Page 10

Riley

B y the time I left the clubhouse, the sun was rising over the horizon, casting a soft golden glow across the lot. I had just experienced a night I would never forget. I didn’t mind being out all night—far from it. That long ride up to his special lookout point and back again had been enough to spark a permanent fascination with motorcycles. I drove home floating on a cloud of quiet awe. Havoc and I had really clicked after he let his guard down. Meeting that prickly biker had turned out to be one of the most unexpectedly beautiful experiences of my life.

The drive to my apartment was still and peaceful. It felt like the rest of the world hadn’t quite woken up yet, and for once, I had the road all to myself. I reflected on the night’s events, a serene smile tugging at my lips. I felt lighter, freer... happier than I had in a long time.

Unfortunately, my happy bubble burst the second I pulled into the parking lot behind my apartment. Detective Slater was there, waiting. He’d parked his cruiser discreetly beneath the shade of a tree. Dread pooled in my stomach.

I shut off the engine, grabbed my bag and planner from the passenger seat, and opened the door to step out. Before I even had the chance to lock my car, I saw him striding towards me, a hard frown etched deep into his features.

My heart sank. So much for peace.

Slater stopped directly in front of me, arms crossed, his eyes bloodshot and ringed with dark circles. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night. Judging by the timing, I guessed he’d been sitting here for hours, waiting for me to come home. Until now, he had only approached me in public places—my office, a café, the occasional sidewalk interaction. This was the first time he’d shown up at my home. It felt... different. It felt dangerous.

I froze. Every bit of warmth and safety I’d felt riding with Havoc disappeared under the weight of this man’s presence.

“Where have you been?” Slater asked, his voice low and sharp.

“Why are you hanging around my apartment complex?” I replied, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice. “Won’t you get in trouble for not being in your assigned area?”

“You didn’t come home last night,” he said, stepping in closer. “That’s not like you, Riley. You didn’t answer any of my texts.”

“I had my phone turned off,” I replied, clutching my purse tighter, my fingers trembling.

“Yeah,” he snapped. “I noticed. You look like you’re doing the walk of shame. Is that what this is? You screw some biker and come crawling home at dawn?”

I felt the blood drain from my face. His words were invasive, humiliating—and completely out of line.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” I managed to say. “Not like this. Not in uniform. You’re not even on duty, are you?”

He gave a dark little chuckle. “Does it matter? I do what I want. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them I was in the area and saw you coming home at a weird hour. Just making sure you were safe.” He leaned in. “They’ll probably give me a damn medal for being such a conscientious officer.”

My stomach churned. That wasn’t concern. That was control. He was telling me, point-blank, that he could get away with anything.

“I don’t need you to check on me. This feels like stalking.”

The muscle in his jaw ticked. His face twisted into something dark. “Don’t talk to me like that,” he hissed. “I won’t let some little tramp smear my good name.”

My breath caught in my throat. “What? Why are you saying these things to me?”

“I saw you,” he growled, grabbing my upper arm and yanking me closer. “I saw you with that filthy biker. Holding onto him like he owned you.”

“You don’t know that was me,” I stammered. “I was wearing a helmet—”

“I know it was you!” he shouted, shaking me. His fingers dug painfully into my skin.

I gasped and tried to pull back. “Let me go. You’re hurting me.”

“Not as much as he will. You don’t know what you’re doing, Riley. You think those bikers care about you? They’ll use you up and toss you aside. That what you want? You want to be their club toy?”

“I’m not having this conversation with you,” I said, voice shaking. “We’re not together. We never were.”

“That’s where you fucked up,” he snapped. “You could’ve had me. I gave you plenty of chances.”

I managed to wrench my arm away, but he stepped in again, backing me up against my car. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, desperation rising like a tide. “What do you want from me?”

He leaned in, the stench of sweat and stale alcohol hitting me like a punch. “Maybe I just want a little taste of what that biker got.”

His hand reached for my neckline. I screamed as he yanked, fabric tearing, exposing the top of my bra. My hand flew up to cover myself, my voice cracking.

“Please don’t hurt me.”

“You belong with me, not him. You’re not stupid—you know you’d never have a decent life with some outlaw lowlife.”

“Let me go,” I whispered. “Please.”

He grabbed my shirt again. “I think it’s time I take you in for questioning. Make you tell me everything you know about the Dark Slayers. Just you and me. No witnesses. No cameras. No rules.”

