Relinquish

by Sapphire Knight

  Relinquish

  Warning: This content contains material that may be offensive to some readers, including graphic language, dangerous and adult situations. Some situations may be hotspots for some readers.

  Dedicated to my grandmother.

  Without her-

  I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

  Acknowledgements-

  My husband- Thank you for helping me with the creative killing methods. You make my job easier then crazy google searches! We make a great team. I love you.

  My gorgeous boys- Thank you for understanding when I was writing like a maniac and spending hours online for book stuff. I love you both more than you will ever know.

  Cat- My sweet friend, thank you for all of your support and kind words! I am grateful to have you in my corner, not only in the gym but in my book world.

  The lovey Beta readers -Thank you Kath for your encouragement, Lillian for questioning things and Abbey for being brutally honest. You are always ready for more whenever I throw it at you! XOXO

  Cover Designer and Photographer, Sara Eirew- Thank you for such a beautiful cover. You have such amazing talent and I am lucky to have you working on mine!

  My Editor (AKA Miracle Worker) Amanda L. Pederick- Thank you so much. I absolutely love reading your comments. You are fantastic at what you do and have a great sense of humor! Xxx

  Sapphire’s Naughty Princesses- Thank you ladies for everything you do to help promote my work, for all of your support and encouragement. You make me want to write even more!

  David Byers- A special thank you for allowing me to have you (My Muse) on my cover! Such a sweet guy and I wish nothing but the best for you in the future.

  My blogger friends-There are so many to list and for that I am in awe.

  Abbey's 1-Click Book Blog, Not Another Damn Blog-Blog(Krystal-my lovebug), Beneath The Covers Blog, Promoting Authors, Books & Reviews, Paranormal Romance Trance, One last Page Book Blog, Literary Treasure Chest, Revenge of the Feels, My Reading Reality, Bleeding Heart Blog, La Jersey Chika Reads Indie Books, Smut Hut Books, Book reviews & take-overs, Blogging For The Love Of Authors And Their Books, Shirley's Bookshelf, JaMbookblog, Emily Can Say What She Wants, Indie Impressions, Fictional Rendezvous Book Blog, Sassy kiwi Book Blog, Loves 2 Read Romance, Heather Ann's Book Reviews, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Relentless Book Chics Ramblings & Reviews, Best of Both Worlds: Books & Naughtiness, Sarah & Kirsty's Book Reviews, Books Laid Bare, ByoBook Club, Sinfully Sweet Promotions, Book Boyfriend Hangover, Little Shop of Readers, Tamra, Karen, Kelly, LaVida, Mindy, Debb, Lindsay, Jodi, anyone left out I apologize & I love you guys!

  My readers- Thank you for making this possible for me. I wish I could hug each one of you!

  Relinquish: (verb) Give up, surrender, release, yield, abnegate, cede, resign, forgo.

  2 Piece

  Chapter 1

  Wednesday afternoon Church meeting

  “Brothers!” Prez booms out and looks around the table. “It seems we have a reptile problem. Apparently my son, Brently, hooked up with some female called Seraphina. Guess this bitch is the sister to a brother in the Twisted Snake MC. Once this clown found out who my son is, he started givin’ him shit ‘bout me. Now, not only are they harrassin’ Brently but they are tryin’ to sell in our fuckin’ territory. Y’all know what happened to the last little roach that tried sellin’ on our territory.”

  Everyone nods and replies, “Yes.”

  “Cain, call up the Russian, see if he has dealin’s with them and what you can find out. It’d be nice if this could be handled easily and we don’t gotta kill anyone this time,” he growls, irritated.

  “Sure, Prez, no problem,” Cain replies and Prez waves his hand to the side. Cain gets up to go make that phone call. When Prez tells you something at the table and waves toward the door, it means ASAP, no fuckin around.

  Ever since Tate found out what was happening when we were in Tennessee, he’s been in charge of the Russian Mafia back there. I’m not sure what happened to his father, Gizya. Knowing the Mafia though, I’d say he’s floating in one of the many lakes around Knoxville. That is unless Tate and Viktor decided to show him some mercy and let him leave the business with his tail between his legs. Sneaky old bastard tried to get the club hooked on his fuckin’ drugs. If we were that spun out on drugs all the time, Prez would kick our asses out. We try to keep that kind of thing out of our area. The less of that shit, then the fewer problems for us close to the club.

