To Find Love Again - Book cover

To Find Love Again

E. Adamson

Animal Instincts

BROOKE

“Look, Ron, just leave me alone! I’m not into you. AT ALL!” she said, smelling the liquor on his breath.

“Aw, come on, BB,” Ron crooned in a manner so lascivious it made her skin crawl. “You and I both know that isn’t true. Remember our last date? All of us had a great time together.”

The men behind him let out whoops and wolf whistles, and Brooke felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

She’d tried so hard to forget, to avoid reliving that night with all of them, laughing, jeering.

A chasm of shame and despair opened up in her chest but she summoned all her strength and pushed Ron away from her.

“Whoa, whoa, good try. Don’t pretend like you didn’t like it.”

“That wasn’t me and you know it, Ron. You… You gave me something! You put something in my drink.”

“Just keep telling yourself that.” Ron snickered, pulling her close again as she fought against his grip. “But I know the truth. And the truth is, you like it dirty. The truth is—”

“That you need to let her go.”

Brooke’s head snapped up.

She knew that voice...

***

JOSIAH

“I said, let go,” repeated Josiah.

The leader of the group, the one Brooke had called Ron, looked up at Josiah, and arched an eyebrow.

“And who are you supposed to be?”

“The guy who’s gonna knock you flat if you don’t take your hands off of her.”

“Hey,” Ron bellowed, before letting go of Brooke and approaching Josiah. “I’m gonna do whatever I want with my girl.”

He sauntered up to Josiah until the two stood a mere inches apart.

Ron was at least a foot shorter than Josiah, and nowhere near as muscular.

But he didn’t seem bothered by their size difference.

The many scars on his knuckles and forearm suggested that he wasn’t afraid to fight dirty.

And the twitch in his pockmarked face suggested years of drug abuse.

Hmm, Josiah thought, ~maybe this won’t be so easy after all.~

His doubt must have shown because Ron managed to smirk.

“I’m only gonna tell you one more time. Brooke is mine. And if you’ve got a problem with that...”

He let out a mirthless laugh.

“...then me and my boys are gonna have a problem with you.”

Ron’s “boys” roared their approval. Behind them, Brooke trembled with fear, angering Josiah even more.

Ron put his hands on Josiah’s chest and shoved him back.

As he looked at the five men who stood between them, his rage finally boiled over.

***

BROOKE

No! No! He can’t be leaving! He can’t!

But that was exactly what Josiah was doing, stepping away from Ron, and turning his back on him. And on her.

She felt so stupid for ever thinking she could trust him.

And now Ron was smiling.

“Well, well,” he said, reaching out to stroke her cheek. “Looks like you’re gonna need to find yourself a new bodyguard.”

Ron’s friends chortled stupidly as he dragged his finger from her cheek down to her neck, inching closer to her chest.

Brooke tried to turn away from Ron, to run away from his touch, but he grasped her wrist and pulled her back towards him.

“Come on, BB,” Ron crooned, stroking her. “Let’s go for a ride.”

Brooke’s eyes flew open, and she glared at him.

“If you really think I’m about to get into a car—”

The sound of metal scraping against metal caused her to look up, and search for the source of the noise.

And her jaw dropped.

There, just a few feet away, was Josiah.

Except this time he was shirtless, revealing the chiseled abs and numerous tattoos he’d been hiding under his button-down.

Even in the midst of all her fear, Brooke felt her cheeks flushing at the sight of him, this perfect embodiment of masculinity.

He was grinding a pair of brass knuckles together.

“Sorry.” Josiah smiled at her. “Didn’t want to ruin my shirt.”

***

JOSIAH

With that, Josiah swung a powerful punch at Ron’s face.

Ron dropped Brooke’s wrist and ducked… but not fast enough.

Josiah’s fist still made contact with Ron’s ear, sending him barrelling towards the ground.

One of Ron’s groupies appeared in front of Josiah in a flash.

Josiah smashed his brass knuckle directly into the man’s nose. A stream of dark red blood began to pour out of his face as he stumbled away.

Before Ron could get his bearings, he was back on his feet again—howling in pain and fury.

Josiah grabbed his wrist and twisted it.

