BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset)

by Parker, Kylee

  It had struck her, his gaze, as being intelligent. And it had also struck her how calm she had felt. No flicker of fear or panic had filled her at encountering the wild animal out in the forest, but instead, she felt at peace. She had known even then that he would never hurt her, she just hadn’t realized who she had accidentally run into that day. Adrien.

  Dammit. That meant he had known about her surprise all along! A laugh was surprised out of her at the thought. Of all the things to worry about. Morgan turned away, a smile still flickering across her lips as she came to a decision. No matter what, she knew she couldn’t keep living like this, hiding away from the world, going back and forth with herself until she was just about crazy.

  She needed answer, she decided, and she knew just who to get them from. She tried to ignore the little voice inside that whispered if that was the only reason she wanted to see him and she had to be honest at least with herself. Because the truth was, she missed him. Desperately, hopelessly.

  With resolve, she turned around and headed to back to the easel, knowing that the bar was closed for the day. She would go in tomorrow night. It would be easier to see him if they were in a public place, easier to confront him and hopefully answer some of the questions that were tumbling through her head.

  Chapter 4

  Adrien flipped to the next page of his father’s journal, losing himself in the scrawled words. It had become his habit to read a little bit of the journal each day. It made him feel so much closer to the man that he never really knew. He stopped as a paragraph caught his eye and he could see his own name in the words.

  Adrien and Grant came home today with a bucket full of frogs that they tried to ‘rescue’. A dam up by Pines Creek had burst and they said the frogs home was destroyed. That very well may have been true, but after ‘rescuing’ the frogs from their waterlogged home, they decided to put the frogs in Mrs. Patterson’s bed, and kitchen, and in the laundry that she had drying outside. I had to yell at them, of course, but even I can’t blame them for picking Mrs. Patterson as their victim. A meaner old lady I’ve never met. I wish I could have seen the look on her face…

  Adrien laughed out loud in his empty apartment, remembering that day clearly as he read the words. He and Grant had been no more than six and Mrs. Patterson was always far too quick with a sharp word or sometimes even that old wooden broom she always kept out on the porch.

  He couldn’t imagine this side of his father, the man he remembered as always so stern and so serious. Laughing to himself over the antics of his son and his friend. He did remember his father yelling at them, and making them apologize to Mrs. Patterson and then being sent to bed early. Adrien shook his head, mirth still flowing through him. He wished suddenly that he could have known his father as an adult, really get to know the person that he was.

  With a sigh, Adrien tucked the journal back into the desk drawer and got ready for work. The bar had been re-opened for two weeks now and business was going better than ever. It was going so good in fact that he really would have to hire another bartender soon if things kept up the way they were.

  He quickly donned his uniform of black jeans and a t-shirt and headed outside, locking the door as he left. He gave a little prayer of gratitude that Harris’ thugs had decided to leave him alone the past couple of weeks, he just wish he could say the same about his daughter. It seemed like everywhere he turned, Sera just happened to be there. Coincidentally. Yeah, right.

  Adrien unlocked the bar and stepped in, breathing in the excitement at the renovated space. Each time he walked in it was still hard to believe this was the same old bar he had worked in for the last ten years. It looked like a brand new space, and his customers had all responded positively to the new look. He grinned, feeling a little bit like a proud parent before looking over and stopping. He was standing right in the spot where he and Morgan had been kissing when that brick was thrown through the window, delaying the inevitable. Because it had been inevitable, Adrien had realized. Morgan was a part of him, had been long before the mating ceremony. He just had been too dumb or too short sighted to realize the truth.

  He barely resisted the urge to drag out his cell phone and give her a call for about the millionth time. Grant had told him to give her a little space, and he’d also said he was working on something which worried Adrien a tiny bit because he knew his friend. And he had no idea what Grant might be ‘working on’ that could help him get Morgan back.

  The next hour he dedicated to getting the bar ready for the night. It was a Monday so it wouldn’t be too busy, but if the last few weeks were anything to go by they would still have a steady night. Which was good for Adrien. Anything that would keep his mind off of Morgan would be greatly appreciated.

  Because the smallest thing would set him off, and there were so many memories of her in this place that it was almost impossible to ignore. An ache started in his chest and he rubbed at the spot, barely aware of what he was doing. It had become a near constant feeling, that pang that meant he was missing her, that he needed to see her. He had hoped it would begin to fade over time but instead it just continued to grow harder and harder to ignore.

  By the time eight thirty rolled around there was a good sized crowd at the bar and several groups occupying various tables throughout the large room. The jukebox was playing some old soul blues that had everyone swaying to the music and really did feel like a proud parent as he looked around the bar.

  He glanced over as another customer walked in and barely held back the groan as he saw Harris’ daughter saunter in. Again. He turned away, hoping he could just ignore her and she would go away but that hadn’t worked all the other times he had tried it. She had been hounding him ever since he’d been back and no matter what he said she wouldn’t leave him alone. She was persistent, he had to give her that.

  “Hello, honey bear,” He forced himself to turn around and rolled his eyes at the satisfied look she had on her face at her bad joke.

