Broken: a bad boy romance novel

by London Casey

  “Then shoot me.”

  Cade stared right at me for a few moments. “You really love him, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Then do what he says. Run. Go with him. Wherever he says to go.”

  “He won’t be the same,” I said. “You know that. This club is everything.”

  “There are rules, Cora.”

  “Stop saying that.”

  Cade showed his teeth and looked left to right. Then he put his hands to the car and leaned forward. “Look, I don’t get to vote.”

  “What?”

  “This situation is beyond table members. Okay? This is a vote of the charter Presidents. That’s how it goes. It’s about the protection of not just this charter, but the others. The entire club itself. He’s lucky it’s just Trev and two others. If they gathered all the charter Presidents, it could get really fucking crazy.”

  “So it’s three of them voting?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then let me talk to Trev.”

  Cade shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. When they get back from their ride, they vote. Just go home, Cora. Do what Hudson said to do. Be smart.”

  Cade pushed away from the car. He pointed to the two prospects and made it very clear that I was to be kept away from the lot and the clubhouse until further notice.

  I threw my car into reverse and managed to make it a block before the tears filled my eyes. Hudson without Back Down Devil MC was like a man without a soul. He would still be a beautifully cut man, made of muscle and wildness, but the MC gave him life. He deserved better. And he was giving all that up for me. He saved me from getting hit by that car.

  On the ride home, I made myself a promise.

  I wouldn’t go to Oregon. At least, not with Hudson right there next to me. If the charter Presidents voted him out of the club, then he would need me there. And I would be there for him. In his darkest hour, I’d try to shine any kind of light.

  So I would go home and wait for him.

  I would wait for my outlaw.

  I would wait for my man.

  I would wait for my love.

  No matter what.

  I pulled into the driveway and looked at the house. I was never one to go on the run and live the wild life. But things were changing inside me. For the better. I hoped.

  I opened the front door to the house without even realizing it was already unlocked. And by the time I did, it was too late. I was already inside. And the door behind me shut.

  Then came the sound of a gentle click and a gun pressed to the back of my head.

  “Welcome home, Cora,” a voice said. “I’m here to collect the final payment.”

  It was David.

  26

  HUDSON

  The second I saw Cash and Jasper walking Aaron out from a small patch of woods, I ran toward him. I fought the pain in my leg, feeling myself stumbling and twisting, looking drunk and crippled.

  But I had to get to him.

  Cash and Jasper let Aaron go when I got close enough. His hands were tied behind his back. Venom in his eyes. A shit-eating grin on his face.

  I threw my right fist as hard as I could, smashing him in the nose. Blood exploded like a popped water balloon. He fell back but wasn’t on the ground yet. I came across with a left hook, and I could have sworn I saw his jaw unhinge off his face and come back. That’s when he spun and toppled to the ground. I stepped forward again, but I wasn’t going to bend over and beat him up. Fuck that. We were here for a purpose.

  “Brother,” Cash called from behind me. “I got an idea.”

  Cash disappeared for a few seconds as Aaron rolled on the ground, groaning.

  “Not such a big guy without your SUV,” I said.

  Aaron looked at me. He had pasty skin. Clear blue eyes. Hints of freckles on his cheeks.

  “Fuck you,” he said. His Irish accent was on the tip of his tongue. “Fucking scum. You and your crew.”

  “You’re the one tied up. You left your crew.”

  “They’re traitors,” Aaron said. “And there’s plenty more of me. They go back on long-standing deals to have their dicks sucked.”

  “You’re going to be sucking the reaper’s dick real soon,” Xavier said with a laugh.

  “Eat my shit,” Aaron said.

  He started to laugh, and Xavier kicked him in the mouth.

  Cash then reappeared, holding a small chair.

  “What the hell is that for?” Xavier asked.

  “For Aaron to sit in,” Cash said. Then Cash looked at me. “And you, Hudson, you get to run his ass over. Proper revenge.”

  I didn’t say a word.

