Second Chance Love (Heaven Hill Book 6)

by Laramie Briscoe

  “You’re gonna need to give us something here,” Tyler told him quietly. “What the fuck is going on?”

  Rooster tried to look at this subjectively. Back when all this had happened with him and Liam, they were almost a full two years older than the boy who sat before them. But he couldn’t deny the fact that Drew had grown up on them. His face had thinned out the last couple of months, losing the baby fat that had made him look boyish. He’d had a growth spurt and now stood almost as tall as Liam; his voice had deepened and the beginnings of a beard were starting to appear on his face. He’d be sixteen in less than a month, he had what appeared to be a girlfriend and ninety-nine other problems judging by the talk they were having with him right now. He was no longer the kid that had accompanied his mom into an MC.

  “My friend, Dalton, and I were down at Parks and Rec working out in May,” he started.

  Tyler and Rooster exchanged glances. Dalton Morrison’s uncle worked at one of the parts shops in town that Walker’s Wheels frequently bought parts from. His home life left a lot to be desired, and Liam had been known to take Dalton and his older brother, Deacon, food when it got tough for them. It was something that the club didn’t publicize, but they didn’t like to see the boys go hungry. Dalton was a wild child, constantly acting out. Rooster had managed to have a couple of run-ins with him while with the sheriff’s office.

  “We were minding our own business when some older guys came over and told us that they could help us get bigger and stronger in less the time. They’re on our football team, so we listened to them.” He took a moment and swallowed loudly.

  Tyler cursed. “Please tell me that you didn’t do it, Drew. The hard work will show the results.”

  “I need to be bigger,” he argued. “I’m tall, and I need muscle mass to keep playing football the way I do.”

  “Give it to me.” Rooster stepped forward and held out his hand. He used the authoritative voice he’d used when he did a traffic stop. It was the one that told the person he spoke to that he meant business.

  They watched as Drew stood up and walked over to his bedside table. Once there, he leaned down and tapped the bottom, revealing a hidden compartment. Tyler groaned when he pulled out a bag that contained syringes and vials.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” Tyler asked him, not able to keep his irritation at bay any longer. “Do you not realize what the fuck you could have done to yourself?”

  Rooster could see that Drew was trying to keep himself in check, trying to be a man about this, when really he was a scared kid. “Have you been having side effects?” he asked. “How long have you been taking them?”

  “A few months, and I can’t control my anger,” he whispered. “That’s why I hurt that kid. He said some things about Mandy and Charity, and I couldn’t take it. I went off.”

  “Charity?” Tyler asked, raising his eyebrows. “Jasmine’s daughter?”

  Drew nodded. “Yeah.”

  Rooster sighed. Now everyone was going to know about him and the stripper’s daughter. At least Drew was taking care of revealing all of his secrets. “You need to let us talk to your parents, and then we need to figure out what to do with you. You’re going to go through withdrawal, and it’s not going to be pretty. We need to get you a medical clearance, and you need to tell me where hell you got this shit, and don’t be saying the boys on your football team. This is high grade. I’ve heard things about the football coach,” he hedged.

  “Why don’t you go down and talk to them.” Tyler nodded towards the stairs. “I’d like to talk to him for a few minutes alone, if that’s okay.”

  Rooster knew that if Drew was going to say anything, it would be to his friend. Quickly, he made an exit, shaking his head as he went back downstairs.

  Tyler had a seat on the bed, his body language deceptively relaxed when he was anything but. “You’ve got to be honest with me, Drew. I know that you know more than you’re telling me. This involves not only you but Rooster, B, because she teaches at the school, Jagger, and your parents. Be honest with me and we’ll fix it.”

  “It is Coach Thistle,” he whispered. “I heard some of the guys talking about how much money they’re making for him. It’s earning them starting spots on the team. The other day I was late leaving practice, and I glanced in the office. Coach had a ton of money on the desk. He was counting it, and two of the seniors were taking their cut.”

