by S. Nelson
Copyright © 2020 S. Nelson
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Editor- Hot Tree Editing
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Cover Design – CT Cover Creations
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Proofreader – Judy’s Proofreading
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the publisher’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
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Brick/ S.Nelson. -- 1st edition
To all my readers who took this amazing journey with me, loving these KCMC characters as much as I do… this final ride is for you.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
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
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Epilogue
Ford and Owen Massey
Afterword
The Original KCMC
Stay Informed
Also Available
About the Author
Note to Reader
Acknowledgments
Books by S. Nelson
Prologue
Even with my eyes closed, the flashes of red and blue blinded me. The bite of the metal around my wrists gave me something to focus on, other than the ache in my hands and the blood stained on my knuckles.
Too many people came at me with questions, but I couldn’t think straight. All I remembered was tackling him, trying to save her, but they acted like I was the guilty one.
As I was shuffled past the growing crowd, I locked eyes with my buddies, their faces a mixture of worry and confusion. My mouth refused to part, the plea resting in my throat abandoned when I was shoved into the back of a car, the gated divider sending a chill down my spine.
I wanted to tell the officer I was innocent, that I’d been defending someone, but the way their eyes raked over my size told me they wouldn’t believe me.
I didn’t like to fight because I was bigger and stronger than most.
I wasn’t a danger.
I wasn’t a killer.
But when they wheeled his lifeless body away on a stretcher, I feared that was no longer true.
1
The sound of groaning assaulted my ears, and it took several moments to realize the noises came from me. Every breath I released was laced with agony. I couldn’t form a single word, though, the pain slicing through me immobilizing my brain-to-mouth filter.
Whenever I fell quiet, I’d hear faint whispers. Sometimes it was my name and sometimes it was multiple words strung together. I couldn’t make out exactly what was being said, but I heard the desperation laced in the tone.
A woman’s voice.
She sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place who it was leaning over me, her gentle touch soothing. I tried to pry my damn lids open, but they were too heavy.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “Rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.” But I was already awake. I just couldn’t tell her.
And why was I so damn hot? Every pore in my body leaked and the moment when I thought I’d burst into flames, shivers racked through me. My muscles ached from the gyration and my teeth chattered.
Then it was back to burning up, only to have the chill return.
Back and forth.
No end in sight.
The cool cloth on my head helped soothe the inferno racing through my blood, and the heavy blanket covering me kept the chills to a minimum, but if this shit didn’t stop soon, I was gonna be one pissed-off man.
“I’m gonna check your wound,” the voice whispered. The weight of the blanket shifted and the cold clamped down over my drenched skin. “If I could switch places with you, I would.” Her warm breath caressed my jaw, the press of her lips against my cheek comforting, if only for a fleeting moment.
I was thankful for every rise and fall of my chest, even though I wasn’t quite sure what was happening. I wanted to ask, only I couldn’t force my lips apart to speak.
The pads of her fingers drifted over my chest, pressing lightly near my heart. The jolt of pain that accompanied her touch made me flinch and she apologized. I thought I heard her mumble, “That’s not good,” but I couldn’t be sure.
A heavy fog of exhaustion pulled me under as she spoke again, every syllable she uttered muffled and twisted.
“I think he’s coming around.” The woman’s voice was followed by two others—a man, and another woman. When the edge of sleep finally fell away, I opened my eyes. At first everything was blurry, but my vision quickly snapped back into focus.
Addy and Stone stood at the foot of my bed, both staring at me in silence. Stone’s brows drew inward when his eyes landed on mine, pushing back a strand of his dark blond hair before shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. He didn’t say anything, glancing at his wife quickly before looking back to me.
“Hey,” Zoe greeted, entering the room and rushing to my side, a limp washcloth clutched in her right hand. “How are you feeling?” She pressed the cloth to my forehead and the wetness helped to relieve the heat in my veins.
“Like shit,” I garbled, my throat dry, like I’d swallowed a puff of rock dust before speaking.
“Here, take a couple small sips.” She placed her hand behind my head and the edge of the cup at my lips. The slight movement forward stole my breath, but I needed the liquid, so I pushed through the pain before turning my face away and dropping my head back to the pillow.
