Taming Blaze Read online

  “Shit!” I yelled, flooring the gas pedal to pull ahead of the minivan. From my peripheral vision I saw the guy on the bike veer to the shoulder, and I looked in the rearview mirror, watching him make it back on the road. My heart was thumping wildly in my chest. I had nearly hit him.

  I should pull over and make sure he’s okay, I thought. Then, yeah, that’s what I need to do. Pull over and make sure some biker is okay. That’s how you get killed. That thought was ironic, given what had just happened with Billy. Besides, I hadn’t actually hit the biker. But it was a reminder that I needed to get my head screwed on straight. Maybe I shouldn’t be driving home by myself after all.

  My heart pounded in my chest. I breathed in deeply, big calming breaths, trying to get my heart rate to return to normal. It was just a scare, that’s all.

  It took a half hour for my heart rate to come back down and for me to feel less on edge. I wasn’t usually the panicky type, but today was just not my day. I was exhausted already. I should look at finding a nice hotel and spend the night relaxing in a bubble bath with a glass of wine. Maybe at the bed and breakfast up the road, the place I'd stayed before. That might be exactly what the doctor ordered.

  I drove on until I saw the red light on the dashboard. How had I not noticed the low gas light before? Five miles left until empty. Are you fucking kidding me? Now this day could not get any worse. There were no billboards, and I tried to remember if there were any towns along here, anything that might have a gas station. Was there a gas station before the hotel? I fumbled for my cell phone on the center console, sliding my thumb across the screen. No signal. Of course I had no signal.

  So, I was going to be stranded on the side of the road. Then my father would send one of his men up to school to find me gone. Maybe next my mother’s killer would come along and get rid of me too. After all that had happened with Billy last night- now this? My father would flip out. He’d insist that I have an escort everywhere, and who could blame him? The idea of being under house arrest on top of everything else struck me as hysterical. I felt a giggle build up in my chest, and I started to laugh, first just a little and then uncontrollably.

  When the car actually sputtered, jerking as it came to a stop, I was resigned to my fate. Apparently I was just a magnet for shit right now. Checking my phone for a signal again, I confirmed I was in a dead zone. Perfect. What the fuck am I going to do now? I tried to calm myself, think through the options. Okay. I could hike to a gas station or sit here and wait for a stranger to help me. Both seemed like choices that involved getting picked up by an axe-murdering serial killer, so they were equally stellar.

  I leaned forward, resting my head against the steering wheel, and breathed out. Calm. I breathed in. Relax. I practiced the deep breathing I had learned in yoga. Yoga didn’t exactly prepare me for this. I breathed in and my breath turned into sobs. Deep, heaving, body-racking sobs. Once I started crying, I couldn’t stop, tears streaming down my face. I suddenly felt like I was gasping for air, choking. In my mind's eye, Billy's face flashed in front of mine, inches away, and I felt his hands, a vise grip around my neck, squeezing the life from me.

  I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.

  Pulling at the door handle, I stumbled out of the car, falling to my knees in the dirt and overgrown grass on the side of the road. I heard an engine, and knew I should be out there flagging down the vehicle, but I felt bile in the back of my throat, and then the contents of my stomach came up, burning. Even after I’d vomited, I knelt there dry-heaving and sobbing.

  When I finally stopped, I wiped my mouth with my hand. My nose dripped, and I brushed it against the back of my hand, sniffling. Gross. The last time I’d cried was at my mother’s funeral. I felt like I’d just spilled out years worth of tears. It was like I’d expelled everything I’d been building up since I was fourteen.

  I spit on the ground. My mouth tastes like crap. I need a piece of gum, I thought. Standing, I brushed the dirt from my jeans and straightened the scarf I’d tied around my neck earlier.

  Fuck my life.

  There he was, the biker I’d nearly side-swiped before, standing by my car, helmet in his hand. Motorcycles weren’t exactly quiet. How had I not heard him pull up? How could I have been that absorbed in my own shit that I hadn’t noticed?

  Oh, crap. That meant he had to have seen me crying and throwing up. I felt heat rise to my face as I flushed with embarrassment. That was just great. My face was scarlet, I was sure. Then I looked at him. Really looked at him. Holy shit, he is hot. That made this doubly embarrassing.

  Blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, blue eyes, chiseled jawline. He wasn't hot the way Billy had been attractive, compensating for some inner insecurity with all his pricey things. This guy was different. Absolutely nothing about him said money. But everything about him screamed raw masculinity. I had a brief fantasy of what he would look like naked, wondered whether the tattoos that snaked up his forearm covered the rest of his body as well, thought about how it would feel to have his body pressed against mine. What the hell was wrong with me that I was thinking about this biker that way, hours after Billy had choked me?

  Way to go, Dani, I thought. Congratulations. You officially have the world’s worst taste in men. They should give out awards for that.

  I wiped my nose again, aware I had to be standing there in front of him covered in vomit and snot. This day could not get any worse. Who cares what he thinks, anyway?

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I ran out of gas,” I said, as if that would explain the vomiting and crying.

  “Okay. But are you all right?” He gestured toward the grass where I had knelt. So he had seen everything.

  “Yes.” I paused. “No. I’m having a really bad day.” I half expected him to laugh at me, the rich girl in the Mercedes, whining about having a rough life. But he didn’t laugh. He just nodded, looking at me.

  “I can see that.”

  “I’m sorry about nearly running you off the road before. I didn’t see you at all. I was going to stop, but you were still riding…” My voice trailed off, and I knew my excuse sounded lame, even as I spoke. I felt naked under the intensity of his stare.

  “Okay then,” he said. “You want a lift to the gas station? I'm pretty sure there’s one a couple miles down the road here.”

  “That would be great. Thank you,” I said. “I’m Dani.”

  “Blaze.”

  Blaze? What the hell kind of a name was Blaze? I opened my mouth, then closed it again. “Blaze?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for the help.”

  He nodded, and I followed him to the motorcycle, a blacked out Harley Crossbones. “You ridden a bike before?”

  “A couple of times.”

  “Good,” he said. “Hang on tight. You have to move with me.” Move with him. That won’t be a problem, I thought.

  I took the Pacific Highway on the way back, down the road past Big Sur, enjoying the weather and the scenery. Nothing felt better than the bike between my legs, the sun on my face, and a ride like this. I should have taken the highway and just headed straight back to the clubhouse, but hell, Tank and Itchy and the other guys were already on their way back. It would be no big deal if I took my time. Mad Dog would understand. Shit, he’d understand anything that involved getting pussy.

  Riding solo like this gave me time to breathe. I loved the Inferno MC, more than anything, but it was like spending all your time with family, a huge fucked up dysfunctional one. Sometimes you just needed to get out and ride alone, clear your head. Of course, my head was plenty clear right now. Hell, I'd just gotten laid this morning. But it was too sunny and this was too good a ride to trade for the shorter one down the interstate.

  It was late afternoon when I hit open road, and I finally sped up, trying to cover more mileage before nightfall. I'd gotten out of the scenic part of the the Pacific Highway, so I needed to get this show on the road. I shifted uncomfortably on the seat. I needed to sto