COWBOY ROMANCE: Avery (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 3)

by Amanda Boone

  Kendal smiled back at her but couldn’t shake the pit that resided in her stomach. “I just feel like I have wasted a lot of chances. I put so much into people in my past that I feel dried up now, like I don’t have much left to give.”

  “Kendal, you are an amazing person. Someone will be extremely lucky to have you, and when you find that perfect someone, you won’t need to put in all the extra effort. It will come easily and naturally.”

  “Do you really think that, or are you just trying to make me feel better?”

  “Both.” Lexy laughed. “Don’t you remember when I ‘fell in love’ with Trent in high school?”

  “Not really, but I do remember how many gallons of ice cream we ate to try to get you over him,” Kendal said with a sly smile. “And how many romantic comedies we watched.”

  “Exactly! And how many guys have I ‘fallen in love with’ since then?”

  “Probably close to a thousand by now.”

  Lexy smacked her arm playfully. “It has not been a thousand! But there have been others. That was my entire point.”

  “Sometimes I just worry that I’m so damaged that no one will ever love me.” Kendal didn’t often open up about her feelings, but lately she’d felt like she couldn’t help it. It seemed like everything reminded her that she was alone.

  Lexy looked over at her with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, honey. Don’t you dare think that way. I know you’ve been hurt, but that doesn’t mean that you are damaged. The only one damaged is the man who did all those awful things, not you.” When Kendal didn’t respond, she continued. “You were the victim in all of that. I think sometimes you forget that and blame yourself, but you can’t do that. You don’t deserve that. You don’t deserve anything that happened to you.”

  “Thank you.” Kendal wiped a tear from her cheek and let out a laugh. “Now let’s enjoy our day! I didn’t mean to put a damper on things.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s not possible to put a damper on shopping.” Shooting Kendal a wink, Lexy pulled into a parking spot right in front of their favorite store. The girls ate and shopped for several hours before they decided to head back home. Each girl stumbled back into their apartment with several shopping bags full of goodies.

  “Let’s go grab a drink!” Lexy squealed with excitement.

  “Right now? It’s not even seven. It’s way too early to go out.”

  “Perfect! Then we’ll beat the crowd.” Lexy shot her a wink and pranced off to change before Kendal could protest. Laughing in defeat, Kendal shuffled off to her room and began thumbing through her shopping bags for that perfect red dress she had bought earlier today. Normally she would have never purchased something so low cut, but Lexy had kept insisting that it looked amazing on her. On a high from how great their day had been, she decided tonight would be the perfect night to wear it. She unzipped herself and wiggled off her previous dress, leaving her standing in her undergarments.

  As she turned to pick up her new red dress from the bed, something caught her eye on the street below her apartment. She could have sworn she saw someone watching her before slipping into the dark alley across the street. Surely she was imagining it. Confidently, she convinced herself that she was being paranoid, but still a little voice in the back of her mind kept her on edge.

  She shook off the uneasy feeling and sat on the edge of her bed to fasten her heels. Reaching for her earrings on the nightstand, she saw him again. This time she knew for sure. An unfamiliar face stared back at her, looking startled. He was bald and almost fully covered in tattoos. Although she couldn’t place him, she knew she had seen him before.

  He noticed that she had seen him, and he turned quickly to take refuge in the alley. When he turned his back to her, she realized where she knew him from. A notorious white skull stared back at her from his leather vest. “The Death Disciples,” she whispered.

  “Are you ready to go?” Lexy asked as she burst through the door, causing Kendal to nearly jump out of her skin.

  “Lexy, there is a man…” She pointed toward the window, but once she turned back, the man was no longer there.

  “What?”

  “A man.” Kendal frantically searched the street bellow for any sign of him. “There was a man right across the street, watching me change.”

  “Well, good Lord! What are you doing changing in front of an open window? Do you know how many perverts there are out there?” Lexy hastily shut the blinds and looked at her friend with concern.

