Broken: a bad boy romance novel

by London Casey

  “So, what are you asking us, Prez?” Kye asked, finally speaking up at the table.

  “We vote on the kill,” Prez said. “We all have to agree to make the kill and accept whatever comes next for the club.”

  Everyone at the table looked at each other. Then one by one we all raised a hand. There was no way this guy was going to get out of this alive. Trying to take me out twice. Trying to take Cash out. Trying to take Cora out.

  No fucking way I’d let it stand.

  “So, we all vote yea,” Prez said. He grabbed the gavel and lifted it. “Anyone want to pull back?”

  Our hands were in the air. Strong. Ready to fight.

  Prez smacked the gavel and the vote was final.

  We’d find Aaron and kill him…no matter the consequences.

  “You’re already in too deep, aren’t you?”

  I leaned against a metal railing and looked at my motorcycle. I turned my head and saw Cade standing next to me.

  “What?”

  “With your physical therapist. Unless she’s got some new technique. Suck your cock and your leg heals?”

  “Don’t,” I said.

  “Fuck you,” Cade said. “I heard those noises, brother. You were really giving it to her, huh?”

  “I wasn’t fucking her.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Her pussy is on your breath. And your load was all over her shirt and stomach. What the fuck are you trying to prove?”

  “Right now I’m thinking about getting on my ride,” I said. I pushed from the railing. “Don’t worry about my cock, okay?”

  I grabbed my ride and stood there, trying to think about this was going to work. I lifted my right leg a little and pain shot through my left leg.

  “Fuck,” I groaned.

  I walked around to the other side of my ride.

  Cade stood there, arms crossed, staring me down.

  “You have her in this now, man,” Cade said. “You brought her to the clubhouse during lockdown. You have prospects following her. That implicates her.”

  I looked at Cade. “What are you trying to accomplish by being here?”

  “I’m going to tell you how you’re fucking up this woman’s life. And then I’m going to watch you drop this ride on your leg.”

  “Asshole,” I growled.

  I lifted my left leg and the pain was worse. I shut my eyes and sucked in a breath. I thought about all the ways Cora had bent and twisted my leg. This was nothing new. The muscles needed work. The scar tissue needed to be ripped up. I needed to get on my fucking motorcycle. I needed to prove something.

  To the club.

  To myself.

  To Cora even.

  I tried to move my leg over but it came crashing down on the seat. The pain was fierce, nerves ripping and twisting, a searing heat that shot through my entire body.

  I quickly pulled away, releasing my hold on the handlebars. I stutter stepped back, jumping on one foot. I crashed into the metal railing and grabbed it tight, keeping all my weight off my left leg.

  “Fuck,” I yelled.

  “That’s what you’re doing to her,” Cade said. “You’re fucking her. And not in a good way, brother. Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

  I looked at Cade. “I was there for a scheduled appointment. That’s when Aaron attacked. I didn’t set that up.”

  “But you got her involved.”

  “Keep running your mouth, Cade.”

  “What are you going to do? You can’t even walk.”

  Oh, shit, my blood boiled.

  I pushed from the railing and went for Cade. I ignored the pain in my leg when I walked on it. I only saw red. I thought about what he had been spewing at me. He knew nothing about Cora. Not that I knew her all that well, either. But whatever. I wasn’t dragging her into anything. I didn’t want her to see this life. I wanted her to survive it.

  “Look at you go,” Cade said. “Moving fast. That’s good. Now do that to her. Move as fast as you can away from her.”

  I got close enough and made my move.

  I grabbed Cade’s shirt with my left hand and swung with my right hand. I clobbered him in his jaw. I felt like my knuckles exploded. Cade fell back on his ass.

  I grabbed my hand and yelled, “Fuck!”

  I turned to eye my motorcycle. I hurried to it and without hesitation I threw my right leg over the seat, pain and all. I was doing it. I was fucking sitting on my motorcycle. My arms were shaking with adrenaline. I fished the key out of my pocket and stuck it in the ignition. I twisted and she came to life. Thundering and purring, ready to take the road.

  I stood, grabbing the motorcycle, getting her ready for takeoff. I was going to ride her right to Cora. Then I was going to the open road to find Aaron. And I was going to personally settle the situation with him.

  Before I could even attempt to throttle the motorcycle, a jolt of pain crippled my left leg. I felt suddenly paralyzed. I grabbed for my leg out of instinct and need. My balance was suddenly shot to hell and I had a thundering motorcycle ready to fall on either side of me.

  I hurried to turn the motorcycle off as I jumped off from the right side. I swung my left leg back. It slammed against the motorcycle and I screamed in pain. I bounced on my right leg and the motorcycle came toppling toward me. I leapt as the motorcycle hit the ground. I looked back, my right foot hit the pavement, my knee twisted, and then I was down on the ground. Most of the fall went to my right leg. So now I had both legs throbbing in pain.

  On my hands and knees, I shut my eyes and took deep breaths.

  “Come here, you dumb bastard,” a voice said.

  I looked up and saw Cade standing there. He had his hand out for me to take. There was blood on the corner of his mouth.

  I grabbed his hand and he helped me to my feet.

