by Cee Bowerman
Lucky Forever
Texas Kings MC, Book 3
Cee Bowerman
CLBooks, LLC
Copyright © 2020 CLBooks, LLC
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cee Bowerman Book List
Texas Knights MC
Home Forever
Forever Family
Lucky Forever
Texas Kings MC
Kale
Sonny
Bird
Grunt
Lout
Smokey
Tucker
Kale & Terra (Novella)
John & Mattie
Bear
Conner Brothers Construction
Finn
Angus
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Dear Reader,
In this book, Rowdy’s life has been out of his control for a long time, so he handles it the only way he knows - by controlling the things he can. I’m guilty of the same thing. When the world around me is crazy, I take comfort in the little things I can control.
I put on my left sock, right sock, left shoe, right shoe, tie the left shoe, and then tie the right shoe...every single time. I’m not sure what would happen if I didn’t do it that way, but I’m not sure I’m willing to give it a try either.
I sniff everything. I try to do it on the down low, but my husband seems to catch me every time. Even if I cooked every bit of food on the table, I have to smell what’s on my fork before I can take a bite. It doesn’t matter what it is, I have to smell it before I can eat it.
And, for your information, Skittles all smell the same no matter what color they are.
I like for things to be perfectly aligned or completely random - nothing in between. If something should be in a straight line and it’s just a hair off, it’s all I can focus on until I get up and fix it. Luckily my friends and family don’t mind when I straighten the pictures on their walls or move the placemats on their table.
It makes my husband and my kids crazy, but they are all used to it. They refer to the things I do as my ‘quirks’ and enjoy making fun of me, but it’s a good natured teasing because they never once try to change me. They accept me just the way I am, flaws and all, and I’m grateful for that.
I hope you enjoy Rowdy’s story and I hope you’ve surrounded yourself with people who accept you, quirks and all. When the world around you is in chaos, the people that you surround yourself with make all the difference.
Thanks for reading!
Cee
1.
ROWDY
I glanced up from my reading and checked my daughter’s location in the gym. They were back on the floor mats, this time practicing their tumbling routine. I critiqued her, as she always asked me to do, and I made a few mental notes to talk to her about on the drive home.
I wasn’t a professional by any means, but I had been watching my daughter Leia in gymnastics since she was two years old and taking classes at the local YMCA. Her tiny stature had come in handy and she had excelled in flying around the mat. She was now in an advanced class that helped her focus on the skills she would need to try out for the local competition cheerleading team.
A glance around me at the other parents on the bleachers showed me that once again, I was one of only two dads in attendance. I recognized the only other man in the gym, and waved when he saw me, glad to see him heading my direction to talk for a while.
“Hi, Rowdy!” Reagan, a friend of mine, was a realtor here in town and in the process of helping me work on my credit so that I could buy my house. His partner in the realty company, Brenda Marks, was married to a friend of mine, Sonny, who I met right after I moved to Rojo as a teenager.
I belonged to the Texas Knights MC, a motorcycle club in our town. Sonny belonged to a separate MC, the Texas Kings. The clubs were friendly, almost family even, since the men who had started each of them had been best friends since they were in grade school.
“Hey, man,” I greeted Reagan as he sat next to me. “Good to see another dad here.”
“I didn’t know if I was even going to make it today. Brenda had her baby yesterday and is still in the hospital.”
“Are she and the baby doing okay?”
“Yes!” Reagan pulled his phone out of his pocket and pushed a few buttons to find a picture to show me. “Mama and baby are both fine. I’m pretty sure Dad has even more white hair already.”
I chuckled at the thought. Sonny Marks was a unique looking man. His eyes were blue and brown, which was unique enough, but he also had a patch of white hair that he usually kept covered with a ball cap.
“They named him Lucky, right?”
“They went with the soap opera theme, just like their names.” Reagan and I both chuckled. “How is your studying going?”
I blew out a breath, “It’s going.”
“I think it’s noble what you’re doing,” Reagan admitted. “Getting your GED after all this time has to be hard, but since you made a deal with your girl, it’s kind of worth it.”
“Yeah.” I smiled as I watched my daughter do front handsprings the length of the mat in front of us. “If I’m going to expect her to get good grades and go to college, I should at least try to do it myself.”
“Let’s just hope she doesn’t challenge you to do gymnastics!” Reagan laughed. “Holly tried to teach Marcus how to do a cartwheel and he ended up at the chiropractor’s office.”
Reagan and I had a good laugh about that, but it trailed off as we watched our daughters and a couple of the other girls practice standing backflips. My daughter Leia was in the middle of the line, her friends Lexi and Holly on either side of her.
