His Ride or Die : Sons of Lost Souls MC Book Three

by Ellie R. Hunter

Glaring at him, he shuts his mouth and he and Mason disappear into what I think is the kitchen.

  “I don’t know how she is, we were told to come and check on you. She wants to know you’re okay.”

  “That’s it?”

  The front door slams so hard the walls shake with the vibrations, but she doesn’t move.

  “From what I know, all she wanted to know was you were okay.”

  “Bullshit. If she went to the Lost Souls, something is wrong.”

  Dropping to her knees, she pulls a small box out from underneath the nightstand and dumps the contents into a backpack from the wardrobe.

  “Looks like I’m going home.”

  Nina

  Do I care that Joey is a cheating, lying asshole? No. I care more that he treated me for a fool and thought he could bring another woman into my home. The home I paid rent on, the home I paid all the bills for and the home I cooked in and cleaned while he contributed nothing. I hate him for that. Men are assholes and I’m coming to terms that I’m not one of those people that will ever be happy in love. Joey fell in and out of my life for six years. I first met him when I went for a job working for his grandmother and now I’m wishing away the last six years.

  I don’t believe I will be unhappy being single or crave someone to spend my life with. I could be happy on my own and by the looks of things, I have no choice, my taste in men suck.

  As I lock the front door, I don’t know if I’ll come back here. There is no way my mom would go to the town’s biker club unless something big was happening. She was friends with Alannah because who wouldn’t be, she’s nice as pie according to my mom.

  The three Lost Souls who invited themselves into my home are by their bikes and I notice Joey’s car is gone. The prick didn’t even try to fight for me, not that I would’ve given him a second chance.

  “It looks like your ride is gone,” one half of the twins calls over.

  “No shit,” I mutter, then say more clearly, “I’ll get a bus, I should be in Willow’s Peak in three days.”

  Even though the thought of sitting on a hot, stuffy bus full of people fills me with dread, I’ll do it because my mom needs me, I don’t know what’s going on, but I know something is happening for her to bring Lost Souls to my door. Adjusting my bag straps over my shoulders, I set off.

  “We’ll make it back in a day and a half,” the dark-haired guy shouts.

  “How nice for you, you want to show off a little more before I drag my ass to the bus station?”

  The corner of his mouth pulls up as he walks over to me. Aside from the leather cut and the patches he wears, it’s his dark eyes that trap me into not being able to look away from him.

  “I mean, you can ride with us.”

  Frowning, their bikes are intimidating and the last time I was on the back of one, I didn’t care if I lived or died. I was a silly teenager who had no cares in the world.

  “How do you propose I ride with you?”

  “You can jump on behind me, I’ll get you home safe.”

  That means being so close to him I’ll have to hold onto him the whole time we’re on the road. I don’t even hesitate to answer.

  “Okay.”

  I walk beside him not thinking about how I’m going to be back in the town I grew up in but haven’t been back to in six years.

  I said goodbye to my life there and made a new life away from everything I knew, now I’m letting myself think of it, it’s surreal I’m going home when I never thought I would again.

  The twins are ready to go when the dark-haired guy swings his leg over his bike and hands me a helmet.

  “I’m Nina by the way,” I say and then cringe, he already knows who I am.

  “I’m Zach and they’re Mason and Myles.”

  He ignores my blunder and doesn’t point out who is who with the twins. It shouldn’t matter, I probably wouldn’t remember who was who.

  “You’ll have to hold onto me and lean with me when we take corners…”

  “I’ve been on a bike before, if you want me to hold you, you just have to say, treacle.”

  I don’t think before I speak, when he laughs, I relax, not that I knew I was tense, and the twins look over like they’ve never heard him laugh before.

  Climbing on behind him, he shifts so I can settle against him and he smells so good. A weird combination of leather, smoke and very faint cologne.

  My house soon disappears as he tears up the street, the two other guys follow behind us and we’re off.

