by Hope Stone
One thing that’s for sure is I was willing to ride and die for mine. Will you for yours?
What’s Next?
Turn the page to find out where it all began for The Outlaw Souls MC and grab your FREE copy of The Prequel! I’ll also give you a sneak peak into the in the next book in the series, Colt!
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Colt
You don’t want to miss the rest of the Outlaw Souls series! If you enjoyed Diego check out my next book of the series called Colt.
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A bad boy cowboy isn’t what I was looking for...
But there’s deeper layers to Colt Winters that I yearn to know.
He’s an Outlaw biker with a troubled existence. With a dead girlfriend, five year jail sentence and a baby girl waiting for him. Colt Winters isn’t exactly the type you take home to Mama.
But… my brother is in trouble and Colt is just the man to help. In my world I save people like Colt from themselves. I fight for justice in an unjust system. Maybe this cowboy has a lot more to offer me than first meets the eye
Can we get past all the obstacles long enough to make it work?
Preview: Colt
An MC Romance (Outlaw Souls Book 6)
A Sneak Peek
1. Colt
Four and a half years later...
“Let’s go, cell block six! You got half an hour in the yard! Let’s go. Let’s go!” A burly prison guard’s voice perforated D block as the warning came before the cell doors clicked open. I licked my chapped lips and stepped out of my cell cautiously. I bent my head down and stepped straight into line, that was the drill. I did a head count, about thirty other guys were being let out to the yard or the common area as well. One small window of freedom is all we got every day at USP Atwater. I welcomed the time. My spot in the jail was cemented, nobody would touch me. When I first came in six years ago I had to prove my spot, real quick.
The sneers came through the cell bars. “Look at this, Roger. We got ourselves a new little bitch to play with.” A roughneck who was known for making new inmates his playtoys got the word of me. I looked that motherfucker in the eyes as I passed his cell.
“Lissssen up you piece of shit. I’ll kill your mother, your father, your brothers, your cousin and anyone else that tries it in here. You hear me?” I let him feel the cold chill of my eyes on his face, while I held the fury of twenty men in my balled up fists. He took a beat to size me up.
“Tough guy huh? You talk like that off rip you must know something.” He replied, lifting his chin at me. He was a huge guy with shoulders like small boulders merged into his neck. He gave me a gruesome smile with his big dirty eyes. From the looks he wasn’t in the Penn for armed robbery. He had a quote tattooed across his neck and multiple face tattoos. I knew his type. Plus, he was too big to take me down. But hey, prison law versus street law is different.
“You got that right. I’m an Outlaw, ‘til the day I die.” I yelled loudly as I passed the guy's cell. The weedy guard who brought me in was silent the whole time. He opened my rusty cell door where one other guy laid on a bolted bunk bed. In the corner was a single basin, the tap dripped continuously and the toilet smelt well - like shit. One single TV on a swivel was up high in the corner. The faint lime green paint was peeling off the walls and a few books were stacked on two simple shelves.
“Welcome to your new home, for the next six years.” The prison guard sneered as he pushed me in the back into the hellhole. So to get out of the cell was our version of heaven.
I moved around a small grassed area with four walls. It was big enough to fit about fifty men. First thing I did was stretch out my neck and look at the open blue sky. A weight bench had two guys getting in their reps.
“C’mon Marty. We got three to go. Max rep sets.” Grunts came from a guy underneath the weights as he strained to lift. I watched as the veins pulsed against the side of his neck, threatening to burst. Eventually, he heaved the barbell off his chest.
One other guy was skipping in a nice rhythm, dripping sweat on the grimy pavement. A stiff looking correctional officer stood in the corner watching us all like hawks. He had a baton firmly slotted in his holster and a taser on the other side. His mouth was opening and closing with the gum he was popping. The guards name was Chester and he was a complete sucker. If I got my farm hands on him on the outside I would have snapped his neck in half like we snapped our chickens necks back in the day. Chester put me in the hole for three days when I got in a scrap. Shit wasn’t my fault guy tried to pull a fucking razor out on me. That’s before I knew the prison hierarchy game. I flashed back to the memory, not a time I would forget easy,
“You talking back, boy?” Chester hissed in my ear. He had me in a strong chokehold as he yanked me off Lopez. My air supply was tied up as I grabbed his forearm to release it for breath. Lopez being the bitch he was tried to blame me for his drug shipment being smuggled in the wrong cell. I was well matched physically to take Lopez. He was about 6’1 like me, heavily muscled and quick with his speech and his movements. He ran with a drug crew on the streets called the Merced Mercenaries. A teardrop sat right under his left eye. His caramel complexion and honey coloured eyes made him a target for those who wished he dropped the soap in the showers. He didn’t worry about that as he was the drug insider and supplied over half the jail.
“Heard you knew about the shipment and you moved it player.” The right side of Lopez’s mouth turned up as he spoke to me. He’d just walked into the door with his fist in his other hand. The washing machines whirred around us as I finished my laundry. No other people were in the laundry room. I picked up one of the white sheets from the dirty laundry basket and wrapped it around my hand. My back tensed up as Chester circled. I let my peripheral vision govern his footwork.
