She reached up, kissing him. “Are you sure you want to do this? I mean it’s really spur of the moment.”
“I firmly believe with all my heart that there was a reason we met each other. There was a reason I came upon you the night of your attack, there’s a reason that we’ve been put together for these huge life changes. We’re meant to be together. I’ve always been taught never to question where life takes me. God knows way more than I do. For every hurt I’ve ever had, I’ve been provided with happiness. For every hard year I’ve had, I’ve had one that was wonderful. It’s all about perspective. As long as we’re together, baby, nothing’ else matters.”
“Okay, let’s go get married,” she whispered, reaching up to put her arms around his neck.
He pulled her close and kissed her nose, closing his eyes to breathe her in for just a moment. The scent of her skin even drove him wild. He nodded, a bright smile on his face. This was the family he’d wanted his whole life.
Epilogue
An unusual white Christmas had descended on Bowling Green. It was a rare occurrence and even more rare that it was also freezing cold, the highs only into the teens. Inside the clubhouse, everyone was cozy and warm.
“Tyler, you have got to stop following me around with the mistletoe. I have stuff to do,” Meredith joked good-naturedly.
Jagger called from across the room. “It’s only natural, I mean you are newlyweds, right?”
Tyler and Meredith looked at one another, a smile they had shared numerous times since coming back from Gatlinburg. She winked at him and turned to face Jagger. “I don’t know? Are we?”
“Damn it. The two of you are driving me up a wall. You’re never going to answer that question are you?”
This time Tyler grinned at Jagger. “I don’t know? Will we?”
Jagger groaned. “Bah humbug to you both.”
Denise came out of the kitchen, fanning her face with a dishtowel. “Somebody else is gonna have to go in there a while. Otherwise, I’m gonna be sick on the Christmas Turkey.”
She had a seat at the table, putting her head on her forearms while Liam came to sit beside her, gently rubbing her back.
“Let me help.”
The soft voice came from a couple of tables over where Lauren sat with Roni making small talk. Since William had been arrested and sentenced in a quick trial, she had done her best to make peace with her children. It was still touch and go, but she had been invited to Christmas dinner, and that was more than she’d ever had before.
“I would love it,” Denise smiled weakly.
She had realized early on if she accepted Lauren then Liam did a much better job of being nice.
“Just let me know what all needs to be done.
Meredith came up beside her and put her arm around the other woman. “C’mon lady, we’ve got a ton of stuff left yet. I’ll put you to work so hard, you’ll wish you would never have shown up,” she joked.
“No, I’m pretty excited that I did,” she whispered so that only Meredith could hear it.
Meredith winked, knowing that it had taken a lot for her to show her face. She had been glad for it, because this club needed to heal.
“Can I help in any way, Aunt Mer?”
She turned around and saw Mandy standing, waiting for someone to give her some instruction. Too young to be a woman, too old to be a child. She and her brother had grown up a lot in the past couple of months.
“Sure can. C’mon girlfriend, I’ll put you to work too.”
Jagger stood in the corner, looking around at the people he had begun to call family in the last year or so. Since being patched, he had felt even more at home. These people were making lives for themselves, coming out of dark places that they had resided for years and stepping into the light. He wanted these things for himself. He wanted the family that included the wife and kids (or not wife – depending on if Tyler was ever straight with him). With any luck he would have it, sooner rather than later.
Steele and Liam came out of the kitchen, cracking up. Steele pointed at Jagger, his face red with laughter. “Hey, Meredith’s asking about our most memorable moments this year. Why don’t you tell her about that stripper that fell buck-ass naked into your arms at the Harley Drags?”
He groaned as everyone had a seat around the tables, the women serving up the food they had finally finished preparing.
“Jagger!” Meredith reprimanded.
“I was a gentleman, I didn’t look at her tits,” he explained.
“What am I going to do with you guys?” she laughed, having a seat next to Tyler.
Tyler wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled her tight against him. “That’s easy,” he whispered. “Just love us.”
She thought about it for a moment. “As long as you keep loving me.”
“Then you never have to worry. We’ve pulled you out of the darkness, baby, and you’re never going back. That’s a promise.”
The End
Acknowledgments
I want to take a moment to thank all the readers that have embraced the Heaven Hill MC. I’m amazed, humbled, and flattered. You will never know how much I appreciate the word of mouth…the sharing with friends…the people who have sent me messages. This has gone so much farther than I ever expected and I have YOU ALL to thank for that!!
Michael: Thank you for always supporting me and always believing in me – even when I don’t. I love you!
Allison Jewell: CONGRATS on the success of your books! I couldn’t be prouder to call you my friend and my sounding board!
April: We have amazing adventures together and I hope this brings us so many more that we never could before!
My Family: I couldn’t ask for better people to support me. Thank you so much for the unwavering support!
My Work Family: Thank you for being so excited for me!!