  I looked at Aaron as he wrestled to sit up. Blood ran down his face. I felt the tension lingering in the air.

  “What do you say, Hudson?” Xavier asked me.

  I thought about it.

  Then I looked at Aaron and said, “Let me get my fucking keys.”

  I sat behind the wheel of my truck. I had no idea how this was going to work. Running this prick over was going to pin evidence right on me. I’d have to ditch the truck, probably. And then if the club voted me out, I was fucked. Big-time fucked.

  But I wanted Aaron to suffer.

  He tried to kill me. He tried to kill Cash. I took the hit for Cash. Then he tried to kill me again. He almost killed Cora. Then he did it one more time, almost getting Cora, but getting me instead.

  “Never again, asshole,” I said.

  I put the truck in drive and held the brake.

  I looked down at my left leg.

  The pain I felt was worse than before. I hadn’t told anyone the real truth, not even Cora. She wore enough guilt of her own. I didn’t need to heap more on her.

  When I got to Oregon, I’d find a doctor. Someone who could cut me up and fix me, or I’d just fall in the dark hole of pain pills. At least I wouldn’t have the reaper and the MC riding next to me, pushing me deeper into that hole.

  “Fuck,” I growled.

  I hit the gas pedal, and the truck took off.

  The engine roared under the hood. I felt the power as though I was on my motorcycle, but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the wind against my face. It wasn’t the feeling of the powerful motor right there, between my legs. The freedom. The power. Everything the road and the life brought.

  The truck picked up speed.

  I had backed up far enough so that when I hit Aaron, he was going to go hard. It wasn’t going to be a fucking mess, too.

  As the truck picked up more speed, I saw Aaron’s face. He was still far away, but the seconds were creeping up on him. The countdown to death. Me serving as the reaper. I’d done it plenty times in my life, so what was the difference now?

  I saw my brothers standing on the side of the road.

  I flew forward even further.

  My hands gripped the wheel tight.

  I was seconds away from killing Aaron.

  My cell phone lit up on the passenger seat with Cora calling.

  That’s when I had an image. Me getting arrested for vehicular manslaughter. The MC unsure how to handle it because I was losing my cut and privileges with the club.

  Fuck.

  I cut the wheel and slammed the brakes. The back of the truck flew out, and I started to turn sideways. I thought for a second the truck was going to flip over, but the brakes and tires did their goddamn job.

  The truck came to a stop, and I threw open the driver’s door. I jumped out and grabbed my leg as I gave way. I crashed to my left knee, fresh pain shooting through my body. I saw that Aaron had been saved by only a few feet. His face glowed in the light of my rear light.

  I forced myself to my feet and walked to Aaron again. I grabbed his shirt with my left hand and started to unleash with my right hand. I just started punching, over and over and over. Pain climbed up my knuckles up to my elbow and beyond.

  “Jesus Christ, brother,” Cash said as he grabbed me.

  He pulled me away and pushed me. I st
umbled and fell against my truck. I kept myself standing, my breathing so heavy I thought I was going to pass out.

  “What the fuck happened?” Xavier asked.

  “Cora called me,” I said.

  I rolled around against the truck and made it to the front seat, reaching across for my phone. I grabbed it, and as I pressed the button to call Cora back, I heard the sound of a gunshot.

  “Done,” Jasper announced.

  And that was it. It was done. The man who tried to kill me, to kill Cora, the man who fucking took away my ride and my club…he was dead.

  Cora picked up on the second ring.

  “Hey, swee-”

  “David’s here with a gun!” she yelled into the phone.

  The fight wasn’t over just yet.

  27

  CORA

  Salt.

  That’s what saved my ass. At least for the moment.

  I was never the type to fight. Ever. But since being with Hudson and experiencing the edgier side of life, something changed in me. I let David walk me through my house toward the kitchen. He wasn’t going to be dumb enough to take me anywhere near the knife block. But he did put me close enough to grab the saltshaker.