  Dammit. He hoped like hell that none of them had seen Drew. If they had, then this might have been made even harder on all of them involved. “Why didn’t you tell any of us?”

  “I got in too deep; I knew I was in too deep. I’ve been mean as hell to everybody and I can’t control it. I’m scared, I don’t want to withdraw, and it’s helping me.”

  “The fuck it is, Drew. What’s helping you is the head you have on your shoulders, it’s the good decisions you make. You’ve become one of my best friends, without me meaning for it to happen. I tell you all the things I can’t tell your dad. I know that’s probably not fair to you because you are just a teenager, but you know all my fears. You know I’m afraid that if Meredith and I never have a child, it won’t be enough for her. You know how badly that cuts to my soul. I’ve told you things I’ve never told another human being, including my wife. I trust you,” he told the teenager.

  “I trust you too,” Drew told him, glancing over, his eyes glassy.

  “Then believe me when I say you’ve got to give this up. You want a future? You want to be with Charity? I’m assuming that you do, because whether you know it or not, I’ve noticed it.”

  “Rooster has too,” Drew whispered. “I’m pretty sure he saw us together.”

  “Then you’ve got to get your shit straightened out. You can’t worry about her when you can’t fix yourself. That’s where I’m failing Meredith right now. I need to get my own head straight. So take the advice I’m giving you and realize that you are a hell of a man, regardless of whether you’re a kid or not. You’ve lived through a lot, and I’ll never forget that little man who stood up for his mom when you all first walked through the door of that clubhouse. You’ve always had heart and you’ve always been smart. Don’t fuck it up, dude. I beg you, I love you like a brother,” Tyler told him. “I love your dad, I love you. I don’t want to see you do some stupid shit to yourself in the name of making yourself better. You don’t have to be better. You’re a damn good kid, man, and all-around person the way you are.”

  Tyler reached over, grabbing Drew in his arms, hugging him tight, worried that if he let go, Drew would run. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you? You’re enough.”

  “I’ve never felt like I was enough,” Drew whispered. “Dad isn’t really my dad. What if I’m like the asshole that’s my biological dad? What if I’m predisposed to be a jackass?”

  “You’re not. Liam is your dad, doesn’t matter what a few cells of DNA say. You wanna be a jackass? You’re gonna be one. You wanna be a good man who stands up for his friends and tells them that doing this shit isn’t smart? Then you be that man. It’s in your hands and it’s your decision. What are you gonna do?”

  It felt like a millions years as Tyler waited for Drew to speak to him. “I wanna be someone that you all can be proud of. This ain’t me.”

  “Then we’re gonna get this worked out. We’re gonna get you fixed up, and we’re gonna take care of this adult preying on teenage boys. First, we gotta go talk to your parents.”

  Drew had never heard scarier words in his life. “I need to apologize to Mandy too. I’ve put her in situations that I shouldn’t have.”

  “If you realize that, then we’ve already got a head start.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Roni glanced out the window on the way back to her apartment, watching as the rain from a late summer thunderstorm made tracks down the glass. It had been a long day and afternoon. She hadn’t wanted to drive herself home, and since she’d taken a company vehicle to Liam’s, she’d left it there and let Rooste
r drive her home.

  “Are you okay?” he asked softly, looking over at her in the dim light from the console on his dashboard. He was worried about her, she’d been quiet since they left Liam’s and it had been an extremely emotional day for the both of them.

  “No, I feel awful,” she told him. “Mandy tried to tell me that something was wrong, and I blew her off. I even saw him get mean with her, but I couldn’t worry myself enough to truly find out what was going on. What if this kid’s parents decide to press charges against Drew? All this over a girl and roid rage?”

  He grinned, but she couldn’t see it. “I’ve done worse over a girl before.”

  That was true, he had, but they had been so much older, hadn’t they? “I’m just not ready for him to be that grown up. I’m not ready to have to worry about all the stuff that comes with that. I spent so much time with him and Mandy when they first came to live with Liam that I kind of feel like I’m a second mother to them.”

