Reaching for his hand, I squeeze it tightly and rest my head on his shoulder.
We make our way to the airfield and I feel the excitement building. The hideaway. I can’t wait to return to a place with so many happy memories. Even the bad ones aren’t so bad anymore because I realize they were the catalyst that drove change. I am looking forward to showing my sister and Sebastian my island home when they come for a visit two weeks from now.
Mom is busy searching for husband number 2, and Martha is busy keeping her from getting in too much trouble. My biggest regret is that Martha will not join us, and yet I know mom needs her because they have some strange connection that means one cannot exist without the other.
One day I’ll discover what that is, but for now, I am just content to head off into the sunset with my husband and live happily ever after.
The End
Volume Three
Broken Beauty
Broken Beauty
“I ran from the beast into the arms of the Devil.”
Sophia Moretti
Maverick
It takes a special kind of glue to mend a broken Angel.
She came to the right place—or so she thought.
Broken, traumatized and scared.
Her past was a place that had no business in her future.
But she ran to me.
She should have kept running.
Sophia
A man that keeps his secrets hidden behind eyes that are shielded by the blackest shade.
A prince shrouded in the helm of darkness to disguise a heart that is cloaked with the souls of the damned.
A wild Boar dressed in biker leathers, sunglasses and a stinking attitude.
A man who could pick a fight in an empty room.
A God of war.
Just the man I need right now.
As it turns out - I should have kept on running.
Chapter 1
Sophia
I can hardly breathe. My chest hurts so much it’s difficult to take in air. The sweat mingles with the terror as I urge my limbs to cooperate. The fear overtakes my reasoning because I thought I was safe. I should be safe, but the fact that someone’s chasing me tells me otherwise.
As I crash through the trees, I struggle to see the danger in front of me. As my foot catches a tree root, it twists from under me and causes a sharp pain to cut through my body like a knife. I can feel them gaining on me, but I will not give up. I need to reach safety; I should never have believed I was safe here.
I am such a fool. I thought I could hide, but the fear that surrounds me like a vise tells me otherwise. I will never be free of it all the time the nightmares crowd my mind. I just wanted time to deal with it but it appears my time has run out.
I can hear him now. Gaining on me so fast I know I don’t stand a chance. It’s the acceptance of my fate that makes me stop and take a deep breath. Maybe it’s time to turn and face my fear head on and deal with it the only way I know how because I’m tired of running. Tired of being scared and tired of life. If he has come for me, I would welcome the darkness. Just to close my eyes and never wake up is looking mighty attractive right now, so I stand my ground and turn and face whatever’s behind me because it’s what’s in front of me I should be afraid of and nothing can be worse than that.
I almost dare not look, but as I raise my eyes, I swallow hard. I think it’s a man stands a short distance away looking at me warily. I’ve never seen the like of him before and I stare in wonder at a beast that makes all other men look like kids. Wild dark hair touches his shoulders and his bare chest eclipses the sun. My heart flutters as I see the tattoo covering his biceps because that tells me he has every right to be here.
“You’re on private property, darlin’.”
His voice growls as he states a simple fact I know only too well. It was why I sought them out, a place that everyone fears which keeps the rest of the world outside.
So, I face him with indifference.
“I know.”
He moves slowly forward and my heart beats faster as a strange excitement grips me. What will he do?
As he draws near, I see the sweat glistening on his tight abs and a smattering of dark hair that calls to the woman in me. He is magnificent and a world away from the men I usually keep the company of. Rough, feral and rugged - a real man. Not the suited and booted smooth criminals that usually occupy my world. This man is pure danger and yet as he moves closer and stares deep into my eyes, I step back in shock. I know those eyes.
He leans forward and his breath flutters across my face like a cooling breeze, fanning the flames of an interest that has no right being there. The dark eyes of the blackest shade penetrate my soul and makes my heart bleed because I know this man. There is no life in those eyes, just the tortured souls of the damned. An empty wretched soul that lost the ability to live and just exists in a tainted world of pain. A killer’s eyes.
I know those eyes because I see them in the mirror every day. We are the same - we are lost.
“Then why are you here?”
His voice is husky and with deep tones that take no shit, so I shrug. “I live here.”
Without warning and with a flick of his wrist, he grabs me hard and spins me against the trunk of a tree and contains me in a prison of muscle that has no key. He is so close our sweat joins and trickles like a river of lust to the ground and I feel his mouth inches from mine causing my mind to scramble.
“Since when?”
My first instinct is to try to struggle and free myself from his iron grip, but I feel strangely safe here. He keeps the whole world out and provides an impenetrable bubble that I could sure use right now. I am almost tempted to sag against him and cling on for grim death because I need that more than life itself at the moment but instead, I stare at him with a hard expression and say, “Since a month ago. I work for Ryder and Ashton; I help out with the kids.”
