by Vera Quinn
Blinking, I stare at the ceiling once again. How many mornings has my day started just like this? Far too many to count.
I get lost in her.
I get lost in the peace we have together.
As the clock ticks and the seconds continue to pass, I find contentment right here, like this.
The most beautiful woman I’ve ever met draped over me while I lay on my back listening to her even breathing while staring at the popcorn ceiling over us. As simple as this very moment is, I find it to be a beautiful day in my broken life. Another morning where the only peace she could find in the darkness of the night comes wrapped around me.
She says I chase the bad away. I’ve never told her, but she chases the chaos away for me. There is a calm I find with her. A peace inside my very soul like I’ve never felt before.
Hell, I’m a biker. Calm isn’t part of the world I live in.
In the beginning, the nightmares were frequent. Then, they only seemed to happen when I would leave for a transport, and upon my return, it would be harder for her to settle down. Inhaling, the lavender vanilla mix of her shampoo invades my nostrils. A smell I crave like a dog on a hunt.
Pathetic.
This woman came into my life at a time when things were truly good.
Calm even, well on the outside. In my head, there is no relief. My mind spins constantly, playing out scenarios where I lose everything. One wrong move, and poof, no more Hellions.
No more family.
I know that feeling. The one where the person who matters most is gone. See, there are so many things in life we can come back from… except in death, there is no second chance. I know loss.
What I don’t know is love, companionship, and the friendship possibilities outside of the Hellions MC.
I am a simple man. It doesn’t take much in life for me to count my blessings twice. Then again, I think when you come from absolutely nothing, everything feels like a win.
Gramps raised me to enjoy the humble life. In fact, long after he was gone, I still lived my life minimally. I used to think it was a problem inside of me that I didn’t get attached to things. Other than Gramps, I didn’t get attached to people.
With Laura, I find myself anxious when we’re apart. At first, I brushed the feeling off. Recently, I realized the energy I feel when I’m away from her is actually me missing her.
And what a feeling it is.
I wouldn’t say I like it.
What I do like is mornings exactly like today. My woman, even if she doesn’t know it, in bed, tucked close to my body. Her heart beating in rhythm to my own is my reminder we are alive. Against all the odds, we are survivors.
Sure, I don’t have to be here. I’ve told myself a thousand times to leave her house and just be a friend. Only, night after night, she asks me to stay. In the beginning, I slept on the couch until she would cry out in a nightmare. It wasn’t long before we both got real with the situation and decided to sleep together.
Without sex, that is.
As a single man, my camper wasn’t a bad place to live. Before Laura was taken, beaten, and shot, I lived alone in a travel trailer. The same one I lived in as a kid with Gramps. I didn’t need anything bigger.
Knowing she had a road to recovery after what went down in Mexico, Axel scooped up this house and the one beside it. His woman Yesnia is Laura’s best friend and the reason Laura was wrapped up in the mess that got her shot. Laura, amazingly, doesn’t hold what happened against Yesnia. The two have only created a stronger bond in the chaos. Part of that might be because Axel and I secured these homes so the two could be neighbors, or it’s just who they are. I don’t give a shit. What started out as a temporary plan for me has become a life I crave. If someone would have asked me five years ago if I would live in a two-story house on a cul-de-sac, I would have laughed in their face. Now, though, I have that very house, and I have this woman and this life…
And I don’t know what to do with any of it.
The only thing I do know is I don’t want it to change. Laura is the unexpected, the woman who crashed into my world.
If you would’ve asked me where I saw my life, even a year ago, this would not have registered at all. Something in me changed seeing her laid out on a dirt floor in the basement of the shack.
We were there for Yesnia. Axel’s woman had been kidnapped. When we charged the room, there was Laura, absolutely, completely shattered. I scooped her up, bleeding out from her wounds, and carried her to safety. From that very day, I haven’t been able to let go.
Every day that has passed since, I’ve watched her heal. Lately, she’s even gone outside of her routine. She’s taking dance classes. After each session, she seems lighter. Somehow, she finds confidence in her time at the studio. It’s refreshing to see her come out of her shell.
It also gives me hope.
Hope that I can soon make a move.
Hope that I could see where things might go between us.
Laura
“Tell a story with your body.” Sign on the dance room wall.
The music blasts as I dance in my living room. I can’t explain it. Since the first dance class, it’s all I want to do.
Five, six, seven, eight. I count the steps in my head as I move my hips and sway my arms.
I’m in my own world with the music louder than usual.
As a little girl, I loved to dance. I would spend hours dancing. Whether I was in my bedroom or in the yard, I had a song playing in my head to move to. There is just something about music and dance that provides the truest escape.
