Twisted Rogue (The Twisted Love and Rogue Love Collection)

by Grey, Ophelia

  It was my first real kiss. My date to junior prom, Andy Butler, had kissed me on the cheek at the end of the night. I had never really dated anyone seriously or for more than a dates. Grace used to tell me that boys were intimidated by my strictly religious father and would never dare to do anything that might incur his wrath.

  If I had known that a kiss could feel this good, that it could light up every nerve in my body until I was basically a puddle, I might have tried it sooner. But something told me that kissing Andy Butler couldn’t hold a candle to kissing Liam. The strength and passion in everything he did sparked something inside of me that I hadn’t even known was there.

  Liam pulled his head back back, giving me a cocky smile. “I’ll be thinking about that all week.”

  I licked my tender lips, unable to repress my answering smile. I knew that Liam’s kiss would fill my thoughts all week as well. I wanted to say something to explain how intense and wonderful the moment had been, but Liam swung his leg over the bike and the engine roared to life. In mere seconds, he was roaring away down the road.

  I stood dumbfounded for a moment, watching the bike and the small cloud of dust that surrounded it fade off into the distance. My heart pounded in my chest and I felt an aching there that I knew could not be fixed until I was in Liam’s arms again.

  Chapter 4:

  The week moved like molasses as I tried to concentrate on my daily duties and keep Liam out of my thoughts. It was impossible. I would find myself scrubbing the same part of the table over and over again as I replayed the kiss over and over again in my head. During bible study, I would just stare at the page and see Liam’s face with his strong jaw and bright blue eyes staring back at me instead of reading the words.

  Luckily, my parents didn’t seem to notice my constant daydreaming. My sister Sarah, on the other hand, kept asking me what was wrong.

  “Is it a boy?” she asked on Wednesday evening as the two of us were preparing dinner while our parents were at the church, helping to organize the annual fundraiser.

  “Why do you say that?” I asked her, startled.

  “You’ve been moping, sighing, and daydreaming all week,” Sarah laughed as she started to chop the carrots. “It is just how my friend Becky was acting when she wanted Tom to ask her to the church formal.”

  I bit my lip and nodded, excited that I could finally share my secret with someone. I knew Sarah wouldn’t tell on me. Other than Grace, Sarah had always been my best friend.

  She squealed and put down the knife, running over to give me a big hug. “I knew it! Who is it? Tell me all about him. I knew you would find someone eventually!”

  I told her all about Liam, including every detail up to our kiss. Her eyes grew wide as I described his motorcycle and that tattoos that snaked over his arms.

  “Mary! I can’t believe you fell for a bad boy. What will mom and dad say?”

  “You can’t tell them!” I insisted. “I want them to meet him at church first and see that he is a really great guy before I tell them. Please, promise me.”

  “I promise,” she agreed. “Oh, it is so romantic. Like Romeo and Juliet.” Sarah sighed and held her hand to her heart.

  “You know that story ended in a double suicide,” I reminded her, shaking my head. Sarah was a good girl, but she had always been more adventurous than me. She was the daughter more likely to get mixed up with a bad boy from out of town. I just hoped my parents would see that Liam wasn’t a bad boy at heart.

  I woke up Sunday morning with the first rays of sunshine and jumped out of bed in a hurry. I showered slowly, making sure to scrub every inch of my body with the bar of lavender-scented soap I only used on special occasions. I brushed out my long blond hair until it shone and put on my favorite blue dress.

  I had breakfast on the table by the time my parents and Sarah woke up. Sarah looked me up and down and winked at me as I poured hot coffee into everyone’s mugs. I blushed and looked away, hoping my parents wouldn’t notice.

  By the time we started walking to church, I was having trouble containing my excitement. Sarah started skipping ahead of our parents so I hurried up to her, taking her small arm in mine, and skipping alongside her.

  “Is he handsome?” she whispered to me once we were far enough up the road that our parents couldn’t hear.

  “He is the most handsome man I’ve ever met,” I admitted, thinking of the way his shaggy hair fell over his bright eyes and the bulge of his tattooed biceps under his shirt.

  Sarah giggled. “I can’t wait to see him.”

  When we arrived outside the church, there were already several families milling about and discussing the various events of the week. Since nothing ever happens in Mercy River, that meant they were discussing things like the weather and their children’s birthday parties.

  I stood awkwardly as more and more families arrived and the crowd grew thicker. Then finally, I heard it. The distant roar of the engine grew louder as Liam’s motorcycle pulled into view. The whole crowd in front of the church turned to watch as Liam pulled up and dismounted.

  He leaned the bike against a wooden signpost and walked over as the throngs of churchgoers stared in open amazement and disdain. To his credit, Liam had done his very best to fit in. His wild hair was carefully combed and he was wearing neatly pressed slacks and a faded blue button down shirt. Despite his efforts, Liam stood of from the crowd. His hair was much longer than any Mercy River man would ever wear it, and the dark tattoos were peaking out at his collar and cuffs.