At the mention of the man who rules this place with an iron fist should make him drop me like a hot coal, instead he leans even closer and growls, “Why should I believe you?”
“Because it’s the truth. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to finish my run and grab a shower because I’m expected in just thirty minutes to help Ashton out with the kids.”
He steps back and takes a long, lingering look, causing the blood to rush to every part of me that has a nerve ending. His hand holds me in position as he takes his time and I snap, “What’s the matter, haven’t you seen a woman before?”
He smirks and I watch with interest as his eyes flash and I hold my breath. As moments go, this is the most interesting one of my life because I have never been treated like this before. The most interesting thing of all is that I am loving every minute of it and so, it’s with the icy bucket of disappointment that he releases me and says gruffly, “Then you won’t mind if I accompany you back. Call it your own personal protection.”
As he steps away, I long to pull him back and use him as a safety shield. Suddenly, the space between us is suffocating me because it proves that once again, I’m on my own. He doesn’t need to know that, so I shrug and start walking. “Suit yourself.”
I start to jog and try to focus on anything but him. He settles in behind me and the only sound we can hear is of the twigs cracking under our feet as we head for home.
The Rubicon.
Home of the Twisted Reaper MC.
A band of bikers who clean up the government’s pile of trash. Paid assassins who hide behind leather and steel and keep the world at arm’s length. Men that fight wars every day of the week as they struggle to keep the filth from the streets of America. I owe them my life because these men saved me from a certain painful death when they rescued me from the building where I was held captive and facing a painful end.
They brought me here to return home with my brother, but that was never an option. Nobody knows what I went through during the darkest days of my life and the secret I learned. The only solution was to hide
and hope it goes away because the reality is not worth thinking about. I walked away from my family to hide in a place where tortured souls go to heal and up until now, I have kept away from everyone but the kids and the women. I’m not interested in the men; they scare the hell out of me and he is no exception.
We don’t speak all the way back. I try to empty my mind and forget he’s here because I need to pretend this is normal. I must build a new life for myself and this is the beginning of that process. There is no room for passengers on my journey, so my years of practice count as I slowly retreat into a shell I never really come out of.
Chapter 2
Maverick
I’ve obviously been away too long. As I stare with a hunger at the sweet ass clad in lycra bouncing before my eyes, I make a fist. Fuck me, this woman’s impressive. It’s unusual finding anyone at this time of the day, let alone running through the forest that surrounds the compound. It’s why I thought she must be lost, but those green eyes that stared into mine had no fear in them, just a cold, dismissive superiority that instantly got my back up. It’s why I behaved like a prick and held her against that tree. The beast inside me roared as she dared look at me with contempt. An ice queen, a frozen fucking princess that I am so done with right now. Hell, for the past five weeks I’ve been guarding one on the instructions of her fuck-head politician of a father.
The past few weeks have severely tested my patience as she did just about everything to stop me doing my job and I am so done with the lot of them. However, unlike the girl I just babysat, this one is all woman and the man inside me appreciates every fine curve of a body that’s been created to ruin men everywhere. I loved the way her chest heaved and her breath hitched as she trembled against me. The cool edge to her eyes intrigued me and her blank expression told me more than she realized. I wonder why she’s here?
Thinking about the past month makes me feel frustrated all over again. Ryder sent me to protect a politician’s daughter who was receiving death threats in the mail. I followed her around and chased up every lead until I found the people responsible. Kids, stupid fucking kids who thought they could get away with blackmail and take the easy road in life. Students at the university she went to and no match for me. Well, they are now facing jail and I’m off the hook. I arrived home late last night and crawled to my pit, glad to be home. The early morning run is my usual stress reliever, followed by a warm, willing whore to settle the beast inside me. However, this woman is no whore, unlike the ones who sleep within our steel-clad walls. I could tell that the moment I saw those cold eyes staring at me with no spark of interest. Who is she? I feel as if I know her; somehow, she is familiar to me. A nanny, she says, not fucking likely.
We jog into the yard and she places her hands on her knees and gasps for breath, giving me an impressive view to feast my eyes on. As she straightens up, she shakes her head. “Don’t you have clothes?”
Looking down at my bare chest and shorts, I shrug. “Listen, darlin’, I do my own laundry and because I hate it more than anything, I try not to add to the pile. Why, what’s it to you, anyway?”
“Nothing. If you ran naked, it wouldn’t affect me; I just wondered, that’s all.”
I take a moment to picture what she would look like running bare chested through the forest and grin. “You should try it sometime, it’s quite liberating.”
“In your dreams because that’s the only place you’ll ever see my naked body.”
Spinning on her heels, she walks away toward the rear of the compound and I follow her with interest, making her turn and snap, “You don’t have to follow me you know. I can find my own room without a guide.”
