by Amanda Boone
“Lied?!” Kendal laughed. “Trae, I was admitted to the hospital. I was in a coma for two days due to brain trauma! Please explain to me how I could have made that up!”
“You told people that I beat you. You ruined my reputation.”
“I never told anyone that! You know what I told people.” Kendal laughed through the tears that ran down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe that this was happening to her. She thought she had finally been free from him, but she could not have been more wrong.
“I’ve had people watching you. You prance around all day like you ain’t got a care in the world.”
“You are literally crazy! I moved to a whole different city where no one knew me because I wanted to avoid ever having to talk about you or that night ever again.”
“You clearly didn’t do very well at covering your tracks. Ya know you’re not the only person at that little dive bar you go to, right?”
“What?”
“I believe you’ve met Alex.” He laughed. “He really didn’t look familiar to you?”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“Alex, the bartender at Henry’s. He’s my cousin, you idiot. You’ve met him before.” Kendal thought long and hard. She had always thought Alex looked familiar, but she could never place where she knew him from. Suddenly it hit her. Several years ago she had said a mere two words to him at one of Trae’s family reunions.
“Alex?” she asked in disbelief. She couldn’t believe the sweet, handsome bartender that she had trusted was the reason she was here. Kendal prayed that Lexy was not taking comfort in his arms right now.
“I still don’t understand. He…he…he must have overheard me talking to Lexy,” she stuttered as she tried to find the words to say. She couldn’t wrap her mind around everything that was happening. “I’ve never told anyone else about what really happened that night.”
“Clearly you did. Think my boss just made that up and fired me?”
“How is it possibly my fault that you got fired?”
“Apparently Alex wasn’t the only one who heard you talking that night. Some little snitch told my boss. He said I was a ‘hazard’ to have around.”
Kendal shook her head. “Why would he fire you without any other problems?”
“Cause I might have got in a couple fights too, but it wasn’t a big deal. Fire the people pissing me off, not me.”
“Holding me here isn’t going to get you your job back. You’re not thinking clearly,” she tried to reason with him.
“You telling him you lied will.”
“Trae, are you kidding?” Kendal laughed forcefully. “Why in hell would I do that?”
“Cause you have to.” Trae took a step closer to her and ran his hand down her cheek. Kendal flinched away from him as she felt bile rise in her stomach at his touch. “Here’s your options.” Grabbing her chin, he forced her to meet his eyes. “You tell my boss you lied, or I make you disappear so I don’t have to worry about this shit anymore.”
“Screw off!” Kendal growled through clench teeth and spat in his face.
“You bitch!” Kendal braced herself as Trae pulled his fist back with full force. Before he had a chance to hit her, the door to the warehouse came flying open.
Trae quickly jumped back and pointed his gun at the man in the door. As he stepped into the light, Kendal caught her breath. “Luke.”
Luke stood tall and strong in the doorway with his gun drawn and pointed at Trae. “Get away from her!” he yelled.
“Who…who the hell are you?” Trae fumbled over his words in fear.
“A concerned citizen. Now take a step away from her.”
“You have no idea what is going on here,” Trae growled through clenched teeth.
“Enlighten me.”
Caught off guard, Trae stumbled over his words and began to sweat profusely. “She…she ruined my reputation. That bitch got me fired from work.”
“Trae! You put me in the hospital!” Kendal snapped. “I didn’t tell anyone what happened!” Luke’s face dropped with each word she said.
“You did!” Trae screamed at the top of his lungs. “Alex heard you! A month ago you were bashing me in a bar!”
Kendal shock her head in disbelief. “You put me in the hospital. You deserve anything that comes to you.” With tears streaming down her face, Kendal suddenly felt a sense of empowerment. She had finally gotten to say the thing she had been thinking for the past year.
“Now it’s time to finish what I started.” Raising the gun, he pressed it against Kendal’s temple.
“Get away from her!” Luke yelled as he took a few large steps toward them.
Shaking, Kendal swallowed hard and tried a different approach. In a soothing voice, she said, “Trae, don’t do this. It won’t change anything. It will only make things worse for you.”
“Say one more word and I swear to God I’ll shoot you.”
Luke’s voice came booming around them. “Get away from her or I’ll kill you!”
“Trae, you don’t have to do this.” As Kendal spoke the words, Trae’s angry eyes fixated on her.
Luke ran as fast as he could across the room and tackled Trae while his attention was still on Kendal. Once he had him on the ground, Luke tied his arms behind his back with some wire he found nearby. He kicked the gun from Trae’s reach and quickly ran to Kendal’s side. “Are you okay?” Kendal couldn’t find any words to say, so she just nodded.
He fumbled over the ropes that held her down as quickly as he could. Within seconds, she found her hands were free, and she pulled them in front of her to get the rest of the rope off her wrists. By the time she had done that, he had freed her legs and she was able to stand. She wrapped her arms around his waist and let the sobs she had been holding in overcome her.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as he kissed her forehead. Pulling her tight against him, he stroked her hair and tried his best to make her feel safe. “I had no idea, about any of it.”
