Page 34 of Trusting Skulls (Rebel Skull MC #8)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Lexie

I rub my head. I’m so confused. How did I end up in Graham’s front seat?

A groan escapes me when I realize I must have fucked up and gotten drunk again.

Eventually, the disappointment in myself begins to fade and my mind clears.

Wait a minute. I’m not drunk. Everything comes rushing back with vengeance, and I reach for the door.

I don’t care how fast he’s going. I’ll jump out at sixty miles an hour before I let him touch me again.

I can’t risk losing my relationship with Ash.

Ash! Oh my god! What must he be thinking?

Fuck. I’m locked in.

How long have I been unconscious? My heart beats so fast, I worry I might pass out again.

As my mind races, Graham sits quietly in the driver’s seat, his eyes never leaving the road.

“Please take me home. I have a boyfriend now. I can’t play your games anymore.”

The smirk on his face makes my stomach sink.

“Boyfriend?” He shakes his head in disbelief, shrinking my ego even more. “I don’t think any of the guys you hookup with are close to being your boyfriend.”

I bite my tongue. Maybe it’s better if he doesn’t know about Ash. I don’t know if Graham is capable of hurting him, but I’m not willing to take the risk.

“Please take me back to my car. I don’t want to play today.”

“Oh, but it’s going to be so much fun. I’ve rented a house in the mountains, so we’ll have no interruptions. The wilderness will be our playground.”

A shiver runs straight up my spine.

“Are … are you mad at me?”

“No. Why would I be mad at you?” he asks, finally taking his eyes off the road to look at me.

“I don’t know. Because I turned down the job?”

His jaw clenches as he pulls onto a dirt road, but he doesn’t respond.

He’s clearly angry with me. He doesn’t say anything for the next thirty minutes as we curve round and round, getting farther away from the main road.

A big house eventually comes into view. When he parks in front of it, I know we’ve reached our destination.

He shifts his body toward mine, leaning into my space. “You’ve never denied me.”

He chases my gaze as I squish myself against the door, avoiding his eyes. His fingers dig into my face to hold me still. “You. Denied. Me,” he grits out, terrifyingly annunciating each word.

My teeth cut into my cheek as he increases the pressure, and tears sting at my eyes. I’ve never seen him so angry. He’s scared me in the past, but this is a level of fear I’ve never experienced with anyone.

His eyes bounce over my face for several minutes before he removes his attention from me. He doesn’t let go as he glances around our surroundings, keeping me held in his painful grip.

A smile curls his lips upward. “This is perfect.”

When he looks at me again, he asks a question that makes me whimper in his hold. “How are your survival skills?”

He laughs, pushing my face away so harshly that my head smacks the window.

“Get out,” he orders, unlocking the doors.

I rub my hand over the back of my head and step out. The breeze instantly teases my senses with the scent of pine, taking me back to Dirk’s cabin, but I can’t think about that right now. I’m going to need to keep my wits about me. Who knows what Graham has planned for me this time?

He pulls a bag from behind his seat … and then a gun. A fucking gun!

My eyes widen when he points it at me.

“Get inside.”

He’s going to kill me.

“Graham, please, you’re scaring me …”

“Get. Inside!” he barks.

It frightens me enough that I scurry ahead of him as quickly as I can.

He follows close behind, the gun poking against my back.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening,” I plead once we step inside the house.

“Sit.” The tip of his gun points toward a chair in the living room.

Once he’s satisfied I’ll stay, he heads to what I’m assuming is the kitchen. Pots and pans bang erratically, making me jump in my seat. Why is he doing this? Why is he so angry? Is it because I turned down his job offer? This is insane!

We’ve met up randomly over the years, but he’s never indicated he wanted some sort of loyalty from me. The only thing he’s ever asked is that we keep our hookups between the two of us. Maybe he knows I told someone. But how could that be?

Almost an hour passes before he drags out a kitchen chair, flips it backward and straddles it in front of me. “Did you tell someone about us?”

“What?”

He can’t know that I told JD and Elizabeth. There is no way.

“It’s a simple question, Lexie.”

“No. Of course not.”

He rests his arms over the back of the chair, his brows pulling together. “It must have been one of the others,” he says quietly to himself.

Others?

“You didn’t think you were the only one, did you?”

“No.” I’m not stupid. I’m sure he’s had affairs with other women. I’m so confused. “Graham, I would never tell your wife about us.”

He runs his hands through his hair, messing it up. It’s so strange. I’ve never seen him so frazzled. He’s always so put together.

“That’s not who they told.”

I give up. “Who else would they have told?”

“The police, Lexie. The fucking police.”

“The police?”

He drops his forehead to the back of the chair. “My attorney called me late last night. There’s a warrant out for my arrest.”

“What? For what?”

He lifts his head, and his gaze finally softens. It’s the same look he gave me in the beginning. Back when simple things made him happy.

“You’re so innocent,” he whispers.

“I’m not innocent.” I’m the furthest thing from it.

“But you are.” He reaches out to trace a finger down the side of my face. “I’m sorry I thought it was you.” His brows pull together, and his hand falls away. “You’d been spending so much time with those bikers. I thought maybe …”

“I’m so confused, Graham. You’re not making any sense.”

His phone vibrates, and he quickly pulls it from his pocket. “Fuck! Something triggered my cameras.” His eyes bounce over his screen. “We have a visitor.”

He gives me an angry glare before grabbing me by my arm and marching me into a bedroom with no windows and locking me in.

“Graham, please. Tell me what is happening!” My fists bang on the door for a few seconds until I give up in a fit of tears on the floor.

Not even thirty minutes later the door opens, and my world comes crashing down around me.