Tears stung the backs of my eyes. “Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?”

He grabbed a fistful of my hair, jerking my head back until I was forced to meet his eyes. And what I saw there terrified me.

“I like redheads,” he said, his voice low and twisted. “They’re hypersexual. Once I get them going, they just want to wallow on my cock for days.”

I was almost shocked beyond my ability to respond to his crude words. I stammered, “We’ve never dated. We’re not even friends. Am I just some random redhead to you?”

His eyes narrowed as they dropped to my cleavage. “When we danced at the club, I could tell you were into me,” he said, voice lowering. “In case you’re wondering, the ass grab was the giveaway. The way you reacted made me want you. I like women who play hard to get. Makes the sex all the more passionate.”

Before I could stop myself, I blurted, “You’re crazy. Everything you just said is crazy talk.”

He growled, “I’m a decent man, well respected in this community. I’m the one who can give you a home and a family. Bikers are garbage. They’ll use you, get you hooked on drugs, pass you around, and when you’re too strung out and broken to crawl back out of the situation, that’s when they’ll traffic you. Bikers don’t hang onto women that aren’t useful. Everyone with common sense knows that.”

I scraped together every shred of courage I could find and sidestepped, slowly putting distance between us. “You don’t know him.”

“The Slayers aren’t a one-percent club, and you don’t know anything about the brothers,” I added, my voice low but steady. I kept talking, praying he wouldn’t notice that I was inching closer to the back entrance of the building.

Slater sneered, hatred twisting his features. “They’re thugs with patches. I’m a lawman with a badge. Which one sounds like the better deal, Riley?”

“Maybe I don’t want either of you,” I said, dodging his trap. This man wasn’t right in the head. Everything about him screamed unhinged.

He didn’t stop. He followed me like a bloodhound, each word more twisted than the last. “You’re just another toy to him. And bikers are known for breaking their toys.”

The fear building in my chest was real and deep—and, horrifyingly, he was making just enough sense to stir up doubt. That was his strategy. Scare me. And it was working.

“Please let me go,” I whispered. “I need time to process all of this.”

Slater didn’t back off. “You think I’m the bad guy, Riley? For wanting a little of what you’re giving away so freely? I’ve been watching over you, trying to protect you. But that doesn’t matter, does it? You only like men who treat you like trash.”

I went completely still.

He was talking about raping me—just not in those exact words.

“Well,” he continued, his voice colder than ever, “I think it’s poetic justice. You wanted to give it up for a criminal, but now you’ll be giving it up to a lawman instead. Now, get your pretty ass into my patrol car. If you do as I say, I just might protect you from them.”

“I don’t need your protection,” I said, my voice cracking under the pressure.

That only seemed to fuel his rage.

He lunged for me and grabbed my arm again, dragging me towards his cruiser. “You’ll do exactly as I say, or else.”

This time, I found my voice. “No. I’m not going with you. Leave me alone.”

That was the final straw. His hand lashed out and backhanded me so hard I hit the ground.

Pain exploded in my cheek, but I scrambled to my feet and tried to run.

“Hey! What are you doing? Let Riley go, asshole!”

The voice came from above. I turned to see Dae on our back balcony, her phone raised high in the air.

Relief and panic warred inside me. I was glad she was there, but terrified she might become his next target.

“I’ve got all of this recorded,” she shouted. “I’m livestreaming on social media. You’d better stop before you really get yourself in trouble.”

Slater froze.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides, but he didn’t move.

Instead, he held up his badge like a shield. “You’re interfering with a police arrest, young lady. Unless you want to be taken to jail, you’ll put that phone down and go back inside.”

Dae’s voice rang out, loud and clear. “I have you on video ripping her shirt. Is that how Griffinsford PD does strip searches now—out in the open, in broad daylight?”

He took a slow step back as two men of my neighbors stepped onto their balconies, each holding baseball bats. One of them jumped down and started walking towards us.

Slater raised both hands. “There’s nothing untoward going on. Just a misunderstanding. Right, Riley?”

I forced my voice to stay calm. “We’ll call it a misunderstanding as long as you stay the hell away from me.”

He stepped in close again and lowered his voice to a whisper. “You either get your friend to delete that video, or I’m going to pay her a visit tonight. Maybe she’s still breathing when I leave. Maybe not. Got it?”

