The Devil's Due by Vivian Lux Page B

crossed him any further. I was naked and had nowhere to run.
    I could taste panic in the back of my throat when Wyatt stepped right up into Cade’s face. Their noses were practically touching and their teeth were bared like savage dogs. I saw Cade ball up his massive fist and hold it clenched and ready at his side.
    Time stood still, and then something unseen passed between them.
    “Fine,” said Wyatt shortly, agreeing to whatever silent agreement the two men had just reached. Turning from Cade, he headed back to the door. “We ride in fifteen minutes,” he announced, then turned to regard me coldly. “Better close your legs and put some clothes on.”
    He gave one last eye-rolling sneer and then shut the door behind him.
    I let a whoop of breath, suddenly realizing I had been holding it. “I fucked up. I’m sorry!” I started apologizing immediately. Cade’s silently furious face terrified me.
    Cade grabbed his shirt off of the back of the chair and pulled it over his head. “Wyatt’s my brother. He won’t fuck with what’s mine,” he said slowly, in a voice so low I moved closer to hear him. I knelt up in the bed, waiting to be told what I needed to do next.
    “What we gotta do now,” he continued in that same low tone, “is hurry up and make you mine.”
    He touched my chin at those words, tipping it upward. His lips brushed against mine, soft and warm and safe. I kissed him back hungrily, begging him with my lips to stay here, here with me, here in this bed where it was safe. I wanted to stay forever right in this room with his arms around me, making love to me to keep the demons away.
    But when the engines started up outside our window, I knew our peaceful little haven was lost.

Chapter 12

    I grabbed my clothes from where they lay folded neatly on the bedside table, smiling privately at the sweetness of my massive biker folding my cardigan.
    I stepped out into the cool dawn light and shivered, feeling silly in my little frilly sweater, lacy tank, and floral skirt. I crossed my arms around my chest.
    Cade followed me out of the room. When he saw me standing shivering in my former Sunday best, his eyes softened immediately.
    “I need new clothes,” I told him.
    “I like you this way.”
    “Thought you liked me without my clothes?” I struck a vampy pose.
    His stony face broke out into a wide smile, the stubborn set of his jaw smoothing into genuine happiness. It was intoxicating.
    “What I like,” he said, pulling me close, “is taking your clothes off .”
    I pressed into him and he wrapped me in his strong arms. The parking lot melted away as I lost myself in his kiss. But no sooner had we started than a rough voice cut into the moment.
    “Hey, Romeo! Can we get going here?”
    Cade broke away from our kiss to nod. “Yeah, Jax, we’re ready.”
    I turned to see who had spoiled my moment and froze. It was the other biker from my initiation. But instead of leering at me as Wyatt had, he merely raised his fingers off his handlebars in bored greeting. I hesitantly wiggled my fingers back and he nodded. I think I saw a smile twist briefly at the corner of his mouth.
    We rode. I watched the landscape change as we put the miles behind us. The dusty brown earth of Flint Springs was already gone, changed to a deeper brick red. The morning sun was at our backs as we headed west on the deserted highway, casting long, deep shadows across the red land.
    I watched in wonder at how big the world was, stretched out from horizon to horizon with us at the very center. The sky was rapidly changing from pale pink to deep blue, and off to the west I could see a faint line of hills rising to meet us.
    The first sign of civilization was the steel gray bridge that rose into view. Behind it, low buildings grew out of the red earth and became a city.
    Porter Crossing was slung low against a lazy brown river that we crossed just as the morning traffic was beginning to stir. I saw more cars than I had ever seen in my