Broken: a bad boy romance novel

by London Casey

  I had to get back to Cora, though. She had been scared to death on that mat as I stormed out of there.

  I drove back to the rehab center, and the cops weren’t there yet.

  I walked into the building through the brand-new, massive opening. I was in ankle socks and had to dodge shards of glass to keep from slicing my feet open. The first thing I saw was that Cora was gone.

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  I walked slowly to gather my clothes. It felt like it took me ten minutes to get my left leg to bend just so I could grab my jeans.

  My gun was gone.

  I stood back up and fell against the wall. The pain was pretty damn serious right then. I grabbed my left leg and shut my eyes, trying to chase the pain away. All that bullshit about mental power and strength, it was a joke. Pain was pain. It did what it wanted unless you could mask it.

  I slid my way along the wall and turned to the back hallway where the offices were.

  I opened the door and started to walk.

  Two steps in, I felt something hit me in the face. It was enough force that I stopped and leaned on my right hand against the wall.

  “Shit, no!” a voice cried out.

  I touched my cheek and looked to see Cora standing there. She was holding my gun in her right hand, shaking, and her left hand was outstretched.

  “Did you slap me?” I asked.

  “Better than shooting you,” she said.

  I looked at the way the gun wobbled in her hand. She had no idea how to hold a gun, let alone fire it.

  Slowly, I reached for the weapon. There was a bit of shock still in her eyes.

  I managed to get the gun and disarm it.

  “Cops are going to come, sweetheart,” I whispered.

  “What happened? What was that?”

  “You’re going to tell the cops it was some drunk guy,” I instructed her. I touched her face. My fingertips stroked her cheek. She grabbed my t-shirt. “Okay?”

  “No, it’s not okay,” she said. “I could have…that was because of you, you asshole! I hate you!”

  Cora swung her hand again. She cracked me across the face. I took the slap, appreciating how scared she must have been.

  “Listen to me,” I said. “The guy who just drove through the building? That was the same guy that hit me.”

  Cora gasped. “Why haven’t the cops helped you?”

  “That’s not how things work in my world, Cora. If you tell the cops what I just said…you’re going to get pulled into this. I don’t want that. So we tell the cops the guy was drunk. He hit the building and took off. End of discussion.”

  Cora nodded.

  She was still in shock over the ordeal.

  I grabbed her hand and walked her out to where the attack had occurred. I made sure to put my gun away and got Cora to hang on the mat with me.

  The cops finally showed up a few minutes later.

  That’s when Cora felt comfortable to let herself go a little. She started to sob. It literally came out of nowhere. I slipped my arm around her, and she fell into my chest. It sort of felt good to hold her like that.

  But the little embrace didn’t last long.

  We answered all the questions that needed to be asked. There was a young officer leaning against the bar, harassing the hell out of Cora, pummeling her with questions about the driver, the car, where she was standing, surveillance (if any), and plenty others.

  I broke away from the cop asking me a question and walked over to the young guy.

  “Hey,” I said. “She didn’t drive into the building.”

  “I’m not asking you a fucking thing.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked. I grabbed the cop’s arm and pushed him out of the way. I got between him and Cora. “You watch your fucking mouth, Officer.”

  The cop made a quick move and tried to twist my wrist. He then drove a fist up into my jaw and sent my head snapping back.

  “You don’t ever touch me,” he growled. “Turn around. You’re under arrest.”

  “For what?” Cora yelled.

  “You can’t touch a cop,” he said.

  “Fuck off,” I said.

  The cuffs were already getting slapped on my wrist. I looked at Cora and winked.

  “It’ll be fine,” I whispered to her. “You don’t deserve to be harassed.”

  “Let’s go, asshole,” the cop said, and he pulled the cuffs.

  I stumbled and my left leg twisted. I grunted in pain.

  “His leg is hurt,” Cora said.

  “Watch me give a shit,” the cop said.

  “You’re a real good one,” I said to the cop. “Real fucking good.”

  “You think I don’t know who you are? You think I’m going to buy some shit story about a drunk driver?”

  “I’ll take this from here,” a voice said.

  I saw Chief Danielson stepping through the wreckage of what used to be wall and window.

  “Yes, sir,” the cop said.

  Chief Danielson grabbed my arm. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Getting rehab,” I said with a grin.

  “There’s no saving you, Hudson,” Chief said. “Get outside so we can talk. And I want the goddamn truth.”

  “Keep your boys away from Cora,” I said. “She’s scared right now.”

  “You got a hard-on for her?”

  “No,” I said quickly. Too quickly. “She’s scared, Chief. It was pretty crazy with what happened. Fucking car came out of nowhere. Just slammed right into the building. Cora was two feet away from getting hit. I couldn’t get to my feet fast enough to help her.”

  “Cry me a river,” Chief said.

  We walked through the rubble outside. He then put me up against the building.

  “Are you going to take these handcuffs off me?” I asked.

  “Only if you tell me what I want to hear,” Chief said.

  He put his thick hand to my chest and stared me down.

  I wished I could go back to Cora falling on top of me.

