“You have both my favor, and that of my club, for keeping watch over Jamie all this time. She told me a bit about you the other day.” I’m sure the reverence was evident in my voice just as the revulsion had been in hers. We clearly were not on equal footing with this conversation, and the woman looked genuinely taken aback by my words, as did my daughter.
“Yes, well, she’s told me plenty about you too.” Again, her disapproval couldn’t be mistaken, but at least it had been laced with the slightest hint of hesitancy this time. I just smiled at her, not allowing her tone to get to me. I knew my daughter had probably filled her in on all the heartache I had caused her over the years. Hell, I was just grateful that this beautiful woman had been there for her when I couldn’t be. When I was too stupid to do the right thing, she had apparently stepped in to be a mother-figure, or friend, for my daughter.
“I’m sure none of it was good, and unfortunately all of it was probably true. We’re working on repairing that though.” I explained while glancing between Leanne and my daughter. I watched as the woman looked to Jamie for confirmation of my statement to which my girl just nodded with a small smile on her face. It was an improvement over some of our more recent interactions, to be sure. At least she smiled about something having to do with me. I can’t even explain what it feels like to be the piece of shit father that drove his own daughter away into hiding for years. I wanted to kick my own ass. Hell, I’d had Tuck and Hopper, my VP and Sergeant at Arms for the Cedar Falls Chapter of Aces High, beat the shit out of me a couple times over the years. It never made me feel better, but always left me with days’ worth of physical ache attempting to equal the emotional shit. I’d like to say it took my mind off of missing my baby, but it never did.
I must have missed something going on around us while I was lost in my thoughts and pains of the past, because Jamie’s voice rose so that she was certain everyone in the lot could hear her. “Roll your tongues back in, wipe up the drool, and be respectful to my club, gentlemen. The Sierra High Evermore women are not sweet butts or club sluts for your use. I’m sure the guys have plenty of whores available inside. I don’t know any of you, so this is your fair warning. Treat any of our club members like whores and I’ll have your balls hung up in a jar on our clubhouse bar before you even realize what went wrong.”
Some laughter rang out, and Jude – one of the prospects from my chapter – made a crack about her needing a good spanking. I’d be dealing with him momentarily. I turned narrowed eyes on the men around us and growled out my words of warning to back my daughter’s proclamation. “My daughter’s word is a law that I will be backing. See to it that the word gets passed around. These girls are off limits unless they choose to be with someone here.” As I turned back to Jamie, I also caught the gleam of respect in Leanne’s eyes as she studied me. Whatever. I didn’t need her approval. I meant what I fucking said. My daughter would be obeyed or there would be hell to pay.
As I turned to go inside, I glanced over at Tuck who had moved in close beside me. I tipped my head toward the prospect who had run his mouth. “Teach that little fucker a lesson in respect. If I do it, he won’t survive.” Tuck nodded and shot right over to the prospect who was wondering why more people weren’t laughing it up at his little quip. He’d learn. Unfortunately for him, it would be a hard as fuck lesson.
Chapter Two
~ Leanne ~
Holy moly! She had always denied wearing contacts to enhance the damn near turquoise beauty of her eyes, but after meeting Ghost, I finally believed Angel Girl. Those stunning gems made Angel Girl exceedingly more feminine and gorgeous. I would have expected the same results on a man. I would have been wrong. They did not detract one ounce from the image of masculine perfection before me when I was introduced to Andy “Ghost” Murdock for the first time.
Hellfire and damnation of my soul, but I had to keep reminding myself of all the ways he’d wronged my girl, and I still walked away in uncomfortably wet panties. I rolled my eyes at myself. You can’t help physical reactions to people. Just like I couldn’t help the shock of electricity than burned through my hand when he took it in his. Jesus, what would Angel Girl think of my reaction?
When I was finally free to escape to the bathroom to freshen up Tash followed me. She just watched me with a hint of amusement on her face. “You seemed a bit enthralled by Ghost out there,” the evil girl mocked as a shit-eating grin split her face.
“Damn you girls!” I spat out. “It’s one thing for Angel Girl to leave out the sheer sex appeal of her dad, because he’s her dad, but the rest of you saw him before I did too. A little warning would have been nice. I was completely unprepared. I pictured a far more feminine man when Jamie talked about inheriting her eye color from him. I mean they make her beautiful, I thought the same would apply to her dad. You know, just, not like that.” I tossed my hands in the general direction of the clubhouse beyond the bathroom we were currently holed up in.
