I don’t deserve him. If he knew the things I’ve done, he wouldn’t have stepped up for me. But I can’t dwell on that now that I am having his child. How will he feel about this? Will he want this baby? Will he still want me? I don’t know. Maybe I am just being a foolish woman setting her heart on things she can never have.
The phone rings. Right on time. Grim is calling as promised at seven on the dot.
“Hello.”
“Hey, baby,” he says weakly. He sounds exhausted. Defeated.
I stay silent waiting for him to say something. Anything. Waiting for him to tell me what I already know. He strayed on me. Damn him. Silent tears roll down my cheeks.
“Just say it, Jack,” I plead. It will make things so much easier. I knew he was too good to be true. No man will ever want me for me, and if I were to tell him about the baby, he’d want me for that, and that only. I can’t go through that. I’ve lost too much in my life. I can end this before it gets any further. Before I ache any deeper.
“I promised I’d try, Red. Baby, I tried so damn hard. But the wanting you has been more than I can bear. My cock aches to be deep inside ye, woman. I need ye and I want ye. But you aren’t here.”
“It’s okay, Grim. I understand. Things happen. You’re a man and a man does what he has to, to survive. I’m not new to the ways of this life, of your life.”
“So we’re okay.”
“We’re good. I just I need some time. I don’t think you should call me for a while. And maybe not come home either. I don’t think I want to see you anytime soon.”
“Red.”
“It’s fine. Stay safe. I’ll call you when I am ready to talk.”
We end the call and I feel oddly calm. I should have let Hook kill me. I should go back right now and give myself to them, Grim be damned. But I can’t do that I have another child counting on me. Knowing my luck death would be too easy anyhow.
Black Rebel Riders' MC
Book 2
Rumor
Black Rebel Riders' MC
Book 2
Glenna Maynard
Rumor © 2014 Glenna Maynard
This is a work of fiction. Names characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual people, alive or dead, business, establishments, locals or events is entirely coincidental. Any reference to real events, business, organizations or locals is intended only to give the fiction a sense of realism and authenticity.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means – electronic, mechanical, photographic (photocopying), recording, or otherwise – without prior permission in writing from the author.
The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the word marks mentioned in this work of fiction Harley Davidson.
Dedication
This series is dedicated to some people who have meant the world to me. Their love of Harley Davidson and rock 'n roll is something I will always carry with me. Foxy Roxie, Elmer Lee (Cowboy) and my parents Glen & Alice. Thank you for all of the wonderful influences you placed upon me. Roxie, Elmer and dad I hope you all are riding on that highway in the sky.
Rumor
Haunted by the past Grim's story continues in Rumor; book two of The Black Rebel Riders' MC. Grim is trying to keep the one promise he made Red, finding her daughter Sarah. Things are heating up between a club once thought to be a friend and an old enemy. Grim has to decide where his loyalties truly lie. Will Grim keep his promise and keep his patch?
Sometimes, the lines that bond you are the ones that threaten to end your very existence. Loyalties are tested and lines are crossed, leaving a trail of despair on the highway to hell.
'Rumor has it that, one day the Grim Reaper is going to come for you.' Those are the words that have reverberated through my head most of my life. You know that saying about becoming a bird so you can fly away, I too want to be a bird, and I want to fly far away from here... Sarah has lived a secluded life of torment and despair. She longs for the day the Grim reaper she has been raised to fear comes to end the hell she has endured.
Suggested Reading Order
Grim The Beginning
Rumor
Baby
Striker
Romeo
Heart of A Rebel
A Rebel Love
A Rebel In The Roses
Born Sinner
Blood of A Rebel
The Devil’s Rebel
Hades’ Flame
Boogeyman’s Dream
Reaper’s Till Death
Cupid’s Arrow
Uno’s Fight
Moonshine & Mistletoe
Cocky’s Fight
Guns & Roses (coming soon)
Contents
Dedication
Blurb
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Author Note
Acknowledgments
Preface
The Black Rebel Riders' MC is located in Drag Creek Kentucky. They are a group of outlaws who live and die by their way of life. For them it has always been about moonshine, brotherhood and motorcycles. Black Rebel Riders' MC was founded by Slim Black and Grim Jones—two friends who were looking to get out of the killing game, but with everything comes a price. A price that Slim and Grim have been paying for years for turning their backs on the Devils Rejects and starting their own MC. That price is war. Hook, the president of the Devils Rejects has been hell bent on revenge for the past twenty years, you read the beginning, now read the rest of the story...Grim.
Part 1
Chapter 1
Somewhere West Texas
Sarah
'One day the Grim Reaper is going to come for you.' Those are the words that have reverberated through my head most of my life. These words are meant to scare me, to chill me to the bone, to force me into submission, but what daddy and Betty don’t know is that I pray every day that he will come for me and take me away. You know that saying about becoming a bird so you can fly away, I too want to be a bird, and I want to fly far away from here...