Holly was Reagan and his partner Marcus’s daughter and she was a pistol. With what I knew she’d gone through in her young life, I was glad that Holly and Leia had become such good friends. Holly’s mother had been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer last year and had just enough time to get her daughter and two sons settled in with Reagan and Marcus before she died.
My daughter Leia was one of the first girls Holly met when her mother brought her little family to Rojo to be closer to her Uncle Reagan. Holly’s mom, Veronica, was Reagan’s older sister and she died knowing that her children would be well taken care of by Reagan and Marcus. Even though their union wasn’t recognized as legal quite yet, Reagan and Marcus were just as much of a married couple as any of the others I knew.
“How are your little ones getting along now?” I asked Reagan quietly. Holly had problems accepting and adjusting to her new family, but nothing like her younger brothers had. They were four and six years old and little terrors as far as I could tell.
“They’re doing better.” Reagan sighed. “It was a hard adjustment for all of us.”
“Offer still stands, friend. If there’s ever anything I can do to help, you let me know.”
“You and your princess can join us for dinner tomorrow night. How about that?”
“You know that she and I never pass up a home-cooked meal.”
“It’s settled then. Let’s say seven?”
“Done.” I chuckled. “Lei
a is going to be so glad you interrupted spaghetti night.”
“We have got to find you a good woman who can cook.”
“Good luck with that, man,” I scoffed. “Not many women want a ready-made family at my age.”
“What if they already have one of their own?” Reagan asked as he scanned the women in the bleachers. “That beauty down there is Lexi’s mom and I happen to know for a fact that she is single.”
“Yeah, she’s a little too hot for a regular guy like me.”
“Rowdy. At the risk of making this conversation slightly uncomfortable for the both of us, I have to say, you’re quite a fine specimen of man. The two of you would fit together spectacularly.”
“Yeah,” I scoffed again. “She’s probably got some higher standards than a half illiterate, broke mechanic, who is a single dad to the smartest mouth in the west.”
“Smartest mouth in the west!” Reagan laughed. “Your kid is going to have to share the title because my daughter fits that description, too!”
◆◆◆
“You should get water. That sports drink has way too much sugar for you considering you didn’t work out at all; you just sat in the stands and read your book.” Leia looked up at me and frowned, once again acting like she was the one in charge here.
“For your information, I did work out today and then I took a long ride in the heat,” I told the bossy little thing. “And it wasn’t just any book - it was the study guide for my test.”
“Are you ready for me to quiz you on the first section yet?”
“Not quite. Give me a few more days and I’ll get back to you.”
“Did you see the final run-through on practice?”
“I did. Looked good, but your tuck needs to be tighter on the double and work on pointing your toes during the lift.”
“Good to know.” Leia nodded and I knew that she was analyzing her performance in her head. Suddenly, a smile lit up her face as we walked around the end of the aisle toward the register in the little corner convenience store we stopped at after every practice. “Lexi!”
My daughter and the other little girl squealed and bounced around as they embraced. The two preteens acted as if they were long lost friends who hadn’t seen each other in years rather than 20 minutes ago at practice.
I glanced from the girls to the woman standing in front of them - Sierra Guthrie, the beauty that Reagan had pointed out in the bleachers earlier. I had seen her at practices, but she avoided me like I was going to repossess her car or something.
“Hi,” Sierra said shyly when she looked up and saw me walking toward the girls.
“It’s been ages since they’ve seen each other, you know.”
Sierra and I both laughed at my sarcasm, but the girls were oblivious. I jerked my head back in shock when I realized they were talking about a boy.
“They’re talking about that boy on the show they watch, Freaks and Geeks,” Sierra laughed.
I felt instantly relieved and just a bit embarrassed at my reaction and Sierra laughed at me again.
“Aren’t they a little young to notice boys? They’re only 11!” I whispered as I leaned closer to Sierra.
“They’ve got a crush on some teenager in Hollywood. I don’t think we need to worry about them dating just yet.” Sierra patted me softly on the shoulder and the spot tingled even after she took her hand away.
“Is it weird that I actually miss the days when she watched Sesame Street?”
“That’s not weird at all, Dad,” Sierra laughed again and then turned around to speak to the clerk when it was her turn.
I kept an eye on the girls who were a few feet off to the side and listened with one ear as Sierra made small talk with the cashier. She mentioned a lottery ticket and she and the cashier laughed about how much Sierra would give the woman if she won millions.
I had just turned to grab a candy bar from the shelf when I heard a loud beep and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sierra fall to the ground just a few feet away. Leia and Lexi both screamed and I hit my knees next to Sierra’s prone body and checked for a pulse in her neck. There was a cut in her hairline from where she hit the shelf when she fell and it was bleeding back into her hair. I could tell at a glance that she would need stitches and from looking at the condition of the shelf she had hit, she would need a tetanus shot to go with them.