  “In a little over two years he’ll be an adult; in less than that, he’ll be driving, trying to get Charity in the back seat of Liam’s extended cab. It’s the way boys are.” He smiled over at her.

  Her mind wandered. If their child had been a boy, would he be doing the same stuff that Drew was doing right now? It didn’t seem to matter that Liam and Denise were excellent parents, that they gave Drew everything he needed. He’d still been lured in by the promise of a quick fix. “It breaks my heart.”

  Without her having to ask, he reached over and grasped her hand in his. Rooster had always been a big guy. Even before he’d been on the squad, he’d been recruited by the coaches at the high school, but he’d never wanted to play sports. That was one thing she’d loved about him, he wasn’t the norm. He’d never been what anyone expected him to be.

  “Some of them can’t be saved,” he told her. It was the truth; he’d seen it happen a million times. “But there are some that can, and I think that Drew has enough people surrounding him that he’ll be fine. It’s not going to be easy. Withdrawal is a bitch, and I don’t think Liam’s gonna take it easy on him, neither will Tyler for that matter, but I think he’s overall got a good head on his shoulders.”

  Roni hoped so. God, she hoped so. She didn’t have anything else to say as they pulled into her parking spot at her apartment complex. It was still raining, coming down in sheets, flashes of lightening illuminating the sky. “I don’t wanna sit here all night.” She turned to face him. “You wanna make a run for it?”

  His mood lifted as he saw the grin on her face. It reminded him of the nights they would go to the swimming hole. “You sure? We’re gonna get soaked.”

  “Maybe that’s what I need.” She bit her lip as she opened the door. She never acted with any careless abandon anymore. Since the night she’d lost control as a teenager, everything was calculated. She needed to find that girl who would strip down to her skivvies and go for a swim with a boy. The woman needed to find the girl if she was going to make a life for herself.

  Stepping out into the rain, she lifted her head up instead of running through it, letting the rain pour over her face. It was warm, and as it washed over her, it was almost as if it were cleansing her of all her sins. It washed away all the bad feelings, giving her peace for a moment.

  “Roni, what are you doing?” Rooster questioned, grabbing her by the waist. He pulled her close, holding her to him.

  “Enjoying myself for the first time in a long time,” she yelled over the sound of the water hitting the cars beside them. “I feel free and I need this,” she told him, digging her fingers into his arms.

  He took a minute to look at her and he could see it. She breathed heavily, almost like she was hyperventilating, but then he wondered if it was because he held her close. If it was because their bodies touched one another. That same spark that had been there when they were younger was still there for him. He didn’t know how to get over it, how to forget it. Every woman he’d been with since her had never lived up to her memory. He knew that wasn’t fair, but it was the truth. He’d lost his heart at seventeen and had never been able to get it back.

  Roni smiled up at him, the drops from the downpour caught on his eyelashes, making them seem impossibly long. The stress he had seemed to carry with him while he was on the force was gone, she’d noticed that, too, in the last few months. The afternoon had taken a lot out of both of them, but there were no more secrets. They could be themselves with each other. He seemed like he was rejuvenated, different than he’d been in a long time. She wanted that feeling for herself; she wanted to be able to live her life. She’d waited so long, years, to be the carefree one, and she wasn’t doing it. She was still worried about things she couldn’t control. Sick of it, she slipped out of his grasp and ran back towards the truck, pulling the tailgate down and pushing herself up to have a seat on it.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, advancing towards her.

  It was late, and her apartment building closed up at night. There wasn’t much foot traffic, and especially not on a night like tonight. She looked young sitting on the tailgate of his truck, her feet dangling. The flip flops she’d worn had slipped off, the T-shirt she wore was plastered to her body, and her shorts had ridden up, exposing tan thighs.