Some call my father Benji, but me—I call him Diablo. Never to his face though. He is evil, and a disgusting excuse of a man. Not that I would know what a good man is like, but anyone would have to be better than what I have come to know. I look over at my father and I feel nothing but hatred. He isn't a kind man or a loving father; he is viscous and ruthless and will stop at nothing to get his way. Just looking at him now makes my stomach turn. Benji was a handsome man, still is, but his temper, and the way he treats people makes him a monster—a Diablo. He has light blonde hair, matched with a very long beard, tattoos for days, and the darkest shade of green eyes I have ever seen. Reminding me of the needles on a pine tree.
“Girl, get me and Uncle Squirrel another beer.” Diablo takes his lighter holding it under his pipe, the fumes make me sick to my stomach, but I don't dare to complain. If I do, it only makes things worse for me and for Betty. Doing as I am told like a good girl I get two beers from the nearly empty refrigerator. Holding my breath, I sit the beers down on the crate that sits between them in the living room of this shack we call home. For me it is more like sitting on death row.
Every day I hope and I pray for Grim to come and kill me, just to end this hell. Already at the age of twelve, I yearn to be set free from this nightmare. Betty once told me she loved Grim, but that he has a
darkness swirling inside him. Daddy overheard her and beat her good, threatened to cut her tongue out if she ever talked good about him again. That was three years ago, she hasn't mentioned him again. However, Daddy, he tells me every day that Grim is going to come and kill me just as he did my mother. Oh, how I wish he would. Maybe then I could be with my mother—be anywhere but here. I don’t remember her. Couldn’t tell you what she even looked like, but I know she loved me. I can feel it. When I think about her (my mother) warmth spreads over me, as if she is blanketing me with her love—a mother’s love, warm, protective and guiding. Daddy keeps a box of her things locked away in his trunk, but I know better than to try to see what secrets are hidden inside.
I take my seat on an old faded cushion in the floor between Diablo and Squirrel to listen to the two of them trade the same old stories they never seem to tire of rehashing.
Uncle Squirrel makes me sick. I don’t like the way he stares at me. I get the feeling Betty doesn’t like it either. I’m not sure why she stays. If I was her, I would have done left long ago. Counting the tiles on the floor is the only escape I get from his stares. Two...four...six...eight dingy tiles trimmed in hate. I repeat the song in my head. It makes me think of the story Daddy used to tell me about Grim.
One two Grim is coming for you, three four had better lock the door, five six had better tuck you in tight, seven eight never mind it is too late... He’d sing the song then he would tickle me and laugh. Daddy doesn't laugh anymore. His mouth is curved down in a constant frown.
Betty makes the crate her seat and braids my hair for me. If she doesn't do it now it won't get done. Everyone is always asleep when I leave for school. Sometimes I wonder if they'd even miss me if I never came back. I tried to leave once, but I thought how sad Betty would be, and I didn't want to leave her alone with Daddy and Squirrel. I never want to have to live with them by myself. Wouldn't wish that on anyone in the whole world. Not even Billy Jacobs, the boy who put a scorpion in my backpack last week at school.
Chapter 2
Drag Creek Kentucky
Grim
Settling on the stool by the bar, I remove my shirt so Inkman can give me my new marks. Rolling my shoulders and popping my neck muscles, I try to loosen up. It helps to be fully relaxed when you are getting a tattoo.
“How many teardrops this time, Grim?” Inkman asks as he sets his equipment up and prepares his gun. Inkman has tattooed me many times over the years. He did a portrait of Red on my back under our club's motto, 'Ride Free or Die Trying.' The portrait of her is everything she was, everything she gave me, and everything I can never be. It serves as a reminder of things I will never touch.
“Three. Those fucking roaches gave me the runaround.” I wince as he starts the first of the three. Motherfucker still goes too damn deep. The red teardrops that once marked my face now travel beyond my neck and down my chest. The past ten years I have been hunting Benji and Squirrel to no avail. Romeo stepped up and took my place as VP. After losing Red, my heart wasn't in wearing that patch anymore, still isn't. What little of a heart I did have died the moment Gypsy Red took her last breath.
Foxie comes traipsing towards me strutting her shit. Looks like she’s pissed at the world and ready to burn the place down. Haven't been here one day and shit is already tense. “School called wantin' you to come down there. Baby’s in trouble again.” Her long black hair is pinned on top of her head covered in a black bandanna. Her lips stained come fuck me red. She is dressed to be admired. Black lace bra, nipples flashing between the barely there fabric, short shorts, with her cheeks hanging out, begging to be pinched, paired with a pair of knee-high black leather boots with silver studs covering them.
“What's the damage?” I can’t help but gaze at her tight body. You would never know she ever birthed children if it weren’t for the faint stretch marks on her hips. Just by looking at Foxie, you know not to mess with her. Slim’s brand takes up her whole left arm, his name is spelled down it in big bold black English block style lettering. The rest of her body is a painted canvas as well. Her right arm has a full sleeve, her stomach has a flower garden stretching all the way across, wrapping around her body in a band, dipping down to the crack of her heart shaped ass. Her nose is pierced, her nipples too, among other things. Crazy bitch even has a garter tattooed around her left thigh.
“She cut off the pigtail of one of the girls in her class for stealing her smelly pencil.”
