by Ali Parker
"What? No. He hates the stuff." Sam chuckled and picked up a cup. "Coffee?"
"Black, please. No cream or sugar." Nate glanced over at me and winked. "You can't know all my secrets, baby girl."
"Brother." I rolled my eyes and walked back out to the center of the restaurant to clean up a few more tables.
Nate moved up behind me and wrapped me in a tight hug. "Not everything is conscious. Some things have to be planned out to work right."
"Like us?" I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"No, we were destined to be together no matter what." He leaned down and brushed his lips by mine. “We’re going to have to figure a few things out, Jenna.”
“Like?” I almost enjoyed how serious he looked.
“Like which one of us is going to kill your boyfriend Thomas.”
I snorted and bumped my hips against his. “Stop it. He’s just a friend.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
“I’ll take care of it. Something tells me that I’ll handle it much better than you will.”
His eyebrows lifted. “From what Erik tells me, you’re pretty damn scary.”
“I can be.” I shrugged. “Since when did you start listening to Erik?”
“Good point.” He licked the side of his mouth and leaned in to brush his nose by mine. “Tell Thomas you belong to me. I don’t want to break his neck over a misunderstanding.”
“Alright.” I glanced down, trying to think through how the hell I was going to fulfill my part of the bargain with Erik. I promised him that I would destroy the records on my father’s computer for him for helping me out. I couldn’t go back on that promise.
“What are you thinking?” Nate’s voice was soft, drawing.
I glanced back up. “I have to put a virus in my father’s computer. It was part of the deal I made with Erik.” I let out a soft sigh. “I just don’t want my dad to go through any more shit, but it’s not like I can turn my back on Erik. He’d likely put a knife in it.”
“I’m not too sure about that, but I’d just do it. They’ll have backups and your dad will deal with it. Just be careful.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “You don’t need to get caught. That would be some shit, right?”
“Yeah. You do it for me.” I smiled, hoping to get him to take my dirty deed.
“No way. You need to know something, baby.”
“Tell me.” I pressed my chest against his.
“I promised Erik a long time ago that I would help him when the day came when he would need my help.” He searched my face, but for what, I was unsure.
“And? Is that day here?” I reached up and cupped the side of his face, trying hard not to swoon over him.
“Yeah. I don’t get to be a good guy anytime soon.” He pressed against my palm and closed his eyes for a second before turning to kiss my palm. “You gonna be alright loving a bad boy forever?”
“Do I have a choice?” I pulled him down for a series of kisses, each growing hotter than the last. Still so many unanswered questions, but I forced my thoughts away. There was a lot I didn’t know, but it was better that way. Ashely died for what she did to my brother and the rest was the past. I didn’t want to crack open another door. It might mean losing the only person I could see myself with forever.
It wasn’t perfect, and it didn’t mean I wouldn’t wonder, but whatever Nate had done in the past… it had to stay there. I just prayed my dirty deeds would stayed buried too.
"Nope, you don’t. Let's go make out in the park. Tell Sam you're not feeling good." He brushed his hand down the back of my head. “Let’s stop being so fucking serious. Life’s been jacked up enough lately. We’ll take things day by day and what happens, happens.”
He was right.
"I can hear you guys. I'm right here. Jeez." Sam scoffed.
I leaned closer to Nate. "By make out, you mean fuck?"
"You know I do." He growled softly and leaned in for a long kiss. "It's been awhile since I've made you uncomfortable."
"It was this morning when you wanted to fuck on the bathroom sink." I lifted my eyebrow.
"Really? You took it in the ass like a champ."
"I hate you sometimes."
"Naw... You love me more than should be legal. Deny it."
"Never." I lifted to my toes and let my thoughts dive back into my morning of letting Nate explore parts of me I wouldn’t have let anyone near before. He knew where to touch me, what to say to open me up wide and leave me begging for more when I once would have denied him access.
"You're thinking about it, aren't you? Me driving into your sweet, tight ass." He smiled and licked at my mouth.
"Of course I am, you bastard."
"Your bastard, princess." He leaned in for another kiss, stealing my breath, much like he stole my heart. “Yours… forever.”
Author Note: That one was insanely gritty, wasn’t it? I had to say it’s one of the hardest novels I’ve written to date, but I love a good redemption story. One where it just doesn’t look like love is going to win, you know? Toxic was that for me. I had a project I did earlier this year on Patreon where I released a novella every month for a private group of fans. It’s over now, so instead of publishing the novellas, I thought I’d give them away to you. Free. The first one is a biker book… Hope Ryder got you in the mood to check out, “Weekend Ride.”
Weekend Ride
Chapter 1
Harper
The warm wind blew my hair as I rode toward a new landscape, the country so far out of my comfort zone, but what choice did I have? New York was home. It was comfortable. I could get lost in the middle of a huge crowd where no one knew my past or the mistakes I'd made.
Having come from the west coast and growing up on the water, the northeast was perfect. It was nothing like home. It kept the memories at bay.
"I hope this is what I need. Seems counterintuitive." I let out a long sigh, talking out loud to myself. It had been a hell of a month, one I wouldn't forget for a long time, if ever.
