Free One More Ride (Night Riders Motorcycle Club Book 3) by Kathryn Thomas

thing all the time. Prick took you and your car. Sold the latter, and god knows what he did to you.”
     
    Frantically shaking her head from side to side, she spoke quickly as she continued trying to touch Blake, longing to wipe away the tension expanding about his back as he remained doubled over in agony.
     
    “It wasn’t like that!” Lauren insisted.
     
    “And now he hears that there’s a reward for your safe return,” Kyle continued. “So he wants a piece of that action.”
     
    Kyle gripped Blake by the scruff of his neck, and the cop forced the biker’s contorted face to his eyes.
     
    “How’d you pull it off?” Kyle demanded as she slapped Blake’s cheek and pressed the heel of his shoe into Blake’s foot. “Tell her to play nice or you’d sic some of your scum on her family? The people that really care about her?”
     
    A thin stream of blood left Blake’s lips, and he licked it away with a smirk and a groan as Kyle pushed him into the corner. Standing up straighter, Blake turned his gaze to Lauren and smiled weakly as his breath heaved in his chest.
     
    “Think I don’t?” Blake managed, his words for the cop even as his eyes stayed on Lauren trembling just a few feet away from him. Again Lauren tried to move forward, her only thought to place her body between him and Kyle.
     
    He won’t hit me. He’ll have to listen—
     
    “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Kyle said as he grabbed Blake again and shoved him to his knees, striking him again.
     
    Lauren gasped when Blake summoned the strength to fight back. Winding his arms around Kyle’s legs, the cop lost his footing and nearly stumbled backwards into the table when Abbott whipped out a pair of handcuffs. In one smooth, swift move, he pushed Blake back to the wall.
     
    “No! Lauren protested as Kyle recovered and she tried to pry Abbott away from Blake’s side. Despite his apparent age, she was no match for Abbott. Losing the battle before it even started, Lauren turned her head to the sight and the sound of other uniforms entering the room.
     
    “Let’s put this prick on ice.” Kyle ordered as Abbott pushed Blake’s crumpled form into the arms of the other officers. Lauren screamed as Blake was led away, but Abbott’s hands on her shoulder kept her feet locked on the place where she stood even as her arms flailed wildly.
     
    “Dumb move, Bell,” Kyle spat. “But who knows? Maybe you’ll talk if we promise to go easy on you.”
     
    Again he drove his fist into Blake’s back, and Lauren felt as if her heart tore in the two as he winced and moaned.
     
    “But not too easy,” Kyle threatened. “About time someone put you assholes in their place. Or at least get a mole.”
     
    As soon as Blake was gone and the door slammed shut, Lauren felt Abbott push her into one of the abandoned chairs. The older man fell to his knees and took her hand even as she continued to struggle.
     
    “Calm down, little girl,” he said in a soothing tone.
     
    “No.” Lauren protested. “You guys have it all wrong!”
     
    “Shhh,” he soothed. “Easy now. I know how horrible it must have been for you. Being taken by a man like—”
     
    “Will someone just listen to me?” Lauren cried as she threw her head back and pressed her palms to her flushed cheeks. “He didn’t take me. Not at first, I—”
     
    Slapping her hand over her mouth, Lauren fell silent in fear. She had said too much, and without wanting to, these men who were sworn to serve and protect could easily spin her words, twist them into a series of sharp nails that would close Blake’s coffin.
     
    “Sounds like a story,” Abbott said as he pulled one of the other chairs to her side and sat slowly. His mouth curled into a soft smile, his wrinkles seeming to expand across his leathery face as he patted her knee gently.
     
    “Okay, Miss Nichols,” he started. “Just you and me right now. Let’s say you give me your version of