Catch (A Hell's Harlem Novel Book 3) Read online

  I glanced around me. I was surrounded by woods and it was almost two in the morning. I was thankful that it was the middle of summer and that it was at least warm out. But it still sucked. This sucked a lot.

  Closing the door to the car, I locked it and started walking toward God only knew where.

  Keeping my phone at my side, I checked it every so often. I had been walking for almost an hour when I noticed lights off in the distance. Oh, thank God. But the closer I got, I quickly realized that it wasn’t a motel but a large house. Who lived out here in the middle of nowhere?

  Taking a deep breath, I hiked the bag up farther onto my shoulder. I got this. We got this, Sara. Yup. No creepy person would be living in this house. Nope. Knowing my luck, it was probably a human trafficker or worse. What could be worse than that?

  “Get it together, Sara.” I repeated the mantra over and over to myself.

  When I got closer to the house, I heard music, voices, and laughter. Sounded like a party. It had been too long since I had been to a party. A good party at that.

  “Only sluts go to parties, Sara. Is that what you are? Are you a slut?”

  “No,” I whispered, looking down at my hands on my knees.

  “I didn’t hear you. Are you a slut?”

  I looked up then, meeting the eyes of my maker. “Yes.”

  My stomach twisted as the nightmares threatened to take hold once again.

  “Don’t be scared of me, pet. Fear is a sign of weakness, and I know you are not weak. Are you?”

  But I was. Because I let myself fall in love with a monster. I shivered, forcing those thoughts to the back of my mind. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about it. About him.

  Quickening my steps, I ran the rest of the way to the large house. Vines covered the brick siding. Several bikes, SUVs, and cars littered the driveway. My heart stuttered. Maybe the mafia lived here because I didn’t know any regular person who had that kind of machinery.

  “Well aren’t you a pretty little thing.”

  Oh shit. I turned around slowly to a group of guys leaning against the far fence. There were four of them. All dressed in leather. I couldn’t quite make out their features in the shadows of the night, but I could feel them checking me out.

  I swallowed hard. “I just need to use a phone,” I murmured, my voice coming out weaker than I would have liked it to.

  “Sorry.” One of the men stepped toward me, cupping his ear. “I didn’t quite hear you.”

  And that was when I heard it. Sounds of pleasure. Moans. Grunts. Words pleading for more. A flush of heat washed over me.

  I took a step back. “I should leave.” I turned, bumping into a man who had appeared out of nowhere.

  “Now why would you want to do that?” he asked, twisting a loose strand of my hair that had fallen from the bun on top of my head.

  I swallowed hard. “I—”

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  I jumped at the deep voice coming from behind me but couldn’t take my gaze away from the man who stood in front of me. He had a long beard, a scar that slashed across his cheek, and dark eyes. Eyes that held the promise of pain. No matter how much you pleaded for it to end. I had seen those eyes before. My ex had the same ones.

  The stench of stale liquor wafted into my nose, making my stomach churn. But it was his eyes that told all. He wanted me. And not in a way that I would enjoy either.

  “I asked you a question,” the voice from before said.

  The man standing in front of me released my hair and took a step back. “We were just playing.”

  “Right.” A large shadow loomed over me. “I suggest heading back inside before I tell your president that you threatened me.”

  “I did no such thing.” The man in front of me stiffened.

  “Who do you think your president will believe? Someone who’s making him money or a little shithead who only thinks about getting his dick wet no matter the cost.”

  The man’s jaw ticked. He brushed a hand down my cheek, giving me a smirk.

  I jumped away from him, bumping into the body behind me.

  “Get the fuck inside,” came a deep growl.

  The man chuckled, doing as he was told.

  My gaze followed him. Something about him seemed familiar. For a second, I thought I had met him before, but I realized that I had just met men like him. Several men in fact.

  As soon as we were alone, I blew out a slow breath. “I’m sorry.” I turned, my heart stopping. The man who saved me from getting hurt, stared down at me. His deep-blue eyes were cold and hard, like I had inconvenienced him.