From the rhythms and beats with no lyrics to songs with words, it all speaks to me. Moving my body, I feel like I express all the emotions I don’t know how to put into words.
When I dance, the fear doesn’t win.
I own my body.
The gross man in the basement doesn’t have power over me. His touch erased by the power I find in moving freely. I’m not bound by the ties they had on my ankles.
I am not bound to the memories.
With every count and every second I allow myself to be lost, I’m no longer the broken mess on the floor.
No, I’m a woman in love with herself. I’m in love with movements and the feeling of truly being alive.
I vaguely make out the noise of the door opening, but the only people who have keys are Axel, Yesnia, and Hawk.
Lifting my head, I look to the front door as Hawk walks in. The minute he enters, everything seems to blur out into the background.
I’ll never forget blinking as he scooped me up and carried me out. My eyes locked to his blazing blue ones as every inch of my body hurt. I thought I would die right there on the dirt floor until I looked in his eyes.
Silently, he coached me in his stare to hold on. The strength I needed to keep going, I found in him.
“Don’t stop the show now, babe,” he teases, and I shake my head.
I don’t know why I’m feeling shy. This is Hawk. The same Hawk who has seen me truly at my worst. With the music still playing in the background, I’m shocked as Hawk moves to me. He wraps his arms around my waist and begins to move behind me with the music. My back flush to his chest as he controls our flow.
I’m impressed. I didn’t think bikers danced. Hawk knows how to move. I relax against him.
Hawk is tall and towers over me. In this position, I feel like he’s wrapped himself around me and I’m once again safe in his cocoon. There isn’t a bit of space between us as Hawk guides us with the song. Getting lost in him, I reach up behind me to graze my nails against his neck. This movement prompts him to run his hands up and down my sides gently. Every touch I commit to memory. Hawk is the sexiest man I’ve ever been around in my life. To be in his arms when we are both awake, I don’t ever want to forget this.
I also can’t help but want more.
Moving my hips against him, I try to silently convey I want him. As he leans down, his breath feels hot on my neck, sending goosebumps over my flesh. Ha
wk turns me in his arms as the song changes.
My eyes lock to his. The fire in his gaze has me instantly wanting him to kiss me, to touch me, to tempt me.
“Kiss me.” The words fall out of my mouth in a whisper.
His eyes dance. “Baby, I kiss you, I won’t turn back. Everything will change. You need to know. I don’t want to go back. I want this. I want you.”
I take a deep breath. At first, I wasn’t ready for anything. But Hawk, he’s different. He’s patient. Only it’s more than that. Other than Yesnia, he is my very best friend. He is my partner, my protector, and everything I want for the future.
“Kiss me,” I whisper again.
That’s all it takes. His head drops, his mouth meets mine.
I open.
His tongue invades.
The dance of our bodies becomes the dance of our tongues.
I get lost in his rhythm.
I get lost in hope.
I get lost in him.
This is my beauty after being broken.
Channing
“When you know what you got is good, you simply don’t let go.” Gramps quote about Grams.
Laying in our bed, staring up at the popcorn ceiling, I relax. It’s been a month or more since Laura had a nightmare. In my arms, she finds her safety. Holding her here, I find my peace. We fit each other.
She is everything I never expected in life.
Yet, I can’t imagine a day without her.
I can’t help but wonder what comes at the next curve in the road? Life is a cruel bitch; I’ve seen it and felt it. I have a chance to have something real like I’ve never had before.
I have this fear I won’t be able to keep it.
I have this beauty in us.
There is beauty in her.
No matter how great every moment with her feels, I can’t shake the feeling I may not be able to hold on for the ride.
She rolls into me, settling further into sleep. A soft sigh escapes her. God, she is beautiful.
For now, I need to hold on to this. Even if tomorrow isn’t promised, I, at least, have today.
No matter what comes, I’m not letting her go. This is it for me. This is my ride for life.
The End…
Until the next ride.
You made it to the end!
I hope you enjoyed Beauty in It! I would love to hear what you thought about Beauty in It. If you have a few moments to leave a review, I’d be very grateful.
Don’t want to miss a single release or update to my schedule? Sign up for my newsletter here! I promise I won’t spam you. I send out a monthly update on my release schedule and a quarterly Steals and Deals email full of bargain books waiting to fill your library.
Thank you for giving my book the honor of your time and a place on your shelf. I truly love writing and sharing every story with you.
