Prologue
Tombstone
“How did the run go?” Reaper asks, glancing my way from the head of the table. I’d just gotten back earlier today from a run alongside Ghost, Daemon, and Hellhound. We’d taken a shipment of guns up north to some of our allies.
“Was smooth sailing,” I say, leaning back in my seat. “Ruiz appreciated the shipment. Said he’s having trouble with a group called the Soulless Ravens.”
“Who the fuck are they?” Angel grumbles. “I haven’t heard of them before.”
“According to Ruiz, it’s a group of thugs thinking they’re bikers,” Daemon answers.
“They’ve been vandalizing . . .”
The door is ripped open, interrupting me, by Reaper’s ol’ lady, Ivy. From the tears on her face, I stiffen in alarm. Somethings happened.
“What the fuck, Precious?” Reaper demands, coming out of his seat and making his way toward his woman. “What happened?”
“Su–Sut–Sutton. Th–They took Sutton,” she cries. “I have to give them money or my . . .”
At the mere mention of Sutton’s name, I’m nearly seeing red. “Ivy, what are you talking about? Who took Sutton?” I come out of my seat, unable to stop myself.
“My mother, she said I have forty-eight hours to get the money to her in Round Rock, or she’ll hand Sutton over to her ol’ man and his men. Th–That she’ll be raped.” Ivy barely gets the last words out before I lose it. Snatching my beer bottle off the table, I throw it across the room, forcing it to shatter against the wall.
Some bitch and whoever else helped her had taken Sutton. My Sutton.
“I’ll get Sutton back,” I snarl, glancing around the room meeting my brothers’ eyes, one by one. “Sutton is mine, and I’ll be fuckin’ damned if I let anything happen to her. I’ve already lost one woman. I’m not losing another.”
It’s bad enough, I’ve fucked shit up between the two of us as it is. The thought of her being hurt or, worse, killed—has me seeing red.
Months Ago . . .
Getting back from a run with my brothers visiting the Inferno’s Clutch and Rissa, I’m ready to relax. That and find some hot pieces for the night. I’m sitting in my usual chair, scanning over the crowd at Keeper’s Pub.
Reaper’s already come and gone, having spotted what he wanted. I’ve got my eye on a few, but there’s one that catches my eye with dirty blonde hair cascading down her back and partially on her shoulders. She’s wearing a top that shows off her midriff, but conceals her tits. The jeans she’s got on look more or less painted to her skin. To top it all off with the final touches of the woman’s outfit—knee-high boots.
Images of what I’d like to do to her body pop in my head, and I make up my mind on my pick for the night.
She’d do, and then I’ll move on.
Little did I know, Sutton would enter my life, and I’d fuck her twice more, but refuse to do anything else. I had made this clear to Sutton more than once. Each time, she’d get a sad smile before shaking it away and smiling brightly.
I don’t know what it is that draws me to Sutton. She’s this spunky, sarcastic, spirited woman, and I don’t want to taint her with my past. I’ve never felt anything like what Sutton stirs inside me, and that’s not good.
My wife, Ronaele, she died, because I couldn’t protect her.
Ronaele might not have been the love of my life at the time, but we’d been teenagers when our lives took a life-altering turn. We’d been friends with benefits, but also best friends. Ronaele and I grew up together and figured we’d hook up too. Little did we know birth control doesn’t always work. She'd ended up pregnant with our daughter Bethany, and I married her because it was the right thing to do. The two of us were happy with the decision we had made. When our little girl came into the world, we were ecstatic and overjoyed by it all.
The night I lost Ronaele, I nearly lost Bethany too. If you think about it, I did lose my daughter. To protect her from being targeted, I gave her to my sister and her husband. They raised her as their own. However, they’d made a stipulation about Bethany not knowing the truth about me. I agreed at the time, and my own daughter grew up believing I am her uncle. That’s how heartless my sister is toward me.
Then again, our mother left with her when we were all still kids leaving me behind with our dad. Not that it was a bad choice. Only she took my sister—turning her against my father and myself. My old man had ended up meeting someone and moving on . . . the damage was done where my mother was concerned . . . I couldn’t be happier for him, considering I gained a little brother. We might not have been blood, but we were tight growing up.
Sighing, I shake off thoughts of the past and focus on the now.
I need to get Sutton back and make sure she’s okay.
No, that’s not what I need to do once I get her back. I need to make her mine once and for all. I’ve just gotta get her back first.
Chapter One
Sutton
What happened in my life for everything to go so wrong? I swear I’m cursed by some voodoo high priest for bad luck. First, the letter I’ve been dreading came in the mail a few months back. Then I nearly lost one of my best friends, and now I’m taped—yes, taped to a concrete beam in the middle of the main room of the clubhouse belonging to the Triple Spirits MC.
The very same club behind Ivy’s uncle nearly killing her in that accident. Them and the cunt, yeah, that’s exactly the word for this woman, and I hate the ‘C’ word. It’s truly demeaning, but it fits this woman perfectly. Bernita, Ivy’s mom, is one cruel bitch.
I don’t know when she did it. Sometime after these men kidnapped me outside Ivy’s house, she'd called my best friend from my phone, threatening to allow her ol’ man’s brothers to violate me.
From the moment they snatched me up, they'd thought I was Ivy, that is, until Bernita got a glimpse of me. I was then taped to this pole while she had a conniption over them not getting the right ‘bitch’ as she called us. What none of them came to realize is Ivy’s been living at the clubhouse with Reaper. I’d moved into her house, for the time being, having told the two of them my place was being condemned. This is true, except that wasn’t the real reason. I'd moved, because I got that letter in the mail about Chad.
Now Chad, he’s my stepbrother and my worst nightmare. Growing up in the same house as him is something I cringe thinking about. Nearly ten years ago, he'd gone away for his sinister crimes, and the day he did was one of the happiest days of my life. Not only did I get to finally be free of him, but Chad was getting what he deserved.
“You think she’ll actually get the money?” one of the men questions.
“If she knows what’s good for her,” Bernita says coldly.
I hope, like Hell, Ivy doesn’t give in to these monsters. I’d prefer to die. When it comes to them, I highly doubt paying money would satisfy anyone in this room. Especially Ivy’s mom. No, I’m sure they’d demand more and more from not only my best friend, but the club as well.