  “Who are you?” he demanded.

  “Um … I’m Sara. Sara Jenkins.” I swallowed hard but still stuck out my hand. If my parents taught me one thing, it was how to be polite. Even though, right at that moment, I wanted to crawl into a hole.

  The man glanced at my hand but didn’t return the handshake. “What are you doing here?”

  “My car broke down a couple miles north of here. I just need to use a phone.” I showed him mine. “The battery is dying on mine. I promise I’ll leave right after. You can even watch me make the call. Hell, you can listen in on another line. I just need to call a tow.”

  “What’s wrong with your car?” he asked instead.

  “I … I don’t know. I lifted the hood and smoke started coming out.” I put my phone back in my purse and hiked my bag up higher onto my shoulder. “Please.” God, I hated how desperate I sounded.

  Suddenly, a woman’s scream sounded followed by a deep chuckle. All too soon the sounds ended.

  The man in front of me rolled his eyes. Lifting his hand, he checked his wrist. “Ten minutes. I think that’s a record,” he mumbled to himself.

  “I’m sorry?” Confusion coursed through me when the hairs on the back of my neck tingled. My stomach flipped. Memories of my past came rushing back. There had only been one man to ever make me react like this, before actually seeing his face. I brushed it off. There was no way in hell it was him.

  “Why don’t you go inside and grab us a booth, baby?” came a deep voice from behind me.

  “Okay,” a woman purred. She walked by me, slowed down in her steps, and looked me over. She fluffed her messy blonde hair, wavered on her feet a bit, and headed into the large house.

  “You sure know how to pick them,” the man in front of me said.

  The only reply he got was a grunt.

  “Well …” I cleared my throat. “I should go.” I would just head back to my car and wave down someone.

  “Where exactly are you going to go?” the large man in front of me asked, frowning. “You going to wait in your car and hope for the best that someone drives by? Look around you. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

  “Well clearly you aren’t going to help me, so what other choice do I have?” I spun on my heel and bumped into a hard body. “Sorry.” I sidestepped around him and that was when I was met with the bluest eyes I had ever seen.

  “Your eyes are like diamonds. And they become even brighter when you’re happy.”

  “Or darker when I’m turned on. Like right now.”

  I clapped a hand to my mouth, my eyes widening at who stood before me. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

  The man who stood before me only grinned and rubbed the scruff on his jaw. He had aged since I saw him last, but he was still just as gorgeous. If not more so now than before.

  “It’s been awhile, Cherry,” he said, his gaze raking over my form.

  My heart stuttered at the childhood nickname he had given me. “Don’t call me that. It’s Sara. Or have you forgotten since all the blood has flown to your dick.” Was I jealous that he had another woman just moments before? Hell yes. Catch Hunter was a god in bed and when I had been with him, neither of us had been experienced but he was still good just the same.

  “Aww, jealous, baby?” He smirked.

  “I take it you two know each other?”

  “Used to,” I told the other guy who I had forgotten was even there.

  “We go way back, don’t we, Cherry? All through high school. I even remember those summers being the hottest on record.” He took a step toward me. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

  My cheeks burned. They were hot alright. We had lost our virginity to each other and experimented. A lot.

  “Her car broke down,” the other man said, interrupting our back and forth banter.

  “Ah.” Catch grinned. “Is that the excuse you’re using these days?”

  I scowled. “Don’t be an ass. My car did break down and my phone is dying. That’s the only reason I’m here.”

  “Right.” He looked me up and down, a smirk spreading on his face.

  Rolling my eyes, I turned to the other man. “If you’ll please just let me use your phone, I’ll be out of here quickly. I need to call a tow.”

  “You’re not going to get anyone at this hour.” The man headed toward the house.

  “They have twenty-four hour service.” I rushed after him. “Please. I need …” A tremor of fear raced down my spine. “I need to get my car fixed.”

