by Land, E. C.
The first time he did, his dad brought over a photo album that when I went through it, there were pictures of Lynsdey’s mom and dad, and there was another couple. I quickly took a picture of it and sent it to Gadget, wanting to see who the other couple was in the photo. The man looked familiar, and I couldn’t place it.
The sound of baby whimpers through the monitor pulls me from my thoughts as I look at the monitor to see my princess starting to wake up.
“You stay here, babygirl, I’ll get her.”
“I’ll come with you. I’m sure Bud is right behind her and will be ready to eat. The boy eats like you do— always hungry.”
“Can’t help that it runs in the Grant genes.” I smirk as she rolls her eyes at me before getting out of bed. She grabs my shirt off the floor puts it on as she walks to the door.
I sit there for a second, enjoying the view before I join her.
I’m one lucky fucker to have this woman.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Twister’s Survival
Available Now
From E.C. Land
Devil’s Riot MC
Horse’s Bride (Book #1)
Thorn’s Revenge (Book #2)
Warning
This content is intended for mature audience only. It contains material that may be viewed as offensive to some readers, including graphic language, dangerous and sexual situations, murder, rape, and extreme violence.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank my family but most of all, my brothers. My oldest brother has always been there for me through thick and thin, and my other brother, who could light up the room with just his smile alone. His jokes always made me laugh. I don’t know what I’d have done without either of them growing up. They helped shape me into who I am today.
My readers, I want to thank you for sticking with me.
To the ones that have lost a loved one. Until we meet again, Roadrunner.
Playlist
Avril Lavigine – Head Above Water
Carly Pearce – Everything Little Thing
Submersed – Hollow
Three Days Grace – Never Too late
Seether – Driven Under
Shinedown – 45
Bif Naked – We are the lucky ones
Matt Kennon – The Call
Kane Brown – Heaven
Halestorm – Amen
Skillet – Hero
Mario – Let Me Love You
Halestorm – I am the fire
Nickelback – Someday
Breaking Benjamin – Ashes of Eden
Dawn to Dust
Dawn to Dust he watches
Dust to dawn he wait’s
Watches for the big one
Waits for the one
There in the field he sit’s
He whistles for his dogs
Watches as they run
Chasing the one he awaits
Watching from the trees
Listening as they come
Tracking where they go
Is the big one a buck or doe
He aims his rifle
Looks through the scope
He fires his gun
The big one goes down
He has a smile as he sees
What he’s waited for
From dust to dawn
E.C. Land
Prologue
Izzy
There are moments you wish you could turn back time. Change the past that forges the future. To bring the ones we love back into our lives. Bring the dead back to life or do the unthinkable— take their place instead.
With each decision we make, there’s always a consequence to go with it. Just like the saying, ‘With magic, it always comes with a price’. I’ve made a lot of decisions I will always regret but there’s one that will haunt me well after the day I take my last breath.
During high school all I did was party. I was young and stupid. But honestly, what teenager didn’t party during those years? I wasn’t exactly popular, but I wasn’t a loser either. I loved to go out with my friends to one of the fields where we would light a bonfire and smoke, drink, and ride four wheelers into the night. Never once caring about shit happening.
One night, while at a party, I called my brother Chase to come pick me up. Him being the big brother that he was, agreed to come but not before lecturing me over the phone about how careless I was being. That was Chase though, always looking out for me.
I may have been a party girl, but my brother made sure I kept my grades up. “You can have a good time, Elizabeth, but you gotta know when it’s time to be serious and when not to be. You work hard, you can party hard, but there’s a fine line you have to watch out for.”
That’s what he would always tell me. I’ll never forget those words.
That night, he never showed to pick me up. I had been drunk off my ass when I finally made it home, and I didn’t pay any attention to the fact his car wasn’t in the driveway. Not wanting to wake our parents, knowing they would be pissed, I quietly snuck up to my room, trying not to stumble too much up the stairs. I passed out instantly the moment I hit the bed, not bothering to get under the covers. I couldn’t tell you how long I slept when I woke to someone knocking on the front door, squinting my eyes at the clock to see the time. Who the fuck would be here at fuckin’ five in the morning?
I listen to my dad answer the door. I didn’t pay attention to anything else as I try to go back to sleep. As I started to drift off, my mom’s screams of pain grabbed my attention. I rushed down the stairs to see two police officers standing there as my dad held my mom while she continued to cry.
“What’s going on?” I asked confused. Both my parents whipped their heads in my direction. If looks could kill, my mom’s eyes would have shot daggers into my chest. I knew I wasn’t the child they wanted, that was my brother.
“Our son was killed in an accident last night, Elizabeth. It’s all your fault! I should have aborted you like I wanted. At least then my son would still be here,” my mom screamed at me as she crumpled in my dad’s arms.
“No,” I whispered. I don’t remember much after that as everything became a blur as I stood there watching my parents hold each other.
