Fighting Absolution

by Kate McCarthy

  Music begins to play. I chose the song. “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship. Corny as fuck but I don’t even care. It’s perfect. An ode to Jamie’s love of the eighties.

  Our crowd of friends turn their heads as Finlay walks out first. She’s wearing the same dress I saw Erin in earlier, and she’s holding a bouquet of roses. Fin is followed by Erin, and when Erin reaches the bottom of the porch stairs, Jamie appears, her arm tucked inside Wood’s. My breath lodges in my throat. She’s wearing a cream lace dress, fitted snug around her chest before dropping to the floor in a sweet, cascade of lace. Her hair is out, long soft waves floating down around her, with a single rose tucked in her ear.

  Her eyes find mine and my vision blurs, my hands squeezing too hard on my boy’s shoulders.

  “Ouch, Dad!”

  “Sorry,” I mutter, loosening my hold as they start towards us.

  I am the luckiest goddamn bastard in the world, is my first thought. I hope she’s not mad, is my second. Women like planning their own wedding, don’t they? Maybe she’s feeling a little robbed right now.

  They reach us slowly, and the music winds down, leaving only the sound of the waves crashing against the shore as Wood steps off beside Erin.

  Jamie turns, facing me. “I’m going to kill you,” she mutters, smiling through eyes that are welling rapidly.

  “Did I make the wrong call?” I mutter back, smiling at everyone around us to hide the sudden worry.

  She hands her bouquet off to Erin as instructed by the celebrant, and takes both my hands in hers. “No. It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.” She frees a hand to wipe beneath her eye. “I can’t believe you did all this. How do you always manage to surprise me?”

  “Not easily. We had a few close calls.”

  “Like when?” she whispers as the celebrant starts his prattle about love bringing two people together.

  “Like your dress. It was meant to be delivered to Erin. Instead they sent it to the billing address. You signed for it, remember? And I told you it was meant for our neighbour.”

  Her lips twitch. “I thought it odd Mrs. Newbury was getting a dress from Eileen Wu Bridal Couture. I mean, she’s ninety-two.”

  We reach our vows and the celebrant asks for Jamie to go first.

  She tips her head to all our friends. “Please bear with me,” she tells them. “I didn’t know I was getting married today, so I’m not prepared.” Laughter follows and she turns back to look at me, squeezing my hands. “I met you on one of the worst days of my life. It was like God knew my life was falling apart and he was giving me something to put it back together again. It wasn’t easy to be my friend, but it was like you made it your life’s mission to be mine. You were pushy and annoying, and yet somehow, you were all I had in the world. Who knew that boy I met on the other side of the fence would one day be mine? That he would gift me with friends, and children, and a future I could only dream of. I choose you to be my husband, Kyle, and not just because I’m the only one who could ever put up with you…” our friends titter, but I grip her hands tighter, fighting back a well of emotion “…but because I can’t imagine a life without you in it.”

  She lets go and slides the ring Wood gives her on my finger.

  “So fucking romantic,” I hear Erin mutter on a sigh.

  The celebrant turns to me, indicating it’s my turn.

  I take a deep breath, my eyes holding hers. “Jamie. In you I met the one person I want to annoy for the rest of my life. You’re stubborn and reckless, and incredibly lucky to have me. I promise to always be your big spoon and let you press your cold toes against my legs in the morning. I will let you win at wrestling and will always laugh and take photos when you fall off the jetty. I promise to buy you giant wheels of cheese to satisfy your pregnancy cravings and never let the boys eat all your donuts again.”

  She laughs but it comes out choked with emotion.

  “I love you, Jamie Juliet Murphy soon to be Brooks. You’re hot in uniform and insatiable in bed.”

  Everyone laughs.

  “Kyle!”

  “Sorry. I’ll be serious.” I let go of her hands to take the ring Ryan offers me. I slide the simple band on her finger. “I give you my heart, Jamie. And from this day forward, I promise you’ll never walk alone.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” the celebrant speaks out, “Kyle and Jamie have declared before me and before all of you, their family and friends, that they will live together in marriage.”

