Smoked and Smitten (The Titans of South Side Book 1)

by Carson Mackenzie

  “Go tattletale or get her focus on one of the others.” As I waited for her comeback I looked out the window at Crenshaw & Son jewelry store as I sat and waited for the light to turn green. Something had drawn my attention. I continued to watch and listened with half an ear to my sister rambling on when there it was. “Gotta go, sis.” I disconnected the call and turned the corner and when I reached the alley I parked, called it in, and got out of the car.

  As I approached the back of the building I shook my head and waited as feet made an appearance out of the window over the dumpster pushed up against the concrete wall. The window was small, square, and in no way big enough for an adult to fit through.

  Great, I was going to end my evening arresting a juvenile.

  I stood still and watched as the body wiggled backwards. For a kid, the first thing I noticed was how toned their thighs were incased in the black form-fitting pants. Then the butt wiggled through and I knew that didn’t belong to a juvenile and no way did it even belong to a man. Well, I hoped not.

  The material hugged the heart-shaped ass, putting it on perfect display. Christ, what a waste when the little shimmy motion was used to help them drop the rest of the way out. Her feet hit the dumpster and she stood.

  “Gonna want to get down from there real slow,” I said before whoever it was turned and she jumped, which had the dumpster moving some since it was on wheels.

  “Goddammit, you scared the shit out of me!” she yelled when she whipped around and saw the badge I held up and my hand rested on my gun holster. “Why didn’t you yell cops? Are you supposed to do that? Fuckin’ A I could have broken my neck falling off here.”

  “Guess that’s the chance you take when doing a B&E.”

  “I’m not breaking and entering. I’m—”

  “Tell the officers when they get here. Ease off the dumpster. You have the right to remain...” I interrupted her and began reading her the Miranda rights. The siren was getting closer and when I reached the end the patrol car turned into the alley.

  “Dammit, really, you are going to make me go to the station? If you would listen I can clear this up and still make my date tonight,” she said as she slid to the ground from the container.

  “You could use your one phone call to cancel the date.”

  “Oh look, he has a sense of humor. Now let me explain,” she put her foot out to step closer and I threw up my hand.

  “Don’t move. And whatever you need to explain, you can explain to the nice officers here,” I said and waved my hand toward the two officers as they walked up.

  “She’s all yours. I’ll write this up tomorrow. I’m off duty and I’m going home. If you need me, that is where you can reach me,” I said as the two turned the woman toward the dumpster and pulled her hands behind her back and zip-tied them. They patted her down and came away with a small tool kit.

  “No problem, detective. I’ll let booking know you’ll get with them tomorrow. The owner is in route, you want us to hang around?” I watched as they walked her to the cruiser and opened the back door. The officer put his hand on her head to protect it as he pushed her into the car and slammed the door. He and his partner then got in.

  “No sense taking up all our time. Only need the owner to verify that nothing’s missing. You didn’t find anything on her so it should be good.” As they were slowly moving past me, the woman’s eyes glared at me and her lip was turned up at the corner of her mouth.

  “Have a nice evening, Detective O’Malley,” the officer yelled out the open window.

  “O’Malley, is he related to Kian O’Malley?” I heard the woman question as the window rolled closed.

  I rubbed my hand down my face. Why did I feel this wasn’t going to end well? Yeah, because we are O’Malleys.

  Books by Harley McRide

  Ops Warriors MC

  Sharing Freedom

  Bringing Harmony

  Shady

  Hell Froze Over

  Tasered

  Lady Riders

  Rain Falls

  Treats Aren’t Always Sweet

  Broken Wings

  Baby Bear

  Furies

  Inferno

  Shattered

  Costa Nostra

  Capo Ricco

  KO Ink

  Co-authored w/Carson Mackenzie

  Vengeance

  Pierced & Inked

  Brawn & Brazen

  Cuffed & Briefed

  Tamed and Tatted

  The Titans of South Side

  Co-authored w/Carson Mackenzie

  Smoked and Smitten

  I would love to hear from you!