Chase was gone and it was my fault. Oh my god. Why him? Why did he have to be killed in an accident? It was all my fuckin’ fault. He wasn’t just my big brother but my best friend as well. I screwed up and didn’t listen to him when I should have and now, he’s gone. I guess that’s what he meant about that fine line.
I will never forgive myself for what happened.
After that day, I stopped partying altogether, concentrating on finishing school, my brother’s words staying with me the entire time. I pushed myself to become more. I left home the day I turned eighteen and never looked back. I became one of the best real estate agents in my area and worked my ass off making a name for myself.
Now, six years later, I still feel the pain as if it were yesterday. Some days, I can’t breathe because of it. I’ve carried that pain for so long, I don’t know how to live without it. Since leaving home, I haven’t seen my parents and the only time they call is when they feel the need to torture me. They blame me as much as I blame myself.
I still drink a lot but never to the point of getting shit-faced. I haven’t been that wasted since the night I asked him to pick me up. During the week, I’m all work but the weekends I drink and have a lot of sex. I use men to cope with the pain— it’s my escape, even if only for a little while. The rougher the man is with me, the better. I need the pain to ease the guilt I feel every moment of the day.
I made new friends in the town I call home. Kenny became my best friend along with Lynsdey and Cleo. The only thing is, they don’t know anything about my brother. They just think I drink on the weekends and get shit-faced but know my limit. They also don’t know what I do with the men I hook up with.
I also won’t let them find out about the time I was with the only man that could take away the pa
in completely. The man fucked me so good I was able to sleep for the first time ever without the thoughts of my brother’s death hanging over me.
When I saw him again, a little over a year ago, I about dropped the glass I was filling with a shot of Gentleman Jack. I could barely keep my heart contained in my chest as it started to pound. The smile he gave me had my panties wet and ready for more of what I knew he could do to me.
Holy hell, that man was still hot as can be. When Kenny introduced us, I knew he had been put in a different category. You never go for your best friend’s brother. That’s a complete no-go for me. He was supposed to be a one-night stand. He said he was just visiting the area. Worked for me, I didn’t do relationships. Ever!
Now, he’s moved to the area. And he made sure I knew he wanted me back in his bed. No matter how much I want to be under him and have him roughly take me, I won’t hurt my friendship with Kenny to be with her brother.
Twister is a no-go for me. I would feel worse using him now that I know who he is.
As much as I need the feel of his hands around my throat, I need to find someone else. Especially with the time of year. Every year it’s worse the closer to the anniversary. The day of, I can barely cope.
I don’t even know if I can make it this year. The guilt swallows me. I can barely breathe these days. The weight of my guilt is unbearable. I need something to get through it and I refuse to turn to drugs. That won’t help. I tried once. The only thing that has ever worked was, and still is, rough sex. The only time a sense of relief fills me is when I’m being choked during sex, the pain is what I need most.
The rougher the better, and I don’t want it any other way. It’s the only thing I’ve found that takes the pain away.
At least for a little while.
1
Izzy
“Thank fuck it’s Friday,” I mumble as I get in my car after a long ass day at work. I knew the day would turn to shit from the moment I got out of bed this morning. First thing, I burned my ear with my straighter, only to get to work to have my pain in the ass boss load me down with more work. It’s not like I don’t have enough. Granted, I don’t mind the work, it keeps my mind off other things but dammit, I know he does it on purpose.
At lunch today, I condemn myself to an even shittier day by answering the phone when my mom called. It’s the same every time one of my parents calls, as they put it, to see if I’m still alive. Out of habit, I always answer, taking their words of venom about me for being the reason for Chase’s death. They hate me and I know this. I hate myself enough as it is. So, I don’t blame either of them. With the anniversary only a few weeks away, the calls are becoming worse just like every other year. I haven’t been to my brother’s grave since the day we put him in the ground. I couldn’t stomach going there only to see a shiny piece of stone with his name on it.
The day only got worse after that with clients complaining about escrow this or their offer was not good enough. By five, I’m ready to pull my hair out. I end up pulling into the bar without realizing I was driving there. Looking around the parking lot of Outlaw Racks, the first thing I notice is all the bikes parked out front, lined-up side by side. Damn, why can’t they party at the clubhouse tonight? That means Twister is inside. Maybe I should just go to the Lounge, the other local bar in town. It’s not as popular but there are drinks there.
Kenny would kick my ass though.
“Suck it up, buttercup. Just go get a drink and find a man to help take the pain for the night,” I mumble to myself. He can’t stop me from finding someone to fuck me.
Taking a deep breath I finally get out of my car. As much as I love trucks, I love my car just as much. Kenny and Lynsdey tell me all the time that I baby my car as if it were a child. My brother loved sports cars and planned to get one when he had the money saved up. So, I worked my ass off to buy the car he would have picked. A 2017 Chevrolet Camaro SS. My car is a fuckin’ beast too. I love driving her with the windows down and jamming to music.
