"Please," she murmured against his lips. "Take me to bed."

  He ignored her. He took her hand and placed it under the running water to encourage giving herself pleasure. The pressure of the very warm water aided her and she was so aroused by him that her orgasm hit immediately. The sensation of wave after clenching wave cresting over her as the heat and flow of water cascaded against her was intensely sweet.

  Laura felt her wetness flow from her body, now pleasantly sated. She felt herself organically relaxed, something that she had not experienced in quite some time – not since her brother disappeared. Since then, she had been relying on alcohol and endless work to blot out the stress.

  Will spilled shampoo in his palm and gently lathered her hair. He massaged her scalp with the finesse of a cosmetologist, sending tingling waves of relaxation throughout her body. Laura was pleasantly, naturally doped. He rinsed her hair, then drew her to her feet. Very thoroughly he dried her off with a towel. He released the tub water and guided her out to her bed.

  Will drew down Laura's bedcovers and encouraged her to lay down, naked. A soothing comfort blanketed her as Will covered her with the clean, cool bed linens. She felt whole and secure. She felt serene. The natural fabrics against her bare body were sumptuously healing. She was so comfortable that the mild ache that he was not climbing into bed with her did not hurt so much. Sleep was drawing her in. Through her closing eyes, she watched him dim the lights to all but just a night light. Will sat in the chair at the end of her bed. He was watching her go to sleep.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Whatever charm Will Shriner worked on her seemed to relieve Laura of her yearning to take her usual detour at Luckie's. It was the end of January and the Baltimore winter had been a bitter one, but it had been days since she had her encounter with her handsome bad boy Disciple, and Laura had the undeniable urge to start exercising again. She had been an avid jump roper but she felt like running. The timing was perfect, as Baltimore hit a patch of unseasonably warm weather.

  Laura pulled her hair back into a ridiculously short spiky ponytail, threw on a hoodie, and hit the pavement. It was dark by the time she arrived home, but the streets were lit. The neighborhood had a so-so reputation but Laura's need to run was greater than her fear. The air was soft and warm. Late spring like this was a welcomed change to the blasts of snow. Snow piles from plowed pavement lined the streets, but still it was pleasant enough outside she could run without a coat.

  Laura grew up in this neighborhood and knew it blind. She ran, earphones in, and wasn't focused too greatly until she hit smack dab into an obstacle. She was knocked flat on her ass.

  She looked up and standing before her was a mean looking young man, sporting the colors of the Marauders – the gang who corrupted her young brother and were the last to see him alive.

  She was so enraged at the sight of him, she contemplated charging him with everything she had, consequences be damned. She glared at him, formulating a plan of attack.

  The Marauder laughed at her show of feathers. "Aren't you feisty? Luke didn't mention you were so hot," he teased.

  "Luke? Who would that be?" Laura toyed, knowing full-well that her brother, Lucas, went by the name Luke on the street. "Don't know any Luke."

  The Marauder sank to his haunches. He showed her his cellphone. "Maybe this will refresh your memory," he said.

  She tried not to show her horror but she felt it through and through. On the screen was a shot of her brother, face swollen and bruised from battery. He appeared to be unconscious. Laura knew the gang member was looking for a reaction and she struggled not to give him one. She waited for him to come closer and when he did, she shoved him swiftly in the chest. It was the only think she could do to distance herself. She had to move quickly for he would rally and be pissed off. She had already been lucky once with Will coming to the rescue at the right time. 'I hope you're stalking me now, babe," she said out loud.

  Laura did an about face and gunned it straight, to close the gap to her house. Lightning wasn’t going to strike twice for her. She wasn’t going to get rescued again like she had been in the bar. She and her attacker danced around the spotlight of a street lamp a couple of times. Laura was beginning to lose her coordination. She was beginning to get dizzy. Praying like anything that a car would drive by – one that was friendly in an unfriendly neighborhood, that was – Laura began running again down the middle of the street. A car would have to stop or run her over. She shouted. “Fire!” at the top of her lungs, hoping one of the residents would come out of their homes to help her.

