Yes, people. I was deaf without it. I was not handicapped in any way. I lived a normal life. I talked a little oddly due to my first year and a half being hearing impaired, but if I wasn’t flustered, I was able to compensate.
Now, though? I was fucking flustered.
Why? Because my niece hadn’t slept in a full fourteen hours because she’d been up with the flu. She had to sleep propped up on pillows, and she had a continuous nasal drip that really rubbed me the wrong way if I focused on it too long.
I pounded on the door, wondering if anybody would hear me at all.
Nothing happened.
I pounded again.
It was less than ten seconds later that the door was yanked open and bodies started to shuffle out.
In the scuffle of those bodies leaving, they didn’t see me standing there, and dislodged me from my spot at the front door.
Not able to think with the mass of bodies, I fell backward onto my backside, hitting hard because for some reason I was trying to protect the sandwich in my hand rather than my ass.
But whatever.
When I hit the ground, I went back onto my back and rolled partially to my side. Yes, still protecting my sandwich. This time from the bush at my back.
The moment that I rolled, my entire world went silent.
There wasn’t a single sound in the world. Not one single one.
I guess I should be thankful that by those men coming out of the house, they’d turned on the security light as they went, because now I could clearly see everything.
What kind of fucking light was that? I sure as hell didn’t have that on my part of the duplex!
I rolled up to my knees and turned around, searching for my speech processor that had somehow gotten yanked off during my fall.
Absently I took a bite of my sandwich almost out of habit seeing as it was in my hand and hummed when I found my transmitter clinging to a twig.
Snatching it up, I stood up and turned, coming face to sternum with the biggest man I’d ever seen.
My eyes trailed up the very bare chest, between some fabulous pecs, and even farther up to a very muscular neck before it came to a well-trimmed, bearded jaw.
I stalled hesitantly on a pair of lips that would’ve done any woman proud. They were thick, luscious…bitable.
And those lips started to move, but since his back was to the light, I couldn’t see his lips quite well enough to read what he was saying.
So, I ignored them and continued past them to a crooked, nose, and finally stopping on a pair of sea foam green eyes.
So, of course, that was when I raised my sandwich up to take another bite.
Before I could so much as sink my teeth into the bread, I was hauled back roughly. So roughly that my head snapped to the side, and my hand holding my transmitter convulsed.
The transmitter fell to the floor, and it hit the ground. I watched as the booted foot of the man holding me stepped on it, pulverizing it to little tiny pieces.
My stomach sank.
“Oh, God,” I moaned. “Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.”
Five thousand dollars down the drain.
How do I know how much was down the drain? I’d just gotten that new unit just last month after saving for it for three long years.
My knees sagged, and the fingers holding the sandwich let go.
Tears started to immediately leak out of my eyes as I watched my hopes and dreams literally swirl down the drain.
My eyes went up to the man that was holding me by the arm, and he gave it another good yank, causing me to cry out in pain.
I wasn’t a big girl. In fact, I was a five-foot-three, one-hundred-and twenty-seven-pound woman. The man holding me was at least my brother’s height—which was six-foot-four—and looked to be made of solid muscle. I already knew that his one hand could fit around my entire arm.
“Let me go!” I cried out.
The man didn’t let me go until I was on the sidewalk, which was a good twenty feet from where I’d been originally.
The minute I was free, the tears came faster.
Then I ran up the walkway to the still open door of my house, slammed it closed, and fell to my knees, continuing to sob.
What’s Next—2?
How About No
Book 3 in the Bear Bottom Guardians MC Series
Prologue I
Before you do anything stupid this weekend, just remember it’s a 3 day weekend and the judge won’t be in until Tuesday. Just sayin’.
-Wade’s secret thoughts
Wade
Five years ago
I saw her enter the classroom from across the room.
She was wearing tight blue jeans, a white t-shirt that fit her so tight I could make out every single curve, and a pair of white flip-flops that showed off her cute pink toenails.
I was teaching a criminal justice class for a friend, and I’d never been more excited than I was right then to tell my fellow cop and MC brother no, I wasn’t taking over the class for him.
Why, you ask?
Because I knew that girl was about to be mine.
The moment we were out of this classroom, I was going to ask her out on a date, and I couldn’t do that if I was her teacher for this semester. The moment I saw those beautiful brown eyes of hers lift and take me in, I knew that I was lost.
So. Fucking. Lost.
And then there was the fact that she’d expressly violated the dress code for the class. Not that I wanted to object or anything, but she was supposed to be dressed in closed-toed footwear and have her hair up and away from her face.
The entire class was filled with mostly men, and honestly was a course that I wasn’t sure that she belonged in at all.
I wasn’t sure why she was there, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Then again, I could likely teach the class seeing as she would probably stay in here for one class and one class only once she found out what it was about.
My watched beeped, signaling that it was eight exactly, and I stood up and walked to the door, shutting it and locking it.
