Sniper

by Hope Ford

  Sniper

  Exiled Guardians MC 1

  HOPE FORD

  Sniper © 2019 by Hope Ford.

  Editor: Kasi Alexander

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author.

  Cover designed by Hope Ford

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Hope Ford

  Visit my website at http://www.authorhopeford.com

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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  Chapter 1

  Avery

  I stand at the gate, looking at the big tattooed man with the oily hair and wonder if I made the mistake of running from one evil to another.

  He sneers at me and the way he glances down my body has my stomach rolling.

  “Jeremy Johnson. He has to be here. Can you please check?” I plead with him again. If he’s not here, I don’t know what I’ll do… where I’ll go. I don’t have any money left. Not after I bought the bus ticket and ate some food on the way here. Two dollars and sixty-five cents. That’s all the money I have to my name. Regardless of how little I have, I know I can’t go back where I came from. I’ll be dead the minute I walk in the door.

  The dirty man grabs his crotch and thrusts his hips at me. “Honey, there’s no Jeremy Johnson here. But I’ll help you… I’m just the man you need.”

  He takes a step toward me and when I go to pull away, he grabs on to my wrist. I almost faint then. I can feel the dizziness about to take over and I can’t stop the thoughts in my head asking, Is this really it? Did I survive all of that only to end up here in this position? I’ve had about all I can take. I’ve survived the last few weeks and when I finally got away, I came straight here. It was the only place I could think of, straight to the only man that I thought I could trust to help me.

  My older brother, Allen, served in the army with Jeremy Johnson. They kept in touch through the years and when my brother got sick, right before he passed away, he told me that if I ever needed someone, Jeremy would help me. Well, at the time, I didn’t think anything of it. But now, he’s the one and only person that I’ve thought about since I ran from my husband.

  I was eighteen when I got married. I thought I loved him and the first year of our marriage was fine. However, by the second, he started getting mad all the time and taking it out on me. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been in the hospital. You would think that someone would be suspicious, someone would help me. But that wasn’t the case. My husband, I found out only recently, is a drug trafficker. And he controls half the town.

  I couldn’t leave him, I couldn’t divorce him and no one would help me. After my last beating, he left me with no one watching me. I started paying attention to his routine. And like always, after he beats me, he leaves the house. He’s usually only gone a few hours. I guess he figures if he beats me enough, I will be unconscious for a while. Well, this time I was ready. I egged him on.

  I told him I was going to get a job. He flew off the handle, like I knew he would. He started screaming and instead of hunkering down, I started talking back. I wanted him to beat me. That was the only way I would be able to escape… as crazy as that sounds. As soon as he left the house, I left my phone and all my clothes, stole one of his cars out of the garage and drove two towns over to hop on a bus. I had made sure the timing would be perfect so I wouldn’t have to hang around. The only thing I brought with me was some money I had been skimming off the grocery bill and the address for Jeremy Johnson. That’s it. I didn’t pack a bag. He would have noticed and I didn’t take time to grab anything else.

  I look up into the soulless man’s eyes as his hand grips the back of my neck. My whole body tenses, knowing I don’t want this to happen, but knowing I don’t have the strength to stop it.

  “Prospect, what are you doing?”

  At the sound of another man’s voice, I have a renewed energy and start to struggle.

  “Let her go… Now!” the man towering over the both of us demands.

  I’m instantly released and I barely stay upright on my feet.

  The man that was holding me only moments ago starts muttering, “She’s here looking for a Jeremy Johnson. There’s no man here by that name. I figure she was sent by the Kings and I was going to rough her up and send her back where she belongs, Brick.”

  I can barely focus on what the man is saying, I’m too caught up in the beast of a man staring down at me. He’s huge and I realize now that I have no chance of getting out of here alive. My shoulders drop and my legs start to give out.

  “Prospect, I don’t care who you think sent her, we never touch a woman that doesn’t want to be touched. If you’re wanting to join the Exiled Guardians, that’s one of the first things you should know about us.” He starts walking toward me and I sway on my feet.

  He leans down and puts an arm under my legs, picking me up like I don’t weigh anything. “It’s okay, honey. No one will hurt you here,” he whispers down to me. He looks up at the man he called Prospect. “And Jeremy Johnson is Sniper. I don’t know who she is but you better pray the pres doesn’t kill you for what you just did to her.”

  He walks away then with me in his arms. He was gruff talking to Prospect but with me, his voice softens. “It’s okay, honey. I’m going to take you to Sniper, or uh, Jeremy. I’m Brick and I promise…”

  But I don’t hear him. I pass out as he walks through the entrance with me in his arms.

  Chapter 2

  Sniper

  The knock on my office door barely resonates before it swings open and in walks Brick, our sergeant in arms, with a curvy bundle in his arms.

  With only one glance at her, I can feel the blood in my veins throbbing. My hands fist at my sides. Am I jealous of my brother? Fuck yeah, I am.

  “Do you have to knock them out to get them to come home with you now, Brick?” I ask him.

