Reckless (Deathstalkers MC Book 9)

by Alexis Noelle

  By: Alexis Noelle

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2018 Ashley Piscitelli

  Photo by Lindee Robinson

  All rights Reserved. No parts of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter without written permission from the author, except for inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, establishments, organizations, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously to give a sense of authenticity. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be given away to another person except when loaned out per lending program. If you’re reading this and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then it was pirated illegally. Please purchase a copy of your own and respect the hard work of this author.

  Table Contents

  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

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Anarchy Preview

  Prologue

  Carly

  Three months ago

  “Carly, I need to talk to you.” Tony’s voice is flat.

  I walk over to him, bracing myself for another conversation about what I’m doing wrong and what he needs me to change. I try so damn hard to please him, but it’s like once I fix one thing, three others break.

  “I want a divorce.”

  My breath catches in my throat and I suddenly feel like a huge weight is pressing down on my chest. “What? Why?”

  He shakes his head. “Because I don’t want you anymore. You obviously have no idea how the hell to make me happy and I’m done waiting for you to figure it out.”

  My mind races. This can’t be happening. I have been with Tony since high school. He’s the only man I ever really cared about. “There has to be something I can do to fix this.”

  He laughs. “If you haven’t been able to fix this shit over the past few years, how do you plan to do it now?”

  “I—I don’t know.” I take a step toward him and wrap my arms around him. “Please, just let me try.”

  He pulls my arms off of him. “We’ll see. At this point, I won’t hold my breath.”

  ***

  One week later

  I check the time on my phone and bite my bottom lip in anticipation and nervousness. Tony should be home any minute. My mind drifts to the plan I set up downstairs, and I hope he likes his surprise.

  It's Valentine's Day, and he had to work. He works at a hospital and doesn't usually get home until four in the morning. We've been fighting lately and with his threat of divorce last week, things just haven't been the same, so I thought I might try to surprise him.

  I went out today and got some of his favorite chocolate and whiskey. They’re arranged on our living room table with a card. I picked out one talking about how after all these years and all the struggles, he’s still the man I love and want to spend my life with. At the bottom of the card, I wrote a note:

  Some say to fight your cravings; tonight I want you to indulge.

  Whiskey, chocolate, and sex.

  Come upstairs…

  I hear the door open and close downstairs. Taking a deep breath, I stand up, positioning myself in front of the bed. I bought a new piece of lingerie for tonight which I haven't done in years. It's red lace, the top wrapping around my neck with just small pieces of fabric covering my breasts. The lace continues covering my torso, and only about half covers my butt. I feel so good about myself for the first time in a long time. I want tonight to be a turning point for us.

  The creak of the stairs has my breath speeding up, and as the door opens, Tony is standing there, but I can't read the expression on his face. "Shit," is all he says but the tone of his voice doesn't ease my nerves.

  "Happy Valentine’s Day," I say in the sexiest voice I can manage with the tension.

  “Fuck, you need to put this on.” He grabs my robe off of the bedroom door and tosses it to me. I catch it but don’t make a move. I feel frozen.

  “I’m serious, Carly. You need to cover yourself up.” He walks over to the closet and kicks off his shoes.

  Any confidence I had in myself rushes out of my body. I slip the robe on and sit down on the edge of the bed. I dare a glance over at him, and he's just standing there looking at me.

  "I can't keep pretending like this with you. I've been having an affair, and I made the decision tonight that I'm choosing to pursue that. I know you don't have anywhere to go right now, so I don't expect you to leave tonight. We are over though." He walks out of the room, and I hear the sink turn on as well as the sound of him brushing his teeth.

  I can’t even process what he just said to me. I must have heard him wrong. There must be something else going on.

  He walks back into the room and stops once he sees me. "I'm tired from working all night. If you aren't going to sleep, you need to go downstairs." He climbs into bed and slips under the sheets.

  “I just…I don’t understand.” It’s all I can manage.

  A loud groan comes from him as he sits up. "You don't understand what? How I could want to move on? Our sex life is fucking terrible. We fight all the time.

  “Most importantly, I'm just not attracted to you anymore. I can't keep pretending like I am, like I want to kiss you or tell you I love you. I don't." His tone is so flat and uncaring.

  Tears start to fall from my eyes although the pain and sadness still aren’t there. I’m completely numb and confused. “How did this all happen? How long?”

  "Not that it matters, but it's been about a month. We work together, we've had sex several times there since she gets done with her shift sooner than me. I haven't been going out with the guys. I've been seeing her." I look over at him, barely able to see through my tears. "I really like her, and it's not fair to her that I stay with you."

  "Not fair to her?" I say quietly. "What about me!" I scream, and he jumps.