“Oh yeah? Where you hear that from? Because I don’t have anything to do with your little operation.” I replied slowly.
“I know you’re not about to do nothing wit’ that sheet. I fucking know you’re not.” Lopez closed the laundry door behind him and moved a step towards me. I bent my knees and hunched in position. I searched his body for weapons. He spat out a razor from the side of his mouth. He held up the gleaming piece of metal and grinned.
“See this? This here is what I got for boys like you.” He looked away briefly, but lunged at the same time, trying to catch me unawares. I retracted my head back as the breeze from his swing tried to connect with my face. I let out a whooshing sound. I circled with him and we started to dance.
“Snow told me you slashed his face. So you think you gonna do that to me?” My hands hung low on both sides and stretched my fingers out ready to pop him in the jaw. I looked at his body and it was wide open.
“That’s right bitch. Now it’s your turn.” Lopez lunged as I saw the metal pass the right side of my face. I bumped into the side of the washing machine and the edge jabbed me in the side. I held it for a quick minute.
Lopez grinned as his eyes narrowed he swiped again and this time I tunneled my left fist into his lower intestine. He coughed as the impact made him draw up into himself.
“How you like that? Huh? I fucking told you I ain’t got nothing to do with your drugs.”
He yelped. “You bastard.” He staggered and I thought that would be the last of it. He put his foot out near my left leg and my foot came out from under me. I fell on one knee to the ground, I tried to stabilize with one hand. I wasn’t quick enough; he ran the razor across the edge of my neck. My super lightning reflexes made it so it was just a nick but I felt the blood trickle down my throat. The red shadow pounding behind my eyes sent me into overdrive and burrowed my head into his stomach, blasting him into the back of the washing machine on the other side of
the room.
I felt the air run out of his lungs as he slumped to the ground and the razor fell to the concrete slab. The siren went off and my eyes flew to the camera in the corner. I quickly approached the door to leave but on the other side was Chester. He put his hand out.
“Stop right there! What the fuck is going on!” He took one look at Lopez slumped in the corner and one at me.
“I was defending myself! I swear-” He came straight for me and laced me in a chokehold.
“You’re going to simmer down in solitary confinement, Outlaw. This is my prison and we don’t let shit like that fly.” That was my first year introduction. I would never forget it.
Back to now...One stationary camera in the back left hand side focused on the yard’s activity. Not all thirty men came to the yard. Some others went to the common area. A dilapidated room the size of two living rooms. Not enough for 1000 inmates to congregate. That’s too much testosterone for one area. I wanted to get some sets in and talk to some of the old timers in the yard.
I strolled over to Austin who was holding the barbell for another guy. Austin was in his sixties but strong as an ox. His eyes and ears were to the ground in the prison and he knew everything. I placed the barbell back in its lot as the guy lifted his head off the bench.
Austin with his scrappy grey beard and bald head smiled a toothy grin as I came towards him.
“Hey young buck. How you holding up?” He raised his brow at me as he adjusted his gloves.
I pointed at him. “Stay right there. I wanna talk to you ‘bout something. I need a spot too.”
Austin nodded and waited til I got under the bar. “Right. You wanna know how you can get a message to Frank right?” He leaned over the bar and turned back to the guard.
“Damn straight.” I flattened my back against the bench with my feet firmly on the ground.
“Ok. What’s the message young buck?” Austin knew my weights and slid the heavy steel plates on either end of the bar.
“No message. I need a face to face. That’s my Outlaw brother. I know he’s coming out of the hole from last month. That place will send you to your grave early.”
Austin’s grave laugh rang out. “You got that right. Solitary is the place for no-one. Many have hung themselves down there. But you learned. Stay away from Lopez. His sole mission is to send inmates to solitary. If he views you as a threat he starts trouble deliberately. The guards are in on it too. That’s why Chester knew when to come in like he did. You’re not special. It’s their one- two combination. I’m glad that sorry son of a bitch got transferred.” I shook my head as I felt the weight bear down on me when Austin handed me the weight. I took it as my arms shook at with the new test.
“That’s it. Hold it. You got it. Lower down slow. Let’s go. I’m testing you today.” I sucked in and exhaled on the push up. At 75% Austin took the weight. He threw me the towel to wipe my face.
“So you ain’t snitch huh?”
“Nope. That’s not how we do it in the Outlaws. Got me five years. But I just gotta keep my nose clean for the next six months you know. ”
“Could have been no years. Vlad made that a situation for you. Frank told me.”
“I know, but now he owes me. No better situation than to be in the driver’s seat.”
“That’s on account of you making it out of her alive. Now let me tell you something. These jerks can smell when you’re about to get close to being let out. They're going to test you. Make it hard. Try to corner you and get more stacked on your sentence. I wouldn’t be coming out to the yard no more if I were you.”
Austin lifted the weight down on my chest again as I set up for the second set. He lowered as my arms burned from the lactate buildup. I inhaled on the drop and exhaled straining hard on the lift. Austin put his fingertips under put and didn't lift the burden. I thought the weight would drop on my chest.
