“Raine has really done well too after everything that happened.”
“She’s one tough chick, that’s for damn sure.”
Abel sighed. “I just wish she didn’t have to be.”
I agreed, but it was what it was. The life had chosen us and deep down we all loved it. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
“Amen to that brother.” Abel got up and started to head out of the office. “You’ve been in here for hours, kid. Let’s grab a beer.”
I couldn’t argue with that; a beer sounded mighty nice right then.
“Sounds good. There’s actually something I’ve been meaning to ask you before we head out there.”
Abel shook his head. “Beer first. It’s just been one of those days.”
My heart started to race a little. I didn’t want to blow the surprise for Raine. “Yeah, okay.”
I followed Abel to the bar where Crickett and Raine were stocking up the beer for the night shift that was about to start soon.
“Hey guys.” Crickett didn’t even need to ask, she just put two brown bottles down in front of us.
“Thanks.” I looked over at Raine. “Hey, babe?”
She glanced up after throwing ice over the bottles. “Yeah?”
“There’s a few cases of fruit that came in this morning, I haven’t been able to check them out yet. Will you go and do it? I need to talk to your folks for a second about the books.”
She nodded and headed for the back without question. That was one nice thing about the women in our lives: they never questioned us, just trusted and loved us unconditionally.
I sighed, trying to find the words.
Crickett leaned on the bar. “Everything okay?”
I nodded, peeling off the label from my Bud bottle. “Yeah, I just don’t know how to put this.”
Abel patted me on the shoulder. “Just remember when life gets you down, it’s only one down and the rest are up.” He drank the bottle of his beer and slammed the dead soldier onto the bar top. “Now what is it you wanted to ask me, son?”
I swallowed hard. Here goes nothing. “I want to ask for your permission to ask Raine to marry me.”
I heard a shriek come from behind me and Abel started to laugh. “Well, I guess that’s my answer.”
Raine’s arms flew around my neck and she started kissing me over and over while saying, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Of course I will marry you.”
The smile that spread across my face must have been bigger than Texas. I glanced over at Abel and then to Crickett. “I wanted this to be a surprise.”
Crickett came from behind the bar and hugged Raine and I together. “Welcome to the family, Ryder.”
Abel stood up and wrapped his arms around his little girl. “Of course you have my blessing, son.”
Son. It stained the air and soaked into me.
That word had a different tone to it and sunk into my bones. I finally was right where I was supposed to be, with a family and the woman of my dreams. I had never expected my life to turn out that way, but there I was, knee deep in a life I loved because it had chosen me.
the end.
Bonus Chapter
A few years later
Raine
I paced around our brand new kitchen. Ryder was going to freak out; I just hoped it would go as well as I hoped. I knew we had planned on waiting a few more years, but tequila in Mexico was so good and apparently being drunk for seven days straight on a honeymoon made me forget my birth control a few too many times.
Gripping that stupid pee stick in my hand, I couldn’t help but get giddy when I heard the front door slam.
“Hey babe,” Ryder called from the foyer. “Did the granite get put in ok today?” He grabbed me from behind, kissing my neck.
“Everything went smoothly. Do you like the lighter gray?”
Ryder started to check out the handiwork of our finally completed kitchen, giving me enough time to shove the pregnancy test into my back pocket.
“I am so glad you talked me into this one instead of black.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Is everything ok?”
My hands were shaking. “Yeah, why?”
He pulled me into him. “You just seem nervous for some reason.”
His hands glided over my ass, hitting the stick in my back pocket and I tensed up.
“What is this?” He grabbed the test and his jaw dropped. He was frozen, staring at the pee stick with a completely unreadable face.
I started to panic for a few seconds and finally choked out, “Well?”
His face slowly started to twist into a smile as I started to ramble. “You know that tequila really did wonders and you know how active we were. I just got swept up and completely forgot to…”
Ryder grabbed my face and kissed me, shutting my babbling up.
“You have never looked so fucking gorgeous in your entire life. Holy shit we’re going to have a baby! I am going to be a fucking dad!” He whisked me into the air and started to twirl around the kitchen.
“I love you so much, Ryder!” I hugged him around his neck while the joy of the moment just took control of us.
“Raine, I love you. I always have and I always will.”
Bonus Chapter
To My Raine –
You know that I am not good that this kind of thing, but I am going to give it a try because you deserve it and I want to make you smile. You deserve the world, because that’s what you are to me – my entire world. I will never forget the first day I saw you, running into the bar. I will never forget the look on your face as your world was halting and I couldn’t do anything to help. You were a stranger, but you already had my heart. Over the years, there have been so many moments like that, ones that have shaped my love and have made it stronger than I ever thought possible. On this Valentine’s Day, I want to thank you for making me the happiest man, for being my wife, and for loving me through all of the hard times. I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for us. I know that you’re going to be a wonderful mother and I can’t wait for our little boy to be here. Raine, I love you – I always have and I always will.
