When you find that person who knows you, who won’t let you get away with being anything but who you can be, it’s crazy what that kind of strength can do.
Asher was that person.
He saw the strength I had, and he demanded it, refused to accept anything fucking less. Even if, at times, I didn’t think I could give it.
His fingers tightened in my hair, tilting my face to the side as his lips moved across over my jaw and down to my neck. My eyes fell closed, my hands shaking as they moved up under his shirt, desperate to feel the warmth of his skin. I knew he could feel my heart pounding as his tongue swept across my pulse, his teeth pulling at the sensitive skin.
This moment.
It had been a long time coming.
But it still scared the fucking shit out of me. Letting someone this close when I already felt like I was falling to pieces.
He could destroy me.
But maybe I didn’t care.
Maybe with Asher it would be worth it just to feel this for a little while.
A wave hit us full force, sending water splashing over our faces. We both pulled back, gasping.
What the hell was I doing?
I blinked, feeling the seawater sitting on my lashes, my hair sticking to my face. Both of us were now being battered by the rising tide.
The water was cold.
Fucking freezing.
But I had half a bottle of vodka nicely heating the blood swimming through my veins.
I could feel Asher shaking.
Yet, he continued to hold me.
He was my anchor, keeping me from floating away and being lost to the ocean, which, when I walked in here, I thought wouldn’t be so bad. Now, though, I was seeing the worry and the fear in his eyes.
“We need to go in,” I murmured, my teeth starting to chatter. I felt sober as hell in that moment. And the soberer I got, the more I realized I was a fucking idiot and could have gotten us both killed.
“Home,” he agreed, nodding.
“Yours or mine?” I teased, kneading my fingers into the back of his neck.
I didn’t want to let go.
This feeling was new, and it was intense. It scared the ever-loving hell out of me, but maybe that was what I needed—maybe he was what I needed—to light that fire under my ass. To feel like I had control back.
I couldn’t let that bastard win.
And Asher wouldn’t let me give in.
His hand moved down, slipping under my ass and boosting me a little higher. “Doesn’t fucking matter where. We’ll go wherever the fuck you want.”
Damn him.
I was about to agree, but suddenly a light flashed across my face, stunning me for a moment. “You kids come out of the damn water,” a deep voice called.
Asher pulled me closer, cursing under his breath. “Fuck, cops,” he groaned. “Act sober.”
My teeth were chattering as he placed me back on my feet, his hands at my waist as we waded through the water, heading back to shore. “I am sober now,” I groaned, blinking and shading my eyes as the flashlight hit us again.
They held it on us until we were completely out of the water, our clothes soaked, sand in places where there should never be a gritty substance.
“Well, well,” a deep voice chuckled, the light dropping. My eyes blinked into the darkness as the officer walked toward us. “Look what the tide washed in.”
“Fucking awesome,” Asher cursed under his breath, his hands at my waist as we walked up the beach. “Officer Dalton,” he greeted through gritted teeth.
I already had a bad feeling.
Then I saw the officer pulling his cuffs from his belt.
And I knew an already shitty day was about to get a lot worse.
12
Phee
Asher walked out of one of the small offices, rubbing his wrists, Helen pressing a supportive hand against his back.
We’d been there for hours.
Both of us were still in damp clothes. The chill was now settling within my skin, making my body shake uncontrollably. Leaping to my feet, I rushed forward, pulling the blanket they had given me tightly around my shoulders.
“This is crap. What the hell is going on?” I demanded, my eyes searching Helen’s before turning to Asher.
“We just needed to confirm some parole notes,” Helen assured me, moving closer to the front desk, so she could sign the forms in her hands. “Asher’s parole specifies he live in Arizona state, but he’d been given permission to visit California because his father lives here.”
Something clicked over in my brain, something that sounded awfully like an alarm going off. “Where in Arizona do you live?”
His gaze was blank.
There was nothing.
It was like it had suddenly frozen over, and the warmth that had surrounded me just hours ago in the water was now ice. I took a step back, and he clenched his jaw a little tighter but didn’t bother to reach out for me or pull me back in.
Something had changed.
I could feel it stirring in my stomach.
“Lia.”
I spun around, my heart skipping when I spotted Hamlet stomping toward me through the lobby of the police station, his face looking like he was ready to kill someone. I started running before I had time even to consider why the hell he was here in California, launching myself into his arms.
Hamlet wrapped me up, lifting me off the floor and almost suffocating me as he squeezed my body against his. I inhaled the smell of his leather. He’d never been into motorcycles or anything like that when we were kids, so it was a new addition that I was learning to love about my big brother. Ham and I had been really close as kids. He walked me to school every day, taught me how to hit a ball, patched me up when I fell over and skinned my knees.