“I know.” She cried into his chest. “There’s no way you could have known.” Kendal pulled back to meet his eyes. “I’m so sorry for how I treated you last night.”
“Don’t be.” He pulled her back into a tight hug before he continued. “I understand why you didn’t want anything to do with me if that was your impression of bikers.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“Look at me for a moment, though.” She took a step back and looked up at him, feeling like a small child. “I promise you that I am nothing like him, okay?” Kendal nodded. “I can promise that not only will I never hurt you, I won’t ever let anyone else hurt you either. You deserve so much better.”
Kendal put a hand behind his neck and slowly pulled him down to her level. Ever so gently, she planted a kiss on his lips that seemed to go on and on. “Thank you,” she whispered. At that moment, sirens came splitting through the air, and they could see flashing lights through the windows.
Luke answered her confused expression. “I called the police when I arrived. Over here!” he called to the cops who came storming into the room. “One kidnapper is over here on the ground, and the other is unconsciousness outside the back door.”
Through all the questioning and the night that quickly turned to morning, Luke never left her side. Kendal had never felt such peace and comfort in her entire life. She hoped the feeling would never end.
*
Ten Years Later
Kendal made her way through the crowd that was littered with leather vests, and she smiled and greeted everyone she passed. “You have a lovely home,” one woman called to her.
“Thank you!” Balancing a tray of homemade cookies, she managed to make it into the dining room without dropping a single one. She laid them out neatly on the table and glanced to make sure none of the other platters needed to be refilled. Pleased with how beautifully the table was still set up, she let out a satisfied sigh.
“Mommy!” a light voice called. She turned to see a littl
e girl with bouncing blond curls standing behind her.
“Hi, honey!” Bending down to her level, she planted a big kiss on her cheek. Kendal broke out into happy laughter as she saw the lip prints that her lipstick left on her daughter’s porcelain skin. Scooping her up into her arms, she licked her thumb and gently rubbed it away as her daughter giggled and tried to fight off her hand. “Where is your brother?”
She followed her daughter’s tiny finger as it pointed across the party. Through the doorway of the dining room, she could see to the other side of the front room, where a blond little boy was. He was standing right in the middle of all the adults with his dad’s leather jacket hanging a thousand sizes too large on him, being the life of the party as always. She laughed as he spun in a circle, letting the sleeves dangle all around him.
He acted as if he were driving a motorcycle and ran all around the front room as all the adults laughed at just how cute he was. “He is literally the cutest thing,” Lexy’s voice called from behind her.
“Well, thank you.” Putting a hand on her best friend’s swollen belly, she smiled up at her. “I can’t wait to see how cute your little bundle is.”
“Isn’t it crazy?”
“What?”
“How much has changed in the past few years.”
“I know.” Kendal glanced at all the friends and family that surrounded them and realized for nearly the thousandth time today how truly blessed she was.
“Luckily we ended up right where we were meant to be.” They shared a smile and a quick hug before Lexy was pulled away by a friend asking questions about her upcoming due date.
Looking up, Luke caught Kendal’s eye and waved her over, his beautiful smile like a beacon on the shore. She made her way through the crowd with her daughter on her hip. Luke wrapped both of his girls in a hug and kissed Kendal gently. “Come here, princess!” he called as he took his little girl from Kendal and held her high above his head.
Kendal’s heart felt so full that she thought she might cry. She had never expected to have such a perfect, loving family, and she certainly had never expected it to be with a biker. “I love you.”
“I love you more.”
THE END
Protected and Taken by the Alpha MC Leader
A Biker Romance
Protected and Taken by the MC Leader
Chapter 1
Carrie sighed and looked out the window of the small lunch truck that she worked at. It was another hour before she could go, but there was a line around the block and she knew that they would have to serve them all before she could leave. Or if the food ran out, but it almost never did.
Smashed was the new craze in the city and although the name did not bode well for a restaurant, it was because of their signature sandwich, the one that had everyone there. There was also a marketing scheme to keep it fresh, the truck would be announced on the radio where they would be for lunch. Customers would flock wherever they were to get their hands on a Smasher deluxe. To Carrie, it just meant she had to drive all over the city every morning.
Carrie didn’t like the smashed black bean burger, but it was a hit with many dieters and vegans. After she looked back at the basin of burgers, she was relieved to see that they didn’t have near enough to serve them all. She counted the few that were left and gave them a number. People started to leave and though a few grumbled, they just vowed to themselves that they were going to get one the next day.
“Carrie, let’s get these people through here so we can go.”
She nodded at Brosco and helped the next customer in line. Soon she was through and wrapping drinks up and putting things away in the front. They were out of there before one and Carrie was off to her other job at a karaoke bar. Carrie was a shooter girl and on occasion, she would do a few songs to get the drunks going, though they realistically didn’t need any help to make complete fools of themselves.
Carrie had enough time to get to her small Westside apartment and then shower and dress before she was back at it again. There were a couple of times that she had forgotten to shower and she smelled of beans the whole night. Surprisingly she got better tips that night, but she didn’t want to think too far into why that was.