So many mistakes. All of them my fault.
My mother's voice echoed in my head, "You ride the wrong jet to the moon, and it's your own damn fault when you get stuck."
Power. Greed. Money.
They were my gods after losing so much in my younger life. They were consistent and created a clear path to achieving temporary fame and substantial pleasure. So much pleasure, but the wrong kind. I didn't know another one.
My poor sister had taken the high road after the accident, turning into a philanthropist in her medical practice. There wasn't anyone she wouldn't help, and most of the time, she did it for nickels and dimes. She belonged in a small town in the heart of Kentucky where people were good enough not to take full advantage of a giving stranger.
Three years.
I hadn't seen Nora in three years. It was better that way. We were both intellects and usually ended up fighting over what we couldn't control. Love, life, death, lust. Neither of us was content in our lives, but it wasn't for trying.
My marriage with Peter was over before it begun.
He was a sweetheart, a caring, loving man with too much of a willingness to hand over his balls. He was safe and a comfort I needed after leaving California, but it was damned from the start.
I'd always been aggressive, straight forward and a dominant force to deal with. None of the men in my past measured up, but maybe my measuring stick was too long. It was based on the type of man my father was.
Strong. Daring. Bold as fuck.
Tears burned my eyes as I jerked the wheel and headed down the long dirt road that would leave to my sister's white picket fence. We pretended to be happy, but we were both dying inside. Nora just hid it behind her family practice, giving medicine her love, devotion and time.
I'd tried, but every time a new patient came in for counseling, I became more and more jaded. People had problems. So the fuck what? We all did.
It was a horrible outlook for someone called to save li
ves through counseling. I wanted to feel needed, important, and being a private counselor for the rich and famous was my ticket to all the above. Too bad it took more than a listening ear and set of steps to find fulfillment. There had to be more to it than the clinical bullshit I'd swallowed in my early twenties.
Having lost my first patient to suicide the last week left me wanting to run. Run anywhere. Anywhere that I could get lost. Nora didn't know of my failure, nor would she. It was my horrible little secret and maybe if I ran fast enough or hard enough... it would all disappear in the rear-view mirror.
I came up from my thoughts and slammed on the breaks, almost passing up Nora's driveway. I let out a soft growl and turned left, saying a soft prayer as I parked the car.
Two weeks. I'd taken a two-week absence to get away from everything, but had I done the right thing? My sister was invasive, caring, so fucking smart.
The front door opened, and I resigned myself to being stuck.
I got out and forced a smile on my face. "Hey, you."
"Sis." Her smile widened as she half-jogged across the yard.
Not wanting to look like an insensitive ass, I moved in front of the car and pulled her into a tight hug. "How are you? You look just like mom, I swear."
She laughed and moved back, a soft smile playing on her lips. She was beautiful. Feminine. Everything I didn't feel like most of the time. Her long blond hair was pulled up in a messy bun, her blue eyes striking. Just like momma's had always been.
"And you look like daddy." She reached up and touched the side of my face. "You haven't been sleeping."
"Oh, Lord. Don't start analyzing me. I'm here for a break from the norm." I turned and walked to the back of the car as the sound of a motorcycle caught my attention. I hadn't been on the back of one since I was a kid. Now in my early thirties, there's no way in hell I would ride one. It felt silly. Childish.
"Hey." Nora moved up and wagged her eyebrows. "So the guy next door is someone you're going to want to check out."
"Oh yeah?" I tucked a strand of my long brown hair behind my ear and glanced down the road, not quite yet able to make out the guy riding our way. "You got a bad boy biker living next door to you out here in the country?"
"Yeah, but as you can see... he's loaded." She lifted her hand and motioned for me to check out his property.
A huge white mansion sat on a long piece of property, purple and white flowers running up the length of the driveway. The trees were well-groomed and landscape gorgeous even for the middle of March.
"Wow. How the hell did I miss that?" I pulled out my bag and moved so that my sister could get the other one. The humming of the motorcycle grew louder and louder.
"No clue. Lost in thought?" My sister lugged the bigger of the two bags up beside me and stopped. "The older brother is Luke and the younger, Jeremy. He's a cock and a half."
"In a good way?" I glanced over at my sister, teasing her, which she hated.
"Really? Gross. I see enough penises in my practice." She shook her head and turned as the biker pulled into the driveway beside Nora's. He lifted his hand and pulled off his helmet.
"I hate that word," I mumbled as my heart thudded hard in my chest. Wow was all I could think, but I sure as hell wasn't saying it. The guy was close enough to read my lips.
His thick forearms were covered in tattoos and dirt, his face dusted with a short beard that framed the most perfect lips I'd seen. My body reacted violently, leaving me wanting to pant.
Stop it. Good grief.
"Nora. How are you?" He lifted up a little and ran his dirty fingers through a mop of light brown hair as he smiled.
My sister's voice was steady, strong. She didn't find him attractive. Not on a physical-fuck-you-all-night level. Always the intellect first.
"I'm good, Luke. This is my older sister, Harper." She reached over and touched my back, rubbing softly. "She'll be staying for a few weeks."
