by Ker Dukey
I let loose a flurry of jabs to his ribs, all my boxing training coming out to play—powerful, precise, and fucking dying inside. Tears blur my eyes as I scream my pain with every punch. My knuckles hurt, and my arms tire. Pain explodes across my cheek, and all the lights go out.
Fuck, my head is still pounding and my jaw is throbbing. I blink my eyes open and groan at the intrusion of light.
I sit up and squint, trying to bring a furious looking Drew into focus.
“You fucking dipshit. What the hell were you thinking?” she scorns.
Damn, she’s never mad at me, and I don’t like it.
“I’m sorry,” I grunt.
“Are you?” she fumes, her arms crossed over her chest. She’s wearing a long black dress down to her ankles and Doc Martens. It suits her. It’s rare for her to wear anything other than jeans or shorts. “I love you. You know that, right?” I tell her, catching her off guard. Why the fuck haven’t I told her this a thousand times already? This shouldn’t be the first time she’s hearing the words, I’m such a dick.
Her breath catches on a gasp. Her arms drop, her body sighing. “Alec.” She sobs, throwing herself at me. It hurts my face, but I catch her and I hold onto her for dear life. Fuck, I’d die without her. Her palms cup my face, the pad of her thumbs stroking the bruise forming there.
“Rage’s hits are fucking lethal,” I grunt. She shakes her head, her pretty curls bouncing around her face.
“It was actually Jameson who hit you.”
“What?”
She shrugs. “Rage took everything you had to give. He let you get all that anger out on his face and body.”
Shit. I’m a fucking asshole. Lost in darkness, wading through murky waters that won’t clear, no matter how hard I wish they would.
“My old man?”
“He didn’t see. Doesn’t know.” She frowns. That’s one saving grace, I suppose.
“Alec?” She kisses my lips, gentle and attentive. “Tell me how to help you. I feel so helpless, baby.”
I pull her against me, inhaling her scent. “You are helping me. Just stay with me, yeah? Lay with me for a little while. It’s nearly midnight—a new day. Your birthday.” Eighteen, and she’s stuck here looking after me.
She nods and slips off my lap to turn out the light. I hear her shucking off her boots, and when my eyes adjust to the light, my breath leaves my lungs. She pulls her dress up and over her head—no bra, just a pair of cotton panties. She climbs into the bed, lying down next to me. She’s done this a million times before, but never naked. I’ve touched, kissed, seen every inch of this girl, but we’ve never gone all the way. I hated the thought of her not being ready or regretting it, so we did everything else over and fucking over again. I’m mad about this girl and crave her like a drug. “You going to sit up all night?” she teases. My head is foggy. We’ve been in here many fucking nights and messed around, but this feels like more…
Eight
Drew
Seventeen/Eighteen years old
Thirty minutes later…
Breathing in deep, I wrap myself around Alec, soaking in the moment, memorizing every second of it to revisit when my mind isn’t spinning. I’ve always known I loved him, ever since I was six years old and he called me a badass for cutting my hair off after a kid mocked me for my pigtails.
No one could possibly love him more. His eyes have been reflecting that back to me since our first kiss…maybe even before that.
He’s my soul mate, and it’s a miracle in this twisted, fucked-up world we live in that we found each other so early on. But we did, and here we are, living through the pain and sorrow of him losing his mother. My mother died when I was a baby—a hit and run. My dad doesn’t think I know why he became a member of the Royal Bastards, but I know it involved tracking and dealing with her killer.
I was a sneaky kid and heard a lot of conversations I probably shouldn’t have.
“You’re killing me, baby. Fuck, I love the way you smell.” He inhales my scent, tasting my skin.
His kiss burns through me, lighting every nerve ending. “Drew…” He says my name so pained, I weep a little, feeling all his hurt, his love. “I want to show you how much I love you, Alec,” I tell him, kissing his lips, cheeks, and eyelids.
“I love you so damn much.”
“Then show me,” I tell him, the weight of his body falling on top of mine.