  “It was a member of the Death Disciples.” The words fell numbly from Kendal’s tongue with fear.

  “Are you sure? Maybe you just—”

  Kendal cut her off before she could finish her thought. “I’m positive. He had the white skull on his vest just like Trae’s.” Lexy took her hand in her own and pulled her down to sit on the bed beside her. Looking at Kendal with pity in her eyes, Lexy let out a long sigh.

  “You’ve been through a lot. It would be perfectly normal to be paranoid or to imagine things. I don’t blame you one bit.”

  Kendal sat silently for a moment, deep in thought. Quickly she began to second-guess herself. Maybe she truly was allowing her past to affect her imagination. So often in the past year since that night she had allowed herself to get caught up in paranoia.

  The thought that she was going crazy scared her to her core. After everything had happened, she had made a vow that she wouldn’t allow it to unravel the person that she was, and she wasn’t going to change that now. So she made a conscious decision to not think about it anymore, to put her past from her mind and enjoy a normal night out with her best friend.

  “You’re probably right,” Kendal said. “I probably just imagined it.” She gave her best friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Nothing a few drinks can’t fix.”

  “Exactly!” Excited, Lexy jumped from the bed and pulled Kendal up behind her and toward the front door. As they opened the door to the street, the beautiful summer breeze greeted them with a warm hello. Kendal took a deep breath and smiled into the sunshine.

  Although she knew she had imagined it, Kendal couldn’t help but get an uneasy feeling as they approached the alley that she had seen from her bedroom window. She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding as she saw that besides a dumpster the alley was completely empty. Happily, they made their way down the three short blocks that separated them from their favorite dive bar, Henry’s.

  The girls took a seat at their usual table and signaled for the bartender. “I’ll have a vodka soda, please,” Kendal said as he approached the table.

  “Just the usual for me.” The bartender lingered a moment too long and held eye contact with Lexy flirtatiously.

  “Has he called you yet?” Kendal asked as they both watched him walk off.

  “No, but he texted me last night. He asked if I was going to be here tonight. He said he hoped to get a chance to talk to me.”

  Kendal raised her eyebrows. “That sounds promising.”

  “I hope so.” Lexy couldn’t peel her eyes off him. “His name is Alex, by the way.”

  “Ah, finally the mystery man has a name.”

  “Shhhh.” Lexy hastily tried to silence Kendal as he returned with their drinks. “Thanks, Alex.” She looked like a young schoolgirl making googly eyes at a boy on the playground.

  “It’s my pleasure.” Alex gave her a smooth wink as he went to leave. Kendal couldn’t help but laugh at the tension between them.

  “Alex?” Kendal called after him. “Why don’t you sit and have a drink with us?” Lexy looked like she might kill Kendal, which made it all the more fun.

  “Well, I’m working…”

  “Oh come on! We’re the only two in here.” He looked around for a moment before looking back at them with a smile.

  “Okay, but just for a few minutes.”

  “Of course.” Kendal laughed at the daggers Lexy was trying to throw at her with her eyes. “So I know that you know Lexy, but I’m Kendal.”
r />   “I’m Alex.” He held out his hand and Kendal took it firmly in her own.

  “So, Alex, how long have you worked here?”

  “Um…around a year, I guess.” Alex shifted nervously in his chair and shot an uncomfortable smile toward Lexy. “I’m glad you decided to come out tonight.”

  “Me too. It’s great to see you.”

  “Oh,” Kendal said, pointing between the two of them. “So this is why you insisted on us coming out so early?” She thought Lexy might fall out of her chair with embarrassment, but she couldn’t help it. It was too much fun.

  “Well, we were going to come out anyway. Like, we just came out a little bit earlier,” Lexy explained. The door alarm went off as customers came in. They all turned in unison to see who it was.

  “Excuse me. Duty calls,” Alex said nervously as he made his way back to the bar were an older couple was now sitting.