I clenched my jaw and nodded, but inside, something had snapped. I was done playing nice. He had no idea he’d just declared war.

Unaware of the fire he’d lit, he gave me a greasy smile. “Good girl.”

He turned, taking his time walking to his cruiser, then turned back to me, his voice dropped into a snarl. “You think he can protect you from me? You think any of those animals would lift a finger if it meant putting a target on their back?”

“Are you threatening to kill me now too?”

He gave me a look that was both cold and oddly amused. “No. I’m offering to protect you—from them.”

I glanced behind me. My neighbors with bats were still nearby, hovering in case he decided to lunge again. But with Slater backing off, they kept their distance.

“I don’t need you to protect me,” I said flatly.

His face twisted into something almost pleasant, but his eyes told another story. He was pissed. Livid. Dangerous.

“Naive little girls always think they know better,” he said softly. “They’re all strong, smart, and independent. Until they’re alone. Scared. Bleeding in the dark.”

His words sent a cold shiver down my spine.

“Sounds like maybe you have firsthand experience with how people react to being brutalized.”

That earned me a smile so predatory it made my stomach turn.

“Are you trying to terrify me into submission?” I whispered.

“Why yes,” he replied. “Yes, I am. Is it working?”

His tone was casual. Detached. Like we were talking about the weather.

And then he walked away, calm and deliberate. No shame. No guilt. Just confidence that he could do whatever he wanted—because he wore a badge.

As he drove away, the bile rose in my throat. I turned and ran for the stairs, with Dae already rushing to meet me halfway.

Slater wasn’t done. I knew that in my gut.

He was just getting started.

My knees buckled, and I dropped to the ground without meaning to. The next thing I knew, Dae was kneeling beside me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. I didn’t even realize I was rocking back and forth until she tried gently to help me up.

We walked together to the apartment, her arm around my waist. Dae unlocked the door with shaking hands, and we stepped inside. I stumbled over to the sofa while she slammed the deadbolt into place with a solid, final click.

The reality of what had just happened settled in, hard and cold, making me want to run—anywhere but Griffinsford.

Dae was full of questions, but the one that cut through everything, the one I didn’t want to think about, let alone answer, was the most important.

“He’s not gonna stop, is he?”

“No.” My voice cracked. “He tried to rape me, Dae. And he talked about killing us if we don’t take the video down.”

Her breath hitched. “I didn’t actually livestream it,” she admitted quietly. “I just said that to scare him off.”

“But you have the video, right? Maybe I can use that as evidence.”

She shook her head, “I’m sorry, Riley. I couldn’t get my phone camera to zoom properly. I just thought if he thought I was streaming it, he’d be scared away.”

“Thanks for helping, but I don’t how much good it will do,” I said, my voice hollow. “Now you’re in his crosshairs too.”

She nodded but didn’t back away. “Do you think he meant it? The part about killing us?”

“I don’t know.” The words came out in a whisper. “All I know is that he’s completely unhinged. I don’t know if he was bluffing, or if he’s going to come back and break down our door with a bunch of his cop buddies... or if he’ll finally stay the hell away. But one thing is clear—we can’t fight this on our own.”

Dae swallowed hard. Her shoulders were stiff, eyes wide. I didn’t blame her. It’s not every day a police officer threatens to murder you in broad daylight.

“So,” she said, her voice shaking slightly, “you’re going to take my advice and go to your biker friend?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “If anyone knows how to deal with something like this... it’s the Dark Slayers MC.”

I pulled out my phone and texted Havoc.

Me: Need to see you. Now.

Havoc: Miss me already?

Me: I need help that only you can give.

My fingers trembled as they hovered over the screen. Then I typed the rest.

Me: It’s about Detective Slater.

The reply came instantly.

Havoc: Where are you right now?

Me: I’m at my apartment.

Havoc: Text me your address. I’ll be there right away.

I entered my address and hit send.

Dae was watching me closely. “What did he say?”

I clutched my phone in both hands and pressed it to my forehead. “He’s on his way.”

Her lips parted like she wanted to say something hopeful, but all that came out was a sigh. “Sounds like he might be the white knight you’ve been looking for.”

She disappeared into the kitchen. “I’m gonna make us some coffee,” she added, but her voice was thin and distant, the trauma still etched into every word.