  He gripped my shoulder tight. He nodded.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Just making sure you still have some fight in you.”

  “I have fight, Cade. I’ll die for this club. And I’m not going to lose my cut over my leg.”

  “Then you better get to your girl. Have her patch you up.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” I said.

  Cade grinned. “How about this time she massages your bad leg instead of your cock?”

  “You want another punch to the mouth?”

  Before the brotherly banter could continue any further, my cell phone started to beep.

  It was Cora calling.

  And she was crying.

  15

  CORA

  I was outside, standing at my car when I heard someone yell my name.

  It was Derrick.

  I cringed for a second but something about his big and clean smile was almost comforting. But it was Derrick.

  He ran toward me, his tie flapping up and over his shoulder. His perfectly placed hair bounced but never fell out of place once.

  “Cora!” he yelled again. “Wait up.”

  I waited.

  “I just heard the news.”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “I’m in shock. I mean, the building… but this, too?”

  “It’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay,” Derrick said. “This is all happening because of some biker?”

  “It’s not that simple, Derrick.”

  “Then explain it. I’m a very knowledgeable person. I make sense of things. This doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Just leave it be, okay?”

  “No,” he said defiantly. His nostrils flared. “I’m annoyed right now.”

  “You’re annoyed? I almost got hit by a car just doing my job.”

  Derrick took a step back. A sign of weakness. He could never push himself to test me.

  “Right, sorry,” he said. “I’m just… nervous for you. This whole thing doesn’t make sense.”

  “Derrick, I don’t want to talk about this right here. I have to go.”

  “Coffee,” he blurted out.

  �
��What?”

  “Coffee. Let me buy you a coffee. We’ll go out for an hour. You can vent to me. Get all that shit out of your system.”

  It was a good offer. A great offer. Derrick was a good guy. Stable. A great job. The right guy on the right path. And he looked at me with those eyes that told me he wanted me next to him on that path.

  Call me crazy but there was a little swirl of guilt. I couldn’t stop thinking about Hudson. I needed to forget him, but trying to convince myself of that only made me think of him more. I felt like the mother trying to protect her teenage daughter. Except the battle was going on in my mind and I was losing it. Losing it willingly.

  “Come on,” Derrick said. “Not even fancy coffee either. No ten dollar cups of coffee. A diner. We’ll get something to eat and just talk.”

  “You have work,” I said.

  “I can rearrange anything for you, Cora. I don’t know what’s actually going on here, but it’s not good. I want to help you.”

  I swallowed hard. The offer was too good to refuse, but I knew I was going to refuse it anyway.

  “Derrick, I can’t,” I said. “Please. Just understand. I’m not…”

  Derrick shook his head. “Okay. I’m not going to pressure you. I’m not that kind of guy. You know how I feel about you, though. I care about you. I, uh, I like you, Cora. I’ve always liked you.”

  “I know that,” I said.

  This is not the time or place, Derrick.

  Derrick took a chance and reached for me. That’s when I made my move and slipped out of the way and into my car. Derrick then stood with his right hand still outstretched, frozen like a statue.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I have to get home. Thank you for the offer, Derrick. You’re a really sweet guy.”

  “A sweet guy,” he said.

  Yeah, that was total code for “step into the ‘friend zone’ and never come out.”

  “I’m sorry,” I repeated.

  “Okay,” Derrick said. “I won’t pressure you. I won’t bother you. Just know that I’m here, Cora. For whatever is going on.”

  I smiled and drove away.

  Derrick was a sweet guy.

  He just wasn't the guy I wanted.

  I sat on the top step of my porch and looked around. It had been a one-two punch to the gut for the day. Going back to the center and seeing the damage done with fresh eyes was scary. I stood in the spot where I had been standing when the car hit the building. There was debris everywhere. I had come within a foot or two of being crushed by an SUV. For no reason. Because of Hudson and his motorcycle club.

  Guilt by association at the highest stakes.

  That wasn’t the worst part of the day. Neither was my meeting with my boss.

  It was when I came home and found an envelope on the porch. An off-white colored envelope with my name written in big, cursive letters.

  Inside was a note.

  A simple note but there was nothing simple about it.

  I’m coming for more.

  I hurried to destroy the letter. I wanted to pretend that it didn’t exist. But it was terrifying. I wasn’t safe and neither was my home. He never came to my home. It was always done through my car. I’d leave the money and he’d take it. Life would go on.

  By the time I called Hudson, the emotions of the day caught up to me and burst into tears at the sound of his voice. Now I was the one crossing lines I said I wouldn’t cross, asking him to come see me so I could talk to him.

  Part of me wanted to see him arrive on his motorcycle, but I knew that wasn’t possible yet.

  He pulled his black pickup truck to the curb and climbed out. He moved as fast as he could, his limp looking more obvious. Pain was all over his face but his eyes were cold and hard like stone.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked me.

  I stood on the third step, which made me about his height.

  “I can’t help you anymore,” I said.

  “What? Why?”

  “I had a meeting with my boss.”

  “I know that.”

  “You had guys follow me.”

  “Protection.”