Also in this series:
Hellions Ride On
Born to It (BW and Karsci)
Bastard in It (Red and Kylee)
Bleed for It (Axel and Yesnia)
Breathe for It (Crunch and Jennissey)
Bold from It (Kick and Diem)
Brave in It (Knuckle Buster and Emmalee)
Broken by It (Karma and Maritza)
Brazen being It (Victory and Cambria)
Better as It (Toon and Dia)
Brash for It (Pretty Boy)
Brutal for It (Tommy Boy and Jamison)
Beauty in It (Hawk and Laura)
This series is a stand-alone spinoff from the Hellions Ride Series. While you can read this series without reading the first series, the reading order for the Hellions Ride is as follows:
One Ride
Forever Ride
Merciless Ride
Eternal Ride
Innocent Ride
Simple Ride
Heated Ride
Ride with Me (Hellions MC and Ravage MC Duel) co-written by Ryan Michele
Originals Ride
Final Ride
Broken by It
Two broken people, one forbidden romance, this is a passion fueled ride … are you ready?
Karma
Family over everything.
My club.
My son.
I have no time for anything else.
I am Dillon “Karma” Jacoby.
I’m jaded, hard, and determined to give my every emotion to my son.
Maritza
Family is everything.
Even if I feel smothered by my father, Ruben “Ruby” Castillo, I wouldn’t change a thing.
I spend my days helping in the office with my mother and my nights longing for a biker who will never be mine.
I am Maritza Castillo.
I live a life devoted to a club I will never be part of.
When he has no one else to trust with his son, I step up. Except he refuses to see how good we could be together.
I’m ready for the ride, if only he would trust me.
Other works by Chelsea Camaron
Love and Repair Series:
Crash and Burn
Restore My Heart
Salvaged
Full Throttle
Beyond Repair
Stalled
Box Set Available
Hellions Ride Series:
One Ride
Forever Ride
Merciless Ride
Eternal Ride
Innocent Ride
Simple Ride
Heated Ride
Ride with Me (Hellions MC and Ravage MC Duel with Ryan Michele)
Originals Ride
Final Ride
Hellions Ride On Series:
Hellions Ride On Prequel
Born to It
Bastard in It
Bleed for It
Breathe for It
Bold from It
Broken by It
Brazen being It
Better as It
Blue Collar Bad Boys Series:
Maverick
Heath
Lance
Wendol
Reese
Devil’s Due MC Series:
Serving My Soldier
Crossover
In The Red
Below The Line
Close The Tab
Day of Reckoning
Paid in Full
Bottom Line
Almanza Crime Family Duet
Cartel Bitch
Cartel Queen
Romantic Thriller Series:
Stay
Seeking Solace: Angelina’s Restoration
Reclaiming Me: Fallyn’s Revenge
Bad Boys of the Road Series:
Mother Trucker
Panty Snatcher
Azzhat
Santa, Bring Me a Biker!
Santa, Bring Me a Baby!
Stand Alone Reads:
Romance – Moments in Time Anthology
Shenanigans (Currently found in the Beer Goggles Anthology
She is …
The following series are co-written
The Fire Inside Series:
(co-written by Theresa Marguerite Hewitt)
Kale
Regulators MC Series:
(co-written by Jessie Lane)
Ice
Hammer
Coal
Summer of Sin Series:
(co-written with Ripp Baker, Daryl Banner, Angelica Chase, MJ Fields, MX King)
Original Sin
Caldwell Brothers Series:
(co-written by USA Today Bestselling Author MJ Fields)
Hendrix
Morrison
Jagger
Stand Alone Romance:
(co-written with USA Today Bestselling Author MJ Fields)
Visibly Broken
Use Me
Ruthless Rebels MC Series:
(co-written with Ryan Michele)
Shamed
Scorned
Scarred
Schooled
Box Set Availab
le
Power Chain Series:
(co-written with Ryan Michele)
Power Chain FREE eBook
PowerHouse
Power Player
Powerless
OverPowered
Stay up to date
Do you want to get bonus scenes, sale updates, new release information and more?
Click here to sign up for my newsletter!
Want to get an email direct to you with every new release or sale?
Follow me on Bookbub!
Connect directly with me anytime at:
www.authorchelseacamaron.com
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Playlist Repeats
Find me on Spotify for the full playlist I used while working on this project!
Key artists on repeat:
Papa Roach (as always)
Eminem (as always)
Memphis May Fire
Shinedown
Falling in Reverse
About the Author
USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Chelsea Camaron is a small-town Carolina girl with a big imagination. She’s a wife and mom, chasing her dreams. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and romance thrillers. She loves to write about blue-collar men who have real problems with a fictional twist. From mechanics, bikers, oil riggers, smokejumpers, bar owners, and beyond she loves a strong hero who works hard and plays harder.
Chelsea can be found on social media at: