Fractured & Formidable
The Sacred Heart’s MC Book V
By A. J. Downey
Text Copyright © 2014 A.J. Downey
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
All Rights Reserved
Dedication
To the men and women across the country who take the time and effort out for B.A.C.A. or Bikers Against Child Abuse. You are the unsung heroes and are, in part, what the spirit of The Sacred Hearts MC was modeled after, even before I knew you existed. Keep doing what you’re doing and I am happy to help get your message along. It is an unfortunate reality in which we live that you are needed, but I am not the only one that is glad you are here. This one is for you.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 14
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
About the Author
Prologue
14 months ago…
“I’ve got room, Red.”
I looked dubiously at the man who had spoken and my mouth went dry for a second time. I’d noticed him the second he’d walked into the studio, but hadn’t been introduced. I’d caught his name when he’d introduced himself to Everett though… Zander.
He was gorgeous. Dark hair hidden beneath a red baseball cap turned backwards on his head. He had on a red tee shirt, the sleeves torn off, with a black denim vest over it. He wore these long, black denim shorts that ended just below the knee, his legs just as muscled above the red canvas hi-top shoes, the kind with the white rubber toe-caps, with white socks riding above where the white laces tied off. He was remarkably well put together given the rough appearance I’d expected from him being somehow a part of a motorcycle gang… which was probably fairly judgmental of me. I immediately felt guilty for the unfair thought but continued in my observations.
His arms were huge, one brightly colored in fiery oranges and the other in cool black and white images. I couldn’t discern what they were from across the studio where I stood beside my best friend. His eyes though, they’re what made my mouth go dry and my heart speed up. They reminded me of my gran’s famous chocolate caramels. A lovely milk chocolaty brown tinged with a burnished bronze-gold hue that drew me in as they roved me from my head to my feet. I blushed. So what if it was exactly what I was doing to him.
“You should take him up on it,” Everett said enthusiastically, adding, “It’s unbelievable!”
I felt drawn to the man, who was shorter than me by half a head, even though he was compact and solidly muscled. I quailed a bit on the inside and bit the inside of my cheek. He looked like he could really hurt someone and not entirely on purpose. It was just, almost like he knew he was strong but the way he carried himself, so nonchalant, it gave the impression that maybe he didn’t know his own strength.
He gave me this devil may care grin, revealing a chipped tooth in the front and with his dimples, the effect was absolutely adorable. I felt myself give an answering sweet smile as my misgivings eased. His smile said to me, you can trust me, and I tried very hard to trust everyone in equal measure… until they gave me a reason not to.
Everett had been my best friend since the second grade and she had never given me a reason not to trust her, even when we disagreed, or worse, fought like siblings. If she said it was something I should do or try then it was. I chewed my lip thoughtfully and worried about what my dad would think and caught Everett’s look, she had her eyebrow raised in my direction and the look on her face that screamed, really? You’re going to let him tell you what to do when he’s not even here? The old familiar argument that she pretty much always won played out in my head. As always, she was right. If I listened to my father in my head all the time I wouldn’t have had even a quarter of the adventures that I had with my bestie. She was a bad influence in all the best ways.
“My car is safe here, so why not?” I finally agreed and triumph flashed in my best friend’s eyes.
“I’m Zander,” he said to me quietly and came over holding out his arm like some old fashioned gentleman.
“Mandy,” I said softly, automatically linking my arm with his. The older Mexican-American man, Dray’s father, (he couldn’t be anything else with how closely they resembled one another,) was speaking and he spoke like my father did from the pulpit. With that authority. That commanding tone of voice, as if he were a man that was used to being listened to. He was their leader apparently but I wasn’t entirely up on how everything worked. Everett hadn’t exactly had a lot of time to explain. Which was partially why I was here. She hadn’t called me in days even though she’d promised to.
I let Zander escort me out into the overcast and crisp fall day and breathed deep the autumn air.
“Never ridden before?” he asked and handed me a black half helmet which I took a bit dubiously. I looked at his motorcycle and cringed on the inside. It was big and matte black, the front end long, the tires wide.
“Hey, look at me Red,” he ordered gently and his voice was velvet and smooth and I turned my attention away from the motorcycle and to him.
“It’s okay. Do I look like a guy that’d let anything bad happen to you?” he asked with that devil may care grin of his. My stomach did a giant somersault.
“Um, no,” I said softly. Truthfully? Zander looked like the kind of man who would do bad things to me given half a chance. Bad things that would likely be so very good to have happen to a girl like me. He smiled wider as if he’d read my mind and stepped into my personal space. I blushed furiously and his eyes positively sparkled with good humor. He knew he was having an effect and was enjoying every moment of it! Unfortunately for me, that just made me blush harder.