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harley.mcride?fref=ts

  Website: www.harleymcride.wordpress.com

  Books by Carson Mackenzie

  Black Hawk MC

  Speed

  Crusher

  Devil – Coming Soon

  Haven MC

  Snatched

  Hawk’s Bounty – Coming Soon

  Standalones

  Her Way or No Way

  KO Ink

  Co-authored with Harley McRide

  Vengeance

  Pierced and Inked

  Brawn and Brazen

  Cuffed and Briefed

  Tatted and Tamed

  The Titans of South Side

  Co-authored with Harley McRide

  Smoked and Smitten

  Contact the Author:

  Email: carsonmackenzie999@gmail.com

  Website: http://carsonmackenzieauthor.wordpress.com/

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorcarsonmackenzie

  Excerpt from Vengeance

  KO Ink Book One

  By Harley McRide & Carson Mackenzie

  “Seriously, man. This is the place you are looking to purchase. What the hell? Why didn’t you tell me before we got into the fucking car, I would have told you no fucking way then, instead we wasted our time. This is like a hell to the no.”

  Yeah, I am the oldest and my brother has no fucking vision. Which I find quite funny considering the man is a tattoo artist. Christ, if he and the rest of my brothers didn’t look similar, I would accuse our ma and dad of adoption.

  “Mike, this is the building that housed the gym we fucking trained in growing up, it is part of our history. We spent a lot of time growing up in this place. Mic was one of the best trainers around along with being a role model for the delinquent youth of Woodland and the surrounding neighborhoods,” as I spoke, I watched my brother’s eyes, yeah he was starting to remember how the O’Malley brothers grew up. We had always been fighters so our parents placed us in the local gym with the hopes to curtail our energy and keep us on the straight and narrow. And I get how he would forget some of it, hell even I do, until the moment I walked back into our parents’ living room and then the memories all came back. Seriously, looking now, I wish my parents would have allowed me to purchase a new home for them like I wanted to. Somewhere in a quiet suburban neighborhood where you didn’t hear the police sirens go off every night. But they insisted this was their home, where they fell in love, where they had a family, and where they raised us and taught us how to be honest and loyal. Family was everything, in that we all still agreed.

  Our parents had done a good job on a steel worker’s paycheck with a stay-at-home wife and seven kids. Money was tight, but they made it work.

  “Fin, I get it, but that is you, why would I want to come back from out west, working in an established shop to damn, a building that has seen a hell of a better day.”

  Again, no vision, tat artist. My brother’s problem was change, he hated it. I know this and so does everyone close to him. At least the ones he lets get that close. So yeah, I’m getting our buddy and his business partner to help me out.

  “Kink, help me out here. I am retired. I went as far in the MMA as I could go. I’ve had my shot within the Mixed Martial Arts and I want to come back to the area and help the next generation move forward in life. Give
them goals to reach for. You are all about family and brothers just like me. Am I wrong wanting to bring mine back together?” Kink rubbed his hand down his face and turned to Michael.

  “Fuck, I get where Fin is coming from. Michael, I don’t want to lose your talent, man, nor my partner, but I see what you can have here too, if you want it. Your brother wants to bring his wayward family back together and plant you in the area where you started the brother bonds to begin with. You been around me and my brothers in the MC long enough to know family is everything. Think, this would at least put you close to your aging parents, the ones you and your other brothers bitch about not seeing enough.”

  “Yeah.”

  Oh, I could see Michael’s resolve slipping. Now to reel him in.

  “Michael, the others will follow you if you open up a shop here beside me. Come on, you, me, them, the O’Malley boys back in the neighborhood, giving back. Close to our parents and our little sister, Mia, who at twenty-three, needs us. Dad will have all our asses if she ends up with some shithead from here that none of us like. He won’t take the excuse of “sorry we weren’t there to protect her”. He will hold each of us responsible, you and I both know that. Plus, hounding her as a grown woman should be incentive enough. The spitfire made our lives a living hell growing up, she was everywhere, and the freakin’ tattle telling alone when we were teenagers should definitely be worth it.

  “You remember her telling Ma and Dad when you popped Cathy Francis’ cherry at fifteen?” I watched Michael’s eyes narrow. Yep, he was coming around.

  “Dude, your sister ratted you out on the first time you had sex? How come I never knew about this?”

