Free Ride with the Wind [The Ghost Riders 1] by Marla Monroe Page A

Vernon pushed past the guards and walked in, leaving Dominic and the others outside in the hall. There were a few shouted words, but they settled down, and nothing more could be heard. Dominic hoped that Ray wasn’t in there. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to control himself if the man had been the reason for someone he cared about being in the hospital.
    He thought about Raven’s arm, and his blood pressure rose again. There had been no reason to bruise her. It had all been in retaliation to Rhodes and Vernon seeing Jessie. Even though they had already set in motion the rape charge, they had still harassed her. He really needed to think of a way to get them out of the area. Satan’s Sons were bad news for everyone. Unfortunately, getting rid of them might mean breaking the law, and his crew were good men.
    He continued to think about Raven and keeping her safe until Vernon and Rhodes emerged from the hospital room looking a little worse for wear. Neither man appeared relieved. That was not a good sign.
    “Ready to ride?” he asked them.
    “Ready,” Vernon said without hesitation.
    They walked back down the hall, nodded at the nurse at the desk, and then continued along the long hallway to the front door. They walked outside and over to their bikes. Both men were bursting at the seams to talk. It would be much easier to talk here and now without the women hanging around.
    “Is she okay?” Dominic started out the conversation.
    It went downhill from there.

Chapter Eight
     
    Raven heard the bikes when they pulled up at nearly six that evening. She waited along with the others in the den for them to come inside. Everyone was anxious as to what happened. Although she didn’t know any of the other men that well, she couldn’t believe that any of them would commit rape. They all seemed too respectful of women.
    Several minutes went by before they knocked on the door and Irish let them in. She could tell by their expressions that it was bad.
    “Where’s Turk?” Dominic asked as soon as he walked in the door.
    “I’ll get him.” Irish jogged out of the room.
    “Did you get everything cleared up?” Jugs walked over to where Rhodes and Walker were at the bar getting a beer.
    “For now.” Rhodes took a swig of the beer.
    Turk walked in the room, earplugs hanging around his neck from his MP3 player.
    “Duplicate last night’s surveillance tape from the front gate. Make sure Sheriff Platt gets a copy.”
    Turk nodded and walked out of the room. Reece walked over to Raven and dropped his hand to her waist. His expression lightened some when he looked into her eyes.
    “Your arm okay? Have you tried to write with it?”
    “I’m fine, Reece. I’ll be sore for a day or two, then it will be gone.”
    “Come on. I could use something to drink.” He pulled her along beside him with his hand at her waist.
    She looked over toward the bar, but he shook his head and directed her through the kitchen and down the hall to his bedroom. When they walked in, he dropped his hand.
    “Well, hell. You’ve cleaned up some.”
    “I didn’t go through anything. I just changed the bed sheets and took out the trash.”
    “Looks good.” He walked over to the bedside table and pulled open the bottom drawer, where he withdrew a bottle of whiskey.
    He sat on the edge of the bed and cocked his head at her. Raven sat next to him and waited for him to say something. She could tell he wanted to talk. Reece opened the bottle and took a drink before offering it to her. She shook her head. He shrugged and took another drink before setting the opened bottle on the table next to the bed. He scooted back until he could lean against the wall behind the bed.
    “Come on up here, babe.” He patted the bed beside him.
    She crawled up to sit next to him and smothered a smile when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and settled her there against his chest.
    “They’ll harass Rhodes, but they don’t have any proof, and Jessie is already