Plucking the helmet from my hands he began to speak in a low voice, mapping out his expectations and what he needed from me. I listened very carefully, terrified of doing something, anything, wrong that might get us hurt. I tried valiantly not to be distracted when his fingertips brushed the underside of my jaw as he buckled the helmet securely onto me. They were softer than they appeared and I had to suppress a shiver at the lingering heat left behind by that touch. A small voice in the back of my mind was saying you shouldn’t play with fire… you’re bound to get burned.
Oh how I should have listened.
Present day…
I shut the front door to the cozy little two bedroom house that I shared with my best friend and her boyfriend. It was a bit awkward, juggling my purse and my keys one handed, while pressing a wad of Kleenex to my nose, while also keeping my head tilted back as far as it would go. My eyes watered from the smarting pain, tears leaking down into my bright copper curls at my temples while I tried to staunch the deep ruby f
low from my nose.
“Sweet mother Mary… Mandy!” Everett, who had been in the kitchen, jogged through the dining area and living room to reach me. I dumped my purse and keys onto the loveseat beside me and sat down heavily on the thick leather arm.
“It won’t stop bleeding Evy!” I said mournfully and she pulled my hand away from my face by my wrist gently. She sighed.
“It’s a good thing Dray isn’t home. Come on let’s get you cleaned up.” She guided me around furniture that I couldn’t see. I couldn’t tip my head downward because as soon as I did a red tide would gush from my nose. It was frustrating and embarrassing, no matter how many times my best friend had seen it. I dropped into one of the dining room chairs closest to the kitchen. Everett pulled a wad of paper towels from the roll and handed them to me. I replaced the dripping wad of Kleenex and winced when the paper towel began to soak through immediately.
Everett held out a plastic grocery bag and I tossed the Kleenex into it with a wet splat that made me want to gag. Everett set the bag aside with a rustle and I heard her at the freezer, scooping ice into another bag. She came back over spinning it and tying it off. Gently and ever so carefully she rested the ice on the bridge of my nose.
“What happened?” she asked softly.
“Same thing that happens every time he does it. It’s nothing new,” I muttered.
“You need to stop going over there,” she said, voice dripping with disapproval.
“I can’t. You know I can’t,” I muttered miserably. She sighed as if her heart carried the weight of the world on it and I spiraled further down into my misery. I hated this, I hated me, for causing my best friend pain. If only…
“I ought to send Dray over there to give him a what for!” Everett said dispassionately, her accent thickening.
“No! Evy no. Please don’t tell anyone… I couldn’t bear it if anyone else knew. Please don’t say anything.”
She made soothing and shushing noises at me and I bit my lips together.
“I won’t Mandy, I promise, but you can’t keep going over there, you can’t keep letting this happen,” she said gravely.
“I know,” I told her, “I just don’t know what else to do.”
She hugged me.
“Ever the dutiful daughter,” she murmured and it sounded like she wished I were anything but. Truthfully, I wished I could be less so too but I was afraid, afraid of what would happen, afraid of a lot of things. I closed my eyes.
“Just don’t tell anyone,” I said, ashamed.
“You know your secret is safe with me. Always has been and always will be,” she hooked her pinky finger with mine and shook my hand back and forth by it.
Sometimes, I was afraid of that too.
Chapter 1
Revelator…
I stood up straight, catching the water streaming off my face with the hand towel I pulled off the bar by the sink. I mopped the water off my face and chest and checked for any excess shaving cream. I ran a comb through my black hair which was getting long again but I didn’t really care too much about it. It was going under a ball cap anyways.
“Yo Rev!” Disney called from the living room.
“Yeah what?” I called back.
“Hurry up! We’re gonna be late.”
I took one or two last swipes where I still felt damp.
“Keep your panties on Puddin’!” I yelled back to my new roomie.
He’d been moved in all of around two weeks but as far as roommates went, he wasn’t half bad. Aside from smokin’ the Ganga every once in a while, making the house reek I didn’t really have too much to bitch about. Well I had one other gripe but I wasn’t about to tell him to have quieter sex with his boyfriend. It was none of my fucking business and I didn’t want to seem like a homophobe. I wasn’t, despite how much I made fun of Disney sayin’ homophobic type shit. For me, that shit was just in good fun, irreverent bastard that I am. Hell, in my world just about fucking everything was fair game when it came to humor.
“Would you move your ass if I told you Mandy was supposed to be there?” he asked. I ducked my head out the open bathroom doorway. That girl was sweet as fucking pie and I had it worse than bad for her.
“Is she?” I asked.
Disney scowled at me.
“Maybe.”
He crossed his arms over his cut. I rolled my eyes, took one last glance in the mirror, sprayed some cologne between my shoulders and called it good. I hit the bathroom light and stepped out into the hall.
“She better be there now, or I’ma sit on you,” I threatened.
Disney grinned, a twinkle in his eye and waved his hand at me in the classic effeminate gay man way and affecting that horrible accent said, “Oh stop!”
