by Jade Kuzma
TEDDY:
A Bad Boy Second Chance Romance
(WINTER COBRAS MC)
by JADE KUZMA
Copyright © 2018 Jade Kuzma.
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All persons appearing on the cover are models and being used for illustrative purposes only.
TEDDY: A BAD BOY SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE
(WINTER COBRAS MC)
First edition. November 29, 2018
Copyright © 2018 Jade Kuzma.
Written by Jade Kuzma.
Jade Kuzma Romance
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue 1
Epilogue 2
Thank you!
The Winter Cobras MC
The New Devils MC
The Black Reapers MC
Chapter 1
SUMMER
“I don’t care how you get it. I don’t care where it comes from. If you don’t gimme my money, I’ll make sure you regret it…”
The recording stopped playing but I could still hear his voice in my head.
“I don’t care how you get it. I don’t care where it comes from. If you don’t gimme my money, I’ll make sure you regret it…”
I shut my eyes. My fingers pressed against my temples, I tried to drown it out. If I focused enough, maybe everything would all go away. Maybe things would go back to normal.
“I don’t care how you get it. I don’t care where it comes from. If you don’t gimme my money, I’ll make sure you regret it…”
“Miss Humphrey…”
Soft breaths through my nose weren’t enough to stop my heart from pounding so damn hard. Every thump made my whole body vibrate.
“Miss Humphrey.” His voice was firm and made me shoot my eyes open. I stared at the man sitting across from me. There was some combination of concern and seriousness on his face. It was the reminder I didn’t want. “Are you all right? Can I get you a cup of coffee or some water—”
“I’m fine. I’m not…” I put my head down to collect myself. Considering the circumstances, a part of me was surprised I was keeping my composure. “…I’m not… I’m not feeling particularly well right now.”
“You don’t have to explain that to me, Ms. Humphrey. I won’t pretend I know how you’re feeling. But I have a job to do and I need your help. I wanna get to the bottom of this, same as you.”
“Right.” I gave him a nod and took another deep breath to calm myself down.
Detective Bradford was young. Mid-20s, I’d guess. Short blond hair. A clean-shaven face. Underneath his suit, he looked like he took care of himself compared to all of the other men I’d seen in this place. Even though he carried himself like an older man, there was no hiding his youth. And with youth came an inexperience I didn’t need to be dealing with at the moment.
“When did you receive that message?” he asked.
“A few hours ago. Right after… Right after it happened…”
“Did you receive any other messages? Any letters or emails? Anybody knock at your door?”
“No.”
The detective sorted through some papers in a manila folder. I sat in the silence of the room, watching him pore over the information. “How involved were you with Roger Booth?” He didn’t take his eyes off whatever he was looking at.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… You two were dating, weren’t you? How long were you two together?”
“A few years.”
“And in that time, how well did you know Booth?”
“I knew him pretty well… At least, I thought I did…”
“You weren’t aware of his involvement with anything criminal?” Bradford shifted his eyes from the paper and in my direction. No expression on his face, I knew he didn’t have any other motive behind questioning me outside of just getting the information he needed.
“Roger told me he was in sales,” I said. “He was a representative for a company that dealt with computer hardware. It was never interesting. I never asked him about it.”
“Did you ever visit him at work?”
What is he getting at?
“Look. If you wanna ask me something, just ask me. Because all you’re doing is wasting my time—”
“Your boyfriend, Roger Booth, was involved in a conspiracy to distribute drugs with this man.” Bradford pulled a piece of paper from the manila folder and placed it down in front of me. “Does he look familiar?”
“No.” I shook my head.
“Are you sure? Roger never invited him over for dinner? You never saw him visiting Roger at work? Maybe they had a drink after work—”
“I’m telling you, I’ve never seen this guy in my life. That’s the truth.” And it was the truth. The tattoos on his face. The shaved head. The menacing stare. Even though it was just a photo, just looking at it was enough to make me feel like he could jump out and grab me. “I’d remember someone like this if I saw him. Who is he?”
“His name is Lennox Moore. He’s got a sheet. Armed robbery. Multiple assault charges. Illegal weapons possession. Drug possession with intent to distribute.”
“Are you telling me Roger has an association with this man?”
“Do you think what happened to Roger was an accident?”
Detective Bradford stared hard at me. Hard enough to make me put the pieces together for myself.
