Outlaw MC: The Complete Boxset

by Ethan Egorov

  “How does he know that place matters to you, though? You didn’t tell him about me.” I assume. And I don’t do that to trap him into it, they clearly don’t get along, so I know that’s probably not the case.

  “Because I asked.” He drops his shoulders.

  “That simple?” I laugh once.

  “Yeah, he’s a businessman. Ruthless. They can tell those kinds of things.”

  “Was your dad like that?” I ask softly. He more or less hinted that he didn’t pay him much attention, but I hope it wasn’t to that extent.

  “Not really. He wasn’t that much of an asshole. Not with us at least.” He shrugs. He gets up to shag out plates and I watch as he does. Something else is bothering him but I can’t put my finger on it.

  All I know is this conversation is giving me a headache.

  “Thanks for breakfast.” I murmur and stand up.

  “You’re welcome.” He says over his shoulder.

  I leave him in the kitchen and go back upstairs, planning to wait for him. But I just processed a ton of information and feel like I need a break. I think Kit should have told me about his company owning my neighborhood, but I talk myself out of it because it hasn’t been that long. He has still told me that I mean a lot to him, that he wouldn’t keep things from me. I put myself in his shoes and know that I would have told him, if it were me.

  I start getting dressed and I’m tying my hair up when he walks in.

  “You’re leaving?” His deep voice fills the room. I finish and turn to him.

  “Yeah, I told you I have to clean and stuff.” I swallow. It isn’t a lie; I do have to clean the house today. And I can’t keep letting our relationship keep me from my regular life.

  “We said we’d do that together.” He smiles and walks toward me, stopping a few inches away. I stare up into his eyes, at his smiling face. My insides swarm with warmth but I try to focus here.

  “I thought you were joking.”

  “No, of course not. You said that’s why you couldn’t stay, and I wanted you to. I wouldn’t lie to get you to do something.” His fingertips trail the inside of my wrists and my body starts singing for him already. I blink slowly and smile softly at him.

  “You’re so sweet, Kit.” I hold his shoulder and then wrap both my arms around his neck, drawing him close. He grins and holds me around my waist.

  “Or I guess I should say… Christian.” I giggle once. His face falls and I swear the color drains from it too, it only makes me laugh harder.

  “Fuck… I hate that guy. My uncle is out to ruin me.”

  I laugh, “Why? It’s a nice name.” I lick my lips and lean into his body. “Christian.” I smirk. He shakes his head and groans, leaning in to kiss my neck.

  “I like my nickname, it’s short. Makes me sound less honest.”

  “Why wouldn’t you want to be honest?” I laugh at him.

  He licks his lips, “I’m a bad ass biker that’s why.”

  “Oh god, no you’re not.” I hug him and smile against his chest. While I still have slight reservations, I have decided to take this as a learning moment. He told me the truth when it mattered and I’m glad for that. I can’t shake the feeling this isn’t over yet, but I decide to leave that alone and be in the moment for now.

  That strong feeling I had this morning is starting to reveal itself as something more. Something that makes me lose reason just for the sake of Kit.

  I haven’t decided if it will hurt me in the long run yet.

  16

  Kit

  There are about a thousand things I’d like to say to my uncle but now really isn’t the time. If Emily weren’t here, I would have called him and given him a piece of my mind but every time I do that it doesn’t work anyway. He is a total prick, only cares about money. I didn’t know how much until today.

  Emily can’t know the truth. She has enough to worry about in her own life, her dad being sick. Knowing that she’ll probably lose her house too would just add to that and make things worse. If I told her the company already started the process, she would have lost her shit and maybe blamed me. I am too scared to lose her to let that happen. I just have to hope I can move fast enough to stop it, whatever that takes. All I want to do is enjoy my time with her and decide if these feelings I have aren’t all just in my head. And if she feels the same way.

  I have never told anyone I love them before. Not in that way at least. There should be a manual or something because I have no fucking clue how to do it. if I asked the guys at the club, they would just laugh at me or some shit and I don’t really want to deal with that. They would mean well eventually but I don’t want to get psyched out. I almost told her last night, but I couldn’t go through with it. I was afraid I’d scare her off and then that would be the end of it.

  But now that my shitty Uncle Mark made an appearance, he really put a damper on stuff. I can tell that it bothered her, and it was a miracle I convinced her not to rush out of here. I planned to spend the whole day with her anyway, but I will just have to see how she feels once we get to her place.

  “You need to learn how to do this yourself one of these days.” I joke with her as I buckle up her helmet. It’s not her fault, though, the band is tricky, and I never got around to fixing it. No one uses the helmet. Amy stopped riding with me when I joked about throwing her off the bike. That didn’t go over well clearly.

  “No thanks,” she giggles. Emily smiles at me and it tugs right at my heart. I have never met anyone like her, so genuine and funny and damn gorgeous. But I love her because she always let me be me even when I didn’t know who that was.

  “Let’s go.” I kiss her lips quickly and then we set off.

