by J. L. Leslie
Copyright 2018. J.L. Leslie. All rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes, promotions, authorized giveaways or teasers only.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
To My Mom
I want to say thank you to my readers! You mean so much to me! It is very humbling to know that you enjoy reading the words that I put down. I hope you can always find the joy in getting lost in a great book!
Thank you to my PA, Amber, for always being my sounding board and for supporting me during this endeavor. Thank you to my fan group and street team! You are all so special to me and this adventure would not be as fun without you! Some of you have even inspired a few names that are used in this book…you know who you are!
To my family, thank you for your support and love! Without that, I wouldn’t be doing this!
J.L. Leslie
Katy’s Choice
Chapter One
~Katy~
Two Years Ago…
I ease out of the bed, doing my best not to wake up Mack. His deep breathing lets me know he’s still asleep. As I get dressed, I try to remain as quiet as I can. I grab the only item I’m brave enough to take with me. My worn-out copy of A Separate Peace. It’s sentimental and silly, but Mack gave it to me on our one-year anniversary, and it’s the only good thing we have between us. I need something good from all of this.
I’ve lost my parents, my sister. It’s been almost five years since I’ve seen or spoken to them. It took me a long time to figure out why they stopped taking the money I was sending them. Why they started refusing my phone calls. It was Mack.
I don’t know how he got to the clerk where I do my wire transfers, but he did. He had to have. I’m also not crazy enough to think my family would suddenly not return my calls. I started realizing the only call that would ever go through was to him. Wallace is a master with tech stuff. He’ll do anything Mack tells him to do. Mack is the president of the Sinners.
He’s taken everything away from me. Better yet, he’s taken me away from everything. Everyone. Closed me off away from the world. I don’t exist outside this clubhouse. I barely exist inside it.
I’m finally leaving it behind. Leaving him behind. Spencer promised me she would be waiting for me. I just have to get out of here and to her. Then, I’m free. Mack stirs, and I stop moving. I even hold my breath. I can’t afford to make a sound. I may not live through another beating. I still have the bruises from the last one he gave me. I still have scars. Mack Jacobson can be downright vicious. He used to have his sweet moments, but I don’t even get a glimpse of those any longer.
I only see the man that puts his club before everything and everyone. The man who raises his hand to me for speaking to a prospect. The man who has locked me in the basement for days on end. The man I know has killed over and over.
I know he’s hiding something from me. Not the usual club business he keeps under wraps. He hasn’t been too secretive with that. Something that has him whispering on the phone when he thinks no one is around. Something that has him talking to someone named Sully. I have no idea who this guy is. Maybe a new prospect?
Regardless of who it is, I don’t want him to have any part of this club. If Mack is sneaking around to talk to him, he can only be bad news. Things around here are bad enough as it is, and only getting worse.
I stand at the door and take one last look at Mack. I used to love him. I would have done anything for him. Now, I’m running as far away as I can and hoping that I can be saved.
Present Day…
I hold my book open and take a bite from the ham sandwich I’ve yet to finish. I look up and watch Alexandria and Leon work on the old Ford pickup truck. Luka and Lincoln Varelli’s dad owns his own auto shop, and with the amount of vehicles parked outside, you would think everyone in Verdana comes to him. Apparently, they don’t mind the wait.
I’ve learned that the two brothers even come in and help him on occasion, but the cars still keep lining up outside.
“Fire it up, Sully!” Leon instructs my sister, Alexandria. Yes, she goes by the nickname Sully. To think, at one point I thought she was the dealer for the Sinners. Imagine my surprise.
I watch her climb into the driver’s seat and reach for the ignition. I have yet to get used to hearing her being called Sully, instead of Alexandria, much less calling her Sully myself. I don’t slip up that much now though. I know this is who she is now. She’s no longer Alexandria McGuire, the baby sister I grew up with. She’s Caroline Sullivan, who goes by Sully, a kickass biker chick in a motorcycle club. Wow.
Mack was sneaking around talking to her on the phone and I thought he was making deals behind his club members’ backs. I had no idea he was talking to my own sister.
The engine roars to life, causing me to jump and drop both my book and the sandwich I’m holding. Alexandria’s blue eyes find me, a sad smile on her face.
I lean down and pick up the sandwich, then go toss it in the garbage can. I’ve seen Alexandria give me this look way too many times. It’s full of sympathy. Pity.
She gave me this look when she told me our mom was in a psychiatric facility, and our dad has lost himself in the bottle. That he probably wouldn’t even recognize either of us should we decide to go home to Tennessee.
She also gave me this look when I cried my eyes out about Mack Jacobson’s death. I shouldn’t have. He wasn’t good to me for a long time, but finding out he was dead was shocking and surprisingly saddening to me. I want to believe I cried more so out of relief rather than sadness. Relief that because he’s dead, I don’t have to live in hiding any longer.
I left him two years ago. I found a friend who was willing to help me, and I left in the middle of the night. I don’t even know what became of Spencer. She wasn’t an old lady anymore, but she was far from a club whore. Her old man, Lucien, had been killed weeks before Mack had brought me to the Sinners.