Lindsay Hopper: Thank you for sticking with me and making my stories so much better. I hope we both get where we want to be – and sooner than we think!
Kari Ayasha: I am so lucky to have found you! You do amazing work and deserve everything that’s coming your way!
I know I forgot some of you, but don’t think that I don’t appreciate everything you do… this takes a village and I’m so lucky to have my own!
Book Three
Losing Control
Heaven Hill Book #3
By Laramie Briscoe
Dedication
Everyone has a dream. This book is about following those dreams and making them happen. I hope that whoever is reading this gets the courage to follow their own! It’s never too late or too early – just wake up in the morning and do one thing to work towards it. Eventually you will get there!
Summary
Strip-club waitress.
Aspiring teacher.
Friend of the Heaven Hill MC.
Bianca Hawks met Jagger Stone in the most embarrassing of ways. After watching him play music at Wet Wanda’s for months, she fell half naked into his arms after a drunken bout with a stripper pole and the back of a pick-up truck. Avoiding him and his killer smile no longer works when she needs her car repaired and he comes to her rescue. His request for payment comes in the form of date nights spent with just the two of them – away from both the strip club and the MC.
Tough guy with model good looks.
Talented musician.
Newly patched member of the Heaven Hill MC.
Jagger Stone only wanted two things – to be a patched member of the Heaven Hill MC and to get to know Bianca Hawks. One for two isn’t bad, but when her car breaks down and she’s left with no one else to help her, he plays the situation to his advantage. Over late nights driving up and down the interstate and nights in spent at her apartment, Jagger realizes that there is so much more to Bianca than he ever knew.
When her dream of becoming a school teacher is threatened by someone who wants her all to himself, the two of them are thrown into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. For the first time, Heaven Hill
isn’t sure what they are up against or if they can keep their family safe. In times of danger, Bianca and Jagger know the only thing they can do is hold onto each other while trying not to admit they are losing control.
Chapter One
“Has anyone ever told you that you should be a male model instead of a biker?”
Jagger Stone froze. That husky voice had haunted him for months. Since the Harley Drags in October to be exact. It was a hell of a story really, the way the two of them had finally met. She’d been on the back of a truck that had been outfitted with a stripper pole. He’d caught her when she’d lost her footing and taken a tumble. She had been a lot drunk and mostly naked. Since that day, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head. The few times they had spoken with each other since hadn’t been enough.
“Anybody ever tell you it’s not good to sneak up on a biker?”
That same voice gave a low laugh that went straight to his groin. Never in his life had anyone affected him this way.
“‘Sneak up on a biker’ is a relative term. You didn’t even have your back all the way to the door. I’m sure you knew I was here.”
She was right with that statement, but it wasn’t because he didn’t have his back to the door. Since that day she’d fallen into his arms, he’d been hyper-aware of her. No matter where he was, if Bianca Hawks walked into the room, he knew it. Every part of his body came to attention. She was sure to be an itch he wouldn’t ever be able to scratch.
Ignoring her comment, he put a cigarette in his mouth and fired up his lighter. To hell with Bowling Green’s smoking laws. “What is a pretty little thing like you doin’ here?” he flirted. Of course he knew she worked here, that was one of the reasons he kept coming in.
Here indicated Wet Wanda’s, a bar better known as a strip joint, that some of the other brothers tended to frequent when not providing security for the ladies. It was a dive at best. Women were sometimes up on the bar naked, and word had it you could get hand jobs or even better if you played your cards right. The clientele was right up his alley though; they loved to drink and they loved to get rowdy when he came out to play his brand of country music that bordered on rock ‘n’ roll.
Bianca rolled her eyes at the question. He acted like this was some sort of high-class establishment. “Workin’. What does it look like?”
He loved the little bite of attitude she gave him. He also knew that she thought she had hidden well from him, so he played along. “I didn’t know you work here. I come in here all the time.”
“I know. I see you playing.”
With any other woman that would have been an automatic home run into her panties. Especially in a place like this. With her, it didn’t even look like it impressed. There was an awkward pause while he tried to figure out how to respond.
“Obviously, you’re not a fan.”
“Now, I didn’t say that,” she smiled. “I just won’t fall at your feet. No matter how sexy you look on stage when you play a guitar.” With that she was gone, but the scent of her shampoo remained.
He couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled up from his belly as he took another hit off his cigarette.
“You ready?”
Jagger dragged his gaze from Bianca’s backside and looked up at his brother, Tyler. He’d phrased his words as a question, but he was obviously ready to go as he held his helmet in his hands.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Tyler laughed. “You gonna run outta here with your tail tucked between your legs?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? We conversed.” Jagger cut his eyes over to the bigger man. It was hard to act like you had game when you stood next to the great Tyler Blackfoot.
“Sure you did. When that girl comes around, no matter when or where, you act like a teenage boy with a boner for the first time. You need to man the fuck up.”
