by S. Nelson
“Now and forever,” he repeated before he took me again, this time slow and sensual, drawing out our release for as long as possible.
Lying in Kaden’s arms, I couldn’t keep the smile from my lips, or the excitement contained for what our future held. Sure, there were gonna be some challenges, but I was confident we’d get through them together this time.
Before I drifted off to sleep, I traced over the word I had imprinted into my skin.
Believe.
I did now.
38
“You almost finished?”
I turned around and saw Ryder standing behind me in the garage, glancing at something on his phone before he looked around, pushing back a wrench that had been hanging off the edge of the shelf.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re up tonight.” I blankly stared at him. “Linc’s fight? Remember?”
“Shit,” I grumbled. “I forgot.” His focus bounced around the room, nodding before spotting something in the corner. “Hey.” Ryder looked back at me. “I never apologized for ruining Roman’s party last week. Sorry about that.”
“It’s all good.” He stood staring at me for a few seconds before he opened his mouth again. “How things goin’ between you two?”
“Great.” I was sure I grinned like a fool, but I didn’t care.
Ryder smiled right along with me. “Good. Just don’t fuck it up.” He walked a few feet away, bent down and picked something up.
“Whatcha got?” I asked, trying to see, but his back was to me.
He held a brown weathered wallet over his head. “This yours?”
“Nope.”
“Huh,” he muttered, twisting toward me before opening the folds.
I didn’t pay much attention, trying to finish up so I could leave a bit early and spend some time with Riley before I had to be at her brother’s fight later.
Just as I closed the hood of the vehicle I was working on, Ryder cursed before barreling toward me. “Where the fuck is Marek?” he shouted, rushing past me.
“He was in Chambers with Stone,” I yelled after him, confused by the sudden turn of events. I tossed the rag on the shelf and followed him into the clubhouse, curious why he seemed upset all of a sudden.
The door to our meeting room was open, and when I walked inside, an eerie feeling washed over me. I saw Ryder pass Stone a picture. His complexion paled right before he made eye contact with our club’s leader. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Stone look so fearful, but I didn’t have the opportunity to ask why before I heard my dad’s voice.
“What are you lookin’ at?” Marek asked, his expression hardening even before Stone answered.
“You better sit down, Prez,” Ryder warned but Marek ignored him, reaching out to take the picture from Stone’s hand.
He flipped it over to see the back, his lips moving briefly before he looked at the front of the snapshot again. “Where did you get this?” A mixture of fear and rage traveled through his voice, the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention, all while still having no idea what was goin’ on.
Ryder stepped forward and opened the wallet. “I found this in the garage.”
“It can’t be possible,” Stone said, running his hand through his hair before slamming his fist down on top of the table. “We can’t go through this again.”
An uncomfortable and tense silence drifted through the room the entire time Marek’s eyes were glued to the photograph.
Then he refolded it, placed it back into the side slot of the wallet, and shoved it inside the pocket of his cut.
Then his eyes met mine.
Epilogue
“Do you have any idea why they want us at this address?” Linc asked, opening the passenger door to my truck and hopping in. He had a fresh bruise forming on his jaw from tonight’s fight, but he won, as usual.
“I don’t know any more than you do.” I plugged in the address my dad had texted me into the navigation system since I had no idea where the location was. Once the map appeared, I looked at the corner of the screen. “Looks like we’ll be there in just over an hour.”
We talked briefly about how the renovations were going at Indulge, which I was tasked to oversee, and who he thought he might fight next week. Other than that, we focused on what waited for us at the mysterious destination.
An hour and eight minutes later, just past midnight, we pulled into a residential neighborhood, all the houses looking similar to each other. As I pulled into the driveway, the garage door opened, Jagger waving his hand for us to enter. Once inside, I saw the club van next to us.
“What’s goin’ on?” I asked as soon as I hopped out. The passenger door slammed shut seconds after mine, Linc rounding the front of the vehicle.
Jagger looked haggard, dark circles appearing beneath his eyes. When I looked closer, I saw several spots of blood on his white shirt. I opened my mouth to repeat the question, but he cut me off before I spoke a word. “Let’s go.” His tone left no room for argument, and if I read his expression correctly, he seemed pissed off at Linc and me, but I couldn’t understand why. So, we followed him through the garage and into the house, Linc and I sharing an apprehensive look. “Down here,” Jagger shouted when he disappeared into another room.
“What the fuck?” Linc grumbled next to me.
“I guess we’re about to find out.” I slapped him on the shoulder, descending the steps into what I believed was a basement. I didn’t have time to look around at the inside of the house, other than to see the rooms were bare. Where the hell are we?
A faint musty smell mixed with ammonia hit me as soon as I entered the space, Linc bumping into me because I stopped as soon as I walked off the last step.