  “Really, Kendal?” Lexy squealed.

  “What? It was funny.”

  “I hate you!” She laughed, punching her arm. “You owe me a drink.”

  Kendal rose, took both of their empty glasses up to the bar, and had Alex fill them again. “This round’s on me,” he said as he slid them to her.

  “Are you sure? That’s so nice.”

  “Just put a good word for me in with Lexy.”

  “I can do that.” Walking back over to their table, Kendal slid Lexy a drink and a sly smile.

  “Oh God. What now?”

  “He gave me free drinks if I would put in a good word with you.” Lexy’s cheeks lit up pink with embarrassment. She looked over her shoulder and caught Alex staring at her. They exchanged an awkward wave and both returned to what they were doing.

  “In all seriousness, he seems really sweet, Lexy.”

  “He does, doesn’t he?” An involuntary smile spread across her face. It truly made Kendal happy to see her so giddy over a guy. It had been such a long time since either of them had tried to put themselves out there.

  The girls swallowed down their first drink and then a second and then a third before they had realized it. Nearly two hours full of laughter and happiness had passed in what seemed like an instant.

  Kendal heard the door open and turned casually to look through the smoky air at who was entering. Instantly her stomach dropped, and she thought she might be sick. She watched a fully tattooed arm reach out for a barstool. As he sat with his back to her, the ever-so-familiar white skull stared back at her.

  “What’s wrong?” Seeing Kendal’s face go pure white, Lexy followed her gaze to see what had upset her.

  “That’s the guy,” Kendal whispered. “The guy from the street.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Kendal nodded without shifting her eyes from him.

  “Should we call the police?” Lexy’s voice was shrill with fear.

  “And say what? He hasn’t committed a crime to report.”

  “You could tell them that you saw him watching you through your window.”

  “They have bigger things to worry about. Let’s just get out of here, okay?” Nodding, Lexy quickly grabbed her purse and Kendal’s hand before heading straight for the front door. Kendal noticed that the bald, tattooed man was now on the phone. As she passed him, he turned to face her and gave her an eerie smile that sent chills down her spine.

  As they walked outside, Kendal crossed her arms tight across her chest in an attempt to keep the chill out. A large group of bikers had just pulled up and were pushing their way past the girls to get inside. Still holding Kendal’s hand, Lexy started quickly in the direction of their apartment. Suddenly a car came to a squealing stop beside them and a man jumped out in front of them. He grabbed Kendal around the waist and easily picked her up.

  “Help!” Lexy screamed. Kendal fought with all of her might against the large man, but it was no use. He pulled a rag from his pocket and held it firmly over her nose and mouth until her body went limp. Lexy jumped on the man’s back and continually hit him in the face over and over again. After throwing Kendal in the backseat, he turned his attention to Lexy.

  As a giant would flick an ant, he easily peeled Lexy from his back and threw her to the ground. Within a second he had jumped back in the car and driven off. “Help! Someone please help!” Lexy continued to scream. She heard a motorcycle engine rev and looked up to see the man, Luke, from the night before speeding off after the car. She lay on the pavement in tears, feeling helpless and terrified.

  *

  Luke

  “Are you going to talk to her?” Luke’s friend Jason asked.

  “Who?”

  “Who?” He mocked Luke’s tone. “That girl from last night. The hot one with the even hotter friend.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t even know if she’ll be here.”

  “Stop acting shy. We all know why you wanted to come back to this specific bar tonight. You’re hoping to ‘accidently’ bump into her.”

  Luke broke out into a smile, realizing that he was caught. “Maybe that wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

  “I mean she’s hot and all, but is it worth all the work?”

  “I don’t know, man. This one’s different. There’s something special about her. I’d be kickin’ myself tomorrow if I didn’t at least try.”

  Jason laughed at the seriousness that suddenly overtook Luke. “All right, dude. Don’t get all sappy on me. Let’s get a drink.” He started to head for the door, and Luke called after him.

