Taken by Temptation

by Liberty Parker

  “I’ll try,” I tell her. And I will, I will pray and have faith in these men to get out of this safely and in one piece.

  After what feels like forever, the door opens and Tic is standing in the door.

  “I need ya’ll to stay in here a little bit longer, but I wanted to check on you and let you know we’re all good,” he says as he shuts the door, shutting us out of the outside world beyond these four walls.

  “Well,” I say, “At least we know everyone is good.” I’m trying hard to spin a positive out of this disaster and trying to make myself feel as if these walls aren’t closing in on me. Knowing they’re alright, I breathe easier and can calm myself down some.

  Ghost

  We’re trying to hold the guys off in the front that are trying to move in on the clubhouse. We’re picking them off one by one, there are still a lot of men outside that we need to make sure don’t break the perimeter. I feel like we’re sitting ducks in here, but my adrenaline is pumping and I’m ready to take the fight out to them. I’m hoping Wasp or Tic will give me the permission I need to take the fight to them. I have my eyes on Valdez, making sure he isn’t going to run off. I want this over with today.

  Here and now.

  I want this son of a bitch out of my life! I want to be the one to pull the trigger, though I’m willing to accept him just being put out of his miserable life, I’ll accept his death if it’s at the hands of one of my brothers. Not happy about it, but will accept it all the same. Out the corner of my eye, I see a guy that doesn’t belong to us has been able to successfully breach the inside. He has his gun aimed at Wasp’s head, not thinking I turn my body and aim at him, I don’t succeed in killing him, but I do take him down.

  Wasp, unaware that anyone was behind him with a gun aimed at his head turns to me with eyes wide and I see the words on his lips. ‘Thank you’, and I give him a nod letting him know I heard him. He looks as if ten years have been taken off his life. I can only imagine what’s running through his mind right now. If I were him, I’d be seeing what life would’ve been like for those left behind. I don’t think Ash would survive losing him after only getting him back after the twenty years of hell she lived without him.

  Not to mention he’d be leaving behind his daughters. Riley and Sadie would be so lost without him, he has come to mean the world to them, as they have to him. Just the thought of me leaving Bristol behind has my heart hurting. I see Tic and Bomber restrain the man I just shot, pulling him off the floor as they tie his hands and feet together. Where they got the rope from I couldn’t tell you. I’m just thankful they have it.

  We hear a loud pop and I jump up from my kneeled position so I can see outside the window and what I see brings a smile to my face. Valdez is laying in the street in a pool of blood. His men start scrambling trying to retreat once they see their boss is down, this is where we chase them and put an end to them all. We run out the door in pursuit, we duck, weave and hide in the shadows since they are returning fire. Soldier is still on the roof and taking out as many as he can from his vantage point. He can see things we can’t and has a clearer view of where every one of them assholes are hiding. They’re like fucking roaches, they keep growing and are hard to take out.

  They’re being taken out one at a time, every damn time I turn around there is another one. I don’t know how they all squeezed their asses into the seven SUVs that are parked in front of the clubhouse, but they somehow managed that impossible feat. There’s no way my brothers and I would’ve been able to manage that. I take out one, two, three of those fuckers in continued succession as I make my way out into the fray of the activity. I’m ready to get this over with, and I’d like to see Johnny’s body up close and personal. I’d like to make sure he’s dead and gone, I want there to be no chances of a recovery for him.

  Then like my wish came through at the thought, there is suddenly a deafening silence in the air. I disregard my brothers and run to where Johnny lies in a puddle of his own blood. I check for a pulse and feel nothing there, just to make sure I look into his eyes and see a clear sign of death. He has the hundred-mile stare, looking into nothing. Then the pain in my shoulder becomes front and center and I lose my footing and collapse to the ground. Then I see and hear nothing from the blackness that takes over my body.

  Chapter 39

  Bristol

  It’s been two weeks since the shootout at the club. Brady was shot in the shoulder, we ran him to the hospital and had to have a cop by the name of Detective Maddox cover tracks for us. He’s a sweet man and seems to be friendly with the guys. I heard the story of how he stepped in and assisted the club when Riley was kidnapped and was a big part of her recovery. This gives him huge bonus points in my opinion, that and how he stepped in and helped the club with the shootout and repercussions with the law. He saved our asses, that’s for sure.

  Clean up has been a long, drawn out operation. We’ve had to rebuild the gate to the entrance of the club completely, we’ve had to repair the damage done to the front of the club and fix some broken windows. We have a few guys who had bullet grazes and other injuries, nothing severe, Brady was the worst of them all. It damaged the muscle in his shoulder and he’ll be starting rehab once his arm is out of the sling that he’ll be in for at least another six weeks or so. It missed his rotator cuff by a couple of inches, if it had taken that out he’d never regain full use of his arm again. It was recommended that we get a tens unit for home during his recovery period. It has helped him tremendously when his shoulder feels like it’s locking up on him or the muscles are tight and it’s hard for him to move his shoulder.

