by Lane Hart
“Thank you,” Kira whispers as we both lie there, still connected as our hearts recover and slow.
“Are you thanking me for the fuck…or for the killing?” I ask when I look down at her with a teasing grin.
“Both. Everything,” she replies as her fingernails come up to graze either side of my head.
“No thanks necessary,” I tell her. “I would do anything for you and our kid. Now I finally get it, why I was born to be a killer, to hurt my enemies without blinking an eye. My whole life I’ve just been training for this, to keep the people I love safe.”
Epilogue
Miles
Six months later…
“You are so fucking whipped,” Chase says when he and Abe come up to the refreshment station. “If the rest of the guys could see you now, serving punch at a chick’s baby shower, they would never let you live it down.”
“I’m whipped?” I repeat. With the ladle in my hand, I slowly pour two cups of the lime sherbet punch and then hand each of the assholes one. “This party is for my wife and my kid. So, what the fuck are you two jackasses doing at a baby shower?”
“Sasha and Mercy made us,” Abe grumbles before he throws back his punch. “Damn, that’s good. Can I get a refill?” he asks, holding out his cup for me.
“Sure,” I reply. “Would you like a pink and blue napkin with baby strollers on it to wipe your lime mustache too?”
Cursing, he quickly swipes his hand over his facial hair.
“You know,” I say as I spot their two old ladies in the crowd, both looking like they have basketballs stuffed under their shirts. “You two actually owe me for helping you finally knock up your women. Guess giving your dicks a break while we dealt with the Russians was just what the fertility doctor ordered.”
“No shit,” Chase agrees with a snort. “And the second trimester is awesome. Sasha wants all the sex she can get and there’s no pressure to knock her up.”
“Fuck yeah, man,” Abe agrees with a fist bump.
“Oh, just wait,” I warn them as I locate Kira sitting in the middle of the group of women, slouched in her chair with her hand rubbing her enormous belly. Sweat is dripping down her face; and while I can’t see them, I’m betting her shoes are off because her feet are so swollen, she can’t stand to have them on for more than a few minutes. She may be miserable as hell right now, but she’s still so goddamn gorgeous carrying my child that she takes my breath away.
“I’m guessing the horny days end soon?” Abe asks. “Your girl looks like she wants to punch someone in the nuts, probably you.”
“The horny days end, but now we’re in the fucking three or four times a day phase to try and get the kid out.”
“That really work?” Chase asks.
“No clue, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying,” I reply with a grin. “Did I mention I knocked up Kira on the first try?”
“That doesn’t count,” Abe mutters. “You weren’t trying to put a baby in her. It always happens when you don’t plan on it and don’t wear a rubber. Every fool knows that.”
“You’re just jealous,” I tell him. “My boys are stronger swimmers than yours.”
“Your boys probably carry AK-47s and wear bandanas,” Chase says with a chuckle. “I bet they blew right through that pussy like it was a hostile takeover.”
“Fuck yeah,” I agree.
“Miles!” Kira yells for me while holding a present over her head. “Come here! You know I can’t get up without a tow truck!”
“Coming, princess,” I say as I put the ladle down and make my way through the crowd of women. “What do you need?” I ask when I crouch down in front of her.
“This one’s for you,” she says, smiling at me when she hands me the gift.
“Me?” I ask. “I thought this was supposed to be a party for baby stuff.”
“It is,” she responds. “But this one is from me to you.” With a wince, she adds, “I peeked at the gender last week.”
Gasping indignantly, I ask, “What happened to we’re gonna wait and be surprised?” I’ve wanted to know the sex from the first ultrasound appointment, but Kira convinced me to wait.
“I know. I’m sorry,” she apologizes. “So, open it and then you’ll know what we’re having too.”
“Here, you can have my seat,” her mom says when she stands up.
After the shit with Kozlov went down, and finding out their daughter was pregnant, Kira’s parents decided to rebuild their furniture business in Wilmington instead of Charleston. They’re good in-laws and Kira loves having them close. They even seem to approve of me. Guess it helped that I severed their ties with the Russians once and for all.
Taking Kira’s mom’s chair, I rip into the pink and blue wrapping paper and then lift the lid off the cardboard box.
Inside is a bunch of tissue paper I have to remove before I get to the answer of the question that’s been driving me crazy – are we having a girl or a boy?
Finally, I see it. Such a tiny little thing – a bright pink leather cut with the Savage Kings logo and words on the back. It’s so small it fits in the flat of my palm.
“A girl? We’re having a girl?” I glance over and ask Kira.
“We’re having a girl,” she says with her blue eyes shining with unshed happy tears as I wrap my arm around her shoulders to pull her to me.
Even though she never said which gender she really wanted, I’m not blind. Kira spends a lot more time looking at the baby girl clothes in stores. And I’m so happy she’s getting what she wanted. It’s perfect actually, because she’s already given me everything I’ve ever needed.