Leia and Lexi were both on their knees on Sierra’s other side and I realized that neither one was crying or overreacting. I put a pin in that thought to analyze later and gave Sierra my attention. I looked up at the cashier who rushed around the counter and dropped down beside me. Before I could even ask what happened, she thrust her hand out to me.
I looked down at her hand and realized it was holding a lottery ticket.
“She won,” the woman whispered as she pressed the ticket into my hand and glanced out into the parking lot. “Hold on to that for her. There are some people who might get ideas, if you know what I mean.”
The bell over the door rang, and I looked up to see some young men come in. From the way they were dressed, I knew that they belonged to one of the gangs here in town and the cashier was right. The ticket was safer in my pocket than her hands.
“Leia, take my keys and unlock the truck. Lexi hold the door for us - I’m going to carry your mama out.” Lexi started to argue, but Leia took her hand and dragged her toward the door. I scooped Sierra up into my arms and with a nod to the cashier, I walked outside to my truck.
Lexi held the door and then walked beside me toward the truck where Leia was waiting with the front passenger door open. I set Sierra on the front seat and buckled her in, glad to see she was coming around. Leia and Lexi crawled up into the truck through the rear passenger door and I saw Leia reach over and hit the lock once it was closed.
I took a look around the parking lot as I rushed around the front of the truck and hopped in to start it. I saw that the three gang members who were in the store weren’t alone. There was one empty car parked next to mine and two more cars down the row with the same type of men in them - the bass from their music loud enough to rattle windows.
Once I was in, I started the truck, backed out of the lot quickly, and headed toward the hospital.
“Where are you taking us?” Lexi asked me, her voice shrill with fear.
“The emergency room, honey,” I told her as I caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “You have someone we can call to meet us there?”
“Um,” Lexi looked like she was on the verge of a meltdown. “We can’t go to the hospital! You have to take us home!”
“Lexi, your mom needs stitches and probably a tetanus shot and some antibiotics. She needs to see a doctor.”
“We can’t go to the hospital!” Lexi wailed. “That’s how he found us last time!”
“How who found you, honey?” I asked her calmly even though somewhere deep down I knew where this conversation was headed. When Lexi didn’t answer, I asked her quietly, “Do you live at Miss Kari’s apartments, sweetheart?”
Lexi nodded while her eyes pleaded with me in the rearview mirror.
“Kari is a friend of ours, Lexi,” Leia consoled her friend. “My dad’s club works with Miss Kari. Her brothers run the club. Have you met Sam and Zeke? The twins?”
Lexi nodded.
“They’re my uncles, sort of. So is Jace.” Leia’s words seemed to sink in and Lexi started to calm. “Dad understands now, Lexi. He’ll take care of you.”
“You promise?” Lexi whispered.
I caught her eye in the mirror and nodded, “I promise, honey. I’ll take care of you and your mama as long as you need me.”
I reached into the inside pocket of my cut and pulled out my phone. I held it up over my shoulder and Leia took it from me.
“Call Nick, Leia. See if Cindy is home.”
“Cindy?” Sierra mumbled from the passenger seat. I looked over and saw that Sierra was awake now and had her hand on her head where it was bleeding. “What happened? Oh, my God! Le
xi!”
“It’s okay, Mom!” Lexi reached up and touched Sierra’s shoulder. “They’re friends. They know Miss Kari.”
Sierra’s eyes got wide and I smiled to reassure her.
“You passed out in the store and bumped your head. I think you need to see someone, so instead of taking you to the hospital, we’re going to take you to see Cindy Cardenas. If not, then I know a lady who used to be a doctor and she can help us.”
I could hear Leia mumbling into the phone and then she finally said, “I told Nick what happened. He said we should go to Nicole’s office because Cindy is about to get off work.”
“Call Kari, Leia. Let her know what happened and where we’re headed.”
“Yes, sir,” Leia answered and I saw her head go back down to pay attention to the phone.
“Sierra, do you remember what happened?” I asked her and I saw her jolt upright and then wince. “I’ve got the ticket, sweetheart.”
“You’ve got it?” Sierra whispered. “I was so excited and then I realized I can’t even redeem it.”
“Why not?” If this thing was worth as much money as her fainting and the cashier’s behavior made it seem, it could probably solve a whole lot of her problems.
“They’ll want my name and he’ll find us again,” Sierra whispered and when I glanced over at her she had tears streaming down her face. “No amount of money is worth that.”
2.
SIERRA
“Your arm is going to be sore for a few days, but if you make sure to flex it now and again, it will help it heal quicker.” with a smile, Nicole,the pretty woman who had cleaned up my wound and given me four stitches at my hairline, snapped the gloves off her hands and dropped them into the trash can beside the door. “Now, let’s talk about why you fainted.”