  “Besides that issue, business as usual, Brothers. Stay out of jail, party and enjoy the pussy.” He slams the gavel down and we are dismissed. Our meetings are always short and straight to the point. Prez tells us to enjoy the puss but yet he rarely partakes in that luxury. I’m not so much of a saint however. My dick’s on a schedule and the club whores all know it. I’m not ashamed of the fact I’m a hoe myself. I’ve come to terms and embraced it. I don’t do no fuckin’ drama, and regular pussy is a must.

  Cain’s sitting in the usual booth with a bottle of Jack and lemons. Reckon I’ll head over to join him. There’s nothing like a rich shot of that amber colored liquid after talkin’ business. Cain’s newer to the club, but is fitting in really well. He’ll probably one day become an Enforcer with Ares. Those two enjoy messin’ up some fools and fighting when they get wound up. We’ve become good friends since I found him out in Cali. Poor kid seemed a little lost.

  That Cali trip was chill. I got to visit my little sister, Sadie. I hadn’t seen her in six months and it felt good to catch up with her. I feel like a shit brother lettin’ us drift so far apart. I’ve always been close, physically and emotionally, with her. I wish she would just move closer down here so I can check on her more, but she isn’t motivated to go anywhere yet. I don’t know why she stays, maybe there’s a man or something. I didn’t see nobody when I was there and I stayed damn near two weeks. She’s my sister and I love her, but fuck is she stubborn. I learned real young to stay out of her way and let her be independent if she chose to. In the end, if shit didn’t go her way, she would eventually come to me, and it worked out for the best like that.

  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  Our home life sucked and we had to adapt real quick. Sadie learned to depend on me for a little bit of everything at an early age. I always enjoyed helping with her when she was a baby, it made me feel like a good brother to get her a bottle of milk or get her a toy to play with. It then changed into being the big brother and teaching her simple things, like how to tie her shoes and how to catch worms when it rained.

  Dad took off on us after Sadie was born. According to Mom, he didn’t want the responsibilities. I don’t get how one kid was okay, but two was ‘responsibilities’. What the fuck do you call one kid? I’d like to see the piece of shit now. I’d definitely give him a piece of my mind after what we went through growing up. Sadie has always said he left because she wasn’t a boy. She has it in her head he would have stayed. She’s crazy, that bastard was going no matter if she was a girl or a boy. He never visited, called or sent anything. Well, he couldn’t call after a while cause the phone got turned off, along with the cable. Food got slim pickens and if they hadn’t owned the house prior, then the electric and water would have been shut off as well. Actually, it did get shut off eventually.

  Mom, she was just vacant. Once Dad left, she quit caring. If it wasn’t for Dad’s disability checks, we never would have made it as much as we did. I can still imagine little Sadie running around with her blonde pig tails and hand-me-down t-shirts of mine. She was always a pretty little girl growing up, but drowned in my clothes that were far too big for her. We were poor, so we didn’t have a choice. Hell, we didn’t know any different.

  I didn’t realize it back t
hen but I always made sure she had snacks out to eat and her room was cleaned up. I was a neat freak, so I guess I just did it all out of habit. I liked everything in a certain place, so it came natural to fix things in the house that got messed up. Sadie grew bigger and I grew more protective of her. I sat with her on the bus and walked her to her class. Then I’d meet her at the end of the school day and walk her to our bus. I’d help her with her homework and teach her everything school related I knew. She picked things up quick and did real good with her grades. I was always a proud brother when she would bring home her report card, excited to share it with me. That stuff was all easy for me since I had already done it, so I didn’t mind helpin’ her.

  The first time I knew things were changing, I was fourteen. I tried to make Sadie a grilled cheese sandwich after school and the stove wouldn’t work. I freaked out and thought I had broken it. Nope, that dumb bitch didn’t pay the bills. She had been doing it more and more frequently, skipping payments. That’s when shit really started to get bad. I found out she was doing heroin. We were dirt poor, and mix in heroin, there’s no room for anything else. I became angry inside, worrying for my sister’s safety and how we were gonna be able to eat every day.