  “I already told you Sera, I’m not your anything. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll be over with your drink, okay?” He gestured to an empty table but she refused to budge.

  “Oh, I’m not here for a drink.” She smirked up at him and he sighed in frustration.

  “It’s a bar, Sera. Why else would you be here?” He regretted the question as soon as it was out of his mouth. She took a cloying step closer and he could see just how much makeup was caked on her face, adding years that she didn’t have. Her perfume, something heavy and floral wafted in through his nose, choking him as he tried to lean back and take a breath. She followed him, stepping even closer and then raised her arms, resting her hands on his chest.

  “I’m here for you of course,” She purred the words and Adrien grimaced as he grabbed her wrist pulling her a little out of the way, about to give her a piece of his mind she would never forget when he looked up, seeing Morgan’s emerald green eyes locked on him from where she stood in the doorway, and worst, on his hands were they still grasped Sera’s.

  Chapter 5

  Morgan took a deep breath, still unsure of what she was doing. The only thing she knew was that she needed to see him, she needed to see if what she was feeling was real. It had taken her way longer than it should have to get ready. She had changed her clothes at least a dozen times before deciding on the tight black dress she wore under her leather jacket. She was suddenly warm, partly from the balmy night, but mostly she knew because of the horde of nervous butterflies storming around inside her. She wiped the dampness off her palms before she tugged on the wrist length leather riding gloves and threw her leg over the seat of her motorcycle.

  She had left Adrien’s jeep at his apartment that first night back and ran all the way home, and now here she was, riding right back towards him. She shook her head at her own thoughts. She needed to know the answers to the million questions plaguing her, and more than that, she just needed to see him. She missed him more than she cared to admit but she couldn’t ignore the empty feeling that h
ad disappeared when he had been in her life, even before they had gone to the cabin.

  With a breath of exhaled tension, she revved the motor, feeling the bike rumble to life beneath her as she turned the engine over. She sat there for a moment, her hands grasping the handlebars and praying that she was dong the right thing. Before Morgan could let herself think twice she kicked up the stand and was pulling out onto the main strip of road that would lead her toward the bar, and toward Adrien.

  She pulled into the parking lot, surprised to see it so busy on a Monday night. Although she supposed she shouldn’t have been, Morgan had heard the rumors all over town that the bar was back open and better than ever. Even she had to admit that she missed it. She had never formally quit, but she hadn’t even once considered going back to work there until she knew what she was going to do with this new found knowledge. How could she just go back to her normal life knowing what she did now? That there was a whole, other, hidden world out there?

  With a sigh at the same questions she had been arguing over with herself for the past two weeks, she parked the bike and slid off, taking her helmet off as she did. She combed through her hair with her fingers. Even she could admit that she still wanted to look good. For herself, a tiny voice tried to say, but she ignored it. It was a lie.

  Morgan took a deep breath, fortifying herself with every ounce of strength she had and walked up to the front double doors, pushing it open. She took one step in and froze. Her gaze narrowed on Adrien, and the girl that was plastered against him. She gasped as a wave of pain sliced through her at the sight and had just enough time to see Adrien glance up at her in wide eyed shock before she turned right back around, letting the door slam shut behind her.

  She hadn’t even given herself time to see who the other woman had been, but she didn’t care. She swiped angrily at the tears that clouded her vision. How stupid she had been, to believe that he could have really changed. That he could have really cared about her like he’d said. That he loved her.

  Morgan had her helmet in hand and one leg thrown over the motorcycle when she heard Adrien’s voice calling after her in the night but she didn’t stop, didn’t slow down. She didn’t want to hear anything he had to say.

  “Morgan, wait! You don’t understand. Morgan!” His voice cut her deep and she didn’t even turn around to look at him as she tore off into the night. She wiped at another stream of tears, clearing her vision so she could see the road ahead of her but all she could see was Adrien with some other woman pressed intimately against him. He had been wrong. She understood perfectly. He really was just a big fat lying bear.

  Morgan barely even paused to let herself think as she rode back down the empty, lonely road, her heart breaking all over again as she drove away from Adrien once again.

  Harris slurped down the rest of his meal, wiping off the grease that dripped down his face with the back of one hand when the heavy door was pushed open with a loud bang. Theo, his ever present watch dog leaned forward on the balls of his feet, a gleeful malice filling his red rimmed eyes at the thought of setting straight whoever had dared barge in on his solitude.

  He waved him down with a nonchalant gesture of his grease slicked hand when he saw his daughter. She advanced on him, her face red and the skin mottled with anger as she slammed her hands down on the table in front of him.

  “You have to do something, daddy!” She shrieked the words at him and he just barely resisted the urge to scream back.

  “I am in the middle of my dinner, daughter,” Harris said the words low and soft in a way that had her shrinking back from him. That was more like it.

  “I…I’m sorry, it’s just, that girl!” The way she said the word left no doubt in his mind who she was talking about.

  “That little tramp is back?” He growled the words, hoping that he had gotten her out of the picture for good.

  “She was at the bar tonight daddy. She was coming to see him. And he said he would never mate with another for the rest of her life.” It was subtly put and he couldn’t help but grin at his daughter.

