“No, they don’t,” Paxton argued.
“Bailey said so, and she’s right, and you’re not,” Neely argued back.
“Guys are always right,” Tracker said, backing Paxton up, which showed loyalty to his brother. But I shook my head and leaned back in the chair because Tracker was going to get that no good came from saying stuff like that to women. Even small ones.
“Are not!” Ally stood, and so did Neely. Poppy, barely over a year, clapped her hands and watched from Jag’s lap. That had to be a bad sign.
“We’re stronger and smarter, which makes us right,” Tracker sneered, and Neely lunged. The only thing that kept her from getting to Tracker was Devil when he grabbed the back of her shirt.
I glanced at Coast. “Brother, you going to step in?”
“He’s going to have to learn. Might as well be today. It will save him a shit ton of trouble with women when he’s older.”
“True.”
“You didn’t have to stop her. She’s just a girl. And I wouldn’t hurt her,” Tracker looked at Devil and said.
The brother smiled. “Wasn’t worried about you hurting her, Trac. I was worried about her hurting you.” Tracker looked at Neely, and she grinned at him.
“Boys aren’t smarter because they don’t think with their brains. They think with their penises. Aunt Carly says so,” Ally sneered at Tracker.
“Ally. You’re not supposed to repeat what grownups say.”
“Really, babe. You picked that one to go with?” Crushed said to Carly and lifted a brow at her.
I leaned closer to Coast and lowered my voice, “You know, it’s probably a good thing the boys are going to outnumber the girls, they’re going to need those numbers to deal with them.”
“I agree. The teenage years on the compound should be interesting,” Coast said.
“Our dads lived through it,” I said.
“Yeah, but there weren’t any girls in the mix.”
I didn’t get a chance to reply. Mac walked in, and the room went quiet.
She smiled. “Black Hawk MC has three new members. Archer Weston at eight pounds twelve ounces and twenty-two inches long. Lock Carver at six pounds two ounces and eighteen and a half inches long. Key Carver at six pounds and eighteen inches. Mothers and babies are all fine. And both dads stayed on their feet.”
Everyone hooped and hollered, and I watched as Coast went and hugged Mac. When everyone settled down, Mac added, “After the parents and babies have a few minutes alone, you’ll be able to go back. Ally, you get to come with me now to meet your brother.”
Ally jumped from her seat and grabbed hold of the hand Mac held out. After they left, everyone started talking, and Crusher pulled out his phone and started texting. The dads had left that morning on a ride to Canada and when the women went into labor, they’d turned around. The hospital would be the first place they stopped when they rode into town.
I leaned my head against the wall behind me and watched my brothers interact with their families. We’d been together from the day each of us was born. They were my club brothers, the brothers of my heart, and my best friends. I’d witness each one fall as their woman entered their life.
Leaving me, the last man standing.
Preview of Touched by Music
Coming February 14, 2020
Luca
Karma.
Fate.
Destiny.
The first time I experienced one of them, I’d been a small, thin kid of eight and Mickey Monroe, grade school bully and all-around shithead, had snatched my skateboard and claimed it as payment for not beating the crap out of me. My friend Tao and I watched as he dropped the board on the sidewalk, jumped on, and skated away. I stood there, thought of never seeing the board again, then it happened.
Mickey pushed down with his back foot and tilted the board to jump the curb and instead of clearing it, the back wheels hung. The skateboard came to an abrupt stop—Mickey didn’t. At least not right away.
Momentum sent Mickey flying through the air until the light pole that sat on the corner brought him to a halt—and ultimately the sidewalk helped as he fell. He landed on his side and the force on his shoulder and arm caused a facture in both, and Mickey spent the last few months of the school year in a cast while I enjoyed my skateboard.
Karma: a characteristic emanation, aura, or spirit that infuses or vitalizes someone or something.
A simpler definition—payback for Mickey being an asshole and doing shitty things to people. Too bad it wasn’t the only time I’d witness or experience karma through my life.
Decisions and my actions played roles in both my success and failure.
Growing up a step above poverty, a small step, was an excuse I used for circumstances I hadn’t wanted to claim as my own. At least until I was smacked in the face with them.
The eye opener was the day I walked through the door of the apartment where I lived and two cops stood in the living room. My eyes scanned the room and landed on my mother who sat on the couch while her body racked from sobs.
“Mom?” I questioned as I moved toward her but kept my eyes on the cops while they followed my every movement. I knew what they saw and thought—a punk ass kid wearing gang colors. They were right. What they didn’t see was potential, a teenager with aspirations and dreams. It didn’t matter, not like it was the first time I had been judged by looks alone. And more than likely it wouldn’t be the last.
My mom looked up, her face splotchy from the crying and held out her hands to me. “Luca,” was all she got out before the tears once more brimmed over her eyelids and ran down her cheeks. I grabbed her hands, which were cold as if she’d pulled them from a bucket of ice. Holding both within my own hands, I turned my face to the cops.
“Why you here?” I asked, but my mother was the one who answered through her sobs.
“Your dad...he was shot, Luca. My Joe is dead.”
Fate: the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power.
True for my dad that day, but the development of the event—mine to live with and what a wake-up call for a teenage boy.
It would have been easier to head toward failure than it would have taken me to work my way out. Four years of wasted time in a gang was nothing compared to what laid ahead for me—the rest of my life and what I chose to make of it. The choice would be mine and mine alone.
If I learned anything from my parents, it was that hard work and the will to do better was always the way to go. I only wished I would have remembered that sooner though, but regrets would remain, they’re part of life. It was only if I let them rule me that would lead me to a life filled with one catastrophe after another. A road I had no desire to go down.
So, at sixteen, a gang member since I’d turned twelve, with fuel burning in my blood—I was determined to change my life around.
Every decision, circumstance, and action would define me as a man one day. The question was—what type of a man did I want to become?
Destiny: the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future.
However, what happens when events occur to two people and they cross at some point?
I’ll tell you the answer.
My life.
Acknowledgments
To all my readers –Happy New Year!
Carson
About the Author
Carson Mackenzie enjoys writing romance with a real feel inside the stories. She writes with the belief that not every man is a jerk, and not every woman needs saving.
Carson lives in the South with her son, a Great Dane, and two adopted shelter dogs that keep the household in line. Books have always been a part of her life. There is nothing better to her than curling up and relaxing with a good story and losing herself in someone else’s world for a few hours.
Writing stories and growing as an author with each book is her goal. She wants to reach the level where a reader knows when the
y see her name on a cover, they can trust in the fact there will be a good story as they flip through the pages.
Carson’s journey into writing has only been for a few years. As she’s finally starting to settle in, she can’t believe she waited so long to start.
Follow Carson at Amazon, Twitter, Goodreads, or Facebook.
Books by Carson Mackenzie
Black Hawk MC
Speed
Crusher
Devil
Ghost
Jag
Coast
Flirt - TBA
Haven MC
Snatched
Hawk’s Bounty
Keg’s Revelation
Crank’s Deception - TBA
Desert Phoenix MC
Apache’s Downfall – TBA
Irish’s Resolve - TBA
Standalone
Her Way or No Way
Touched by the Music – Feb 2020
KO Ink
Co-authored with Harley McRide
Vengeance
Pierced and Inked
Brawn and Brazen
Cuffed and Briefed
Tatted and Tamed
Dazzled and Dazed
Pampered and Pinned – TBA
Justice - TBA
The Titan of South Side
Co-authored with Harley McRide
Smoked and Smitten
Breaking and Entering – TBA
Coast (Black Hawk MC Book 6) Page 16