“…If you don’t gimme my money, I’ll make sure you regret it…”
I closed my eyes and drowned the voice out of my head. Another deep sigh did little to calm me down. “I don’t know who Lennox Moore is. I don’t know anything about what Roger did on the side outside of his work with his company. I don’t know who this man on the recording is and why he thinks I have his money. I don’t know and I don’t care. All I care about is Sage. And if you’re not willing to help me with that, then I’ll find someone who will.”
Just as I was about to get up from my seat, Bradford said the one thing to get my attention.
“It’s him.”
“Who’s him?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Lennox Moore. He’s the one who took Sage. I’m guessing your boyfriend crossed Moore the wrong way. Now that Roger is dead and Moore still doesn’t have his money, he’s moving on. A ransom for your little girl seems like the next logical step.”
I clenched my jaw to stop myself from getting angrier than I already was. “This man… Lennox Moore has my daughter. Are you planning on doing anything about it?”
“A man like Moore can’t hid
e for long. We have people tracking him through the city. We questioned a few of his known associates. They mentioned where he might be.”
“And do you plan on telling me where that is?” My face scrunched in confusion. I held my hands out and waited for an answer. But Bradford shifted his eyes away from me, his youthful inexperience beginning to show. I kept waiting but still nothing. “Well?”
“Miss Humphrey… I want you to know that we’re doing everything we can to find Moore and your daughter—”
“Where the hell is he?” My blood pressure started to rise but for a different reason. The detective leaned forward in his seat and started talking to me like he didn’t want anybody else to hear even though we were the only two people in the room.
“Listen. I know you’re getting emotional. But—”
“Emotional?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “A four-year-old girl, my daughter, was just kidnapped and you’re telling me I can’t get emotional?”
“I didn’t say you can’t get emotional. But I know when people are emotional, they make bad decisions.”
“The only decision I’m making is doing everything I can to make sure my daughter is safe.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Lennox Moore is not some petty thug. He’s a dangerous criminal. You have to stand back and let us do our job. I promise you, Summer. We’ll do everything we can to make sure Sage is safe and she gets back to you. I swear it.”
Bradford was sincere. He didn’t look like he hadn’t it in him to fake something like that. I looked away from him, my jaw clenched to hold back my frustration. Getting into an argument with him wasn’t gonna make a difference though he didn’t seem to be helping.
“Do you have any kids, detective?”
“I know what you’re trying to get at—”
“What would you do if you were me? What would you do if the most important person in your life was taken from you?”
His office in the police station had never been as quiet as it was now. The silence was annoying, just making all of the anger and frustration boil inside of me even worse.
The detective got up from his seat and leaned up against his desk in front of him. His arms crossed, he sighed and shook his head.
“All right, Miss Humphrey. You deserve to know.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I know you don’t want another reminder but I’m giving it to you anyway. The police will handle this. We’ll find Moore. Sage will be okay.”
I shifted my eyes toward him. There was no way I was leaving his office without getting the information I was looking for.
“His associates said he was down in Ivory—” I jumped up from my seat and Bradford immediately grabbed my arm. “Miss Humphrey… Please. I’m only looking out for you.”
“I understand. And I appreciate it. You and everybody else in the police station. Really.”
“I know I can’t ask you to promise me you won’t get involved. But your best bet would be to lay low. I’m sure he doesn’t wanna hurt your daughter. Wait for Moore to contact you again. He’ll ask for a ransom. When that happens, we’ll get Sage back.”
I tugged my arm free from his grip and nodded. “You’re right about one thing. I can’t promise you I won’t get involved. But I can promise you I will get my daughter back, one way or another.”
“Let us do our job, Miss Humphrey… Summer…”
“Do your job and I’ll do mine.” I walked toward the exit, determined to get to the bottom of this. I didn’t have all of the facts straight. I knew I was missing some details. I was getting involved in something that was more serious than I could imagine. But I knew what I had to do. There was only one person who would be just as determined as I was to get Sage back.
Chapter 2
THEO
“People are different. Some guys would pay top-dollar for a nice steak. Others just want a clean glass of whiskey. In the MC, sometimes you just wanna hit the road and forget all of the bullshit you gotta deal with. It’s the simple pleasures in life you gotta appreciate. But there’s one thing in life that every man can agree on. There’s nothing like getting some pussy.”
“Even more than that other stuff?”
“I can’t live without that other stuff either. But when you’re deep in some girl and she’s working you just right, you forget about everything else. It’s that moment, you’ll do anything just to have it.”