  11

  CORA

  I stared at the massive opening where the SUV had hit the building. I had never lied to a cop before, let alone a bunch of cops. But I stuck to the story Hudson told me to give. I had no idea why I did that, either. Maybe because I believed him when he said I would get dragged into some mess. I was a physical therapist, not an outlaw.

  I felt alone without Hudson there.

  He had gotten himself arrested saving me from that rude cop. The guy was just peppering me with questions, getting mad when I got confused or started to shake with worry. It was like he saw through my story, and maybe he did.

  Maybe the cops were going to arrest me next.

  That didn’t happen, though.

  Instead, Hudson appeared. He was no longer in cuffs. I watched the way he walked and could tell he was really favoring his left leg. He should have been using his crutches.

  Hudson made a beeline right toward me. When he got close enough, I grabbed for his arms. “What happened out there? Are you in trouble?”

  “I’ve been in trouble since the day I was born,” he said. “But it’s all good here. I talked to Chief Danielson. Guys will be coming to take a look, investigate, and then it’s all got to be cleaned up. If you need to call your boss or whoever owns this building…”

  “I’ll have Leslie do it. I’m done with tonight. I’m…”

  I could feel my hands shaking as I dug my nails into Hudson’s skin. He slowly moved his hands down and interlocked his fingers with mine. It was such a soft and subtle move, but it drove me wild from the inside out.

  He squeezed, nodding. “Sweetheart, I am so sorry that happened tonight. If I knew someone was going to try to hurt me, I would have stayed far away from you. I promise that. But I’ll make sure nothing happens to you, okay? You did what I asked and fed the cops bullshit. I appreciate that. My club appreciates that. Now I’m going to make sure you stay away from all of this.”

  “What is it?” I asked.
“Who is after you? Why?”

  Hudson shook his head. “The less you know the better.”

  “That’s bullshit, Hudson.”

  “That’s what I’m offering.”

  “It’s not good enough.”

  “Then what do you want?”

  Before I could control my deepest desires, my wildest urges, fantasies playing in my head faster than a shooting star across a clear night’s sky, I blurted out exactly what I wanted.

  “I want you to take me home.”

  The truck headlights followed me down the street toward my house. I pulled into the small driveway and watched as the truck pulled up to the driveway, but had no room to pull in. I sat there and looked in the mirror, seeing the figure of Hudson moving around.

  I couldn’t believe what I had said.

  I want you to take me home.

  And the way Hudson just stared down at me, like he’d been waiting to hear that all night.

  I’ll make sure you get home safe, Cora.

  There was a way he said my name that was just perfect. The o sound hung on his tongue and mixed with the a, almost skipping the r completely. I never took stock in the way someone said my name, but Hudson just made it sound good.

  He was still walking without his crutches, something I was against, but I was in no mood to pick an argument with him. Plus, I was off the clock. Far off the clock. I wasn’t even sure if I’d have a job the next day considering a wall was missing.

  I pushed all of that aside and waited for Hudson.

  “This all yours?” he asked, nodding to the building.

  “My castle, yep.”

  “It’s a nice place.”

  “That’s because it’s dark out.”

  “What’s wrong with the house?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “Are you okay going up the porch steps? With your leg?”

  “I can make up a set of steps,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  I purposely hung behind him for two reasons. One was to watch the way he walked up the steps. I kept my eye on the way his left leg moved, trying to get an idea of where the pain and weak spots were in his muscles. If it was that important he get back on his motorcycle, then I wanted to make it happen for him.

  The second reason…well…he had a really nice ass.

  I felt almost ashamed to admit that to myself, but I couldn’t help it.

  I moved around Hudson at the top of the porch and fumbled with my keys. “Let me get the door open and get some lights on.”

  I turned the key and I felt the door unlock.

  That’s when Hudson grabbed my wrist. “Lights off for a second.”

  I glanced back and up at him. The only light was a faint streetlight that barely gave much to the porch.

  “What?”

  “What happened tonight…”

  “Drunk guy hit the building. Then he took off.”

  “Exactly,” Hudson said. “Then why am I here?”

  “Because I asked you to be here,” I said. “I do something for you, you do something for me.”

  “Now you’re starting to sound like me. Like one of the bad guys.”

  “I’m not so sure you’re a bad guy, Hudson,” I said.

  “Then what am I?”

  “I haven’t figured it out. Yet.”

  “Yet,” he said. “So that means time is in on my side.”

  “I don’t think time is on anyone’s side,” I said.

  I shook him away and opened the door. I hurried to flick the switches, turning on the porch light and the light to the small foyer. It was a small house, almost like a glorified cottage, but it was my house. Something I paid for on my own. I should have been able to afford something much larger, or at least stash away a ton of money by living under my means, but I was struggling month to month.

  “Come in,” I said to Hudson.

  He pointed up. “Your porch light is broke.”

  “It turns on.”

  “There’s two bulbs. One’s out.”

  “Oh well,” I said.

  “That doesn’t bother you?”

  “It bothers you?” I asked.

  “You don’t know how to change it, do you?”

  “I know how to change a lightbulb,” I said. I had my hand on the door and was about two seconds away from slamming it on him.