  The funny thing about it was, it was some fancy glass one. Alex gave me them as a joke when she found them at some discount store. She said I needed something nice and new in the new house, and that was what I got. I used the set of salt and pepper shakers because I needed them.

  Now I was going to use it save my life.

  In a quick move, I swung back and smashed the salt shaker against David’s face. I hit him hard enough to get him to let me go. I jumped into the kitchen and opened the bottom of the salt shaker, pouring it into my hand.

  As David came around the half-wall to the kitchen I was hiding behind, I jumped up and threw the salt in his face. My eyes never left the gun in his hand, and I grabbed his wrist and drove it into the wall. The gun fired, then fell from his hand. I should have grabbed the gun, but by then the fight response had quickly shifted to flight.

  I ran through the house, but David was quickly coming after me. Throwing the salt didn’t grant me an escape, but it gave me a little time.

  I went out the front door and off the porch. I cut to the right and stopped at the side of the house. This was now a hunter-and-prey situation.

  I fumbled for my phone and made a call to Hudson.

  I had to buy enough time for him to come save me.

  Hudson didn’t answer.

  “Fuck,” I whispered.

  David barreled out of the house and ran to the right side of the porch.

  I all but hugged a pokey shrub, feeling it cutting into me as David looked around. His gun went off, and I felt a thump in the ground right next to me.

  “Bitch!” he yelled.

  I ran to my left and along the side of the house.

  David jumped off the porch.

  I tore open the wooden door to the gate and slammed it shut.

  My cellphone started to ring.

  It was Hudson calling me!

  “Hey, swee-” he started to say when I took the call.

  “David’s here with a gun!”

  I said it just as David opened the gate.

  I made a right turn, and my right ankle gave way. I heard and felt a pop at the same time. I saw my phone go one direction as my body went in another. I stumbled and crashed against the side of my own house. I tried to put pressure on my ankle, and it hurt. A quick self-diagnosis told me it was only a mild sprain. Not a bad sprain, definitely not broken.

  That was good, at least.

  What wasn’t good was David as he ran toward me. He paused for a second and pointed the gun at my cell phone on the ground. One pull of the trigger sent a flashing blue spark hopping off the grass, and then the gun was pointed at me again.

  “He’s coming,” I said. “If you hurt me, he’ll kill you.”

  David smiled. “I’m the one with the gun, Cora. Time is his enemy, not mine.”

  “Why are you doing this, David?”

  “Better opportunity came my way. Better pay. Better benefits.”

  “I paid you back. And then some.”

  “You did.”

  “When does it stop?”

  “You kept paying,” David said.

  “I didn’t have to?”

  “All I did was demand it. I never threatened you, did I?”

  “Says the man with the gun,” I said.

  “I’m not going to kill you right now, Cora.”

  I tried to take a step, but my ankle hurt.

  “Take it easy,” David said. “We’re going to wait for your boyfriend to come.” David stepped toward me. An evil look washed across his face. “Then I’ll shoot you… right in front of him.”

  It could have been five minutes. It could have been five hours. It didn’t matter as I sat in the chair, my hands tied behind my back with a brown extension cord. I always hated the placement of the outlets in my house. And it was dumb how the light switch controlled the outlets in the living room instead of having an overhead light. I had to run extension cords to make the lamps work the way I wanted.

  Now one of those cords kept my hands secured as David stood next to me.

  When the front door opened and I saw Hudson barreling through, relief washed over me. But that relief was replaced with terror.

  “Put the gun down,” Hudson ordered.

  “No,” David snapped. “You put your gun down.”

  Hudson quickly took out two weapons and put them to the floor. He gave them each a quick kick and put his hands up.

  “Let her go, David,” Hudson said. “She has nothing to do with this. You’ve taken enough of her.”

  “Now I’m going to take from you,” David said. “Her life.”

  “No!” Hudson said, eyes wide, barely keeping his cool. “David, listen to me. I don’t know what you had arranged with Aaron, but that’s done.”

