Page 17 of Ember (Royal Harlots: Yonkers, NY Chapter #1)

She didn’t mean to be going forty-eight over the speed limit through town, but she was.

Sure, she had always had a led foot, but her anxiety over Jace had taken over her common sense and apparently her ability to find the brake pedal.

At first, she thought that she’d be able to outrun the cop who was tailing her with his lights flashing in her rearview, but that turned out to be one of her biggest mistakes.

She didn’t outrun him in her crappy little car, and all she accomplished was pissing Officer Moody off enough to put her in cuffs and toss her into a jail cell for the night.

The cop who booked her walked back to the holding cell she was in and unlocked it. “I guess it’s your lucky day. Someone is here to bail you out, so you won’t be sticking around until morning.”

She followed the officer out to the hallway, where he handed her a plastic bag with her name on it. Her wallet, keys, and a few other items were inside—but her purse was missing. “Where is my purse?” she asked.

“I’ll have to check with the arresting officer, but this was all that was checked in,” the officer said.

“It was brand new. I just got it last week,” she insisted.

“And if it was in your possession when you were arrested, it would have been in that bag,” he said, nodding to the plastic bag still in her hand.

She quickly opened it and checked to make sure that everything was still in her wallet.

She was relieved to see that everything was there, but it irritated her that her new purse was missing.

“Leave it alone,” a man said from behind her. “I’ll get you a new fucking purse, but we need to get on the road.” She turned around to find the big guy who had been standing in the corner, minutes earlier, right behind her.

“That’s not necessary,” she insisted. “I can purchase my own purse. It’s a matter of principle. If the officer who arrested me took my purse, then he should have to replace it.”

“Now wait a minute,” the officer releasing her shouted.

“Sir, I forgot to give you this. All her items wouldn’t fit in one bag, so I put her purse and a few other things into this second bag,” the clerk from behind the desk said. He handed it to the officer before he could continue with the rest of his lecture, and Rebel smugly took it from him.

“Thank you,” she spat. She really didn’t mean it, but she also knew that accusing the arresting officer might land her in more trouble than the speeding ticket she was currently facing.

“Yeah,” the officer grumbled. He handed the guy behind her a few papers and told him that she had to appear in court in one week.

He promised to text the guy the details and sent them on their way.

Honestly, Rebel couldn’t get out of that building or away from those officers fast enough.

She had almost forgotten to find out who was bailing her out.

They walked out into the cool night air, and she stopped dead in the parking lot. She turned to find the big guy looking a bit confused. “Did you forget something?” he asked.

“Nope,” she said, “I’m just wondering who the hell you are and why you bailed me out.

The only people who knew that I was in there were the officers and my brother, Jace.

Care to tell me who you are?” Rebel didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she was free and capable of taking care of herself from there.

“Jace sent me,” the big guy said. “My name is Henry, but everyone calls me Bolt.”

“Well, Henry, that is a very strange nickname,” she said. “How did you get it?”

“The guys down at the Royal Bastards gave it to me. It’s my biker name.”

“That still doesn’t explain the unusual nickname,” she insisted. “What does it mean?”

If she wasn’t mistaken, the big guy actually blushed, although it was hard to tell in the dark. “It’s a long story,” he insisted.

“Well, I have no place to be,” Rebel said.

“I do,” he said, “I promised Jace that I’d get you back to the club safely.”

“You talked to my brother?” Rebel asked. “Is he okay?”

“For now,” Bolt said. She hated how cryptic he was being with her. All she wanted was some answers.

“What the hell does that mean?” she asked.

He grabbed her hand and tugged her along to the bike sitting back in the corner of the parking lot. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“You ask a lot of questions,” Bolt insisted.

“And you don’t answer any of them,” she spat, pulling her hand from his.

He opened one of the containers on the side of his bike and pointed to it. “You can put your stuff in there,” he offered.

“I’ll just put it in my car,” she said. “I can follow you wherever we are going.” There was no way that she was getting onto the back of that death trap.

Rebel never liked motorcycles, and when Jace told her that he was getting one after he graduated from high school, she wanted to tell him that if he did, he’d be grounded for a month, but threats like that didn’t work on him at that point.

And when he rode away on his motorcycle, all she could do was hold her breath and pray that he didn’t do anything stupid.

“Your car is impounded, honey,” Bolt said. “Plus, it’s not safe to drive.”

“My car is perfectly safe,” Rebel insisted. “Why would they impound it?”

“Because it’s evidence now,” he said.

“Evidence for what?” she asked.

“Again, it’s a long story and one we can get into once we reach Savage Hell.

For now, I just need you to trust me when I tell you that staying here only puts us both in danger.

” She wanted to ask more questions, but Rebel knew that he wasn’t going to give her the answers that she was looking for.

Her only option was to trust the man that her brother sent to bail her out, and then, hopefully, someone would be able to clear a few things up for her.