  The man glanced at me before looking over my head. “Let her use your phone.”

  “No.”

  I spun on Catch. “What the hell is your problem?”

  His brows narrowed. “I don’t think you want me to answer that question.” He took a step toward me and grabbed my hand. “I got this, Greyson,” he told the man behind me, his eyes unmoving from mine.

  I shoved from his grip. “I need to get out of here.”

  “Take me to your car.”

  “What?” I frowned. “Why?”

  “I’m going to fix it.”

  “Here?” I looked around me.

 
“Yeah.” He pointed. “There’s a garage over there that we use to fix up our bikes when needed. It has everything we need to fix whatever issue is going on with your car.”

  “But we need a tow truck.”

  Catch winked, grabbed my hand, and led me across the yard.

  “Don’t touch me.” I pulled from his grasp.

  “Woman.” He spun on me.

  I backed up, my heart jumping to my throat at the dark anger in his eyes.

  He huffed, grabbed my hand again, and continued leading me to what I could only assume was the garage.

  “You know. I remember when you were actually nice,” I mumbled, not fighting him again.

  He grunted. “That was before you ripped my heart out.”

  “That was ten years ago,” I cried.

  “Yeah, and it still fucking hurts,” he snapped, pulling me along beside him.

  “I never asked for any of that. To move,” I told him. “I cried over you.”

  Catch stopped, stepping in front of me. “You cried over me? Cherry, you have no idea what the fuck I’ve been through because of you. I didn’t cry. I didn’t sob like a little bitch. You want to know what I did instead? No? Well I’m fucking telling you anyway.”

  I swallowed hard, backing up a step.

  “I was messed up. I was rejected by my parents. That, I expected. But then you rejected me and that shit stung. That pain was nothing like I ever felt before. I did shit you couldn’t even dream about in your nightmares. I wasn’t just angry, I was fucking enraged that you left me.”

  “That wasn’t my fault,” I whispered, guilt weighing heavily on my shoulders over the pain I had caused him so long ago. “I didn’t want to reject you. But we were young.”

  “Young.” He grunted.

  “We were,” I yelled.

  In a quick move, he cupped my nape and pulled me against him. Brushing his nose up the length of my neck, he purred. “Hmm, you still smell so fucking good, Cherry.”

  “Don’t call me that,” I said but my voice didn’t come out as firmly as I would have liked it to.

  He chuckled, releasing me. “It’s funny though.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve never gotten the taste of you out of my system.”

  I scowled, punching him in the stomach.

  Catch laughed. “This way.”

  I followed him to the garage. “Do you guys keep random tow trucks here for shits and giggles?”

  “No. We actually work for a living too, babe.” Catch walked up to a door, punched in a code in the lock panel and pushed it open. “After you.”

  I brushed past him but not before I got a whiff of sex. My stomach twisted. A part of me wondered if he had been the same way with his partners like he had been with me. Did he show them all sides that made up Catch Hunter?

  Stepping into the large garage, I passed a glance at Catch when he joined me and turned the lights on.

  My eyes burned at the fluorescent lighting. I blinked a couple of times. When they finally focused, I realized that Catch didn’t just age well. He was a fucking god. Light brown hair that had grown in a little long around his ears. A smattering of scruff lined his strong jaw and his eyes, eyes that I had fallen in love with so many years ago, looked at me like they could see into my soul. Like they could see my deepest and darkest secrets.

  Clearing my throat, I looked away and started walking around the shop. Catch used to know all of my secrets. But I was just a kid. I had a good life then, so my secrets weren’t anything extreme. The biggest secret I had as a kid was my feelings for Catch before we had started dating. Then I left. Then I grew up. Then my life became worse.

  “Who owns the tow truck?” I asked, standing outside the passenger door of the big vehicle.

  “Sunny.” Catch unlocked the door and opened it for me. “He used to work for a towing company but found that he made better money doing it on his own. So he started a business himself.”