  “Did he say that now?” He didn’t expect an answer and she didn’t give one, just stood there with one brow arched. “Well, I guess that only leaves us with one option,” Harris’ grin widened and Sera took another step back but he was so lost in his own thoughts and plans that he didn’t notice. “I suppose we’ll just have to get rid of her. For good, this time.”

  Chapter 6

  Morgan paced back and forth from the small window overlooking the street outside her apartment to the wall of the kitchen and then back. It was all of ten paces and as far as she could go in the small space but she felt full of restless energy. She needed to move. It helped her think, and she had a hell of a lot to think about. Especially after that fiasco three nights ago when she had gone to the bar to confront Adrien, and instead had found him all over some other woman. That wasn’t her.

  She shook her head, tsking at herself in frustration. What the hell was wrong with her? She didn’t even know what to think about Adrien and their relationship, all she knew was that she had been filled with blinding jealousy when she had walked in that night, and a pain so intense it felt like her heart had been physically ripped out of her chest and stomped on. By a stupid, lying, cheating, no good bartender, who also happened to be half bear.

  “What the hell am I doing?” Morgan asked the question out loud to the painting she had inadvertently stopped in front of. It was a scene that was emblazoned into her memory. It was a night sky, so dark it looked like velvet with swirls of deep, ultramarine blue and smoky gray. There was a sense of warmth emanating from the edges of the canvas that the viewer would never know was caused by the flickering bonfire Adrien had surprised her with that first night at the cabin.

  Every star had been lovingly painted, each shining with own individual light that seemed to dance across the painting. It all seemed so alive. Crackling with heat and intensity, and underneath it all a contentment that she had never felt in her entire life before those few, short weeks she had spent with Adrien. He had shown her just how good it could be, and she hated him for that.

  You’re lying, a small, soft voice whispered through her mind. She turned away, but another painting caught her eye. One that had been hidden in the corner behind a pile of unused canvases that needed to be prepped. Slowly, she walked over to where the canvas was, and even more slowly drew it out from its hiding place.

  Morgan sucked in a breath as she took in the severity of the damage to the piece. It had happened that night after she had gone to the bar. After she had raced home on her bike, which she was still surprised she had survived at all considering she had been blinded by tears the entire drive, Morgan had slammed inside her home. She had been beyond distraught, convinced that Adrien cared about her and she owed it to him to find out the truth straight from his mouth, rather than the hearsay of that mean spirited old man. Every time she thought of that man, Harris he’d said his name was, she had to suppress a shiver of unease.

  But that hadn’t stopped his terrible words from hitting their mark, and he had aimed straight for her heart when he’d told her the truth about Adrien. His version of the truth anyways.

  Morgan had come home that night, upset beyond words and had walked in to see this painting. A work she had just finished of her and Adrien, fishing beside the gurgling stream. It had been sun filled, and full of peace and just looking at her reminded her of the intense feeling of love she had felt in that moment. And she had lost it. Completely and utterly snapped as she’d looked at the painful reminder at one of the happiest moments of her life. Morgan had rushed forward, not even giving herself a second to think, running on pure turbulent emotion as she had grabbed the canvas straight off the easel and threw it hard into the corner of her living room table. She could still remember the awful sound of the linen ripping as a whole was torn through the center of the painting.

  She had instantly regretted it as soon as it had happened. She had tried desperatel
y to piece the edges back together, not realizing for several long minutes later that she had started sobbing. Large, salty tears had begun to collect, dropping with a wet splat against the ruined painting. There, in that moment, it had seemed like such a perfect symbol for just how wrong everything had gone. It was too late to fix, irreparable, and worst of all, her fault.

  I tried to make things right, she tried to convince herself as she stared down at the destroyed canvas, I went to the bar that night to make things right. Morgan gently put the canvas back, pushing it behind the others until she couldn’t see the damage anymore and turned around, away from it. With a deep breath she grabbed her keys and the shoulder bag still sitting by the door and headed through the front door. She needed to get out of the cramped apartment. She needed to go out for a walk and clear her head from the thoughts that had been plaguing her nonstop since that terrible night.

  Morgan strode down the stairs, not even seeing her neighbor as Mrs. Parkinson waved to her on her way out. Her gaze was focused deeply inward, so deep that all she could focus on was the pain that still festered inside her, raw and open to the world. She felt exposed, like everyone she passed could see the gaping hole in her chest where her heart used to be.

  She shook her head at the clichéd thought, but that didn’t mean it was true. And it was exactly how she felt. Morgan had only made it to the end of the block, and hadn’t even started making any headway untangling the mess of her emotions when her cell phone began to ring from the depths of her purse. It took her a brief moment to dig the device out and answered it with a short greeting.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, uh, Morgan?” A familiar voice reached her from the other end of the call. It was her friend, Eliza Jenkins, who she had known since she was a child. They had basically grown up next door to each other and in a town as small as Kingstown everyone knew every one else. Eliza had been one of those people who had always been there for her, no matter what she was going through, and she had gone through a lot as a child.