FOUND: A Motorcycle Club Romance Novel by Scarlet Korin Page B

only bring me down... Now pick that hoe ass of yours up and drive my car back to the hotel. You gonna wait until I get back...”
    I lay there fighting to breathe. His punt ripped through me still and I shivered wishing to be anywhere but there.
    “...You understand, or did I break those fucking ears?” With every word his voice got aggressive and threatening. Jerome took a handful of my hair and pulled me half up.
    “I understand,” I whispered afraid and still struggling for air. “I understand...”
    “Good.” He let go of my roots and my face slammed into the concrete once again.
    I peered through the pain to him as he brushed down his suit down and strode back to the club like nothing had transpired. The backdoor slammed.
    I was alone.
    The pain echoing through my body slowly subsided and I dragged myself standing. I closed the trunk he left open and used the hood of the car to help me get to the driver's side. The keys were still in the ignition. After the drinks, let alone the beating, I wasn't in a fit state to drive, but I managed... as I always do.
    I pulled my dress back down, rubbed away the blood from my eye and turned on the GPS.

 
     
     
    ~ Chapter Ten ~
     
     
     
    The first time I ever saw blood...
     
     
     
    “Can you believe Boyd's taught that rat to stand?” I asked Anita as we swung on the tire swing in her backyard. “How cool is that?”
    She shuddered. “Uhh... It gives me the creeps whenever I see its little hands reaching for the cheese he gives it. I don't know how he touches such an ugly thing.”
    “I think it's cute...”
    “Don't you know they all have diseases? Dirty! Those things are dirty!”
    It was early in September and the days were still long and hot. Another school year started a couple of weeks ago and I lounged with Anita hoping that the day wouldn't end. I can't be sure, though think it was either a Saturday or Sunday and we were either ten or eleven. We spent the afternoon playing with everyone down at the fields up from the high school, but now, after dinner and with the sun about to set, we were tired and wanted to spend the rest of the day close to home.
    “Anita, do you ever think about the boys round here?” I asked with my voice suddenly sounding real shy. In that way kids do, I switched the conversation in the blink of an eyelid.
    “Huh? They're boys...”
    I brought myself to a stop on the swing. “I guess I'm saying is do you think you could ever like one? You know, like our moms liked our dads enough to marry them...”
    She continued swinging for a moment, letting her legs flap in the air. “Maybe... But most smell too much to every marry.”
    I nodded, trying to think through the fits of her laughter. She didn't seem to understand what I meant.
    “You thinking about marrying someone then?”
    “I... Uh, no. Just thinking.” I pushed myself off the dirt and we swung along together.
    “Look!” She pointed over her garden fence and into the distance. “Who's running? I can't see without my glasses.”
    I struggled to see who it was. I could make out only a blue shirt speeding along at a million miles an hour. “Is that... Kenny?”
    “Kenny!” Anita shouted out before spiraling into laughter again. She faced me, “Maybe you can marry him. Hey Kenny... you wanna marry her?”
    “I---”
    He didn't hear. But before I could defend myself, Kenny's desperate cries cut me off. He ran into Anita's backyard gasping for breath. He was never the most athletic of kids – you would probably call him chubby - though I'd never seen him run so fast before. “You two... u hh ... Come... a hh ---”
    “Use your inhaler, idiot!” Antia, without any tact, encouraged .
    “It's... a hh ... Not... u hh ---”
    “What's wrong? Is something wrong?” My intuition told me something was up. Kenny would never make a scene like this for nothing.
    “Boyd... He's... u hh ... Fighting! Again.”
    I jumped from the rope and ran straight to him. “Who is he