Page 33 of Primal Urges (Bikers of Mayhem #1)

LUCAS

T hings were starting to get out of control.

Everywhere Lucas turned, he swore he saw his ex—at the grocery store, at the park, even waiting in line to get coffee, three customers up.

It was getting to the point where Lucas was ready to check himself into a mental institution. How much paranoia could one mind take?

Then there was Caden. Ever since Sheriff Burke hauled him in to ask him a few questions, he’d been acting all secretive and shifty.

It was the kind of shifty that married men became right before they got busted for cheating on their wives—or husbands.

Caden was hiding something, and Lucas wanted to know what the fuck it was.

Sitting in a booth, he picked at the blueberry muffin he’d been working on for the past hour. His body might be sitting in Mona’s Café, but his mind was a million miles away.

What if Darryl really had found him? Where would he run off to next?

Thanks to the fire, he didn’t have any money saved, and he wasn’t really sure where he could run that Darryl wouldn’t be able to find him.

Things were beginning to feel hopeless.

Lucas’s head snapped up when he heard someone call out his name.

“Lucas?” the woman behind the counter asked. “Is your name Lucas?”

She was wearing an apron that announced her name was Jill, possibly the owner of this establishment, but Lucas really wasn’t sure.

“Yes, that’s me,” Lucas answered, confused.

The woman held out a phone to him and shrugged her shoulders. “You have a phone call.”

“Me?” Lucas asked, still confused by the situation.

Caden had bought him a replacement cell phone, so if it were him on the phone, he would have called him on that.

“Yes. They asked to speak to Lucas, the guy wearing the teal shirt and eating a muffin.”

His heart stopped in his chest, and all the air was suddenly sucked from his lungs.

He couldn’t breathe.

The world around him had suddenly fallen silent.

The woman’s lips continued to move, but the only sound Lucas could hear was the deafening pounding of his heart in his ears.

He found me.

That was the only thought he was able to generate.

The woman held the phone closer, waiting for him to take it.

He was calling on the phone.

That had to be a good thing. If Darryl had wanted him dead, he would have shot him in the head while he played with his muffin.

That had to mean that Darryl didn’t want to make a scene.

Holding his breath, Lucas stood from his seat and slowly walked over to the counter.

The woman gave him a dirty look, most likely annoyed that he was wasting her time. She shoved the phone into his hand, then walked back over to serve the next customer.

Lucas brought the phone to his ear with a trembling hand and listened.

“Hello, my sweet little hummingbird ,” the voice hissed through the line. “It’s been a long time. How have you been?” Darryl’s deep voice came through the receiver, sending chills down Lucas’s spine.

Closing his eyes, he was too terrified to look up and around the coffee shop. His ex had to be close. He knew where he was and what he was wearing.

“Glad to see that I can still take your breath away,” his ex added with a snarl.

“Wh-what do you want?” Lucas finally managed. His heart was pounding, and his knees were shaking.

The last time he’d seen Darryl, Lucas had drugged him, then run off while he was passed out. Men like Darryl didn’t do well with being tricked or disobeyed. Men like Darryl got revenge.

What was his ex going to do to him if he ever got ahold of him? That was a question he hoped to never have answered.

All around him, people went about their business—ordering coffees and chatting with their friends. The rest of the world was oblivious to the nightmare unfolding right next to the counter.

“I’ve come to collect you. The last time we were together, you left without saying goodbye .” There was something dark and sinister in the way Darryl pronounced the word “goodbye”—as if it carried a finality instead of the possibility of seeing one another again in the future.

Lucas felt like he was going to be sick.

Gathering his courage, he opened his eyes and slowly glanced around the café, scanning the faces and bodies of all those sitting around him, trying to locate a monster hiding in sheep’s clothing.

“It… it’s over, Darryl. I’m not coming back.

” He tried to sound firm and hoped his voice would come across as confident.

But he knew that Darryl would see through his pathetic attempt.

He knew that Lucas was not strong—he was weak and scared and unable to stand up for himself, especially when faced with an alpha male.

Lucas listened to the voice on the other end tsk-tsk before breathing in a breath of air.

“My sweet, little hummingbird . What makes you think I would ever let you go? You’re mine, and I’ve come to collect what belongs to me .”

He couldn’t go back. He couldn’t go back to living a life of constant fear and humiliation—a life in which he degraded himself to the orders and commands of a person who didn’t respect him.

“Never. Leave me alone,” Lucas growled, hating the fear building up inside him. His ex still had so much power over him.

“It’s funny that you think you have a choice in the matter.”

Lucas scanned the front of the café, wondering if perhaps his ex was waiting for him outside.

“We can do this the easy way or the terrifyingly hard way,” his ex snarled over the line.

Lucas’s skin went cold.

“ Yes … now I’ve got your attention. If we do this the easy way, you say your goodbyes this afternoon and pack some things before heading out with me tonight.

The other… more gruesome way… involves me removing your boyfriend’s eyes with my hunting knife before I take his little daughter swimming out in a lake late at night.

Tell me, sweet hummingbird. Which way would you prefer? ”

Panic spread over Lucas like he had never experienced before.

It was one thing to hurt him. He was used to it and could endure the torture if need be. But it was another to hurt Cade and Lizzy. They were both innocent in all of this, and there was no way in hell he would allow Darryl to harm either of them.

They needed to be protected.

“Time is ticking,” he said before pausing for what felt like an eternity. “I’ll be in touch.”

The line went dead.

Slowly, Lucas returned the phone to the base on the wall of the café. The time had come for him to make a decision. Run once again or face his fears.