When the courts separated us, and I was dropped into the midst of hell, I held a lot of resentment and anger toward him, but it was a hatred that was fueled by the people around me. They told me my family abandoned me, and there was no one who wanted me.
Yet, Ham had fought for me for years.
Just another fucking way the system had failed us.
We were making up for it now, though.
“Who called you?” I asked, pulling back with a frown. The room suddenly felt a lot smaller as I realized there were three more of his MC brothers standing behind him, all looking extremely pissed off in the middle of the police station.
“I did,” Asher’s gruff voice answered.
A wave of goosebumps rushed over me.
My stomach dropped to the floor.
And for a second, I wondered if my heart was going to fall to the dirty tiles with it and explode all over the fucking police station’s lobby.
“This isn’t happening,” I whispered to myself. My older brother took no notice, though, stepping around me and storming through the center of the waiting room. Asher stood his ground, his fists clenched at his sides and his shoulders pushed back.
“I told you to look after her,” Hamlet growled, pulling his fist back before driving it into the side of Asher’s face and making him stumble. “Not get in her goddamn pants.”
“Hey!” A couple of police officers rushed over, pushed the boys apart, and ordered Hamlet to get the hell out. He shoved the officers away, taking a few steps backward before finally spinning on his heel and stomping toward me like an angry bull.
“Come on,” my brother urged, reaching for my arm.
I slapped it away, yanking the blanket from around me and shoving it into his chest.
“Lia—”
“No,” I snapped, emotion catching in my throat. “How dare you? How could you do this?”
“I needed to make sure you were safe.”
“No, you needed to make sure you were in control,” I snapped back, tears choking me, making it feel like I was drowning. “When are you going to get it, Hamlet? I survived this long on my own. I got myself out of that hellhole. Without you. Without the club.”
I could see his face breaking.
My words hitting their mark with a sharp fucking point on the end.
This couldn’t be happening.
My body was frozen, the shivers finally gone but the cold settling right into my bones, freezing me to the spot.
My eyes moved past Ham to Asher. He licked at his bloody lip—my big brother’s handy work—his dark gaze meeting mine from the end of the room. I wanted to go to him, press my thumb to the split in his lip, and call him an idiot for taking on a biker in the middle of a crowded police station.
But he was a biker.
His cloudy gaze had turned to steel.
Hard.
Sharp.
Like the edge of a blade, I could feel it pressed to my skin, trying to force me to keep away, to keep my distance.
Why?
To protect himself from me?
Or to protect me from him?
How was I so fucking blind? How did I let him get so damn close and not realize it was all fake?
Because maybe it wasn’t.
My emotions were quick to take over, my throat burning with tears and my head shaking back and forth, trying to convince my brain it hadn’t heard those words. “Are you with the club or just decided to be one of their little bitch boys?”
“Got patched in Montana when I was eighteen, transferred to Phoenix a few weeks ago,” he responded, his words tight.
A bitter laugh left my mouth. “A job,” I croaked, tears teetering on my eyelashes. “I was just a job, right? ‘Cause the club always comes first.”
“They’re my fucking family,” he growled, taking a step forward, his eyes blazing like I’d just threatened to murder everyone he ever cared for.
“And what the hell was I?”
“You were something,” he snapped, shaking his head. “But it wasn’t just a fucking job.”
“Liar,” I croaked, feeling like it was a struggle to stay on my feet, my entire body swaying so much I had to grab the waiting room chairs to keep me steady.
“Phee!” Asher snapped, storming forward.
I jerked back. “No. Stay the hell away from me.”
Repo cut him off before he could get to me, wrapping his arms around Asher’s chest and holding him back as he struggled. I didn’t know why he was fighting. He could stop now. I knew the truth. It was fucking done.
“Whoa,” Helen soothed, suddenly appearing beside me with her arm around my waist, lowering me down into a chair while she crouched down beside me. She looked over my face, her eyes examining the results of an attack we still hadn’t spoken of. “Did something happen? Your face is bruised.”
“Noth—”
“Asher Mitchell?” Everything paused, the entire room freezing as a plain-clothed detective strolled past, slicing through the tension that seemed to be growing thicker and thicker by the second, almost suffocating me. “You’re under arrest for tampering with evidence and violating parole.”
My brother rushed forward. “What the fuck?”
Helen was right there beside him. “Wait! What’s going on?”
I was simply frozen, watching as Asher’s arms were twisted sharply behind his back and handcuffs were clasped around his wrists, all while he held my gaze.
He fought them.
More police officers rushed into the room to force his battling body down the hall toward the cells.