  “You can’t stop me. You can’t stop us.”

  “David, Aaron is dead,” Hudson said.

  David paused, then lowered the gun. “What?”

  “You knew it couldn’t last,” Hudson said. “He was rogue. His own crew flew all the way from Ireland to get him. Okay? And your name is tied into this. You kill Cora and you’re dead too.”

  “If I don’t kill her,” David said, “I’m still dead.”

  “No,” Hudson said. “I promise you, David. Walk away from her. Come with me to the clubhouse. We need to know what happened with Aaron. To know if there’s more. Look, I put my guns down, man. I have no shit with you. You never hurt me. Aaron did, and I settled that.”

  “You killed Aaron?” David said.

  “No, not me.”

  “David, please untie my wrists,” I said. “They hurt.”

  “Come on, David,” Hudson said.

  “I’m not putting this gun down,” David said. “And I’ll just start shooting if I have to.”

  “You don’t need to shoot,” Hudson said. “Hell, we could talk anywhere you want. I just need to know about Aaron.”

  “And what do I get by talking?” David asked. “That information is worth…”

  Hudson patted his leather cut. “Look.” He slowly opened it, then took out a wad of cash and threw it to the floor. “Money. We’ll get you hooked up. So you can take care of yourself.”

  I looked up at David’s eyes. He was fixed on the money. It was like a drug for him. He licked his lips and nodded. Then, from the very back corner of my eye, I saw something else. I turned my head a little and saw Cash standing at the back door. I quickly looked forward again, not wanting to give him away.

  My eyes met with Hudson’s.

  Something big was going to go down. This was a game of who could lie better.

  David grabbed the extension cord and tugged. “Okay. I’ll get your hands free. But if you move, Cora, I’ll shoot you.”

  “Fine,” I said. “I can’t feel my hands anyway.”


  That was a lie, but my hands were a little tingly.

  David wrestled with the extension cord, never putting his weapon down. He was too smart to be that gullible. Yet he didn’t know he was being watched and surrounded.

  When the cord was free, I slowly brought my hands around. I flexed my wrists.

  “This bitch threw salt in my face,” David said. “So it’s only fair that I do the same to her, right?”

  “David,” Hudson said.

  “No,” David growled. “You killed Aaron. I’m supposed to sell my soul to a motorcycle club. And this fucking cunt threw salt in my eyes!”

  “You’re right,” Hudson said. “Fucking bitch.” Hudson looked at me. “Stupid fucking bitch.” Then he looked at David again. “Get the salt. If she wrestles you, shoot her.”

  David grinned for a second.

  He turned, letting his guard down for a split second.

  That’s when Cash made his move.

  I jumped out of the chair and to the floor, covering my head. I looked back as Cash punched David in the face, sending him flying to the right.

  “Cora!” Hudson yelled. “Come here! Right now!”

  I jumped up to my feet. I started to run, but the pain shot up through my ankle into my leg. I started to fall and grabbed for the couch.

  “Cora!” another voice boomed.

  I turned and saw Cash holding David by the throat, pressing him against the wall. I saw Cash’s hand grab at the gun, but David had it raised and pointed right at me. Cash threw his head forward, smashing his head against David’s face. There was an explosion of blood, followed by the thundering boom of the gun. I lifted my hands as though I could protect myself from the bullet.

  The only problem?

  By the time I lifted my hands, the bullet was already inside me.

  “Cora!” a voice echoed.

  I felt like I was in a pitch-black canyon. Echoes all around me. So many echoes. Shuffling footsteps. Grunts and cries. The sound of someone getting punched over and over.

  “You can’t kill him,” Hudson’s voice was shouting.

  The echoing made me feel dizzy.

  Then my eyes popped open.

  I lifted my head and saw David on the floor in the kitchen. He looked dead. Cash came running at me, holding towels. My good dish towels. The ones I never used so they wouldn’t get dirty and smelly. I looked down and saw the red spot on my shirt.