I laughed and went into my room and pulled on my long, light denim jean shorts. I pulled on some white athletic socks and stuffed my feet into my red converse.
“Seriously though, she gonna be there?” I asked. I wanted to know. The girl had pretty much been under my skin since the moment I first laid eyes on her. It wasn’t just that she was fucking gorgeous, she was all fucking woman. Lush curves and soft skin, with eyes the color of autumn and hair to match. I wanted her so fucking bad and she would be mine. Oh yes! She would be mine.
I had just met her at a bad time to make it so right away. I had just accepted a hang around cut and was trying to become a prospect with the MC. A labor of love but also really damned time consuming and my number one priority at the time. Finally, I had become a fully patched member but then my business got blowed up and if it wasn’t one thing it was another and I was just plain sick of all of it getting in the way now. I needed to act, stop putting it off and really go for it. I was in it to win it and I wanted to start as soon as possible. I was half afraid if I didn’t get off my ass and do something that I was going to miss the opportunity all together and I would be fucked if I let that happen.
I stood up from tying my laces and I pulled a black Under Armor fitted compression tee over my head and tucked it in. I couldn’t get the image I played over and over of fitting my body to hers out of my head. God damn! All those soft, lush, curves. That silky smooth skin so warm and alive, pressed right up against me. Mm.
I tried to think of something else while I was threading my belt through the loops on my shorts. I was hard as a fucking rock and didn’t have time to relieve any tension right now. If I stopped to take care of business Dis was going to blow a fucking gasket. I dumped my wallet into my back pocket and snapping the leather loop at the end of the chain around my belt, I picked up my cut, shrugging into it.
“Okay Puddin’ we can go.” I called.
“Thank you!” Disney called out, exasperated.
I grinned and plucked my favorite Florida Buccaneer’s hat off the rack lining the back of my bedroom door and slid it on backwards tucking the bill at the back of my neck.
“Quit’cher bitchin’ there lover boy, your man-pussy will wait for yah.”
I sighed out. I was looking forward to Dis finishing his bike so he could get around on his own again. He was waiting for some damned part that had gotten cracked in the explosion to ship cross country, or from overseas, or some shit. I snatched my keys to my Chevelle off the hook.
“Whoa, hey! Forgetting something?” Disney asked as I pulled open the front door. I stopped and looked over my shoulder.
“What?” I asked.
He held my Browning out to me butt first.
“Oh, shit! Good looking’ out Princess!” I took the gun and tucked it into the back of my waistband.
“Should have fuckin’ shot you,” I heard him grumble and I grinned to myself. It was raining outside and we dashed through it, both shrugging back out of our cuts and cursing. I may have taken a touch or two longer to unlock Disney’s door than I needed to. He dove into the passenger seat cursing me out and I laughed.
“Fuckin’ douche bag!” he cried and pushed some of his long hair out of his face, slicking it back while he laughed.
<
br /> I started what I considered my real pride and joy up and shifted her into reverse. I’d bought her, a rusting out piece of shit that was just this side of worth saving and had spent years making her whole. I smiled with a quiet steady pride at the reflection of the waterlogged streetlight across the black vinyl dash. The weather was fucking miserable out today. Just a steady constant fall of drippy rain that made me think God had a runny nose and was snotting all over us.
“What do you think they’re going to say?” he asked, fidgeting in his seat.
“Dunno, what the fuck is wrong with you? Boyfriend give you crabs or something?” he punched me in the arm, probably as hard as he could and I laughed. Didn’t do much through the thick leather of my jacket.
“Make fun of me all you want, I know you don’t mean it, but not Aaron. Please?” he said and he looked uncomfortable. I blinked.
“Dude, man… you know I’m just fucking with you right?” I asked, rolling up to a stoplight.
“Yeah man! I know,” he said and shifted again.
“Disney… Dude.” I scowled at him.
“Sometimes it gets to be a bit much! Okay?” he asked and grimaced, shifting in his seat.
“Fucking leg itches like a motherfucker. Doc says it’s because it’s healing but man! Worse than any tat I’ve ever had,” he said in a bid to change the subject but fuck, I instantly felt like a douche. The wound in his leg that he was bitching about had come from flying glass from ORI blowing up.
“Dude, I’m sorry bro.”
No one felt it more keenly than me that Disney could have gotten himself dead that night and I felt wholly responsible for it. I’d called and sent him into that death trap. His injuries fell squarely on my shoulders. I gritted my teeth. I wanted to fuck up The Suicide Kings’ world and it looked like I was going to get my chance on at least one of them next month.
The Suicide Kings were all sorts of dirty, and depending on how you looked at it, fortunately or unfortunately, that included being in on the illegal fight circuit. That’s how I’d crossed paths with The Sacred Hearts back in the day.
Fractured & Formidable: The Sacred Hearts MC Book V Page 1