  I know where her house is, and my chest tightens at the thought again.

  She has so much to deal with already and I want to be able to tell her that I took care of things already before it even gets bad, but it might already be bad. I just don’t know by how much. It really is a twist of fate or coincidence that we even met, and that I’m involved in this. But that isn’t enough to make me run off and avoid it.

  I pull up to her house and smile at seeing the Chevy parked in the garage when she lets us in.

  “Have you driven it yet?” I ask her. I did a pretty good job on it, a fast one too. But I’m just glad that it made her happy.

  “No, not yet.” She says. I figure she is waiting for her dad, but I don’t go there just yet. We walk into her kitchen and she offers me water. I take it and lean on the counter, looking at some of the photos she has around. They are all of her and her dad, no other family members. He looks like he was healthy and I’m guessing his illness came as a surprise to them both. My heart goes out to her because I know how she feels. But I don’t want her to know what it’s like to lose a parent.

  She walks off somewhere and I don’t know where, as I look around her house. The furniture is all mismatched but in a charming way; the purple couch and brown armchair shouldn’t really go together but they do. I want to know what her room looks like and figure I will at some point.

  “Emily, where did you run off to?” I call out. I traipse back through the house to the kitchen and find her at the mail stand. Her shoulders are tensed up and I know that means she is thinking.

  “What’s the name of your family’s company again?” She says, her voice tight.

  I swallow hard as I guess what she is looking at from behind. I stuff my hands in my pockets and wince.

  “Clemens Construction… why?” I ask like I don’t already know the answer.

  “Isn’t this what you told me you were avoiding? That you said was already taken care of.” She turns around and shows me a letter I don’t have to read from far away to know that it says ‘notice to leave’ which in real estate terms is just a nice eviction notice. They must have already hired the third-party company and my eyes shut slowly as my heart sinks.

  When I open them again her eyes are laced with tears and I step forward to comfort her, but she stops me.


  “No, don’t.” She lifts her hand. I frown and stop.

  “I’m sorry…”

  “You lied.” She concludes.

  “I didn’t lie, I wouldn’t lie to you, Emily. I swear.” I hold out my hands and she shakes her head, throwing the letter down.

  “I didn’t know that… I would have warned you, but I didn’t know what to do.” I tell her honestly.

  “You know how much I’ve been dealing with Kit; you should have tried.”

  My mouth opens to try and tell her that I do know. And that I would never hurt her. But that seems impossible. It all feels impossible to me because I have never done this before. But if I tell her that I love her then it will just seem like I am lying. Using it as an excuse to play stupid and lose my head.

  But it is true. I do love her.

  And I have no idea how to get this heartbroken look off her face.

  “Emily…” I start.

  She shakes her head at me, and I think of how to plead my case. But they all involve withholding the truth from her and I don’t really want to do that again. Not anymore. She deserves more than that. More than me. And I should have known from the beginning.

  “Kit, please leave.” She whispers. My heart pounds in my ears at hearing those words, it’s almost deafening.

  They are the words your never want to hear someone say but hearing them in her voice make my heart break. I know I will never get it out of my head. How hurt she sounds. How hurt she looks. And it’s all my fucking fault.

  “I’m so sorry.” I tell her again, but that doesn’t seem to matter. It shouldn’t.

  I lied to her and she trusted me to tell her the truth. Especially since I promised her that I always would. That I would always tell her the truth no matter what. And now this happens.

  “I’m leaving. But… I’m just sorry, Emily. I really am.” I turn and find my way to the front door, leaving and stomping down her porch steps. I make it to the end of the driveway before I stop outright.

  Three houses across the street have for sale signs up and they don’t look like nicer houses. They look like the kind that have people selling them out of desperation to avoid being without a home and without any money.

  The guys in the corporate office of my dad’s company have no idea what they do to these families. When they decide that they are going to evict them and get rid of them without any notice. That it doesn’t matter to them where they go or what even happens to them. It isn’t fair and I know I should play a part in fixing it, but I don’t know how.

  If I took over the company, I would be coaxed into the wrong decisions by the board, maybe they would try and buy me out. My uncle already tried to. It was my indecision that even left me in this position. If I decided before to let it go, he would have left the neighborhood alone. But I was holding onto the part of myself that wanted to be somebody but couldn’t. That part of me has now hurt Emily, the only woman I have ever loved.

  I get on my bike and race down the street, headed towards the only place that makes sense to me now. The club saved me from having nothing to do with my life, from having nowhere to go when I lost my way. Amy couldn’t help me after my parents passed as much as she tried, I almost lost her too.

  I figured my life out late in the game, and I dragged Emily into the parts that were ugly. That would hurt her.

  I love her so much that it hurts but I don’t think that matters much now. When I first met her, I didn’t even know if I could pay attention to only one woman. Having multiple options kept me from ever having to make a real decision. But focusing on her, on one good thing, it made me better. But it only left her worse off.