“Are you sure?”
“More sure than anything.” And it’s the truth. He’s never pressured me for more than I’ve been ready for, and if I’m honest, I’ve been ready for this for a long time. “You going to marry me?” Kiss.
“Yeah.”
“Have my babies?” Caress.
“Not babies, baby—one.” I gasp, feeling skin on skin.
He’s gentle, caring, beautiful. Taking his time, he kisses every part of me, reassuring me, loving me.
“I’ll show you the world as you’ve always dreamed of.” Bite. “And then you’ll have my babies.” Tease.
“One…baby, single.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.” A swipe of his tongue.
We stroke, caress, talk each other through it, and when he enters my body, I feel an overwhelming rush of blissful happiness, completeness—I’m whole. Emotions stir inside me so intense, they steal my breath and bring tears to my eyes.
“Did I hurt you?”
“No,” I assure him. It did hurt, but only briefly, and it’s a bearable pain that dissipates with his movements.
“I love you so damn much.” Thrust.
“I love you too…”
I wake up cocooned in Alec, his entire body wrapped around mine.
“Don’t go,” he groans in my ear, making me giggle.
“I need to pee and get a drink.” Releasing my body, he sighs, laying flat on his back, a lazy smile hooking his lips.
“You know we’re never leaving this bed now, right?”
“Horn dog.”
“Hey, I’m not the one molesting people when they’re trying to go to sleep.”
I sit up and stretch, then dart from the bed when Alec makes a grab for me. “Now who’s the molester?” I cock a brow and pick my dress up, pulling it down over my body.
“I’ll never get that image of you taking your dress off out of my head. You replace the bad ones. You’re the light in the haze of darkness consuming me.”
Sighing, I go to him, taking him in my arms and holding him. Within ten seconds, he’s removing my dress and owning my body once again, showing me all the ways he loves me.
Sneaking out of Alec’s room, I get to almost to the end of the hall, coming up short when Kai’s door opens and Riley sneaks out. Her eyes flare wide as she sees me. Behind her, I have a perfect view of a naked Kai…with…is that blood smeared across his body?
Riley quickly shuts the door, her clothes bunched in her arms. “You’re bleeding.” I gasp, absorbing the sight of her body as she rushes to dress herself. She has cuts and bruises everywhere.
“Did Kai do that to you?” I urge.
She halts her movements, her eyes narrowing to slits. “Mind your fucking business, Drew. Not everyone wants some sappy love story like you and Alec.”
What a bitch. Holding up my hands, I move past her. “Just making sure you were okay. No need to be a bitch.”
“Drew,” she calls after me, slipping on her boots that cost more than every piece of clothing I own. “Kai helps me…don’t think bad of him.”
“Whatever. Forget you even saw me,” I tell her.
“I will, and you do the same, yeah?”
Yeah, sure. What the fuck ever.
“Hey, you.” Jackie smiles at me when I enter the kitchen, a nasty bruise around her neck. “You okay?” I lift my chin to her throat.
Laughing awkwardly, she rubs her hand there. “Oh…yeah. One of the boys likes to roleplay and gets a bit rough.” She shrugs. Barb comes out of the pantry, carrying an armful of breakfast stuff.
“
Drew?” She looks surprised to see me, her face losing some of its color.
She places her haul down and grabs me by the arm. “You shouldn’t be here, darling.”
“I was just getting a drink.” I point to the kitchen sink.
She ushers me out into the hallway.
“Listen, sweetheart, I want you to go out the back exit and head straight for the gate. I’m going to open it for you, and I want you to go straight to your aunt’s.”
“Why? What’s going on?” She looks worried, her words coming out too fast, her eyes darting all around, watching who’s nearby.
“Just trust me, okay? Be a good girl now.” She pushes me toward the back exit and rushes off to presumably open the gates from the security room.