  “So while he’s not being a big badass biker, he tows vehicles for a living.” I nodded. “Interesting.”

  “Don’t be so damn judgmental, Cherry.”

  I scoffed. “I’m not judging. I don’t know him. Why would I judge?”

  “What are you implying?” Catch leaned toward me. “You judging me?”

  “How can I not? You were fucking some woman beside the house and now we’re here. Was she just your latest conquest?”

  Catch chuckled. “Oh, baby. I’ve had her before. She gives good head, but she doesn’t compare to you. I remember the suction on those lips of yours.”

  Before I knew what I was doing, my hand landed against his cheek. “I don’t know you anymore, Catch. And you sure as hell don’t know me. But I don’t appreciate—”

  In a quick move, Catch grabbed my shoulders and slammed me up against the side of the truck. “Listen to me and listen to me good, little girl.” He leaned toward me, brushing his nose up the length of my neck. “I don’t appreciate you coming into my home and judging me.” His fingers gripped me tight. “Slap me again. I fucking dare you.”

  “Please don’t hurt me,” I blurted, shaking against him.

  “What?” He pulled back, his eyes wide. “I would never hurt you.”

  I shook myself, my cheeks burning at my outburst. I lifted my foot to step into the truck when a gentle hand cupped my shoulder.

  “What happened to you?”

  “Nothing.” I shrugged him off and climbed into the large truck.

  Catch shut the door behind me.

  God, Sara. That was too close. Too damn close. If Catch found out what had happened, he would have hunted him down. I didn’t need that. Even though Catch and I hadn’t seen each other in years, I knew how he worked. That part of him hadn’t changed, and it probably never would. I couldn’t deal with that blood on my hands. And besides, it was my job to take the bastard out.

  AFTER ALL OF this time, I couldn’t believe Sara Jenkins was back in my life. The girl I loved so many years ago had turned into a breathtaking woman. When I closed the door behind her, it took me a second to compose myself before I ended up kissing the hell out of her.

  My dick throbbed behind my jeans. Even the woman I had fucked earlier didn’t do it for me like Sara did. Like she always did.

  Taking a deep breath, I adjusted my pants and climbed into the driver’s seat. Sara was staring out the window, her large backpack and small purse at her feet. Her ripped shorts had ridden up her legs some while seated, showcasing limbs that went on for days.

  Her auburn hair was messy and unkempt, pulled on top of her head into that messy bun thing women did. And her eyes no longer held that passion I was used to but pain instead.

  When she begged for me not to hurt her, it struck me as odd, but it also made this feral beast inside of me rear its ugly head. I would kill whoever hurt her.

  “I can feel you staring at me,” she murmured, still looking out the window.

  I bit back a laugh and started up the truck. “Where were you headed to?”

  “My sister’s place in the city.”

  “How long have you been driving for?” I backed us out of the garage and headed down the driveway.

  “Almost ten hours.” Sara let out a heavy sigh. “I should have been there already.”

  “Where the hell are you coming from, Cherry?” I demanded, my voice coming out rougher than I would have liked. She may have destroyed my heart, but something was off with her. I needed to be gentle. I knew it but this anger inside of me thought differently.

  “Just take me to my car, do what you need to do, and then I’ll be gone.” Sara sat forward. “Go right.”

  I followed her direction and turned onto the dirt road. “Tell me where you’re coming from.”

  “Why?” She crossed her arms under her chest, and I couldn’t help but notice the way it pushed up her ample chest. She had always been bigger chested but now it was like the rest of her body caught up with her tits. She’d filled out from what I could tell. Curvy but fit. Not too skinny where it would feel like she would break with one thrust of my dick.

  My cock stirred.

  Clearing my throat, I adjusted myself. “Just making friendly conversation,” I murmured.

  “Right.” She snorted, which was cute as hell.

  “How’s your sister doing?” I asked, changing the subject since clearly, I wasn’t going to get answers to my previous questions.

  “Fine I guess.”