  The guys decided to get bulletproof and shatter-proof glass to replace the windows, so there’s a special company coming out later on this week to measure and explain more about the quality of said windows. The guys are debating on having the entire wall around the compound redone with some sort of steel and concrete design that they read about online. They’re also looking into a company that claims that they can build a gate that can resist an explosion and is impossible to penetrate. I am a firm believer that nothing is impossible and that there isn’t such a thing that exists. But, who am I to tell them where to spend their money and if they want to believe the statistics that this seller claims to have with his product, I say go for it. If it gives them a sense of security I’m on board with that.

  The last of my mom’s remains were located four days ago, seems they’d been buried behind the safe house she’d been staying at. I’m still having nightmares about my delivered package, but it’s getting better. The girls and guys have gotten really good at getting through to me with my panic attacks. We have my mother’s funeral planned for next week. Kid and Skylar won’t be able to attend since they’re dealing with their own personal hell in their town. So, I told Brady that I just wanted something small and intimate.

  The guys, however, wouldn’t hear of it. For one, she’s my mother and two, she was King’s sister. Even though, in my opinion she didn’t deserve the title of sister or the respect they’re showing her by burying her and attending her funeral. Brady tells me it’s more because of me than her. The way everyone is treating me, I believe that. I’ve gotten close to several members and feel like they’re all my brothers in one way or another. Some are really great at advice, others are great about making me laugh when I’m feeling sad and the rest are great for a shoulder to cry on. With Johnny and my mom out of the way, I finally feel free, safe and can’t wait to get my independence back.

  “Hey sweet cheeks, what are you so deep in thought about there?” Brady asks me from the doorway to our bedroom. We’re finally back home and it feels great to have our own space and some privacy from everyone.

  “I was just thinking of how I feel free and safe again. About how happy you make me and about how I want to move forward with school and us.”

  “I’m so happy that you feel safe and happy, sweet cheeks. If anyone deserves that, it’s most definitely you. You’ve been through hell and back b
aby and I’m so happy to see the woman that’s standing before me. I’m so proud of you, sweet cheeks.”

  “You know what? I’m proud of me, too. I’m not the scared, mousy girl that you took out of that house that day. I’m stronger and it wasn’t an easy emotional or mental road. I have to thank you and the club for a lot of it, but I allowed myself to break some of those walls down. It wasn’t easy, but it was so worth it.”

  “You’re worth it,” Brady says in response to my statement. I smile at him letting all the love I feel for him show on my face.

  “You’re my joy Brady, my light and my love. Everything I am is yours. I love you so much.”

  “You’re my world, sweet cheeks, I am nothing with you in my life. You’re the air I breath, the sun in my dark, I wasn’t alive before I met you, I was only treading through this thing we call life. You give me something to wake up to, something to come home to and something to dream about.”

  I can feel the tears run down my face at the beauty of his words.

  The End

  Keep turning the page for the Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Bristol

  Ten years later...

  “Mom!” my youngest yells as she comes into the kitchen of the home that Kid and Skylar gifted to me and Brady on the day we got married.

  “What is it now, McKenzie?” I ask her.

  “Freaking Kingston and Bray say I can’t play with them outside because I’m a girl! Tell them that’s not fair!” Kingston is Kori and Tic’s son and Bray is short for Brady Jr. Brady and I found out I was pregnant right after my mother’s funeral. Kingston and Bray are only eleven months apart and are joined at the hip. And they’re at that age where they hate all things that have to do with girls.

  “McKenzie, why don’t you go see if Vicky wants to play with you.” Vicky is Justice and Lizzie’s little girl and she and McKenzie are only two weeks apart. Justice and Lizzie had a hard road in the beginning, but that’s their story to share.

  “I can’t! Vicky is with her Pop Pop and Nanna. They came and got her last night. Remember mom?”

  “Sorry sweetie, I forgot. Why don’t you help momma make some cookies instead?”

  “Or, she can come help her old man work on his bike in the garage,” Brady says coming into the room and wrapping his arms around me. He gives me a kiss on the head, then lets me go so he can go to his daughter. Her dad is her favorite person in the entire world.

  “Yes!” she screams jumping up and down on her feet. “Daddy, why don’t the boys like me to play with them?” Brady turns and looks at me for guidance and I pretend I don’t see him and turn away to get the cookie dough out of the freezer. He’s on his own with this one, I’m only paying him back for all the times he’s left me to answer the most impossible of questions from our daughter’s mouth. He’s notorious for leaving the room with no trace, like he did to me two weeks ago when she asked where babies come from. He was walking in the back door from coming home from the club, upon hearing her question he simply turned around on his feet and walked right back out the door.

  Ghost

  Where the fuck is my little girl coming up with all of these damn questions? Every day I come home and it’s a new one. I hate being the bad guy or the one to answer questions about babies...etc. And my girl is full of them here lately.

  Why is the sky blue instead of purple or pink?

  Why can only Momma’s have babies?

  Where do babies come from?

  Why do boys’ private areas look different than mine...that question would be my fault since I forgot to lock the damn door when I went in to take a shower. McKenzie decided she needed me right away, I can’t remember what for, but she came rushing into the bathroom as I was jacking myself off. I’ve never been so petrified of my child in my entire life than when she asked what I was doing and why do I look different than her.