The End
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue were created from the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.
The authors acknowledge the copyrighted and trademarked status of various products within this work of fiction.
© 2019 Editor's Choice Publishing
All Rights Reserved.
Only Amazon has permission from the publisher to sell and distribute this title.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editor’s Choice Publishing
P.O. Box 10024
Greensboro, NC 27404
Edited by Angela Snyder
Cover by Marianne Nowicki of www.PremadeEbookCoverShop.com
WARNING: THIS BOOK IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ANYONE UNDER 18. PLEASE NOTE THAT IT CONTAINS VIOLENT SCENES THAT MAY BE A TRIGGER FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE BEEN IN SIMILAR SITUATIONS.
Synopsis
I never thought I would be stupid enough to make a deal with the devil, but here I am doing just that.
It's not like he really gave me a choice. I have to give the Governor what he wants, or he's going to throw all of my Savage Kings MC brothers into prison for decades.
And what exactly does Governor Satan need from me? That's the real kicker because he's insisting that I...date his daughter. No, not just date her. He wants me to convince Isobel to stop spiraling out of control before she ends up dead, or worse - ruin her father's chance at getting re-elected.
I have no clue why his beautiful wild child is partying her way through life, crossing off items on a mile-long bucket list, and I don't really care. Somehow, someway, I have to convince her to put down roots and go back to being the picture-perfect good girl her father raised.
As if I'm not in deep enough, I've never wanted anyone more than the free-spirit who refuses to spend her short life standing in one place for too long. Too bad Isobel is going to hate my guts when she finds out I'm the asshole who has to lock her back up in a cage.
And if I fail to do so, well, there won't be an orange jumpsuit waiting for me. I'll never make it to prison because the Governor dug up all my d
irt that I thought I had carefully buried.
If he tells the Kings that I started prospecting with them as a DEA rat ten years ago, they'll never forgive me.
How could they when I still haven't forgiven myself?
Prologue
Sax
Twelve years ago…
“Hi, Mrs. Neil. This is Sax. Is April there?” I ask when her mother answers the phone.
“Sax?” Mrs. Neil replies with a hitch in her voice. “Oh, Saxon, I’m so sorry. Of course you haven’t heard,” she trails off as she begins to sob.
An incredible pressure builds in my chest as someone else takes the phone and the crying grows more distant. “Saxon?” a male voice I recognize as April’s father says.
“Mr. Neil? Yeah, this is Sax. I didn’t hear from April yesterday over Valentine’s Day, and I just wanted to call and check in on her. I didn’t want to be pushy; I know we agreed to see other people while I’m out here at school, but…”
“Saxon, listen,” Mr. Neil interrupts me. “April…April passed away last night. Her mother and I are making arrangements for her memorial, once her autopsy…” his voice trails off in a harsh sob as I slowly lower myself to the foot of the twin bed in my dorm, beyond stunned.
Did he just say…he just said April passed away? That’s why she hasn’t returned my calls?
“Oh my God,” I gasp. “I-I’m so sorry, sir. Wha-what happened?” My voice breaks as tears flood my eyes, and a hot wave of anguish chokes my throat.
“We’re not entirely sure yet,” Mr. Neil replies after a few moments. “The police showed up here last night and told us that they were called out to some bar…where they found April. The doctors are saying it was an overdose, but we just don’t know.” He pauses to blow his nose while I let all of that information sink in. “Saxon, if you’ll excuse me, I know how close you and April were. I’ll let you know as soon as we find out more. For now, I-I need to go, son.”
“Of course, sir,” I manage to squeak out. I hear the line disconnect just before a hitching sob rips through me, completely incapacitating me. My lungs must have shrunken in my chest, refusing to expand while my heart crumbles around them.
How could April possibly be dead? She and I were good together for two years until last fall when I got accepted to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a football scholarship. It was only a few hours away, but she had convinced me we should try to see other people until she graduated and could join me. I had agreed, not wanting to pressure her, but had given her a promise ring, which she always wore when I was home visiting. We were planning to have a future together some day…
I knew she had been on some dates with other guys, just like I had hung out with a few other women. I had never known her to do any sort of drugs, though, and had no idea how she could have suffered an overdose.
When I can finally breathe normally again, I throw a few things into my backpack and grab my helmet, determined to ride my old Honda Magna bike all the way back to Emerald Isle tonight.
The next few days pass in a hazy blur of tears intermixed with periods of the most horrifying loneliness I had ever known. April’s parents were finally able to get more details about her death, which they shared with me when they called to tell me about her memorial.
She died on the floor of some shithole biker bar called the Savage Asylum, run by a group of local trailer trash that called themselves the Savage Kings. She had died after ingesting some sort of tainted methamphetamine, which the bikers had no doubt supplied her. The police made some unrelated arrests for the drugs, but nothing, not a damn thing, has been done about April’s death!