“Christ on a cracker.” I take a long hard drink of moonshine. Kid is meaner than shit. Meaner than a two-headed rattlesnake. Don't know what to do with her. I can barely look at her. She looks so much like Red. Has her fiery attitude too. She is the only thing that keeps me sane other than hunting for the motherfuckers that stole my world away.
“That's not all she did. Told the principle that her daddy was home. That he’s a mean SOB, and if he even thinks of putting her in detention, that her daddy will make him go cold.” Hands on her hips, pursing her lips she waits for me to say something. Anything. Foxie isn't exactly happy with me. Her and Slim have been taking care of Baby for me since she entered this world—ten years ago.
“Fuck.” I shake my head and let out a sigh. “She spends too much time with Rebel and Striker. Little hellions are a bad influence.” Inkman backs away knowing that Foxie and me are about to go round and round. If it weren't for her taking care of Baby, bitch would have been put in her place long ago. She’s mad at me for missing Baby’s birthday last month, but fuck, I had shit to take care of. It’s not as if the kid noticed I was missing. Bought the kid anything she asked for, but that wasn’t good enough in Foxie’s eyes.
“You can’t go blaming my boys. If you were here taking care of her instead of off chasing the demons and ghosts that chains you to the past—she might not act out so damn much. The girl needs her daddy, Grim.” Baby isn’t the only reason Foxie wants me here. Made the mistake of falling into bed with Foxie a few years back. The fucking bitch has been hanging her tongue out at my dick ever since, wanting shit I can't give her. My dick still gets hard, but my heart beats black. I was born a sorry bastard and I will die one too.
Getting up in her face as I spit my words at her, she knows not to step to me. “What Baby needs is the one thing I can’t give her. I can’t bring her mom back and I will never love another—won’t ever claim another bitch.” She needs to realize that there will never be anything between us but the one night my dick needed to get wet.
“You’re so stubborn, Grim. You’ve got your head so far up your own ass you can’t see past all of your own shit. Stop living in the past—step up and be a man. Be her father.”
My fist is clinched, palm twitching to bend her over my knee like the spoiled bitch she is and spank her ass for her, but she’d enjoy it too fuckin’ much. She just crossed a line. My hand flattens and I raise my arm ready to bitch smack her.
“Foxie, get your ass back in the kitchen,” Slim bellows from the doorway to the back. Motherfucker just saved her a world of hurt. Things between them have seen better days, always knew them bringing strange in their bed would one day bite them in the ass. Slim has him another bitch, got him a young thing, calls her Wild Cherry. Says she tastes like wild cherry moonshine. I think the whore is sour, but she’s a decent fuck. Slim nods his chin in my direction, his blonde hair showing flecks of grey, hints of his age are starting to show in the crinkle of his eyes. He’s smoking a joint, one hand shoved in the pockets of his faded jeans.
Before turning on her heel, she sneers, “One day I won’t be here to take care of that girl. Who is she going to depend on when I leave this place?” Her empty threats don’t bear no weight with me. She ain’t going any-damn-where. Slim would rather see her in the ground that let her walk out on him and the boys.
Slim and I haven't been the best of brothers these past few years. I still don’t trust him. What once was is no more. Nevertheless, the motherfucker did keep his word about not dealing drugs for Hook and the Devils Rejects.
&nb
sp; The moonshine business has been good to us. Though if something ever happened to Romeo we would be belly up in a few months. Motherfucker isn’t old but he ain’t getting any younger and him being the only one with the recipes doesn’t sit well with me. Been trying to get him to write that shit down and put it in a safety deposit box, but the dipshit is stubborn. Fucker finally started showing the ropes to Rebel and Striker. Somebody has to know how to run this club, might as well start training them now.
Cracking my knuckles and popping my back, I get ready to ride to the school. Baby loves when I pick her up on my chopper. Most of the time she can’t stand me, but a ride on my motorcycle, and a chocolate milkshake from the dairy drive-in should warm her up to me a little. I know I haven’t been around for her in the ways a father should, but a man like me doesn’t know what to do with a little girl. Last time I came back from the road, she wanted nothing to do with me. No more than I did her. A part of me once wondered if I should have let her die with Red, but then she looked at me with those damn eyes—the eyes that haunt every fiber of my being. I knew then in that moment that I made the right choice, even if it kills me to look at her. Every time I look at Baby, it is like watching Red die all over again.
No matter how hard I have tried, I can’t let Red’s death go. She showed me a part of me that I never knew I had. So many wasted nights I have tried to find that feeling again. And no matter how many bitches I fuck or miles I travel, I will never be able to get that piece of me back. That piece of me was buried with Gypsy Red. When I was with Red, I had peace. Nothing can compare to the sensation I felt when we were one, when I was buried so deep inside of her.
**
Entering the elementary school, I feel so out of place as the sound of my boots echo down the hallway. This old hole in the wall of a school looks the same as it did thirty years ago when I attended it. Peeling gray walls, dingy speckled tile, flickering fluorescent lights. I can hear Baby mouthing off just inside the next door. The secretary takes one look at me and leads me into the principal’s office without a word.
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