  Fuck my inquisitive child. I always refer her to her mother, I never know what the right thing is to say to her to satisfy her curiosity.

  So, I answer this question the same way I do all the others. “Ask your mother,” I say as I leave and exit the kitchen, hearing Bristol scream out my name. I’m sure several words followed mine, things that my four-year-old shouldn’t be hearing since she thinks curse words are funny and uses them as frequently as she can.

  Later that night...

  When I get out of the shower, I walk into our room and Bristol is laying there looking so peaceful and beautiful I can’t help but check out the woman who turned my world upside down with one look all those years ago. I crawl into bed behind her and imagine my surprise to feel that my wife is completely naked. Yes! I do a mental fist pump, knowing she must not be too angry with me for leaving her alone with McKenzie’s questions earlier. I sing in my head...gonna get me some...fixin’ to get me some.

  I slide my hand down from her stomach to where I want to play with the most. I take my finger and run it through her slit, she’s soaking wet.

  “Mmm...Brady, I need you baby,” she says to me. Taking that as my cue I line myself up with her entrance and ease my way inside. This right here is what heaven must feel like, I think to myself.

  “God Bristol, always so tight and wet for me.”

  “Mmmhmm...,” is her only reply. Which usually means she wants me to shut the fuck up and get to fucking.

  Me being who I am, never deny my woman of anything. I lift her leg over mine and push in and out, in and out, over and over again. I feel her squeezing me with her kegal exercises she likes to do and it has me letting out a moan. I love it when she uses those muscles on my cock. I pick up the pace knowing if I don’t, I’ll get mine before she gets hers and that doesn’t work for me or my ego.

  “That’s it baby, use those muscles on my cock,” I moan out. “Rub your clit baby, I’m not gonna last long,” I breath out heavily. My chest is pumping up and down with my exertion. “Come for me baby, come now, sweet cheeks,” I groan out.

  She comes hard and pulls me over the cliff with her. I moan out her name as she screams out mine. This right here, her in my arms, my kids safe and sound in our home is what life is supposed to be. Fuck our pasts, fuck those who were counting against us and those who made it their mission in life to hurt us.

  They didn’t keep us from this.

  They didn’t destroy our happiness.

  They made us stronger.

  So, I say thank you to them all. They made us unbreakable.

  I’m so thankful I gave into temptation when the voice in my head told me to turn away and never look back.

  No more doubts from either of us.

  We were meant to be, then, now and forever.

  Bonus Scene

  Justice

  Today is my wedding day.

  The day I meet my bride for the first time at the altar. The day I tie myself to a stranger, a woman I’ve never even met.

  I do this for my club.

  I do this for my brother.

  I do this for her, she deserves to be out of that house of horrors she’s grown up in. I’m standing here waiting for her with Ghost by my side. I decided on only one groomsman, and since this is to ensure his future, I can’t think of anyone else that should be by my side.

  I look up and see the most stunningly beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life. She’s tanned, dark hair—so dark it’s nearly black in color. I can’t see her eyes clearly from the end of the aisle, but from here they look to be hazel in color. The one thing that’s standing out to me right now is that she looks about as happy as I do to be here and meeting your future for the first time at the end of a makeshift wedding altar. I didn’t want to get married in a church, therefore we set it up in the backyard of the clubhouse. It’s nothing fancy, but the ladies did a good job making it something special for her.

  I hope and pray that she’s at least not putting me in the same category as her father. I suddenly want to prove to her that I am a good man.

  I’ll be good for her.
<
br />   To her.

  Lizzie

  I can’t believe I’m actually going through with this! I hate my father more at this moment in time than I ever have in my entire life. Why does he get to pick who we spend the rest of our lives with? As I stand with him at the Rage Ryders clubhouse door leading into the backyard, I have the sudden thought to flee. Could I make it out of here, or would of one of father’s men catch me?

  Looking over at father I can tell that if I pull one of my shenanigans today I will pay the price. A price I never want to pay again at his hands and cruelty. I decide to give fate a chance, there must be a reason this is happening to me.

  Once the wedding march begins, I watch as my sisters start their walk where they will be waiting on me once I make it to my destination. When my turn comes, I feel the butterflies start to fly in my stomach. Please don’t let him be some dirty, disgusting old man who doesn’t believe in maintaining himself. Even I’m not that good of an actress, for Christ’s sake!

  Once we get to where I can see my future husband I am shocked and pleased with what I see. He very much does take care of himself and I find myself looking forward to my wedding night. He’s tall, broad and from what I see, very muscular. He’s got dirty blonde hair, which isn’t unacceptably long, it only reaches the top of his collar and is messy in a very sexy way. I want to run my fingers through it while he pounds into me. Holy shit, where did that random thought come from?

  I make it to where he is standing waiting for me and I am suddenly mesmerized by the sky-blue eyes looking back at me. I wonder if he likes what he sees as much as I do. I work hard to take care of myself and it shows. I’m not trying to be vain, but I’m not naturally skinny so I have to work hard to where my body doesn’t look bad in my clothes. I’m still no skinny minnie, but I am proud of how hard I work to make myself look presentable where he shouldn’t be ashamed of me. I hope he likes all of my natural curves.