  “You can’t take the cover off. And you’re too stubborn to ask for help. Tell me when I’m wrong.”

  “You’re wrong. Good night, Hudson.”

  I didn’t slam the door though.

  Instead, he came crashing into my house.

  Hudson walked with a limp, grabbing for the wall.

  “How bad is the pain?” I asked.

  “How bad does it look?”

  “Like you want to punch the wall.”

  “Know how to fix a wall?” he asked with a grin.

  “Not a clue.”

  “Then I won’t punch it.”

  I grabbed his arm. “Come with me.”

  I led the way through the foyer and took a left to the living room. I made Hudson sit down on the couch and went to get him some ice. If anything, that would help ease some of the inflammation. There was only a certain amount of movement he could handle on his leg, and he reached that two hours ago.

  When I brought the ice and towel to him, he was reaching for his ringing cell phone.

  “Hey, bro,” he said, taking the call.

  I crouched down and put the ice to his leg. I forced him to stretch it out and put his foot on my coffee table.

  “I talked to Chief,” Hudson said. He looked at me, then looked away. “We’re solid on our story, though. But it was definitely him again. What happened with VP?”

  Hudson shut his eyes and then rubbed his chin.

  “Fuck. I should have kept going, then. VP told me to stand down because of the police. I shouldn’t…” There was a pause. “Yeah, right.” Another pause. “I’m actually at her house right now.” He looked at me again. “Yeah, you can stop by.”

  Hudson gave me a thumbs-up and then a thumbs-down. His subtle way of asking me if that was okay, even though he already told whoever was on the phone to come to my house.

  I reluctantly gave a thumbs-up.

  It looked like my night wasn’t over yet.

  Just what I needed—more outlaws in my life.

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Stay,” I said to Hudson.

  I needed to take some kind of command of the night and my life. We had barely spoken two words to each other after he ended the call. He just looked away, as though he was mad at me.

  I opened the front door, and two huge bikers stood there. They were scary-looking. One had his hands balled up into fists, the other a half-smoked cigarette hanging from his mouth.

  “Hudson?” the one without the cigarette asked.

  “Inside,” I said. “No smoking past the front door.”

  The first guy turned to the second and threw his thumb back. “Toss the smoke, Cade.”

  The biker—Cade—flicked the cigarette behind him.

  They then walked into my house, a trail of tangy smoke behind them.

  I almost started to cough as I led the way to the living room.

  “Look at this,” the first biker said. “A little VIP treatment?”

  “Fuck off, VP,” Hudson said.

  They all laughed.

  I didn’t.

  I just stood there, unable to comprehend what was in my house.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” Hudson said to me. “Do you have anything to drink?”

  “Water. Soda. Diet tea.”

  “No beer?” Hudson asked.

  “Maybe next time,” I said. “And you’re not going to get rid of me. This is my house. I’m standing right here.”

  “She’s good?” Cade asked Hudson.

  “Yeah,” Hudson said. “Stuck to the story. Right, Cora?”

  Everyone looked at me.

  “Right,” I said.

  The guy ca
lled VP turned to me. He offered his hand. “I’m Jasper. VP of the club. Thanks for stretching out Hudson’s leg. We need him riding again soon.”

  “Hope that’s all your stretching out on him,” Cade said.

  “Why the hell is Cade even here?” Hudson asked.

  Cade laughed and walked to the coffee table. He sat down and slapped at Hudson’s leg. I cringed, wondering how much pain that caused. Hudson bent his leg and grabbed at the ice I’d given him.

  “Did a little digging into our friend. The one you shot. The one who…” Cade ran his thumb across his throat.

  Hudson looked at me as I started to cover my mouth.

  They were murderers? Outlaw bikers who murder people. Holy shit. And they’re in my house…

  “Can we talk at the clubhouse?” Hudson asked.

  He must have sensed my terror.

  “No,” they both said at the same time.

  “Fine,” Hudson sighed. “Then we take this outside.”

  “No,” I blurted out. “I want to hear. I want to know what’s happening.”

  “Not sure it’s your business,” Jasper said.

  “An SUV drove through a fucking building and tried to kill me,” I said, staring up at the big, bad biker. I pretended like I didn’t care that the patch on his leather cut said Vice President. “Tell me how I don’t deserve to know.”

  “Tough chick,” Cade said.

  “Let her try bending your fucking leg,” Hudson said.

  “Cade, go on,” Jasper said.

  “Bottom line, brother,” Cade said, addressing Hudson, “it’s exactly what we thought. Irish connection.”

  “I knew that by looking at that prick driving,” Hudson said.

  “No, brother, listen to me. His name was Charlie. He was straight out of Belfast. Grew up on the streets. Real tough kind of guy. Worked his way in and out of the law’s arms to fall into the O’Nuall. They plucked him right out of jail and put him in charge.”

  “Christ,” Hudson said. He looked at Jasper. “VP, this is bad.”

  “We have calls out there again,” Jasper said. “That’s why I told you to pull back on the driver. We don’t know what we’re up against just yet. He might serve better by breathing for the moment. Let him report back to his boss and see what kicks up to us.”