by L. Wilder
I looked up to find Colt and Tyler standing in our doorway. They were both in their pajamas staring at us with sleepy eyes. Tyler inched further into the room as he whispered, “We can’t sleep.”
“What’s wrong, buddy?”
“We had a bad dream.”
“Both of you...at the same time?” I smiled as I asked him, “You sure about that?”
Remington sat up and quickly put her sweater back on. Before getting out of bed, she leaned over and kissed me briefly before whispering, “Remember this moment the next time you want baby number three.”
“Are you kidding? This only makes me want one even more.”
“And that’s why I love you like I do.” She smiled and got up from the bed. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
I watched the three people I loved most in the world walk out of the room and down the hall. At first, I could hear Remington talking to the boys, but after a few minutes, the house fell silent. When I got up to check on them, I found Remington sound asleep on the edge of the bed next to Tyler and Colt. It was a sight that moved me in a way I couldn’t begin to describe. In the good times and bad, they were my world, my true purpose, and with them, my life was complete.
The End
More from the Ruthless Sinners coming soon
A little Southern Humor
I’m not sure who wrote this, but each one of these are so very true! I just had to share.
ADVICE FOR ANYONE MOVING TO TENNESSEE:
1. Save all bacon grease. You will be instructed later how to use it.
2. If you do run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in the cab of a four-wheel drive with a 12-pack of beer and a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them. Just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
3. Remember: "Y'all" is singular. "All y'all" is plural. "All y'all's" is plural possessive.
4. Get used to the phrase "It's not the heat; it's the humidity". And the collateral phrase "You call this hot? Wait ‘til August."
5. Don't tell us how you did it up there. Nobody cares.
6. If you think it's too hot, don't worry. It'll cool down-in December.
7. A Mercedes-Benz is not a status symbol—a Chevy, Dodge, or Ford is.
8. If someone says they're "fixin" to do something, that doesn't mean anything's broken.
9. The value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but the availability of shade.
10. If you are driving a slower moving vehicle, on a two-lane road pull onto the shoulder. That is called "courtesy".
11. BBQ is a food group. It does NOT mean grilling burgers and hot dogs outdoors.
12. Yes, weddings, funerals, and divorces must take into account for UT Football games.
13. Everything is better with Ranch dressing.
14. DO NOT honk your horn at us to be obnoxious, we will sit there until we die.
15. We pull over and stop for emergency vehicles to pass.
16. We pull over for funeral processions, turn our music off and men remove hats or caps. Some people put their hand over their heart.
17. "Bless your Heart" is a nice way of saying you're an idiot.
18. No matter what kind: Sprite, Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, it isn't called soda or pop. It is all called coke.
19. There will always be a tractor on the two-lane when you are running late, so allow time for that.
20. If you don't like the weather in Tennessee, wait 15 minutes, it will change.
There will be more of the Ruthless Sinners coming soon. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram for updates on upcoming releases. There will be a short excerpt of Ties That Bind, the first book in the Sinner’s series following the acknowledgements.
Acknowledgments
I am blessed to have so many wonderful people who are willing to give their time and effort to making my books the best they can be. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to breathe life into my characters and share their stories with you. To the people I’ve listed below and so many others, I want to say thank you for taking this journey with me. Your support means the world to me, and I truly mean it when I say I appreciate everything you do. I love you all!
PA: Natalie Weston
Editing/Proofing: Lisa Cullinan-Editor, Rose Holub-Proofer
Promoting: Amy Jones, Veronica Ines Garcia, Neringa Neringiukas, Whynter M. Raven
BETAS/Early Readers: Kaci Stewart, Tanya Skaggs, Jo Lynn, Sherie Kaminsky, and Jessey Elliott
Street Team: All the wonderful members of Wilder’s Women. (You guys are the best! I truly appreciate all that you do.)
Best Friend and biggest supporter: My mother (Love you to the moon and back.)
A short excerpt of Ties That Bind: Ruthless Sinners book 1 is included in the following pages. If you love MC Romances, be sure to check out my Satan’s Fury MC-Memphis series. Blaze, Shadow, Riggs, Murphy, Gunner, Gus, Rider, Prospect and T-Bone can all be found on Amazon, and they are all free with KU.
Ties That Bind Excerpt
Prologue
I never considered myself to be a player. Sure, I appreciated the company of a beautiful woman from time to time, but I never led any of them on. I didn’t make empty promises or insinuations that I was looking for anything more than a good, hard fuck. Never had to. I’d always made sure the women I hooked up with knew exactly what they were getting into—a night of the best sex they’d ever had—followed by my immediate exit.
Just to be clear, I wasn’t some lost soul who was searching for the love I never got as a kid. Nothing happened to me in my past that fucked me up and I wasn’t able to shake it. I wasn’t seeking some kind of validation or affection to heal my wounded heart. I was simply a man who didn’t want any complications. I didn’t have time for it and most likely never would.