This elicited another, even louder scream.

“Do you like being grabbed like this? Huh?” Josiah grimaced at Ron, relishing in the agony on his face.

But his joy was short-lived, as, from the corner of his eye, he spied the rest of Ron’s buddies charging towards him.

Josiah pushed Ron into the oncoming pack, sending two of the men toppling over like bowling pins.

The last man standing charged towards Josiah, who kicked him sharply in the stomach with the metal toe cap of his boot.

Ron groaned and began crawling towards Josiah.

“Not done yet?” Josiah growled.

He walked over towards Ron and stepped firmly on his chest. Harder and harder.

Ron gasped for air as Josiah pushed down even more.

“Stop,” Ron wheezed. “Please—”

But Josiah couldn’t resist.

“Stop!” This time it was Brooke’s voice.

He looked up at her.

“He’s had enough,” she said.

Something about her voice quelled Josiah’s anger in an instant—she convinced him to take mercy on a man who did not deserve it.

He stepped away from Ron but stared at him dead in the eyes.

“You listen to me,” Josiah said. “Never come around Rose’s again. There’s new management in this place. And you’re not welcome. You got it?”

Ron nodded feebly.

“I want to hear you say it.”

Ron took a shaky breath.

“I got it.”

“Good.” Josiah smirked, lifting his shoe. “Because next time, Brooke might not be here to save you.”

The assailants all groaned and got to their feet, shooting Josiah dirty looks as they stumbled away.

“You’ll regret this,” Ron spat, when he was a safe-enough distance away from Josiah.

“Ha! I’ve heard a lot of that recently,” Josiah shot back.

Ron turned to Brooke, who shrank when she saw the venom in his gaze.

“And as for you.” He chuckled. “I’ll see you later.”

“No, you won’t,” Josiah said, stepping in front of Brooke.

Ron glared at Josiah, then threw Brooke one more lecherous glare before turning around and following his friends.

***

BROOKE

“Are you alright?” he asked.

It was a simple question, but one that Brooke, in her heightened, adrenaline-fueled state of mind, had trouble processing.

“I—I think so,” she stammered. “I mean, they didn’t hurt me but—”

Those monsters, those pigs that tried to pass themselves off as men, they would have assaulted her again if she had gotten in that car.

This time in broad daylight.

She shook at the thought of it.

“Actually,” she said, seething. “No. I’m not alright. I’m never alright.”

She slammed her fist against the wall, and Josiah stepped back, surprised at her sudden outburst.

“Whoa! Hey! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

“It’s not you.” She sighed. “It’s this place. It’s these people. People like that!”

She pointed after Ron.

“I never feel safe around them. All I can think about is getting out of this town.”

Josiah nodded.

“I see.”

Brooke shook her head.

“I’ll tell you, I’m this close, this close, to packing up my stuff and catching the first bus out of here.”

The news caught Josiah’s attention.

“Well,” he said carefully. “I can definitely see why you’d want to leave. And I’m happy to help you do that. But…”

“But what?” Brooke frowned.

“Well, I still need to check on Tucker’s Motorcycle Shop. And I don’t know how to get there. So what if you took a ride on my Harley and showed me the way?”

Brooke narrowed her eyes.

“Take a ride with you?”

“Yeah,” Josiah said.

“And then you’ll take me to the bus station?”

“If that’s what you want, of course,” he replied.

Brooke considered this for a moment.

She desperately wanted to leave. But could she really do it today?

What about my Mom? And my friends?

They’ll be heartbroken.

These were always the thoughts that had stopped her in the past. But the truth was, none of them could protect her from Ron.

The only person who’d ever succeeded was this stranger—this tall, hulking man—who had just taken on five thugs for her.

He’d risked his own safety to protect her.

But was that enough of a reason to trust him?

She saw something unnerving in Josiah’s eyes when he had his foot pressed against Ron’s rib cage.

A danger, a darkness that she hadn’t sensed before.

There’d been a time when she trusted Ron.

Look where that got me…

Besides, her mother always warned her to stay away from motorcycles.

And motorcyclists. And men, for that matter.

But her mother wasn’t here…

Something needed to change, and this could be her chance.

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