I hated latecomers, and if anyone came to the door after I’d closed it, well, they’d be making a spectacle of themselves.
I made sure to pass directly in front of the desk that the girl—woman—had taken near the middle of the room, and nearly groaned when I smelled peaches.
I felt things inside of me start to tighten, and I was thankful that there was a podium at the front of the room to conceal my dick since I could already feel it getting hard.
Once I was up there, I pulled out the class roster and started to read off last names.
When I got to Hill, the woman’s soft voice answered my harsh call.
“Here,” she murmured.
My eyes sliced to hers, and I saw her cheeks fill with color.
Well, imagine that.
Smirking, I finished off the rest of the roster and then tossed it onto the shelf beside me before taking a look around the room.
“I’m not your normal teacher,” I started without preamble. “I’m taking over for my partner who’s sick today. He has the flu, so be thankful that he’s not the one here teaching you today.”
A lot of masculine laughs filled the room, but they couldn’t overpower the soft giggle that came from the girl.
Landry.
Our eyes met again, and goddamn it felt like a freight train had slammed straight into my chest when I saw the smile on her face.
I licked my lips and looked away, trying to find purchase where there wasn’t any to be had.
“Anyway, this class is going to be fun this year,” I paused. “At least it was when I took it five years ago. There’s no telling if Cass will continue to make it fun, or if he’s turned into the asshole he is the rest of the time I’m working with him.”
The girl gasped, and I felt my lip quirk up at that.
Had she not heard cursing before?
> “This class will teach you about hands-on tactics that you’ll use during the police procedure such as when you’re arresting a suspect, performing a traffic stop, or collecting evidence that you’ll need to use during a traffic stop.” I paused. “This is also something that you’ll learn during the police academy, but more in depth and widespread. In the police department you choose to work at, they’ll also have their own police procedures…”
I nearly laughed when I saw the woman’s eyes go glazed as she took in all that I had to say.
No, this was definitely not the class for her…
An hour later, once I was done going over all that would be touched on this year, I sent the students on their way thirty minutes early.
Everybody got up and left, a few lingering to talk, except for one.
That one stayed at her desk with her head bowed as she stared at the course syllabus and tapped her fingers restlessly.
I found myself grinning as I walked up to her.
Stopping at the end of her desk, I waited for her to notice that I was there.
When she finally did look up, I couldn’t help myself.
“You know that you were taking this class?” I asked conversationally.
She shook her head animatedly, the brown hair of hers falling into her eyes as she did.
I wanted nothing more than to reach up and push it away from her face.
“The counselor that signed me up for classes said that a lot of students took a criminal justice class when they needed to get full credit hours. So, I thought, why not? I’m not sure they take this one, though,” she admitted. “I’m thinking that counselor was new or something, because it seems like this is a more advanced class, and you have to build on stuff you learned in previous classes to perform well in this one.”
I shrugged. “Yes and no,” I admitted. “Yes, it helps to have those other laws and rules to fall back on, but really this is more of a hands-on what to do in certain types of situations lab. It’s not required to take the other classes to take this one, which is likely why the computer system allowed her to put you into it in the first place. It is, however, a more advanced class. Not really something you’ll be able to use in life if you’re not planning on going criminal justice for a major.”
She laughed. “Uh, no. I’m not doing criminal justice. I’m doing website design/computer programming.”
“No,” I laughed out loud. “I don’t think you’ll need this course, but you’re more than welcome to stay if you want.”
She shrugged. “I might give it one more class, but honestly, it seems kind of advanced, and I’m not sure that I want to take it. I’m more of a sit on my butt and watch the world around me type of person.”
My lips twitched. “Nothing wrong with that, darlin’.”
Her cheeks flushed again. “Well, I guess I better go. I have an hour until my next class, and I’m hungry.”
I felt my heart leap. “You want to grab a bite to eat with me? I swear, I’m not a serial killer or anything.”
Her laugh surprised both her and me. “No, I wouldn’t think that a cop could do both, but for some reason I trust you. As long as you’re not doing sushi for lunch, I’m down.”
I’d never eat my favorite food again if it got her to go with me.
“No sushi,” I promised.
Her smile was captivating. “Then that’s a yes.”
It was a yes for a whole lot of other things, too.
A day after our lunch, she said yes to a second date. Two weeks after our first date, she said yes to being my girlfriend. Eight months after our first date, she said yes to being my fiancée. And six months after that, she said yes to being my wife.
The Beard Made Me Do It
Excerpt:
Jessie and Ellen
(Linc’s father)
Chapter 1
Don’t piss in your boot because you think it’s funny.
-Things I never thought I would have to tell my kid not to do.
Jessie
“Why the hell are you out here and not in your fucking room doing that?” I asked my sixteen-year-old son, Linc.
Linc looked up from his homework and shrugged.
The problem with Linc doing his homework out here meant that he had the TV blaring, his phone on some stupid YouTube video, and his pencil tapping a million miles an hour while he hummed to some random song that only he could hear.