Shaking away my thoughts as I walk into the bar, and find Kenny working behind it. What the fuck? She just had a baby a couple of months ago and she’s working. I told her if she needed someone to work the night shift to help out, I would. There’s no reason she shouldn’t be at home with that precious little boy.
I stomp over to the bar. “Why in the hell are you behind the bar working on a Friday night when you have a newborn at home?” I ask her before she can even turn from the customer she’s helping.
“Well, fuckin’ hello to you too. Someone not getting any or are you PMSing?” Kenny snaps back with a smirk on her face. The bitch knows I haven’t had sex in a while. I will admit, I complain quite a bit when I don’t get what I need. Just like an addict on crack. Sex is my escape and not having had any doesn’t help with the mood I’m in.
“Seriously? You want to throw down right now, I’ll take your ass on right here and beat it until you go home,” I joke covering up the pain I feel deep inside. Kenny doesn’t need to know the burden I carry. Especially after that shit she went through not long ago. Hell, it scared the shit out of me when I found her truck smashed into the tree with her missing.
The sight of her truck completely smashed up was like envisioning a repeat of my brother’s car. I cried all the way to the clubhouse when no one would pick up the phone. I cried for nights after that. To be honest, it still haunts me along with my brother. I can’t close my eyes without seeing either her truck smashed or the image of my brother’s face the last time I saw him.
“I’ve told her the same thing, but the woman doesn’t fuckin’ listen,” Horse grumbles as he sits on one of the barstools by me, watching as Kenny mixes my drink.
“I know, I know but I needed to fill in for Cristy. She called this morning, said she was sick, and she never does that, so I know she’s not lying. The woman is always here,” Kenny says as she rolls her eyes in her husband’s direction.
“Why didn’t you call me? I could have filled in for you. You need to be at home with JC,” I ask getting pissed at the fact I’ve told her repeatedly that I would fill in anytime she needs me.
“Izzy, you work enough already, plus, I wanted to come in. I miss working behind the bar. It seems like all I do now when it comes to this place is sit behind my desk. I also needed to get out, this momma was going stir crazy. If I stayed in the house one more night listening to that baby shark song that JC loves to hear, I would be pulling my hair out. Whoever created that song needs to have a bullet put in their head! And since I’m here, I’m planning on taking advantage of my ol’ man later. I have that new couch in my office that needs to be broken in if you know what I mean,” Kenny says as she wags her brows up and down.
Kenny can be such a dork sometimes.
“TMI, bitch, TMI. I don’t want to hear about what happens with you and Horse in that office, especially on the couch,” I say shaking my head in the process. I love Kenny to death but dammit, that’s just way too much. I don’t need or want to hear about her sex life.
“Come on, Izzy, it's nothing you haven’t heard before. Remember when you asked me about his name and if he was hung like one,” Kenny giggles as she leans on the bar top.
“On that note, sweet girl, give me a fresh beer, I don’t need to hear this shit. Only pussy I want to talk about is yours, and I can see where this conversation is goin’,” Horse interrupts before I can respond.
“Here, now go.” Kenny gives him a beer after popping the top off with the bar key she keeps in her back pocket whenever she’s behind the bar top.
We both watch as he makes his way across the room where the brothers are sitting. Those boys are always in here. Some more than others. They always choose the same table so they can see the whole room.
Doesn’t matter that several days a week Kenny has security that works the bar for us. Hmm, now that’s a good idea . . . I could talk to Jackson or Kenneth, maybe even Levi. They’re all hot as hell and huge flirts. I haven’t been with them for the fact
that I don’t do repeats and I bet from some of the stories I’ve heard, I would probably want one, especially with Levi.
A sudden feeling of being watched has me looking around to find a set of eyes on me. The same eyes I’ve stared into as he wrapped his hand around my throat.
Twister.
I lift my glass in salute to him before downing the thing. I turn back around and ask Kenny for another one as I think of the night I first met him. It had been right here at this very bar. We ended up going to the hotel where he got a room for the night. I still remember the feel of his hands as they roamed my body before he took me with his mouth. The way he fucked me with his tongue before fucking me into another world. The moment he placed his hands on my throat, I came just from anticipation. His firm hand held me just over the edge the entire time as he pounded into me. It had been pure bliss.
“Hello, earth to Izzy, where the hell did you go?” Kenny says waving her hand in front of my face. Fuck, I must have really zoned out on her to not hear a word she said. Twister has a way of getting under my skin that no one else has ever been able to do. He makes it hard to be around him without wanting to take him up on the unspoken offer I see in his eyes. But I don’t do repeats, and I sure as hell don’t do relationships. Some people might think of me as a whore for not wanting to be with a man more than once, but I like it that way. To me, it’s my punishment. A punishment of never finding true happiness with someone.
“Sorry, I guess I kinda got lost in thought. Thanks for the drink. I’m exhausted after the day I’ve had. I think I’m gonna head on home,” I say before downing my fresh rum and coke. Placing the glass back on the bar, I head for the door. I don’t wait for Kenny to say anything else. She has a way of seeing through people and I don’t need her questioning me right now.