  “You go on ahead. I need to make a call real fast.” As Luke began dialing his phone, his attention was drawn across the street.

  “Help!” he heard a girl’s shrill voice call. Looking to see what was happening, he saw a girl had jumped on a large man’s back and was hitting him repeatedly. His heart leapt when he saw that the man was holding a limp woman’s body. Luke quickly jumped from his bike, but it all happened too fast. As the man threw the limp woman in his backseat, Luke saw that it was the girl from the night before.

  Luke ran back and jumped on his bike as fast as he could when the man jumped back into the passenger seat of the car. Without giving it another thought, he raced off behind the car, hearing Kendal’s friend’s screams for help fading into the sound of the wind. He hoped that one of his friends would comfort her until the police arrived.

  The black car whipped in between vehicles on busy highways with Luke flying behind, trying his best to keep up without being detected. They drove for nearly thirty painfully long minutes before they turned off the highway and onto a side road. Scared he may be seen, Luke turned off his lights and kept a decent amount of distance between himself and the taillights that threatened to disappear in front of him.

  The road shortly turned to gravel, and although Luke would have normally cringed at the thought of driving his bike on gravel, he didn’t even give it a second thought. The dust became so thick that he had to get a little closer to be able to see their taillights. Suddenly their brake lights came on, and Luke held his breath, thinking they had seen him.

  Luckily the car turned onto a long gravel drive. As their headlights lit the scene before them, Luke saw that they were pulling up to what seemed to be a run-down warehouse. Luke stopped his bike halfway down the drive and parked it behind a row of overgrown bushes. Peering through the branches, he saw two men get out of the car, Kendal’s limp body thrown over one of the man’s shoulders.

  Once he was sure that they had both entered the building, he snuck up the rest of the drive until he was right against the building. With his back pressed against the wall, he tried hard to steady his breathing so that it wouldn’t be heard, but the thought of them hurting her made his blood boil. Taking a deep breath, he moved very slowly over to the window on the front of the building. Peering in, he saw the large man from earlier tying Kendal’s ankles and arms to a rusty old chair that sat among the piles of crates littering the abandoned warehouse.

  Another man stood in front of her, one Luke had not seen before. He must have been the o
ne driving the car. The man reached back and smacked her hard across the face. It took everything in Luke not to bust in there and beat his ass at that very moment, but he knew it wasn’t smart. It would be two on one, and he had no idea if they had weapons on them or not. As Kendal began to come to and hold her head up by herself, the man that had hit her nodded for the other large man to leave.

  Luke didn’t take his eyes off Kendal, scanning her to see if she was okay. He could hear the man speaking to her but couldn’t make out the mumbled words. Suddenly he heard the door two feet away from him open, and he found himself face to face with one of the largest men he had ever seen.

  *

  Kendal

  Kendal awoke with a start to her face stinging and looked frantically all around her. She squinted into the bright light that radiated from the single bulb hanging in the middle of the room. Once her eyes had finally adjusted to the light, she took in a deep, staggered breath. Trae, the man from her nightmares, was standing before her.

  Hastily she tried to get up but found that her ankles and wrists had been tied, binding her to the old, cold chair underneath her. “Trae,” she breathed.

  “Hello, Kendal.” Trae wore an eerie smile. “I did always want to try bondage.” He let out a laugh that made her skin crawl.

  “What’s going on?” Kendal struggled to keep her heavy head upright.

  “Well, I thought it was about time we had a little talk, don’t you think?”

  “I have nothing to say to you.” Her head felt fuzzy, and she had a hard time focusing on everything that was happening, but she tried her hardest to sound tough.

  Trae let out a fake laugh as he walked in a circle around her, running his hand along her shoulders as he went. “Funny, since you had so much to say to everyone else about me. What’s wrong? Just scared to say it to my face?”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “I want you to publicly admit that you lied.”