Road to Freedom Read online

  “Well, neither is this conversation. Let me pass.”

  I sighed, knowing I’d get no further, and stepped aside. She walked down the stairs and I followed trying not to notice the graceful way her hips swayed as she headed toward my sister. Memories of her tight pussy covering my dick flooded my mind and I had to take a few deep breaths to keep from humiliating myself in front of my family.

  Goddammit, one night with her hadn’t been enough.

  * * *

  Remi

  Flea took my bag from me and set it in the trunk of Grace’s car. “Why is my bag in there? I’m driving.”

  “You’ve had a fright, Remi,” Grace countered. “I figured you’d rather not.”

  “I’m good,” I said.

  “I’ll drive you wherever you need to go,” Merrick offered.

  “That’ll give me an even bigger fright,” I mumbled somewhat under my breath.

  Merrick chuckled, indicating it wasn’t quite under my breath enough.

  I cleared my throat. “I’m fine to drive, on my own,” I said pointedly to Merrick. He stared at me, and the feelings I stuffed down two years ago flooded back again. I bit back frustration and met his eyes.

  “I’m going to follow you.”

  I scowled. “Merr—”

  “Not up for discussion, Remi,” he bossed.

  I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Grace and Flea. “Merrick. Please. Will you just go home?” I whispered.

  “Fuck, no.”

  I frowned. “Why not?”

  He smirked and stepped closer to me. “You and I have some unfinished business.”

  That’s what I was afraid of. “We finished our business two years ago,” I countered.

  “If you really think that, then you’re high.”

  “Ohmigod, Tweety, you have no right to say that.”

  “You don’t think so?”

  “No,” I snapped. “One night. That’s all it was supposed to be.”

  He crossed his arms. “And, in the morning, did you still feel that way?”

  “Yes.”

  Merrick grinned. “Liar.”

  I was a liar. So much so, I could smell the smoke coming from my pants.

  “You come back to my place, we can talk and if you still want me to fuck off, I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. If I went with him, I’d fuck him, and that would not go well for me.

  “I won’t let you take advantage of me,” he said, reading my mind and I gasped.

  “Excuse me?”

  “If you come with me, we’ll talk. Nothing else.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “You can follow me to my place, or ride with me.”

  “Merrick.”

  “Finch,” he corrected.

  I narrowed my eyes and said, “Tweety.”

  He dropped his head back and laughed. “Come on, Rem, I have an extra helmet.”

  “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “Now or later,” Finch said. “But it’s gonna happen, and I’m all about getting this kind of shit out of the way.”

  “Why?” I demanded. “We had our time.”

  He leaned closer. “Are you seriously still trying to tell me that that night meant nothing to you?”

  “Was it supposed to mean something?”

  Finch chuckled. “Not an answer, Rem.”

  “Look, I have no problem sitting down and having a conversation with you about all of this, but can we not do it tonight?”

  “Kinda forgot you’ve had a shit day, huh?” He sighed. “Yeah, baby, we can wait.”

  I nodded and headed back to where Grace and Flea waited.

  “You okay?” Grace asked.

  “Yep. But, seriously, I’m going to drive, okay? I don’t want to be without my car.”

  Grace faced Flea. “I’ll go with Remi, honey. Do you mind driving my car?”

  He nodded, leaning down to kiss her quickly. “I’ll follow you.”

  Grace and I climbed into my car and she directed me to Flea’s house.

  Finch

  Buzzing seeped into my head and I realized it was my phone. “Yeah?” I answered without looking at it.

  “Merr, Remington’s gone,” Grace said.

  I sat up and threw the covers off. “What do you mean, ‘gone’?”

  “I heard a car start up and knew something was wrong, so Flea checked out front and her car’s gone.”

  “Goddammit, Grace.”

  “Don’t ‘goddammit Grace’ me, big brother. You’re probably the reason she’s freaked.”

  “Is Flea tracking her phone?”