  All I can do is find a way to help her, and it won’t even be to win her back. It would just be to make sure that she is going to be okay, even when I am gone.

  I could beg her to forgive me, but it would never take away the fact that I hurt her beyond what any person deserves. What pains me the most is that I promised her that I would never break her heart. I promised myself.

  But that never counted for anything.

  17

  Kit

  I walk into the club and only feel worse, because the last time I was here, Emily was with me. Having her meet everyone was like accepting the fact that she is in my life now, and not just that but really enjoying it. I didn’t think I was cut out for that kind of thing because I never tried doing it before. Now I just fucked it up.

  When I sit at the bar, Spencer is already there with Jeannine. I didn’t know she was back in town but then I remember it’s almost the end of summer and she hasn’t gone back to school yet. I’m glad there aren’t that many people in here right now, less prying eyes. I texted Darius but I don’t even think he’s in town right now. The last thing I want to do is text Emily and bother her when she probably just wants her space. So, I figure that I’ll numb the pain inside with alcohol, but I’m not even sure I should be drinking.

  This place just relaxes me. Gives me a place to think free of charge and judgement.

  “You want a beer?” Spencer comes over to me when he finishes talking up Jeannine. I’m still shocked the two of them got together. I didn’t think Spencer had the balls to go up against Tank, but he sure did.

  “I don’t know.” I rub my face and set my phone down. He leans on the counter and gives me a funny look. He’s an inquisitive type of guy, so I’ve noticed anyways. He may be new around here, but he pulls his own weight and has an in with all the guys. It could just be because he’s the pres’ brother but I wouldn’t put my money on that.

  “How is that?” He laughs once and sets a beer in front of me anyways.

  I frown and take a swig, but I might need something stronger to get into all this.

  “You know my parents’ construction company?” I ask him.

  “Yeah, they own like half the town, don’t they?”

  I roll my eyes when he puts it that way. Technically they just own the company that builds on it. The rest is free game, but the difference doesn’t really matter to me right now.

  “Yeah. And the neighborhood Emily lives in.” I say slowly. My throat tightens at recounting this. I should have seen it coming honestly but I guess I was just in denial.

  “Oh. Did she find out and get mad at you for lying about being rich or something?” He snickers. I shake my head; I wish it were that easy.

  I finish my beer and lean back with an exasperated sigh.

  “No. Not exactly. My uncle, he wants to buy everyone out and build a huge complex there. He got like ten investors involved in it already, but he needs my vote to actually do anything about it. I met Emily after I knew about that place, but then I told him to table the idea.” Now that I say it out loud, I realize I should have known what he was going to do. I may not want to run the company, but I know how those guys work. They have something they don’t want you to have, so they want it more. I guess I didn’t think my own uncle would play me like that though.

  “So, he found out about Emily or something?” Spencer makes a face. Someone at the other end of the bar asks for a drink so he does that and comes back. I notice Jeannine chatting up Chantal, and assume Logan is around here too somewhere.

  “No, I never said anything like that. I just asked him not to. And he’s an asshole so naturally.” I gruff. Spencer chuckles at my disposition and pours me a drink, neat bourbon this time.

  “Right… so she got mad about that?”

  “Not really. I told her that I took care of it when I really hadn’t. They already sent her a notice to leave.” I swallow back the acid that rises at that reality. The thought of Emily having nowhere to go makes me sick and I should probably think of how to start helping her instead of wallowing in my own self pity. But maybe I could wallow for a little while.

  “Shit. That’s rough. Your company does that kind of shit?” He crosses his arms.

  “No. And it’s not my company, technically at least. Even though they own the house, a company can hire brokers to try
and buy the tenants out. She could get paid for the house but she would still have to find another place.”

  “And what if she doesn’t want to go?”

  I shrug like I don’t know the answer. When I actually do. Dad had plenty of those lawsuits coming around. They would just sue the tenants until they run out of money to fight and end up being bought out for cheaper anyway. It’s a shitty system hence why I avoided it for so long.

  “She doesn’t have to. I just feel likes it’s all my fault.” I sip my drink and whine at the burn.

  “I mean in hindsight, it is. How pissed is she?” He asks. And I remember her face right before I left. It still makes me shrivel up on the inside. I hate what I did to her, and that it could have all been avoided, too.

  “Very pissed. I think… it might be over.” I swallow hard. I try and think if I would even forgive myself. For lying. For letting her think she could trust me. Probably not.

  “I don’t think so. She seemed to really like you. Maybe she just needs time. And to not lose her house.” He chuckles once. I don’t take it personally, though, because he’s just a lighthearted guy like that.

  “I don’t know. I really feel for her.” I wish I could say it happened by accident and I wasn’t expecting this but that wouldn’t be true. I knew as soon as I saw her that this would happen, that I would care for her more than I have for anyone else before.

  “I know the feeling. I mean with Jeannine; I knew I was probably going to get the shit kicked out of me, but I did it anyway. So, she knew what she was getting into with you. At least it wasn’t because you cheated or something.”