Chapter Three

Darcie

Only a person with the worst luck in the world would lock lips with someone to get over their fiancé’s infidelity only to find out they were related.

Either they would have the worst luck or be named Darcie Summers. 

Stomping away from the table, I mulled it all over. It wasn’t like you could even tell they were related by just looking at them. They were complete opposites. One blonde and clean cut. And the other dark and well dark… Havoc exuded danger. 

They did have one thing in common, though. They were both dicks. 

“Hi, I need a room.” 

The woman behind the desk glanced up from her computer screen, and for a second, she frowned. “Is the room you’re in not suitable, Miss Summers?” The frown disappeared, replaced by a very professional and very fake smile. 

“The room is fine; I just need one for myself.” I hated explaining myself. Hated the look of pity that flitted across her face. 

“There’s nothing…”

“Anything will do.” I waved my credit card in the air. “I just need a base so I can plan my travel back to the UK,” I added, giving her more information than she needed. 

But that was me all over. I was a total over-sharer. I always had been. 

“The honeymoon suite will be vacated today….” She stumbled over her own words. Pity clear on her face.

Did everyone know? We really must have been shouting last night. Not to mention our little display just minutes ago. The waiting staff had obviously overheard. 

They were really quick on the gossip around here, that was for sure. 

“That’s fine.” I slapped down the piece of plastic with a thump that was louder than I intended, and the girl jumped.

“I can make sure the…couple like things are removed for you.” 

“If you’re talking about things like chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne, then they can stay… In fact, I’ll pay extra for them if they aren’t included.” I gave her a bright smile. And she visibly relaxed. “All us ladies need a little romance sometimes, right? Even if we have to arrange it ourselves.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

Booking the room only took a few minutes. Then I was on my way back to pack my belongings with the receptionist’s promise she would call me as soon as the new room became available.

Even if I packed slowly, I would have at least a few hours to spare. Maybe I could grab a cab into town again? The thought made me pause. 

Maybe not. That hadn’t exactly ended well the last time. 

“What the hell?” I froze in the doorway. The room I had been sharing with Lucas was turned upside down. Clothes and cosmetics were strewn across the floor and bed. 

Even my underwear.

Some of it even looked like he had torn them apart with his bare hands. 

I was going to kill Lucas. What kind of vindictive bastard ruined someone’s clothes because they broke up with you?

Slamming the door shut behind me, I went in search of my asshole of an ex-fiancé. 

***

I don’t know what made me head towards the car park—some sixth sense. But I knew I had made the right choice when Lucas’ blonde head caught the mid-morning sunshine. 

It was only when I was halfway towards our hire car that I realised he wasn’t alone. 

Whoever he was with, he didn’t look happy about it, and I felt my heart slam into my throat.

The dark hair, the muscular shoulders. Were Havoc and Lucas going at each other in a car park like two teenage hooligans? 

The thought made me oddly cross. The only thing they could be fighting over was me. And neither of them had any right to do that. I wasn’t property they could own. And I wasn’t some damsel they could duel over either. 

Not to mention I didn’t particularly like either of them. Sure, one I had been in a relationship with, almost married I reminded myself ruefully, and the other was the man I had made out with just last night. But it didn’t mean I actually liked them as people.

Because I didn’t.

They were both assholes.

They might not look alike, but they had that much in common.

Lucas’ head snapped up, his eyes wide, and I could tell even from my place across the car park that he wasn’t happy to see me. Which was fine. He was going to be even less happy to see me when I got to him. Straightening my shoulders, I marched towards him.

“Dar…” His voice was a croaky whisper, and for a second, I wondered why he sounded like that. It was only when the man in front of him turned that I realised it wasn’t Havoc at all. This man was older. And much better dressed than Havoc’s jeans and boots.

He also had his hand wrapped around my ex-fiancé’s throat. Fingers digging in so much that his knuckles were white. 

Shit, I came to a halt so suddenly it was like I had hit an invisible brick wall. And I could feel my eyes grow wide.

What the hell was going on now?

“I….” I struggled to find something to say. My heart thumping against my ribs like someone playing the tambourine as eyes swept over me. 

What the hell was I meant to say in a situation like this?

“This your fiancé?” A dark eyebrow arched. “Pretty little thing, isn’t she?” He had an accent I couldn’t place. It didn’t have the same kind of lilt that Havoc had. 

So he was from out of town like us. 

“Darcie, is it?”

I nodded. “Yes, and you are?”

“My name doesn’t matter.” He let Lucas go, and he crumpled to his knees. Sucking in great wheezing breaths. 

“Are you ok?” Ex fiancé or not, I couldn’t just let him stay there on the floor, struggling for breath. Pushing past the stranger, I reached for him, only to be stopped when steel-like fingers gripped my arm. “Don’t you worry about him, beautiful.” His words were as dark as his eyes as he tugged me backwards. “This is nothing compared to what is going to happen to him if he doesn’t pay up.”