  He walks over to the couch. “Har, har, Pres. Nope, this little bundle is for you. Came to the gate asking for you. Prospect roughed her up a little, but I don’t think he caused the bruises. I think they were there before she got here.”

  I jump out of my seat. “Did he knock her out?”

  He shakes his head. “No, she passed out while I was carrying her in here. She was barely able to stand upright on her feet.”

  He lays her down gently so as to not jostle her. She doesn’t wake. She instantly curls to her side with her hands between her knees and buries herself deeper into the couch.

  Brick and I stand over her and I have to stop myself from reaching over and waking her up to demand who gave her the bruises. Her lip is swollen and her eye is black and blue, but none of that takes away from her beauty. Her long red hair is in tangles over her shoulder and even though she’s curled up, I can tell she is short, probably a foot shorter than my six foot three inch frame. She has a curvy body and I want to trace my hand over the curve of her hip so bad I can almost feel it.

  She moves a little as if she’s trying to get comfortable and she grimaces, making me wonder where else she may be hurt.

  “Do you know her?”

  I turn to the man beside me. I had forgotten he was still here. Brick is looking down at her and there is pity in his expression. He’s a big brute of a
man so the compassion on his face would surprise some people. Not me though. We served together in the army years ago. I’ve seen him kill a man with his bare hands then pick up a child and carry him ten miles through a war zone to get him to safety.

  I shake my head side to side. “No. I don’t know her. You said she was asking for me?”

  He nods. “Yep, well, actually for Jeremy Johnson. The prospect didn’t know that name so he was messing with her.”

  “What do you mean, ‘messing with her’?”

  “He thought the Kings had sent one of their women over to mess with us. I don’t know really. When I showed up she was struggling to get out of his grasp.”

  I walk over to my desk and gesture for him to follow me. “Which prospect was it?”

  His lips flatten. “Blade.”

  I probably could have guessed. We’ve had problems with Blade since he started. “Get rid of him. We don’t treat women like that. Hell, we don’t even treat the sweet butts that way. Make an example of him before he goes.”

  Everyone, member and prospect alike of the Exiled Guardians, knows that we don’t touch women. We are a group of law abiding men, well, for the most part anyway. We run legit businesses. The bar, the strip club, the bike shop and the tattoo parlor. But we are still a biker club and family and brotherhood runs in our veins.

  Brick nods his head, but I can see the question in his eyes before he even asks. “What about her? What are we going to do with her? Do you think she is bringing trouble with her?”

  I merely nod. Yep, no man is going to give her up without a fight and I’m assuming that’s who gave her the bruises.

  Brick shrugs his shoulders confidently. “We’ll be ready.”

  When Brick walks out of the room, I go back to the couch and sit down on the coffee table looking at her. She’s young. Really young. Right now, I’m praying that she’s at least legal because the thoughts going through my head could get me put into prison if not.

  Hours go by and she’s still asleep. I tried to get some work done but I kept finding myself over next to her. Now, I’m sitting at the end of the couch with her feet in my lap. I discarded her shoes a while ago and the sight of her pretty pink toes has my lower belly pulling in need.

  She stretches, her arms over her head, pulling her shirt up and baring her midriff to me. Her feet press into my lap and when they glide by my cock, I’m instantly hard from the contact.

  I can’t take my eyes off of her. All of a sudden she jerks and raises her head to look around. Looking back at me are the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen. I had wondered while she was sleeping what color they would be.

  She sits up on the couch and slides her feet underneath her, burying herself against the other end.

  I hold my hands up in front of myself, palms facing her. “It’s okay. I’m Sniper… I’m Jeremy. I won’t hurt you.”

  “You’re Jeremy Johnson?” she stutters.

  I nod my head at her, still trying not to make any sudden movements.

  “Yes, they said you were here to see me,” I tell her in a quiet voice.

  She jumps off the couch. “Yeah, yeah, that’s right, but I’ve made a mistake. I’m just going to go now.”

  I stand up to my full height and she lays her head back to look up at me. “It’s okay, precious. No one is going to hurt you here.”

  She laughs, more of a scared giggle. “Yeah, right, I’ve already been manhandled by your gate keeper. I think it’s probably best if I leave now.”

  “Blade is not a member of the club. He was a prospect and he has already been removed. He won’t bother you again. You won’t even have to see him.”

  She turns her head to the side. “You fired him? Or killed him? What does that mean exactly… Forget it, I don’t want to know.”

  She starts walking toward the door and I don’t want to grab her and scare her. I move in front of her. “Honey, normally I would tell you that’s club business, but I’ll make an exception for you today. We didn’t kill him. We kicked him out. If he treated you like that, we don’t want him here. That’s not what we’re about.” She moves to the side and I step in front of her again. “Now, listen, I’m not letting you leave until I know you’re going to be okay. You came asking around for me. How do you know me?”

  “I don’t,” she confesses. She brushes her hair off her shoulders and I see the handprints around her neck for the first time. “My brother knows you—well, he did.”