  “They don’t want you there anymore,” I said. “At the center. Or any of the centers they own. They don’t believe a word you or I said about a drunk person. They know about you. Who you are. What you do. You’re not allowed to go back there for treatment.”

  Hudson swallowed hard. “Right. Because I’m the big bad outlaw.”

  “I’m not allowed to go back there either,” I said in a shaky voice.

  “What? Why?”

  “For a little while. Maybe forever. He… uh… my boss. He said that I needed time off. That it was a harrowing ordeal and I should take some personal time to recover.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “He wants the investigation to finish and find out what happened.”

  “Why? What’s it matter to him?”

  “He thinks I’m involved somehow.”

  “You had nothing to do with it,” Hudson said. His face was getting red. “Who is this guy?”

  “Hudson, no. You can’t just go beat up my boss.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “That’s not how the real world works,” I said. “I’m in trouble here, Hudson.”

  “I’ll help you.”

  “Not with muscle.”

  I backed away and walked to the porch and away from him. I was angry but not with Hudson. It wasn’t his fault. Okay, maybe it was a little. But still…

  I heard him walk up the steps.

  “Cora,” he said. “I’ll fix this for you, sweetheart. We can come clean about it all. I’ll tell everyone the truth. That it was someone attacking me for personal reasons. That I forced you into lying about everything. I’ll get you your job back.”

  I turned around. “I want the truth, Hudson. Right now.”

  “Truth about what?”

  “Everything,” I said.

  “Cora…”

  “I want to help you. But I don’t know how to.”

  “Just fix my leg,” he said. “You can do it right here. At your place. We can start over. I’ll pay you whatever it costs. I’ll help you around here.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “It’s not crazy, Cora. I need to ride. I need my freedom again. I need…”

  Hudson turned his head.

  He walked to the railing and gripped it tight, bending his left leg enough so there was no weight on it.

  “You have to tell me,” I said. I walked over to him and touched his thick shoulder. “Please, Hudson. I feel like I’m in a time warp here.”

  “I know you do,” Hudson said. “I never meant for this to get crazy. Even what happened in your bedroom. At the clubhouse. When I see something I crave, I can’t control myself. I get addicted too easily, sweetheart. Hence why I don’t touch pain pills.”

  “So you’re addicted to me?”

  “From the first taste,” he said without hesitation.

  I let out a sighing breath. I never had a man talk to me like that before.

  “There are rules we live by,” Hudson said. “We live to break the rules of society, but yet we live by another set of rules. Guys just can’t walk into the clubhouse and demand a leather cut. We recruit prospects and the truth is that most of them fall away. They can’t handle the life. On the outside, you see the booze, the fights, the rides, the women. That’s all true. But what you don’t see is the fight for survival and a freedom that only a few could truly understand.”

  Hudson pushed from the railing and backed up to take a seat. He clutched his left leg.

  “How bad is it?” I asked. “The leg, I mean.”

  “I tried to ride.”

  “What?” I yelled.

  Hudson laughed. “Biker, sweetheart. It’s in my blood. I could only take so much time away from it.”

  “How…”

  “I threw my fucking leg over the motorcycle and started it.”

  “Then what?
”

  “I made a move and all hell broke loose. A pain I never felt before shot through my body and I jumped off. I had to use my right leg for everything. The motorcycle fell over and almost got me.”

  “You’re a moron,” I snapped. “I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. A pain that bad… you could have ripped something again. You should go to the hospital and get a MRI done of your leg.”

  “Not a chance,” Hudson said. “You’re going to fix me.”

  “Like hell,” I said. I folded my arms. “I’m not doing a damn thing for you anymore.”

  “Yes you are,” Hudson said. He leaned forward. “Because you need me around, sweetheart. I’m not a fool.”

  I felt the heat in my face.

  I thought about the letter left on my porch.

  “You are a fool,” I said. “Trying to…”

  “If I don’t get on my motorcycle and ride, then I lose my leather cut. I lose my spot at the table. I lose my club. I give up the patch, the cut, the life. I go back to… nothing. Yeah, I could pull any job out of my ass. Hit any body shop across the state. But that’s not life, sweetheart. I didn’t sign up with that.”

  “Why? Why is that a rule?”

  “It just is,” he said.

  “You break rules.”

  “This one you don’t break. You either listen or you’re forced to listen. And I wouldn’t go against the club. The decision is final.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Look. Someone is trying to hurt me. Hurt the club. They almost got you. I’ve got intel on who it is and he’s not a good guy. If the club has to fight, what am I going to do? I’m not only a liability, it’s one man less to fight.”

  I swallowed hard again. “You know the man that drove through the building?”

  Hudson nodded. “Years old bullshit between the club and another crew.”

  “I don’t get how they see you injured…”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Hudson said. “Guys get old. Things change. Injury. Whatever. There are two ways out of that clubhouse, sweetheart. You go with your brothers shaking your hand or you go in a body bag. The other charter Presidents are here, too. So, my charter can’t even hide shit. It’s all there in the open.”

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  “Shit. Yeah. So, I’m not allowed back at your center. Neither are you. That presents an opportunity for us. I could take my ass and go somewhere else, but I don’t want to.” Hudson pressed against the arms of the chair and forced himself to stand.