Don’t get me wrong. There were times when I found myself wondering if I was missing out on something—like the night my brothers and I had gone to Memphis to party with the brothers of Satan’s Fury. While I was there, I’d met a woman who made me question my wicked ways. She was beautiful, but it was her spirit and strength that got to me the most. For the first time in my life, I’d actually considered a life full of complications, but then I discovered she belonged to someone else. Normally, that wouldn’t have been enough to stop me from trying to make a play for her, but she was tied to Clay, my president’s nephew, which made her completely off-limits. I’ll admit, after meeting Landry Dawson, I started to wonder if I’d ever find a woman to claim as my own.
Hawk
Loyalty. Faith. Family. Those are the ties that bind. I'd never realized just how important those ties were until I joined the Ruthless Sinners MC. With them, I’d found a family who’d stand by my side when things went south, as I would them. No matter the circumstance, our loyalty to one another never wavered. We were family—our ties stronger than blood—and I’d never been prouder than the day my brothers voted me in as their sergeant-at-arms. I’d always done my best to fulfill my duties, even when it wasn’t easy—just like tonight.
The brothers had gathered at Stilettos, the club’s main front business, to check out the new strippers our manager had just hired. The guys were eager to see the fresh meat before we opened for the night. They looked like kids on Christmas morning when the music started playing and Candy stepped up on the stage. The hot blonde was all smiles as she made her way over to the pole, and of course, all the guys started hooting and hollering the second she slipped off her halter top. I, on the other hand, just wasn’t into it. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that I didn’t find Candy attractive, I did. Hell, when it came to chicks, it didn’t matter if they were tall, short, thick, or thin, I could find something appealing about all of them.
But tonight, I had more important things on my mind than getting laid. I was pissed that I hadn’t heard back from Danny—the club’s supplier. He and I needed to have words, and he knew it.
I reached into my back pocket for my phone and was
about to dial his number when I heard Axel ask, “Something up?”
“Just waiting to hear back from Danny.”
No one would ever guess that Axel had a good ten to fifteen years on me. The guy was built like an ox and could take any asshole who was stupid enough to go up against him—which was one of the many reasons he was the club’s VP. Axel was aware of the issue with Danny, so I wasn’t surprised when he asked, “You think we should have Shotgun pay him a visit?”
“Definitely.” While Stilettos brought in a good bit of cash for the club, it was nothing compared to the money the girls brought in when they sold coke to our customers. The club had been using Danny for years. We’d done our homework, knew he was supplying for several others in the area, and they’d been pleased with not only his reliability but his product. Everyone knew he wasn’t the main supplier, that he was getting the take from a distributor in Texas, but he’d always been dependable when it came to keeping up with our supply and demand. But recently, it seemed we were having to deal with one fuck-up after the next. It started with a couple of late deliveries, which quickly progressed into him missing one altogether. That in itself should’ve been enough for us to walk away, but we were in a bind for time and bought one last shipment from him—one big fucking shipment that cost over two hundred grand to get our hands on.
We’d assumed it would be our last time having to deal with Danny ... until we discovered that part of the shipment was counterfeit. That discovery hadn’t come until days later, when we started breaking down the shipment. Viper was pissed to find that over half of the take was counterfeit, especially since it was the half we hadn’t tested on delivery. That was on us, but the fact remained, Danny was the one who’d swindled us. He’d crossed a line, a big fucking line, and he damn well knew it. The motherfucker knew he would have to answer to the club for what he’d done. That’s why he was laying low and hadn’t returned any of my fucking calls. I glanced over at Shotgun, the club’s enforcer, and Rafe, then shook my head when I saw him gawking at Candy’s ass as she stepped off the stage. “The sooner the better.”
“Can’t disagree with you there.” A concerned look crossed his face. “This whole thing is fucked up.”
“Yeah, but one way or another, we’ll take care of it.”
“I don’t doubt that ... It’s just ... we need to keep in mind there’s the possibility that Danny didn’t know the product was counterfeit.”
“Maybe, but there’s also the possibility that the asshole just got fucking greedy and was hoping to pull one over on us.” I reached for an Ultra-Light and took a long pull. “But I hope, for his sake, that’s not it.”
“Yeah. If that’s the case, it won’t end well for him.”
“Well, we won’t know for sure until Shotgun gets his hands on him.”
Axel glanced over at Shotgun, snickering as he watched our brother pull Candy onto his lap. “As amped up as those two are right now, they’re liable to kill the stupid sonofabitch before he ever gets a chance to talk.”
I chuckled as I stood and walked over to Shotgun. Our enforcer wasn’t a small man, but he wasn’t as big as one might think. He was tall with an athletic, muscular build, and he could handle himself just as well as the rest of us, but his physical appearance had nothing to do with why he’d been chosen as the club’s enforcer. The choice was simple really. Shotgun had talents the rest of us just didn’t have. He was missing that part of the brain that made a man feel empathy or the slightest bit of remorse for the pain he dished out, especially when that person had gone against the club. When vengeance took over, torture and all the other things that might make another man squeamish wouldn’t affect him in the least. There was nothing he wouldn’t do when it came to extracting the intel we needed from a particular individual. That, and the fact that the man could do some real damage with a shotgun, like wipe-out-an-entire-army kind of damage, made him a force to be reckoned with. With his particular skill set, the guy was invaluable to the club, and I knew I could trust him to figure out what the hell was going on with Danny. Candy was trying to squirm out of his lap when I said, “’Gun ... I got something I need you to do.”