Tash laughed heartily. “You pictured a girly-man running an MC? Hell, Leanne, he’s not just a chapter president, he’s the Aces High MC National President. They have chapters from the coast in South Carolina, Florida, up to the Dakotas, and a few other places in between.
I know my eyes had to be alarmingly wide as I spoke again. “How did she manage to hide all that time from such a looming presence?”
Tash shrugged her shoulders at me. “She hid in plain sight in a spot where no one wanted to be, until now.”
“I guess that makes sense,” I conceded. “I’m not sure how to maintain my composure around that man, Tash. Maybe I should just go home instead of sticking around. I don’t want to end up getting caught up in his spell. I’ve never felt a jolt of…” I sighed out loud. “I don’t even know what to call it, but I haven’t felt a connection like that with another person since my Patrick died.”
That caused Tash to stand up a little straighter, the smirk on her face finally diminishing. “I don’t think there’s a need for you to run out of here no matter what you felt for him. Besides, if you start getting that tingly feeling below the belt, just remember what he put his daughter through by parading whores through her family home on a constant basis.”
I ran my fingers through my hair as I let out a frustrated breath. “Yeah, that’s what I kept doing outside when we met. I just don’t think I’ll ever understand why he thought it was okay to do that.” I shook my head. When my husband had been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, I had mourned with the best of them. The fact of the matter was it had killed the part of me that wanted another man to ever touch me again. My libido died with Patrick. I couldn’t fathom the idea of turning my grief into a non-stop, years-long fuck fest with anything that moved. Then again, my long-dormant libido had definitely kicked in when I shook the man’s hand, so maybe his bullshit was contagious.
JDRF Donations
THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION!
This is a special thank you to my readers for purchasing this (and any other Aces High MC books). Ten percent of all royalties from the Aces High MC books and merchandise go to charity, Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) to be exact.
As many of you know, my youngest daughter, Lexy, is a Type 1 Diabetic. She was diagnosed in Dec. 2012, after nearly dying from going into DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis).
DKA is what happens when your body can’t use the sugar in the body properly and ends up making acids with it instead. Those acids build up and will eventually kill the person if left untreated. We have struggled and fought every day since to make sure she has a normal life despite all the blood sugar checks and things she has to attach to her body (or all the shots she has to take) in order to survive. We’ve managed all this time to never have her get sick enough to require hospitalization or even a trip to the ER (for diabetic related issues).
I credit JDRF and Palmetto Children’s Hospital in Columbia, SC (where she was diagnosed) for that. They gave us a diabetic bible to live by. We received a small backpack full of information that we
still have, and use, to this day. It keeps us on track and has given my daughter a better chance of not having complications later on in life from Diabetes.
Thank you for reading and for helping us to help make sure other families have access to that same information so that they can hopefully manage this horrible, life-long condition as well.
XOXO,
Christine & Lexy
Christine Michelle Books
S.H.E. Series (MC Romance)
Angel-Girl
JoJo
Aces High – Dakotas Series (MC Romance)
Dancing With Danger
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Aces High – Cedar Falls Series (MC Romance)
Redemption Weather
Proven
Smoke and the Flame
Aces High – Charleston Series (MC Romance)
(must be read in order)
The Other Princess
A Love So Hard
The Princess and the Prospect
The Killing Ride (October, 2019)
T.I.E Series (Rock Star Romance)
The Infinite Something
The Infinite Beat
Christine M. Butler Books
The Ancients Series (Paranormal Romance)
Shadows of the Ancients
Falling into the White
Branches of the Willow
Bound by the Moon
Death Viewers Series (Paranormal Fantasy)
Breathless
Vukodlak Brew Series (Paranormal Romance)
Entwined
The Awakening Series (Paranormal Fantasy)
Birthrights
Revelations
Incarnations
The Voodoo Follies (YA Paranormal)
Letters to… (Contemporary Romance)
Letters to Lily
*Christine Michelle and Christine M. Butler are the same person writing in different genres under different names.
Acknowledgements
Read a book, fall in love, and leave a review!
That’s our new motto – help us stick to it!
Reviews help other readers find books, they help with getting books seen in newsletters, and page placements in online bookstores. In my world, they also help determine which books get written next!
This was my apology book for screwing up the Whisky Tango Foxtrot release – not once, but twice, in the middle of the crappiest week I’ve had in years that involved an accidental insulin overdose (my daughter), an allergic reaction (me), and a stupid amount of time spent at the day job. I didn’t actually intend to write this book, then I thought I’d do a novella as an “I’m so sorry” book, and it turned into a full novel. So big win in the end for putting up with my screw up!
Some and the Flame Page 21
