Page 9 of Rebel (The Royal Harlots MC #7)

She exhaled slowly, cuddling into his body. “Minnesota, huh?” Her voice cracked, but she forced a wry edge into it. “Hope you packed me a coat,” she teased.

Her smile was soft but certain. “Good,” she said, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He knew that she meant it too. That was one of the things he liked most about Rebel—she didn’t seem to lie to him about anything.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “Do you think that he knows what we were doing out here?” She grabbed her shirt and tugged it over her head, covering her bare breasts, and damn if a part of him didn’t feel like pouting.

“I’m pretty sure that the whole damn place knows what we were doing out here, Rebel,” he said.

He pulled her against his body and kissed her, not bothering to answer the knock on the window.

When he finally finished kissing her, he rolled down the window and smiled at Ryder, who didn’t return the gesture.

“We need to head out,” Ryder ordered. “What’s taking so long?” He tried to look around Bolt at Rebel, and he covered her with his body.

“We’ll be there in a minute. Are we riding with you?

” he asked. He knew that the plan was to leave his truck at Savage Heat in case Rebel’s stalker came around looking for her.

He really was the least of their problems with the Dead Rabbits tracking them down, too.

But he wanted to be as careful as possible when it came to keeping her safe.

It had begun as a promise to his friend, but now, it was so much more.

He was falling for his best friend’s sister, and if that wasn’t going to get him an ass kicking from Jace, he didn’t know what would.

“Yeah, so get your clothes on and meet me at the SUV in two minutes,” Ryder ordered. He didn’t bother to stand around waiting for them to agree with his orders. He walked over to the SUV, where Banshee and Savage were waiting for them, and Bolt quickly rolled up his window.

“Well, that was uncomfortable,” she whispered.

“Don’t let him bother you,” Bolt said. “He’s just grumpy that he has to work tonight instead of going home to his woman. But as our club’s pilot, he sometimes gets the short end of the stick.” Bolt quickly pulled on his clothes and helped Rebel to do the same.

“Are we good?” he asked, not sure if he should ask or not.

“We’re more than good,” she said, flashing him her sexy smile.

He wasn’t sure what it was about the woman that made him feel so off kilter, but he did around her.

Wanting her and not being able to have her took its toll on him, and now, he was going to have to find a way to tell Jace that he slept with Rebel.

He owed his friend the truth, even if it might end up with him getting his ass kicked.

He got out of the truck and grabbed both of their bags from the back seat, turning to hold out his free hand to Rebel. “Ready?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “I’m still pissed off that I don’t get a say in this,” she admitted. He knew that, but he was hoping that sex would help to sate her anger a bit. Judging from the fact that she was willingly walking with him to Ryder’s waiting SUV, he knew it probably had.

“How about I promise to include you in all our other decisions. He kind of liked thinking of them as a partnership, but he was sure that Jace wouldn’t be too fond of it.

“What about my brother?” she asked. “Will I be allowed to talk to him when he calls again?” She raised her chin as though challenging him to deny her the right to talk to her brother.

“Yes,” he breathed, “but first I need to tell Jace about us,” he admitted.

She stilled, her hand still in his. “Wait—us,” she said. “There is no us, Bolt, so there is nothing to tell Jace.”

He tugged her against his body and kissed her again, noting the way that she melted into him. “Oh, honey,” he breathed against her lips, “there is most definitely an us.”

“Would you two give it a rest and get in the fucking SUV?” Ryder asked, holding the back door open.

Banshee and Savage were watching them, both smiling like loons, and Bolt couldn’t help but do the same.

In fact, he had smiled more since picking up Rebel from the police station than he had in a damn long time, and that only drove home the point that he needed to come clean with Rebel and tell her about his past. She had told him everything about hers, and he owed her the same courtesy.

“Come on, I’ll tell you about my past if you’re a good girl and get into Ryder’s SUV—you know, before his head explodes,” Bolt teased.

She giggled and nodded. “You have a deal,” she agreed, sliding into the backseat. She slid over, and he got in next to her as Savage peeked his head into the SUV.

“Be careful, and check in once a day,” he ordered.

“When you get back to town, Rebel, I’d love to have you come on in and hang out with the Harlots.

We’re always looking for new members.” Bolt watched as she shyly nodded at Banshee, and Savage shut the door.

He wondered if Rebel would take her up on her offer to hang out with the Harlots.

Would that keep her in town longer? God, he hoped so because there was no way that he was going to willingly let her go—not now that he had finally tasted what he had denied himself out of duty to his friend.

No, he wanted to keep her around—forever if she’d allow it. ****

Bolt held onto the seat’s armrest for dear life, as though letting go would stop the plane from taking off. He hated flying. Hell, if he never had to step foot on a plane again, he’d be just fine with that.

“You okay?” Rebel asked as though picking up on his anxiety.

“I will be just as soon as we land,” he grumbled.

Rebel’s giggle filled the small cabin. “You’re afraid of flying?

” she asked. He wasn’t afraid of anything, once upon a time.

No, he was an Army Ranger, and flying was part of the job.

Hell, he used to love flying, and jumping out of planes was a thrill.

But since the accident that ended his military career, and losing his brothers, he fucking hated flying.

“I guess you could say that I’m not a fan of flying,” he breathed, still white knuckling the armrest. “Not anymore.”

“What happened to make you hate flying?” she asked. That was the very last thing that he wanted to talk about while they were in the air, but he knew Rebel well enough now to know that once she asked a question, she expected an answer.

“I was in an accident,” he admitted, hoping that would be enough information for her.

“Oh God,” she said. “Were you in a plane crash?” Rebel grabbed the armrest, and he hated the panicked look on her face.