Yours – Ryder.
Unbreakable
An Unacceptables MC Standalone Romance
“It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being.”
― John Joseph Powell, The Secret of Staying in Love
Prologue
Abel
What do you mean missing?” I kicked the chair that was in front of me, sending it flying through the dark living room of Bear’s house.
He shook his head. “I don’t fucking get it either. That’s why I called you in the middle of the damn night.”
“I just don’t understand how a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of product can just vanish from thin air.” I was ready to put my fist through the fucking wall. How could I have been so stupid as to let Bear talk me into dealing with this shit anyway? I stayed away from drugs for a fucking reason. This reason—it was messy as fucking shit and nothing ever worked out in the long run.
“Do we have any idea who is behind it at least?” I asked my fellow president while he poured us glasses of bourbon.
He chugged his glass down like a shot before answering me. “I know that the Sinners are in on it in some small way. Other than that, I got fucking jack shit.”
Bear was one of my most trusted counterparts. I would never forget when he was a prospect for the Unacceptables’ charter in Atlanta. He was a beast of a man with a heart of a fucking lion. I knew that he was going to truly go places with this club, but right then I had started to second guess all of that.
“All I know is that if this shit winds up in my fucking neck of the woods, it’s your ass that is going to have to clean it up.” I snarled at him before shooting the amber liquid down the back of my throat like it was water.
“We made a bad ca
ll. We will fix it.” Bear’s confidence never wavered as he locked eyes with me.
“We fucking better fix this and fast,” I snarled.
“I already have Jaxon and Rigger on it. They’ve been tracking a few guys locally, trying to get more information.”
“Do not make me regret this more than I already do, brother.” I grabbed my keys from the table and started to make my way for the front door.
“That’s it? You’re leaving?” Bear shot up from his couch in complete shock.
I nodded. “There’s nothing left for me to say and without any leads, there’s nothing left for me to do down here.”
“That was a long drive for an hour of yelling.” He remarked.
I got right up into his bread-covered face. “When business needs to be taken care of, I do it in person. I have a family that needs my protection. So, yes, it was a long ass drive, but necessary.”
After a tiring drive through the night, I finally walked through the front door of my quiet home right as the sun was coming through the windows. It was only a few days until my daughter’s wedding and the house was a wreck. From the center pieces and decorations, all the way to the bridal magazines and everything else, it looked like a frilly glitter bomb had gone off in my living room. But, I couldn’t say that it bothered me in the slightest. It was quite the opposite—I fucking loved it.
Raine was the most precious thing in my life. Well, her brother was a close second. There’s just something about the bond between a father and daughter though. Collin didn’t need his old man now that he was an adult. But Raine did. She was and had always been my little girl and watching her get married was going to be the hardest and best day of my life.
I made my way into the kitchen. Even though it was barely six in the morning, I poured myself a glass of Old Crow on the rocks and grabbed a packet of Fun Dip out of the pantry.
Throwing my boots up onto the kitchen table, I indulged in my two favorite vices—whiskey and blue powdery candy. Well, they weren’t as good as sex but Crickett would have killed me if I woke her up this early. Usually it wouldn’t have been a problem, but my wife had been so stressed with wedding planning that if she didn’t get some sleep she was a bitch to deal with.
Happy wife, happy life.
I made a mental note to remind my future son-in-law about that when I saw him later on that day.
“Dad?” Raine’s soft voice came from behind me. “You’re home already?”
I jumped to my feet and wrapped my baby into a tight hug. “Of course I am, sugar. I have a suit fitting today. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
She started to make some coffee while giggling to herself.
“What’s so funny?” I asked taking a seat again.
“It’s just hilarious to me that I find you in the kitchen at the ass crack of the morning with bright blue lips and a glass full of liquor and it doesn’t faze me one bit. Actually, if I had found you down here doing anything else after visiting Bear I would be worried.”
I put my hand on hers. “Well, I am glad that I didn’t worry you, sweetheart.”
She shot me a kind smile. “Dad, I learned long ago to never get worried until you tell me to. Otherwise, I would be living my life in constant panic.”
Chapter 1
Raine
You’re stunning,” Crickett said as she clasped her diamond necklace around my neck. It was my something borrowed.
I stood, staring at my reflection in the mirror for a couple of minutes, trying to take it all in. This is really happening. This is really my wedding day. It didn’t seem real yet. Even though I was standing there in my dress, about to walk down the aisle, it still hadn’t sunk in that I was about to become Mrs. Walsh.
My hair was swept up in a loose, curly ponytail. My makeup was on fleek. My dress was simple: a sweetheart neckline, strapless, formfitting, off-white, and lace. My something new was an Unacceptables patch stitched to the underside of my dress at the bottom as a surprise for Ryder and my father.