  “Mum,” Malin interjects, tugging at the elegant skirt of her dress.

  The celebrant speaks louder. “They symbolise it by joining hands, taking vows, and exchanging rings.”

  “Mum!”

  “Shhhh, baby,” she whispers, her eyes on mine, loving and emotional.

  “I therefore declare Kyle and Jamie to be husband and wife.” He turns his head, looking at me. “You may now kiss your bride.”

  I lean in, my lips a breath away from hers.

  “Mum! Dad said we can have dog. Can we go get it now?”

  Uh oh.

  “I want a labrador,” Angus pipes in.

  “You may kiss the bride,” the celebrant repeats, louder this time.

  Jamie’s lips, painted a pretty pink and so goddamn kissable, press in a flat line. “You promised them a dog?”

  “He did,” Malin says, the little dibber dobber. “Just before. He did, Mum, I swear.”

  I cast a panicked glare at my boys before looking at Jamie. “I can explain.”

  THE END

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  THE BIKER & THE THIEF

  Free in Kindle Unlimited

  Arcadia ‘Ace’ Jones

  I’m a college student with a secret past. Not only did I boost cars, I was the best in the business. I’m trying to go straight, but the Marchetti Organisation has other plans, and now I’ve got twelve weeks to complete a job so big it’s almost impossible. I’m on a tight deadline, but an irritating biker dude keeps thwarting my attempts to deliver. He’s the big bad wolf my brother always warned me away from, but doesn’t every girl want a bad boy who’s good just for her?

  Kelly Daniels

  I’m a biker with a violent past that haunts me every day. I’m keeping myself busy with my brand-new car restoration business when an annoying little thief manages to steal a Dodge Charger right out from under my nose. I hunt her down, only to discover the woman behind the wheel is beautiful, fearless, and wild—all the things I find impossible to resist. But she’s in trouble, and I won’t hesitate to step in and change the plan—bring the entire Marchetti Organisation to its knees, and make Ace mine.

  PROLOGUE

  Kelly Daniels

  I’m in my bedroom when it starts. Homework spread out on my bed in a chaotic mess as my head tries to make sense of the algebra equation.

  What a bunch of shit.

  I’m trying though, just like I try with everything I do. I try to be quiet. I try to go unnoticed and blend into the walls. I try to be a good student. I try to be brave and strong like my older brother, Casey.

  I turn my head to the frame on my bedside table. The photo inside shows me and Casey in black and white. Mum took the photo when she was in an artsy mood, toying with the idea of photography and earning hobby income. We knew it was a pipe dream though. Dad would never let her have anything. Eventually he tore up every photo she took, but I managed to save this one.

  It shows the both us laughing at each other, so similar in looks, down to the blond hair and blue eyes our mother said were brighter than the halos of angels. Casey and I even have the same mannerisms. But that’s where it ends. Because my brother is a fucking cunt.

  Familiar rage ignites in my chest when I think of him. Four
years older than me, Casey left. He got free. He’s at Charles Sturt University in Goulburn now.

  “Selfish bitch!” I hear my dad roar from down the hall.

  My eyes squeeze shut. Please stop.

  Casey said he’d come back for us.

  “Six months,” he vowed, grabbing my shoulders and looking at me with fierce eyes. Determined eyes. “I’ll get settled and come back for you. I promise.”

  I believed him. Of course I did. He’s my big brother. My protector. But it’s been eight months now and nothing. I have to accept that he moved on and left us behind. He’s never coming back.

  My fingers tighten around the pencil in my hand. It snaps in two.

  Crack.

  “I’m sorry!” my mum cries in a broken voice. A desperate one. Panicked. As if she has a chance of calming him down with an apology. “I won’t—”

  “I’m over your lies, Maggie!” My dad’s voice is cold and hard. It gets that way. He goes into a rage and becomes a different person. A monster. Smack. “Tell me why you bought the damn dress! It’s for the new neighbour across the road, isn’t it?”

