Royal Blood Complete Series Box Set

by August Davies

  David waved an envelope in front of my face. “I totally forgot about it.”

  “What is it?”

  “The check for the painting I sold at the art show.”

  I snatched the check from him. Twenty thousand dollars. My legs became like rubber and I had to sit down for a moment.

  “There's more where that came from. The man who bought the painting has commissioned another one from me. We're going to be all right.”

  “We're going to be all right,” I repeated.

  David was all mine. Could life get any better?

  Epilogue

  David

  Two Months Later

  “Why can't you sit still, Harley?”

  Harley squirmed in the chair, fixing his jeans and shirt. “I wasn't made to sit for paintings, David.”

  I laughed, stroking the brush along the canvas. “Yeah that's apparent.”

  I still got goosebumps whenever he said my name.

  Our wedding was a whirlwind that blew right by us. Harley wanted the wedding as soon as possible so we needed help. The Reavers MC took care of all the planning and expenses. I was really nervous about the MC planning my dream wedding. I expected leather jackets and a motorcycle to drive me down the aisle.

  But it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

  Right on the beach, the sun shining, the waves crashing in the background. I couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. White chairs were set up along the grass facing a modest altar. It was all so simple, yet elegant.

  Happiest day of my life.

  Our honeymoon was spent in a hotel room right on the water. We never even left the bed.

  “How much longer do I have to sit here?” Harley complained.

  “Almost done.” Everything looked great except for his expression. It didn't capture Harley at all.

  “Why are we even doing this today? There's so many dirtier things we could be doing.”

  I leaned over past the canvas and gave Harley a death glance. “I wanted to capture this moment.”

  “What moment? Why don't you capture the moment I come inside you? That would make for a great painting.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Keep it in your pants.”

  My hand moved independently of my body, spreading the paint across the canvas. I rarely had to actually think about what I was painting. It all came out of me naturally.

  I put the last finishing touches on the painting and stepped back to take it all in. I couldn't have done a better job.

  “Can I get up now and kiss my husband?”

  “Get over here, you dumb brute.”

  Harley rushed over and wrapped his arms around me. He showered me with kisses, choking my body with his arms. He stared at the painting, tilting his head side to side. “It actually looks like me.”

  “It came out perfectly.”

  Harley turned to me and smiled. “I'll love you forever, David.”

  “Until the end of time, Harley.”

  The End

  No More Mistakes

  Copyright 2018

  All Rights Reserved.

  Disclaimer: This ebook is a work of fiction. Any resemblance characters in this story may have to real people is coincidental.

  No section of this book may be copied or reproduced without the author's permission.

  Description

  I had big dreams once...

  Now I was worth less than nothing.

  Bryce's life couldn't get any worse. Homeless and without a penny to his name. Bryce is in need of a savior.

  Draven has only known how to solve problems with his fists. When he discovers Bryce, he's going to have to learn how to deal with his heart.

  No More Mistakes

  Chapter One

  Draven

  My knuckles crashed against the side of Paulie's head, his face swollen from my constant barrage. Piss had stained his crotch as he lay on his knees. His whimpering only made me want to hurt him more.

  Paulie was the neighborhood rat—skinny, losing hair, and always quivering with fear. Not much more than an empty suit. He knew every little piece of gossip around town and it only took a little bit of force to get him to spit out everything. My fists were clenched into wrecking balls and I wouldn't stop until I got my information.

  “Who did the job, Paulie?” I asked, cocking my arm back. “Who stole the drug shipment from the Murphy brothers?”

  “Fuck you, Draven.” Paulie spat out a bucketful of blood onto the concrete floor. His left eye was so swollen that he could barely see out of it. Why couldn't this job just be easy for once?

  “Wrong answer, Paulie.” I pummeled him with punches, his head knocking back and forth. “I'll ask you one more time.” I knelt down until we were face to face. Sweat beaded on Paulie's brow. I pulled out a switchblade and watched Paulie's eye light up as the shiny blade sprung out.

  “Come on, Draven,” Paulie pleaded. “We've been buddies for a long time. Hell, remember when your mother would bake those apple pies for the neighborhood picnics. I could almost taste 'em right now.”

  My mom's pies really were the best. The annual neighborhood picnic was the best time of the year when I was a kid. But now it was only a memory. I had no empathy for this piece of shit. “Just because we grew up in the same neighborhood doesn't make us buddies, Paulie. Now tell me who stole the drugs and I won't cut out your eye.”

  Snot bubbles grew out of his nose as he breathed in and out. “Oh God. Oh God. I don't know, Draven. I swear it!”

  “Wrong answer.” I grabbed the back of Paulie's hair and craned his neck back. I put my knife just below his eye, the blade cutting into his cheek and drawing blood. This job could get pretty gruesome at times. But I was damn good at it.