  After stopping for gas and a lunch break, they pulled over and decided to pull in at the next motel that comes up. I don’t have an input, I’m just here for the free ride home, which he rides hard and fast and I love it. The freedom he offers on his bike is addictive.

  The sun is setting when a motel appears in the distance and I’m almost disappointed we won’t be riding under the stars. That seems almost dangerously romantic. It almost makes me forget that I ran from Willows Peak because of Vincent Anderson. For my mom to seek me out it has to be serious, she wouldn’t put me in danger. I push out the thought of him as Zach pulls into the motel parking lot, and I’m quick to hop off before he does.

  He walks off, leaving me with the twins and they say nothing as they both stare at me. Their light brown hairs are both pulled back and they both have the same tattoo on their necks. It makes me wonder if they share more identical tattoos on their bodies.

  “Have I got something on my face?” I blurt out.

  “You have a pretty face,” one of them says.

  “Thank you, you’re both the lookers too, pretty boy.”

  “Pretty boy?” he snorts and the other one carries on staring. I can already tell one is the serious brother and the other is the joker. It must be their balance.

  “What would you have done if we hadn’t shown up? Would you have really cut his dick off?”

  “I doubt I would have been successful, he probably would’ve gotten bored and fought back, but I would have tried, hopefully made bit of a mess of him.”

  God, I wanted to do more than make a mess of him. I wanted to hurt him. I turn my back on them and bump into Zach’s chest. I step back, and he hands over a key.

  “You’re in room five and we’re in six. Get some sleep tonight, we’re leaving early in the morning. You should be home by tomorrow night.”

  Sounds good to me. The three of them walk off in front of me and I drag behind, hiking my bag up on my shoulder.

  The room itself is small and dingy but it doesn’t smell bad and the sheets look clean. I try not to think about the cleanliness of the place too much or I won’t be able to touch anything.

  My mom has had the same phone number for years and as I dig out my phone, I still can’t bring myself to call her. It’s been six years and the fear of putting her in danger still stops me. I’ll wait and speak to her when we’re face to face.

  Dumping my bag on the bed, I dig out everything I need and go for a shower. The motel might be dingy, but the water pressure is pretty decent. Hanging my head, I let the water beat down my back and I stand there till the water goes cold.

  Surprisingly there is a blower and when I flick the switch, it works. I take my time drying my hair and throw it up on my head when I’m done.

  I dress in the clothes I came in, but with clean underwear and wonder what the hell to do when someone knocks at the door.

  I throw on my sweater and spy through the peep hole and I see Zach. I open up and he’s holding a pizza box and two bottles of water.

  “The twins went and got food, they got you a cheese pizza, they didn’t know what you liked.”

  He’s rambling and it’s the cutest thing ever.

  “Cheese is fine, thank you and thank the twins for thinking of me. How much do I owe them?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he says, shaking his head.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  He turns and heads towards his room and I shut the door and the smell
of food hits my stomach hard. My mouth salivates, and I grab the tv remote and sink down on the bed to eat.

  In the blink of an eye, it’s four am and I’ve slept through the evening and the pizza box is now shoved to the bottom of the bed.

  This time yesterday I was also awake, thinking over my next move concerning Joey.

  He was so good looking to me when we first met, he made me laugh and he made me forget all the stresses of each day and all the craziness I ran from in Willows Peak. He was also annoying and could be lazy unless he had something he wanted to do, then he was all full of energy. One thing I didn’t put him as was a cheater.

  I thought he was too lazy to cheat, especially with someone who wasn’t known to us. Who knows where he found her. Seeing her on top of him on our bed was the icing on the cake. Not one bit of me regrets yanking her off him by her hair and punching her in her smug face. Regardless if he didn’t tell her about me, there was a large photo of me and Joey together beside the bed, surely that was enough for her to question, or like I thought, she simply didn’t care.