  A blast of headlights from a car crawling down the street towards her nearly blinded her. Laura felt somewhat relieved but she didn’t get her hopes up. For all she knew, the car was someone to help the Marauder who was right on her heels, charging her.

  “Come back here, bitch!” he shouted.

  The car in front of her stopped and someone was getting out the driver’s side door. He was tall, that was all she could make out. Laura screamed. She felt very solid arms around her as she dropped, struggling not to faint.

  “I’ve got you,” said Will.

  Unbelievable, thought Laura.

  “Are you scaring my sister?” she heard someone say. It was not the voice of her young brother. It sounded like a man. It sounded like her father. Lucas. Her brother. He was alive. The mix of shock overwhelmed her; it made her dizzy. Reality and emotion swam around in her head in such turmoil.

  Will guided her into the running car and quickly joined her brother in battle. Even while the gang member was having the stuffing knocked out of him, he was making threats to both Will and Lucas. He promised them both they were dead men.

  Then all was quiet. Except for the unmistakable clicks of handcuffs. Laura watched as Will drew the Marauder up to his feet, hands pinned behind his back in cuffs. The gang member was much shorter than either Will or Lucas, who looked like a giant. He had grown so much since the entire gang nightmare began. There was no trace of the boy she raised. Lucas was a man, a man she didn't know. Lucas and Will guided the Marauder to the back of the car, but not without a fight. Immediately the contained man kicked at the seat. Laura saw Lucas throw a punch and the man was out. Lucas knocked him out. Will phoned the police.

  Once he was contained, Lucas came to a stunned Laura. He put his massive arms around her. No; no trace of the boy she raised at all. "I know you're in shock," he said.

  "I am so tired of being confused – of having my serenity undermined," she touched her hand to her nose.

  Lucas pressed his lips to her hair, chastely. "I know. And I am going to make it up to you. I've changed. I've grown up I am going to take care of you from now on."

  The scene was suddenly swarming with motorcycles and cop cars. Members of the Knights' Disciples Motor Cycle Club made a show of force and Detective Frank Vasquez, who had been handling Lucas's case, arrived to take Laura's attacker away. Laura made a statement. The detective promised her he would hold him for as long as he could.

  Will called an impromptu meeting of the Club. They were to revert to his house. The bikers provided a safe escort to Will’s place just minutes from the scene. The Marauders were a well-organized, powerful and vicious gang. Even though Laura's attacker seemingly acted alone, the Marauders knew exactly what was going on. Will said they would be after them in no time.

  The entourage of bikers, along with Laura, Lucas and Will filed into Will's house. Despite that they held their meeting on the basement level, they kept the lights low. Once they settled in, Laura could see that the Disciples were not very pleased with seeing Lucas there. Laura's stomach twisted. She loved the Knights' Disciples for all their support they had provided for her family – which consisted strictly of her younger brother and her. But her brother had thrown them under the bus time after time. He had treated her beyond badly for all that she had sacrificed for him, but she loved him. Her loyalties were torn.

  Will's eyes were on her as he spoke. "Lucas has obviously been alive since we thought he was lost. He has been working with Detective Vasquez and me since then. We thought it best if we kept his whereabouts hush hush."

  Laura flew into a rage."You knew?! You saw me suffer?"

  Will looked down, evading her anger. "We thought it was best. We are trying to get a handle on the gang activity."

  "Don't be angry with him," Lucas intervened. His voice was soft and sympathetic. "As we all know, none of this is his fault. We know who to blame here."

  "We do," interjected Pete, a Disciple who devoted a lot of time to Lucas, trying to be a mentor to him.

  Laura shook her head, overcome by guilt. "If anyone is to blame it's me. If I had done a better job, you wouldn't be in a gang."