  I smiled ‘cause Kink was going to give him shit for the rest of his life for that little info drop. Kink had grown up with us. Left for the military, got out, joined the Warriors and opened up his tat shop. Michael and he had stayed in touch and then Michael moved out west to go into business with Kink, ultimately recruiting our other brothers to follow. I had given them each shit about being the artistic types and afraid to get in the ring and hurt their hands. Those were the days, I got as good as I gave. Between Kink, Tony, Reese, and my brothers, they made me the best at my skill. I may have improved over time on my fighting skill, but the bruises and the injures they dished on me, toughened me. I wouldn’t have made it through the ranks of the MMA if they hadn’t pushed me.

  “You know, with the special ink you have been honing, it would help with the security business Tony is going to run alongside with my gym. Going to give my boys jobs so they can concentrate on training and moving up the ranks without having to worry about finding the time for it all. Tony said he would love to use the ink to keep track of the guys when out on jobs. With Tony’s training from the military, your ink, and his knowledge to teach you and the others how to monitor, is a goldmine waiting to be tapped.

  “Think, all of us from the neighborhood, back from wherever we’ve been, together again. The old folks still here are going to remember us; the younger ones will learn real quick about family, responsibility, and what it means to belong. Well, with exception of Kink here. Don’t think we can talk him into giving up the west coast to come back home. I think there is still some of the cops on the force that would remember him from his youth. The fuckers threw a party the day the bus pulled out with him on it, headed toward Fort Dix and the military future he was ordered by the judge to be a part of,” I busted out laughing and so did Kink and Michael. They had to be remembering the same as me about Kink beating the crap out of the police captain’s son. Little prick had it coming, shouldn’t have made fun of Kink, calling him a pussy for always working on that first piece of shit bike he bought and rebuilt.

  “You still got that bike, Kink?”

  “Fuck yeah. Keep it stored in back of the shop. Uncover it when I’m missing home. Best memories, man. But you are right, my home is out west. Though I come to visit a couple times a year, I can’t imagine giving up my life with the MC to move back. And brothers, my brothers would never make a club move to the east. Face it, no way cops could deal with them and you guys all in one area.

  “Mike, I have a proposition for you?”

  I eyed Kink, ‘cause with him, you never knew what that phrase could entail. But with his next words, I should have known. He may have moved on from the area, made his home somewhere else but it didn’t mean the neighborhood wasn’t a part of him anymore.

  “Join your brother, Mike. We can still be partners out west and here too. Let’s branch out Slinging Ink. One on the west coast and one on the east coast. I want in on this one too. Will make me feel like I’m still part of the old neighborhood even when I am not here. Whatcha say?” Kink looked at him and so did I. I watched his facial expressions change with the thoughts that were evidently running through his mind.

  “Going to depend if the others want to make the move back here too.”

  Oh fuck yeah, one brother almost there. The others I knew would follow because they wouldn’t want to be left out. Brothers who like nothing better than to compete against one another. Never even mattered who won, it’s about the thrill of competing.

  About the Author

  Harley grew up in Iowa, moving from place to place with her single mother until she was twelve. She now calls the Mountain West her home. The small town she resides in, with the population just over 10,000, makes it perfect for her and her husband to hit the open road when the mood arises.

  Now that her kids are grown and in college, she and her husband have the time to enjoy the great outdoors, traveling, and riding to places they’ve never been.

  Writing has been the last piece of her life to complete the circle. Harley enjoys bringing two of her passions together, writing and motorcycles, sharing with readers in the hope they will enjoy the stories as much as she enjoys writing them.

  When her life feels as though it is becoming overwhelming, she can always count on her mother, Mama McRide, to bring it back to balance by keeping her on her toes and focusing on what is important – living life to its fullest.

  About the Author

  Carson lives in the South with her two sons, her four Great Danes, and the adopted shelter dog that keeps everyone in line. Books have always been a part of her life. Nothing is better to Carson than curling up and relaxing with a good story by losing herself in someone else’s world while leaving hers behind.

  Writing stories and growing as an author with each book published, is a goal Carson wishes to reach. Her aspiration is to have a reader know when they see her name on a cover, they can trust in the fact there will be a good story as they flip the pages.

  As a fairly new author, she hopes to bring you into her different worlds, giving you a chance to escape everyday responsibilities, if only for a few hours.