  “He asked Booker to do it. But, honestly, I feel weird about it.”

  Booker was the VP of the Dogs and our resident computer expert.

  I rolled my eyes as I dragged a pair of jeans on. “Get over that, sissy.”

  “She’s entitled to her privacy, Merrick.”

  “Not if she’s gonna run off in the middle of the fucking night,” I countered.

  “She’s scared,” Grace said. “I don’t blame her.”

  “I don’t either,” I admitted. “So, if you let me go, I’ll find her and tell her that.”

  “You can’t leave Grams.”

  “I’m not at Grams’,” I said. “Flick’s still with her.”

  Flick was one of the club’s oldest members and he had a past with my grandmother. One that was quickly being rekindled.

  “Is she okay with that?”

  “I think that’s a rhetorical question.”

  Grace sighed. “Probably.”

  “I’m gonna go find Remi, okay?”

  “Yes, but then you and I need to have a conversation about how you and she met.”

  “Do we, though?” I grabbed my wallet and the keys to my truck. If I had to force Remi into coming back to my place with me, then she’d probably feel safer in the truck.

  “Yes, yes we do.”

  “Hanging up now,” I said, and did so.

  I fired off a text to Booker and headed out to the street where I’d parked my truck, sliding into the cab just as Booker responded to my text with the current location of Remi’s phone. Why the fuck she was all the way up in Fisherman’s Bar, I didn’t know, but I headed that way.

  Arriving at the park, it didn’t take me long to find Remi’s car, but she wasn’t in it and this both worried and pissed me off. After shooting a text off to Cheese, one of the club’s recruits, I dialed Remington’s number and heard the faint sound of ringing to my right. Taking off that way, I kept the phone to my ear, but she never picked up.

  Fuck. I hope I didn’t find her phone shoved in some garbage can somewhere.

  I dialed her number again and this time I heard a quiet hiss of irritation before the phone stopped ringing. I found her sitting on top of a picnic table her back to me, so I made my way to her. “Remi.”

  She let out a bloodcurdling scream and jumped off the table, spinning to face me, her hands in some kind of karate pose. I forced myself not to laugh as I stopped walking and stared at her.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she ground out.

  “I’m here because my sister’s freaking out.”

  “Why?”

  “You seriously want me to answer that question?”

  “No.” She sighed, dragging her hands down her face.

  “Why are you out here alone, Remington?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Fair enough, but it is my sister’s.”

  She nodded, crossing her arms and looking not only vulnerable as hell, but cold. After firing off a quick text to Grace to let her know Remington was safe, I stepped closer to Remington. “Baby—”

  She waggled a finger at me. “No.”

  I walked toward her slowly and stopped when we were toe-to-toe. “What is going on with you, Rem? Huh? You shouldn’t be out here alone in the dark. It’s not safe.”

  “Puleeze, it’s Vancouver, Washi
ngton. It’s perfectly safe. I’m in more danger behind closed doors.”

  I frowned, sliding a hand to her neck and stroking her pulse. “What’s going on?”

  She shook her head.

  Shrugging off my leather jacket, I wrapped it around her shoulders and pulled the front closed. “Need you to talk to me, Rem.”

  “What would be the point?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” I lifted her chin. “I might be able to help.”

  “My parents are insisting I go home.”

  “And what do you want?”

  “I want to be a principal dancer in a respected ballet company...not in Savannah.”

  “So do that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You make it all sound so easy.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “Not really, no. They’re holding my trust fund hostage until I do what they tell me to.”

  “Do you need your trust fund?”

  “If I want a roof over my head, yes.”

  “Are you really standing here telling me you rely solely on trust fund money to survive?”

  “If I was?” She wrinkled her nose and it was so fucking cute, it took an extensive amount of energy not to kiss her.

  “Remi.”

  “Tweety,” she mimicked.

  “Why don’t you come back to my place and we’ll talk?”

