by Nicole Fox
I craned my head and looked back at the picnic basket sitting right in the middle. “Oh, Ford,” I said. “You shouldn’t have. What’d you get?”
“Fried chicken, coleslaw, biscuits, some corn.”
“Oh, my God!” I nearly screamed. I was born in East Texas, and all I could get out here was vegan and gluten-free crap. “Ford! My favorite!”
He laughed. And, just like that, we were off.
Epilogue II
Ford
We sat there together on the blanket I’d spread out for the two of us, looking down over the perfect grid of the city of LA. It was so different here compared to the desert. Rather than having the millions of stars in the sky over our head, they lay spread out our feet as we looked down on them from this hilltop.
The last eighteen months had been good to me and Micah, even to Kessa and Tanner, who’d been together since that night. When it came to the case with Joseph Tambor, Sheriff Watts must have realized what kind of a powder keg he was sitting on, and what kind of opportunity he’d had. Tambor had “tried to escape custody” that night. Needless to say, none of us had to go back to that shitty small town to testify against him, and no one ever came looking for the money.
As soon as we got out here, I used Tanner’s connections to set up a personal security firm. The way it turned out, apparently, it was just who you knew in this town. With his contacts to start with, and my own reputation and professionalism, I soon had a staff of guys I managed.
Business was good.
Micah’s career was about to take off, too. Her skill as an actress spoke for itself, and she didn’t have any more problems with the casting couch, like she had early on. Especially not after they heard about me.
But, goddamn, just getting to see her happy every day, happy even with the early setbacks and minuscule successes, made it all worthwhile—all the shit we’d had to put up with back at the Mansion, everything we’d had to go through in the early days as we scraped by on her savings.
“See that down there?” Micah asked, half-eaten drumstick in hand, fried chicken grease shamelessly smeared on her fingers and chin. “We’re going to own that town someday.”
“Think so?” I asked.
She smiled at me and laughed a little. “Know so. The world is our oyster, Mr. Taylor. All we have to do is keep the good vibes flowing, keep a good outlook, and be prepared to work our asses off. Promise.”
I dusted my hands free of breading and laid back on the blanket with my hands beneath my head. Micah tossed her chicken bone back in the container and snuggled up next to me, her head on my shoulder.
“Ford?” she asked.
“Yeah, babe?”
“You still love me, right? My past, it doesn’t, you know, bother you?”
Sometimes she got like this. I imagined Kessa did the same thing to Tanner Wilde, too. They were both girls who were running from their pasts. But I always saw the past as something that was meant to stay buried. We left it behind for a reason. Sure, it was part of us, but only in the way soil was to a tomato plant. The plant grew in the soil, but it sure as hell wasn’t the soil, was it?
“Does it bother you that I used to beat the crap out of guys for a living?”
“No. Why would it? That’s how I met you, isn’t it? You saved me.”
“Exactly,” I said. “If you hadn’t been you, we wouldn’t have met. So why worry about it?”
She kissed me on the cheek, squeezed me tighter, and made a noise. “Ouch. What was that? Carrying your gun again, honey? You know I hate for you to have that while we’re snuggling.”
I laughed. “No, the pistol’s in the glove box.”
“Well, what is it then?”
“Why don’t you,” I teased, “reach in and find out?”
She giggled as she reached inside my coat pocket. “Oh? You’re not just happy to see me, are you?”
“Kind of.”
“Jewelry?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, the tiny ring box from my jacket in her small hands.
“Open it,” I said.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered as she looked down at the open box, as she looked down at my mother’s wedding ring, the same ring that Micah had stolen from me those long eighteen months ago. “Ford!”
“Will you, Micah? Will you marry me?”
She threw her arms around my neck. “God, yes, you big goof! Of course I will! I love you more than anything!”
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her on top of me. We kissed like teenagers, holding each other under the LA sky. “I love you, babe,” I whispered as we broke our kiss. “Always.”
“Always,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “No matter what.”
THE END
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[Bonus Content] BROKEN ANGEL: Devil’s Route MC
As a gift to you, enjoy this exclusive bonus content!
She was an angel when she met me. She was broken when she left.
One night in my bed ruined her for good. I left her with aching lips, dark desires… and a secret baby.
Eight years later, she’s back, and desperate for more of the same.
But there are shadows on her tail – an ex-husband thirsty for blood.
Well, he’d better come ready. I’ll die to protect what’s mine.
Halley Talin should have stayed in my past.
We had one night together – one hot, filthy night, a night where I showed her how pleasurable the shadows can be.
I knew she’d never forget it.
But I had to move on.
I had a club to ride with, and that was all the family I ever wanted.