“All right.” He let out a deep sigh as he lifted Candy off his lap. “What do you need me to do?”
“I want you and Rafe to head over to Danny’s place and see if you find any sign of him.”
“And if I do?”
“Bring his ass to the club. We have things to discuss with him.”
His brows furrowed. “This about his last shipment?”
“Yeah.” I crossed my arms as I continued, “It’s time he gave us some answers about what the fuck is going on.”
“Understood.”
“He’s gotta know we’re gonna be looking for him, so watch your back,” I warned. “You can never be too careful in situations like these.”
“I got it covered.”
I watched as he motioned over to Rafe, letting him know it was time to go. Rafe took one last glance at the new chick on the stage before standing and following Shotgun out the door. Once he was gone, I turned my attention to the stage, watching as our second new stripper, Kaleigh Jo, removed her top and tossed it to the guys. Like Candy, she was a pretty girl, young with a killer body, and the lights shimmered against her mocha-colored skin. There was no doubt that the girl had mad skills when it came to working the pole. Hell, she had all the guys completely captivated, including me. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t noticed that Lisa, Stilettos’ bartender, had come up next to me until she asked, “Enjoying yourself there, handsome?”
“Hmph.” I grunted. “I’m doing all right. You?”
“Same.” She inched closer as she purred, “I’d be a lot better if you paid me a visit later tonight. I could use the company.”
Lisa was a beautiful woman, tall with an hourglass figure and dirty-blonde hair, and I wouldn’t lie, I’d considered hooking up with her in the past but never followed through. She busted her ass at work, did whatever she had to do to take care of her kid, and something in my gut told me she was interested in more than one night. Much more. That wasn’t going to happen. Not with me. So, I simply smiled and said, “I’m not the kind of company you need or want, doll.”
“I don’t know about that.” She placed the palm of her hand on my chest and provocatively whispered, “I think you’re exactly the kind of company I’m looking for.”
I took hold of her wrist and gently removed her hand. “As tempting as it might be, it’s not going to happen.”
“Why not?” A mix of hurt and anger crossed her face. “You’re not attracted to me?”
“Didn’t say that, Lisa. You’re a beautiful woman. You know that.” I let go of her wrist and took a step back. “Set your sights on a man who can give you what you really need, ’cause trust me when I say, it isn’t me.”
Before she could respond, I turned and headed over to Axel. After I let him know that I was going back to the clubhouse to check in with Viper, I went out to the parking lot and got on my Harley. Moments later, I was in the thick of Nashville traffic. Rush hour had come and gone, but there were still plenty of cars on the road. It was Nashville after all—the homeplace of the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry, where many country music legends got their start. People from all over the world visited Music City, making Nashville one of the fastest-growing cities in Tennessee, which was always a good thing for a business like Stilettos. Over the past ten years, the strip club had doubled in size, and we were in the process of opening a second one closer to downtown. With all the red tape of zoning and permits, it was a lot to take on—which made the hassle with Danny all the more frustrating. We didn’t have time for distractions, and I hoped that Shotgun and Rafe would be able to help us get some kind of resolution on this fucking thing.
When I got to the clubhouse, I found Viper sitting at the bar with Lynch and Menace. They were each drinking a cold one as they talked amongst themselves, but quickly grew quiet when I approached. Noting my expressio
n, Viper asked, “You heard anything from Shotgun or Rafe?”
“Not yet.” I took a seat next to him. “Shouldn’t be much longer, though. Danny’s place isn’t far from here.”
Lynch shook his head as he muttered, “Surely, the asshole isn’t stupid enough to be at his place.”
“I pinged his phone’s location a few hours ago, and he was still there,” Menace, the club’s computer whiz, replied. “Well ... his phone was still there. I can’t say the same for him.”
“We’ll know soon enough.” Viper ran his hand over his beard with an unsettling grunt. “I gotta tell ya, I’ve got a bad feeling about all this. I’m thinking this thing goes a lot further than just Danny.”
“Who else could be involved?”
“Danny’s not big enough or smart enough to be leading the chain on this supply,” Viper replied. “Besides, he doesn’t have the balls to try and pull one over on us. He knows what we’d do to him.”
“You’re right about that,” Lynch scoffed. “You thinking it’s his supplier?”
“Don’t know yet, but we’re sure as hell gonna find the fuck out, and when we do, there’s gonna be hell to pay,” Viper growled. “Nobody pulls this kind of shit on the Sinners and gets away with it.”
The room fell silent as we considered what Viper had just told us. The possibility of going to war with a drug lord wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, especially considering the timing. Stilettos was booming, and we were under the gun to get the second club up and running. There wasn’t time to deal with any distractions, which was one of the main reasons we’d decided to be done with Danny in the first place. We knew something was up with him but made the mistake of trusting him with one last delivery anyway. That mistake wasn’t sitting well with Viper. He was a man who was always a step ahead. He caught problems before they happened, so it only made sense that all the unknowns of the situation were getting to him. We were all lost in our own thoughts when the back door of the bar flew open and Danny stumbled inside.