He was also nearly naked. Had been for the majority of his life.
He ignored me as if I hadn’t said a word.
“Seriously,” I said to him. “What makes you think it’s okay to sit here in your underwear with the fuckin’ front window wide ass open? The people in this neighborhood are not down with that, and I’d rather they not egg our shit to communicate that to us. Not to mention you don’t pay the fuckin’ electric bill, and it’s cold as fuck out.”
Linc snorted.
“They’d have to be able to walk close to our cars and, since most of them are old geezers, I don’t see that happening,” he countered. “What’s gotten up your ass?”
I grunted, walking to the kitchen to grab a beer. It’d been a long fucking day, and I had to go back to work and do it all over again tomorrow.
I was a welder for a pipeline. My job was exhaustingly hard work that I fucking loved. I made a whack and paid my bills, but I had to work long hours to do it. Nearly eighty hours a week.
“Someone called for you today. A woman.”
“What was her name?” I asked, scanning the contents of the refrigerator for something to eat. “Did you eat all the leftover pizza?”
Linc and I had pizza a lot. Anything that was fast, usually something that came out of a box, was one of our go-to menu items seeing as neither one of us really knew how to cook. Lunchables, macaroni and sometimes Hamburger Helper when we were feeling adventurous.
“Ellen?” Linc guessed. “I wrote it down on the pad next to the phone.”
The name ‘Ellen’ wasn’t common, but it was still unlikely that a girl from my past—almost fourteen years ago to be exact—to come back and haunt me some two-thousand odd miles away from where I knew she had moved to all those years ago.
“What did she want?” I asked. “And you never answered me on the pizza.”
“That was gone last night around three in the morning,” Linc chuckled unrepentantly. “And I wrote it all down on the note.”
I closed the fridge and moved across the small space to the counter next to the landline that I wasn’t sure why we still had, and I stared at the pad of paper with two words on it.
Club party.
“Can I go?”
I looked up to find Linc, the boy who was the spitting image of me, standing at my side.
Already standing at six foot one, he was likely to continue to grow according to his pediatrician who said he’d probably reach my height, if not pass it. He had jet-black hair with a slight wave to it, also exactly like mine.
Hell, he even had a beard, just like me. Though, his was trimmed and neatly kept because the school he was attending informed him if it wasn’t done just so, he’d have to shave it or leave the school.
We had to fight for the beard, so, if he wanted to keep it, he’d damn well follow their rules or I’d make him shave it off myself.
His body mass was the only thing still lagging behind mine. He was much skinnier, but he was definitely on the verge of getting some bulk, just like I’d been at sixteen. He was still in that in-between stage, no longer a boy but not yet a man. You could see the promise of what he would become some day, but he just wasn’t quite there yet.
Me, I was six foot four, two-hundred-fifty pounds of solid muscle, including a six-pack that was honed the hard way—through long days of manual labor on the pipeline. I had a beard that was on the verge of being too bushy, but I’d lost the desire to impress anyone a long fucking time ago.
I was me, and I wasn’t going to ch
ange, even though there were some who wished I would.
“I’ll have to ask if it’s kid friendly,” I laughed when my son gave me a face that clearly conveyed what he thought about me lumping him in the kid-friendly category. “And you didn’t mention the time, or why she called to tell me something I already knew.”
“She was supposedly reminding everyone about it since someone complained a few weeks ago that they weren’t reminded. Oh, and I’m not a kid.”
My kid wasn’t a kid. He couldn’t be when he was raised by me.
I’d done my best, but I’d been more like a brother than a parent. We were sixteen years apart in age, and there wasn’t a day that went by where I did the whole parenting thing correctly.
He had to grow up faster than most. By the age of ten, I was leaving him at home for extended periods of time because I’d been switched to a different shift that meant I didn’t get home from work until a little after nine o’clock.
By the age of twelve, he was spending almost the entire night alone, every other day, because my shifts were switched again.
By fifteen, we didn’t even pass each other for the entire day at times.
Now, at sixteen, I had a better paying position. One where I worked days, though they were long and just as tiring—if not more so—as my previous job. I was a supervisor (or manager, whatever) and being the boss was the pits. I had a low tolerance for dealing with people’s bullshit, and there was a lot of that in this job.
The only saving grace was being able to pay all my bills, and slowly drive down the debt I’d accrued over the years. Not to mention I was able to afford a house payment for the first time ever.
“You took me to the last one.”
I grinned. “That’s right. I did.”
“I can’t believe you’re prospecting. I’m so fuckin’ excited.”
I just shook my head.
My kid rolled his eyes at me and went back to the couch. He came back to me with a paper in his hand. “Read this and make sure it looks good.”
I grabbed the paper and read it, my heart tightening slightly when I read the words on the paper.
Talkin' Trash (The Bear Bottom Guardians MC Book 2) Page 22
