you hurt her, I will tell them everything.”

He chuckles. “And they’ll kill you for it.”

“Maybe. Or maybe they’ll come looking for you.”

The silence that follows is full of menace.

The seconds tick over painfully slow.

“Like I said, sister, Lucretia’s safety is up to you. No more fuckups and she’ll be fine.”

He ends the call, but I’m frozen to the spot.

When Rogue walks away, Lars walks over to me.

He gives me a quizzical look. “Everything all right? ”

“I have to go,” I say, trying to keep my voice even. I’m rattled. It’s like I can feel Luca’s eyes on me. Like he’s everywhere. And if I put one step out of place…

I can’t let myself think about it.

“Now?” His knowing eyes roll over my face. “Who was on the phone, Ella?”

Think fast.

“My sister.”

He frowns. “You have a sister?”

“Yes, she’s seventeen.” I blow out a nervous breath. “Look, I’ve got to go.”

“Why?”

Because my half-brother will kill my sister if I put a step out of line.

And what I want to do with you is not just stepping out of line.

It’s blowing the line to smithereens.

I shove my phone into the back pocket of my jeans. “I’m sorry, but this was a mistake.”

His jaw tightens. “You didn’t kiss me like it was a mistake. Something happened to change your mind…what was it?”

“I stopped long enough to realize we were about to do something we’d both regret,” I say, hating the way he’s looking at me. Like I just drove a nail into his gut.

“I’m pretty sure I wasn’t going to regret anything we were about to do,” he says with an edge to his voice .

But I can’t let it get to me. I have to put some distance between us.

With Lucretia’s safety on the line, I can’t risk it.

Fuck, I feel so unsafe.

“I’m sorry, I really have to go.”

Thankfully, he doesn’t press the subject. “Okay, I’ll give you a ride.”

Desperate to escape, I look across the foyer to the front door. I need to get back to the motel and calm down. “I’ll call a cab.”

“No, I’m taking you home.”

I push a palm into his chest. “It’s better if I take a cab.”

I brush past him, but he takes me by the wrist. “What just happened?”

“We need to keep this plutonic. I work here.”

“Something’s going on.” His eyes roam my face. “And when I mentioned taking you home you basically bolted for the door.”

Shit, shit, shit.

I’m being too obvious.

I draw in a heavy breath to steady myself. So I don’t look guilty or like I have anything to hide. “Now is not a good time for me. For this. For you . I need this job. So I think it’s better if we keep things separate. ”

“It was an offer for a ride home. Not to come inside.” His eyes glimmer. “Although, I’m not as strong as you when it comes to temptation, Firecracker. If you invited me in, I wouldn’t say no.”

“Please don’t say that,” I whisper.

He comes closer. “Don’t leave. Stay with me tonight. I’ll protect you from whatever has you spooked.”

He’s so close I can feel his breath on my cheek and all I can think about is how much I want him to hold me. To make me forget. Even though I know I’m playing with fire, I can’t help myself.

But—

Dammit. “I’m sorry.”

I push past him and flee out the front door, taking the front steps two steps at a time, and I don’t stop until I’m at the end of the long driveway.

Not because I’m afraid he’ll come after me. But because I’m afraid I’ll change my mind and run back to him if I don’t.

Thankfully I don’t have to wait long for the cab to arrive, and I jump in and leave Lars, the clubhouse, and a world of temptation behind me.