  I walked over quickly, pushing my way through the throngs of gawking housewives and irritated middle-aged men until Liam could see me. His face lit up with a smile as our eyes met. He opened his mouth to say something, but my family pushed their way forward before he had the chance.

  “Mary, it is time to go inside,” my mother said warningly. Her face was a neutral mask but her chilly tone told me the truth.

  “Mom, Dad, Sarah, this is Liam. He is in town for a while and I suggested he come by the church and hear one of Pastor Rick’s great sermons. Liam, this is my mom and dad, and my sister Sarah.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” Liam said, extending his hand to my father.

  My father reached his hand out and reluctantly shook Liam’s hand while my mother shook her head at me. I could tell I was in deep trouble, but I still held out hope that once my parents spoke with Liam they would understand.

  “Hi Liam,” Sarah interjected as my parents remained painfully silent. “Nice to meet you!”

  “Sarah, Mary, I want you girls to go inside the church right now,” my father instructed. “Liam, I hope you enjoy the service, but I want you to stay away from my girls. We don’t need any fellows like you giving them any wrong ideas.”

  Liam turned to look at me with pitying eyes and I felt the anger boiling up inside of me. My father was still treating me like I was sixteen and he was treating Liam like trash.

  “Daddy!” I gasped. “How can you judge Liam simply based on your preconceptions when the bible tells us not to judge?”

  My father’s face started to turn red, and my mother pursed her lips in that way she did when Sarah or I were about to be sent to our rooms for something we had done wrong. My instinct was to shrink back and apologize for my transgressions. But I was not a child anymore and I knew that I was in the right.

  “Mary,” my mother hissed, glancing furtively around at the other families who were now openly staring at our public drama. “You are starting to act like that girl Grace. Stop it right now.”

  “Good!” I replied. “Maybe she had the right idea by leaving this town.”

  My whole family stared at me in open shock and I saw a smile creep over Liam’s face. It was the first time I had ever stood up to my parents and it felt like freedom. I couldn’t back down now.

  “You go to church,” I continued. “I’m staying with Liam.”

  My father looked like he was about to explode, but I didn’t give him the chance to rage at me. I grabbed
Liam’s hand and walked purposefully towards where he left his bike. Liam squeezed my hand gently and helped me up onto the bike after him.

  I turned and gave my family one last look as they stood outside the church staring at their eldest daughter riding off on a motorcycle behind a man they had judged as unworthy before he said a single word. Only my sister Sarah waved and I was pretty sure she winked as Liam and I pulled off onto the small road towards his motel.

  As the wind whipped my blond locks against my face, I realized that I had broken something and it couldn’t be fixed. There was a sadness that tinged my newfound sense of freedom. I loved my family, despite their failings. I knew that my parents would never see me the same way again. But I had broken out of a cage that kept me from growing into the woman I was meant to be. Opening new doors always involves closing others behind you.

  “That was seriously bad ass of you, Mary,” Liam said as we pulled to a stop in front of the dingy motel building. “I’m impressed with your bravery. I know it must have been hard.”

  I didn’t reply, but reached out and squeezed his strong hand. I wanted him to know that it was worth it, and that I did it for myself as much as I did it for him. Meeting Liam had given me the strength to fight for myself and now there was no looking back.

  We walked up to the small, dark room where Liam was staying. He didn’t have much, just a few extra pairs of clothes laid out by his backpack. I looked around, trying to compare the freedom of the road to the comforts of home. In truth, the hotel room wasn’t much more dingy than many homes in Mercy River. When the economy crashed, many folks in town had fallen behind on their mortgages and homes had fallen into disrepair. Even my own family couldn’t afford much of the upkeep needed on our house.

  “Is it hard, living on the road all the time?” I asked Liam quietly as I surveyed the small room.

  “It isn’t so bad,” he assured me. He paused, looking at me carefully. “Mary, you are too good for this town. But it is your home. It is your decision to make.”

  “I know, I replied, looking down at the worn carpet. In my heart, the decision was already made. “It isn’t my home anymore though. I want to go with you.”

  Chapter 5:

  We packed quickly. Neither of us had much to bring. After packing his bag and checking out of the motel, we rode back to my parent’s house. Luckily, everyone was still at church so I had a few minutes to through some clothes in a bag and leave a short note on Sarah’s bed explaining that I had to leave.

  I didn’t have time to cry, but I felt my emotions pushing at the dam inside my when I placed the folded piece of paper on my sister’s bed and looked around the familiar room one last time.

  Liam’s strong arm snaked around my waist. I leaned against his broad chest as I said goodbye to the only life I’d ever known. A few minutes later we were on the road headed out of town. By the time my family returned home from church, Liam and I had passed the border of Mercy River and were headed to parts unknown.