I never understood why she didn’t leave after he died. She was free to go. She had no reason to stay with them, but she did. She said they would protect her, but I never knew from what, or who.
The old ladies respected her, and the club whores wanted to be her. Me? I feared her. I saw her as someone that I could never be. It was either that, or I saw her as the person I knew I could be, but was afraid to allow myself to be. Maybe she was the type of old lady I wanted to be.
After years of abuse, I was finally ready to escape. I had taken all I could stand, and I knew Mack was never letting me go. He was president of the L.A. Sinners, and at first, he shielded me from that lifestyle. The longer we were together though, the more I saw. The more I wanted to forget.
When I got the courage to run, I didn’t look back. Spencer had a friend in the Los Angeles Police Department who helped me. Protective custody isn’t as glamorous as the movies make it appear. The movies show you moving on, portraying you starting this new adventure in your life and it’s exciting and fun. You’re getting to live a new life as a new person, and sometimes that looks like fun, being able to create a new identity and fresh start.
Yes, you really do give up your life. You do become someone entirely new, but what the movies fail to portray is that if whoever you’re hiding from is still out there, it’s pretty difficult to live without looking over your shoulder. There’s absolutely nothing fun about that.
I barely left my one-bedroom house. I changed my hair color, changed my name. I went to work at the small boutique down the street,
attended therapy sessions, and came back home. I didn’t make any friends. I was too afraid to do that. I never knew who to trust.
I thought I would always live like that. Simply existing, never really living. When Griffin Knowles, the ADA of Verdana, contacted me, told me my sister was still looking for me, I felt my world shift. I may have been gone several years, but I never forgot Alexandria or my parents.
Mack made me believe for a long time that her and my parents had given up on me. That they never tried reaching out to me. They stopped taking the money I was sending, and they figured I’d moved on with my life. I lived in California and had left them all behind in Tennessee. For a while, I believed him, but the more I tried to call and couldn’t reach them, the more suspicious I became.
Then, eventually, I stopped trying to call them. I saw what Mack was capable of and I didn’t want to drag them into that. I didn’t want them coming to L.A. to try and get me away from him. I knew they wouldn’t be able to save me. Mack would never let me leave with them.
But then Griffin called me, told me Alexandria was in California. He told me I could see her. I could be Katy McGuire again. I didn’t hesitate to take him up on his offer.
So, I became me again. At least, I have tried to. It took some time, but he brought me here, reunited me with my sister. God, I wanted to allow myself to feel safe again. With him, I have. I really have. That’s the problem.
I have learned when things seem too good to be true, it’s because they are. Griffin Knowles seems like some knight in shining armor. Fairytales simply aren’t real. It doesn’t matter how badly I want to believe in them. He cannot save me and I can’t expect him to.
“Let me shower, and we can head out of here,” Alexandria tells me.
I grab my book, follow her into the house, and plop down on Leon’s sofa. A sigh escapes my throat. This just might be the most comfortable sofa I’ve ever sat on. It has that worn look, like it’s so old that you can’t really tell what year it was even fashionable.
“That’s Lincoln’s favorite spot. I swear, that boy slept on that sofa every time him and Luka got into it.”
“It’s comfortable. Sort of swallows you up.”
“Life has a way of doing that too,” he grins, settling into his recliner and turning his television on. “Not that it’s any of my business, but if life ever starts swallowing you up, you’re welcome to come get swallowed up right there instead.”
I smile at his offer. I definitely might take him up on it sometime. I rest my head back on the cushions, but I’ve only closed my eyes a few seconds when Sully emerges from the bathroom, tote in hand.
“You ready?” she asks, and I stand. We both tell Leon goodbye, then head out.
Alexandria’s driving a sleek, black Nissan Altima today, courtesy of the Ravens. The Ravens are now the only motorcycle club in Verdana. I don’t know everything that happened a few months ago, but I know there were three motorcycle clubs, and now there is only one. Something tells me there was an all-out war between the Ravens, Rykers, and Drycos. I suppose the Ravens came out on top.
I also know it’s probably only a matter of time before the Rykers and Drycos start regrouping or for another chapter of theirs to send in recruits to rebuild. It’s how things work. The war is never really over.
I settle into the passenger seat, not questioning what all she has in mind today. I know she mentioned shopping. I can ride along and pretend to be normal. This is what I want. I want to know that it’s okay for me to be out in the open. Living my life and not looking over my shoulder.
“Katy, I’m sorry the vehicle engine startled you,” she says, as we pull off. “I still find myself looking over my shoulder sometimes, and it’s been months.”
Months. I left home seven years ago. I thought I was going to live my dream life. Los Angeles. Modeling.
For a short period of time, I had it all. Then I met Mack Jacobson, and for a while, he swept me off my feet and into a whole new world I never knew existed. No amount of therapy can erase all of that, but it helped.