“C’mon now. Quit being pussy. You got it in you. C’mon.” I grunted with the last drop of force I had lifting the bar an inch higher. Austin assisted from there.
“There you go. We’ll make one out of you yet.” The adrenaline from lifting kept me sane in this hellhole.
“I hear you about staying low key. I just have this one thing I gotta get done before I leave here and I know Frank can help me.”
“No doubt he can. I’ll set it up and send word to you.” Austin watched the guard as he made the rounds around the perimeter of the yard.
“I don’t know how you’ve made it all these years in here Austin.” Austin with his wispy white hair laughed.
“I’ve weathered bitter storms my boy, but none greater than losing my wife in the summer of ‘89. I didn’t care to live after that anyway.”
“You shot the perp nine times. That’s crazy.” I replied.
Austin whistled through his teeth. “Yup that’s what happens when armed robbery goes wrong. I don’t regret it though. Not one shot. That guy tried to come for my baby. I had to defend her. I didn’t know the guy would keep a gun in the house.”
Austin received life in prison for the murder and armed robbery. He knew most of the lifers in the pen.
“Put me in touch with Frank. I want to talk to him.”
Austin with his humble and wise eyes nodded. “Ok.”
2. Amber
I packed up my yellow manilla case files, from my desk. All of my questionnaires and profiling information was prepared for the visit. My job as a social worker was a time consuming part of my life, but I loved it. I stood for justice especially if it involved kids. This particular case involved a little cutie who was turning seven in a couple of months.
“My Daddy’s in prison. I think he did something bad.” I remembered her with her finger in her mouth sitting on her Grandmother's lap. “ I want him to come home. Will you bring my Daddy home?” She pleaded with her crystal blue eyes. Bella said this to me on my first visit out to see her. The poor little girl had a lot to contend with.
My thick blonde hair was down and just below my shoulders. The Merced heat made it unbearable to be touching the back of my neck so I opened my top drawer and placed it in a ponytail. Our office sat in the middle of downtown Merced. A small office with individual cubicles. On my desk I had a few quotes pinned to remind me why I did the job in the first place. I fingered the leaves of my pot plant which I affectionately named Josie. Her leaves were looking a little dusty and dry.
“Sorry Josie. I’ve neglected you again. Mama’s got a little water for you. My bad.”I whispered softly to my plant as I grabbed the bottled water I had left on my desk. I read somewhere that if you talked to your plants it would help them grow faster and they would be healthier. I poured the water into Josie’s rich earthy soil and smiled. Lucy came by at the right moment. She, like me, was a long standing social worker and a real hoot. She pulled her red framed glasses down from her nose as she walked past.
“You talking to the plants gain Amber?” She put her arms around the edge of my cubicle and waited for my answer.
I gave her a haughty look. “It helps keep the plants alive. Josie is thriving. I just got a little slack with her watering.”
The tight lipped Lucy jutted out her ample hip and narrowed her eyes at me. “You need to find you a man. This plant is doing nothing for you right now.”
We both giggled together. I could take a joke and Lucy’s facial expressions would have the whole office doubled over in laughter. Considering the type of cases we worked on, laughter was the best medicine for the soul.
I sighed heavily. “I agree with you. It’s been a little while.” I mumbled as I packed a few items into my purse.
Lucy looked at me with pitiful eyes. She’d been happily married for the last five years. “You’ll find you a good one. With all that long blonde hair and you’re tanned California skin I’m sure there’s one around the corner for you. You just need to put yourself out there a little more.”
I glanced up at her. “Not so easy with my caseload right now, but I’ll get t
here.” I replied. At twenty seven I still felt like I was in my prime dating wise.
I stood up to leave. I didn’t want to be late to meet Colt. Lucy’s eyes started to twinkle. “I know! Let’s go out for Friday night drinks! We haven’t done that in a long time. Blow off some steam you know.” She dramatically flicked one hand in the air.
I shook my head in feigned pain. “I can’t. I have to help my neighbor Ruth with her plantar boxes I promised her.”
Lucy rolled her eyes at me. “See. That’s the reason you don’t have a man. You’re too busy helping all these other people. When are you gonna help yourself Amber? All them sexy curves are going to waste. Give them to me and I’ll show you what to do with them.” Lucy said sassily as she slapped her hip.
Our boss Donald came past and spotted Lucy away from her cubicle. “Doing the rounds again Lucy? You’ve been on lunch break for over an hour and a half. Time to get back to work.”
“ Yes Donald.” She rolled her eyes at him as he walked back to his office. I laughed into my hand.
“Lucy, I have to go, I don’t want to be late.”
She gave me a curious look. “ What case you got?”
I slung my bag over my shoulder. “Colt Winters and his daughter Bella. His mother overdosed and now she’s staying with Colts mother.”
Lucy licked her lips and leaned closer to me so only I could hear her. “Some of those prison boys are real good looking. I hope you at least get a hot criminal to look at.”
I gave Lucy a light slap on the shoulder. “Lucy! I’m on a case. Shame on you.”
She turned to walk away and looked back over her shoulder. “No shame on you honey if you’re not looking.”