Page 14 of Idaho

She didn't seem to hear me. Her heel still managed to catch my shin above my boot and I cursed as pain exploded in my leg. Then more detonated in my arm as she chomped down on any inch of flesh she could reach.

"Hey, hey! No biting!" I bellowed. "Jesus fucking Christ," I muttered as I tried to restrain the woman struggling in my arms. "I'm a friend!"

She slowed, my words finally resonating, but before I could say anything else, the man on the ground began stirring.

"Shit." I set her away from me, bending a little until our faces were level. I had to fight not to get lost in the gorgeous green of her eyes. I wasn't even sure why I was noticing that at a time like this. "Stay here. Don't move."

I should have moved toward the threat. I should have straightened up. I should have done literally anything else, but those eyes…my God she had me. That was, until the douche pickle on the ground lunged at my knees, tearing me away from her, and causing us to hit the pavement with a bone jarring thud. My instincts kicked in and we grappled for top position as we rolled across the pavement.

A new rage exploded inside me. It might have been because he had the audacity to attack me. More likely it was because he tore me away from the gorgeous goddess standing by watching us with her hands covering her mouth.

I let him take the top position, momentarily. With my left hand I reached back and grabbed the top of his head. He had that ridiculous broccoli head hair cut that college boys seemed to love. I twisted my hand in his hair, pulled his face up, then drove my right elbow into his nose.

The all too familiar and satisfying crunch told me I had just broken it. He rolled off me, clutching his face and screaming. It was a beautiful fucking sound. A feral grin crept over my face.

"Fucker." I stood up, dusted myself off, then looked at the woman. She was still frozen, staring at the man on the ground as blood leaked through his fingers and onto the pavement. "Hey," I said, keeping my eyes on her, I twisted at the hip, kicking douche pickle in the face, for good measure. He'd stay down on the ground if he knew what was good for him. Then I walked over to her. "You okay?"

She nodded, though her eyes were wide, and her breathing was coming out in short pants. "They were trying to make me go with them," she told me. "Said they wanted to teach me a lesson." Her words were short and clipped as she fought through her fear to speak. I couldn't place her accent. Possibly some dialect of German, or Dutch, but there was no time to ask.

My eyes narrowed on her beautiful face. Her cheeks were pale and she was starting to tremble. There was no holding back my fury at her words. I turned to the man and kicked him so hard in the ribs it knocked him onto his back. My knee hit the ground next to his chest as I grabbed his shirt, plowing my fist into his face over and over again.

I didn't know how many times I hit him, but when someone pulled me off of him, I was still seeing red. I spun around, ready for a fight, only to find Static standing there, hands held up in front of him in surrender. The three women were huddled together, arms wrapped around each other.

"Just let them go, Idaho," Static said.

I glared as two of the men crept forward and dragged their friend to his feet. I met each of their eyes as the man's head lolled around on his shoulders. They were the only reason he was on his feet. "You come near her again and I'll fucking kill you all."

They didn't speak, just hobbled away as fast as they could go. We all watched them in silence.

"Oh my God," Seek's lookalike breathed out as soon as they rounded the corner at the end of the block. "Thank you so much for coming, Lockout." She moved too fast for me to stop her as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Uh." I looked over at Static, who just shrugged his shoulders. "You're welcome, but I'm not Lockout."

The girl stiffened in my arms and pulled away, peering up at me. "Now's not really the time for jokes, Lock."

"Jo," Static said, biting back a smile. "He's telling the truth. This is Idaho. Lockout's twin."

If my adrenaline and anger weren't still racing from the fight, I'd have laughed. This part was always fun. That was what happened when you looked so much alike your parents had to give you color coded bracelets for the first few months of your lives until they learned your personalities. Ashley Darger, Liam's girlfriend, should have taken a page out of my parents' book and done the same and she wouldn't have been caught making out with me underneath the bleachers Freshman year. That was the first time Liam and I had fought over a woman. It wouldn't be the last.

"Well...it's nice to meet you, Idaho," Jo said with a small smile. "Thank you for your help."

"Why don't you guys come back with us?" Static told her. "Seek will skin us alive if she doesn't get to see that you're okay for herself." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Plenty of room in the truck." We'd brought the vehicle along to transport the alcohol. Never made it to the liquor store, but I doubted the party was still going after Seek got the phone call from Jo. "In fact, I better call them before the whole crew shows up." Static turned away and made his call.

I didn't know the woman well yet, any of them really, but based off what I'd seen of her so far, I'd be shocked if Seek wasn't already driving down here for herself. Static was making the right call by letting them know we handled the situation.

A few work issues had cropped up over the last week. Those, plus prospecting duties had kept me busy enough that I'd mostly only had quick introductions with everyone. They all seemed to be trying to gauge whether Lockout really wanted me here or not and whether they should be friendly. I was giving them all the space to do so. The last thing I wanted was to force myself into the mix and have them all reject me outright. My plan was to slowly start integrating with this group of people. I already knew the easiest way to do that was to get the women in my corner. Those men would do anything for their old ladies.

"You're with me," I told Eva.

She blinked those beautiful green eyes up at me, then nodded. Her silky black hair caught the street lights and reflected under them. It looked like a bolt of silk. The long beachy waves made me wonder whether they were natural, or if she'd styled them that way, but they suited her, framing her heart shaped face. "I'm Eva."

"I heard." Shooting Static a look to make sure he was good with the rest of them, I put my hand on Eva's back, between her shoulder blades and led her over to my bike.

"Oh," she nibbled at her full lower lip, making me groan inwardly. This woman was a fucking knockout. And maybe it was the brush with danger, but she seemed to be very sweet. Far too sweet for me, but I wasn't sure I actually gave a shit. Now that the adrenaline was dying down, my cock was a fucking steel rod in my jeans. I hadn't reacted to a woman like this in...years.

"Don't worry," I told her, realizing the prospect of riding the bike was making her nervous. "I won't let you fall off." I grabbed my helmet and put it on her. It was a bit too big. I made a mental note to get an extra. The fact that I was already planning to get this woman her own helmet should have set off warning bells in my mind, but the sight of her with the helmet on while her jeans hugged her hips like they were painted on distracted me. Ignoring my raging hard-on, I swung my leg over and started the motorcycle. I adjusted myself as discreetly as I could when she glanced over at her friends.

She held out a dainty hand, waiting until I—with a grin—raised my own. She grasped it as she maneuvered her way onto the bike. "Thank you." The words were prim and proper and my grin grew.