  It wasn’t her first time in my bed, it all started a week ago when I craved an early night and Joey was throwing a bitch fit because he wanted to change the sheets, I told him to stop being so dramatic and then I smelled perfume. It took everything I had to keep my mouth firmly closed. I bided my time and this morning, or yesterday morning, I learned what I have been imagining for the last seven days.

  I wish I had dug the spade into his dick, disabled him from ever finding pleasure again.

  Am I hurt that he didn’t have as genuine feelings for me like he said he did, no I’m not.

  I’m pissed with myself for ever thinking he was better than he really was. I should have known better, much better. A chill creeps over me and instead of climbing under the sheets, I’m still dressed from last night and I put my shoes back on. I pack everything away and dump the pizza box in the small trash can. I’m ready to leave when the bikers are, and I open the door as the sun begins to rise. Hopefully the diner across the street is open this early.

  I take four steps out of my room, closing the door behind me when I find Zach sat quite comfortably on an old rackety looking chair, smoking what smells to me like a joint.

  “Are you getting high at six in the morning?”

  “I’m always high, this is me topping up,” he grins.

  “That sounds dangerous for you to be riding all this way?”

  “I know what I’m doing, darlin’.”

  I take in his dark eyes and he doesn’t look ‘high’. In fact, if I didn’t see him smoking the stuff I wouldn’t have guessed he was a pot head.

  Leaning on the railings, this place definitely looks better when we arrived in the dark last night. Under the night sky you couldn’t see the dirt on the windows and on the doors, you couldn’t see the trash blowing around in the soft winds and the empty pool with broken tiles was hidden from sight.

  “Did my mom say anything when she asked for your help?”

  “She went to my president, all I know is she wants to know you’re doing okay. I don’t think she’s expecting you to high tail it back to town.”

  “Oh, I don’t think she’ll be surprised at all.”

  Their bikes catch my eye and they look good. Zach’s is bigger than the twins’ bikes and I smile. Is he compensating for something with that huge machine? Looking at him from the corner of my eye, I must be wrong, he doesn’t act like he compensates for anything.

  He pulls on the blunt and the cherry doubles in size, he dashes it to the ground by his boot and grinds it into the ground.

  “Were you high when I was on the back of your bike yesterday?”

  Sighing, he stands and takes a step closer to me.

  “I’m no higher or lower than I was yesterday, or last week, or last fucking month. If you don’t feel safe with me now, climb on behind Mase or Myles, I’m sure they won’t kick you off.”

  Before I can argue with him, not because I want to be on such a dangerous machine while he’s under the influence, but because I like to push it, his phone rings and he groans when he sees who’s calling him.

  “Yeah?” he grunts in answer, pressing the phone to his ear.

  Silence follows as he listens to whoever is on the other end of the line.

  “We’re leaving soon.”

  More silence.

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  He hangs up and he’s now tense.

  “Where were you going when you came out?” he asks.

  “I was going to see if the diner is open, I’m hungry.”

  His digs around in his pocket and pulls out two twenty-dollar bills.

  “Bring us something to eat and three coffees, one black, two with cream.”

  He hands over the cash and I push it away.

  “It’s okay, I’ve got this. Is there anything particular you want? I mean, do you have the munchies or something?”

  “Ha-ha. Just coffee for me, thanks. I’m going to wake the twins, don’t be long.”

  His arm brushes against mine as he passes me to open his door and the bossy biker doesn’t look back as he yells Mason’s name and kicks the door shut behind him.

  It’s stupid of me to think he’d look back and I have no idea where that thought came from. Shaking my head, I glance over at the diner and my stomach growls.

  Zachery

  Willow’s Peak has never looked so good and it’s amazing to be home. We heard on the road that we’re off lockdown as long as we ride in groups and none of us go off alone. I’m starting to believe Nina Rollins is our good luck charm. We haven’t seen one Black Crow on our ride home and the streets are quiet as we ride to her mother’s house.

