TRIGGERED: A Romantic Suspense Bundle (5 Books)
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TRIGGERED
A Romantic Suspense Bundle
Evie Nichole
and Glenna Sinclair
Copyright © 2016
All Rights Reserved. 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. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
JACK
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
NOWHERE ALASKA
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
HEADLIGHTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
BETRAYED
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
FINDING SARAH
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
JACK
Prologue
Two Years Earlier
Rock and roll, smoke, and danger filled the clubhouse. Rage Motorcycle Club had a full attendance that night and things were happening. From my place on stage, I could see drugs being passed, one of the club whores giving a brother a blowjob, and my old man, Snake, tossing back shots of JD like his life depended on it.
I moved my hips to the wail of an electric guitar and closed my eyes to shut it all out. I didn’t need to see to know what I was doing. I’d done the same thing since I was sixteen. There wasn’t a song that I couldn’t dance to. I had the moves down to muscle memory at the ripe old age of twenty-one.
Rage MC was in the abandoned industrial part of Jackson, in an old metal building. Everything echoed and everything smelled. While it was only in the eighties outside, the heat built up during the day, so it was close to a hundred degrees inside. A sheer coating of sweat clung to everyone.
I gripped the pole and spun around it, giving myself a slight breeze. Even the metal pole was warm. I heard Snake screaming at someone and kept my eyes shut. The sound of flesh hitting flesh came next, and I prayed that whoever was at the end of his fist received a short punishment for whatever imagined wrong they’d done to him.
Snake was as mean as his name. He was like poisonous, pure venom coursing through the club, hell-bent on leaving everything around him dead.
His shouts got louder and I missed a beat. All the muscle memory in the world couldn’t make up for icy fear slipping into my system.
A single spotlight shown down on me, slowly boiling me alive, but it clicked off in that moment. Snake screamed for me, demanding me at his side. I was his show poodle, and he wanted to march me around so everyone knew that he owned me.
“You see this piece of ass? She’s mine. I saw the way you were looking at her.” Snake grabbed one of the newer brothers and punched him with every word he spoke. “You. Don’t. Look. At. Her!”
I stood next to Snake and crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t talk to him very often and I had no plans to start, so I just stood there and waited for him to dole out whatever decree he thought best.
He pulled me into his lap and ran his hands up my bare stomach until he was cupping my breasts. With a hard nip to my neck, he pushed me back off of him and stood up. “Get back on stage, Rae. I want to watch you while I show this asshole who’s boss. Don’t close your eyes this time, either. Watch me.”
I bit my tongue and went back to the stage. Arguing with him wasn’t worth it. I’d end up with a bruised face and a pissed off MC president for weeks. It was better for everyone if I just went along with what he wanted.
The spotlight came back on just as a southern rock song started playing. I kept my eyes on the wall behind Snake and moved my body. I dipped forward and tossed my head back just as the side door to the club burst open and chaos erupted.
I knew the club had been busted before, but never while I was around. I stood still as one of the brothers opened fire on the cops that ran inside the place. I heard Snake screaming at me to get down, but for a moment, I thought about what would happen if one of their stray bullets hit me. I’d finally be free of Snake.
I met his eyes from across the room and sent him the nasty smile I’d been saving up for years. Then, I closed my eyes and waited for it all to end. My heart slowed to an eerily calm beat as I tried to think of one good thing that’d happened to me in the five years since my mom had passed. I came up blank, at the same time something slammed into my body and knocked me backward on the stage.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You got a death wish, little girl?”
I looked up, into blue eyes that could’ve rivaled the brightest summer sky. The man was decked out in police gear but he didn’t look like the police officers I’d seen around town. He was beautiful. I let my head fall back onto the stage and stared up at the metal ceiling above us. So much for getting shot to escape Snake.
“You mute?”
I frowned. “If I was, that’d be a really rude thing to ask me.”
The cop actually laughed, like he was having a good time. “Keep your head down and roll toward the back of the stage.”
I shrugged, fear still not showing up as bullets flew back and forth around us. I did as he said and then found myself easily dragged off the stage and into the dressing room behind it.
He
shoved me into a bathroom and told me to stay, like some dog, before he vanished again. I rested against the wall behind me and sighed. Even though I knew how things had gotten so bad, I was still surprised by it at times.