At least, that’s what I used to think.
Then Halley came knocking on my door once more.
She was just as stunning, just as sweet.
But something dark lingered behind her eyes.
And when she stepped aside, she revealed something that left me damn near speechless –
A son I never knew existed.
I don’t know the first thing about being a father.
All I know is crime and violence and the craven thrill of making a woman beg and moan.
But for the first time in my life, I have something to lose.
Something to fight for.
Something to protect.
And I’ll be damned if anyone is going to take it from me.
Chapter One
Halley
I took a sip of my drink, looking around the crowded, rowdy bar and smiling a little to myself. God, my parents would kill me if they knew I was here, I thought. I mean, my parents were so conservative that there would have been serious consequences if they found out that at 18, I had a fake ID — let alone if they knew that I had used it to get into one of the most notorious biker bars in the city.
But I couldn't help it. It was my friend Tiffany's 21st birthday, and given the amount of money Tiffany's parents had allowed her to spend on this shindig, this was probably one of the hottest parties of the year. And the whole thing had been organized by Tiff's brother — a sexy, late-20's biker. That meant that the whole crowd was pretty much made up of people older and more street-smart than me, with killer tattoos on every visible bit of skin and sexy motorcycles parked out front.
Anyway, it was nice to just get out from under my parents' strict rules for a night and let my hair down.
“What's a pretty little thing like you doing standing here, all by yourself?” a guy asked, leaning against the bar next to me. He was standing a little too close, and I could smell alcohol strong and sour on his breath. But it kind of gave me a thrill to think that he was into me like that.
I mean, I was under no illusions; it was that time of night when people were coupling off. There was a ma
n at the other end of the bar trading sloppy, heated kisses with two hot blonde girls, one on either side of him. There was another couple pressed against the wall just to my right, and with the way the woman had her long, tanned legs wrapped around the biker's waist with her skirt hitched all the way up… Well, I wasn't about to look too closely, but I wouldn't be surprised if the two of them were…
I blushed a little just thinking about it. But it was nice to think that this sexy, older dude standing next to me might be interested in doing something like that with me. It made me feel older, more mature — kind of powerful.
So, I grinned at him as though he was the best thing I'd seen all night. And I tossed my hair a little, as though I wasn’t a bumbling virgin. Fake it 'til you make it, right?
“I guess I was just trying to find someone who would actually interest me,” I lied. Really, I was feeling kind of tired and thinking that it was maybe time to give it up for the night and head home. “These biker dudes, you know, all they ever want to talk about is their bikes and their babes.”
The man laughed a little, leaning in even closer and putting his arm around my lower back. His hand dropped daringly down to squeeze my ass, and I blushed. But I didn't pull away. I had seen touches like that exchanged all night, and I knew he didn't really mean anything by it. Anyway, what was I supposed to do about it, be the uncool one and be like, “Hey, that's disrespectful. You shouldn’t do that to a woman!”
I don't think so.
The man seemed pleased with my neutral reaction, and I preened a little at that. “I'm Halley,” I said, holding my hand out to him.
He looked amused as he shook my hand, and I realized that that was probably a decidedly uncool thing to do. He was probably looking for some random, anonymous sex, and here I was telling him my name. Next thing you knew, I was going to start babbling my whole life history to him.
“I'm Danny,” the man said, though, not making any sort of comment about how uncool I might have been. And I was grateful for that, at least.
I bit my lower lip, trying to figure out what to say next. But before I had the chance to say anything, Danny was leaning in close, and without preamble, his tongue flicked out to trace the shell of my ear. He lightly grazed his teeth against the earlobe, and I couldn't help but shudder, surprised as he awakened a bundle of lusty nerves that I had never known existed. But all the same, there was something holding me back.
I took a step away from him, awkwardly staring down at my mostly empty drink.
“Hey, let me buy you another drink,” Danny said, following my gaze. And he probably thought that that would be it, that he could buy me another drink, get me good and drunk, and then have his merry way with me. I wasn't that type of woman, though.
I shook my head, putting my glass down on the edge of the bar. “No, that's okay,” I said politely. “I really have to be heading home anyway.”
“Nah, come on, let me buy you another drink,” Danny insisted, already flagging down the waiter and pulling out his wallet. “What are you drinking, anyway?”