“When you left, I was so proud of you. My big sister was following her dream, going off into the big world to become a model. I knew you had it in you to make it. Then you called and said you met a biker and you sounded so happy. After that, your checks stopped coming to mom and dad. You stopped calling. We called, but you never answered. We looked for you, but your agent hadn’t seen you or heard from you either. Christ, we searched for so long,” Alexandria admits, and I feel my eyes filling with tears.
“I thought you had given up, Alexandria,” I whisper, but she doesn’t hear me. If she did, she would tell me to call her Sully. We’ve talked since I’ve been here, but it feels like we’ve been walking on eggshells. Like we don’t know what to say to each other when there’s so much to be said. We’ve cried. Damn, we’ve cried a lot. Maybe we’ve said all we need to say with our tears.
“I felt like I had to do something, so when the FBI agent approached me about working undercover, I jumped at the opportunity. I know the Rykers didn’t have anything do with your disappearance, but I felt that if I brought down at least one club, I was doing something to bring you justice. I’m telling you this because I need you to know that I saw some awful things while I was with the Rykers. I did some pretty awful things as well. Those things have stayed with me, and they’re never going away.”
“You’re still part of that life though. You may not be with the Rykers any longer, but Lincoln is now a Raven, and essentially, you are too.”
She nods in agreement. “I suppose I spent so much time being with the Rykers that I don’t know how to be someone else.”
I glance out the window, thumbing away the tear that trickles down my cheek. I got away from the L.A. Sinners, but I know exactly what Sully means. I don’t know how to be someone else either.
~Kane~
I put my phone away and stare down at the lifeless body on the ground in front of me. It didn’t take much to put him down. He fought a little, but the moment my blade pierced his neck, he couldn’t hold out. I can still feel his fingers gripping my flesh.
Slicing the jugular is my favorite way to take a person down. To feel their hands clinging to my arm for life, scratching and clawing against my skin. It only takes one movement to pull my blade over their flesh and feel their hot blood pumping over me, down their neck and chest. Hear them gurgle and choke on it. In seconds, they’re gone.
Keep it quiet. That was my orders from Dax. I let him know the asshole spilled everything we needed to know, and exactly what we suspected. The Rykers are regrouping. Fuck, he even said the Drycos are forming up again. I didn’t figure either one of them would stay buried too long, but I enjoyed the reprieve while it lasted.
Dax will share the intel with whoever he sees fit. I’m a Raven, and he’s my president. I follow orders. I know this fucker is a prospect for the L.A. Sinners. He was sent to see what we’ve been up to now that the Rykers and Drycos have been shut down. Looking for an in so that they can come fuck us over for the death of their president.
I didn’t even know the guy. Whatever Mack Jacobson was up to here, it had nothing to do with the Ravens. That was all Ryker business. We may have allowed one of their members into our club, but we didn’t kill the Sinners president. Still, him snooping around here can only mean one thing. They’re finally rallying up for retaliation. Shit, we’ll have three clubs to deal with pretty soon. Fuck me.
I did tell Dax that shit would happen. The moment he allowed Lincoln Varelli to switch sides, he put a target on us. I don’t blame Dax for taking him in. Not after the Rykers nearly had Lincoln killed in jail. Lincoln has earned his place as a Raven. He and his brother, Luka, both have.
I take the dead body and lie it on a tarp. I pull my bloodied shirt off, wipe the blood from my hands, and toss it down with it. I wrap the body up and secure it before putting it on the back of the truck. I tug on a fresh t-shirt, and I drive out to a secluded area and start digging. Keeping it quiet
means burying this fucker standing up. I’ll plant a tree on top of his head and help the environment prosper.
When I’m done, I’m filthy as shit and exhausted. I drive back to the clubhouse in silence. I don’t turn the radio on. When I first came to the Ravens, this task daunted me. I waited for cops to burst through our door and cuff me. They never came.
Now, it’s just another task. Another day. The bodies don’t haunt me the way they used to. The Ravens are my family, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them. If the cops do come, I won’t sing like a fucking canary.
I pull up to the place that I spend most of my time and drive around the back. I hose off the truck bed and then grab a bottle of bleach from the storage shed. I don’t take any chances.
When I come inside, a few prospects are shooting pool. Eric and Moses are playing a racing game on the PS4, and a stack of pizzas are sitting on the bar. It’s times like this that I miss Victoria’s Diner the most. Sonny always made the best food. Her getting caught in the Ravens and Rykers crossfire was uncalled for. It happens in a war like that though. Innocents are lost.
I settle on grabbing two slices of pizza and try not to reminisce on the fact that Sonny is gone and the diner is not rebuilt yet as I head to my room to take a quick shower. I refuse to go sitting around the clubhouse smelling like bleach and sweaty ass. I have no doubt I could get my cock sucked smelling this way, but I prefer my balls to be clean when they’re getting licked.
By the time I emerge from my room, the clubhouse is full. The only people missing are the members who are out on patrol and a few old ladies.
Weekends are typically like this. We don’t always throw parties, but we like to stick together. That’s why several of us live at the clubhouse. Maybe we feel that it’s safer this way. We haven’t been the only club in Verdana for very long and the prick I killed today didn’t share any news we didn’t figure would be coming.