  "Bullshit," said Lucas. He was sounding more like Will now. "I made the choices and I am here to say that I will prove myself to you – to all of you. I am working with Detective Vasquez and cooperating with the District Attorney to clean up the streets. I found my calling. I want to be a cop, just like you were, Will. And I want to earn a right to be Knights' Disciple. Whatever it takes."

  "Boy, if you ever right all the wrongs you've committed, all the people you hurt, you can be a Knights' Disciple," said Will.

  "What?" asked a stunned Pete.

  Will scoffed, "I say that because I don't believe it can be done."

  Laura turned her head. She had been madly in love with Will Shriner. Madly. She shared the pinnacle of passion with him and knew it was likely he was the only man ever that would ever give her such pleasure. And yet her protective nature of her brother made her side with him over Will. Will's remarks offended her greatly. She finally exchanged looks with him and she could see he knew she was bothered.

  "But if you can do that, Lucas, I will gladly make you a member of my club. However, I guarantee you that the Marauders are having a meeting similar to this one. And they are formulating a way to get you, me, and her," he pointed to Laura. "We need to go. Leave. Vasquez has okayed it. We are leaving tonight to a place far away so we can be safe from these animals until they are foiled once and for all."

  "I have a house, a job. I have roots here," Laura snarled.

  Without missing a beat, Will replied. "The Knights' Disciples have connections, too. And I am not asking you. I am telling you. You're leaving. We are going to a safe house and that is all there is to it."

  Laura knew Will Shriner enough to know that this decision for them to leave was a done deal. He would pick her up physically if he had to and cart her off to wherever he thought was the safest. Throughout this ordeal, she had been fired from positions and left her house empty. She was so glad to have her brother back and to know that Lucas had a change of heart, she didn't care, but she wasn't too fond of Will at the moment. "Fine," she said tightly.

  Will glared. "You're giving me an attitude?"

  "I'm tired. I went for a long hard run before I got attacked," she said with sarcasm.

  "And just what were you thinking running on the streets of Baltimore after dark?" he lectured.

  "Hey," Lucas interrupted the bickering, "this is my fault. Don't you two start fighting. She was no doubt running off the stress I caused her. The important thing is that we're safe. We're all safe."

  "And we are going to stay that way," Will said sternly, looking directly at Laura. He said that more like a threat than a promise.

  She couldn't help but chide him. "Whatever."

  Will went off. "Not whatever-" He lunged for her but Lucas braced him.

  "Why don't we pack and go," her brother changed the subject. "You, her, and me. We have to travel in separate vehicles since we are the ones they're after. Where exactly to?"

  Pete answered, "We're going to a little town out in California. We have a place there and a membership there. The Ocean Beach chapter of Knights' Disciples is small but solid. And as far as we know, the Marauders are strictly a street gang. No one has even heard of them out there."

  Will added, "That might just be a stopping point. I have property in Costa Rica I am developing."

  "How does a retired cop get all this money?" Laura asked randomly. "You guys have places everywhere."

  "Is that an accusation, Miss Mills? I don't own every house associated with the club, for your information. We are a club. We support each other and we share. But in case you're writing a book, you can live like a king in Costa Rica for half your year's salary. I am making a house out of cinder blocks on the beach. Any other questions?"

  "I was just wondering if Lucas was the only bad boy in the room, that's all."

  "Meaning?" Will demanded.

  "Meaning we all make mistakes, big ones," Laura replied with a double meaning. Meaning Will might have been one of hers and she saw he understood her.

  "And what do you know," he replied facetiously. "I am willing to be nice guy anyway and offer you two protection yet again."

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  She felt like a spy.

  In the middle of the night, a woman from a salon over in Hampden, a notorious Baltimore neighborhood famous for its style, arrived at Laura’s house under Knights’ Disciple escort to Laura’s house. Without so much as a discussion, Will had ordered Laura’s and Lucas’s appearance to be drastically altered.

  The stylist was introduced as Becky. Laura wanted to hit the ceiling but she liked Darren an awful lot. All of the Knights’ Disciples were so good to Lucas and her.