Voices, raised and aggressive, come from the main room as I sneak past it. Looking through the window, I see a smartly dressed man talking with Viking. His fist slams down on the table. Standing abruptly, Viking orders the brothers, “Go collect this traitor bastard.”
A burst of movement sounds as his army marches to his beat. He turns to the door I’m standing behind, and I quickly duck out of view, almost screeching when Kai’s hand comes down to cover my mouth, his body pushing against mine. “Shhh,” he whispers, then tugs me down the hall to his room. He pins me against the wall of his bedroom, holding his finger to his lips, pointing to the door. I bob my head, trying to stop my racing heart. I don’t know how I know, but I just do. This is about my dad.
Feet pound outside Kai’s room, the banging on another door close by, sending alarm bells ringing in my head, fear trickling through my bloodstream. What the hell is happening?
“What the fuck?” Alec bellows. It was his bedroom door…
“You got Drew in here?”
“No. She went to get food and get drinks. Why?”
“You don’t let her leave this place, understood?”
Thud.
“Why? What the fuck’s going on?” Alec calls out down the hall.
“Don’t fucking question me, boy. Just do as I fucking say.”
My heart races in my chest. Sweat coats my skin as nausea stirs my stomach. When I hear Alec’s door slam and footfalls fade, I close my eyes and swallow down the stone lodged in my throat.
“Why is Prez looking for you?” Kai asks. He’s shirtless and still covered in smeared blood one hand on the wall next to my shoulder. “Is that Riley’s blood?” I ask instead. I have no fucking clue why Viking wants me, but it scares the hell out of me.
“Not important. That man in the other room is a fed. He’s Jeremy Koynakov. You been a bad girl?”
“Fuck off, Kai,” I spit out. It only causes him to grin. He holds up his hand, showing me the scar I created years ago. “I’ve never forgotten this.”
“Hard to when you have to live with seeing it every day,” I scoff, smacking his hand away when he moves my hair to look at my scar.
“I was an asshole back then, but I’m different now. And this doesn’t make you ugly—quite the opposite.”
“I don’t have time for scar bonding, Kai. You going to turn me over to Prez or let me go?”
Holding his hands up in surrender, he backs away.
“Would be a waste to let him have you. He wouldn’t let me watch.”
Swallowing my disgust, I turn slowly and open the door, peering out. “You were wrong too,” I tell him over my shoulder.
“How so?”
“You haven’t changed, you’re still an asshole.” When I see the coast is clear, I count to three in my head and chance a run for the back exit not risking returning to Alec’s room in case his dad comes back. Bursting through the doors, I get two feet and smack into the meaty wall of Viking and fall back onto my ass with a grunt of pain.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he drawls as I get to my feet. “I see everything in my club.” He reaches out, snatching me up by the throat, making me gasp and choke for breath. I hit my fists down on his arms, struggling and failing. I know now where Jackie’s bruises came from.
“Sins of the father,” he growls in my face, and darkness creeps in from the corners of my eyes, my lungs ablaze desperate for air, then Viking jolts sideways, and suddenly I’m released and falling to the ground in a heap. My lungs gobble down much needed air as Alec rams his dad, wrapping his arms around his waist and taking him to the asphalt. They grapple and shout, and I scramble to my feet and dart off running. Tears bleeding from my eyes, blurring everything around me. I push my legs forward, heaving from exhaustion, my feet burning and sore, my boots still in Alec’s room. Alec…
Nothing feels real. Thoughts plague me, splintering into shards of pain. I should be floating on a cloud of bliss right now. Instead, my kingdom is falling to ash around me, suffocating me in the dust.
The club house gets farther from view, but in the back of my mind, I know Viking could easily be on his bike looking for me by now. Sorrow soaks my heart. I’ve known this man almost my entire life. Felt like we were a family, and so quickly, he attacks me…for what?
Hiccups jolt my body as sobs consume me. Every molecule inside me wants to turn around and run back to Alec, to the safety of his embrace. Instead, terror has me sticking out a thumb until someone eventually pulls over. It’s a truck with a young guy inside. Nerves eat away at me. “Hey. You okay?” he asks, rolling down his window, giving me a once over. “You need a ride?”