I wanted to thank her, to ask her so many questions, but I couldn’t find the strength. All I wanted to do was fall back into sleep, but something told me that wasn’t gonna happen anytime soon. There was a reason Addy was here, and our club’s VP, and I doubted it was because of a routine checkup on the status of my wounds. The air in the room thickened and I prepared myself for news I didn’t want to hear, watching Addy’s every step as she moved to my bedside. Stone stayed put, his attention on his wife. If I could muster the strength to do so, I would’ve laughed at the wa
y the corner of his top lip arrowed up, or when he removed his hands from his pockets only to clench them into fists, his sole focus on watching his woman as she reached down and touched my bare chest. Or to be more accurate, touched the bandage covering the wound. And when she felt my cheeks and neck, I thought the man was gonna have a coronary.
Addy followed my line of sight and looked back at Stone, only to shake her head before turning away from him. “Don’t pay him any mind.” She smiled, her expression working to ease the bit of anxiety that reared its ugly head. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here.” I gave her a curt nod, wincing from the gesture. “Zoe called and asked if I could come and check on you. I was here last night, and everything looked okay, but you’ve since spiked a fever and she couldn’t get it down.” She flipped the washcloth, and again, I welcomed the cool against my forehead. “She also told me your chest wound didn’t look right. So, that’s what I’m gonna look at now. Okay?” Another hesitant nod from me. “Good.”
Zoe’s hand clasped mine and my eyes glided to hers. “You’re gonna be fine.” Her full lips collapsed into a thin line, her tentative grin contradicting her words.
When Addy peeled back the edge of the covering, she made a noise with her throat, released a long breath, then peeked up at me, not once saying a word. Several strands of her blonde hair fell forward over her eye and she quickly tucked them behind her ear before continuing.
“Your wound got infected.” She looked to Zoe. “Do you see these red marks zigzagging away from the sutures?” She didn’t wait for her to answer before she continued. “Not a good sign, but luckily I can give him something to help.” I closed my eyes, allowing Addy to do what she did best.
“I bet you wish you had my condition right now, don’t you?” the VP asked. Fucker was lucky. He had some weird issue where he couldn’t feel an ounce of pain, no matter what happened to him. I once heard Addy refer to it as congenital insensitivity to pain. He’d been shot several times and was even run off the road many years back while on his bike, all instances happening before I joined the club. Stone often brought up his mishaps, as he referred to them, when some of the guys compared battle scars.
And now, it looked like I had some of my own, unfortunately. One on my chest, and sure to be a smaller one on the outside of my right thigh. I believed that one only required four stitches.
Addy’s fingers skillfully glided over my flesh, peeling away the bandage. The bullet that hit me just beneath my collarbone, had been dangerously close to my heart. And to top it off, it got stuck on its way out of my body, but she’d been able to retrieve it, saving me from having to walk around with a piece of copper inside me.
She set about cleaning the reddened area. “The stitches are holding nicely, and once I give you the shot of penicillin, you should start to feel better soon.”
“What shot?” My eyes popped wide. I didn’t like the sound of this.
Addy never took her eyes away from what she was doing. “Of penicillin. It’ll work faster than the pills for this infection.”
“With a needle?” My question was asinine, but I asked anyway.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of needles.” Stone laughed, grinning like a fool when I glared at him for making fun of me. Wasn’t it enough that I was in the state I was? He had to make fun of the one thing I hated, making me feel like a pussy?
“I don’t like ’em.”
“But you’re inked up. You do realize a needle was used when you got those tattoos, right?”
“It’s different.”
“How?”
“Medical needles are bigger. At least with a tattoo, I don’t have to worry about the guy poking and prodding me, only to miss the damn vein.”
When he continued to laugh, there was only one other thing I could think of to say. “Fuck you, Stone,” I grumbled, shutting out the scene in front of me the same time I squeezed Zoe’s hand. She huddled closer, the warmth of her touch curbing the jolt of testosterone that shot through me. Not that I could do anything to him even if I wanted to.
“Leave him alone.” Addy chastised her husband for the teasing, and he stopped, shifting on his feet.
“We’re gonna go check on Ryder after this. You need to come with us, Zoe.” Stone’s tone had switched from teasing to stern, prompting me to open my eyes again to witness what it was he was tryin’ to do.