I ended up sitting in the bathroom, waiting for the shit to settle down, for nearly an hour. When someone opened the door to look around, it wasn’t the cop with the pretty eyes. It was a smaller guy with a mustache meant for porn.
“Come on out here.”
I did as he said, expecting to be handcuffed and led away with the rest of the brothers I could see being carted off. Instead, they sat me down on the stage and handed me a jacket that read DEA.
“How old are you?”
I cut my eyes back to the porn cop. “Twenty-one.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
I bit back a smart response. “Yes.”
It looked like he wanted to ask me more questions, but the handsome cop came over and edged him out. Pretty eyes sat down next to me and stared at me with something akin to pity in his eyes. “Snake is going to be gone for a while. Unless you really want to stick around here, no one is going to make you.”
My heartbeat increased for the first time that night. I scooted forward in my seat. “How long will he be gone?”
“I’m not sure. Long enough for you to leave if you wanted to.” He looked down at the bruises on my wrist and nodded to them. “You have somewhere to go?”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, does it? As long as it’s not here. I have to get my stuff from Snake’s room. Am I free to go?”
He nodded and watched me leave.
I rushed through packing my stuff and was back at his side in minutes. “I’m gone.”
“There’s a women’s shelter downtown. I could give you a ride when I’m done here.”
I shook my head and started toward the door. “I can make it. Thanks.”
He called for me to stop and then handed me a card. “Call me if you need anything. I have a little sister your age. I’d hate it if no one offered her help if she was in your shoes.”
I tucked the card into my bag and kept going. I didn’t plan on calling him. Every time he looked at me, his pretty eyes turned sad and I hated that.
I ran to that women’s shelter, thinking Snake was going to be locked away for long enough for me to get on my feet and figure things out for myself. I had time to get a job at a local library I’d worked at when I was younger, before Snake, and start to feel a little more at ease before he found me. He wasn’t nearly as enamored with me after realizing I’d leave him as soon as I could.
Chapter 1
“What do you think of the one with the glasses?” Carly George asked as she pointed to the little bit of a man sitting at the table across from the circulation desk we stood behind. “He’s cute, right?”
I glanced up at him, and then went back to printing out a list of every single book the library was supposed to have. It was time for inventory. The main librarian, Margie, was convinced that throughout the school year, kids stole our books. As soon as summer hit, she wanted inventory done. Every year, without fail.
“Sure. He’s cute.”
“You should ask him out.”
I tossed a scowl her way and shook my head. “No, thanks. I meant he’s cute for you. I don’t date. Can you scoot over? You’re going to make the paper jam.”
She rolled her eyes at me and made a displeased noise. “You’re no fun.”
If I had a dollar for every time she said that to me, I’d be able to quit my night job. Secretly, I’d started dating a nice guy named Mark Williams. It was just so early that I didn’t want to say anything to her about it. Carly had a way of blowing up even the smallest of things.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m not fun. Got it.” I grabbed the papers from the printer and waved them at her. “I’m so not fun that I’m going to go take care of this right away. Maybe I’ll work late. Guess that means I won’t be able to come out with you later.”
Her eyes got wide and she snatched the list from me. “Oh, no you don’t. You have to come out with me tonight. No way am I going alone. The last time I did that, Jeremy Banks from my high school cornered me, and I ended up spending the night with him—at his mom’s house.”
“And that’s different from a normal night for you, how?”
Carly scoffed and shoved the papers back into my arms. “You know what? I think you need to get laid. You are meaner than a dog with rabies sometimes, I swear.”
I laughed. “Fine. I’ll just go ask Mr. Glasses over there if he’ll take me to the back and ravage me so I can find a nicer attitude.”
Someone cleared their throat from behind me and I turned to find the guy with glasses staring at me. His cheeks were going bright red and he had a death grip on the book he was holding.
I sucked in a big breath and blew it out slowly. I was just going to pretend like it never happened. “What can I do for you?”
Carly snorted and smacked my butt as she turned to leave. “I think you’re supposed to be asking him what he can do for you.”
I snarled at her and turned back to the guy. “Sorry about that. She’s not actually supposed to deal with the public. It’s a mental thing, I think.”