  “So where exactly are we going?” I asked when we stopped for lunch and a pee break.

  We had driven past a lot of empty countryside and this diner was the first real sign of civilization we had seen since leaving Mercy River. It wasn’t much, but then again, neither was Mercy River.

  “I don’t really know,” Liam replied, taking another bite of his hamburger. “That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? Freedom?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed reluctantly. I had assumed that he had a bit more of a plan than that. I thought maybe he had drawn a route on a map that he was following or something of the sort. Having no plan at all, while freeing, also made me anxious.

  “I would like to see where you grew up. Can we head there?” I asked finally swallowing the last bite of my sandwich. The idea excited me. I wanted to see where Liam was from, maybe even meet his friends and family.

  “No. We can’t.” Liam’s curt reply caught me off guard. I glanced up at him, but he was looking out the window into the cornfields that seemed to spread on endlessly.

  “Why not?” I asked. I wasn’t going to be put off that easily.

  “Look, Mary, your family wasn’t entirely wrong. There are bad guys who look like me. I used to be one of them.”

  “I don’t believe you were ever bad,” I replied teasingly, but Liam’s quick glance in my direction cut the smile from my face.

  “Mary, I can’t go home. The guys I grew up with were all part of a biker gang. When I was old enough, I joined them. Some of them were good guys, once upon a time. But things just got worse and worse. The things they did…” He paused and his eyes locked with mine. “Mary, I don’t want to tell you the details, but it was bad.”

  “And you participated in those things?” I asked. A cold dagger of fear entered my heart as I tried to imagine funny, sweet Liam as part of a horrible gang. Had my parents been right all along?

  “At first,” he admitted. “I told myself that it was for the good of my brothers and that it wasn’t so bad. But then it got worse and worse. I refused to do something really horrible. I spoke out and they kicked me out, but not before teaching me a lesson.”

  “Liam lifted a corner of his shirt and I saw a long, jagged white scar running up the side of his torso.

  “Liam!” I gasped. I tried to reach across the table, but he lowered his shirt and stared back out at the cornfields.

  “I managed to get away from them,” he finally said in a whisper so quiet I couldn’t tell if he was talking to me or to his self. “But I can never go home.”

  “I understand,” I said quietly, placing my hand on top of his. Neither can I, I added in my head.

  We rode the rest of the afternoon in silence, watching as the cornfields faded to factories and we approached a small city. It wasn’t much, but compared to Mercy River it looked like a grand metropolis.

  I watched the tall, grey buildings grow larger and larger until we shrank into insignificant ants in their shadows. The roar of cars and the hum of conversation drowned out my thoughts. I clung tightly to Liam’s waist until we pulled into the lot for a small motel.

  I stood silent as Liam arranged for a room for the night, suddenly coming to the awkward realization that I was going to be spending a night in a room, alone with this man who had only a week before been a complete stranger. Now, he was all I had in the world, and all I wanted, but the old warnings from my past still blared loudly in my head.

  Liam opened the door and I breathed a small sigh of relief. There were two twin beds separated by a small nightstand. I felt silly for even thinking that my gallant knight, who rode in a on a black motorcycle and saved me from my repressive life in Mercy River, might even think of taking advantage of me.

  I collapsed on the first bed, finally allowing the exhaustion of the day to seep out of my bones and claim my body. The red floral bedspread was scratchy and smelled like smoke, but I had never been more grateful for a place to rest.

  Liam smiled down at me as he placed our bags on the chair in the far corner. “I’ll shower first, while you rest.”

  I nodded sleepily, wondering if it would even be possible to pull myself off the bed to shower. My eyelids grew heavy as soothing sound of running water echoed from the small bathroom. I stopped struggling against my exhaustion and let the enormity of the day settle around me like a thick blanket, helping me drift off into unconsciousness.

  A cool hand on my cheek startled me awake. I blinked, looking around in confusion. Where was my purple bedspread? Where were my floral curtains that I made in home economics class in when I was fifteen?

  Liam’s amused face looking down at me brought all the memories surging back. And just as suddenly, the tears started to flow. Silently at first, the warm tears streamed down my cheeks, forming salty puddles against my nose and finally absorbing into the scratchy motel sheets. Liam’s expression changed to concern as I tried unsuccessfully to blink away the onslaught of tears.

  “Mary? What’s wrong?” His voice was so smooth, so swe
et and comforting, but for some reason it only made my silent tears turn to racking sobs.

  Liam seemed to understand, pulling me up against his cool, damp chest. He held me tightly against him and I buried my face into his hard muscles, finally allowing myself to mourn all that I had lost. After a few minutes my sobs subsided and my sadness faded to a dull ache and then finally dissipated.