  “I don’t know what to tell you. Things have been shitty for a long time. That’s why I’ve been such an asshole lately. I honestly thought you’d have enough respect for yourself to just leave.”

  The pain is starting to come. It feels like a knife stabbing me and dragging down my heart, completely tearing me apart.

  “Shit is done. You can’t save it. I’m tired. Go to bed or go downstairs.” He lays back down and turns away from me.

  I stand up, my legs shaky and reach for the doorknob.

  "Carly?" he says my name, and it hurts, but I almost want him to say that he was just kidding and he really does love me.

  I turn back to him.

  “Shut off the light.” Then he’s gone as he pulls the covers over his head. I silently cry as I reach for the light. Flipping it off, I walk out of the room and quietly shut the door.

  I stand in the hallway for God knows how long.

  “I can hear you! I’m trying to fucking sleep!” His voice booms from behind
the door and I jump.

  I didn't even know I was making noise. My feet carry me down the stairs while the rest of me feels as if it's in another world. Almost like I'm watching myself and praying none of this is real.

  I grab my car keys and walk out of the house, the cold ground under my bare feet.

  I don’t know where I’m going, but I need to get out of that house.

  I pull out of the driveway.

  Looking up, I see our bedroom window, and everything goes black.

  Chapter One

  Carly

  “Hey girl, you ready?” Jess calls from the living room.

  I take a look at myself in the mirror, barely recognizing the girl looking back at me. I'm wearing a black crop top that has lace over my boobs, so there's very little left to the imagination. The jean skirt I'm wearing is distressed and stops about an inch below my butt. My knee-high boots make me about six inches taller, but scare me because I don’t know how much I’ll actually be able to walk in them. My makeup is heavy and dark, accentuating my round eyes and full lips. My silver hair is crimped in waves, framing my face.

  This is so far from the shy heartbroken girl I was three months ago.

  My bedroom door opens, and Jess is standing there tapping her foot. "Holy shit. They'll love you."

  I turn toward her, fighting the need to cover myself. “I’m gonna stick out like a sore thumb.”

  "Yeah, for all the right reasons. Let's get out of here; we can't be late." She grabs my hand and pulls me out of the room.

  Jess works for the local MC club. By ‘works,’ I mean she basically sleeps with the brothers and they take care of her…well. At first, I thought she was crazy but the more she talked to me about it I started to reconsider. She goes to parties, has hot men make her happy, and has whatever she needs provided to her. I know that technically makes her a prostitute, but she doesn't care.

  After Tony completely shattered me, I never thought I'd want to even look at another man. I was hit by another car while I was backing out of the driveway. Tony called Jess when the ambulance came. He didn't even come to the hospital or check in on me. Jess was there when I woke up, I just had a concussion, and they released me the next day.

  I've been staying with her ever since, but I've been a zombie.

  I couldn’t eat, couldn’t drink anything but the water she forced on me.

  After about a week I had passed out, and the ambulance came to get me. They said that I was starving my body and if I kept it up, my organs would start to fail, and my heart would be too weak to function. I made Jess a promise that day to start taking care of myself. I didn't though. I would force a few bites here and there in front of her, but when she would leave, I'd feel sick and immediately throw it up.

  My clothes started falling off of me, and when I stepped onto the scale and saw that I had lost thirty-five pounds in one month, I knew it wasn't healthy, but I didn't know how to fix it. I woke up one day to find someone I didn't know in the living room. Jess had called her cousin who was a psychologist; she told me that I either talk to her or she was checking me into a hospital. I knew she probably couldn't do that but seeing the fear and pain in her eyes that I was causing was enough to make me speak to her.

  Harley was amazing, and the more I talked to her, the more I felt like I could eventually get back to the old me. The problem was I didn’t want to be that girl. I wanted to be a stronger version of myself. Someone who would have never stayed in an abusive relationship because she thought he’d eventually start treating her right.

  Now I’m here, months later. My blonde hair dyed a striking silver and getting ready to sign up to be a plaything for a bunch of rowdy men. At first, I didn't understand, Jess said this made her feel powerful, or strong. She told me that when you walk in and you can feel the desire from every man around you, it's like no other rush you've ever experienced.

  The car pulls up to a metal gate and Jess waves to the guy guarding the gate. He gives her a nod and opens it for us. His eyes focus on me for a minute and his tongue darts out to lick his lips.

  I take a deep breath trying to convince myself that I’m not batshit crazy for doing this.

  “Just relax. You’ll be fine and have the time of your life. We’ll head in and grab a drink to loosen you up.” She nudges me with her elbow and then gets out of the car.

  I shake my nerves out a bit before following her. Walking in the large main room reminds me of an empty warehouse, except it’s far from empty. People line the room, many of them gathered by a bar that stretches across a long wall.