“Why are we here?” Linc asked, now standing next to me. Across the room and forming a circle, stood both of our fathers as well as Cutter, Jagger, and another guy whose back was to us. Everyone wore their cuts except Cutter, who was dressed in all black.
“Because you fucked up,” the mystery guy growled before turning around to face us. Hawke. His dark hair was longer than the last time I saw him, which happened to be two years ago, and while he’d had a full beard back then, only a dusting of hair covered his face now. Hawke clenched his jaw before turning back around.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and all I wanted to do was hightail it back up those steps, but my curiosity, and fear, rooted me to my spot.
“Prez?” When my eyes connected with my dad’s, my heart skidded to a stop. I barely managed to swallow the saliva in my mouth, realizing something was about to happen that would change me. The feeling was odd, one I’d never had before, but instinct told me I should prepare for something bad to happen.
I heard a faint groan, and it hadn’t come from any of our men. I tried to crane my neck to see what they hid from me and Linc, but I couldn’t catch a glimpse of anything but the wall they formed.
“This is why we keep to ourselves,” Stone said, glaring at me first, then at his son. “You have no idea what you’ve done.” I glanced over at Linc to see if he understood, but he shrugged and shook his head.
The tension in the room turned volatile when I heard another groan, and it was then I decided enough was enough, placing one foot in front of the other until I stood behind Jagger and Cutter. As if sensing it was time for me to be clued in as to what was happening, they stepped to the side, and I saw a beaten and bloodied man, coarse rope tied around his arms and legs, strapping him to the old wooden table.
When I stepped closer, another inaudible sound fell from the guy’s bloodied mouth. His eyes fluttered open before closing again, seemingly falling unconscious.
“Tag?”
I didn’t understand anything of what was happening, and before my brain could string a sentence together to ask, Cutter shifted his feet, drawing my focus onto him.
The vacant look in his eyes should’ve been enough to warn me, but it was the large knife he brandished in his hand that scared the hell out
of me. “Shall we get on with it?” he asked, moving from his spot next to me.
All the men moved away from the table, allowing Cutter better access to Tag. He ripped open the unconscious man’s shirt until his tattooed chest showed, dragging the tip of the knife over his skin.
The pounding of my heart sounded in my ears.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
All my thoughts jumbled together while I tried to figure out why Tag was strapped to a table in a house I’d never been to before, with the men of our club standing around him, eager to do him harm. Eager to kill him?
Cutter punched Tag in the face, blood spurting from his nose onto the ground below. When he raised his fist again, I finally found my voice and yelled.
“Stop!” I ignored Stone’s glare. In fact, I ignored everyone’s glare, focusing solely on my father. “What did he do?”
He moved away from the table and stalked toward me; his hands turning into fists. The way he looked at me made me take a step back. Anger radiated off him, his shoulders tense, his muscles coiled and ready to strike.
“He’s a fuckin’ Reaper.”
Are you cursing me for that ending? Do you want more? Well, you won’t have to wait long for Lincoln, book 2 in the KCMC Next Generation series, which will be released in May 2020.
Do you want to be the first to know when Lincoln goes live? Then make sure to sign up HERE.
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S. Nelson grew up with a love of reading and a very active imagination, never putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard until 2013.
Her passion to create was overwhelming, and within a few months she’d written her first novel. When she isn’t engrossed in creating one of the many stories rattling around inside her head, she loves to read and travel as much as she can. She lives in the Northeast with her husband and two dogs, enjoying the ever changing seasons.
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If you are a new reader of my work, thank you so much for taking a chance on me. If I’m old news to you, thank you for continuing to support me. It truly means the world to me.
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To my husband, thank you for always holding down the fort so that I can pursue my dream. I love you!
Clarise (CT Cover Creations), you are so freakin’ talented, woman! Kaden’s cover is AMAZING! You’ve done a brilliant job and I cannot wait to work with you on my next project.
To Becky, my editor, your suggestions and comments have really helped to polish the first book in the KCMC Next Gen series. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Ruth, I’m so excited to have you in my corner. You’ve been my rock, especially when I feel like pulling my hair out. I look forward to our chats and love that you love my men as much as I do.
Elmarie, thank you so much for taking the time to beta read yet another book for me, although something tells me you were looking forward to Kaden. I can’t wait to chat with you about Lincoln.
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And last but not least, I would like to thank you, the reader. If this is the first book you’ve read from me, I hope you enjoy it. If this is yet another story from me you’ve taken a chance on…THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!
Standalones
Stolen Fate
Redemption
Torn
Blind Devotion
Massey Security Duet
The Assignment
The Score
The Addicted Trilogy
Addicted
Shattered
Wanted
Knights Corruption MC Series
Marek
Stone
Jagger
Tripp
Ryder
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Knights Corruption Complete Series (all five MC books in one: Marek, Stone, Jagger, Tripp, Ryder)
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Knights Corruption MC Series-Next Generation
Kaden