This is dangerous, and I don’t have my knife on me. Shit. “If you try anything, I’ll gouge your eyeballs out with my thumbs,” I warn. His eyes widen. Taking off his cap, he uses his forearm to wipe the sweat there. “Sounds fair.” He bows his head, slipping it back on.
How did everything turn so bad so fast?
Nine
Alec
Twenty years old
A few minutes later…
Animalistic growls rumble from my chest as I rain down blows on my old man. The cold barrel of a gun pinned against my temple brings my movements to a halt. I'm shoved from straddling my old man’s waist, Jimmy’s weapon still pointed at me.
My old man gets to his feet and taps Jimmy's hand, making him lower his weapon. "Damn, kid, you have bigger balls than most." He swipes, smearing off the blood from his nose, grinning like a crazy fucker. "You've grown strong, tough. I'm proud of you." He offers his hand out to me and pulls me to my feet.
Pulling me in close, he spins me until I'm in a chokehold. His laughter and praise was only meant to knock me off-kilter. I batter his arm, trying to get him to let me go. "If you attack another brother, you get to wear his scar," he growls in my ear. Un-sheaving his blade, he slices through my eyebrow. It stings like a bitch, but I endure it. I know the rules: son or not, brotherhood comes first.
I'm released from his hold, gagging, trying to pull air into my lungs.
"We need to talk."
Every instinct tells me to go after Drew, to check she's okay. When I saw the way he treated her, I saw red. I heard a bedroom door slam closed and her mass of curls flying behind her like a cape as she darted through the back exit with enough steam anyone would think she was running from a murderer.
"What about Drew?" I ask, still pissed and out of breath, blood dripping down my face and off my chin.
Cranking his neck, he strokes a hand through his beard. "I won't pursue her."
"Why the fuck would you? What the fuck did she do?"
"Not her." He grabs me by the shoulder. "And not out here. Inside."
I follow him back inside to his office, eyeballing Jimmy over my shoulder. "No offense, kid, but he's my Prez," he defends.
Yeah, I know, but it still fucking stings. Jimmy is like a second dad. Pointing the barrel of a gun at my temple is some fucked up shit.
"You need to see this, then you'll understand." My old man sits behind his desk and swivels his computer monitor sideways, clicking on a video.
"The hall and kitchen cameras were knocked out the day your mother…was murdered," he says, the word “mother” a tone deeper than the rest.
>
Wait. Murdered? My chest constricts. "What did you say?" I ask, my ribs cracking open.
"Look for yourself."
A camera from outside the back entrance of the kitchen leading to the yard shows the kitchen door and Mitch, Drew's dad, barreling through it. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he says, "You need to get me outta here today. Things have changed. I've given you more than enough evidence to buy my freedom."
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Blood roars in my ears, my hands clenching.
“Why are you just telling me this?”
“Because I needed to be sure. I called in a contact of mine, a dirty fed.”
Boom. Boom. Boom.
"Seconds later, your mother stumbled into my office, the last name on her lips—"
"Mitch," I choke out.
"He's a rat. Talking to the feds, she must have heard him, or…I don't fucking know, but he's a traitor. The boys have found him and are bringing him in. He's—"
"Fucking dead!" I roar.
Ten
Drew
Eighteen years old
Two days later…
Two days, and no contact from my dad or Alec. What if his dad really hurt him? Sickness stirs my stomach. I just ran away and left him.
“You heard anything from my dad?” I ask my aunt, who rolls her eyes at me.
“He’s doing illegal crap. When he wants to come for you, he will.”
She’s such a fucking bitch. I don’t understand why he would leave me with her. Where the hell is he?
My mind continues to replay everything that happened.
“Sins of the father.”
My dad loved being a member of the Royal Bastards. I can’t figure out what he could have done to piss Walker off to this extreme. My hands rub over the bruises on my neck.