“Pay up?” I couldn’t help the squeak to my voice as I wrenched my arm from his hand, my eyes darting around. 

There was no one in sight and no way I could get past the man who was crowding me into the driver’s side door of our rental car. 

“Yes, unless you know where my package is?”

Package? The confusion must have shown on my face. 

“No?” He dragged a finger down my cheek as he stepped into my space. His much bigger body crowded mine, until he was so close, I had no choice but to look up at his face or have my face and nose squashed against his chest.  “Maybe you can help him find the hundred grand he owes me then?” Another caress of my cheek, and I shuddered. 

He wasn’t hurting me, just the opposite in fact, but the threat was there. 

“I don’t have….” I swallowed hard. Had he really said Lucas owed him a hundred grand? I opened my mouth to ask him whether that was dollars or pounds Sterling. And then shut it again with a snap.

It didn’t matter the currency. I didn’t have that type of money. 

“That is a shame.” His breath washed over my face. Minty… which was strange. Wasn’t the bad guy meant to have horrible breath? I’m sure it was in the bad guy’s handbook.  “Maybe you and I can come to some other arrangement…. Buy your future husband a little time to get me what he owes me.” His hand slipped from my cheek until he was pressing it against my breast.

He groped at me like I was a piece of fruit he was testing for ripeness, and the entire time, Lucas just stared up at us and did nothing.

He really was an asshole. 

The throaty sound of an engine filled my ears, but it seemed quiet compared to the chaos going on in my head. 

I was stood in a car park with a man fondling me, and I couldn’t move. What the hell was wrong with me? I had never understood the term frozen from fear before today, but I did now. 

”There some kind of problem here?”

Glancing up, my eyes caught Havoc’s over my attacker's shoulder; he didn’t seem surprised or even worried as he put out the cigarette he had been smoking with the heel of his boot.

”No problem, this has nothing to do with the club.” The hand that had been pawing at me left my breast, and I let out the breath I hadn’t realised I had been holding.

”Ah, see, but it does.” Havoc shrugged. The frown on his face spread. It looked almost predatory. ”Because the woman you just had your hands on is my woman.” He didn’t even look at me as he said it. 

”I thought she was Darcie Summers, ” The man seemed confused.  “Her passport said Darcie Summers. She’s your brother’s fiancée.”

“Once she was, yeah.” Another shrug. “But now she’s my woman. What can I say? She knows a better man when she sees one.” Havoc’s laughter was carefree, but that didn’t take away from the seriousness of his eyes. He might sound happy, but he was pissed. I didn’t even know him, and I could tell. 

“So I would appreciate it if you took your hands off my old lady.” He winked. “Before I break your fingers.”

***

I didn’t say a word as Liam, or did I call him Havoc, gathered me into his arms, pressing my cheek into the soft leather of his cut.

It smelt like him, masculine and smokey. And strangely of sunshine where the sun was warming it. 

“You ok, baby?” He tilted my chin up, his eyes searching my face. “Not hurt?” The pad of his thumb pressed against my lips, and my heart started hammering against my ribs for a totally different reason. And all the while, the man who had been my fiancé until yesterday just stared at us.

“I’m not hurt,” I whispered, my voice coming out raspy. 

“Good.” He tucked me more securely into his side, his arm heavy around my shoulders. As he turned back to the man. “Real good for you, actually. Now all I need to know is…” He glanced downwards, and from my place, under his arm, I saw his lips curl in a sneer as he looked down at his brother. “Get off the goddamn floor.” Disgust rolled off him in waves as Lucas climbed to his feet. 

 “All I need to know is why you were groping my woman?”

I sighed; it seemed he was sticking to his story, but I kept my mouth shut. This one time, I had needed a man to rescue me.

“Your brother owes us…”

Havoc’s eyes flashed. But he held up a finger, silencing the man. “Don’t say another word, not in front of the lady. Business should be kept between the men, don’t you think?” He pressed his lips against the top of my head. 

“She really doesn’t look like a biker chick.”

Havoc laughed. “Want to watch me fuck her right here on the hood? No, well then keep your damn opinions to yourself.” 

I bristled at his words but kept my mouth shut. If pretending to be his woman helped me get out of the situation, I would do it. 

“Ready to get out of here, baby?”

“Yes, please.”

“Havoc?” The man called after us. “This isn’t over.”

Saying nothing Havoc, bent over me. Pulling the helmet that had been resting on his bike over my hair. “Whatever happens now, just play along.” He whispered a split second before his lips came crashing down on mine.

Somewhere behind me, Lucas cried out.

“What the hell are you doing?” I hissed it against his mouth.

“Keeping you safe, Darcie Summers, I don’t know how my brother got involved with the mob, but now you are well and truly on their radar. Luckily for you, you’re on mine as well.” Another kiss. “Now get on the damn bike.”