She made her way the three blocks to Canivaals and clocked in on the old time clock in the back. She waved to her friend Mindy and went to the bar to grab her tray of liquor vials. Mindy made them earlier in the day and Carrie downed one before she started her shift.
Her job was not hard, more mind numbing than anything else. She used the time to think of lyrics for her songs and poems for her journal. Carrie had plans to publish her poetry one day or sell a song so that she could hear it on the radio, but for now, Carrie was slogging through 2 jobs most days, just so she could finish off her Bachelors in Art. With only one semester left, Carrie was finally on the home stretch and loved the idea of only needing one job after school.
Carrie was job was pretty simply as a shooter girl. She carried around a tray of shots and sold them to the crowd. While she would jump on stage from time to time, it was more for her love of music, then for any extra money. The thing she absolutely hated about her job though was the types of clothes that she had to wear. The shirt was a midriff and showed off most of her creamy cleavage. And if that wasn’t enough, a lot of men wanted to shoot them off of her and though she allowed some, it seemed demeaning, even with the large tip that she usually received. Every time a man’s face moved towards her chest, she just sighed and tried to smile when he looked at her. It was not a requirement of her job, but it was smiled upon by management, especially when she allowed Johnston to as well.
The pervy owner came through the place later in the evening around eight, when the club started to get busy. There was more dancing and by the stack of bills in her apron, it was going to be a good night. Johnston stopped her as she was about to go back on the floor with another tray full.
“I was hoping to get something to whet my whistle.”
Carrie groaned at his lecherous look and instead of pushing it through her cleavage as he wanted, Carrie handed a shot to him and walked away, flipping her mass of red curls behind her as she went. She smiled to herself for her small act of rebellion, but knew that it would most likely translate into fewer hours on the next schedule. Carrie promised herself that when she was able to quit a job, Carnivaals would be first and she would make sure to let Johnston know exactly how she felt. Pushing the mask back up onto her face, she situated the beads to fall in her cleft and walked up to a couple of guys that were eying the bar like they needed a drink.
“Would you guys like a drink?”
Carrie smiled up at the two men that were wearing biker jackets and seemed out of place in the bar full of drunken white collars. They were rough looking and covered in tattoos, not at all the normal clientele of suits. Neither one had been on the dance floor and she betted they were there on some kind of shady business. What kind of business could be done while a half-drunk broad sang a Whitney Houston song horribly? Not anything legitimate she guessed.
They smiled back at her and one man in particular caught her eye. He was handsome of course, but it was the way he looked at her that made her look twice. Carrie was used to leering men in that type of work, but he may have been the first one that month that looked into her eyes. On some strange level, she wanted him to notice her as others did, signifying her attraction.
“Yes I will take a couple.” The blonde man that was standing next to him was like most of the others, gawking and practically drooling at her chest. She handed him a couple of shots and ignored the fact that he did not tip her. When the dark-haired man ordered his, Carrie nestled it in between her large breasts and waited for him to take it. He surprised her by grabbing it out and shooting it down. He tipped her with a twenty and a card.
Carrie smiled back a little miffed and moved around the room. She did not offer it to anyone else in that way. It figured that the one she wanted to didn’t, and the rest did. She caught the e
ye of Johnston and he asked her to go up and sing a song to get the lines going for karaoke. Carrie did for a change of pace and to have a few minutes of fun in her otherwise boring day.
She sang a rendition of a country song that she knew well. It wasn’t really her genre of choice, but she always sang random picks, so Carrie Underwood’s cheating song was what was up. Her eyes played over the crowd as she sang and though she wouldn’t admit it to herself, there was a particular man that she was looking for. Carrie didn’t see the biker again and even when she put her carnival mask back on and went back out on the floor, she didn’t see him or his friend again. There was still his card in her apron, but she would quickly forget about it until that evening when she was counting her tips for the night at home.
While she had thought it may have been some kind of business card, it was just a name and a gang. “Castor Reaux - Devil Mutts.”
Carrie didn’t know what that was supposed to mean or who the Devil Mutts were supposed to be. She imagined that it was the name of a biker gang that she had heard about in passing. Turning it over, she found a number that was handwritten in scrawling text. Carrie hadn’t seen him write it, so she wondered if he had a pocketful that he handed out. The idea was creepy and she forgot about Castor and dragged herself home early around ten. Her small apartment greeted her, as well as her cat Meow.
She may never see the man again, but he inspired her. Instead of the writer’s block that had plagued her last couple of weeks, there was a song written in less than an hour, the music and lyrics pouring out of her. It was Castor that she thought of and she wondered why he had such an impact on her. He would be to her, ‘the man that had refused.’
Chapter 2
Carrie was at class painting a nude model and she thought of the dark eyes that held hers at the club. When she was surrounded by black bean smells and a line of customers in the East district, it was Castor that she thought of. He filled her mind and though Carrie never really worried about her dating life since her last break-up, Castor had her thinking that it may just be time to try to get back out there.