“Dad has my something old and blue right?” I asked while fixing a few curls in my stepmother’s hair that had fallen a bit.
“That’s what he told me. I don’t know what they are, though.” Crickett and I both hated surprises, and my old man fucking loved teasing us with them.
Right as I was about to complain about Dad running late, he and my brother both walked through the door. They were in charcoal gray three-piece suits, and I was taken aback by how well they had cleaned up for the big day. Collin was the spitting image of our father—stormy eyes, dark hair, beard, tall, and muscular. The resemblance was almost scary, and if not for my dad’s graying hair and crow’s feet, people would mistake them for twins.
“Very dashing,” Crickett remarked as she kissed her husband and son on the cheek.
My father stood with his jaw hanging open as I turned to him. “You like?” I motioned to my dress before hugging him.
“I have never seen a sight quite this stunning in my entire life.” His voice was low as he held me tight. My father wasn’t usually one to get sappy, but I caught him getting teary as he looked down at me in his arms.
“Don’t you fucking cry, Abel.” Crickett sniffled. “I’m barely keeping it together over here and I do not want to have mascara running down my face before I even get out there.”
Collin wrapped his arm around his mother’s shoulders, pulling her into his side. “I think a lot of us are going to lose our man cards today seeing our little Raine finally tying the knot.”
I shoved my brother’s arm. “Don’t forget that I’m older than you, punk.”
My dad forced a cough while pulling a jewelry box and an envelope out of his jacket pocket. “Sweetheart, I have something to give you.” He opened the box to reveal a stunning set of blue sapphire earrings. “They were your mother’s.”
A lump formed in my throat as he helped me take them out of the box. I was speechless, and then he hit me with another blow—the card.
“It has never been opened. I don’t even know what it says. Your mother insisted on writing it the day you were born, said she never wanted to worry about not having the right words to say to you on this day. I never knew what it truly meant, but I kept it all this time.”
With shaking hands, I opened the card, sinking down in a chair to read the simple note my mother had written to me all those years ago.
To my Raine,
As I sit here, watching you sleep peacefully in the bassinet beside me, I am flooded with more love than I ever knew one person could possess. I have only known you for hours, but without you, my life wouldn’t be complete. I hope you never question the undying love I have for you, how proud I already am to be your mother, or how blessed I am to have such an angel on earth. You’re truly a miracle. Today, on your wedding day, I want you to know how beautiful you are, inside and out. I know you’re marrying a prince because your father wouldn’t let just anyone have the blessing of marrying our precious princess. Always know that you are stronger than you think and when in doubt, your family will be here to back you up. I have no idea what the future holds for our family, but I do know one thing: you are the light in my life.
I love you with all of my being, my beautiful daughter.
Always, Mom
Tears streamed down my face. It was the first time in my life that I’d ever seen her handwriting. My mother’s death happened when I was still in diapers and I barely knew what she looked like, but in that moment, I felt a connection with her that I’d never known I craved.
I grabbed a tissue, checking my eyeliner in the mirror. “Well, that was a kick in the feels.” I tried to make light of it all and everyone followed my lead perfectly.
“Are you ready to get this show on the road, sugar?” Dad held out his arms for me to take as Crickett and Collin walked out of the room.
“As ready as I’ll ever be. Are you?” I asked, looking up at him.
“Let’s get one thing straight: I am not giving you away to
Ryder today. I’m just letting him marry you. You’re always going to be my little girl.” With a quick hug, we were off to meet my Prince Charming. He might not have ridden a white horse or worn armor, but in my opinion, a cut and motorcycle were way sexier and badass, and I knew my mother would have agreed.
Ryder
Holy fuck.
This is it.
I couldn’t believe how damn nervous I was.
Suck it up, buttercup. It’s show time.
Standing in the middle of the Unacceptables bar and pool hall in a suit and tie while sweating bullets was making me jittery. It felt wrong not being in my cut, flannel shirt, and worn out jeans, but Raine wanted me dressed in a monkey suit and she was the boss.
Happy wife, happy life—right?
I couldn’t believe it was finally time to make Raine Hellock my wife. It felt like it had been forever since I asked for her hand in this same bar, and I couldn’t decide if I had been more nervous then or if this moment was going to trump it.
The whirlwind of our relationship was finally calming, and there I was standing knee deep in my version of a happily ever after. I didn’t know how an outlaw like me could ever deserve someone as perfect as Raine, but I wasn’t going to question my luck.
All of my club members and their families were gathered to help witness our big day, donning their Sunday best—well, all except the Unacceptables. They were embracing the complete biker heaven wedding with cuts and beer flowing from the kegs.
My dad was standing next to me with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. He put his hand on my shoulder as he said, “I’m really proud of you son.”
The Unacceptables Series Box Set Page 17