His smile widened, and I wanted so badly to walk toward him. I needed to know the color of his eyes. Every cell in my body screamed for contact, to be awakened by him. When was the last time I wanted carnality? I couldn't remember a time before that moment.
What the hell was wrong with me.
"Nice to meet you, Harper. Don't mind my little brother. You'll see him around here soon, I'm sure. He's the prick that gave my family name the taint it has. Steer clear of him, and you'll be alright." He winked at me, waved at Nora and drove down the long dusty road that leads to his mansion.
"He's rich?" I glanced over at my sister, who was smiling a little too hard. "He's way to calm and humble from what I can tell."
"Yeah. They're loaded, but you wouldn't know it by the way he acts."
"He's beautiful." I picked up my bag and walked toward the door. "Does he ever ride that bike without his shirt on?"
She snorted and moved up the stairs beside me. "He does a lot of things shirtless. But just remember, you're only here for two weeks."
"Well, unlike you, I don't see naked men every day." I wagged my eyebrows and tried to slow the frantic fluttering in my chest and between my thighs. I hadn't been that turned on since college.
"I'm telling you now, the naked men I get to see aren't the ones you'd be panting after."
"I'm not panting." I moved in as she closed the door.
"No? Listen." She pursed her lips as the soft sound of someone gasping for air filled up the living room. It was me.
I was in trouble. Big trouble. Two weeks wouldn't be nearly enough for the thoughts racing through my head. So many things to experience and so little time.
"Is he single?"
She laughed. "No clue. Ask him."
I planned to.
Chapter 2
Luke
"That you?" Jeremy called out from somewhere deep in the house as I walked in and closed the door around me.
I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes. If I listened hard enough, I could almost hear my mother laughing in the kitchen, my father chuckling right next to her. Had they really been gone fifteen years? Seemed odd.
"Yeah. I picked up some meat for dinner." I moved from my spot at the front door and walked into the kitchen, not sure what I would find. My younger brother played the rich asshole part much better than I did, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was with my folks when we were still in poverty, but not Jeremy. He'd known nothing but wealth.
My father striking oil in Texas had changed everything in some respects and nothing in others.
"Was Nora out watering her plants?" His dark brown eyes lit up as a smirk played along his lips.
I gave him a sideways glance, rolling my eyes and dropping the sack in my hand on the counter. Something about the pretty doctor next door had my brother in knots. "She was outside, but was too busy helping her sister unpack the car."
"Sister?" The interest in his voice hit me wrong.
The pretty woman standing beside Nora as I drove up the long windy country road to the house still played in my mind's eye. She was busty, her hips thick and breasts large. My cock twitched at the thought of how nice it would be to sink down against her in my big four-post bed upstairs. It had been a few months since I'd been with a woman, and even longer since I'd let one love me.
"They're intellects." I turned to face him and unwrapped the package in front of me. "She'd figure out your antics in no time." I smiled, loving the scowl that formed on his face. "Much like Nora already did."
"She's a prude." He shrugged before crossing his arms over his thick chest. "She'd love the fuck outta me if she'd just give me a chance."
"And then you'd take advantage of her and walk away. People can smell a rat from a mile away, Jeremy. Don't be a dick. You're getting far too old for that shit." I glanced down and waited for his rebuttal, but it never came.
Instead, he turned and walked out onto the back patio, leaving the door open behind him. His voice was nothing more than a faint whisper as he glanced over his shoulder. "Beer's out here if
you want one."
I nodded and watched him for a few minutes as he leaned against the railing on the back porch. The big hill we were on forced my parents to build a four-story house on one side, and three stories on the other. It would one day belong to me, but not until Jeremy found himself and decided where he wanted his life to go. Being rich was about as far as he'd gotten thus far.
I busied myself with preparing the meat before slicing some veggies and potatoes. My thoughts danced around Nora's sister. I had been close enough to take her in, and from what I could see, I knew one thing. I wanted to know more. She had a story, but then again, we all did.
The soft lines at the sides of her eyes and the hint of sadness in her gaze left me with the conclusion that she wasn't on vacation but getting away from something or someone.
"Hey." My brother's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
"What?" I glanced up and moved back, picking up the plate of steaks and walking toward the back door.
"Nothing. Just wanted to make sure you didn't have something to tell me. You were rubbing that steak like it was your after-dinner treat." He lifted his eyebrow before taking a drink of his beer.
"No clue what the hell that means." I snorted and walked past him. He might be in his late twenties, but he acted all of fifteen on a good day.
"Sure you do, but whatever." He closed the door behind me. "You still planning on entering the chili cook-off tomorrow?"
"Yep. You coming up there?" I opened the grill, a little surprised to find that Jeremy had started the coals.
"I guess." He dropped down in a lawn chair next to me. "I need to get the fuck outta here, Luke. The cows and rodeos and quiet are driving me bonkers. Let's go on a trip. We have more money than the whole fucking state put together. Come on. I'll pay."
I chuckled and dropped the steaks on the grill, enjoying the sound of them sizzling. "I love it here, man. This peace," I glanced around as warmth filled my chest, "the serenity and stillness are what I'm all about."