  I started to pick up any odd jobs I could find, to help out as much as possible. The old Ace Hardware store owner knew me from coming in and trying to learn to fix things myself, since we could never hire anyone. He eventually gave me a job and it helped me pay for food and the utilities. I mowed lawns and picked weeds when I had free time. Once Sadie was old enough to work, she started helping at Ace on the weekends when it was busy. Thankfully it gave her money for the things she needed. I was a young boy, how was I supposed to know girls needed more shit than boys did? She hit twelve years old and I had no clue what to do with her. I knew if a boy looked at her funny though, he would get his ass beat and if a girl was malicious toward Sadie at school, I’d spread a rumor that she was a whore. Eventually people caught on and Sadie had a pretty good time in school.

  Things didn’t get much easier from there on out. It was difficult to try and work, plus finish high school. Sadie wasn’t going to quit, no matter how hard I had to struggle. I made a pact with myself when I found Mom doing drugs. I would not let Sadie go down that same path.

  When I was seventeen, Mom took off. She needed a fix so bad, she started breaking shit and tearing the house apart. She came after me with a knife and I told her to get the fuck out. I’d kill her before I let her put us through more shit. I didn’t ask for this life, and neither did my little sister. We didn’t deserve the hand we were dealt. We made it work though. We fought and struggled, but I’d be God damned if I let my little sister sink and pay the price for our parents’ stupidity.

  Once Sadie graduated and was able to work as a receptionist for a local doctor, I was able to finally live my life some. Moving away from her was hell for a while. Not only was I her big brother, but I looked out for her as a semi-parent, too. I had to move though. I had to get away from the constant reminder of what life was like growing up. Sadie thinks one day Mom or Dad will come back to the house, but I pray for her sake it never happens. I changed all the locks and made sure the windows were eventually replaced. I figured it would at least help keep them out, if one of them were to ever show back up. I go back and visit her whenever I have a run out in that part of the country. I need my freedom now that she’s grown. I guess you can call it making up for lost time or some shit. I don’t like to feel any strings attached, holding me down, besides my sister. Joining the club was a hard enough decision for me. I wasn’t sure I could have more roots until I really got to know them.

  I was about to head home, back to Texas, when I met Cain. Cain was on his piece of shit bike. I could tell when I first saw him he’d had a rough life like myself. The club has a lot of stragglers, so I knew he would be welcome. Most of us had rough lives growing up. We have all dealt with some dark shit at some point in our lives, and some of us still fight with it.

  I count myself lucky; all I dealt with growing up was missing parents. I’m still fuckin’ jaded though. I’ll probably never have children of my own. I had to grow up too fast. It’s all good though, I got Sadie out of the whole mess and she’s worth it. I may not give a shit ‘bout my own life, but I will always be proud of my little sister.

  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  I love going for runs all over the country, not just to Cali. It feels like I can just drive away from any problems I may have. You also never know what you may find or who you may meet. Like Cain for example, he was lost and now he’s found. It’s an awesome feeling knowing I helped him find his way. He’s happy and has a wonderful life with his Ol’ Lady and kid.

  There’s nothing in the world like the feeling of freedom I get, riding my bike down a long, open stretch of highway. The wind whipping against you, and some good tunes to listen to, it’s just you and your bike. It’s refreshing and relaxing. It’s my own piece of complete bliss. Speaking of bliss, I can’t wait to head back to Tennessee. Hopefully I’ll get to make a trip soon. There’s a certain sexy brunette I wanna hit up again. It’s been months since I last had her in my bed and I can still remember every dip and angle of her smooth body.

  “2” Cain says, as I sit across from him in the navy blue booth. I set my small tumbler down in front of me and chin lift toward it. “Too fuckin’ lazy to pour your own shots now, huh, brother?”

  This little prick is always givin’ me shit ‘bout my age. I’m only a few years older than him and still look better than his ass. He’s lucky his ass ain’t a prospect any more, or I’d make him scrub a fuckin’ toilet just because.