  “No! No!” Paulie screamed. “I'll tell you what I know.” He knew I wasn't bluffing about cutting out his eye. I had done it to a guy in the neighborhood before.

  I lifted the blade from his cheek but kept it close. “I'm all ears, Paulie.”

  Paulie took a deep breath and wiped his runny nose. “I know it was a dealer but I don't know his name. Heard some junkie talking about him and his big score.”

  I put my knife right back to his eye. “You better be fucking telling me the whole truth.”

  Paulie cowered in fear. He was so pathetic. “I swear it!”

  “Who's this junkie?” I asked, digging the knife into his cheek. It might be faster if I just cut his eye and got it over with. Paulie would tell me every secret he's ever kept. But then who would be the rat the next time around?

  Paulie winced from the pain. “Some addict that lives on the twentieth floor in the abandoned building on Luther Ave.”

  “What's hid name?”

  Paulie shut his right eye while his swollen one remained closed. “Uh....Bryce. Yes! Bryce was his name. Pretty sad story if you ask me. He was probably a male model before the drugs.”

  I released Paulie's hair from my grip and carefully put my switchblade back in my pocket. “See, that wasn't too bad. Now, I hope you're telling the truth because I'd hate to have to come back here and carve you up.”

  “I wouldn't tell you a lie, Draven.” Paulie slumped over with tears in his eyes. Next time he'd be more forthcoming.

  I left the rat and hopped into my black Dodge Charger sitting outside. I put the key in the ignition and my baby roared to life—the one sound that made me feel at peace. I gripped the steering wheel and my bloody knuckles were all torn apart. I would need to put some bandages on later. Especially if the bosses made me do another job.

  I worked for the Murphy brothers as an enforcer doing the dirty work that nobody else wanted to deal with. I was good with my fists and never dreamed of doing anything else. The money was good and the hours even better. I'd rather go to jail than rot in a nine-to-five job.

  I parked outside the Murphy's Pub and locked the car. The sun was barely overhead but I needed a drink after that meeting with Paulie. I looked around at my surroundings, scanning the cro
wds for any danger. My job could be pretty hazardous and the Murphy's Pub had seen its fair share of drive-by shootings. When the coast was clear, I entered the bar.

  Harrison was behind the bar, cleaning glasses with a white rag. His handle-bar mustache made him look like a bartender from those old western movies. “Give me the usual, Harrison.” I sat down at the bar as Harrison put a bottle of Jack Daniels in front of me. The alcohol burned nicely on the way down. It was already taking the edge off.

  “How's my favorite motherfucker doing?” a loud Irish accent asked.

  I turned my head to the side to see the younger Murphy brother, Ian. He was already bald but it didn't faze him. He would have shaved his head anyways. Five gold rings sat on each finger of his right hand. You never wanted to take a right hook to the face from Ian unless you wanted imprints of all five rings in your flesh.

  “I'm one step closer to finding the guy who stole the drug shipment.” I took a swig from the bottle and let it slowly drain down my throat.

  Ian slapped me on the back and took a seat next to me. “What did our little rat cough up this time?”

  “Paulie didn't have a name for me but knows a drug addict who was talking about the heist.”

  Harrison put an empty glass in front of Ian and filled it with whiskey. Ian downed it all in one gulp. “You do whatever it takes, Draven. I want my drugs back and I want this mess cleanly thrown away.”

  “Don't worry about it, boss. I got it under control.” I was confident I'd have this all cleaned up by tomorrow.

  Ian held my face in his palms and kissed me on the mouth. Some sort of Irish thing but I'd gotten used to it. “Don't let us down,” he told me. Ian left and the stench of cigarettes still lingered in the air.

  Ian was the entire reason I was in this business to begin with. After my mom passed away, my father didn't want the burden of raising me so he sent me off to a boarding school when I was ten. I was a scrawny kid with no meat on the bones. The other kids used to call me noodle boy and beat the shit out of me. I used to walk around the halls with black eyes and bruises. The headmaster never even gave me a second look.

  That all changed when I met Ian and his brother Russel. For some reason they took me under their wing and taught me how to stand up for myself. They probably felt sorry for me. I learned how to not only throw a punch but how to take one. Soon enough the Murphy brothers and I were running the boarding house. A boy couldn't even go to the bathroom without our permission.

  Those were the best times. When we felt like kings of the world. Like nothing could stop us. Then we were put out in the real world and had to fend for ourselves. We had to beg, borrow, and steal but the Murphys finally built themselves an empire with me at their side.

  But the bigger the empire grew, the more problems we had to deal with. More people wanted a piece of our pie and it took all we had to protect it.