“I think I know what you’re getting at—”
“Hold on. You don’t let me finish. It’s that moment. But as soon as that moment is over, it’s over. You don’t cling to it. You think about it and kinda smile but you move on. You wanna be a Cobra, you’re gonna have to get used to that.” I put my arm around Quinn as we looked out into the bar together. “See all these broads out here? Once you get patched in, they’ll be dying to be with you. Every chick in Ivory wants to be with a Cobra. Let’s get one thing straight, Q. You have your fun and then you move on. That’s it.”
Quinn nodded in apparent understanding. He was a good-looking kid but he was still a kid. More important than that was he was more than willing to listen.
“Any reason you’re telling me all of this?” he asked.
“I’m telling you for your own good. There’s plenty of broads in Ivory. You wanna enjoy yourself as much as you can. Have your fun and move on.”
“I see… I got a question though. What about the girl?”
“What about the girl?”
“I mean, what if she really likes you? Should you still just have your fun and move on? What if there’s something there?”
I pulled my arm away from him and looked him right in the eye. “You know you’re still just a prospect. I want you to get patched in. So I’m just gonna pretend like I didn’t just fucking hear you say that.” I kept glaring at him to get my point across. He took a sip of his beer and shifted his eyes away from me.
It was a typical night in the Bone Pit. The stench of alcohol. The women grinding on their men. The guys just wanting to get away from all of the bullshit they had to deal with. The clubhouse of the Winter Cobras was the perfect spot to do all of that.
The scene wasn’t complete chaos but it was more than enough to have some fun with. I looked out into the crowd, listening over the music and conversations, and decided to forget about Quinn’s slip-up.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “I’ll show you how it’s done. What kinda broads are you into?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged even though I knew he had a type. Kid was probably just too embarrassed to admit it.
“All right. Lemme see…” I rubbed my hands together, scanning the crowd with a squint. “Oh, I think we got a winner over here. What do you think about that one over there? Next to the bathrooms.”
“She’s all right, I guess.”
“All right is just perfect. Remember, it’s just about having a moment and that’s it.” I didn’t give Quinn another look as I headed toward my target.
She was a decent-looking broad. Nice ass hidden behind her skirt. A shapely pair of tits, though it was probably just a good push-up bra. How tight her top was certainly helped with that.
I walked right up to the blond and got a better look at her. Older 20s, around my age. Straight hair down around her shoulders. Makeup but not enough that Quinn would be terrified when he woke up to her the next morning.
You’ll do just fine.
“How’s it going?”
She looked me up and down, sizing me up because she already had an opinion of me. Then she nodded and looked away, no expression on her face. “I’m fine. How are you doing?”
“Just fine. Teddy.” She still wasn’t looking at me but I kept staring at her. I knew she could see me from the corner of her eye. And when I knew that, all I had to do was smile.
I glanced at her lips and watched the corner twitch into a smile. It was only there for a moment but just long enough for me to see it.
“Janice.”
“Does that line ever work?” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at me.
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out. But you are new around here. I know everybody who comes to the Bone Pit.”
“Is that right? You live here?”
“I do, actually.” I pointed at the patch on my chest. “Cobra territory. My clubhouse.”
“That’s good to know. I’ll be sure to be on my best behavior.”
“I don’t want you to be on your best behavior. No… I want you to do something else.” I inched closer to her. Just a step. That was enough to let her know what I was obviously thinking. And when I did that, that was enough to let her see just how much taller I was.
She bit her lip to stop her grin from growing any bigger.
Got her.
“Listen… I was supposed to meet a friend out here. We were gonna have drinks but I think she got lost.”
“Sorry to hear that. Doesn’t mean you can’t have any fun. What do you think? I know this clubhouse better than anybody. Nobody better to figure it out with than a patch.”
She’d already made up her mind but she couldn’t say anything immediately. Women always had to make it a point to pretend like they were thinking about it, so nobody thought they were a slut. Truth is, I never gave a shit about that. I was old enough to see through the games.
“That’s not fake, is it?” She squinted at the patch on my chest. I would’ve been offended if I didn’t find it so funny.
“I don’t know what I look like to you but I’m not stupid enough to rep the colors of an MC I’m not a part of in their own clubhouse.”
“Just checking… All right. I’ll have a drink with you and we’ll see what happens—”
“Not with me. You see that guy over there?” I pointed over at Quinn standing next to the bar. He looked around to pretend like he wasn’t watching me talk to this broad. “I think you can have some fun with him.”
“Him? You mean the one with prospect written on his vest?”