I didn’t want Zoe to leave, but I also understood she needed to see her dad, check on his progress, and let him know she was concerned for him. That didn’t mean I liked Stone’s underlying meaning. Fully aware of the man’s loyalty toward Ryder, I knew he was looking out for his friend’s daughter. What I didn’t like was that he was trying to pull her away from me when I was too weak to confront him properly.
I wasn’t stupid. He didn’t have to spell anything out. I saw it in the way he looked between me and the gorgeous redhead next to me.
“I… I don’t wanna leave Brick here by himself. I’ll call Braylen in a bit to see how he is.” Zoe clutched my hand tighter while keeping her eyes on the formidable VP of our club.
“I’m sure your father wants to see you,” he insisted.
“I know but”—she looked to me—“I’m afraid something will happen if he’s alone.”
“He’s not your responsibility.” Stone’s voice hardened, and before I could tell him to shove his attitude up his ass, his wife interjected.
“Honey, why don’t you call Kaden and see if he can come here for a bit while Zoe visits her dad?”
“Do I have to call him?”
“Why not? Don’t tell me there’s still an issue there because if that’s the case, you can move some things back to the clubhouse.” The whole time, Addy’s focus was on my wound and not her pain-in-the-ass man.
“I didn’t say that. I just thought he was busy.” Nice backpedaling.
“I’m sure he can rearrange his schedule.”
He pulled his cell from his back pocket. “Fine.” He walked out of the room to make the call and, for a moment, there was a sense of relief that I didn’t have to keep up any kind of airs in front of the two women. In front of another man, I had to at least try to appear like the tough man they knew me to be, which was fuckin’ hard in my sorry state. But with Addy and Zoe, there were no pretenses.
“Okay.” Addy lightly pressed on the corners of the bandage to make sure the gauze adhered to the area covering the injury. “Um… yeah, I have to….” Her words trailed off for a moment as she opened her bag back up and rummaged around inside, only to pull out a long-ass needle.
“Why don’t you just give me a lot of pills instead?” A sheen of sweat broke out at my temples, but I couldn’t contribute the perspiration solely to the fever invading my body. My mouth was drier than it was seconds ago, and my heart rammed against my rib cage.
“Sorry, but this is the best way.” She removed the cap and flicked the side with her middle finger. “I have to inject this into your butt cheek, and I’d rather not have my husband present while you show me your backside, but if you don’t think you can roll over on your side with only our assistance, I’m gonna have to call him back in here.”
I didn’t want Stone in here to witness me acting like a bitch, so I mustered as much strength as I could, and with Zoe in front and Addy behind me, I hoisted myself on to my side, the washcloth sliding off my head.
“It’s okay,” Zoe comforted, leaning in close until our foreheads touched. “Just breathe and it’ll be over before you know it.”
Addy tugged down the waistband of my boxer briefs and swiped something cool over my skin, making me flinch. “That’s just the wipe to clean the area.” One breath exited my lungs, then another. “Ready?”
“No.”
“I’ll count to three and then I’ll do it, okay?”
“No,” I repeated.
“The faster you get the shot, the faster you get better. And you know what that means?” Zoe angled her mouth toward my ear and whispered her next words. �
��The faster you can have your way with me.”
While her words were meant to excite me, I couldn’t focus on anything other than the woman standing behind me, ready to jab me in the ass with a sharp goddamn object.
Before I could say anything to Zoe, Addy started counting.
“One.”
Then I felt a sting as she jabbed the needle into me.
“Fuck! You said you were gonna do it on three.” Four heavy breaths left my mouth before she helped to straighten me on my back, flashing me a grin when all I could do was scowl at her.
“I never go on three.” She chuckled as I continued to frown at her. “Oh, lighten up. It’s all over with now. And…” She glanced toward the doorway before looking back at me. “Nice butt.” She winked at me.
“Don’t let Stone hear you say that.” My mood started to dissipate now that the worst of it was over.
“Never. Besides, I don’t wanna give the man a heart attack.”
On top of Addy being nurturing, funny, witty and beautiful, she was tough. She never hesitated standing up to her temperamental husband time and time again, putting him in his place when no one else could. But the attribute I was most thankful for right now was her being medically gifted, knowing exactly what to do for me to help me past this hump in my recovery.