  “You jealous fuck, I’m only a few years older. Quit your belly achin’ and pour me some Jack,” I say and grin at him. “You been talkin’ to that bike of yours again?” I rib him good naturedly. I may be a little older but I’m in my prime right now. I look the best I’ve ever looked, feel great and am ready to face shit head on.

  “Haha, motherfucker. I heard you talking to yours the other day, too,” he says and I chuckle.

  This man is obsessed with that custom 883 of his. We all enjoy hasslin’ him about it, too. It’s a really sweet bike; we all think it’s pretty sick. I personally love my Hog; she’s my baby, all glossy black and chrome. It’s a bitch polishing all that chrome up, but I don’t mind.

  “Naw, man, it’s cool. How’s London and Jamison doin’? I haven’t seen her round much.” Brother seems happy so I don’t think anything’s up.

  “They are good, thanks for askin’. Jamison’s walkin’ around the house, getting into shit like he owns the joint, and keepin’ her busy. I’m just busy tryin’ to knock her up again.” He grins and his eyes crinkle.

  “You’re nuts, bro, you’re gonna have like twenty kids in five years. You’re gonna be livin’ here just to stay sane.”

  I’m so happy the brother has found something to look forward to. He and London are going to be a couple that stays together forever. They have that real happily ever after shit and they are pretty much obsessed with each other. I hope Cain realizes how lucky he is to have what most of us all really want, deep inside. We all just pretend like we don’t, and fuck as many club sluts as it takes to hide that emptiness. Sure, there are a few brothers who want to stay single and just have a good time, but there are also plenty of brothers discreetly looking for their ‘ride or die’ chick. I’m in the middle, on the fence about it. I figure it’s either gonna happen when it’s ready or it won’t. There ain’t shit I can do about it and I’m not fixin’ to substitute it with the first thing that wags her ass in front of me.

  “Naw. I love her being knocked up with my kid in her belly. She’s so fuckin’ sexy and eats good shit. Now she’s eating healthy and bitchin’ that her hips are wider. I keep tellin’ her it’s ‘cause her body was made to have my babies. God, I love that chick. Best fuckin’ thing we ever did was go to Tennessee.” I nod and sip my whiskey.

  He may
be crazy wanting a car load of kids but at least he likes good whiskey and loves his woman so much. I wasn’t sure for a while. She took off and Cain moped around like a drunk ghost. I hope one day I can find me a good woman like London. Once they came back here and Cain bought her that house, it’s like she completely embraced our life. She’s smart, beautiful and respectful of the club. She could be the poster child for an Ol’ Lady. I guess she’s a firecracker at home though. Cain’s always talkin’ ‘bout her stirrin’ shit up with him so they can have make-up sex and role play.

  “Yeah, been thinkin’ ‘bout that too,” I say and shrug.

  “You mean you’ve been thinking about Avery.” He tips his cup toward me and smiles a sly smile.

  Of course I’ve been thinking about Avery. She’s the best piece of pussy I’ve ever had, she hugs my dick like a tight fist. She’s visited down here twice since London came back. It’s only been a few days at a time though. Each visit, she hangs with London during the daytime and then stays the night here with me. I thought she might freak at first about the club, but she didn’t care. We always stay holed up in my room, so she’s only met a couple of the brothers.

  “Maybe,” I say nonchalantly. I don’t like people all up in my shit. I know Cain will be all over that shit like a bitch in heat if he gets wind of me missin’ her.

  “Maybe my ass. Just text her. She talks about you every time London speaks to her on the phone. I know she wonders what you’re up to and if you’re ever headin’ up there.”

  I shake my head. “I’m good. I’ll see her the next time she visits, just like last time she was here.” God, last time. It was fucking bliss, having her around. We had so much fun. I love it that she’s so forward with me and free spirited. She definitely belongs on a bike exploring the country. She can also make a mean cup of coffee and that shit matters a lot in the morning after you’ve been fuckin’ all night long. “Anyhow, did you get a hold of that Russian friend of yours?” Tate’s not so bad for being in charge of the Mafia in America. He’s really calm and collected though. Especially when that shit popped off with his best friend. He didn’t even blink when he ordered the kill on Cameron. The fool lived with him and everything. Tate’s the kind of fucker you need to be scared of, but also the best kind of ally to have in your corner.