I didn’t hear anything else.
It had all become a dull ringing in my ears, and my skin was becoming clammy and sticky, sweat beading on my forehead.
This was hell.
That’s where I was.
That was why I was so fucking hot, why it felt like I was just going to burn up.
Less than twelve hours.
That was how long it took.
From feeling like I had fucking everything.
To this.
“Lia!”
I heard my brother scream, but it was too late.
Everything had already gone black.
The End
If you enjoyed this book, you will love:
Harmony
The Club Girl Diaries Book 1
Click here to purchase
I was a club girl.
I made no excuses for who I was or what I've done.
We had our purpose--to cook, clean and keep the men happy.
After a lifetime of watching men walk in and out of my life, it was strangely comforting, and feeling I'd grown accustom to.
All I wanted was to have fun, play my music and finish college.
At the club, I could do that.
No strings attached, no risking my heart.
At least, that was the plan.
I was born to be president.
The Brothers by Blood MC was my family--my home.
The club ran in my veins.
I wasn't looking for much more.
The last thing I expected was to find Harmony--a club girl with all the makings of a perfect old lady.
She was beautiful, strong and fiercely independent.
The walls around her heart were up, but the fire in her eyes and her love for the club fueled my need to have her by my side.
And on the back of my bike.
When her safety is threatened, I'll do everything to protect her and get her to trust me. But after a lifetime of broken promises, will it be enough?
Other books in the series:
Chelsea – The Club Girl Diaries Book 2
Blizzard – The Club Girl Diaries Book 3
Hadley – The Club Girl Diaries Book 4
Family – The Club Girl Diaries Book 5
Wrench – The Club Girl Diaries Book 6
Skylar – The Club Girl Diaries Book 7
Shake -The Club Girl Diaries Book 8
Meyah – The Club Girl Diaries Book 9
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About the Author
Addison Jane is a born and bred kiwi girl with a passion for romance and writing.
When she gets the chance, she enjoys the little things in life such as reading, dancing, music, and Facebook, but her world really revolves around the little girl who calls her Mum. It’s an awkward balance between alpha males and Disney princesses, but it works.
Growing up on a small farm next to the beach will always make her a country girl at heart. But since moving away to a small town close to the city, she’s discovered a dangerous love for shopping.
Writing stories has been something that’s come naturally since she was young, and with the massive support of her friends and family, she finally decided to step out of her comfort zone and share them with the world.
She enjoys bringing her books to life with strong female leads, sexy, passionate men, and a rollercoaster of twists and turns that lead to the happily ever after that her readers desire.
Vault’s Loss
Phantom Bastards MC: Second Generation Book 1
Erin Osborne
Prologue
Annabell
GROWING UP, I had everything I ever wanted. I didn’t want much of anything, but my parents worked hard to make sure I had everything a young girl could want. The most important thing was their time and love, and I had it in spades.
My dad, Cameron, was an investment banker at a large firm. He’s worked for them since graduating near the top of his class in college. He climbed the corporate ladder and is one of the partners in his firm. My mom, Harper, worked at an insurance co
mpany. She sold policies and made sure anyone needing to file a claim could call her at any time of the day or night. Her goal was to help someone when they were in their darkest times and in need of a friendly voice or someone to fight for them.
They met when they were in college and began to study for one of their classes together. My dad says it was love at first sight, while my mom says they started as friends until he swept her off her feet. I think my mom was just playing hard to get from the stories I’ve heard from them. They’ve been in love since college and it’s a love I want to find when I’m older. The way they look at one another, you can see the love they feel. It’s the simple touches, lingering looks, and laughter at jokes no one else, including me, understands.
When my parents weren’t at work, they’d help me with homework, my mom was at every single cheerleading practice, both my parents were at every single game I cheered at, and we’d go out once a week. Sometimes we’d go out to dinner. There were times we’d just drive around and stop at random shops along our trip. Other times, my parents would drive us to the beach and we’d just walk along the tide talking.
I didn’t go out, not that my parents discouraged me from going out with friends or accepting dates. Instead, I preferred to concentrate on my schoolwork when I wasn’t doing something for cheerleading. My dream is to go to college to become a social worker. I want to ensure kids grow up in a safe and loving home.
While my parents were loving and made sure I was protected at all costs, some kids in my school weren’t so lucky. I’d see kids come to school with bruises covering their body. Or kids who were constantly bullied because they didn’t have necessities such as clean clothes or food to eat other than breakfast and lunch at school. I didn’t feel sorry for these kids, I wanted to help them. Get them out of the homes they weren’t being taken care of in.
Twisted Steel: An MC Romance Anthology Page 8
