“You really should keep your voices down, us trespassing and all.” Rian teased as both turned to see him.
“Rian.” She spoke in a worried tone before she made a mad dash to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight embrace, earning a low noise of pain.
“Shit... I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
He smiled at her, his hand lifting to brush the side of her neck. He nodded, their eyes meeting. “I am now.” He replied simply, before their lips met, the kiss fiery and full of need, the release of fear at being together once more.
Charlie cleared his throat after a minute passed, Rian and Lexi both turning to look at him, Rian with a smirk on his lips. “Sorry to interrupt, but we really need to get out of here. And that wound looks like it's going to need attention.”
Lexi wrapped her arm around Rian’s back and pulled him close to her as they made their way toward the cruiser. Charlie opened the door, waiting for them both to climb in before he closed it behind them. Sprinting around the back, he climbed behind the wheel and without a word, he pulled from their hidden position.
“What happened?” Rian asked Lexi as he sat on the kitchen chair a short drive later, his arm up behind his head as Charlie stitched him up with fishing wire.
“I honestly don’t remember. I came home, showered... the next thing I remember was waking up in that room.”
Rian flinched as Charlie slid the hook through his skin.
“Did you see Billingsworth or Keppel?”
Lexi shook her head. “I never saw anyone. Not until you busted in. I didn’t know where I was for sure until we got outside. Why would he take me? I’m nobody.”
“If what Rian has told me is true, you’re someone important. Hell, all the mates in the club are. Typical bad guy moves, go after the families of those you want to put pressure on.” Charlie spoke with another glide of the hook. “It’s not surprising Lexi never saw anyone, if she could ID anyone then she would be killed. Clearly, that was a last resort.”
“What about Brad’s murderer?” Lexi asked. “They're still pinning it on Rian. Charlie, I swear, he didn’t do it.”
Charlie chuckled at her pleading tone, “I never thought he did. There would be no reason for Rian, anyone in his club, hell even the town, to kill Brad. I think Brad was simply a means to an end in this plot to frame someone in the club and, like Rian said, push them out of the town. Billingsworth would get the land then for basically nothing. It fits together.” He lifted the knife he'd placed on the table, and with a quick swipe upward, he cut the wire free from the hook. “For now, we need to get you back to the cell.”
“What?” Lexi said. “You can’t take him back to jail.”
Charlie stood. “I have to, otherwise he’ll be an escaped fugitive and when the bodies are found, they'll know he was loose at the time. How will that help anyone?”
Lexi frowned. “You can’t take him back. He’ll be locked away, charged with something we all know he didn’t do. You know as well as I do, the sheriff won't want to just let him out of there without pinning something on him.”
Rian knew then, he should have looked through the desk. Charlie either didn’t find anything or simply ignored what he did. Rian had trusted him, placed his faith in this man his girl seemed to trust and now he questioned it and his motives. Would Charlie tell people what he was? Could this bring further issues for the club or for Lexi? Rian cleared his throat and stood as Lexi looked over to him with tears beginning to glisten in her eyes.
“I’ll be home, I promise.” He spoke as he ran his hand along the nape of her neck. Lexi closed her eyes and slid her hands around his waist, her head falling to his chest. “I promise you, nothing will ever keep me away from you.” Rian kissed the top of her head as he held her, his arm wrapped around her body with a tight embrace. “I love you, Lexi.”
She tightened her hold around him as Charlie spoke in a soft tone. “Shift change is in twenty minutes, and they usually show up a few minutes early to get settled. If we don't want to be caught, we need to go.”
Rian nodded, looking into Lexi’s eyes as she brought her gaze up to him. “Be home soon.” He spoke softly, for her ears only, before he kissed her quickly. Pulling from her hold, he grabbed his shirt from the back of the chair and pulled it on. He only hoped no one remembered what he'd been booked wearing, because then they'd have some explaining to do.
He looked towards his girl once more before he turned and walked to the front entrance. He could hear Lexi all the way to the cruiser crying, her heartbeat skipping every other beat. Her breathing hitched with her tears as she stood in the doorway and watched Charlie drive off with him.
Five hours later, Rian woke to the sound of a loud bang against his cell door. He sat up, his side screaming at him, yet he pushed through the pain in order to pretend it wasn’t there. This was it, he thought. He would be charged and placed under official arrest. They'd run out the clock.
He stood from the lumpy cot, sliding his hands inside his pockets as he looked at Rowland standing on the opposite side of the bars. There were no words. No signs of what was to come. Rowland’s glare focused on Rian