“No, I wasn’t on the plane when it crashed,” he said. She looked at him as though he had lost his mind, and he knew that she was going to require more details than he was giving her.

“How were you not on the plane, Bolt?” she asked.

“Well, because I had just jumped out of it,” he admitted. Her gasp filled the cabin, and he released the armrest, pulling her hand into his own. If he was going to share his story, he was going to need to touch her.

“Why would you jump out of the plane?” she asked.

“It’s a long story,” he admitted.

“Well, we have almost four hours until we land. Can you tell me your story in four hours or less?” she asked. He didn’t want to tell any part of his painful story, but he knew she deserved at least that much from him.

He could tell that Rebel was waiting patiently for him to begin his story, but he wasn’t sure where to even start.

There was no way that he’d lie to Rebel but telling her the truth wasn’t going to be easy.

How did he tell the woman he was falling for that he had survivor’s guilt and possibly got more than half his unit killed?

Maybe just ripping off the band-aid was the way to go.

“I was in the military—Army Ranger. I’ve never told anyone why I left the military. I was too ashamed to put that truth out there, so I’ve kept it to myself all this time.”

“What happened?” she almost whispered.

“We were running training maneuvers the day that I lost more than half my unit. We were just about finished with the first run of jumps when everything went wrong. I was just about to jump when the plane’s engine caught fire.

I was thrown from the plane, but I was lucky.

I was wearing my parachute. My buddy, Matt, wasn’t as lucky.

He wasn’t jumping during that run, but he was also catapulted out of the plane.

” He paused, knowing that the worst part was still unsaid.

“I tried to catch up with him, but he was falling at a much faster rate than I was. All I could do was watch as he fell to his death. He died because of me. I was the one who wasn’t supposed to be jumping that day.

I convinced Matt to change places with me, and he did, saying that he had a headache anyway.

He died on impact, and all I could do was pull my chute and watch one of my brothers die, Rebel.

” She squeezed his hand into her own and swiped at the tears that fell down her face.

The last thing he wanted to do was make her cry, yet here he was doing just that.

“You couldn’t have known,” she insisted.

“I know that, but if I hadn’t been chasing that adrenaline high, he’d still be alive,” Bolt said. “And you wouldn’t be here,” she whispered.

“No, probably not, but I wouldn’t have had to live with survivor’s guilt. Hell, death might be a welcome substitute to feeling that pain.” He thought back about the events that happened after Matt’s death. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion around him.

“The plane went down next,” he almost whispered.

I was almost to the ground when I heard the pop of the second engine.

The damn thing nearly hit me on its way down, and I swear that I can still hear the guys shouting over the radio inside the cockpit.

They had to have known that they were going to die.

There was no surviving that kind of crash—especially with no working engine and one already on fire.

As it whizzed past me, I could feel the heat of the flames, and I knew that I was going to have to watch the rest of my friends die.

It was the worst day of my life, Rebel.”

“I’m so sorry,” she breathed.

“I blacked out when I hit the ground. I couldn’t control my chute, and I landed in the middle of the wreckage.

When I woke up in the hospital, they told me that I was lucky that I didn’t burn to death in the fire.

I didn’t feel very lucky, though. In fact, a part of me wished that I had died that day—with the rest of my brothers.

I was the only survivor, and I felt as though I had nothing to live for.

The rest of the guys had wives or girlfriends, and a few of them even had kids.

They were never going to go home to them again, but I was going to eventually walk out of there.

I ended up with shrapnel in both of my legs, and it took a lot of rehab and time, but I eventually walked on my own.

It just wasn’t fair. I should have done more to help save them.

I might have lost my career in the military, but those men’s families lost everything. ”

“There was nothing that you could have done. None of that was your fault, Bolt,” she assured, her hand covering his heart.

It felt as though it might actually beat out of his damn chest. God, she was the perfect fucking woman for him and not telling her that was weighing on him.

He didn’t care about her past. Hell, he had a past, too.

“You don’t have to say that, but I appreciate it.

I was a mess for so long. I was in and out of rehab for my drinking, and when I found the Royal Bastards, I finally started getting my act together.

Savage and the guys got me on the right track.

You know, most of them are either military or ex-military.

Well, except Banshee’s older brother, Killian.

He’s a one percenter, but he has a heart of gold. ”

“What’s a one percenter?” she asked.

“Um, it’s someone who’s been to prison. He got mixed up with the wrong club back when he was just a kid. But Savage stuck by him, and when he got out, Savage was there to help him get back on his feet.”

“Are there one percenters in the Royal Harlots?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Banshee and the other women are tough, but they haven’t been to prison. Do you think you might become a Harlot one day?” he asked.

Rebel shrugged, “No clue,” she admitted.

“Hell, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my little brother is in the FBI and is on the run from human traffickers.

Plus, I have to worry about my asshole stalker coming after me now.

You don’t think that he’ll be able to find me, do you? ” she asked.

“Nope,” Bolt immediately answered. “And if he does, he’ll have to deal with me.

That guy isn’t going to get anywhere near you, honey,” he promised.

He meant it too. That asshole wasn’t going to lay one finger on her—not on his watch.

He was more concerned about the Dead Rabbits catching up with them, but he was going to keep that fact to himself.

“Thank you for keeping me safe, Bolt,” Rebel almost whispered, snuggling into his body.

Bolt wrapped a protective arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

“You never have to thank me for keeping you safe, honey. I’ll always have your back.

” She nodded and laid her head on his shoulder.

He wanted to say so much more to her. Bolt wanted to tell Rebel that he loved her and that no one else would ever hurt her if he had a say in the matter, but when he heard her softly snoring, he knew that he had missed his window of opportunity.

Bolt closed his eyes and lay back in his seat, knowing that sooner or later, he’d tell her all those things, but for now, he’d let her get some rest.