  Lucas’s hair was darker than Will’s; it was almost black. It couldn’t really be colored so he got a close-cropped cut and was given a suit. He looked like a CEO. Laura’s hair color was naturally medium ash. She had it dyed black and cut sharply, shorter in the back and long in the front. Will said she was already in disguised. Still, Becky’s order was to make it corn-silk blonde and to give it soft curls.

  Laura was so annoyed at being completely bypassed in the decision-making. She cooperated, but just barely. They did her hair in the bathroom. She sat tight light-lipped, on the commode, as Becky tented her shoulders with a drape. Becky had Laura’s hair up in clips before Will made an appearance. He looked wary.

  “I think someone is not too happy about this,” said Becky.

  Laura scowled at him even though he was doing all of this for her brother and her.

  Will scowled back and said to Laura directly, “I don’t care.”

  Laura noted the gentle way in which he touched the small of Becky’s back. She prickled with jealousy but tried her best to hide it.

  “I tucked an envelope for you in your jacket,” he said to Becky.

  Laura saw tenderness transfer between them. She was sure that meant they had slept together. It was more than she could bear. She stood up abruptly. “This is ridiculous. I can bleach my own hair. This is actually way past my bedtime,” she blurted out.

  Will just blinked at her. She saw the muscles of his jaws flex like crazy. “There’s a reason for everything I do, Ms. Mills. Believe me when I say there are better things I could be doing right now, but the Knights’ Disciples are dedicated to this mission of your safety and to Lucas’s safety.”

  Laura sighed. She appreciated that, even if the speech was getting a little old. “Yes, Will,” she said.

  “We are going to California. Tomorrow,” he said. He looked at his phone. “I mean today. And you have to look like you belong there. After she does your hair, you’re getting a spray tan.”

  “Why the middle of the night?” Laura squawked.

  “Because we have to catch the red-eye,” interjected Lucas.

  Laura knew that her brother popped in to play peacemaker – to get her to stop fighting Will every step of the way and to remind why they were all going through these moves anyway.

  “And,” added Lucas. “The less you know, the better. Let’s just get this over with and enjoy the ride as best we can.”

  “Can we have some privacy then?” Laura asked.

  “We can’t really close the door,” said Becky apologetically. “Fumes.”

  “I brought coffee,” Will said softly to Becky. A lightning bolt of jealousy rifled through Laura. “Would you like a cup?”

  “Love some,” she replied softly.

  Laura had left Will alone for those few months. It was completely reasonable that he moved on and found someone new. She wasn’t exactly there for him. But was he really so insensitive as to bring it around her? God knows there were plenty of hair stylists in Baltimore. She couldn’t possibly be the only one he could get to do this.

  Of course the way she bickered with him every two minutes it was conceivable that Will thought she absolutely didn’t care about him and therefore it wouldn’t matter. But then there was the matter of the other night when he so gallantly brought her home and tucked her in. He gave her pleasure but nothing more. Still every detail was still smoldering in her memory. Recalling the other night when she and Will got into it stirred her As Becky went to work on her hair, Laura had a time separating the soothing sensations of the stylist’s fingers in her hair and the relaxing recollection of Will’s hands. The two experiences started to blend and Laura was uncomfortable. Laura was struck with an urge to drink.

  “What did you say?” Will demanded.

  Laura opened her eyes. “What?”

  “You just said you need a drink,” he replied, scolding her.

  “I must have dozed,” she said, burning with shame that had actually said that out loud.

  “Well there will be no drinking. We have to get you and your brother on a plane,” he said.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Will left. Pete and Darren took Laura and Lucas to the airport. She was a little worried that their new looks wouldn’t match their IDs and the airlines wouldn’t let them on board. But it was fine. If it didn’t look so different from her, Laura would actually love her new look. If she had looked like this as a teen and a younger woman, she would probably have had quite a different life experience. She might have had more confidence in herself. The woman looking back at her in the mirror with the white blonde hair and loose ringlets was stunning.