  A single man had moved in to the vacant house two weeks ago. A teacher, I think. He looks around forty and kind. He made the mistake of smiling at my mother and saying hello when they’d both gotten out of their cars at the same time and checked their respective mailboxes out front.

  “It’s not! I swear!” she sobs. “It’s for—”

  “Shut up!” he roars. “Where did you get the money for it, bitch?”

  My jaw clenches tight, and my breathing begins to labour. I start rocking on my bed, not even noticing that I’m doing it.

  “You gave it to me.”

  Of course he did. On a good day. But he forgets things on his bad days, and today is definitely one of those.

  “Bullshit! You stole it from me.”

  Smack.

  “Please,” she cries.

  Crack.

  He’s yelling in earnest now, and she’s crying and screaming. My mother is begging for mercy from the man who’s supposed to love her, and he’s giving her none. It’s almost as if he enjoys her begging. It fuels him.

  Their fight builds and I reach a point where I just can’t take it anymore. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. It’s been too much for too long.

  My rocking is forceful now.

  I have to do something.

  I have to …

  I jump from the bed and crouch, scrambling for the suitcase beneath it. It’s already packed, sitting there ready since the moment Casey left. I packed for Mum too. Food, clothing, shoes. Enough to get us through a few days at a shelter until we can get in touch with my brother. But he’s not coming and we need to leave. Today. Right now.

  “No!” she screams and a thundering crash comes from their room. It’s followed by eerie silence. I shoot to my feet, dizzy and ears ringing, the suitcase forgotten.

  I start for their bedroom, picking up speed when I hear Dad sobbing, the sound like a wounded animal. I’ve never heard him cry. It sends chills skittering down my spine.

  Their bedroom door is slightly ajar. I place a shaky palm on it and push. My eyes find my mother first, and I stop breathing. She’s on the floor facing toward me, a crumpled heap of limbs and pretty blond hair. Blood pools beneath her head and soaks the carpet. Its metallic stench is thick in the air, choking me. Her eyes, like the brightest blue in a hot summer sky, are open and sightless. They stare at me with nothing inside them. Empty of life.

  Grief rises like a tidal surge. I try to swallow but it won’t stay down. My throat aches and my eyes burn as I stare down at her lifeless form.

  He’s killed her.

  She could have left him. She could have had a whole other life. I have hidden photos of my mother when she was young, ones my father never managed to destroy. Photos of her life before him. Before her every breath became a battle. My mother used to be Maggie McIntyre until she met my dad at the age of nineteen. Her hair used to shine, long and pretty, and her eyes sparkled. There used to be happiness and sunshine in her heart until she fell in love with a callous man that sucked the life right out of her. Now there’s nothing left except blood on the corner of the dresser above her and the stain of misery and death on the floor.

  My father sits on the edge of the bed. He’s sobbing, shaking his head in disbelief.

  Fury explodes. Its onset so swift and hard it overtakes my body completely, breaking through the shock and horror. The sound of his cries fuel my anger. Hands fisted and knuckles white, I leave the room and make my way down the stairs. When I reach the study, I open the bottom drawer of my father’s desk and take out his gun. After checking the chamber and finding it loaded, I walk to the staircase. I take each step slowly, knowing what I’m about to do but unable to stop myself. Someone stop me, please. But no one comes. I’m alone.

  When I return, my father still sits where I left him, a sobbing pathetic mess.

  “I hate you.” The words spew from my mouth like venom.

  He swallows snot and tears. “I’m sorry.”

  I walk toward him. There’s a storm surrounding me, intensifying, and I’m caught in the middle of it. It takes control, raising my arm and pressing the gun in my hand to his temple. “Give your apology to the Devil.”

  Sanity screams at me. It claws at the edges of my mind, trying to rip me free from the storm. It makes me hesitate.

  “Do it,” Dad pleads, his voice a gravelly whisper. He wants to die. He needs it. My father is a rabid dog that needs putting down for the good of society. “Do it, Son.”