  I take a step closer to her. “Okay. Three questions. One, who’s your brother?” I run my hand down the side of her face. “Two, who did this to you? And three, what’s your name?”

  Chapter 3

  Avery

  I should run. I know I should. He’s a big man, not as big as the one that carried me in here, but big enough that I know if he wanted to hurt me, he could. Of course, with the gentle touch of his hand on my cheek, it doesn’t feel like he wants to hurt me. But even I know that doesn’t mean he won’t.

  He’s looking straight at me and I can see the anger on his face. I take a step back out of reach.

  “I’m not going to talk to you when you’re already pissed off at me. Can I just go? Please?” I ask him as I try to walk around him again.

  He stops me again, takes a deep breath and rolls his shoulders backwards like he’s trying to relax. “I’m not pissed at you. I’m pissed at whoever put those marks on your face and neck.”

  “What if I deserved it?” I almost scream at him. I know I didn’t deserve it—hell, I haven’t deserved any of the beatings I’ve gotten.

  He eyes me speculatively. I want to look away from him, but I don’t let myself. I’m stronger than that. “You don’t believe that. Honey, there’s nothing a woman can do to deserve that.”

  I take a deep breath at his answer. Maybe I’m trying to get a rise out of him or maybe I’m just trying to find out exactly where he stands on the issue of a man beating on a woman.

  I nod at him. We seem to have come to some kind of silent agreement. “My name is Avery. My brother is Allen Cooper.” And then I shrug my shoulders and look down at the ground. “And, well, uh my husband did this to me.”

  “You’re married?”

  I cross my arms across my chest. “Only because he wouldn’t divorce me and I couldn’t get anyone in that small-ass town to help me.”

  “And your brother hasn’t killed him? The Allen I know would never let something like this happen.”

  I can’t stop the tears from welling up in my eyes. I wipe a tear trailing down my cheek. “Yeah, uh, Allen got sick and passed away last year.”

  “Oh, honey, I had no idea.”

  His hands go to each of my shoulders and the warmth of them has me feeling safe for the first time in a long time. “Cameron, that’s my husband, well, he wouldn’t let me do a funeral or anything, so it’s not your fault for not knowing.”

  I sniff and wipe both of my eyes, taking a deep breath. “Anyway, I’m sorry to show up like this. I didn’t have anywhere to go. Before he passed, he gave me your name. He told me if I ever needed help he knew you would help me. But now that I’m here, I realize that it’s crazy of me to just show up like this.”

  I pull away from him and go over to the couch and sit on the edge of it with my head down in my hands.

  Fuck, what the hell was I thinking? I shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t get some stranger involved in my mess.

  I try to figure out my options when I feel Jeremy sit down on the coffee table in front of me. His thick, corded legs are on each side of mine. His hands rest lightly on my thighs when his deep, smooth voice breaks the silence in the room. “Avery, you came to the right place. He was right to send you here. This is what we do. I can tell by the way you looked at me that you think I’m some sort of bad guy, but I’m not. We help women like you.”

  I raise my head to look him in the eye. “But you don’t even know me.”

  “That doesn’t matter… not here, not to us. You’re a woman and you need
help. That’s all that matters to the club. Why don’t we go out and meet the others, get you something to eat and then get you settled? Then we’ll figure all this out.”

  I nod and he stands up, holding his hand out to me. I put mine in his. He’s so much bigger than me that it disappears in his grasp.

  He starts to walk toward the door and I can see an uneasy expression on his face. Insecurity starts to take hold, but I don’t have time to think about it before he’s tugging me with him.

  With my hand in his, he pulls me into a large room with people everywhere. A few men fist bump him. But I barely pay attention. My eyes are on the several women in the room. Some of them are giving me the evil eye, but some of them don’t even notice me. One is topless, dancing with a man and rubbing her hands up and down her partner’s chest.

  Another woman is straddling a man in the corner of the room, and I swear they are having sex, but I don’t have time to figure it out for sure, because Jeremy pulls me further into the room, puts his hands on my hips and picks me up and sets me on a bar stool.

  Sniper

  Before we walked out here, I wondered what we would see. The club is pretty calm during the day, like when she got here earlier. Well, at night, you never know who’s going to show up or what kind of party is going to be happening.

  When she stopped in the middle of the room watching one of the sweet butts with the prospect, I had to tug her to move before she saw something she didn’t want to. Most likely, they would be fucking any minute now.

  “Hey, Keeper! Can you get me a beer? And get her a burger, fries and Coke.”

  All eyes in the room are on us. I’m sure word has gotten around by now of how she showed up. And if Brick has done his job, which I’m sure he has, I’m sure everyone knows about Blade leaving. I stand behind her on the stool. My chest is pressed against her back and when I see the interest on the face of my brothers, my heart starts racing. I wipe the sweat from my brow. When Keeper sets her burger down in front of her and she smiles at him with a thanks, his face softens toward her. That right there has me doing things I’ve never done before.