  “It’s three in the morning.”

  “Got somewhere else you need to be?”

  “God, why are you always such a pain in the ass?” she hissed.

  “This ain’t nothin’, baby.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” she grumbled.

  * * *

  Remington

  Merrick chuckled, taking my hand and tugging me toward my car. At least I knew that once we were separated, I’d be able to ditch him. I just didn’t really have anywhere to go...unless, I wanted to go back to my apartment. And I didn’t. I was too afraid Vitaly might still be lurking.

  As we approached my car, I noticed a young guy standing beside Merrick’s truck and I couldn’t stop myself from squeezing Merrick’s hand and moving closer to him. He was right. It didn’t matter that I was in suburbia, it wasn’t safe to be out this late alone.

  “It’s all good, Rem. It’s Cheese. He’s gonna drive your car back to my place.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of driving.”

  “You’re also perfectly capable of trying to ditch me and I’m not taking any chances.”

  “Pain in my ever-blessed ass.”

  He stopped walking and turned to face me. “Yeah, I heard that the first twelve times you said it. And you need to quit referencing your ass, Remi, because I’ve seen it. Up close and personal, and I liked what I saw. I still remember what your pussy tastes like, and I liked that too. But the thing I like most about you is your fuckin’ sass, and since I also know your brain works faster than most, I’m not lettin’ you figure out a way to slip through my fingers again. Got it?”

  I bit my lip. God, I remember what it felt like when he tasted said pussy. He was a master with his tongue and I’d been so rocked by him that night, I’d practically taken a vow of celibacy.

  “Need you to acknowledge you hear me, Remington. Got it?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

  “You got it.” He made the statement and I glared at him.

  “I don’t have to ‘get’ shit, Merrick, you don’t own me.”

  “We’ll see about that.” He took my hand again and walked us to our cars.

  “Hey, brother,” Cheese said as we approached.

  “Did I wake you?” Merrick asked him.

  “Nah. I was...,” he glanced at me, then back at Merrick, “...entertaining. Had her drop me here.”

  Merrick smirked, then nodded at me. “Hand him your keys, Rem.”

  “No.”

  He faced me again and leaned down, so we were eye-to-eye. “Unless you want Cheese to rip the fuckin’ dashboard apart and hotwire it, I’d suggest you hand him your keys.”

  I knew he was serious, and I was honestly too tired to argue with him, so I pulled my keys out of my pocket and handed them to Cheese.

  “You’re a dick,” I snapped.

  “Only if you’re lucky,” Merrick retorted and lifted me into his truck.

  Without another word, he climbed in and we headed down the freeway.

  By the time he pulled into the parking lot of what I assumed was his ‘place,’ I was pretty much ready to go full-on nuclear, and he would be the man to take the full brunt of my mushroom cloud. It was dark, so I had no idea where we were or what his condo building looked like on the outside. I just knew you had to have a code to get through the gate, so it felt safer than my apartment, and not just because Vitaly was out there somewhere.

  Merrick climbed out of the truck and I saw him from the side mirror speaking with Cheese. I leaned over to the driver’s seat to check and see if he might have left keys, but I was out of luck. I huffed just as my door was opened.

  “Looking for a getaway option?” Merrick challenged.

  I scowled at him but said nothing.

  “Come on,” he directed. “Let’s go talk.”

  He helped me down and then we headed up to his condo. He entered another code to get into the building, then led me through a well-lit lobby area before stepping into an elevator and tugging me inside with him.

  Traveling up to the seventh floor, we walked down a long hallway and stopped at the fifth door on the right. Unlocking his door, he pushed it open and stepped back so I could precede him inside.

  He probably did that so I wouldn’t run.

  “Is Cheese coming to your place as well?” I asked.

  “No. One of the other recruits is gonna pick him up.”

  “Why is Cheese called Cheese?” I asked.

  “He doesn’t stop smiling.”

