The Biker's Rules novel Chapter 11

***POV - Melaena

I see Damion s mouth move but my heartbeat pounding in my ears causes ferocious drumming inside the helmet, deafening me for a few moments. I take a deep breath and close my eyes to calm my ticker down and when the thumping slowly stops, I can hear his voice.

"You ok?" He asks as soon as the grievous bodily harm on him stops. I nod and then I hear Enrique laughing from behind some logs. Douchbag!

"Enrique, you re going to be a bloating carcass when I m finished with you!" Damion shouts, but Enrique just laughs harder. I smell that pine-fresh, earthy scent I came to associate with Damion over the years, mixed with sweat, but somehow it triggers my butterflies. They must be drawn to the musky smell of perspiration. I barely register the pain from the bruised wounds on my torso as it is being drowned out by the heightened, throbbing ache between my legs.

Damion looks at me with a heated glint in his eyes, then he wipes his fingers over my cheek saying I have some dirt there. I wiggle to get free, scared by the emotions I m feeling, and notice a green patch on my sleeve. Damn, I ve been really hit this time and am out of the game.

Damion helps me to my feet and then a loud noise judders me to close my ears with my hands. It s the siren signaling a win. Somebody grabbed a flag. I quickly look over, and then a big smile spreads across my face. Luke is jumping up and down, wildly waving the red flag through the air. I remove my hands slowly, letting them fall down my sides. We won!

Enrique jumps up from his hiding place and slowly walks over to us.

"Congratulations." He intentionally hits Damion on his back, knowing it hurts. Then he sees the paint marks covering my front and his eyes turn dark. A cameraman is standing close by, recording our win.

"Who the bloody hell shot you like that?" He seems angry and it s ironic because just a few moments ago he was the one shooting at me.

"Chloe went all out killer crazy on her," Kiara explains walking over to us with a smile. Then she looks at Damion and wrinkles her nose "… but Damion protected her viciously, taking the most hits." Enrique s brow lifts and he looks at his friend standing next to me. Damion looks uncomfortable but he doesn t say a word. Luke comes in running and Damion grabs him and throws him into the air.

"We WON! We WON!" The little guy shouts while laughing. Enrique puts his arm around my shoulder and whispers "I m going to make that bitch pay! Nobody shoots my sister except for her brothers." I just shake my head and smile at the contradiction of his words. Is that so.

I push him away and then lift my gun. Before he realizes what s happening I shoot him a few times on his chest and legs. He jumps around swearing, trying to get out of the way, but then Damion bursts out laughing and I stop shooting.

"Serves you right, asshole. You messed up my backside for nothing." Enrique looks at me as if he s going to murder me, but then he puts his arm around my shoulder again and we walk arm in arm to the exit. Luke jumps on his brother s back and Damion gives a soft growl. Axel grabs the little man and swings him over to his back, knowing his friend must be in pain. We join the other people, a mix of red and black overalls, most of them shattered with blobs of paint and already dispensed from their safety gear.

Ren is talking to Chloe. Her red overall is open at the front, giving him a perfect view of her exposed cleavage covered in only a red lacy bra and I notice his eyes taking full advantage of the show. Funny, I don t even feel a pint of jealousy, not in the slightest. Chloe suddenly rushes towards us like a freight train, grabbing Damion. All the guys' eyes move, as if in union, to the exact same spot of red lace, leaving smirks on their faces. Even Luke s eyes are almost popping from his face. Ug, boys are so predictable!

I shoot my eyes towards Damion, jealousy NOW suddenly shooting through me, but to my surprise, he s staring back at me. He smiles when my eyes catch his, questions hiding in them, and he just shrugs his shoulders.

"Undefeated legend, not one shot," Jackson willows proudly, walking over to us swinging his gun in his hands. Ilkay appears silently behind him and without hesitation, shoots him three times on the back. He growls and jumps around to see his brother s self-satisfied face teasing him.

"And now you re not!" Enrique smirks next to me, the same egotistical expression displayed on his profile. Jackson lifts his gun and shoots Ilkay back, hitting him solidly on his chest. Then Enrique shoots Axel, who also wasn t hit during the game, and Jackson shoots Kiara once.

Sean, Damion s teammate, walks over with a big smile and upon seeing his clean overall, the boys all turn on him. He turns his body, protecting his face and crotch, and takes most of the hits on his arms and ribs. Then they start a shooting frenzy, and without thinking I jump behind Damion, not eager to receive another painful shot. As soon as they run out of ammunition, they start laughing and giving each other bro-hugs.

Men, men, men! I ll never understand the workings of those puny brains of theirs.

"Let s go start the party!" Dean shouts, possibly trying to prevent some more attacks in front of the cameras. I can see the man's sly smile and just knows that he has some excellent footage already and the night is still young. The boys never disappoint, always giving the press something to speculate about.

We get in the cars and because of my BFF, or rather my EX-best friend, and her big mouth, I m sitting in Damion s truck with him and Luke. She squashed me in here and he took off so fast that I couldn t do anything but go with the flow. I don t even know where Ren is at this moment.

"How s your back?" I m trying to make conversation, not sure how to talk to my frenemy that I hate with so much passion it almost seems like love. We never really sit down and talk all alone, cause firstly I hate him and secondly my brothers are always around, so I don t know much about him. I mean, I ve seen all his races on television, and that he s a risk-taker, I know his favorite color is black, that he hates brussel sprouts, but loves to eat hot dogs from the Bacon Dog Cart, he is very active and likes any sport like surfing, skateboarding and wall climbing in his spare time, he loves the outdoors and camping, he almost had a perfect GPA score, he's a dog person, and he sleeps in the nude.

But that doesn t mean I know anything about him. And I for sure as hell is not a stalker if that s what you re thinking, no it s just things I ve picked up over the years.

"I ve figured it out," Luke breaks the loud silence, and I turn to look at him. Damion glances in the rearview mirror.

"You two are secretly in love and you re both too stupid to admit it." He gives a large proud grin as if he just figured out the undisclosed meaning of the universe.

"Gmf! Sorry to burst your bubble Luke, but your brother isn t capable of loving a girl, he has no heart. I think he might even be a monster."

"You know, love can be deceiving, just like rumors. And monsters can be real." Damion mumbles, taking his eyes off the road to look at me and a flame shoots from them to burn my core. What does he mean by that? I m still trying to figure it out when Luke gives one of his quirky but rather brilliant thoughts.

"So Mel, you don t like my brother then?" Luke asks softly as if he s disappointed. I chose to throw Damion s words back at him.

"Well, I ve been there, done that, even got the dragon to prove it. He's not my Prince Charming that's for sure." I steal a secret glance at him and notice his face going pale.

"So you want a fairytale?" Where does this kid come from? And between him and his brother, I don t even get time to take a breath before they slam me with a mind-changing fact.

"Not so much, but I want something real. Not a one-day prince that will just rip out my heart the next day." I know Damion will get the meaning behind the words. He s not your normal knight in shining armor on a white horse, no he s more of a demon in jeans on a black bike, and instead of saving you, he will destroy you.

"You need a good guy and not a prince then," Luke says, taking my hand in his and all I can do is smile at him. This little nut-head crawled into my heart and stuck himself there. Damion just shakes his head, giving a soft laugh as if he finds it funny. He turns the Bonny Tyler song on the radio up as if he doesn t want to listen to us anymore.

'Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods … ' Perfect … now I m sure I m gonna get stuck with an ogre in my life … so much for fairytales.

'Isn t there a white night upon a fiery steed …