  I’ll be glad to get rid of her. I didn’t mind her on the back of my bike, but since she caught me smoking weed, she’s stuck to the twins, swapping on the back of their bikes and has ignored me, that, I didn’t like so much.

  We pull up outside the address we were given, and the front door flies open before we can come to a full stop.

  Rose from the diner holds herself back in the shade on her porch and I climb off my bike and follow Nina up the garden path.

  The twins don’t bother turning their engines off and Rose can’t wait to get her arms around her daughter.

  “I told them I didn’t need you back, but I heard the bikes and I knew you had returned,” she beams.

  “Hey, momma, what’s going on?”

  “It’s good news for you, Florentina!” she exclaims.

  Florentina? Nice name, not that it was on her information sheet.

  She pulls back from her mom and avoids looking at me.

  “Momma, this is Zach. He brought me home.”

  Jerking my chin in their direction, I accept her smile as gratitude and step back.

  “I’ll let Cas know his end of the deal is done.”

  “Yes, yes. Thank you, thank you so much.”

  She leads Nina inside and she doesn’t look back once. Heading for my bike, Mason chuckles and shakes his head.

  Ignoring his ass, we head for the club and I look forward to getting some sleep and smoking without anyone passing judgement. The last couple of nights having to listen to the twins’ snore and my own nightmares have been draining.

  The club is quiet, and you can already feel JJ’s absence. While the twins slope off somewhere I don’t care to know about, I slip onto a stool at the bar.

  I’m tired as fuck but to make sure I stay asleep, I’ll need a drink to help. It’s not long before the stool beside me is taken by someone. My supposed father.

  “Your mom would like it if you went and saw her,” he says.

  “I’m sure she would.”

  “This is getting old, son.”

  Son? What a joke. Where’s my fucking drink?

  “Remind me how you felt the moment I came into the world,” I snap.

  I catch his sigh and snort.

  “You know I can’t, but I can tell you how I felt when y
ou came into my life.”

  “Save it. I’ve been riding for days, I’m fucking tired. I’m not dealing with this bullshit tonight.”

  I don’t forget about my drink the prospect took his sweet ass time getting for me and push away from the bar. I head to my room and fall onto my bed, kick my boots off and throw my arm over my eyes. I block the world out and fall asleep.

  PAST

  “Please, Zach. Why can’t you do this one thing for me?”

  Fucking hell. India is annoying as hell. It should be against the law for little sisters to enter your bedroom with or without permission.

  “I’ll call dad, he’ll tell you to do it and then you’ll get a lecture on looking after little old me,” she grins, sarcastically.

  It should be against the law for daughters to have their dads wrapped around their fingers too.

  “Fine.”

  Kicking my legs over the edge of my bed, I can’t believe I’m falling for this shit. My shoulder is itching to fuck from the new tattoo I got yesterday and I’m high as the stars in the sky.

  “Is that a new tattoo?”

  “Yeah, what about it?”

  “Nothing, jeez, Zach. Chill out.”

  She’s annoying me so much I don’t remember what she wanted in the first place.

  “What do you want again?”

  “I need you to open dad’s safe, I need to get my birth certificate.”

  Out on the landing, the safe is nailed down to the floor in the storage cupboard. Typing in the twelve-digit code, the door springs open and India pushes in front of me to get her birth certificate. In her haste, a bunch of papers drift to the floor and I’m the one to bend down and pick them up. It wouldn’t occur to her to clean up after herself. Pampered princess.

  “Oh, hold on. This is yours.”

  She shoves the paper in my hand, taking the papers from my hand in return. Once she’s found what she’s looking for, she disappears into her room and slams the door after her.

  Spoilt brat.

  Intrigue washes over me and I open the folder my birth certificate is in. I don’t know what possesses me to read it. I have had no inclination to ever read it before, but something tonight draws me in and I have to read it three times when I read the section for the father. My dad’s name, Slade McCarthy, isn’t there. The pile of papers India discarded draws my attention and I flick through them until it registers what I’m seeing.