  Jess takes my hand and guides me to a group of women dressed pretty similar to me. All of their eyes turn to me, most of them uninviting.

  “Cheeks, this is Cece.” Jess waves her hand at me. I asked her to introduce me as that because I don’t want to be myself here. Carly Ferguson wouldn’t be caught dead here, Cece is a whole different story.

  "You look sweet; they'll love you." She gives me a quick smile before turning to Jess. "Give her a rundown of the rules. We got a birthday tonight, so it'll be a little crazy."

  "Okay." Jess turns to face me. "There aren't that many rules. See those chicks over there with the jackets on?" Her head nods toward a corner, and I see a group of about fifteen women all wearing leather jackets with the same patch on it. "Those are the old ladies, they all have a brother they belong to. Those guys are generally off limits, and most of them hate us. You can't say no to a brother even if you want a different one, that's a huge one. Do what you're told, and don't ask too many questions. Other than that, there isn't much to know. Let's go grab a drink before things get crazy." She grabs my hand and starts to lead me to the bar when an ape of a man stands in front of us.

  “Hey, Jess.” His voice is deep.

  "Hey, Brick." Her voice is higher than it usually is, and I almost laugh.

  “Who’s your friend?” He nods toward me.

  "This is Cece; she's new. We were just about to grab a drink if you want to join us." Her hand strokes his arm, and he looks at her with desire in his eyes. I'm taken aback because I've never had a man look at me like that.

  “Later. For now, I want to borrow your friend." Jess's shoulders slump in disappointment. "Not like that, sweet cheeks." He smacks her ass and she giggles. I can't control the laugh that slips out. "It's Wrench's birthday, and I'm thinking some fresh meat is just the thing to pull him out of his funk.” He starts to walk away and then stops. “You coming new girl?” he says without even turning around.

  "Go!" Jess whispers to me.

  Taking a breath, I follow him, my heels clicking against the floor. We go down a long hallway with doors on both sides. Stopping halfway down he bangs his fist on a door.

  “Fuck off!” a loud voice yells from inside.

  He looks down at me with a chuckle. "Oh yeah, you're definitely what he needs. Coming in fucker, whether you like it or not."

  The door opens, and the room is dark except for the glow of five different computer monitors mounted on the wall farthest from us. A man sits in a chair with his back to us. "What part of fuck off do you not understand?" The deep voice almost sounds like it came from an animal.

  "Calm down, brother; I brought you a present. This here is Cece."

  He turns around, and his eyes focus on me. The slow way they drag up and down my body makes me want to cover myself and run away. I don't though, I stand there and try to force out as much confidence as I can manage.

  His face has stubble on it, and his dark hair is long on top but fades down the sides. Piercing green eyes stare at me almost like they see into my soul.

  “Have fun you two,” Brick says with a grin before he leaves.

  The door closes, and I jump a little.

  "Alright, let's get this shit over with." He cracks his neck from side to side and just looks at me.

  What does he expect me to do?

  I guess I thought there’d be more of a mutual start or some guidance given. “I…uh…what do you want?�
� I try to put some seduction in my voice, but I’m sure it comes nowhere close to what I imagine.

  He seems to evaluate me for what feels like forever. I squirm, playing with my hair trying to distract myself. He's almost looking at me in confusion, and then a look comes over his face, but I can't read it before it disappears. He reaches for a chair that's next to him and slides it closer to me. "Sit."

  I move slowly and sit down in front of him, crossing my legs while tugging a bit on the short skirt.

  His hand runs over his face. “What the fuck are you doing here Carly?”

  My mouth drops open as he uses my real name.

  Who the hell is he?

  Chapter Two

  Wrench

  I didn’t recognize her at first, but I knew there was something I was missing.

  When she bit her lip and twisted her finger in her hair, it hit me. Carly Ferguson was standing in front of me looking like a fucking wet dream. Every nameless girl has had her face since the day I lost her.

  Today I’m gonna tell her.

  Two years I've been her best friend, watched her go after one asshole or another. I've loved her since the sixth grade, but I could never bring myself to tell her. We are best friends, and I don't want to ruin that, but I can't stand by and pretend she doesn't occupy my every thought either. We're in high school now, sophomores, I need to grow a pair and just tell her how I feel.

  Walking into the building, I head to the sophomore hallway and straight for her locker. When I turn the corner, she's leaning against the lockers talking to Tony Benson. He's a goddamn fool. I hate him.

  Football star.

  Player.

  Dumbass.

  And looking at her like she’s his next prize.

  She isn't; today is my day.

  I start to walk toward them again when his head dips down, and he kisses her.