He looked about as uncomfortable as he could be, so I hurried through checking his book out and then apologized again before he practically ran out of the building.
I glanced over to see Carly watching with a laugh playing on her lips. It wasn’t unusual for me to make an ass out of myself if she was near. She had a way of pushing me into saying and doing outlandish things just as someone was walking by or going to speak to me.
I made a slashing motion across my neck at her and then grabbed my inventory list. If I ever wanted to get it crossed off of my to-do list, I had to start at some point.
The upper floor of the library was made to be a lounge area. It was smaller than the lower floor and the lights stayed low to create a relaxing atmosphere. I thought it was anything but, considering how many times I’d had to run teenagers out of the darker corners after catching them in the act. It was nothing that I’d ever wanted to see from children, and as I made my way to the very back of the far corner, I stiffened in preparation.
Carly would’ve loved catching them. She thought everything was funny, which could’ve explained why she was twenty-six and still trying to finish getting her degree. She loved partying and having fun, anything really, besides work. The only reason she’d found her way to the library was that her parents had threatened to stop paying for college. She was about as put together as a box of Ikea furniture, but I loved her for it. When I was too serious, she was a nice balance for me.
I peeked my head around and saw that no one was making out against any of the biographies. With a sigh of relief, I disappeared into the corner and got started. It was tedious and a pain in the ass, but it kept me away from any more potentially embarrassing situations with Carly downstairs.
I’d barely worked my way out of the corner when Carly yelled up the stairs for me. Immediately after, I heard Margie yell at her for yelling. Laughing, I made my way down to them. Margie was hanging out of her office, her long silver hair going all over the place as she glared at Carly.
“You’re a terrible fit for a library.”
Carly nodded. “I know, but you love me almost as much as you love Raelyn over there, so you’re stuck with me.”
I put my work away and made my way over to them. “You screamed?”
“It’s time to go.”
Margie rolled her eyes. “Raelyn, do something with her.”
“I could leave with her? Her being anywhere but here could really solve your problem.”
She laughed and nodded. “Go. You’ve already worked over your hours this week, anyway.”
Carly threw her arm over my shoulders and grinned. “Now, we’re going to work on her man hours.”
“If you spent half as much time on studying as you did on men, you’d have grad
uated years ago. Have a good weekend, girls.”
Laughing, I grabbed my purse from inside her office and headed out with Carly, who was still mumbling about Margie’s parting shot. “Meet me at the bar in an hour?”
She nodded. “Don’t be late or I’m giving you the less attractive guy.”
“Don’t give me any guy.”
She pretended to not hear me as she walked the opposite way as me. She lived in an updated apartment just a block away. Her parents picked up the tab, so she could afford to stay there with the little money we made at the library.
I lived six blocks south, in a part of Jackson that hadn’t been updated yet. Even with my second job, it was hard to afford it. The landlord charged more because there wasn’t a drive-by shooting nightly. The things you could charge more for when renting in the bad parts of town were astonishing.
I made my way past the small businesses and waved at the owners I knew. I’d been living in my apartment for just over a year, so I’d passed the same people daily until we’d eventually become friendly.
The closer I got to my place, the fewer open businesses there were. Vacant storefronts were broken up only by check-cashing shops and the random convenience store. No street sweepers came that far into that area, so the street was lined with trash. There wasn’t a green patch of grass as far as you could see and it became more common to see guns than it was when walking past the police station.
My apartment was over a check-cashing place that ran a laundromat in the back room. It was a small blessing. I had to hear the manager screaming at people constantly, but my home always smelled like fresh laundry.
I’d moved in after nearly a year of living in a women’s shelter. An apartment three blocks farther into the bad area, where a drive-by did happen nightly, would’ve been okay with me after a year of living with thirty other women in one large room. Before the women’s shelter, I’d lived in a motorcycle club with over a dozen older men who considered corners of the building bathrooms, so I wasn’t exactly a snob when it came to where I lived.
As it was, the little apartment looked like it’d been through a war. The walls had cracks that ran from floor to ceiling and I watched TV through my window because my neighbors living room was that close. The shower was never really hot and the fridge never stayed cold, but there weren’t roaches. Overall, I was happy enough with it.