I’ve been so wracked with grief leading up to her memorial that I haven’t yet had time to get angry. That all changed during the course of the viewing at the funeral home.
“What the hell are they doing here?” I growl at my friend Tony. Tony and I had played football together in high school and graduated together. April’s memorial is the first time I’ve seen him since leaving town.
“Who are you talking about, man?” Tony asks me to clarify.
I jerk my head over towards her silver casket where three men in dark jeans and button up shirts, wearing leather vests, are standing over April. The back of two of the vests are emblazoned with the logo of those goddamned bikers, the Savage Kings.
“Oh, you don’t remember him?” Tony asks. “That skinny guy in the prospect vest is Chase Fury. I don’t know who the military dudes with him are, though. I haven’t seen them around before.”
“April died inside their fucking club from drugs they probably gave her. I ought to go over there and beat the shit out of those bastards right now!”
“Dude, Sax, that’s a really bad idea,” Tony says as he puts a hand on my arm. “Those guys would kill you. Look man,” he continues as I shrugged his hand off of me, “I didn’t want to lay a bunch of shit on you right now, but April…man, she changed after you left. I get why you’re pissed at those guys, but you have to understand, your girl was running around and getting into all kinds of shit.”
“What are you talking about? What kind of shit?” I demand, turning back to Tony.
“I’m not here to talk trash on a dead girl,” Tony defers softly, raising his hands to pacify me. “I’m just saying that it ain’t like those dudes held a pipe to her lips, you know?”
“You’re not helping, man,” I say on a sigh as I rub my swollen eyes. “I shouldn’t have left town. If I had just…if I had just put off college for another year and stayed around for her, she would still be alive.”
“Aw, man, you can’t know that,” Tony starts to say before I interrupt.
“I do know that! This shit wouldn’t have happened if I had been here for her. But it did happen. I can’t make it right, but I can promise April and her family this: I’m going to get back at those bastards. I’m going to show everyone what they are, and what they did to her. They walk around this town calling themselves fucking ‘Kings’. When I’m done with them, people will remember them for the scum they truly are.”
Chapter One
Sax
Present day…
I’ve never been tortured, but I’m pretty sure nothing could be worse than having an angry cat slice its razor blade claws down your bare chest while you’re sleeping.
“What in the ever-loving fuck, Willy!” I yell as I jackknife into a sitting position to assess the damage he just did to my sternum. The little shit has already disappeared when I lift my chain necklace to see if his claws went deep enough to make me bleed.
Thanks to the sunlight streaming in through the port windows, I watch as two sets of red streaks slowly appear on my skin, burning like hellfire.
“Now I know exactly how you lost your eyeball,” I grumble to myself.
“W-what?” the naked brunette curled up beside me asks groggily without opening her eyes.
“Nothing. Go back to–” I start to tell her to go back to sleep when I finally hear what obviously sent the evil pussy running for his life.
Barking dogs.
A whole pack of them judging by the chorus growing louder every second.
My boat isn’t out to sea, but I am docked at the marina. I have no idea why someone would have a bunch of dogs out here so early in the morning.
“DEA! Come out slowly with your hands behind your head!”
Son of a motherfucking whore.
“Oh shit!” my companion says when she scrambles out of the bed and ducks down beside the mattress.
Are the feds actually coming after the Savage Kings for a few pounds of marijuana? Okay, fine, maybe I’ve hauled more than a few pounds of weed along with a few large, military-grade firearms. The exact weight of the plants would probably be closer to tons by now. Still, the shit’s been legalized in about a dozen states, so it doesn’t really make sense why they would give a shit.
I would call the guys to give them a heads-up except my cheap flip cell phone loses signal as soon as you drive into
the gates of the marina. Guess the Kings are shit out of luck until I’m given my one phone call in jail. I just hope I don’t see them all sitting in lockup first.
Since I don’t want the fed assholes barging down here into the galley where some newbie with his finger on the trigger can easily blow my head off along with my not too bright guest’s, I quickly grab a white wrinkled Savage Kings t-shirt from the floor to throw over my head, then pull on a worn pair of jeans over my boxer briefs.
“Get up and put some clothes on!” I tell last night’s distraction, unable to remember her name at the moment. I’m pretty sure it starts with an L. Maybe. Not that it matters because I won’t be sleeping with her again. First of all, it’s impossible for my heart to get severed again if I stick to my strict one-night stand only policy; and secondly, if the feds have me surrounded, then I’m guessing my nights may not be free for a few months, or hell, years.
Thankfully, the girl listens to me. She quickly redresses in her slutty red halter dress that she was wearing last night when I picked her up at the bar.
“Keep your hands where they can see them, don’t make any sudden movements, and just do whatever they say, okay?” I tell her in a rush, and her brown rat’s nest bobs, giving me a nod of understanding. “Let’s go.”
Even though the booming voice told me to come up with my hands on my head, I hold them straight up in the air, palms empty so they can be sure I’m not armed just before my head clears the deck.