“It's a cosmo for her,” the bartended said, looking a bit amused — whether at the drink or at the situation, I couldn't really tell. But inwardly, I was cursing the man. Couldn't he sense my distress? Couldn't he see that the last person a good girl like me should be going home with was…
Well, admittedly, Danny was pretty attractive. He could probably have his pick of anyone there in that bar, with that combination of devilish smirk and brawny muscles. But…
My parents had raised me believing that sex before marriage was a sin, but I didn't really believe in that. Sure, I was a good, church-going girl, but I didn't really think God was going to send me to burn for eternity in the pits of hell if I made love with someone who wasn't my husband. To be honest, I didn't think he really could care that much. With wars and poverty and so much other stuff going on in the world, surely who was having sex with whom would be beneath his concern?
Not that I'd ever say that to my parents, but I had to wonder if maybe the only reason I was pulling away from Danny right now was because of that ingrained response that sex before marriage was a big no-no. What did I care if I lost my virginity that very night? Wasn't this a special enough occasion? It was one of the first real adult parties that I'd gone to.
And I'd be going off to college in just a month; this was really one of my first tastes of what college was going to be like. I wanted to do things right, didn't I?
I made a split-second decision, smiling at Danny. “I've been drinking cosmos all night, but I think for a last drink, maybe I'll have a couple shots of whiskey. Neat.”
I definitely didn't need even one shot of whiskey at that point, but I wanted so desperately to fit in with the crowd. And a neat, double-shot of whiskey had always been my dad's drink—not that he or my mom drank very often, and especially not around me—so that was the first drink that came to my mind.
It was worth saying it, though, just to see the way Danny's eyebrows rose. “You heard her, Mac,” he said the to the bartender. “Let's make that two double-shots of whiskey, please. Can't leave the lady drinking whiskey on her own.”
I giggled a little at the fact that he had called me a 'lady' and didn't protest when he slipped an arm around my shoulders, leaning heavily against me. His fingertips were just brushing my breast, but I figured that was probably an accidental byproduct of the combination of our height and the length of his arm.
The bartender handed over our drinks, and Danny paid for them. Then, he turned to me, raising his glass. “To a pretty woman drinking whiskey,” he said, eyes twinkling.
I grinned hesitantly back at him, hoping that the taste wouldn't be too awful. But when I sipped at the stuff, I could feel my throat burning and had to fight back the urge to cough. God, that's nasty, I thought, but fortunately I managed to keep from saying that out loud.
“Ah, whiskey, what a lovely mistress,” Danny said pretentiously, a hand clapped over his heart, as though he thought he were some sort of poet or something.
I didn't roll my eyes, but just barely. And I still had most of the two shots left to drink.
Danny made small-talk as we continued sipping at our drinks, growing increasingly handsy as time went on—and by the end of it, although I was growing used to his poor attempts at conversation, his wandering hands were making me more and more uncomfortable.
“Look,” I said for the third time, making to leave, “I really need to be getting home. Thanks for the drink, but—”
Danny grabbed my wrist before I could move away from him, his expression stormy. “Hey now,” he told me. “That's not how this works.”
“How what works?” I asked angrily. “I'm tired, and it's the end of my night. Just because you bought me a drink, doesn't mean I have to stay and keep you company for the rest of the night. But if it really means that much to you, here.” I thrust twenty dollars at him. “That should cover it, right? Now—”
“No,” Danny said, crowding me back against the bar. “That's not how this works. I bought you a drink. You're coming home with me.”
“Uh, what Neolithic century do we live in?” I asked, trying to shimmy sideways. But he put his hands on either side of me, pinning me there. “Seriously, Danny, I'm sorry, but I really don't want to—”
“Yes, you do,” Danny informed me, arrogantly. He bent down and pressed his lips to mine, forcing entry into my mouth, pillaging with his tongue.
I pushed futilely against his chest, trying to get him away from me. But of course, I was no match for his size and muscles.
“Hey,” someone said from behind Danny, and the biker pulled away from me. There was another biker standing there, and holy hell, if I had thought Danny could have his pick of any woman in the bar, he had nothing on the newcomer. He had curly black hair and bright, sea-colored eyes. The man was a biker as well, but he just somehow seemed cleaner than Danny. Like he was somehow a better guy.
But at the moment, he looked practically mu
rderous, scowling down at Danny. “The fuck did Marsha say again about coming on to people in here?” he spat. “You fucking scumbag.”
Danny shoved the man away, looking just as incensed. “Fuck off, Ryce. This is totally consensual. And none of your business.”
“Totally consensual, huh?” The man — Ryce, was it? — sneered at Danny. “Then why the hell does the girl look terrified? And why is she trying so desperately to get away from you? She's one step short of screaming, and you know that as well as I do.”
“Fuck off,” Danny repeated, shoving the other man again. But before he could say anything else, Ryce's fist snapped out and collided with his temple. He slumped to the ground, clearly out cold, and Ryce made some sort of a signal to the bouncer, who swooped in to scoop up the man's limp body.