  “Oh,” I said, staring at my feet. I heard Merrick sigh and I looked up. “What?”

  “Remi, you’re safe here, you know that, right?”

  “Not really, no.”

  “Will you tell me what the hell is going on? I know it’s gotta be more than just your family situation.”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “I’m asking, Rem. I do want to know.”

  I have no idea why I broke. Chalk it up to exhaustion or my reactor melting down, but I decided if he wanted to know, he would know all of it. I pulled Merrick’s jacket tighter around me and lowered myself to the sofa. “Do you know about the serial killer that was taunting Savannah? He just recently got killed.”

  “Thomas whatever the fuck?”

  I nodded.

  “Yeah. Alamo’s a Dog.”

  “What’s a dog?”

  “Dogs of Fire. My club. Alamo’s the Sgt. At Arms for our Savannah chapter and he’s the one who killed the asshole.”

  “What?” I squeaked. “Why did he kill him?”

  “Because the woman he took was Alamo’s.”

  “Ohmigod,” I breathed out, squeezing my eyes shut. “Jasmine was Alamo’s girlfriend?”

  “Now wife, yeah.”

  I nodded as I started to swallow convulsively. I knew Jasmine. Sort of. She was a year ahead of me in our private high school, and she’d always been nice, but we didn’t quite move in the same circles.

  “Who was he to you?” Merrick asked. “Thomas.”

  I bit my lip. “Technically...he was my ex-fiancé.”

  Merrick sat down and faced me. “Fuck.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t care that Thomas is dead. He was an awful human being. I just didn’t realize you were that close to it.”

  “When were you supposed to get married?”

  I shook my head. “We weren’t getting married. I broke it off the day before I met you. It’s why I was at the bar. My girls took me out to celebrate.”

  Merrick frowned. “And a woman went missing the next day.” />
  I felt the sting of tears and nodded. “Yes.”

  “This isn’t your fault.”

  “I know. I get it.” I reached over and squeezed his hand. “Can you let me talk without commiserating or interrupting or doing your lawyer thing?”

  “My lawyer thing?”

  “Arguing.”

  “I’m not arguing.”

  I saw his slight smile and leaned back slightly. “Don’t be a dick.”

  He raised his hands in surrender. “I will cease and desist being a dick immediately.”

  “Thank you.” I burrowed deeper into Merrick’s jacket, letting its warmth seep into me. “Thomas was insane, obviously, but he’s old money and my parents wanted an advantageous union. I was the sacrificial lamb. Of course, I didn’t know any of this until a week before I broke off the engagement. All I knew was that a handsome, rich, and sweet man was showing me affection that seemed genuine. That all lasted a year.”

  Merrick rose to his feet. “Keep talking, I’m gonna grab a beer. Want anything?”

  I shook my head. Merrick stepped around his island and opened the fridge while I tried to figure out how to info dump everything.

  “Just spit it out, Rem,” Merrick said, taking his seat again.

  “I don’t even know why I’m telling you all of this, to be honest.”

  “Because I’m a good listener.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so.” He tipped his beer toward me. “Keep going.”

  “We’d been dating for about a year or so when Thomas proposed. I was over the moon happy...as were my parents. I’d made an extremely advantageous match and I was in love. Win-win.” I bit my lip, my memories flooding back to Savannah. “It all changed after we were engaged. He started getting weird sexually.”

  “Weird how?”

  “I really don’t think you want to know. Let’s just say it surpassed Christian Grey kinky and went into psychopathic deviance.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah. He spent several months trying to cajole me into all manner of grossness, and he’d call me frigid if I didn’t. All the typical abuser stuff. I mean, for the love of God, I was not going to let that man shove his feet into my pussy.”

  “Are you fucking serious?” he hissed.

  “As a heart attack. I recognized it for what it was and broke up with him, making sure we were in a public place and handing him my engagement ring. Three days later, he broke into my apartment.”