“Who said I was following you? I live here too, remember?”
She turns and marches quickly away and I follow, once again appreciating the fine view of her ass until she says over her shoulder, “Stop staring at my ass.”
I say nothing and carry on following until we reach the block where the whores have their rooms and then watch as she punches the code in the door and disappears through it without looking back. Just before it closes Millie heads out and squeals as she sees me. “Maverick, when did you get back?”
She jumps into my arms and as my arms fold around her, she wraps her legs around me and whispers, “I’ve missed you.”
Great, just what I need. Millie has made no secret of her liking for me and yet all I’ve ever done is have sex with her. I’ve never promised her anything but the usual agreement between the Reapers and the many girls who live here, with no strings attached and no commitment needed. Just two people taking comfort from each other when the need arises. So, I set her down gently and say coolly. “Good to see you, darlin’.”
Her face falls as she senses the barriers shutting her out and shrugs. “It’s good to see you, honey. Will you be in the bar later?”
“Not sure.”
Once again, her face falls making me feel like a complete bastard, but it’s how it must be. I’m not here to find love. I’m here to shut it out, and so I nod toward the door. “Who was that, I found her jogging in the woods?”
“Who, Sophia?”
“Yes, what’s her story?”
“She’s been here about a month, not long after you left. The Reapers rescued her from some guy who had her chained to a wall and beat the shit out of her. She won’t talk though. She stays in her room and just runs in her spare time. When she’s not running, she looks after the kids. They’re the only ones who drag a smile out of her because aside from them, she’s interested in no one.”
“Why was she held captive?”
“I don’t know, maybe you should ask her if you want answers?”
Millie snaps irritably which isn’t like her and then says coolly, “Anyway, I’m off to re-stock the bar. Good to see you back, Mav, maybe look me up later if you need company.”
She flounces off and I groan inside. Now I’ve upset her. She didn’t like me asking questions about Sophia, that was obvious. Maybe I should keep away from the bar because Millie is starting to overstep the mark. I don’t want to give her false hope because I’m not interested. I thought she knew that—apparently not.
Chapter 3
Sophia
I may have left him at the door, but he follows me inside. I can’t shake the image of the infuriating man who held me captive for a brief second in the woods. He followed me back, but even through the silence we communicated. I know he stared at my ass the whole way back, it’s as if I feel him. Every part of me understands that man and the way his mind works. It’s as if we are cut from the same cloth and unlike the other men who live here, I don’t want to keep my distance from him.
When I looked back, it was to see one of the women held against him and for some strange reason I was jealous. That alone makes me mad because I have no right to be jealous of anyone. I made my choice and now it’s up to me to deal with it. The trouble is, I don’t know how and so with a sigh; I head to the shower and get ready for the only part of my day that counts.
Exactly thirty minutes later, I find my way out back to the home of the president who runs this MC club. Ryder King. Hard-assed bastard, but the kindest man I think I’ve ever met. Along with his wife, they took me in and didn’t press for details. They gave me a job helping care for the kids around here because that’s where I feel happiest. I have never been around children. There were none when I was growing up and when I lived with my brother, it was just the two of us along with the guards. To say I’ve lived a sheltered life is an understatement, but what happened when I was taken will haunt me to my dying day.
Shutting the memories down before they destroy me again, I knock on the door and wait for Ashton to let me in. I’m here to entertain Cassie, her adorable daughter because Ashton has her hands full with the latest addition to their family. Three weeks ago, Ashton gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy. Just like his father, Caspian King is sure to be a heartbreaker. Beautiful blue eyes sparkle beneath a crop of dark wild curls and he ho
lds a woman's heart the minute she looks at him. I am no exception because that little angel is the light of my own dark life. It’s the eyes of the innocent who look at me with so much trust that fills my heart with hope.
Can I love? I never have before but there is something about the children that surround me that stir black into white. I find myself craving their company and hearing their laughter. It soothes my weary soul and if I stay here forever with them, I would die happy.
The door opens and I take a step back as the man of the house fills the opening.
Ryder King is the sort of man that steals the breath from inside you and replaces it with electricity. Impressive in every way from his startling good looks to his rock-hard abs. He wears the badge of authority as if it was born part of him and I know there is not a man, woman or child here who doesn’t love and respect every inch of him.
He looks at me with interest and nods. “Morning, darlin’, anything to report?”
I smile because he says this every day. They are patient with me because from the moment I stepped foot inside their home, I have kept for my reasons for doing so to myself. At first, I wouldn’t even speak but gradually they have eased my mind and allowed me to breathe again but I’m not ready to tell them why I won’t return home—not yet, maybe not ever.
So, I shake my head and stare at him with my usual blank look. “No.”
Nodding, he steps aside. “Then I’ll let you get on with your day.”
Completing Beauty: Books 1-3 Page 36