  This latest with the drug shipment stolen was just another in a string of thefts. If what Paulie said was true, then the Murphys were taken by a common drug dealer. If word got out, every Dick and Jane would try to steal from us. I had to finish this.

  I took one more drag on the whiskey bottle and filled up my flask. I had a long day ahead of me and only booze would get me through it. I winked at Harrison and left him a tip.

  –

  The building on Luther Ave had been abandoned for some time. All the windows had been broken or shot out. Vines were creeping up the sides, making it more like an urban jungle. It used to be the shining center of what was supposed to be the new business district in the city. But the group ran out of money and the building and the district were never finished.

  I entered the tower through the opening at the bottom where two large doors used to be. Bums littered the giant lobby that would have been magnificent if it was ever completed. I carefully stepped over each one until I got to the elevators. I pressed the button and cursed aloud when I realized that the elevators weren't operational. I opened the door to the stairway and started my way up.

  Twenty flights of stairs later and my legs and feet were burning in hot lava. Sweat poured down my face and dripped onto the floor. Drinking all that whiskey was probably a poor choice. This guy better know some info.

  I walked into the hallway and peeked my head in the open doors. The place was exactly what you would expect of a drug den. Stained mattresses lay in every room and that was the only furniture. The place reeked of pee and shit probably because the toilets didn't work. Most of the addicts I passed by were all men, gazing up at the ceiling with bands tied around their arms.

  I came to a room at the end of the hallway with a man laying down on a mattress. He was a little younger than me with jet black hair. His jeans and t-shirt were all ripped apart. I could see what Paulie meant when he said he could be a hot piece of ass if it wasn't for all the drugs.

  He would have definitely been one of those men I'd take home and fill with every drop of my seed. But not this shell of a human being in front of me.

  Bryce

  It had only been a few hours since my last fix and my body was already screaming at me for more. I checked under the mattress and pulled out my little baggy of gray powder. There was only enough for one last taste. I'd have to figure out a way to get more tonight or else I'd probably die. My money was all gone and I was too weak to try and steal more.

  Tonight I'd have to do unmentionable things to get more smack. I didn't even want to know what I looked like anymore. My little room here didn't have a mirror and I didn't care to find out. I'd never been with a man before and I had kept my body untouched all the way through college. But now I was ready to throw it all away for just one more fix.

  I emptied the contents of the baggy carefully onto my silver spoon. Had to make sure I didn't waste any by spilling it. I pulled out my lighter from my back pocket and tried to trigger it. My shaking hands were getting worse but I was finally able to light it. The heroin bubbled on the spoon and I knew it was ready.

  Injecting was the best high—straight into the veins. It was the only way to fly. I took my syringe and soaked up all the smack from the spoon before piercing my arm. I didn't even bother taking the syringe out before I fell back on the mattress in a blaze of glory. Life never felt this good before.

  Reality faded away and I found myself back at that same college party a couple years back—the first time I ever got a taste of drugs. My entire life I had been such a perfect student, always studying and getting good grades. Everything changed when I went to college and met my roommate, Nathan.

  Nathan was the complete opposite of me. He didn't come to college to get good grades. No, Nathan wanted to party and fuck as many girls as possible. But that was his choice. It didn't have to be mine.

  The first semester, I played the good student and kept to myself. Nathan would nag me to go out with him and I'd always said no. My parents had spent their entire savings to get me to college and I wanted to make them proud.

  That was all true but deep down I was scared to death. I never really had any friends growing up and I was terribly frightened of going to a party. What would I even talk about with strangers?

  Once the semester was over, I didn't have anymore excuses left. It was the last night before everyone went back home for winter break and Nathan was talking about some huge party being thrown by Alpha Beta Kai—the biggest bro fraternity on campus.

  “Tonight is the big night, Bryce. You're finally going to a party with me,” Nathan stated.

  I laughed him off and shook my head. “I have a lot of packing to do tonight. My parents are picking me up in the morning.” I placed my neatly folded clothes into a suitcase.

  “Not going to work this time. You're coming with me or I'll drag you there myself.” Nathan grabbed the clothes out of my suitcase and threw them back in my drawers. “You'll have plenty of time to pack. Now let's go.”

  I stood there, my feet firmly planted on the ground. It would take a bulldozer to get me to move. But really all it
took was Nathan's hand grabbing mine and pulling me out the door.

  We came to a giant mansion with the fraternity letters nailed to the front door. The music was screaming from inside and there were already drunk people littered all over the front lawn. We walked inside to find the place filled to the brim with people. People squeezed through the crowds with their red cups raised above their heads to avoid spilling.

  “Want something to drink, Bryce?” Nathan asked, swaying side to side to the music.