Chapter Three

Gabi tore down Crown Blvd., checking the rear view mirror obsessively, shaking and panting. It wasn’t until she got a good three miles away that her breaths started to come more easily. She spotted a 7-11, and even though this was a damn lousy neighborhood to stop in, she had to. She was almost crying, and she thought she might puke.

She pulled up as close to the store as she could, glad for the fluorescent lights. She didn’t want to get out of the car, but she needed some air, so she rolled down her window a bit. The mid-May night breeze was cool and refreshing, and she sucked it in gratefully, holding the steering wheel in a death-grip.

Her panic was lessening and she took deeper breaths. OK. She needed to think now, think clearly and well. She had just witnessed – well, kind of – the murder of a man named Miguel by two guys named Trigger and Ace. Whatever the hell it was all about, she knew she didn’t want to know any more than that. Lord, even that much was far too much.

I was never there. Right?

Something nagged at her, though, something was lurking in the corner of her mind. She tried to think what she was missing, what she’d forgotten. It was when her shivering in the chill turned to shaking, and she looked in the back seat for her jean jacket, that she remembered.

Fuck. I never found it.

She closed her eyes, fought hard to stay in control. A shriek of terror and shock was working its way up her throat and she swallowed it down. Losing her mind would accomplish exactly nothing, and it may even get her killed yet.

Think, Gabi. Think. What the hell are you going to do now?

OK. She needed a place to hide out and get herself together. Someplace safe, someplace she knew, and no way she was going home. She needed to lay low for a while, get her story straight about her jacket. She could have just forgotten it when she left the garage at eleven o’clock precisely, right? Sure she could have, despite the lateness of the hour, and the spring chill in the air. But she had to practice that story until it rolled off her tongue, until the lie became the truth. Just in case someone came asking.

Who’d come asking? I don’t want to know.

Shaking off her fear, she started the car again. She knew now where she had to go, and even though it was far from ideal, it was hands-down the safest place she could think of. The irony was that it was one of the last places in Denver that most people saw as safe.

Dangerous Curves.

****

Aidan Carter was just getting ready to go home when he saw Gabriela walk through the door of Curves. As always when he first laid eyes on her, his whole body went hot as the force of his want sucker-punched him smack in the chest and the balls.

From across the room, he allowed himself to openly stare at her. Her long, black hair was tied back in its usual messy ponytail, her jeans and shirt were her baggy work clothes. Her perfect golden skin looked worryingly pale, and those beautiful dark eyes had purple smudges under them. She looked tired and stressed, and Aidan thought that she was easily the most gorgeous, stunning woman he’d ever seen.

She looked around now, and something about the way she was moving gave him pause. He zeroed in on her heart-shaped face – those plump lips and curved cheekbones both begging for his rough fingers to stroke them – and he tensed up at the expression on it. She looked… off.

Scared?

She saw him now, and the look of relief that flashed across her face was unmistakable. He felt worry and protectiveness moving up his chest as she rushed across the room to him.

“What’s wrong?” he said.

She faltered. “Why – what makes you think something’s wrong?”

“Come on, Gabriela. It’s the middle of the goddamn night. Also? You look totally panicked.”

“I do?”

“Yeah.” He glanced around. Curves was full of its usual early-morning bunch of potential troublemakers, drunks and ex-cons. A dozen members of The Road Devils MC were also in attendance tonight, and a few of them were looking at her in a way that he wasn’t the slightest bit crazy about. He nodded at Luke to take over the bar, and he took her arm. “Come on. Into the staff room.”

Meekly, Gabi allowed him to march her down the hall and open the door for her. As soon as they stepped inside, he turned on her. “Now what’s up? What are you doing here at two o’clock in the fucking morning?”