Jagger shrugged. “I do alright with the ladies.”
Tyler put his arm around Jagger’s shoulder, much like an older brother would do. He could tell that the Native American was about to impart some wisdom. “You do alright because you don’t have to try. You flash those pearly whites and give that little boy grin you got, and they usually fall at your feet. This one’s gonna take some work.”
Not wanting to say anything that would give his feelings away, Jagger did little more than nod and get on his bike. Before he fastened his helmet, he cast a look back at the little bar and couldn’t help but notice Bianca standing in the doorway.
Their eyes met before she turned away, breaking the spell to walk back inside. His gut churned as he watched her go. Tyler was right. This one was going to take a lot more than him flashing the dimple in his right cheek. He just had to decide if she was worth it or not.
Hours later, Bianca sat behind the wheel of her late model Mustang beating it to within an inch of its life. Her hands ached as she gripped the steering wheel and did her best not to bang her head into it.
“Why me?” she wailed.
The cold January air seeped into the interior of the car making her teeth chatter. She’d dressed in just enough clothes to be decent in order to get the best tips and now she was regretting it. Tucking the jacket she kept in the backseat around her body, she popped the hood and cursed as she jumped out into the elements.
She didn’t know a whole lot about cars, but what she saw when she looked under the hood caused her stomach to pitch. Oil was everywhere. She fought back the initial reaction to cry. Bianca Hawks didn’t cry when the going got tough. She just sucked it up and rolled with the punches, doing the best she could with what she had. Before she could slam the hood down on the car, she heard the roar of bikes.
They went by her and she breathed a sigh of relief. Save the group that she was comfortable with, bikers tended to creep her out. When the sound of a lone bike returned, she tensed. The man who rode this bike was covered from head to toe and had a bandana around his face. He came to a stop in front of her and pulled the bandana away.
“Hey,” Jagger grinned, causing her to jump.
“You scared the ever-loving shit out of me! But I am so glad you aren’t gonna murder me, I can forgive you.”
“What’s wrong with it?” he asked, coming around to stand beside her in front of the car.
“Oil’s everywhere, and it just died on me. I need to do some maintenance on it, but I can’t really afford it.”
He fiddled around inside the engine and then closed the hood. “It’s not goin’ anywhere tonight, darlin’. I’ll call Liam tomorrow and see if we can get it into the shop. Do you need me to take you somewhere?”
She eyed her bare legs and then his bike. “I’d love a ride, but I’m really not dressed for it.”
Without saying a word, he stripped off his leather chaps and leather jacket before handing them to her. Underneath the jacket, he had on a long sleeve thermal shirt along with his cut.
“You’re going to be wearing a patch on your back, but this is all I got.”
She knew after hanging around this group what that meant and just how much of a gentleman he was being in doing this for her. “Thank you,” she told him sincerely as she put the chaps on over her bare legs and shrugged the jacket on over her body.
“You’ll have to give me directions, but I’ll get you home in one piece,” he yelled over the roar of the engine.
She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and hung on as they sped off into the night. As with many times in her life, this night hadn’t exactly turned out the way she’d planned.
Chapter Two
Bianca sighed deeply. She wasn’t used to sitting still and she was bored, even if she was using the time to study. Without a car, she had no mode of transportation, and since she had no mode of transportation, she wanted to go everywhere. Beside her, her cell phone rang, Jagger’s name flashing on the screen.
“Hello?”
“Hey.” She could hear the smile in his voice, see the dimple in his cheek as clear as day.
“I
’m just lettin’ you know, your car’s done. I can drop it by for you if you can bring me back to the shop.”
“Not a problem. I’ll be waiting.”
Quickly, she got up from her couch, closed the textbooks she’d been studying, and hurried into the bedroom of her small apartment. Noting that there was still ice on her window, she grabbed a large hoodie and a warm pair of jeans along with a pair of boots. She heard a car pull into her parking space and ran a brush through her hair before grabbing her purse and bounding down the stairs.
He didn’t get out of the driver’s seat, so she went around to the passenger side and got in. “I don’t even get to drive my own car?”
“This thing is really nice when it’s been taken care of,” he grinned, backing out into the street.
A sinking feeling took root deep in her stomach. “What did you have done to it?” Her funds were very limited. She didn’t know if she could actually afford what he’d done to her car.
“Don’t worry about it.” He waved his hand at her.
“No really, what did you do to my car?”
He could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t happy about what he was going to say. “I did what needed to be done to it. You drive this car back and forth to work late at night. It needs to be safe.”
In the passenger seat, she fumed silently. “I appreciate it,” she managed to get out between gritted teeth.
“No you don’t,” he laughed.
That deflated her anger just a little. “No, I really do, but I don’t like that you did it without asking me. I’m used to taking care of myself. I had planned to get it taken care of with my living stipend that gets mailed to me in February.”
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