  I lift my chin and stare down into his watery eyes, hating that I’m doing him this one favour. And hating my brother for letting it come to this. If I learn one thing from this day, it’s to never rely on anyone. Not even those you love. Because the moment you do, they’ll turn their back on you and you’ll find yourself alone.

  The air around me stills.

  “See you in Hell, Dad.”

  I pull the trigger, ending his torment.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Kelly Daniels

  I tug at the collar of my crisp white shirt. It’s too tight. I can’t fuckin’ breathe. My eyes scan the room, lighting on Grace Paterson across the room, the fiancée of my older brother. She sees me tugging and the corners of her lips tilt upward. Sadistic bitch. She knows how much I hate playing dress-up. I fix my features in a scowl. It evokes a laugh so beautiful my chest tightens a fraction. Grace is outfitted in a white strapless dress. It highlights the colourful tattoo of flowers that wind down her shoulder and left arm and the fiery waves of hair that hang down her back. Casey is a lucky bastard.

  I’m stuck at this fancy place called The Florence Bar, celebrating their recent engagement. Waiters carrying trays of canapes move about the room. Tall bar tables hold vases filled with towering flower arrangements. Their scent mingles with expensive perfume and the sweet tang of champagne. I don’t belong here. Not in this place. Not with all these beautiful, high-class people. And not in this ridiculous tuxedo that Grace supplied after I handed over a shit ton of cash. It feels like I’m wearing a damn straightjacket. I roll my shoulders.

  Fox shoots me a look of sympathy. He’s decked out in a tuxedo for the first time and looks as out of place as I feel. His dark blond hair has grown long and it’s tied in a braid down his back. “Another drink?”

  I snort. “Is that even a real question?”

  Luke Fox is my real brother. My brother in the Sentinels MC. They’ve been my family from the moment I left mine behind, bleeding out on the carpeted floor of my parents’ bedroom.

  After shooting my father, I walked blindly to my room and sat on my bed. A cop, Morgan, arrived twenty minutes later. She said a neighbour reported hearing a gun shot.

  Morgan was a rookie, but she was also an undercover member of a biker gang. The Sentinels. She reviewed the scene. She could see what went down. Morgan saw my struggle and decided I’d been through enough. Rather than take me into cus
tody when I tried to run, she called in her biker brothers. They made the scene appear as a murder-suicide, then they took me in before Morgan reported the incident. I wasn’t going to live with my brother. Not after what he let happen. So I chose to remain hidden with the Sentinels, and there I stayed.

  It didn’t stop Casey looking for me. He searched for ten years, choosing not to believe it was a murder-suicide. I know because Morgan told me he was digging into the case. He believed that someone else did it. And that someone else took me away and killed me too because there was no way I wouldn’t find my way to him if I were still alive.

  Casey found me eventually. A year or so ago. All that digging into our parents’ case was causing trouble, to the point where I was left with no choice but to intervene. It was then that he learned the truth. That I killed our father. And how I blamed him for allowing it to happen.

  He found out I was runnin’ with the Sentinels, and he looked at me as though he didn’t know who I was anymore. That kind of thing changes you, though. It makes you harder, and it makes you darker. I was no longer the sweet kid my brother used to know. But the Sentinels did for me what he never did. They looked out for me. They had my back. They never abandoned me. Brothers for life, not just when it fuckin’ suits you.

  “Are you going to go and congratulate your brother?” Fox asks as we walk over to the bar.

  My lips tighten. “Not yet.”

  I try to avoid him where possible, despite Grace’s attempts at a familial reconciliation. You can’t force a relationship where the connection has been irreparably severed. We aren’t brothers anymore, and we have nothing in common. I don’t know how to talk to him.

  I ride with the Sentinels, earning a dollar by tinkering with their bikes and cars. My brother owns a business called Jamieson and Valentine Consulting alongside three of his friends. They work as security for a big name band, Jamieson, but they also work with the police, hired on as “expert consultants” for kidnapping cases, ransom, and hostage negotiation. They often get their hands dirty, getting involved in shoot-outs and car chases. But Casey’s specialty involves getting children out of abusive situations by whatever means possible.