  “Nothing.” She grinned back at him. She needed what she was about to do. She’d held him at arm’s length because he hadn’t known about the baby, it felt wrong to move forward when he hadn’t known about the secret, but now that he did, she wanted to move forward in a bad way. Locking eyes with him, she reached down and pulled her T-shirt over her head, throwing it behind her into the bed of the pickup.

  “Do you know what you’re doin’?” he asked her. Rooster had stopped walking towards her, wanting to make sure she was okay with this, that this is what she wanted. Once he got a taste of her again, he knew that he wasn’t ever going to let go. It wasn’t in him to lose something twice.

  “I do.” She glanced around the parking lot. The lights in most of the apartments were out, they were closed up for the night, and she wanted this, more than she’d wanted anything in a very long time. Reaching behind her, she unhooked her bra, catching it with her arms before it fell completely free.

  He was to her in three long strides, his hands in her hair, tipping her mouth for him. Before she could inhale, he’d captured her lips with his, coaxing them apart and slipping his tongue inside. He plundered, shivering when he tasted her.

  Grabbing him around the waist with her legs, she locked him to her, never wanting to let go. She’d let go of so much in her life, this was something she’d come to realize she didn’t want to let go. This was a new lease on life, a new start for them, and if she felt like starting her new lease in the rain, in the middle of the night, on the bed of his pickup truck, then so be it.

  Rooster tilted her head back, taking her exposed neck, nibbling on her throat as his other hand swept away the bra, throwing it back to where her shirt had landed. “You sure about this?” he asked, his voice loud to be heard over the rain. He didn’t want her to regret this in a few hours after all was said and done. He wouldn’t be able to handle that. He’d waited too long.

  She nodded. “I’m sure.” To prove that she was, she reached down, unbuckling his belt and the button that fastened his pants together.

  “Roni,” he breathed harshly in warning against her throat when her hand slid against his stomach, pushing the elastic of his underwear down and snaking her hand underneath to grip him.

  “I want this,” she told him again, running her hand up and down the hard length of him.

  “Wait a second,” he cautioned, cupping her cheeks and forcing her to look at him. Letting her cheek go, he reached into the pants that drooped off his hips and pulled out a plastic packet. After the things they’d gone through today, he didn’t want there to be any kind of question as to whether they could make a baby here or not. Neither one of them were ready for it and neither one of them were in the right mind for it.

 
; She waited as he opened the condom and placed it over his hard length, her fingers digging into the muscles of his forearms. Finally, in a flurry of movement, the two of them worked to get her wet clothes down her legs. Once they were far enough down, she lay back against the metal of the pickup. It was still warm from the heat of the day, and it felt good against her back. The rain caused her to keep her eyes closed and it heightened her other senses. Goosebumps rose along her thighs when Rooster ran his hands there, separating them to make room for his body. “Hurry,” she told him. “We can take our time later.”

  Groaning, he moved one knee up onto the truck and planted one foot on the asphalt to help his balance. Seating himself inside of her transported him to another time, another place; it took him to a feeling that he hadn’t ever had since, and for the first time in a long time, he felt at peace, at ease. No matter what this life threw at them, they were going to make it. In this second chance, failure was not an option.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Roni was afraid to move. Sunlight was shining in her eyes between the curtain and the blind, but she didn’t want to ruin the romantic haze she’d been in since she’d convinced Rooster to take her on the bed of his truck. She lay in the arms of the one man who’d had her heart her whole life. She didn’t want to wake him up and then have him regret everything they’d done the night before. That was her biggest fear, that they had both been blinded by the need to forget the crazy stuff that was going on in their lives. That she had been a warm body, any warm body. She was almost afraid to breathe.

  “You don’t have to worry about waking me up.”

  The male voice was rough and full of sleep. It was what she had imagined for years it would be like. Was this how their lives would have gone? Would they have woken up like this each and every morning? Their arms and legs entwined with one another, both naked, her sore from what they had done the night before? It was almost enough to make her cry, thinking about what they had given up because of circumstance.